Part One

Special | 26m 46sVideo has Closed Captions

Learn how Spain's Bernardo de Gálvez and his Siege of Pensacola helped America win its independence.

11/03/2025

Part One

Special | 26m 46sVideo has Closed Captions

Learn how Spain's Bernardo de Gálvez and his Siege of Pensacola helped America win its independence.

Learn about Pensacola’s Revolutionary War history and the importance of Spanish leader Bernardo de Gálvez and his Siege of Pensacola in America’s fight for independence. Sherri Hemminghaus Weeks is producer and host. Guests are Margo Stringfield, a research associate at the UWF Archaeology Institute, and Chris Washler, president of the Florida Society Sons of the American Revolution.

11/03/2025

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Remembering Galvez and the Battle of Pensacola is a local public television program presented by WSRE PBS

Part One

Special | 26m 46sVideo has Closed Captions

11/03/2025

Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback

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Hello and welcome to a special American Revolution Companion presentation by WSRE. I'm Sherri Hemminghaus Weeks. Our show is entitled Remembering Galvez and the Battle of Pensacola. For the next 30 minutes, we'll be doing just that. Remembering a young Spaniard, Bernardo de Galvez. And the city where it all happened. Pensacola. Joining me for this broadcast are two local historians who have extensively studied our topic. Margo Stringfield is an archeologist at the University of West Florida. Much of her research focuses on historic cemetery preservation and conservation, as well as Pensacola's, colonial British, Second Spanish, and early American periods. With Doctor Jay Clune, Margo is the coauthor of Historic Pensacola, which was published by University Press of Florida in 2009. And also Chris Washler, who has been a member of the Pensacola chapter of the sons of the American Revolution since 2013. He's the immediate past president of the chapter and is currently serving as the president of the Florida Society sons of the American Revolution. He's presently chairing a group focused on bringing more visibility to the Spanish contributions in the fight for American independence. We'll get him to share more about that. Welcome, Margo Stringfield and also Chris Washler. It's so great to have both of you with us today. It's good to be here. So we have a lot to talk about. Galvez.

So many people. Actually, I didn't start hearing about Galvez until, maybe 2012, 2011, 2010. People started talking about, Galvez.

Why? Well, I think we were seeing more awareness of this, of what did go on, along the Gulf Coast and what partnerships were formed outside of the Atlantic seaboard. I think, back then, all you had, if you heard someone say Bunker Hill or, Yorktown, people immediately knew that you were going to be talking about the American Revolution and, important battles. But if you said the Battle of Pensacola, people would probably look at you like a deer in the headlights. Because they would not really have known much about the significance of what was happening along the Gulf Coast and what was happening along the, Florida Gulf Coast was, an amazing story that has been little told and has not been given, the recognition that it does deserve until the last few years, and particularly now, as we see new telling and researching of what went on during the fight for independence in our country. And we're seeing that in particular in how historians are approaching the topic. There's always been a big man approach to, to history, in the past. And certainly Galvez was a very big man. But you're now seeing who actually was, helping to facilitate the plans of the big man and, who was helping that, effort. And you're seeing people that might necessarily have been involved in a battle so much as on the periphery in the towns and, helping in small ways and living their lives just as we live our lives today. And so I think that, people are going to be extreme excited about the Ken Burns, film, on the American Revolution because it takes such a different approach. It's still the facts, there's no doubt about that. But it also expands the story and puts us on a wider world stage. And the fact that they've included Pensacola in the Battle of Pensacola, in this story. Is a real tribute, because there's realization that, there's more to the story to be told. And I have recognized that, yes, there certainly is. And, Chris, you've been telling this story in a number of different ways for quite a long time and will continue to. We have, sons of the American Revolution. We do a lot with making sure all aspects of the American Revolution are recognized. And I would echo what Margo said, that Galvez was a very big man, but I would add that he was a big man with a little told story. And for an example, I, I minored in history in college, and until I moved to Pensacola, never actually knew anything about what happened along the Gulf Coast and the contributions of Galvez to the American Revolution. So to have someone like Ken Burns putting a spotlight on the Gulf Coast and what Galvez did, I think is a very significant contribution to the overall story, hugely significant. Margot, you've written about historic Pensacola. You also, in addition to your print projects, you're the producer of Yo Solo, Bernardo de Galvez on the stage of the American Revolution. Now, that's a PBS, production that highlights Pensacola and Spain's role in the American fight for independence. So we're going to watch for a bit, and then we'll come back and talk about it a little bit.

