Tate recruited Americans for a proposed French attack on Spanish Florida before South Carolina threatened him with arrest and he fled to France. His birthplace and claimed family losses during the American Revolution remain uncertain. Older histories put him near seventy, while the age of about forty-four used here conflicts with the stated birth year. Hostility toward Britain and support for Irish republicanism gave him a political motive without experience commanding a battle. Tate and most of his captured force returned to France in a 1798 prisoner exchange.
Chapter · 1:19:22-1:26:13
William Tate's uncertain background and French commission
Tate's disputed origins and earlier French-backed Florida venture offer little evidence of preparation for commanding the Welsh expedition.