Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/930302
8 of Louisiana, hoisted the flag of admiral of the fleet, and ordered it to head directly to Pensacola. To the surprise of most present, especially the naval officers, the Galveztown entered the bay with only minor damage. e British guns could not hit her since their placement on the top of the so called Red-cliffs prevented aiming them at a ship sailing close to the shore. At the time, Gálvez presented his actions as how "fortune befriends the bold " (quoting Virgil 's Aeneid). It was not the first time, nor would it be the last, that fortune would come to Gálvez's rescue. For this action, the king later rewarded him with the motto "I, alone" for his coat of arms. 18 e navy officers had no choice but to follow Gálvez's route into Pensacola Bay. e troops disembarked, and the preparations for the siege started. Galvez's forces at the time were not enough for the dangerous and complicated task ahead of them, so he contented himself just with encircling the British positions, digging some trenches, and placing the small cannons they had brought with them. No siege guns were on board since the expedition was in theory only a rei nforcement for L ou isia na's defenses . Ever y- thing depended then on receiving new troops from Havana. In late March, his friend José de Ezpeleta arrived from Mobile with more than 2,000 men, which raised the total of his forces to a little more than 4,000. e news was well- received but they were not enough to overcome the well- fortified 1,600 men of the British garrison. 19 e science of war dictated that a position the size of Fig. 6. In contrast to fig. 5, this view of the siege of Pensacola, by the hyper-realist history painter Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau, yields a fanciful center stage to Gálvez in the successful storming of a British rampart but adds the grim reality faced by the common soldiery. British casualties included several Native American allies. THE CAPITOL DOME