Michel Cantrelle, Patriot Ancestor of Fr. George Aquaro, began his government service as a young lieutenant in the Militia of the First Acadian Coast. In January 1770 he was serving under his brother-in-law Captain Nicolas Verret. With Nicolas Verret’s death in November 1775 Michel Cantrelle was appointed commandant of Verret’s district extending from Front Vacherie to the Ascension Parish line by Governor Bernardo de Gálvez. He remained a commandant throughout the period of Spanish rule in Louisiana.
Under Royal Order from Charles III of Spain, Gálvez continued the smuggling operations to supply the North American rebels early in 1777. The British blockaded the eastern colonial ports, and the route from New Orleans up the Mississippi River was an effective alternative. Gálvez worked with Oliver Pollock, a North American patriot, shipping gunpowder, muskets, uniforms, medicine and other supplies. Gálvez let an American force through New Orleans before Spain joined the cause. Gálvez was sent to Florida by New Spain Viceroy Martín de Mayorga, at the head of an expedition of colonial troops to aid American colonists in their rebellion against Britain. Spain's motive was the chance to recover territories lost to the British, particularly Florida, and to remove the on-going British threat.
On June 21, 1779 Spain declared war on Great Britain. On June 25, 1779 a letter from London marked secret and confidential, went to General John Campbell of Strachur at Pensacola from King George III and Lord George Germain. General John Campbell was instructed that it was the object of greatest importance to organize an attack upon New Orleans. If General John Campbell thought it was possible to reduce the Spanish fort at New Orleans, he was ordered to proceed immediately to make preparations. These preparations included: (1) secure from Vice-Admiral Sir Peter Parker as many armed vessels as could be spared from Jamaica, (2) collect all forces which could be drawn together in the province, (3) take as many faithful Indians as the Superintendent could supply, (4) draw on the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury for all expenses.
As an unfortunate twist of fate for General John Campbell, upon which his whole career was decided, this secret communication fell into the hands of Governor Galvez. After reading the communication from King George III and Germain, Gálvez, Governor of Louisiana swiftly and secretly organized Louisiana and New Orleans for war.
Gálvez carried out a masterful military campaign and defeated the British colonial forces at Manchac, Baton Rouge, and Natchez in 1779. The Battle of Baton Rouge on September 21, 1779 freed the lower Mississippi Valley of British forces and relieved the threat to the capital of Louisiana, New Orleans. In 1780, he recaptured Mobile from the British at the Battle of Fort Charlotte.
His most important military victory over the British forces occurred May 9, 1781, when he attacked and took by land and by sea Pensacola, the British (and formerly, Spanish) capital of West Florida from General John Campbell of Strachur. The loss of Mobile and Pensacola left the British with no bases in the Gulf of Mexico, except for Jamaica. In 1782, forces under his overall captured the British naval base at New Providence in the Bahamas. Galvez was angry that the operation had gone ahead without his permission, and arranged for the commander of the expedition Juan de Cagigal to be imprisoned.
He received many honors from Spain for his military victories against the British, including promotion to lieutenant general and field marshal, governor and captain general of Louisiana and Florida (now separated from Cuba), the command of the Spanish expeditionary army in America, and the titles of viscount of Gálveztown and count of Gálvez.
The American Revolution ended while Gálvez was preparing a new campaign to take Jamaica.
The importance of Galvez's campaign from the American perspective was that he denied the British the opportunity of encircling the American rebels from the south, and kept open a vital conduit for supplies. Galvez also assisted the American revolutionaries with supplies and soldiers, a good deal of it through Oliver Pollock.
Gálvez, who saw it convenient for France and Spain to advance the cause of the American revolutionaries, was among those who drafted the terms of the Peace of Paris (1783) that ended the war. By the 1783 treaty Spain officially regained East and West Florida from the British.
In recognition of his work and help to the American cause, George Washington took him to his right in the parade of July 4 and the American Congress cited Gálvez for his aid during the Revolution.
When the Louisiana territory was transferred to the United States in 1803, Cantrelle’s position as commandant was terminated; however, shortly thereafter in 1804 Governor Claiborne through his emissary Dr. Watkins reappointed Cantrelle as Commandant of the Acadian Coast. In 1805 with the reorganization of parish government in Louisiana, the position of commandant was abolished.
This did not end Michel Cantrelle’s government service, however, as he was commissioned in 1805 as Parish Judge of the new parish of Acadia – the highest level parish official. When Acadia Parish was divided into St. James Parish and Ascension Parish in 1807, Michel Cantrelle became the Parish Judge of St. James Parish – a position he held until 1812. He also was a member of the Louisiana legislative council of the first territorial government. As the residents of St. James Parish prospered during the American period, the growing Acadian population on the east bank of the Mississippi River needed a Catholic church of their own. In 1807 commissioners were selected and they began the construction of a church located on land at present-day Convent, LA. In honor of the long and dedicated service of Michel Cantrelle to St. James Parish, the commissioners named the new church St. Michel de Cantrelle. In late October 1814 at 64 years of age Michel Cantrelle died. He was buried from St. James Catholic Church on 25 October 1814. Thus ended one of the most important periods in the history of St. James Parish and the Acadian Coast.
