DURING our semiquincentennial, our 250th anniversary, it is appropriate to remember our friends and allies who were instrumental in our winning our independence from the British. It is true the French and Spanish both had ulterior motives in supporting our revolution, but the bottom line is the war for independence might have gone on longer than it did or we might have ended up not becoming politically independent from the UK until 1982 along with Canada. This from Smithsonian Magazine reminding us of Spain's help in gaining our independence. It is followed by an article from The Daily Beast documenting another of NOT MY pres drumpf's/trump's tantrums, this one at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey because Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez will not kow-tow to him and is not an ass licker like NATO's Secretary General Mark Rutte is. Thank you Spain and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez!
Quick facts: Other Spaniards who fought for the Americans
- Spanish diplomat Francisco de Saavedra secured funds and supplies for the patriots.
- Admiral Luis de Córdova y Córdova captured British ships and participated in the 1781 Siege of Pensacola alongside Gálvez.
This Spanish Officer Besieged the British During the American Revolution, Giving George Washington Time to Plan a Pivotal Attack
Bernardo de Gálvez indirectly contributed to the Continental Army’s victory at the 1781 Siege of Yorktown. A rare painting of him is now on view at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery
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Featuring a portrait of Gálvez has long been on Caragol’s wish list. In 2025, the Portrait Gallery secured a long-term loan of the painting from Iberdrola, a Spanish energy company that boasts a rich collection of art. Iberdrola also oversees the Unveiling Memories project, which promotes greater recognition of Spanish and Hispanic contributions to American independence.
Gálvez’s portrait was painted by José Nicolás de Escalera, a late-18th-century Cuban artist known for his religious pieces and likenesses of eminent figures. In the work, Gálvez looks resplendent in a brocaded Spanish military uniform with embroidered sleeves that signify his recently awarded rank of lieutenant general. Pinned to his left breast is a cross that he received when he was knighted by Charles III of Spain in 1777. Gálvez holds a letter from his father, Matías de Gálvez, congratulating him on an earlier military promotion.
Matías, captain general of Guatemala and later viceroy of New Spain, wrote to his son, saying, “The happiness of your conquests is due to God and your advancement to the king; be thus grateful to both majesties to count on the blessing of your loving father.”
The younger Gálvez had ascended to the governorship of Louisiana in 1777, at age 30. Louisiana was crucial to the Spanish Empire’s fortunes and imperial desires, says Larrie D. Ferreiro, a historian at George Mason University and the author of Brothers at Arms: American Independence and the Men of France and Spain Who Saved It. In the late 18th century, New Orleans was the focal point for Spanish merchants transporting goods from the Caribbean. Spain wanted to maintain control of the Gulf, as well as shipping up and down the Mississippi River.
But the British were encroaching on this territory through fortified outposts in Baton Rouge, Mobile and Pensacola, all located in the recently formed colony of British West Florida.
The French had a vested interest in trade along the Mississippi, too. After losing the Seven Years’ War a decade and a half earlier, France had ceded most of its North American colonies to the British. Now, the French wanted revenge.
France and its ally Spain moved in lockstep when it came to Britain. Thanks to spies in New Orleans and elsewhere, “they knew that the Americans were eventually going to rebel against the British,” Ferreiro says. The European nations’ plan “was to foster unrest and supply the Americans.” Doing so would distract British forces and “keep the British on the back foot,” the historian adds.
Initially, Gálvez helped facilitate the transfer of supplies and munitions up the Mississippi to the rebels. Then, in June 1779, Spain declared war on Britain. Gálvez recruited a band of soldiers, including Cubans, Mexicans, Spaniards, Creoles, Acadians, Native Americans and free Black Americans, to fight alongside him. Later that year, the men marched up to Baton Rouge, where they routed the British from their outpost. Then in 1780, Gálvez and his troops captured Mobile—another important British holding—after a two-week siege.
Pensacola was the last target standing. A major port for the British Empire’s Caribbean trade, the town was a “dagger in the heart of Spanish trade,” Ferreiro says.
The Spanish wanted Pensacola for themselves, and Gálvez “was their guy,” the historian explains—not necessarily because of his military experience, but because he could be trusted, in the absence of formal direct communication, to carry out the wishes of the king. “He knew what the crown was after,” Ferreiro says.
In March 1781, Gálvez and his multicultural band of troops sailed into Pensacola Bay. At the end of the two-month-long siege, the British surrendered.
Gálvez’s victory bought George Washington time to plan the Continental Army’s attack on Yorktown, Virginia, in the fall of 1781. After their defeat at Pensacola, the British no longer had “much in the way of naval forces in the Caribbean,” Ferreiro says—a fact that allowed the French to move much of their fleet from that region up to the Chesapeake Bay to assist the rebels.
