As a curiosity, he was the successor and brother-in-law of Luis de Unzaga y Amézaga, the Spanish imperial governor who actually came up with the name "United States of America" in a letter to George Washington.
Nephew to the Minister of Indias, José de Gálvez y Gallardo, Bernardo started a military career at 16 in the Indies, first in the failed 1762 invasion to Portugal in the Seven Years' War, and later in Chihuahua, in the empire's overseas territories in modern day Mexico. Participating in the conflicts against the Apache nomads, who had the custom to steal Hispanic cattle in feared hit-and-run attacks (ironically on horses that had been originally introduced to America by the Spaniards), the young Bernardo was skilled to adapt to native customs in order to better counter them: he became an experienced bowman, as he considered the native bow much more practical than the period's rifles, and also developed a great rapport with Spain's indigenous auxiliars, like Opatas, Pueblos and friendly factions of Apaches, and whom he saw as an invaluable segment of their armies.
Returning to Spain in 1772, although only to participate in the disastrous invasion of Argel by Alejandro O'Reilly along with other similarly annoyed names like Antonio Barceló, Gálvez was sent again to the Indies, this time to the Spanish Lousiana, where he eventually became governor by replacing his brother-in-law Luis de Unzaga. In the process, he inherited a huge intelligence network built by Unzaga to spy the nearby British colonies in prevision of a future conflict, for which Gálvez also made sure to develop the land's population and ruin the local English contraband with French help. He also used his experience to attract local Native Americans to Lousiana by favors and trade. In 1779, the long-awaited war with the British finally arrived in the form the American War of Independence, in which King Charles III of Spain officially ordered to fund and favor the rebels.
Although the province of Louisiana was not ready still to engage a war, Gálvez learned through his spies about an incoming British attack, so he decided to strike first, invading the British colonies with a characteristically ragtag Hispanic army of whites, blacks, mulattos and natives. The Spanish Armada took time to support him because he considered Gálvez too green of a commander, but he eventually attacked and captured English positions in Baton Rouge and Florida. He also blocked the port of New Orleans, personally coordinating moves with Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry, and captured the island of New Province in the Bahamas - although to his chagrin, he failed at capturing Jamaica, which would have been a historical counterpoint to its English capture in the 1650s, because the war ended before he could make the move.
Appointed Count of Gálvez for his victories (a title that included the curious motto Yo solo, "me alone", essentially meaning One Riot, One Ranger), he spent the next years as governor of the conquered Florida and Cuba, as well as Viceroy of New Spain himself since 1785. His previous experience with the Apaches came in handy here, as he designed an ambitious plan to assimilate those tribes by Force and Finesse: he ordered to keep the Apaches on their toes by focused warfare, yet at the same time he offered them to settle down as Spanish citizens and ranchers to help repeal the ones Who remained hostile, and also tempted those with trade, including luxury articles, alcohol and Awesome, but Impractical firearms, in order to make them less inclined to wage war and more to join the Hispanic civilization. Speaking of which, Gálvez also patronized sciences, especially botany and the famous Royal Botanical Expedition to New Spain.
Gálvez died of illness at only 40 in 1786, meaning he could not see most of the success brought by his measures with the Apaches - although more cynical voices might be glad that he didn't see either how the wars of the independent México undid a lot of it, in a crescendo that would ultimately end with the American Apache Wars.
In media:
Literature- He appears in Vidas que fueron by Ángeles Rubio-Argüelles.
- He's the protagonist of Eduardo Garrigues' historical novel El que tenga valor que me siga: En vida de Bernardo de Gálvez.
- Juan Pérez-Foncea's Fuego en el Misisipi also featured him.
- Gálvez is also the protagonist of Cristóbal Tejón's La libertad de los valientes.
