How Global Conflict Influenced the Outcome
of the American War for Independence
and Postwar World Development

by Granville W. Hough

King Carlos' Personal Representative Expedites War in the West Indies
Don Francisco Saavedra de Sangronis was personal representative of King Carlos III in the West Indies (endnote 4). His journal, only recently translated (1989), notes that on the way to Havana in late 1780, his ship was captured by the British, who accepted his claim to be a Spanish merchant and took him to Jamaica. They put him on parole, giving him an opportunity to get around in the country where he quietly studied its defenses. In early 1781, he was finally able to get put aboard a ship to Cuba and immediately began to carry out his mission. His mandate was to speak as the King and do the following in priority: (1) capture Pensacola; (2) remit rapidly to Spain all funds possible; (3) to assist the president of Guatemals to expel the English from Nicaragua; (4) and in conjunction with the French, conquer Jamaica. He galvanized Spanish authorities to reinforce General Matías Gálvez in Central America and General Bernardo Gálvez at Pensacola. He personally went to Pensacola, where he took part in the final part of the Siege and in the negotiations.



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National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution