LIVE Detective Lounge July 21, 2026

A recording of the LIVESTREAM from July 21, 2026 above. Additional video links and reading materials in the article below.

In honor of the 250th Year of the Declaration of Independence, and armed with information obtained in Pensacola Florida during our road trip, we wanted to discuss more details of the very substantial and decisive assistance Spain provided for the cause of American Independence from Britain, and how the American Revolution was really part of a larger power struggle between Britain and Spain/France coalescing during the 7 Years War (of which the French/Indian War where a young George Washington earned his test of fire, was but one campaign of what was arguably the First World War).

Follow the money. Much of the initial seed money that allowed the breakaway colonial states to fund the revolution came from Spain in addition to continued logistical support for the American Revolution until the Spanish openly declared war on the British and captured Northwestern Florida, threatening British sugar routes from the Caribbean, a major source of income for the British “Plantationcrats” as well as the Crown. Meanwhile the Spanish, joined by French ships, began to threaten British Gibraltar, captured Majorca, and attacked British interests in India, South Africa, and what is now Michigan.

Photo: “The March of Galvez” by Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau, depicting Spanish Governor Bernardo de Gálvez leading a force of Spanish regulars, Native Americans, freed-slaves, Acadian militia, and American volunteers (under Oliver Pollock) to siege Fort Bute & Baton Rouge, 1779.

Two big questions emerge from the details of the extremely large support of the American Revolution by Spain:

1. Why did the US turn against Spain so soon after the Revolution, and continue to pressure Spanish interests on the Continent?

2. Why did the majority of American History “Memory Hole” the Spanish contributions and focus on the much smaller French and Von Steuben stories as indicators of foreign support. Indeed, despite the horrors of the French Revolution, Americans tended to romanticize the French support for the Revolution and draw connections between the two, suggesting a link between the French populace and the Americans but never the Spanish, despite the far larger support.

US Navy Article on Support

https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1978/december/old-navy-1782-american-spanish-expedition

Spanish Conquest of British West Florida

https://stars.library.ucf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2752&context=fhq

Background videos:

3rd Army had been training since the mid 1930s to prepare for war.

Then in 1939 the US mobilized the National Guard and Reserves, and began the first ever peacetime draft, bringing the Army strength to 1.5 million soldiers before Pearl Harbor.

The interwar period is riddled with misconceptions in history. The “US was sleeping” myth does not hold up to examination. For the Navy (and Marines) War Plan Orange, Full scale annual exercises on that plan, and weapons procurement via the General Board and a receptive Congress were features of the interwar period that meant when the Navy began it’s soft mobilization in the late 1920s and early 1930s, it was essentially “going according to plan”.

But what about the US Army?

While it is true that the Army was miniscule when World War II initiated in September 1939, it didn’t stay that way. Indeed, the interwar Army had already been on an increased training program especially 3rd Army and the use of armor in maneuvers. A few days after Germany invaded Poland the US mobilized the National Guard and Reserves, and began the increase in strength to over a million and a half soldiers by 1940 when the Louisiana Maneuvers were held. Army planners knew that equipment development for armor, air, and anti tank would be rapidly evolving, and production on systems in the 1930s would have been wasted. Army observers were sent to the Spanish Civil War, the Russo Finish War, and the invasion of France to glean information on the new weapons of war and the technical and tactical details of the emerging doctrine of armor and air integration on the battlefield.

The Louisiana Maneuvers were part of a larger GHQ Campaign training event for 1940-1941. Almost the entire state of Louisiana as well as parts of Texas and air bases in Mississippi were used to train on a Corps Maneuver exercise. Louisiana was one of the most varied and hostile terrain areas that the Army could chose. The soldiers had to deal with mud, heat, bayou, and thick long pine forests and surprisingly broken terrain adjacent to open savanna like plains. Years later, when one GI was being interviewed in Tunisia about how he was adapting to the African climate he quipped “Well, at least it ain’t Louisiana.”

The training event was massive. It was used to test men, machines, tactics, and leadership. General Marshall used the exercise to weed out the commanders that were unable to integrate armor, air, and mobility at a Corp and Divisional level. Those that demonstrated an aggressive adaptation to the new paradigm were quickly moved up the ranks (Patton, Eisenhower, and others). Many parade ground commanders received their sideline or walking papers after the Louisiana exercise.

In addition, the birth of the Armor Branch was made in a small basement of a high school in Alexandria Louisiana after the exercise. Eisenhower, Patton, Marshall and others convened what was essentially a conspiracy (they didn’t invite Infantry or Cavalry Branch commanders) to create an independent Armor Branch. Prior to this, tanks were either assigned to Infantry (called tanks) or Cavalry (who called their armor assets armored cars and mechanized units so they wouldn’t violate the Infantry monopoly on tanks.

So if you were wondering why units with tanks are called “Armor Units” and not “Tank Units”, it’s because a group of officers in a dark school basement in Louisiana worked a plan that didn’t want to use the Infantry term (Tank) or Cavalry (Mechanized) in their scheme for a separate branch.

Congratulations to “GOAT” for getting the artifact correct, and so quickly. He later noted he lived near old railroad telegraph lines so saw the glass insulators all the time. He won a 25 dollar Amazon Gift Certificate. Hopefully he will get a good book with it.

Official US Army History of GHQ Maneuvers including Louisiana Maneuvers: https://history.army.mil/portals/143/Images/Publications/catalog/70-41-1.pdf

For more on interwar planning for mobilization in the US Army: https://publications.armywarcollege.edu/News/Display/Article/4218119/restoring-the-primacy-of-army-mobilization-planning-lessons-from-the-interwar-p/

Official US Army History of Mobilization prior to and at the beginning of World War II: https://history.army.mil/Portals/143/Images/Publications/Publication%20By%20Title%20Images/C%20Img/campaigns-wwii/pdf/22.pdf

Interwar Army Records including training and manpower: https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/394.html/1000

**THIS IS WHAT YOU REALLY WANT…A DETAILED EXAMINATION OF “PATTONS WILD RIDE THROUGH TEXAS”:

https://www.dla.mil/About-DLA/News/News-Article-View/Article/4434020/before-patton-fought-the-nazis-he-flanked-through-texas/

FORT POLK MUSEUM (THAT IS NEVER OPEN), but somehow they got this on the Internet:

https://heartoflouisiana.com/louisiana-maneuvers-at-fort-polk/