The collection contains dispatches from the Madrid government, Spanish diplomatic and consular representatives in the United States, and officials in Florida, Cuba, and Puerto Rico, addressed to the Spanish consulate in Charleston, South Carolina. Prior to 1803 there are similar dispatches addressed to the Spanish vice consul at Savannah. Topics include Spanish fear of American filibustering in Florida in the 1790s, especially the activities of Samuel Hammond in 1794; the fear of English invasion of Florida, 1796, or invasion by Americans sympathetic to England; and privateering and the actions of William Augustus Bowles in seizing the fort at St. Marks (Appalachee) in 1800. Papers of the 1830s and after concern political affairs in Spain, the Carlist War, and Spanish expectations of a favorable ruling from the U. S. Supreme Court in the Amistad case, 1841. Material concerning the fear of American filibustering activity in Cuba extends from the 1840s to the 1890s, and includes comment on American neutrality policy and on Northern support for and Southern opposition to filibustering after the Civil War. During the Civil War period papers relate to neutrality of the consulate; the capture of Spanish property in American vessels by Confederate privateers; the seizure of the Nuestra Señora de Reqla by Union forces; Beauregard's claim to have lifted-the Charleston blockade, 1863; and the bombardment of Charleston. There are lists of ships entering and leaving Charleston harbor in violation of the blockade. Papers of 1865-1866 concern Spain's naval war with Chile and Peru and activity in the United States of Chilean privateers. Most of the papers in the collection are of a routine nature and concern shipping, health conditions, passports, changes of government in Spain, and legal problems encountered by Spaniards in South Carolina. Numerous papers relate to commerce between Charleston, Cuba, and Puerto Rico; and after the Civil War there are letters of the vice consul in Wilmington, North Carolina, relating to shipping at that port.
Bound volumes in the collection include letter books, shipping and passport registers, logbooks, crew lists, and an inventory of consular property. The shipping registers, 1850-1860, 1871-1896, contain information on the nature and value of cargoes entering and leaving Charleston, and on the nationality, type, origin, and destination of vessels calling at the port. Letter books relate almost entirely to such commercial affairs as the arrival and departure of Spanish ships, prices of goods, tariffs, legal problems of merchants and shippers, costs of ship repairs, and the discipline of Spanish seamen. For the Civil War period, reports of consul Francisco Muñoz Ramón de Moncada describe conditions in Charleston and news of political and military events within the Confederacy; French intrigues in Texas; the attack on Fort Sumter; Confederate policy on privateering; the capture of Fort Hatteras and other points along the coast, the ineffectiveness of the blockade; conditions in Charleston and the flight of residents; and Confederate conscription policies, especially as they concerned citizens of foreign countries. Post-Civil War letter books relate almost exclusively to routine commercial matters.
