Westbrook: Spain aided Americans in revolution

LubbockOnline: Westbrook: Spain aided Americans in revolution

Ray Westbrook
Among all the worries besetting George Washington in the American Revolution, there must also have been a concern that the British might come in the back door by way of the Mississippi River.

But he found an answer in a man who was not even a settler in the 13 original colonies - Gen. Bernardo Galvez from Spain.

The general and his army - which included a large contingent from the Canary Islands - was also the means for LaVerne Barksdale Lusk of Lubbock to become a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. One of her ancestors from the Canary Islands - Salvadore de Torres - enlisted in the army raised by Galvez.

It gave her a hero from the American Revolution, because the army he joined is credited with fighting a crucial battle outside the 13 British Colonies - one that was along the banks of the Mississippi River.

Maps show the Canary Islands exist in a kind of figurative independence in the ocean off the coasts of Spain, Portugal and Morocco. They were the last stop-off point for Christopher Columbus when he was on his way to the New World.

"My grandfather spoke Portuguese, so I figure they were more Portuguese," Lusk said of the islanders.

"George Washington was having a tough time in 1776 protecting the colonies," she said of her research into the War for Independence.

"But he had friends - friends who conspired with the Spanish. And the Spanish King Charles was willing to help."

Spain began providing financial aid and arms for the patriots' war against the British. At the time, there was an uneasy peace between England and Spain, so negotiations were kept secret to prevent war.

"The King of Spain made a pact, and he had some very influential people within the French government. They conspired together. And the Spanish were very clever - they recruited mainly from the area of the Canary Islands, which were my people, my family. He brought them in, made them soldiers to watch the mouth of the Mississippi."

Apparently, the secrecy kept England in the dark about the force that would later attack British troops in the Battle of Baton Rouge.

Galvez knew that area. Before Spain's king assigned him to the position of general of the army in the New World, he had been governor of the Louisiana territory claimed by Spain.

Spain hoped for something in return from Washington: that he would help Spain get Florida back, which had been lost to the British.

There also is a Texas connection to the Canary Islands and Spain, according to Lusk's research. Some of the Spanish settlers, and apparently Canary Islanders, were already in San Antonio before Galvez came to America.

"We just assumed that everyone that was Spanish descent that lived in Texas, came from Mexico. And that's what they thought in Louisiana. But the Spanish were there long before anyone else."

The stage had been set for Galvez.

"The reason that is so important to us Texans, is that they had cattle. Their specific duty was to feed the army in Louisiana."

She said of the DAR's recognition of the crucial battles by Galvez's army, "The Canary islanders were considered to be fighting in the American Revolution."

Research by the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution made it possible for the revolutionary-era's descendants to consider their ancestors who fought in the war, even if they weren't from the original colonies.

Lusk explains it this way in the case of the Canary Islanders: "They were under George Washington as continental soldiers, but they wore the uniforms from King Charles."

According to Jeannine Kallal, chairman of the Spanish Task Force for the DAR, Louisiana, Texas and California are among areas that may have descendants of Revolutionary War soldiers.

"There is no difference between proving the service of a patriot from Boston or a Spaniard from Texas; the service must be acceptable and documented," she wrote for a 2002 issue of the organization's American Spirit publication.

Lusk has found that the role of Spain in the American Revolution was large - and largely unknown until research in the latter part of the 20th century.

She is a former airline hostess, and remembers that one of her flights opened her eyes to documentation about Spain's participation in the war and her own ancestry.

"Several years ago, I had a Jesuit priest on my flight that was going to Madrid. It was during the Barcelona Olympics, and this is why I am in the DAR. He told me, 'I'm going to help translate records that were found in Madrid.'

"They had been hidden for a couple of hundred years, just sitting there. He said, 'It's records on the Canary Islanders and the soldiers who fought in the American Revolution for the Spanish.' "

Lusk said, "When the French were going to take over Louisiana, at some point after the purchase of Louisiana, they discovered that these records on the Spanish and the military had been sent through Cuba into Madrid. They were hidden for all those years. When they unlocked them and started translating, it was the names of all these people who actually served for King Charles of Spain.

"My relatives were on there, and I was able to trace my lineage back through these people having served. They had been actually living in Louisiana - and they died in Louisiana," she said.

"Until the Jesuits started searching the records, we didn't really know the true involvement of Spain in the American Revolution. Now, there are 400 of us who have gotten into DAR under the Spanish history."

By the time Galvez led his forces against the British at Baton Rouge, Spain had formally declared war against Great Britain.

The fort was defended with 400 troops on Sept. 23, 1779. Galvez feigned an attack, and began pounding the British heavily with cannon fire early in the morning. At 3:30 p.m., the fort surrendered, and in the surrender the British also surrendered the fort at Natchez, assuming that an overwhelming force had been sent against them.

It helped Washington defeat the British in what was then the United States. England was finding that a second war on the continent was too expensive a price to pay, and their losses in battle to Washington already were heavy.

Galvez is credited not only with fighting in America, but with personally preparing peace agreements in Europe that England was willing to sign.

For Lusk, the old records that are being looked at anew enabled her to know that a soldier from the American Revolution was also one of her ancestors.

"None of my family knew anything about these people - it was all a big secret."

The 21st century King Charles of Spain has been accepted as a member of the Sons of the American Revolution. His ancestor from 1779, also named King Charles, was in the role of a kind of general, as it were, commanding war against the British on behalf of the colonists.

Other recognizable names that have been granted membership are Laura Bush, in the DAR, and former President George Bush and Gov. Rick Perry, members of the SAR.

Lusk only learned of her lineage in recent years. But it may be appropriate that she was born in Louisiana - born and raised in Baton Rouge.

It was where Pvt. Salvadore de Torres and Gen. Bernardo Galvez fought the British in the American Revolution.