Juan Cagigal looked at the letter that he had on his hand from his superior, Bernardo de Galvez. While outwardly he remained calm, inside he seethed. Galvez had already proposed the attack that was about to go off, twice in fact, once late last year and once earlier this year. But now, for some reason, he urged caution. The letter he looked at stated that the attack should not now go off, that it was inexpedient and would not serve to the benefit of Spanish arms. “Why not?” he wondered to himself. Galvez already had secured his reputation for military glory by conquering Mobile and Pensacola for Spanish arms, and he was sure that no one would question Galvez as being not only a great civil leader as Governor of New Spain, but also as a military leader when the situation arose. Yet here Cagigal, in the comparative backwater of Havana, was supposed to cool his heels and refuse to attack a vulnerable British settlement in the Bahamas? It could not be borne. What was Galvez really getting at, he wondered to himself.

Fortuntely, it appeared that he did not have to wonder about this alone. A servant announced that someone was at the door, and that someone proved to be one of his ablest subordinates, Franisco de Miranda.

“You are just the man I hoped to see,” Juan said.

“I come bearing news that the soldiers are ready to embark,” Francisco said. “They are eager for glory.”

“There is one man who is not eager for glory,” Juan responded.

“And who is that, sir?” Francisco replied.

“It is our commander, Galvez,” Juan said, practically spitting the words out.

“Is he not the one who proposed this expedition in the first place?” Francisco asked.

“The one and the same,” Juan said. “Only now he has cold feet and orders that we avoid sending the mission.”

“What does he mean by it?” Francisco asked.

“I am not sure, I wish I knew what angle he was thinking of,” Juan agreed.

“Have you tried to think of what motives he had for it?” Francisco asked.

“I keep on thinking that he is jealous of whatever military glory we might gain by conquering the Bahamas for Spain,” Juan said. “This is, of course, awfully ungenerous coming from the hero of Mobile and Pensacola.”

“Can you think of any other motives?” Francisco asked.

“Can you?” Juan responded.

“I can think of several motives,” Francisco said.

“What motives do you have in mind?” Juan said.

“Well, let us say that perhaps Viceroy Galvez assumes that you will respond to him the way that many officials have responded to what they viewed as unreasonable orders: Obedezco pero no cumplio. Perhaps he is not confident that the attack will be successful, or that it serves the interests of the king, and so he gives you a command that he knows you will be unable to follow, hoping that you will reply in a way that gives him cover but that also preserves your freedom to act,” Francisco answered.

“Could he really be thinking in such terms?” Juan asked. “I did not take Galvez to be possessed of subtle a subtle mind.”

“No one could rise to power in the way that he has without being possessed of some sort of subtlety,” Francisco helpfully added.

“I thought it was all the result of nepotism myself,” Juan admitted. “Can you think of any other possible motives?”

“Perhaps he has received correspondence from Europe about how the negotiations are progressing and does not think that the attack on the Bahamas gives Spain a useful bargaining chip,” Francisco commented. “Perhaps he thinks that such efforts should be better served in directly conquering Saint Augustine and restoring Florida’s rule to us in entirety, rather than using the Bahamas as a bargaining chip for East Florida’s return to us.”

“I could see that he might prefer to keep our soldiers available for an attack on St. Augustine directly, which would give him even more glory than he already has,” Juan conceded. “It is possible that the troops that we might divert to Nassau to keep it garrisoned would prevent us from being able to make a successful conquest of East Florida. Still, I think that it would be easy to swap one for the other, and by making this assault, we will ensure that we receive some of the military glory and that not all of it goes to Galvez alone.”

“I think you are right there,” Francisco said. “I took this office with the hope of some sort of military glory. With Great Britain being friendless, I thought that it would be easy to pick off British colonies and take advantage of their arrogance in having alienated every other European power, but it has not yet proven to be so.”

“No,” Juan said. “That is the worst of it. Despite the immense problems that they have had in defending their interests on the mainland, their losses have been minimal. They are holding us off at Gibraltar, and they have retained such bases as Trinidad and Jamaica, and of course, East Florida remains unconquered. What we have conquered from them seems paltry in comparison. What are Minorca and Tobago to compare to all that Britain still holds?”

