In 1810, the Atlantic World was embroiled in revolution, piracy, proxy wars, and clandestine operations. Napoleon had invaded Spain, the Louisiana Territory was in crisis, and Americans were preparing to declare war against the British. Beset at home, the Spanish struggled to maintain their colonial empire, while U.S. officials and agents plotted their departure from Texas and Florida--an outcome forestalled until General Andrew Jackson's 1815 victory at New Orleans and the British change in position regarding Spain's possessions after Napoleon's final defeat in Europe. Americans may have professed neutrality in Mexico's sanguinary civil war, but their actions proved otherwise. This first book linking America with the Mexican struggle for independence examines guerrilla warfare and royalist reaction in Mexico, the common cause between Mexican and American "patriots" in ousting the Spanish, the secret efforts by Americans to convey insurgents and arms into their revolution, and the effect of the war and its aftermath on the destiny of a continent.