Film
Project
FORGOTTEN
SOUTHERN HEROS
South
Carolinians, Hispanics, and American Independence!
Long
forgotten heroes, South Carolina patriots of America’s War of
Independence and the Spanish, Hispanic people who at that time occupied
the Deep South of the continental United States, all Southern heroes,
…this film will tell the story of how both of these group’s
contributions to the American Revolution made the difference in the
gaining of our independence, and set the whole Western Hemisphere ablaze
with the spirit of liberty!
NEW ALBION PICTURES
Thomas Ellingwood Fortin, Executive Producer
Feb 2010
Project Overview….
This
film project will be a 48-50 minute documentary, produced for distribution
on South Carolina Educational Television by Producer, Director Thomas
Ellingwood Fortin, Director of Photography, Lenny Spears, hosted and
narrated by well known British/South Carolina historical actor Howard
Burnham, historical consulting provided by various South Carolina
scholars, and Hector Diaz, the leading scholar on Spanish and Hispanic
military history in the United States today.
We
are also in expectation of gaining fiscal sponsorship through one or more
of the historical and arts entities in Charleston, the Charleston metro
area, with its over-whelming amount of both natural beauty and historical
sites, serving as the primary location for filming, the only exception
being b-roll shot over the past three years at other historical sites in
adjacent states.
We
have put together probably one of the most talented creative teams for
this sort of project, people whose main work has been mostly on award
winning feature films, and internationally acclaimed documentaries. Combine
with this the latest in motion picture technology available today and you
can expect a documentary production that will have all of the best
elements of a major theatrical motion picture, and the intelligent
presentation so critical to great educational film!
At
the same time we are in expectation of partnering up with our state’s
film schools like Trident Tech and USC in Columbia to create some
opportunity for the students to get on the job experience working with top
industry professionals. After working with these students last year on
another SC based project we were impressed with the creativity and
enthusiasm of these young people!
Mission Statement ….
Almost two years ago a joint production was set up with New
Albion Pictures, North America, and Abyssal Pictures, Espana, to develop
and shoot a major documentary film about the tremendous, and well nigh
forgotten contribution of Spain, and Hispanics to the independence of the
United States.
In
the course of the development, Producer Thomas decided that a spin-off
dealing with two of the most over-looked players in the American
Revolution, both Spain [and especially her colonial people, both native
born Spaniards, and Hispanics,] and South Carolinians, plus their
connections and interactions with each other, would be an excellent
educational tool for South Carolina teachers and educational TV.
Most
of us today would be surprised to learn that chapters of the prestigious
organization, SONS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION have been set up in Mexico!
The role played by Hispanic peoples on our Southern border, and from the
Caribbean also, is now recognized by this organization. These people gave
their money, blood, and lives, in support of our Revolution, going beyond
what the King of Spain even asked for, and were inspired to duplicate our
success in establishing “government by the people, for the
people,..” for themselves.
Today
both Americans, and our newest, and fastest growing population, Hispanics,
are on the most part totally unaware of this history.
This
is a long over-due film that combines the finest elements of both
educational, and feature film, with the latest camera technology, with a
producer/director who is both an accomplished historian and film maker,
to tell a story - a story about some of our Revolutionary War heroes, and
events long overlooked, or just plain ignored by prejudiced scholars and
historians over the centuries.
But,
we are about to set the record straight and at the same time help the
newest and fastest growing segment of our Southern population “re-connect”
to the founding of this great Republic!
Story
Background….
“With
this humble
instrumentality {Christopher Columbus} did it please Providence to prepare
the theatre for those events by which a new
dispensation of liberty was to be communicated to man..”
-Edward
Everett
For
centuries, the sounds of iron tools working wood have been heard in the
old shipyard of Astilleros Nereo in Malaga, Spain. Ships that explored the New
World probably had their birth here.
Today the sound of tools rings out again as another ship, from the
time of our American Revolution, takes form in this historic shipyard.
The original brig, Galveztown, was the flagship of famed
Spanish General, Bernardo de Gálvez, who defeated British forces in
Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida during the American Revolution. The
replica Galveztown will serve as a floating museum and reminder of
the often-overlooked Spanish-American alliance.
