New Orleans, Louisiana

The province of Louisiana, an immense territory extending from the Gulf ofMexico to the Canadian border, was ceded by France to Spain in 1763. Its then capital, the cosmopolitan city of New Orleans, lies at the mouth of the Mississippi, the longest river in North America. During the American Revolution, the city was of crucial importance, as it controlled navigation of the waters upriver. Between 1777 and 1781, it also channeled the transport of aid—money and supplies—sent by Governors Luis de Unzaga and Bernardo de Gálvez to the Irishman Oliver Pollock, an agent of the Continental Congress. Gálvez’s hurriedly assembled multiracial and multicultural army also departed from New Orleans, on its way to capturing the British forts of Baton Rouge, Manchac, and Natchez in 1779, and Mobile in 1780.

Twenty-first century New Orleans is a tourist city; its famed French Quarter (actually built during the Spanish period) boasts numerous historic buildings.Notable among them is the Cabildo (the old City Hall, today, the Louisiana State Museum), across from the Spanish Plaza de Armas (now known as Jackson Square). A plaque on the facade of a home in Chartres Street commemorates Oliver Pollock, who lodged there, just two convenient blocks from the Cabildo and the old river wharf. Nearby, The Historic New Orleans Collection museum is well worth a visit. At the entrance to Canal Street, near Spanish Square, is an equestrian statue of Bernardo de Gálvez by the sculptor Juan de Ávalos. It was donated by Spain in 1976 and is a copy of the statue in Washington, D.C.