[4] In 1779, Spain entered the American Revolutionary War on the side of France but not the Thirteen Colonies.

[5] Bernardo de Gálvez, governor of Spanish Louisiana, led a military campaign along the Gulf coast, capturing Baton Rouge and Natchez from the British in 1779, Mobile in 1780 and Pensacola in 1781.

In the 1783 Paris peace treaty, Great Britain returned both Florida colonies to Spanish control.

At the time of the transfer of West Florida to the Spanish from the British the population of Pensacola excluding its military garrison was about 300.

The Spanish adopted a policy that allowed for religious freedom among those who lived there, but did not permit them to practice any faith other than Roman Catholicism in public.