Here's a clip from Yo Solo. Brothers, I have news. 15 sails have been sighted off Santa Rosa Island. Now, it could be the help promised to us from Havana. Or it could be British reinforcements from Jamaica. Now, here's the good news. We're here. This is our final camp, and the high ground isn't too far off. Now, I believe that with a covered trench, we can reach that hill. That U-2 found us, which then becomes our left flank. All right flank. Well, let's build the bayou. We hold the bay. The British have no boats to come up the bayou. We're here. Gentlemen, we are not leaving. You stay and we trench to the hill. And if those 15 sails turn out to be British, remember why we are here. I want Pensacola back. And then the end came sooner than anyone dared imagine. Mortar fire into Fort George herself. Cause the white flag of surrender to run off up. That same afternoon, British Commander John Campbell asked for cease fire.

Now. I demanded capitulation. So on the 10th of May, the British surrendered with 900 soldiers marching out of Fort George, their muzzles pointing down, double filing, and into ships bound for Havana. West Florida was finally ours. That was just a little clip of Yo Solo, which we will be airing here on a produced by Margo many years ago. I think it really helps us to see somebody portraying that was Chaz Mena portraying a historical figure to have more of a visual and the battles that that you fight and reenact. But do the same thing for our area. Community members, they do it. It really helps to bring that history that is so far removed from current day. It brings it to light for individuals now, and they get much more of a flavor of what was going on, how to say these were humans, just like all of us. But they were significant individuals in American history. The reenactments that we do and the battle commemorations that we hold are a small tribute. We give a much smaller picture than what something like a film does. We don't produce quite on that grand of a scale, but, why is it important to do that for people? Unfortunately, the story of our country's founding is not taught nearly enough. In our public education system, in our higher education system. And people need to really understand where we came from to understand who we are as a nation. And that's one of the things that both the sons and the daughters of the American Revolution, really, our organizations are dedicated to, is helping to promote that, helping to remind people these this were these were the events of our founding as well as the principles that we were founded on. It's so good to remember and Margo, the the film you solo actually was viewed or the transcript looked at by, the producers of the Ken Burns documentary that, yes, it's it's a really, I think, charming story for all of us that were involved in it. There was a reach out on this was that might be at the end of 2023. And I'm sure that the producers, reached out to, universities and colleges and archives all over the, all over the United States that had materials related to the Revolutionary War. They reached out to the university. And they reached out to the city. And, so we coordinated efforts and, sent them between, images from the city, collection to the trust Archives and research Center. The, West Florida Research Center, special collections at the university, the archeology institute. We gathered up what we thought could be helpful to them and, sent them, what we had to work with. They did, we sent the film. They did view it.

