Hispanic America USA
Reenactment Organizations
Copyright (c) 1996-97 All Rights Reserved

The Newsletters of Spanish
Colonial Living History

     by Richard Collins
 
 
 

Spanish Colonial living history is a relatively new and important phenomenon. While 18th century Revolutionary War and French and Indian War reenactment has been popular since 1976, reenacting the Spanish Colonial period has remained limited. Spanish living history, like Spanish history itself, in the United States has long been neglected. Most Americans are not aware of the role of Spain in the settling of the New World, nor are they cognizant of the important contributions of Spain to the defeat of the British during the American Revolution. In his book, Entrada, Bernard Fontana suggests an underlying prejudice toward Hispanics as cause of part of that ignorance. Certainly the Leyenda Negra, or "Black Legend", so strongly touted by the Protestant governments of the Old World helped suppress Spain's contribution to American history.

Fortunately, Hispanics are proclaiming their ancestors' role in the United States. And the reenacting community is seeing an upsurge in Spanish Colonial Living history. In California, Florida, and Arizona the presidios are hosting Spanish soldiers and civilians. Even the eastern United States is seeing Spanish reenactors at Williamsburg and around Baltimore. In October of 1995 a statue of Bernardo de Galvez was officially dedicated in Washington D.C. and Congress is considering creating a day in his honor.

Recognition of the contribution of Hispanics in the United States is long overdue, and the reenacting community's embrace of the Colonial period is an important milestone.

Las Cosas de la Frontera

1779 was the year Spain declared war on England and officially stepped into the Revolutionary War on the side of the upstart American colonies.

1779 and 1780 saw an epidemic of smallpox at Tumacacori in present day Arizona.

En Las Provincias


Between 1771 and 1776 Indian depredations in Chihuahua caused 1,674 deaths, 154 captured, 116 haciendas abandoned, and the loss of 66,355 major livestock
livestock and 1,901 small animals.

Influencia España

One of the oldest European settlements in the U.S. is Spanish Santa Elena,
founded in 1566 in what is now South Carolina.

An Incident in the Pimeria 


In 1776, Captain Francisco de Tovar established the presidio of Santa Cruz River de Terrenate along the banks of the San Pedro River in present day southeastern Arizona. The post was in the traditional homelands of the Chiricahua Apaches, and almost immediately the Apaches began to harass the newcomers. Isolated soldiers and settlers out gathering wood or water, tending crops or guarding the horses were
invariably attacked.

When on July 7, 1776 a large group of Apaches appeared before the presidio, Captain Tovar decided to teach them a lesson. Sallying forth with his troopers to punish the invaders, Tovar ran into a well conceived ambush. Inexplicably, he ordered his
troopers to dismount and fight on foot.

Encumbered by their heavy leather cueras and adargas the Spaniards were at a distinct disadvantage. By days end Tovar and 29 of his troopers lay dead and the Apaches had gained one of their most striking victories. . . .from a paper by Mark Santiago. .


 
Majorca bread is hard bread, essentially the "hard tack"used by American Civil Warreenactors, but round in shape.Majorca bread, made of wheat flour, was commonly carried by Spanish troops on the march.

Between 1779 and 1785, Marshall Bernardo de Galvez, Govenor of the Spanish Louisiana, which extended from Texas to Florida and up into Georgia, defeated the British in Baton Rouge, Mobile, Pensacola, St. Louis and St. Joseph, Michigan. These victories relieved British pressure on General George Washington's armies and opened supply lines for money and military goods from Spain, France, Cuba, and Mexico. Galvez's heroic exploits greatly helped the cause of the American Revolution and the need to be recognized. the State of Texas named Galveston after him and statues of the Marshall can be seen in Galveston, New Orleans and Washington, D.C.

from the Hispanics in the American Revolution Homepage

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