[Granville-Hough] 25 Mar 2009 - Spain in Revolutionary War

[Trustees and Executors for Granville W. Hough]

225th Anniversary of SpainÂ’s Entry into the Revolutionary War (2004).

  On 21 June 1779, King Carlos III of Spain declared war on England and
thus made official his support of Americans in their struggle for
independence.  Clandestine support had already been provided for three
years, but afterwards support was open and direct.

  In the past few weeks (2004), my daughter and I have been studying 
documents
of the Continental Congress looking for names of American mariners.  We
found the reports of Arthur Lee, and the 1777/79 manifests of twelve
vessels which were loaded out from Cadiz, Spain, with war supplies
headed for Boston and Philadelphia.  (Papers of the Continental
Congress, Records Group M0247, Item #83, Roll 110, “Letters Received
from Arthur Lee, 1776-1780,”).  This was pre-war, but vital to the
American effort.

Records such as these have rarely been studied by American historians,
as emphasis has been on French support and participation.  Few Americans
know that:
1. Early French support included fifty/fifty Spanish/French
participation, with Spain as a silent partner, so any so-called French
support received before June 1779 should be reanalyzed.  This applies to 
almost all the Beaumarchais ships and supplies.
2. Francisco Saavedra de Sangronis was personal representative for King
Carlos III, and he negotiated the de Grass/Saavedra Accord in Jul 1781
which governed Spanish/French conduct of the war in the Western
Hemisphere.
3. Saavedra was personally responsible for arranging the financing for
the Chesapeake Bay operations which resulted in Yorktown.  (Yorktown was
thus the result of Spanish financing of cooperative efforts of the
French Expeditionary Force of Rochambeau, the de Grasse Fleet,the French
Colonial troops of the Caribbean,  and the American
forces under Washington.)
4. The victory at Yorktown was made secure by the West Indies strategies
of Spain and France, resulting from the de Grass/Saavedra Accord. 
England was forced into a defensive strategy, as
Jamaica was the big target for Spain.  The French Expeditionary Force
was moved in 1782/83 from Boston to Venezuela to participate in
the invasion of Jamaica.  Spanish General Bernardo de Gálvez gathered in
Haiti a 10,000 man Spanish force waiting to invade.
5. For two years, England held on, negotiating for the best possible
peace terms.  She held four invasion bases in North America (Charleston,
New York, Penobscot Bay, and Detroit); but it was to no avail.  She was
out of manpower.  The focus in the Western Hemisphere became holding
Canada and the West Indies.

It can be accurately said that what put us over the top at Yorktown was
Spanish money, as de Grasse told Saavedra plainly that he could not sail
there without money and only Spain had it.

It can also be accurately stated that what made Yorktown significant and
secured it as the last great land battle in America was the British
preoccupation with defending the West Indies (particularly Jamaica)
against  Spanish and French invasion.

So we owe the Spanish people for their contributions to our freedom.  It
is a debt we should not forget.

Now, we can fast-forward to events of year 2004 when our Spanish allies
led a withdrawal of forces supporting us in Iraq.  What the Spanish said
in effect was:  “"We can no longer agree with you on why we are in this
war, and we do not agree with the way you are conducting the post-war
occupation."”  When an old ally leads a withdrawal for these reasons,
even the most dim-witted planner in Washington should begin to take notice.
SpainÂ’'s action really marked a turning point, and we have been trying
very hard ever since to make different approaches work.

So our Spanish allies have most likely done us another service in 2004
by pointing out errors of our actions in Iraq.

Granville W. Hough

P. S. 1, How can we stop the killing of our friends and fellow
Christians in Mexico?  As I try to understand the revolution there,
killing more people than we are in the Middle East, I advocate two
things: 1.  Stop the flow of any weapons from the US to the outside
world.  2.  Remove the illegal market we have established for drugs.