April to 7 May 1781
Pensacola: the siege lines
In early April O’Neill’s scouts reconnoitre the British works. Fort George, an earthwork with a palisade, stands above the town. The Prince of Wales Redoubt lies north of it, and the Queen’s Redoubt, which the Spanish call the Crescent, stands further out to the north-west. The Spanish dig trenches and batteries towards the Crescent and build a covered road against British grapeshot and shells.
Spanish plan of Pensacola, Fort George and the British works under attack, drawn by Francisco de Planas, May 1781Wikimedia Commons, Francisco de Planas, CC BY 4.0 (Ar.J-T.1-C.4 79.jpg)
Gálvez is wounded on 12 April, and José de Ezpeleta takes command in the field. On 19 April a fleet appears at the bay: the Spanish and French squadron from Havana under José Solano and François-Aymar de Monteil, with 1,700 sailors and 1,600 soldiers, which raises the army to about 8,000 men. Choctaw warriors attack the siege works on 19 and 24 April, and on 26 April a sortie from the Queen’s Redoubt is driven back.
The Spanish batteries open fire on 30 April. A hurricane on 5 and 6 May forces the fleet away from the coast and floods the trenches, and the army holds its lines.
Sources
- John W. Caughey, Bernardo de Gálvez in Louisiana, 1776–1783 (1998).
- Bernardo de Gálvez, Diario de las operaciones de la expedición contra la plaza de Panzacola (1781).
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