Over
500 years ago Spanish explorers opened up the Western Hemisphere, and
later North America to settlement by Europeans, thus setting off a chain
of events that would result in the rise of the first truly free nation on
earth!
Many
today acknowledge the importance of Columbus’ voyage of discovery but
few see or understand the major role Spain and Spanish Americans
[Hispanics] played in the birth of these United States. I would even dare
to say that without their assistance and influence, the American cultural
and social landscape would hardly be recognizable to us today, and perhaps
we might also still be a British Commonwealth.
The
colonist’s tendency towards free government and individual rights was
more then the local tendency towards self-determination, but also a
product of The Age of Enlightenment. The liberal elements in the
Mother Country rejoiced in the triumph of their former colonies revolt
because such a great blow was struck for the preservation of the
traditional English concepts of human rights over the ideal of “the
divine rights of Kings” Representative government and the liberties
of the common person triumphed in the victory of the patriots, The Age
of Enlightenment had reached its climax it would seem.
But,
was this just a revolutionary advance for the British people, and those of
Northern European ancestry, or did others, especially in Nueva Espana,
share the vision, and assist in the triumph of liberty?
Definitely
yes, for the neighbors of the original thirteen colonies to their south
had not remained deaf or blind to the new ideals of The Age of
Enlightenment. Both native Spaniards, and Hispanics were well abreast
of the new thinking.
Across
the entire southern region of the future United States, from New Orleans,
to California, a social, economic, and cultural civilization in so many
ways sympathetic, and tied into the Anglo colonies, but even more diverse
in its society, was well established before even Jamestown came into
existence. And that civilization was about to play Midwife to the new
experiment in human liberty.
Historian,
and former Director
of the Palace of the Governor’s Museum in Santa Fe,
Dr. Thomas E. Chavez wrote what are to most Americans today a startling
revelation,
“In
1785, George Washington, recently "retired to the country life,"
wrote a friendly letter to Carlos III, the King of Spain, thanking him for
a recent gift. Washington knew that Carlos III had been generous in his
support of the birth of the fledgling United States during the War of
Independence. For at least five years, Spain had sent more supplies and
money than had been requested to help the American Rebels succeed in what
must have appeared to be an impossible dream. Spanish men from the
peninsula and throughout the Americas fought in the conflict.
The
American Revolution used funds collected from people living in the present
states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California--then a part of
Mexico. An important percentage of financial support originated in New
Spain, now called Mexico. Eventually, thousands of Spanish troops fought
British troops throughout the Americas.”
Your average American today upon reading this
statement would be totally amazed at this startling revelation! Another
reason why this film, and others like it are so important!
But just as forgotten though as these Spanish and
Hispanic heroes of liberty are, so are the South Carolina patriots and
events that took place here, events that assured the final victory of the
American patriots.
This film will be exploring the inter-connections between
these forgotten heroes, both playing major roles that resulted in the
birth of these United States. We will look at how both separately, and
sometimes together, they accomplished daring victories and assisted each
other.
Our main focus will be on three South Carolina patriots
who had come as emigrates back then to the Palmetto state, one from the
Netherlands, who would become a major mover and shaker in Charleston, one
from Spain, whose son would later become one of America’s greatest naval
heroes, and another who arrived during the Civil War, but his ancestors
were greatly involved in the events of this film during the American
Revolution, but no one seems to realize this today.
We
will also be taking a look at the Spanish, Hispanic assistance that helped
to win the war, and the South Carolina connections.
For
instance,
Don
Juan de Miralles, a wealthy Spanish merchant from Havana, Cuba, was
appointed as a Royal Envoy of King Carlos III of Spain to the United
States in 1778, and while traveling with his secretary, Don Francisco Rendón,
after their landfall in Charleston, while in route to the
revolutionary capital of Philadelphia, initiated the direct shipment of
supplies from Cuba to Baltimore, Maryland; Charleston, South Carolina;
and Philadelphia.
