José de Ezpeleta was a prominent royal official in both America and Spain during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. He first came to America as a junior officer in the Regiment of Navarre during Alejandro O’Reilly’s 1763–65 reformist mission to Cuba; he later gained prominence owing to his distinguished performance under Bernardo de Gálvez on the Gulf Coast during the War of the American Revolution. Serving after the war as interim governor of Louisiana and West Florida with the rank of brigadier, he secured an appointment as governor and captain general of Cuba in late 1785, a position that he occupied through April of 1789. Promoted to field marshal, Ezpeleta followed his Cuban appointment with six years as viceroy of New Granada. Thereafter, he remained in Spain where, at the ranks of lieutenant general and finally captain general, he served in multiple capacities, including president of the Council...
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