2026 First-Class Forever Stamps,Figures of the American Revolution: Bernardo de Galvez

US 6068i
2026 Bernardo de Galvez

• One of 25 people commemorated for helping America become independent
• Part of 250th anniversary celebrations

Stamp Category: Commemorative
Set: Figures of the American Revolution
Value: 78¢, First Class Mail Rate
First Day of Issue: April 10, 2026
First Day City: Washington, DC
Quantity Issued: 18,125,000 stamps (725,000 panes)
Printed by: Banknote Corporation of America
Printing Method: Offset, Flexographic
Format: Pane of 25

Why the stamp was issued: This stamp is part of a pane of 25 stamps issued to commemorate early Americans who helped in the country’s fight for independence.

About the stamp design: USPS art director, Ethel Kessler, designed the pane using original artwork by 13 artists.

First Day City: The dedication ceremony took place at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum in Washington.
An additional dedication took place on May 29 during the Boston 2026 stamp show.

About the Figures of the American Revolution set: Revolutions are not made by one kind of person. They are made by anyone willing to act — the general and the spy, the writer and the diplomat, the minister and the war chief, the woman at her writing desk and the enslaved man behind enemy lines. When the American Revolution demanded courage, it found it in unexpected places and in people history did not always remember.
Consider who is here: A Seneca war chief who made an impossible choice to protect his people. An enslaved man who infiltrated the British camp and helped win the war at Yorktown. A woman who heard the words “all men are created equal” and walked into a courtroom to demand they apply to her. A Caribbean orphan who rose from nothing to become indispensable. A Spanish governor who never lost a battle. A Polish military engineer who crossed an ocean to fight for a country that wasn’t his own. A Quaker who set aside his faith’s most sacred principle and picked up a musket. Together these 25 figures tell a fuller, truer story of what the Revolution actually was.
As the nation marked its 250th anniversary, this pane asked us to look beyond the famous moments and the celebrated names. Independence was not secured by one kind of courage or one kind of sacrifice. It was built by soldiers and statesmen, yes — but also by people who had every reason to doubt that the promise of freedom applied to them, and who fought for it anyway. That is the America these 25 figures helped forge.

History the stamp represents: Most Americans know of the French alliance that helped win the Revolution. Far fewer know about the Spanish one. Bernardo de Gálvez, governor of Spanish Louisiana, was one of the most effective military commanders of the entire war - and one of the least remembered. He fought not on the famous battlefields of the North, but along the Gulf Coast, where his campaigns quietly dismantled British power in the South.
Before Spain officially entered the war, Gálvez was already secretly funneling supplies to the Continental Army. When Spain joined the conflict in 1779, he moved quickly and decisively. He captured Baton Rouge, Natchez, and Mobile in rapid succession, cutting British supply lines and forcing Britain to defend yet another front. His siege of Pensacola in 1781 effectively drove the British from West Florida entirely.
Gálvez never lost a single battle. His campaigns kept British forces pinned down and prevented them from reinforcing their Northern operations at critical moments. The Revolution was won by many hands from many nations. This stamp honors one of its most brilliant and most overlooked commanders - a Spanish hero of the American Revolution is finally getting the recognition he deserves.