We
will tell how Spain’s aid to the struggling Norte Americanos was
from the beginning very significant. As early as January 1, 1776, brand
new Spanish muskets were being issued to some Massachusetts Continental
Regiments. The following year King Carlos III approved four million reales
in bullion for the Americans to purchase weapons, and uniforms, including
30,000 muskets with bayonets. American historian Helen Auger stated it
well when she said that Spain shod, and dressed the American soldiers,
armed their units with the Spanish musket, at that time considered the
best in the world. Later Benjamin Franklin officially thanked
the Spanish authorities for the 12,000 muskets sent to Boston. Many of
these supplies were shipped out of Spanish colonial ports, loaded on the
ships by Hispanics, and transported by Hispanics up the Mississippi River,
or delivered to ports like Charleston, SC by Hispanic merchant seamen.
We sometimes hear about the importance of France’s assistance, which was
of tremendous value, but rarely, if ever, of Spain’s entry into the war
in 1779, an event which would have a deciding effect on both the American
War of Independence in general, and the momentum toward victory begun
in South Carolina. As the new front opened in the lower
southern part of the future United States, it drained off British naval
and military resources, especially with its threat to the British West
Indies, far more estemed in value then the North American colonies as a cash
cow.
“During
the American Revolution vital assistance was provided to the Patriot cause
by the Kingdom of Spain. Unfortunately the value of this aid has been
downplayed by most American writers and researchers. Some refer to it as
having a minor effect but many do not even mention it in their accounts of
the war…..The young energetic Governor Galvez of Louisiana would display
such initiative. His military actions could be considered to have helped
shaped a new world.”
-Rudy
Scott Nelson
Besides his massive aid to the
Anglo-Americans, Galvez began a military campaign against British
interests in what is now our states of Louisiana, Mississipi, Alabama, and
Florida [not to mention all the way up the Mississipi River to Michigan,]
where soldiers who came from Spain, the Caribbean Islands, South America,
Central America, Texas, and Mexico, fought and died in a common cause
against the British Empire, and in support of American
independence!.
“At
Pensacola, Galvez commanded a multinational army of over seven thousand
soldiers. Most of these men were already serving in the areas known as
Nueva España. This included all the land east of the Mississippi,
including present day Southwest and southern states, Cuba, Mexico, Puerto
Rico, Hispanola, and other Spanish colonies such as Venezuela. The Spanish
forces in the Americas were also joined by soldiers from Spain, other
European nations, American colonists, indigenous, and blacks. It was this
multi-ethnic force fighting together to achieve the goals of the American
Revolution under the leadership of a remarkable general commander.”
-The
Galvez Project, Hispanic American heroes Series
It all cumulated in the Battle of Pensacola. An
American historian called the siege of Pensacola "a decisive factor
in the outcome of the Revolution and one of the most brilliantly executed
battles of the war."
Another
historian stated that General Galvez' campaign broke the British will to
fight. This battle ended in May 1781, just five months before the final
battle of the war at Yorktown. French soldiers at this battle went almost
straight from Florida to the Chesapeake Bay in preparation for the final
major battle at Yorktown.
Another
major forgotten historical fact was that just before the final coup de
grace delivered at Yorktown, the citizens of Havana Cuba gave the
money needed to finance the campaign!
Without
controversy, Galvez deserves his place as a hero of the Revolution along
side Lafayette, Von Steubon, Washington and the Comte de Rochambeau. As
historian Thomas Fleming put it,
“His
place in American history rests not only on his military conquests but on
the man himself—what today’s pundits would call his style. There was
something quintessentially American about him. The emergence of such a man
from Spain’s rigid empire stirs thoughts about such historic
imponderables as chance, destiny, and luck. Unquestionably Bernardo de Gálvez
was the right man in the right place at the right time—for the United
States of America”.
“We are also
beginning to recognize that Spanish soldiers who fought for freedom for
the United States did not forget what they helped create. Within a
generation, nearly all the countries we know in the Western Hemisphere had
become free nations. The little American Revolution of 13 English colonies
had become the Great American Revolution of the Western Hemisphere.”
-Address given by Dr. Granville Hough at the
Galvez Gala on 12 October 2003 in the city of Long Beach, California
Treatment….
Its
1861, South Carolina had led the way for the South in secession from the
Union, and a new, flamboyant General from Louisiana has arrived to oversee
the defense of the city from the Federal forces sure to attack.
Riding
down the streets of Charleston that day was a man whose own personal
heritage connected Galvez’s Spanish Louisiana with South Carolina almost
a hundred years previously.