The sieges in British West Florida and Virginia “really have to be thought of in the same paragraph, if not the same sentence, because the victory at Yorktown really was the result of the victory at Pensacola,” even if Gálvez himself wasn’t present for the British surrender at Yorktown, Ferreiro says.
Gálvez and his contributions to the American Revolution are perhaps best known in the South, where cities, streets and plazas are named in his honor. Overall, however, the Spanish military leader has not been as widely acknowledged as many other Europeans who fought alongside the Americans, such as the Marquis de Lafayette.
In 2014, Congress granted Gálvez honorary citizenship, recognizing his key role in helping to establish the U.S. That same year, a portrait of him was hung in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee room. It was painted by the Spanish artist Carlos Monserrate and is a modern reproduction of a circa 1784 Gálvez portrait attributed to Mariano Salvador Maella.
Caragol says that this later portrait was likely inspired by the de Escalera painting now on display at the Portrait Gallery. By 1784, Gálvez had become a heroic figure in Spain, briefly returning home after the Revolution’s end, only to be recalled to America and eventually serve as the viceroy of New Spain. He died of an illness in Mexico City in 1786, at age 40.
The de Escalera painting was essential in establishing Gálvez’s image, says Caragol. Now, visitors can view that portrait in person and gain a clearer sense of what Gálvez represents.
Caragol says that she hopes viewers gain an understanding of the Revolution “in broader terms,” realizing that the fight for independence wasn’t solely an American cause. In truth, people from all over the world offered the patriots assistance in overthrowing the British.
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President Donald Trump erupted at one of America’s closest allies after it defied his demands to ramp up military spending.
NATO partners Spain and the U.S. have been at odds over defense spending and the war in Iran.
Trump has called on NATO members to increase their defense spending to 5 percent of their annual GDP by 2035, but Spain is the sole NATO member yet to sign up to that target—a decision Trump called “terrible.”
Spain increased defense spending from 1.4 percent of GDP in 2021 to 2.1 percent in 2025, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, but it still trails most of its European allies.
Madrid also declined to allow the U.S. use of its airspace and military bases for operations linked to the conflict with Iran, putting it increasingly at odds with Washington.
Trump stepped up the feud this week during a press conference with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the NATO summit in Turkey.
“Spain is a wasted cause. We don’t want to do any trade business with Spain anymore,” Trump declared.
“Spain is a terrible partner in NATO. They don’t participate, they don’t pay. I don’t want to have anything to do with Spain. Cut off all trade with Spain, please, including visits… Watch them come running back,” he said, appearing to address Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
“We don’t have to trade with them. I don’t want to do any more trade with them, alright? Immediately. Don’t talk to them, they’re hopelessly bad people.”
Trump added, “Let’s see how hostile they remain when they call up and they, ‘Please, please. We want to trade with you, sir. We want to trade with you, sir.’ They make so much money with us and we’re going to see that they make a lot less. I want no business with them.”
Rutte responded by reminding Trump that Spain had increased its defense spending, while signaling that more work lies ahead. “You got Spain to pay 2 percent. They spent, they made a huge step in last year,” Rutte told the president, before adding that there were still “issues we have to solve” with Spain.
It is not the first time Trump has threatened to cut off trade with Spain.
A previous threat from Trump in March failed to produce any major fallout, with commercial ties between the U.S. and Spain carrying on uninterrupted.
It is also unclear how Trump plans to unilaterally cut off trade with Spain, and even if he is able to follow through on his remarks, it would likely have little impact on Spain’s economy.
Spain does not rely heavily on the United States for trade. In 2025, about 4.9 percent of Spain’s exports went to the U.S., worth roughly €18 billion ($20.5 billion).
The U.S., meanwhile, exported about €23 billion ($26.2 billion) worth of goods to Spain, meaning the U.S. operates a large trade surplus with Spain.
And while Spain is the world’s second-most popular tourist destination after France, welcoming a record 96.8 million international visitors in 2025, only a small portion of those tourists come from the U.S.,
In 2024, 4.2 million American tourists visited Spain.
Despite Trump’s remarks, the Spanish government sought to downplay the dispute, with a spokesperson for socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez saying relations with the U.S. remain strong across economic, cultural, and social ties, Reuters reported.
Spain’s Health Minister Monica Garcia, however, fired back at Trump.
“We are a sovereign, democratic country that defends multilateralism and peace,” she said on X. “What’s terrible is confusing diplomacy with bullying.”
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