ABSTRACT
King Charles III appointed Jose de Galvez to the so-called Secretaría de Estado y del Despacho Universal de Indias or “Universal Ministry of the Indies” in January 1776, approximately seven months after the Battle of Bunker Hill. Preparedness was Jose de Galvez’s first rule of conduct before the American Revolution. In his first month in office, he began assessing the nature of the conflict and addressing the dangers of an increased British military presence in the Americas. Of relatively humble and provincial origins, Jose de Galvez worked twenty years as a lawyer at the Spanish court. Once in Cuba, Jose de Galvez’s envoy found the army and navy generals busy organizing the third expedition to Pensacola. A few days after the capture of Pensacola Saavedra returned to Havana and found news of another lobbying success of Jose de Galvez at the court: Bernardo de Galvez had been named head of the Spanish Army of Operations in early 1781.