Beauregard’s
ancestors had helped Governor Galvez in intelligence gathering against the
British and thus were playing an important role in American independence. His
family were active merchants and ship owners who were employed by Galvez
to spy upon the British, besides gathering and delivering needed supplies
to the Patriots too.
Spain and Hispanic contributions to the American cause would have
both direct and indirect effect on the war in South Carolina.
Almost as soon as hostilities had flared up, support
from the Spanish Crown to the colonial insurgents began to arrive. In
October of 1775, two Spanish American ships sailing from Central America
called at Charleston and sold gunpowder and supplies to a local rebel
leader.
When the British government formally protested, one of the ships’
captains was put on trial, to maintain the appearance of neutrality, but
was later acquitted.
Another forgotten
piece of history is that South Carolina took a leading part in
the War for Independence. More than 200 battles and military engagements
took place on South Carolina soil, King’s Mountain, Cowpens and Eutaw
Springs for example. These battles, often dramatic and pivotal in the
ultimate outcome of the war, were another deciding factor in the the
United States gaining its independence!
Another Civil War
hero who would become the US Navy’s first Admiral and who is known today
for the famous remark in the heat of naval battle, “damn the torpedos,
full speed ahead,” had his ties back to Spain and the American
Revolution.
Admiral David
Farragut’s Father, Jorge Farragut, was an experienced sea officer and
came to Charleston to offer his services to the new South Carolina Navy,
much like the Marquis de Lafayette had done for Washington’s struggling
Continental Army.
He would go on to
fight the British in Charleston in 1776, the siege of Savannah, the siege
of Charleston, was taken prisoner, and then later fought with the militia
as a volunteer at Cowpens and Wilmington.
Later he would serve
as a US Navy officer in the War of 1812 and what became of his son is well
known history.
By the way,
technically speaking, the US Navy’s first Admiral was Hispanic,
something to think about!
Then there was
Jorge’s fellow South Carolina Navy officer, Commodore Alexander Gillon,
the Netherland born sea captain who emigrated to Charleston and commanded
the most important ship in the South Carolina Navy. The Commodore would
later in the war work directly and personally with Bernardo de Galvez, and
allied with him, and the Spanish Navy and Army, the South Carolina Navy
lead the attack on the British forces in the Bahamas.
So,
as you can see, this is more then just another film, it is also an
on-going educational program that will help to bring both citizens of
Hispanic origins, and new emigrants from the countries of Latin America to
“connect” with the birth of our nation, a nation founded upon
the universal principles of individual liberty and equality, principles
that already were taking root in the hearts and minds of our neighbors to
the South!
“The 4th of
July, el Cuatro de Julio, belongs to the Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban and
Spanish soldiers, sailors and Marines, the Black and Tan Battalions of
General Bernardo Galvez as it does to anyone. On behalf of our great
country, I extend a giant salute and thanks to those brave men who bled
and died helping the United States of America win its —our—
independence.”
-Raoul Lowery Contreras
Goals Of This Project….
This
documentary will revolutionize the way both the general public and
school children perceive the American Revolution! More then that, it will
also bring the newest, and fastest growing demographic group in South
Carolina, into the main stream of our history, especially bringing to
light their ancestor’s contributions and participation in winning our
liberty and independence as a nation over 200 years ago!
With
this in mind, our film project will seek to bring about the following,
1.
This film and the educational media created by it, will bring to the
forefront the long forgotten heroes of the American Revolution, not just
the over looked ones of South Carolina, but also their important allies in
Spanish America, the forgotten heroes of our War of Independence!
2.
To dissolve the stereotypes and to promote an authentic portrayal of
Hispanics and their role in the founding of our nation.
3.
To dissolve the stereotypes and to promote an authentic portrayal of South
Carolina and South Carolinians and their role in the founding of our
nation.
4.
To provide South Carolina Hispanics with increased access to cultural
resources and relative historical materials that ties them into our local
history. The production of a film like this one will provide educators in
the state an invaluable resource.
5.
To assist in facilitating accurate portrayals of both Historical Hispanic
culture, and histories in South Carolina Public schools.
6.
We are exploring the possibility of The American Revolution Association
out of Camden, SC, setting up an interactive website with both printed and
film media historical resources for the public. This could be a great tool
for South Carolina teachers to utilize in the classroom. This film project
will provide the media needed to put on online materials relating to
Spain, and Hispanics in the American Revolution, and of course South
Carolina’s role in the war.
