Why "Galveston"? - What do the American Revolution, a Spanish Governor, and cattle drives have in common?

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Tour with Spotify:
👂Listen: Quick History of Galveston
👂Listen: Texas Firsts
👂Listen: The Great Fire of 1885
👂Listen: Port of Galveston

Interested in information covered in this episode? Dive deeper into the links below! :

Cattle Driving :
https://www.thestoryoftexas.com/discover/artifacts/letters-authorizing-first-cattle-drive-from-texas-spotlight-7-1-19

 https://www.history.com/the-promised-land/cowboy-map.html

Texas Granaderos in Honor of Galvez: http://granaderos.org/vital.html

Galvez's History in Texas: https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/galvez-bernardo-de

Transcript:
At the beginning of the American revolution, the American colonies were at war against the British, and Spain and France had heavy capital interest in North America such as Florida and Louisiana. In order to keep The British from expanding their power and influence across North America, Spain and France started providing covert assistance to the colonies via the Mississippi River.The supplies that were provided were items such as muskets, gunpowder, lead, clothes, medicine and even… cattle for food. In 1777 Bernardo de Galvez became the Governor of Spanish Louisiana and ramped up Spains assistance to the revolting American colonies. The support was covert and unofficial, but imperative to defeat Britain.In 1779 Spain officially declared war on England. Galvez uses his position as Governor to conduct military operations along the Gulf Coast known as the Gulf coast campaign to drive the British out of the Mississippi Delta. Despite many of his ships and supplies being devastated by multiple hurricanes, Galvez successfully clears the British from Baton Rouge, to Natchez, to Mobile, to Pensacola.The make up of Galvez’ army was formed with New Spanish troops, Cuba, free blacks, native Americans, German immigrants, and Irish immigrants. Recognized as one of the most diverse armies of the era. 
 This operation cleared the Mississippi river of any British forces and made way for a supply line directly from New Spain to the American Colonies. With colonial troops and their Allie’s off fighting, farms that might have provided food were unmanned. Food supplies ran dangerously low and the risk of malnourishment or starvation rose as the King of Spain ordered Galvez to take the Gulf Coast from British forces. Leveraging his relationships and status as Governor of Louisiana, Galvez requested Texas cattle from Mission San Antonio de Valero and La Bahia (modern day Goliad) A first generation Spanish cowboy known as a Vaquero, Simón de Arocha and other brave Spanish vaqueros drove between 9,000 and 15,000 head of cattle eastward from Mission San Antonio de Valero and L