The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 38, July 1934 - April, 1935 Page: 302

302 Southwestern Historical Quarterly
BOOK REVIEWS AND NOTICES
Bernardo de Galvez in Louisiana, 1776-1783. By John Walton
Caughey. (Berkeley: University of California Press,
1934. Pp. xii, 290.)
The book reviewed here is divided into two parts. The first,
called "The Background," contains three chapters which furnish
an introduction to the main part of the book; the second, called
"Galvez' Administration," covers eleven chapters which concern
themselves with the general executive work of a man whose ac-
tivity counted for much in the cause of American independence.
The preface states that, as governor of Louisiana, Galvez "dealt
with the regular problems of a frontier province, those of regu-
lating trade, controlling the Indians, encouraging settlement and
agriculture, and strengthening the military defenses." Such were
the normal duties of a Spanish colonial governor. But Galvez
was governor during a time when Spain was at war with England
in the "major contest in the series of international rivalries in
colonial America." During the first three years of his official
tenure there was peace between Spain and England; nevertheless,
Galvez used that time to lend "liberal assistance to the American
Revolutionists . . operating in the West." The sixth chap-
ter recounts the aid given the Americans during this period, and
lists George Rogers Clark, Oliver Pollock, an interesting char-
ter in trans-Allegheny history, and Bernardo de Galvez as the
triumvirate to whom the honors are due for the success which the
American Revolution had in the West. Willing's expedition from
Fort Pitt down the Mississippi is the subject of the seventh chap-
ter and depicts James Willing's descent upon Natchez to forestall
if not destroy loyalist activity there, his seizure of certain Eng-
lish loyalists, and his welcome in New Orleans by Galvez. The
eighth chapter, entitled "Preparations for War," is a prelude to
Spain's open warfare on the English in the struggle for the Mis-
sissippi. This struggle had by 1781 become a "duel . . . set-
tled in favor of Spain" and made Spain dominant "on the east-
ern bank of the Mississippi below the Ohio." The incidents rela-
tive to the capture of Mobile and Pensacola form the basis for
a group of three chapters. As a reward for these accomplish-
ments, Galvez was first made "Governor of Louisiana and Mobile"