7.
Provide South Carolina Educational Television with a unique new
film for public broadcast that will bring the state to the forefront of
these issues.
8.
Another possibility is perhaps The Charleston Museum will consider
sponsoring a special running exhibit on Spain, Hispanics, and South
Carolina in the American Revolution. This could be planned out so as
to open with the arrival of the replica brig Galveztown to
Charleston probably in 2011.
9.
Another purpose of this film production will be to showcase South
Carolina’s resources for the motion picture and documentary industry,
using all SC locations, crew, sound stages, post facilities, historic
resources, and support!
These
are just some of the ideas we have, further input will be coming in with
more ideas as we work with the leading scholars and educators in the
state.
Project
Status….
New
Albion Pictures and our co-production partners in Malaga, Spain, Abyssal
Pictures, began the development of this program over a year ago as a
major PBS documentary for national broadcast. Producer Thomas though,
being a resident of South Carolina, thought that a smaller version of the
major project, combined with such a relative subject as the forgotten
Revolutionary War legacy of South Carolina, would be a perfect program for
SCETV.
Thomas,
as Executive Producer, has accomplished the following project development
at his own expense:
Treatment, film proposal, some shot list, and story boarding,
He has conducted major historical research into the film subject
matter, putting together a massive amount of research notes and period
graphics,
Consultation and talks with the major scholars and experts on the
subject from all across N. America, and Europe and secured their
assistance for the project,
Further, he has lined up his creative team, arranged collaboration
with historic sites and locations for filming, gained cooperation from
other film producers and post facilities, and consulted with technical
experts so as to make this film cutting edge, assuring superb quality,
Fortunately New Albion Pictures and Abyssal Pictures
have shot some b-roll footage for the major documentary, and also New
Albion Pictures has some outstanding Revolutionary War footage,
all of which will be made available for use on this SCETV project.
Thomas’s use of experts and “talking heads” will be a welcome
relief from the usual method, the idea being not to bore the audience, but
to entertain and educate at the same time!
He is also putting together a media campaign, arranging to talk
with government agencies that can assist these projects, and setting up
internet connections to the project.
All
of this he has accomplished at his own expense to date, and has exhausted
his resources completely.
Additional
funding is needed to complete the research, which will include travel
expenses, further archival research, story development, interviews, still
photography of documents and period artwork, and locating and arranging
for the appropriate music from within the state.
Also
needed is funding or donations of computers, [Dell desktop with printer,
scanner, and software, and an IMAC desktop with art and editing software],
a good professional grade digital camera for research and location
pictures, misc. office equipment, phones, office furniture, folding
tables, chairs, rolling wardrobe racks, etc. and any food service
donations to use while working on development, and pre-production.
The
next step would be to set up a production office in Charleston and do
pre-production preparation, and then go into full production, shooting on
location, followed by post-production and editing.
Outreach and
Distribution….
This
film is being produced with the intention of broadcasting the program on
statewide SCETV, contingent on the quality of production being to their
standards.
After initial broadcast of the program, copies of this
program can be made available through the state for use in the Public
Schools. This program will provide students with a fresh and enlightening
new view of the American Revolution, a greater appreciation of their
state’s role in the struggle for liberty, and even a greater
appreciation and connection to the Hispanic people whose ancestors did so
much to help our country during those crucial years from 1775-1783.
Conclusion….
Americans
in general when they think of our colonial past and the American
Revolution get a mental picture of the thirteen original colonies hugging
the North Atlantic coast, while Florida, and the Gulf states, in their
minds, is a blank void where nothing was, or happened. We are about to
change that perception.
Our
forgotten Southern heroes of that region are about to be brought to light,
and given their long over-due recognition!
|
Dr. Pat Carroll, Professor of History at Texas A&M stated
that the Longoria incident was well documented and spoke about his
interview with Mrs. Kennedy. Mrs. Kennedy affirmed what historians had
written about the incident.
Another
veteran, Robert Hernandez U.S. Army (Ret) stated, “There’s a guy
there that pulled me out of a river when I was wounded, two days later
[he was killed] he’s on that wall.” “There are 68 names here of my
buddies that got killed, I loved them all, they were my brothers.” 
