José Ferre-Clauzel (b. 1961)

Rgt. Luisiana Español Fijo [1781] Battala Pensacola

Oil on canvas

 2015

Signed to lower left. Reverse signed, titled, and dated with decal. 

Visible 23 13/16 x 19 3/8 in., framed to 25 1/4 x 20 7/8 in.

Spanish troops arrive on the shores of Pensacola, led by their drummer boy and standard bearer, the regimental colors reading "Honor et Fidelitas" wave amid the smoke of musket fire.The troops of the Louisiana Infantry Regiment advance wearing white and blue uniforms. Spanish ships docked in bay are visible in the far distance. 

In the early days of the American Revolution, Spanish King Charles III decided that covert assistance to the United States would be strategically useful, but did not enter into a formal alliance. 

They initially traded with the Americans for desperately needed supplies, as the British blockade shut off colonial ports. The Spanish control of New Orleans and the Mississippi River, however, was unimpeded. In 1779, Bernardo de Gálvez seized the province of West Florida (also known as the Florida Parishes) from the British. 

Finally, on 21 June 1779, Spain formally declared war on Great Britain, and Gálvez won a series of victories against British colonial forces, including the Battle of Baton Rouge, which freed the lower Mississippi Valley and relieved New Orleans from the British threat. The most important military victory was the capture of Pensacola, the capital of West Florida, by land and sea on 8 May 1781. 

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