SPAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. The contribution of the Spanish and their Army to the emergence of a nation.
Two hundred and fifty years have passed since the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America, and among the activities organized to commemorate this event, the memory of those Hispanics who traversed its untamed lands should not be omitted, those who strove to civilize them with scarce resources but with unwavering will, and who ultimately stood alongside the Americans in the birth of the new nation. We hope that this exhibition will help preserve the legacy of those generations.
The history of the United States of America has been told primarily by the descendants of the Thirteen English Colonies that declared their independence from the United Kingdom of Great Britain on July 4, 1776. This is why the role of the Spanish in the emergence of this nation went unnoticed, although there have always been North American voices that have claimed the importance of the Hispanic legacy.
At the end of the 19th century, some writers, such as Charles Fletcher Lummis, were astonished by the scope of Spanish exploration of the Americas, which he described as "the greatest, longest, and most marvelous series of exploits recorded in history." Other American authors, setting aside their preconceived notions against Spain, have highlighted a shared history that deserves to be known and understood within its context.
In this temporary exhibition organized by the Army Museum, the visitor has the opportunity to enter an exhibition space where three historical moments of that close relationship between Spain and the United States are presented in a concise manner.
In the first part, we delve into "A Time of Exploration: Legends Behind the Legend," dedicated to the Spanish expeditions to what is now the United States. The search for lands rich in precious metals spurred the Spanish to explore the American regions at higher latitudes, eventually reaching such significant places as the Mississippi River, the Grand Canyon, and, in the 18th century, Alta California and Alaska. These expeditions were fueled by legends of mythical cities, the thirst for wealth, and the sense of honor of the early explorers, who traversed vast distances across a rugged landscape inhabited by tribal groups not always receptive to Spanish civilizing influence. Ultimately, the Spanish embarked on a large-scale and protracted enterprise.
The second part, entitled "TIME OF CONSOLIDATION: THE DIFFICULT LIFE ON THE NORTHERN FRONTIER OF THE HISPANIC WORLD," is devoted to the strategy of occupying and controlling a wild frontier that the Spanish tried to defend with scarce resources. The colonization of the territories that today make up the United States progressed very slowly until the 18th century. It was the era of the presidio and the mission, of leather-clad soldiers and itinerant friars—men and women who gave substance to that Hispanic frontier of North America, bringing ways of life and the Christian religion to an inhospitable space, prone to miscegenation, where Native Americans and Europeans could coexist peacefully, and where, at other times, war could erupt in any of its various forms. But despite the conflicts and shortcomings of the Hispanic civilizing model, its legislation concerning the natives was "incomparably more extensive, more comprehensive, more systematic, and more humane than that of Great Britain, the colonies, and the United States combined," as Lummis reminds us again.
The final section of the exhibition takes us to "A Time of Revolutions: The Birth of a Giant" and focuses on the role of the Spanish and their armies during the American Revolution. With Great Britain being the main rival of the Spanish monarchy in the 18th century, it seemed logical that Spain would aid the rebels of the Thirteen Colonies when they rose up against their mother country. However, this aid was delivered in secret, with military equipment, clothing, and medicine being sent to George Washington's Continental Army through the governors of Louisiana. The formal declaration of war in 1779 allowed Bernardo de Gálvez to conduct his brilliant campaigns in the Lower Mississippi and West Florida, paving the way for American success. With the American Revolution over, a giant was born that, as the Count of Aranda intuited, constituted a threat to the future of the Spanish possessions in North America, although the Peace of Paris sealed, for the moment, the end of the war and consolidated the bonds of friendship between the first American president George Washington and the monarch Charles III of Spain.