The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Galvez, Bernardo, count de

GALVEZ, Bernardo, count de, a Spanish soldier and statesman, born in Malaga in 1756, died in Mexico, Nov. 30, 1786. He was the son of Don Matias de Galvez, his predecessor as viceroy, and nephew of José de Galvez, marquis of Sonora, visitor of Mexico from 1761 to 1769, and subsequently minister general of the Indies. He served in France and in the Algerine expedition, rose to the rank of colonel, and was made governor of Louisiana July 10, 1776. During the American revolution he gave the Americans aid for operations at a distance from Louisiana, on the frontiers of Virginia and Pennsylvania and on the northwest, but did not permit them to operate against any English posts near him. When Spain joined in the war, Galvez in 1779 raised an army and took from the English Fort Manchac, Baton Rouge, and Fort Panmure at Natchez. In March, 1780, he took Mobile, and on March 9, 1781, he appeared before Pensacola with Solano's fleet, bearing an army of 5,000 men, and on May 10 compelled Gen. Campbell to surrender. He was created a count, and in 1784 appointed captain general of Cuba, Louisiana, and the two Floridas; but as his father's death in 1784 left his post vacant, he was made viceroy of Mexico, retaining the captain-generalcy of Louisiana and Florida. He was so regardless of stiff official Spanish dignity that he gave offence in Spain, and his erection of the palace of Chapultepec excited suspicion, and led to such vexations and annoyances that he fell sick and died of chagrin after a brief administration.