And Ted King here. Sorry. They asked for a transcription, which he sent. And, so it gave us a lot of pleasure to be helpful because this is such a wonderful project that, you know, I like to say that our participation in this grand project is probably the size of a well sharpened pencil point. And, so it's a, just a very, very small contribution, but one that we were so proud and pleased to be able to offer. Yes, we should be, as you should be. so it, you know, this was our community all working together to, to be helpful in how the story was told. And so I think, we will be very pleased here in Pensacola with how the story is told in the film. More and more people are paying attention to Pensacola and the Battle of Pensacola. In fact, Independence Lost was a book. It's just been rereleased in conjunction with the film's release. You read that early on, Margo. I'm about to read it, and we were all there for, a recent event that was held where even Kathleen DuVal states that she had never really learned anything about the Battle of Pensacola, and that inspired her to write, write this book. Let's take a look. my family piled us into the back seat of our Chevy Impala, and we bounced around, all the way to Philadelphia and Williamsburg and Boston. And to me, that was the American Revolution. And only much, much later, after I was a professional historian, did I learn that there were battles of the American Revolution at Pensacola and Mobile and Baton Rouge? And I thought I, I want more people to know that. I want kids to know that I want I want people to know that the American Revolution was fought along the Gulf Coast, and that the decisions and the involvement that people had here, was part of the American Revolution and was tremendously influential on, on American independence. That was Pulitzer Prize winning author Kathleen DuVal, who was here for a recent WSRE event where we got to see a little bit of the Ken Burns film, along with some of the community members that enjoyed it so much. Chris, let's talk about the Spanish contributions to the American Revolution. The Spanish contribution as a whole, I think, has been downplayed for far too long. And there there's an effort, concerted effort by a number of organizations to bring that into the spotlight as we come up on the semicolon Centennial. In not just the importance of the Battle of Pensacola, but everything that Galvez did along the Gulf Coast and all of West Florida. We were talking earlier that had it not been for the battles that Galvez fought, basically the British, the British very likely would have sent reinforcements north and Yorktown may not have been the final victory of the American Revolution. And, quite a few people don't realize that there were actually American Revolution battles as far west as Saint Louis. Battle of Forts Fort San Carlos, was kind of the beginning of the Spanish contribution overall to our effort, even though they never became an official ally of the United States. Well, and you're working on a committee that's really working to bring that out into the spotlight. I am the SAR has taken a concerted effort to bring the spotlight onto the Spanish contribution in all of its forms. Most of that, thankfully, focuses across the Gulf Coast, which is part of the reason that I was able to get involved with that. That's awesome. Margo, so much to talk about here. Let's, let's share some of the the resources that people can, can look into the, well, the I brought three different, books with me, that I feel, if people are in the mood to read, these are great reads. The first one, is the journal. Don Francisco Saavedra. And, this, this can be had, easily. And it is, firsthand account. He was sent with Galvez as an observer. He was very close to the Galvez family, in fact, Bernardo de Galvez, his uncle, was his mentor. And so while Galvez, his journal focuses on the military tactics that were involved, more closely, what Saavedra does is look at overall observations. So he gives us some wonderful descriptions of what Pensacola was like in 1781. We have descriptions of what it was like before the battle of the lead up to the battle. You know, two days before the battle took place on the eighth, you've got a raging either a hurricane or tornado. You can multiple bad weather. So he talks about that. They're running short on cannonballs. They're sending people out to collect cannonballs and bring them back so they can reuse them again. And, but, but he talks about, really observations that he has made, about, a wider view. And this, of course, is very much, a man of the enlightenment, as was a Galvez. These were people, at this time that were very, focused on reason. They were focused on science and on, individual freedoms. So they were very ripe. This was a ripe time for the American Revolution to take place. And given, what, the thought was of the time, and he realized that in here and it's a a page turner. So I would advise people to get it. Pensacola. He he describes his charming houses along the sandy beaches there and well laid out. You can find anything you want in the stores. Very, provisioned from Europe and Asia. He discusses then there, there's more stuff than they can use. So maybe there's illicit trade, which of course, we see in the archeological record. And, so it's a really a great read. So I would encourage everyone, if you want a firsthand account of what was happening in the lead up, to, get the journal. It's been, transferred, translated.

Right. And I also, the, independence lost, Doctor DuVal is an excellent, excellent publication. She did a beautiful job in giving us the background of what was going on in our region. And again, this is a wonderful read, so I encourage everyone to pick that up. Then if you want a blow by blow of the battle in, in maps, and then you go pick up this little book. This is by doctor, Bill Coker. And he was, professor of history emeritus at the University of West Florida and a, Spanish Borderlands scholar. Is that still In print? It is I in fact, I was checking down with the bookstore, down at the Historic trust and the Pensacola museum of history, because they have carried it, and it's and it is still available, but, you can go in. It's got a point by point. So if you're interested in what happened every day and how and, what the lay of the land was as they moved, this is a really nice, and, you can rely on this, as you can, the for what was going on with, with the battle itself. So I think that what I'm hoping, is that people will watch the film, they will come to the realization of, just what a big role we did play. It was actually huge.

It was huge. This was a major battle. We have a Revolutionary War battlefield in our backyard up there on North Hill. And, so this was a, an engagement that, was one of the longest, I think it was, this one, it went on for, what, almost three months? Two months? Yes.

Was about three months long, three months long. And so this was a huge engagement. And, so you had, people in town, you had, the military here, you had, for the British. You had, native people that were fighting for the British. You also had them on the Spanish side. You had, free, people of color. You had enslaved people. You had Germans.

