Revolutionary War Service Expanded to Include Spanish Military on the Island of Cuba

Mary Anthony Startz, National Chair, Specialty Research Committee

March 8, 2023

DAR recently announced that women aged 18 or older who can prove lineal descent from an ancestor who served with the Spanish military on the Island of Cuba between December 1776 and November 1783 are now eligible for membership. This important change opens the opportunity of membership to more women of Spanish ancestry!

For almost one hundred years, DAR has accepted the service of Spanish Patriots for membership in the society. Initially approved service was for troops serving under General Bernardo de Gálvez and the support for the Gálvez Expedition. Overtime, service under Spain has been expanded to include many other service types, including the Canary Island recruits to Louisiana, cattle ranchers in Texas and some presidio soldiers who gave a Donativo. Now DAR will include the Spanish military and militia troops serving on the Island of Cuba from December 24, 1776, through November 26, 1783, as a service source for Spanish Patriots.

One might ask, why are we adding Cuba and why now?

There has been considerable scholarship written about Spain’s role to support the colonist during the last century, and it is important to now consider the larger role played by Spain militarily, financially and strategically. To provide a framework to include these individuals in Cuba, we have researched information that broadens the scope of the events to something larger than just Gálvez and his troops.

Gálvez reported to and took instructions from the Captain General in Cuba. The Captain General of Havana administered the whole area. While he shared concern for the activities of the British, from Jamaica to the Floridas and on the Mississippi River, he also had to be concerned with the rest of the area under Spanish control, especially Havana, the most important city and port of them all.

No one had more concern for the defense of Havana than did the naval officials. Any siege of the key port meant a direct naval confrontation……. The strategy was to attack Great Britain’s forces and possessions throughout the world. This strategy would thus force Great Britain to spread out its forces and overextend its defenses. The officials in Havana worried. Fear of an enemy attack on Havana was the time honored and deep-seated basis for all strategy in the area. Navy Commander Jose Solano wrote that Cuba was a key to the communication with various parts of the king’s domain in these West Indies.’¹

Events on the island of Cuba supported the American Colonists war effort and to thwart the British efforts.

‘Navarro, (Governor General in Cuba), oversaw Spain’s North American policies from his desk. All the supplies going to the colonies were sent from Havana to various delivery points, including New Orleans. He managed the budget for all the aid, subversive activity, and official governmental functions in Louisiana, as well as the Gulf region…. He also had to defend Havana.’ ²

Cuba was the center of the trade and transfer of money that funded the war and the salaries of French soldiers and sailors.

‘Juan de Miralles, a native of Spain and a prosperous merchant established in Havana, was sent from Havana in December of 1777 by Governor Diego Jose Navarro in fulfillment of a royal order to observe the activities of the Continental Congress and the progress of the war. He and his successor, Francisco Rendon, sent cargoes of food and naval stores as an excuse to remit reports. Temporary licenses were granted permitting the regular importation of foodstuffs from the United States. These regulations were in effect until January 1784. Trade between the United States and Cuba helped not only to supply the Spanish and French armed forces but provided virtually the only currency in specie obtained in the North American colonies before the arrival of Rochambeau’s French army in July of 1780.’ ³

‘Spanish money and supplies flowing through New Orleans under Gálvez’s supervision became so extensive that Spanish money had completely boosted Continental currency and became fairly commonplace among the colonies.’ ⁴

American ships were entering and leaving the port of Havana trading and taking supplies back to the colonies. Kristine Sjostrom, our Espana Chapter member and researcher in Seville, Spain, has found ship lists for the months of May and June 1782 with forty American ships leaving Havana for American ports with destinations all along the continental seaboard from Boston, Salem, New York, Providence, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Virginia, North and South Carolina. Cargos included gun powder, iron, flour, ‘groceries’ and troops.

Spain saw its neutral position as an opportunity to support the colonies clandestinely while France openly declared war. The fact that Spain did not have a treaty with the colonies has in the past been given as a reason to limit service to Spanish military, yet it’s very act of neutrality allowed it’s support to be even greater than the French support. ‘Spain should observe a perfect neutrality between the two belligerents. In fact, Navarro reiterated the necessity of maintaining the appearance of neutrality in a letter to Gálvez.’ ⁵

As our society truly wishes to ‘open doors and new avenues for membership’ for more diverse women including women of Hispanic descent, the consideration of additional areas of service under the Spanish crown will be reviewed. We recognize, just as with French or other countries military service, not all serving in the Spanish military at the time can be considered, however there are areas of service, like the Island of Cuba, that can now be included. At just over one million, Cuban Americans are still Florida's largest Hispanic group, making up about a third of the state's Latinos, according to the Census' American Community Survey.

To learn more about Spain’s role in our war for independence and the current service sources, view the two new webinars on our Spanish research landing page on the Members’ Website. In addition, the landing page has a list of eligible Spanish soldiers serving in Cuba and instructions for searching the Spanish military archive. For more information, please contact the National Vice Chair for Spanish Research Molly Fernandez de Mesa at [email protected].

1- Chavez, Thomas E. Spain and the Independence of the United States Albuquerque University of New Mexico Press, 2002 pages 27 -28.

2- Chavez, Thomas E. Spain and the Independence of the United States Albuquerque University of New Mexico Press, 2002 page 101.

3- Saavedra de Sangronis, Don Francisco The Journal of Don Francisco Saavedra de Sangronis 1780 – 1783 translated by Aileen Moore Topping University of Florida Press, Gainesville, 1989, page 106 – 107.

4- Chavez, Thomas E. Spain and the Independence of the United States Albuquerque University of New Mexico Press, 2002 page 108

5- Chavez, Thomas E. Spain and the Independence of the United States Albuquerque University of New Mexico Press, 2002 page 107 -108.

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