Sgt.
E-5 José G. Ramos U.S. Army and the Southeast Military Law Enforcement
Academy (among them Jocelyn Espino, Robert Muñoz and Jair Osorio) 
Ernest
I.J. Aguilar "Ernie" Passed away Monday, March 15, 2010 at
home with family at his side. Born in Mexico March 19, 1919, Ernie
selflessly dedicated his time and effort to the development of
programs to benefit Latinos and all Washingtonians. Ernie was a
veteran and fought for our freedom in World War II, the Korean War,
and Vietnam. He continued to fight for our country in the areas of
civil rights and equal opportunity in education, jobs and healthcare.
He is survived by his loving wife, Clementina (Tina) Aguilar, six
children, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. The family
requests donations be made to: The Ernest I.J. Aguilar Scholarship
Fund. Foster School of Business, University of Washington, P.O. Box
353200, Seattle, WA 98195-3200 Mass was held at St. Andrews
Catholic Church, 1401 Valley Avenue East, Sumner, WA . Please visit
www.Powers 
He found test cases, and slowly, acceptance began. Granville
worked with his daughter, Nancy C. Hough, as co-author; and they
published two books on California participation during the war
years. Then they did books on Arizona (Sonora), New Mexico, Texas,
Louisiana, West Indies, and Northern Mexico. It took five years
for the eight books. The NSSAR now not only accepts descendants of
soldiers and sailors identified in these books, but also
descendants of other Spanish soldiers or sailors whose actions
caused the British to divert ships and manpower away from the
fledging and independent United States. So Granville could safely
state that he had identified more Patriot ancestors than any
previous SAR member.
Jaime Escalante dies at 79; math teacher who challenged East L.A.
students to 'Stand and Deliver'
At his insistence, they studied before school, after school and on
Saturdays, with Escalante as coach and cheerleader. Some of them
lacked supportive parents, who needed their teenagers to work to help
pay bills. Other students had to be persuaded to spend less time on
the school band or in athletics. Yet all gradually formed an
attachment to calculus and to "Kimo," their nickname for
Escalante, inspired by Tonto's nickname for the Lone Ranger, Kemo Sabe.
The action angered the students, who thought the service would not
have questioned their scores if they were white. But this was
Garfield, a school made up primarily of lower-income Mexican Americans
that only a few years earlier had nearly lost its accreditation.
"There's a tremendous amount of feeling that the Hispanic is
incapable of handling higher math and science," Escalante
reflected later in an interview with Newsday.
I
became very excited but now the man was an ocean away! At his age no
doubt he knew things about the family from the early 20th
century. I told my aunt about him, she quipped, “Well you’d better
hurry” referring to his age! It seemed impossible to go back
the same year ;I had already spent a month there. I focused on
returning and prayed 
We made the journey to Bilbao, checked
into our Pencion and rested one day. The fateful day came as we
boarded a bus to go to where my Arzamendi root started hundreds of
years ago! I had found references in Spanish documenting the
Arzamendis living in and around the Arrasate. One reference documented
that in the 13th century the Arzamendis were making large
contributions to religious orders. One aspect of research that
fascinates me is that the Arzamendis are very small family, there only
156 in all of Spain, and of those 150 live in Guipuzgoa province the
original place of origin of the family. There are less than 50 that go
by the surname in the United States!
Fund
raiser for Sergio Contreras, Westminster School Board Trustee.
Reflecting on the image, I kept wondering about something
in the poster, in the image which tied the mural to the title, and decided to ask Sergio
. . . . . 
I
am an indigenous woman of the Americas, daughter of Janice
Andrews Hernandez, a Nimipu -- or Nez Perce. She and I and my
two sons are enrolled on the Colville Reservation in
Washington state. My father is Rodolfo Hernandez, a
Mexican-American from Texas, a Tejano with indigenous roots on
his father's side from San Luís Potosí, Mexico, and Spanish
roots on his mother's side, from Coahuila, Mexico, by way of
the Canary Islands.
Using archival photographs, home movies and personal accounts of past and present residents, Little Mexico/El Barrio tells the story of a once thriving community defined not only by specific geographic boundaries, but by a common language and cultural heritage.