“But the Bahamas are vulnerable,” Francisco replied. “I have seen it myself with my own eyes in scouting the area. Their governor is a coward, his assistant a peculator, and they have but a few troops to defend themselves that will be easy to coerce into surrender.”

“I hope it will go as easily as you claim,” Juan said. “I myself have been burdened with the cares of this backwater island, and unable to see the lay of the land like you have.”

“All we need to do is to land on New Providence and conquer Nassau. Once that is done we will have control of the islands, as there are no other fortresses on the place and nothing else on the island is worth fighting over anyway. There are a few other towns but they will accept our rule, and we will need to do little more than occupy the main fortresses and enjoy possession of it and to inform Madrid, and Galvez, to gain such glory as we could hope for,” Francisco stated.

“I hope that is how it happens,” Juan said. “And once we do manage that, even Galvez wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.”

“Let us hope that is the case. I do think that you ought to give him some warning of what you plan to do and make sure that he is able to preserve whatever cover he seeks,” Francisco said.

“I do not think that will be necessary at all. Success is all that we need to crown our glory and reputation, and hopefully it may approach that of Galvez himself,” Juan said.

“I hope he is not inclined to be hostile towards us once we have our own victory,” Francisco added, mildly.

“You said that the troops were ready?” Juan asked sharply.

“Yes, I did,” Francisco said.

“Let us hurry to join them. I would rather let this letter remain unanswered with the excuse that I was already engaged on making the attack and thus was unable to respond to the letter in a timely fashion,” Juan said. “That will be better than trying to think of ways to charm Galvez and console him about our disobedience to his commands.”

“Very well then,” Francisco said, somewhat resigned.

With that the two of them departed the Governor’s palace in Havana and took the short walk to the docks, where a large number of transports were already full of Spanish soldiers eager for battle and the glory that would result from victory. Juan and Francisco boarded the flagship and enjoyed the hospitality of the best boat in the fleet as they made their way slowly towards Nassau.

It should go without saying that the British in Nassau were entirely unprepared for such an attack. To be sure, the people in St. Augustine were concerned that the Spanish might seek to besiege them, though they had plenty of experience on the other side of seeking to lay siege unsuccessfully to the Castillo de San Marcos, which had proven to be largely impregnable. It was only through the conquest of Havana in the last war thanks to an unexpected assault that the British had been able to obtain a valuable enough chip to trade for possession of Florida. The Spanish had not forgotten that bit of humiliation where their entrance into a war against Britain led to instant disaster on all fronts. The Spanish continued to hope that it would be different this time.

While the British were unaware, there was at least one person who was not pleased with the silence. Bernardo de Galvez was one of those people who had been born to command. In some people of lesser talents, such an attitude would be viewed as mere insufferable arrogance, and there were certainly people who distinctly disliked the commanding ways of the Viceroy. However, he was able enough that most people, at least most of the time, recognized that behind the dominating spirit of Galvez was sufficient genius and ability to make it worth listening to his commands on their merits, whatever their feelings were about the bossiness that those orders were combined with. When Galvez saw that his message was not replied to in a timely fashion, he thought he would make a visit to Havana himself and to check up on his overmighty and disobedient subordinate, who had not even bothered to offer up an excuse that he would be unable to comply with his orders because preparations were too far advanced. That would have been irritating, but it would have been good enough. He did not even have that. And for that insolent disobedience, Juan Cagigal would most certainly pay.

That payment would, however, await another day, for Cagigal was not, as Galvez half expected, remaining in Havana and continuing preparations, but had departed. And by the time that Galvez himself arrived at Havana, no matter how angry he was, whatever happened on the campaign would be a fait accompli, and Galvez would not be able to do anything about it. Or at least, that is what Juan hoped, and what Francisco de Miranda, himself an able servant of the crown, at least hoped would be the case for him. He had reason to believe, though he could not convince his superior of it, that Galvez would truly find some way of making life unpleasant for those who flouted his authority. But he could never form that dread into a way that would convince the Governor of Havana to do something other than what he was himself bound and determined to do, to seek some eternal glory for himself.