The Governor, Lieutenant Governor,
President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Delegates of the State of
Maryland, surrounded by Hispanic leaders -many of whom were instrumental in the
passing of the resolution- on the day of the signature of the Joint Resolution
of the State of Maryland on the Role of Hispanics in the American Revolution
MARYLAND STATE RESOLUTION ON THE ROLE PLAYED BY HISPANICS IN THE ACHIEVEMENT OF
AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE
16 March, 1996
WHEREAS, the Independence of the United Staes of America was achieved not only
due to the efforts of American patriots, but also to the assistance of foreign
governments, soldiers and individuals who supported them, and
WHEREAS, in spite of being an important factor in the victory, the participation
of Hispanics in the War of Independence is not mentioned in the history
textbooks of this nation, and
WHEREAS, thousands of Hispanics fought the British and their allies during the
American Revolution in what today is the United States, winning crucial battles
which eased the pressure of the Crown's forces against the armies of General
George Washington, and
WHEREAS, Spanish Louisiana Governors, don Luis de Unzaga and don Bernardo de
Gálvez, provided assistance to the revolutionary governments of Maryland,
Pennsylvania and Virginia in the forms of arms, war materiel and funds to wage
campaigns and protect themselves against the British, and
WHEREAS, this assistance allowed American General George Rogers Clark to wage
his successful campaigns west of those colonies and also was instrumental in
preventing the British from capturing Forts Pitt and Henry in Pennsylvania and
Virginia respectively, which guarded the last leg of the only remaining major
patriot supply route at the time, that which originated in Spanish New Orleans,
traversed the Mississippi and Ohio rivers and ended overland in Philadelphia,
and
WHEREAS, don Juan de Miralles, a wealthy Spanish merchant established in Havana,
Cuba, was appointed as a royal envoy of King Carlos III of Spain to the United
States in 1778, and while traveling with his secretary, don Francisco Rendón, to
the revolutionary capital of Philadelphia, he initiated the direct shipment of
supplies from Cuba to Baltimore, Maryland; Charleston, South Carolina; and
Philadelphia, aside from making significant stopovers in Williamsburg, Virginia
and in North Carolina, and
WHEREAS, after Spain declared war on Britain in June, 1779, the victories of
General Don Bernardo de Gálvez in the lower Mississippi and at Baton Rouge,
Mobile and Pensacola dismantled British resupply of close to 10,000 Native
American warriors who were a major concern for General Washington because of the
raids they had been carrying out in the western areas of the colonies, and
WHEREAS, the Maryland Loyalist Regiment, a force comprised of Marylanders from
the Eastern Shore, was also defeated and captured during the campaigns of
General Gálvez, and
WHEREAS, the victories of General Gálvez resulted, additionally, in the capture
of four other British Regiments including the Pennsylvania Loyalists, the elite
British 60th Foot also known as the Royal Americans, the British 16th Foot, and
the German Waldeck Regiment, and
WHEREAS, fighting under the command of General Gálvez were men from Spain, Cuba,
México, Santo Domingo, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Costa Rica as well as from the
United States, France, Germany, Italy and Native American Nations such as the
Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Creek, and
WHEREAS, the United States Senate has recognized that the actions of those men
and their brave commander were very important for the triumph of American
efforts in the Carolinas and Georgia, and also for the final vistory against
Lord Charles Cornwallis in Yorktown, Virginia, and
WHEREAS, the success of the French and American armies at Yorktown would have
been difficult to achieve without the donation of 500,000 pounds tournois that
were collected in six hours by prominent citizens of Havana, Cuba, for the
campaign, and without an additional 1,000,000 pounds that were subsequently
donated by King Carlos III of Spain for the same purpose, and
WHEREAS, the Yorktown campaign not only consisted of a siege by land but also by
sea, undertaken by the French fleet under Admiral de Grasse, whose ships had
been readied and supplied with 100,000 pesos from the Spanish colonies of Santo
Domingo and Puerto Rico that were handed over by Spanish authorities to the
French for said purpose, and
WHEREAS, an important element in the French naval victory at the Battle of the
Virginia Capes, which sealed the fate of Lord Cornwallis army at Yorktown, was
the numerical superiority enjoyed by Admiral de Grasse's fleet, which resulted
from a Spanish naval squadron taking over the protection of the French colonies
in the Caribbean to allow the Admiral the benefit of maintaining his fleet
intact, and, thus, obtain the superiority in numbers deemed necessary to defeat
the British, and
WHEREAS, hardly any of these Hispanic contributions to American independence are
mentioned in the current history textbooks of this nation, be it RESOLVED, that
the Legislature of Maryland acknowledges the pivotal role of Spain and Spanish
America in the triumph of the American Revolution, and also recognizes General
Bernardo de Gálvez and his men for their significant contributions and
achievements in this respect, and, be it further
RESOLVED that the Legislature of Maryland hereby urges historians nation-wide to
a deeper examination and dissemination of the role played by Hispanics in the
accomplishment of American Independence as well as in the development and
progress of the United States in general, and that the study of these
contributions be made an integral part of the Social Studies and History courses
taught in the State of Maryland. |
