The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 42, July 1938 - April, 1939 Page: 16

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

command, cleared for Galveston.76 Mina's relations with the New
Orleans associates had failed and Pensacola was relieved of one
danger, at least. He left New Orleans with the intention of pro-
ceeding with his expedition as soon as possible, and Morphy re-
ported that an attack would be made in the near future against
some place south of Texas.7
Mina's departure from New Orleans did not put an end to the
plot against Pensacola and rumors that he would play an important
part in the attack. An American naval officer reported that Mina
still meditated an attack on Florida which was merely delayed
because of lack of funds, and that the expected invasion would
have the approval of the United States, according to rumors at
New Orleans.'7 Although Mina was interested in the possibilities
of an attack on Florida, there is no credible evidence to support
the contention that he considered such an operation before he
sailed for Port-au-Prince in 1816. The principal authority, if not
the only one, for such an assumption, is the declaration made by
one Vicente Pazos in February, 1818. According to Pazos, Mina
and Toledo were co-operating in a Florida enterprise which was
disrupted by the hurricane at Port-au-Prince.79 There can scarcely
76Louisiana Gazette (New Orleans), March 4, 1817.
77Morphy to the Captain-General, New Orleans, March 10, 1817, AGI
PC, leg. 1900. Mina returned to Galveston on March 16 (Robinson, op.
cit., I, 133).
78Extract of a letter from Captain Charles Morris, to the Secretary of
the Navy, dated United States' Frigate Congress, off the Balize, March 14,
1817, State Papers and Publick Documents (Boston, 1819), XI, 363.
79Memorial of Vicente Pazos to the President, Washington, February 7,
1818, State Papers and Publick Documents, XII, 407. An erroneous state-
ment regarding this matter appears in A. C. Wilgus, "Spanish American
Patriot Activity Along the Gulf Coast of the United States, 1811-1822,"
in The Louisiana Historical Quarterty, VIII, 205, n. Dr. Wilgus's interpre-
tation is not acceptable. "Esposa y Mina, a Spaniard, had arrived from
England at Baltimore where he recruited men and supplies. He then
sailed for the West Indies, arriving at Port au Prince in September,
1816. Here he met numerous refugees from New Granada and Venezuela,
who were bent upon seizing Florida from Spain. Mina, together with
Toledo . . . who had arrived very timely from New Orleans, were
jointly to command the expedition to Florida. The plans were shortly
matured but a hurricane damaged Mina's fleet so badly-Toledo thereupon
deserted the cause-that the project was given up." This statement is far
from being true. Toledo was not in Port-au-Prince. He went to Philadelphia
and tried to break up Mina's expedition. The "Esposa y Mina" error is
particularly bad. Professor Lockey has also accepted the Pazos account
as credible, and has published an article on "The Florida Intrigues of
Josd Alvarez de Toledo," in the Quarterly of the Florida Historical So-
ciety, XII, 145-78. The Pazos declaration is not sufficient evidence for the
assumptions in this article.