By Joe Darby

I watched a very good show on PBS recently, about the history of the Spanish in Florida.

I’ve been reading about American history for many decades now and thought I knew a lot, but the story of Spanish Florida is greatly neglected by our history books. I learned a lot — how Spain settled Florida long before the English were at Jamestown or Plymouth Rock, the violent early struggles in Florida between Spain and France, the dramatic siege of St. Augustine in the late 1600s, slaves fleeing the British colonies to be free in Florida and many other fascinating tales of history.

All of this reminded me of something I do know a little bit about and yet is also pretty much neglected in the history books. And that story tells how an important Revolutionary War battle was fought right here in Louisiana. And Natchitoches area men took part in it, too.

By the time of the struggle for American independence, Florida was under the control of the British. Their colony of West Florida stretched from southeast Louisiana through what would later be coastal Mississippi and Alabama. It included the future Louisiana parishes east of the Mississippi River and north of Lake Pontchartrain — the Florida Parishes. Baton Rouge was the principal settlement.

Anyway, not so much out of sympathy for the new US as to foil their old foe Britain, Spain declared war on the Brits in 1779. At that time Spain controlled New Orleans and the rest of Louisiana west of the river. So it could cause a lot of mischief in British West Florida. And the enterprising Louisiana Spanish Gov. Bernardo de Galvez was just the guy to do it, too.

The governor began gathering companies of militiamen from all over Louisiana, including a group from Natchitoches. I know for a fact that Louis DeBlanc, who was later commandant here in the 1790s, was among them. I wish I could name others at this point.

Galvez’s plan was to strike upriver from New Orleans against Baton Rouge. Some of his advisors wanted to concentrate on defending New Orleans, but the governor was determined to go on the offensive.

Galvez’s army consisted of more than 1,400 men — colonial militia, Spanish regular troops, free blacks, Canary Islanders and seven Anglo-American volunteers. One hundred sixty Indians later joined them.

They set off on Aug. 27, on a difficult trek through thick woods between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Some of the troops almost immediately began suffering from sickness, but they managed to charge and easily capture the small British post at Manchac.

At Baton Rouge they faced a stout wooden fort, with 13 cannon and surrounded by a deep and wide moat. That fort was on the riverfront, not far from where the Pentagon Barracks are now.

Rather than engaging in what would have been a bloody head-on assault, Galvez decided on guile. While a group of his men fired on the fort with their muskets on the night of Sept.20, whooping and hollering and doing all they could to gather all the Brits’ attention, another group of Spanish soldiers were emplacing their 10 cannon on the opposite side of the fort, hidden in the woods.

When they opened up after daylight, it did not take long for the concentrated artillery fire to heavily damage the fort and by 3:30 p.m. the English surrendered.

Galvez went on the take Natchez that fall and he later captured Mobile and Pensacola from the English as well.

The brilliant Galvez and his gallant Louisiana soldiers get little recognition in the history books today for what they accomplished in aiding US independence. But their role is recognized by the Sons of the American Revolution and Daughters of the American Revolution. If you had an ancestor who fought with Galvez, you are eligible to join one of those venerable genealogical organizations.

But in any case, we can privately acknowledge the bravery of those early warriors from our state. And we can imagine the hearty welcome home that the Natchitoches men received as they triumphantly marched back into their home town. They might even have had a parade on Front Street!

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