You had the. You had. Yeah. This was a melting pot here for sure. And so it was a really blend of, different cultures that all came together on the Gulf Coast frontier. Yeah. And, Chris, you know, I was thinking of what brilliant strategists these people were to be able to go from New Orleans to Mobile to get word from up north. Let's talk about that a minute. It really was a brilliant strategy because and Galvez as part he was taking what was then probably considered the outlying part of the colony of West Florida over in what we now know is Louisiana and then into Mississippi and Alabama. And when he set his sights on Pensacola, it was because Pensacola was the capital of West Florida. It was the linchpin for him taking back the entire colony of West Florida for the Spanish. He wanted it. He wanted it bad. And I you made a comment about people don't know that there was a major Revolutionary War battle here. I have to relay one of the joys of the SARS when we're out in our uniforms and we have little kids in town who come up to us and you start talking about it to see their eyes light up when you talk about there was a there was a battle fought right here. Right. And neither they nor their parents know about it. Right? That's what we want to share.

Right? They do want to share. And I think with, with Galvez, I think this was the Spanish mindset in general that Pensacola from the onset of European exploration, was seen as an important place to be. It was strategically placed. It had the best harbor that they had mapped along the Gulf Coast. So this was where you wanted to be able to safe harbor and safe, safely keep your ships. And, they and then also, it was in a nice position for ships. So going back to Spain from New Spain and it, so it was always a desired place. Now, it may not have had desirable things happening here all the time because, boy, we were plagued with disease and, and often we were too poor to do much of anything. But, it would have been interesting to see what had happened had the British prevailed because the British were on their way to turning Pensacola. And West Florida into what they were doing along the Atlantic seaboard, very mercantilist in their approach. And I think that would have proceeded further. Away from certainly it would have been profitable, but more on the line of what we see with the establishment of the cities along the seaboard, Atlantic seaboard. When will, area audiences be able to see the Da in the essay are in action again? Will we be doing some things with Galvez day? Probably we will, I say. I was trying to think that's probably our next major, appearance. May 8th. We do it typically do it the Friday that is closest to the actual surrender of the British. But this coming year, it'll be May 8th. There will be a commemoration held downtown. Most of it's completely open to the public. We'd love to see it. And I will brag. The SA color guard will start at Fort George and come down to the Galvez monument, with, full colors. Parade. That's awesome. And, you were going to add to that? Oh, I was just going to say, well, we're we're hopeful that we will also see them, in Saint Michael Cemetery, because we're working, what we're working on now, this is a, again, a partnership within the community with the, is the storyboard that talks about the people in Saint Michael Cemetery that are associated with the American Revolution, because actually, we have quite a few. We've got about two minutes. I would like to hear about a few of those that, Well, Dorothy Walton is, I like to refer to Dorothy Walton as our star. But she was the wife of George Washington, who was a signer of the declaration. She was both an eye witness to the formation of our country and an eye witness to the formation of our state. And, so she would have had people at her table who were discussing everything that was going on, with plans coming and going for the formation of what? What was going to rule us, what was going to how they were going to word this. She also, was her person was very close to Andrew Jackson. You're seeing, not only just the American Revolution, but, the movement into our territorial period where we've got a real, flow of people that were, now getting older, but were had one foot in the American Revolution, and then that other foot was stepping toward, the Americanization of, West Florida. Well, we literally have history underfoot. You're bringing it to life. You're sharing so much of your knowledge, what's what's underneath us right now. And do we still have that that spirit, that was here in the in those times? I don't know, but I think we do. I know how proud and pleased we were to do everything in our power to help, get material for the people that were researching and writing, that the Ken Burns project. And and again, our role was minute. No, I mean minute, but it was still stirring to us to think that we could have a role in that story. So we all become part of the story, just as Doctor Duvall has become part of the story of Pensacola with her contributions and, everyone that's been involved with, with getting us to this point, has been, it's been a wonderful story to tell. And seeing the the recognition come to Galvez and everyone that was involved in what became, part of our national narrative, and not just our national but the world narrative, that we have today is, very inspiring as it should be. It is all very inspiring. Both of you inspire me. And we are about out of time. And so I want to thank you very much for being here and for all of your contributions. We'll look forward to seeing you. Thank goodness for all of you historians bringing us these important stories. As our program draws to a close, particularly thanks to our guests, Margo Stringfield and Chris Washler. We will be sharing more about Galvez Day and our areas, remembering of Galvez and the Battle of Pensacola in part two of this special programing airing soon. Thank you so much for watching. I'm Sherry Hemminghaus Weeks.

We'll see you next time.