In this post, we present a new “microvideo” (5'36"). This time, we uncover a powerful and often overlooked chapter of American history. From Louisiana and the Gulf Coast to Spanish America and Europe, Spanish leaders, soldiers, and resources played a decisive role in weakening British power and supporting the fight for independence of Thirteen Colonies. This video invites viewers to rediscover the deep Hispanic roots embedded in the founding of the United States and to rethink the global story behind America’s birth. Watch, learn, and share this untold history.
The independence of the United States cannot be understood without the international context that made it possible. After the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), England emerged victorious over Spain and France, but heavily in debt. To restore its finances, it imposed new taxes and trade restrictions on its North American colonies, while denying them representation in the Parliament in London. The Royal Proclamation of 1763, which prohibited expansion west of the Appalachian Mountains, exacerbated discontent and led to the outbreak of conflict in 1775.
For the monarchies of Spain and France, the rebellion of the Thirteen English Colonies represented a strategic opportunity to weaken England and regain the lost balance of power. From the outset, Spanish King Charles III decided to support the cause, although he provisionally chose to do so in secret until he was properly prepared for war against Great Britain, and without officially recognizing the independence or the representatives of the Continental Congress.
Spanish aid was decisive from the outset. Juan de Miralles was appointed Spain's unofficial representative at the Congress of Philadelphia. The merchant and shipowner Diego de Gardoqui sent large quantities of weapons, ammunition, gunpowder, and logistical support of all kinds from the Iberian Peninsula to the ports on the east coast controlled by the insurgents. In New Orleans, the governor of Louisiana, Luis de Unzaga, allowed supplies to be sent clandestinely via the Mississippi River. His successor, Bernardo de Gálvez, expanded this support, channeling weapons, ammunition, and supplies from Cuba and the Viceroyalty of New Spain. In 1776, a single shipment secretly financed by Spain and France included tens of thousands of rifles, cannons, and uniforms, without which the American Revolution would not have survived.
Spain entered the war against England in 1779. From that moment on, Gálvez led a series of decisive military campaigns on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. These operations were carried out by forces made up of soldiers from all corners and races across the Hispanic world: Canary Islanders settled in Louisiana, Spaniards from the Iberian Peninsula, from New Spain and from other viceroyalties, local militias, Native Americans, and Acadians. It was a collective, transcontinental effort that reflects the historical reality of the Hispanic world as a shared human and political space.
From New Orleans, Gálvez expelled the British from the eastern bank of the Mississippi by taking Baton Rouge and Natchez, eliminating a key threat to the rebels. In 1780, he conquered Mobile, and in 1781, he culminated his campaign with the capture of Pensacola after a daring naval operation in which he himself entered the bay under enemy fire. A large reinforcement expedition led by José Solano Bote supported the final phase of the operation.
These victories had a fundamental strategic effect: Spain closed off British access to the Gulf of Mexico, preventing them from sending reinforcements.
In 1780, Spanish control of the Mississippi River was secured by the defense of San Luis de los Ilinueses, now Saint Louis, which guaranteed a steady flow of supplies to the American patriots and blocked any British advance from the north.
Spain and France forced England to fight on other fronts, not just in North America. This made it difficult for England to devote resources to the war against the Thirteen Colonies, as it also had to fight on the coasts of Central America, in the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean, Gibraltar, Minorca, and the English Channel. England itself was on the verge of being invaded in 1779, an operation that was canceled when an epidemic broke out in the French navy. In 1780, Admiral Luis de Córdoba's capture of a convoy of 55 ships was devastating for the British.
The Hispanic contribution was not only military. Hispanics from all over America contributed money in compliance with a Royal Tax Decree of 1780. The royal envoy Francisco de Saavedra obtained funds in Havana and channeled large amounts of Spanish silver dollar coins to finance joint operations with France. The decisive Battle of Yorktown in 1781 was financed with Spanish money, most of which came from the Viceroyalty of New Spain and from merchants and residents of Havana.
The war ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1783. Spain regained Florida, but its greatest legacy was to have made possible the birth of a new nation. Even the first official currency of the United States was the Spanish silver dollar, or Spanish peso, from which the symbol “$” derives.
Without the military, financial, and human support of the Hispanic world, the independence of the United States would not have been possible. It is an essential contribution that, for too long, has been left out of the dominant historical narrative and that Hispanics should not forget but rather reclaim.
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Spanish contribution to U.S. Independence
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