It wasn’t just an Anglo war

It should not come as any surprise that people we would now think of as Latinos were involved in the fight for U.S. independence.

Some of the places we now think of as U.S. states were originally Spanish colonies, which means there were people with ties and loyalties to Spain on this continent when the disputes between England and its colonies on the Atlantic coast devolved into a shooting war in 1775.

MANY OF THOSE people were willing to give their support in the form of rations and weapons (and occasional manpower) to their English-colonist neighbors on the continent.

And when in 1779 it became apparent that these English colonists might very well be able to hold out against the British army (they defeated the British at Saratoga, N.Y.), Spain itself declared war against England on June 21 – maintaining that status until the day that England recognized independence for the fledgling United States.

Those of us who are working the barbecue grills on Saturday to cook up some carne asada (rather than some weenies or overly-fatty ground beef) have just as much a right to think of this as our holiday as anyone else in this country.

I feel compelled to say this because I think back to my own U.S. history courses in school that told us about the great French support for the colonists’ effort, and also mentioned various names of Prussians and Poles who helped out. Lafayette, Pulaski and Von Stuben are just a few of the names I can recall from grammar school history.

BUT WHAT ABOUT Bernardo de Gàlvez, the colonial governor in New Orleans who helped sabotage British Navy efforts to gain control of the Mississippi River, then later organized a militia of Spanish loyalists, native Indian tribes and freed slaves that overcame British forces in places ranging from Baton Rouge, La., Mobile, Ala., and Pensacola, Fla.

He wasn’t alone. There were many people on this continent whose ethnic background was Spanish who recalled the recent loss in the Seven Years War of the 1750s and the loss of the colony of “Florida.” Aside from manpower, there were supplies and firearms provided by them toward the English colonists’ attempt at revolution.

It may have been a case of “the Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend” that encouraged them to take a dig or two at the British, but support was still support. Without that foreign support, there wouldn’t be a United States these days.

And for those of you who like to make half-witted cracks about the French and surrendering, keep in mind that if it were true, we’d likely be treating this like a typical Saturday (instead of a day in which you got to leave work early yesterday) and there’d probably be a British history book devoting a paragraph or two to such “terrorists” as Jefferson, Franklin and Washington.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: For those of you who are interested in reading a recitation of Spanish-tinged names that helped support the revolutionary movement that spurred (http://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=refugio_rochin) creation of the United States, one can check out this study – particularly pages 12 and 13.