The better part of the 18th century in North America was a
succession of one colonial uprising after another. The fact that
most of these engagements took place along the eastern seaboard
makes it hard to imagine how or why the tiny Spanish colony of
La Bahía could play a pivotal role in the most important of
these colonial wars, the American Revolution. As time will
testify, Presidio La Bahía has continually defied “the norm.”
Long after many of Spain’s once-grand New World fortresses have
crumbled to the ground, the walls and bastions of Presidio La
Bahía still stand high, and the call to mass can still be heard
from the doors of Our Lady of Loreto chapel. So it’s no surprise
that this unlikeliest of places would hold so much value during
the American Revolution. Spain and England had been at odds long
before the American colonies decided to free themselves from the
grip of a British monarchy. By the end of the French and Indian
War, the British had acquired land as far south and west as the
Mississippi Riv