General Bernardo de Gálvez and the "Siege of Pensacola"

General Bernardo de Gálvez and the "Siege of Pensacola". The Longest Battle of the American Revolution. As the Spanish Governor of Louisiana Territories, Bernardo de Gálvez was an important friend of American Colonists. When Spain became an ally of the American Revolutionaries in 1779, Bernardo de Gálvez led a multinational force of troops from New Orleans, taking back territories from Great Britain in English forts along the Gulf Coast in Baton Rouge, Natchez and Mobile. On March 18, 1781, Gálvez now commanding General of Spain's Army and Naval Forces in the New World, led the naval charge into the well-defended Pensacola Bay. It was a final feat of daring that would earn him a Royal Patent adding the word "Yo Solo" (I Alone) to his coat of arms., Gálvez's forces landed near Bayou Chico and began advancing on the city's British defenses, which included Fort George on nearby Gage Hill (three hundred yards north of this statue on Palafox Street) and two smaller forts. After weeks of siege, on May 8, 1781, a Spanish mortar detonated the powder magazine at the Queen's Redoubt. Gálvez accepted the surrender of the British and claimed West Florida for Spain. Thus, Gálvez stripped Britain of a key foothold on the Gulf Coast, which in turn benefited the American Colonists in their quest for independence., General Bernardo de Gálvez was named a "Great Floridian" in 2012. In 2015, for his heroic efforts during the American Revolution, Congress unanimously awarded General Gálvez a posthumous "Honorary Citizen of the United States of America."