Tag: 2/24/1776

  • British People Noticing Things–February 24, 1776

    Cover art for February 24, 1776: "Entrada al Castillo de San Antón [Entrance to the Castle at St. Antón]", in La Coruña, Spain. Uploaded by "Marcus", via Wikimedia and used under Creative Commons under SA 3.0

    A Coruña is a coastal city in northeastern Spain that’s often stylized as La Coruña, as Mike says in this episode. Its location makes it an ideal port for trade with other nations, and the American Colonies was no exception.

    Now, France gets a lot of attention for the assistance they gave us during the Revolution, but Spain was at least as helpful as France was. They were just quieter about it. So it was probably just a matter of time before some British officials noticed ships in the Spanish harbors that appeared to be engaging in more than your typical trade. What’s more, the presence of Dutch materiel suggested that Spain may have been acting as a third party between Holland and America, to enact some nearly-clandestine trade with the Colonies for gunpowder and other stuff.

    As the year wore on, Spain would become a little more openly involved in the war effort.