| 1721 |
Born, Malaga, Spain, . Education, unknown. |
| 1734-1740 |
Cadet to lieutenant, Regiment of Portugal |
| 1735 |
Service in the Italian campaign of 1735. |
| 1740 |
Helped organize a battalion of the Regiment of Havana. |
| 1740-1742 |
Captain to brigadier general (Mariscal de Campo), Regiment of Havana. |
| 1742 |
Served as lieutenant governor of Puerto Principe, Cuba, and later of Santiago de Cuba. |
| 1762 |
Distinguished service in taking reinforcements to try to break the English siege of Havana, . Remained officer of the Regiment of Havana during Louisiana service. |
| 1769 June |
At the request of Alejandro O’Reilly, Unzaga accompanied him to Louisiana to organize the regiment of Louisiana. |
| 1769 August 17 |
Unzaga came to the province with Gov. O’Reilly in as a colonel of the Regiment of Havana. The Spanish government had ordered the formation of a regiment to be composed of the inhabitants of the colony, to be known as the Regiment of Louisiana. The work of organizing this regiment was undertaken by Unzaga, who commanded it until the arrival of the colonel assigned to its command. |
| 1769 November 25 |
Immediately upon the organization of the Cabildo, O’Reilly called Unzaga to the governorship, and he was confirmed in the office by royal schedule on Aug. 17,1772, with an annual salary of $6,000. |
| 1769 December 1 |
Governor from December 1, 1769, to January 1, 1777. Governorship notable for tolerance of English trade, good relations with Creoles, jealous guarding of prerogatives of his office, fortification of New Orleans and the Mississippi, beginnings of Spanish assistance to rebels of English thirteen colonies, 1776, through Oliver Pollock and others. |
| 1769 December 12 |
Governor Unzaga issues a decree for constructing the sidewalks. Late in the Spanish era sidewalks, like the gutters were prone to damage by fires and flooding and were rebuilt with minimal conformity and uniformity. |
| 1770 May 6 |
Sindico procurador general Luis Ranson attempts to create a constabulary (cuadrilleros) to apprehend runaway slaves on February 27, 1770. A similar plea is made by Ranson on May 6 to Governor Unzaga. Governor Unzaga does not agree, but a similar plan develops later. |
| 1770 |
Promoted to rank of colonel. |
| 1770 |
Married Marie Elizabeth de St. Maxent, second daughter of Gilbert Antoine de St. Maxent. Unzaga won the confidence of the inhabitants by his marriage to Miss Maxent, a member of one of the leading colonial families. No children known. |
| 1770 November 3 |
Following O’Reilly’s Feb. 12 1770 mortgage regulations requiring notice to Cabildo escribanos for any real estate transaction, Governor Unzaga issues an ordinance requiring transfer of land and slaves to be by deed executed before a notary public, or at least two witnesses. The ordinance is followed in New Orleans district, but at remote posts it is uncertain. |
| 1770 |
If the administration of O’Reilly had been severe, that of Unzaga was marked by mildness and a proper consideration of the rights of the people over whom he had been called to rule. This had a tendency to placate the people, who became reconciled to the idea of Spanish dominion He was a friend to education and tried to get the people interested in sending their children to Spanish schools, but without great success. During his administration the merchants of Louisiana enjoyed considerable freedom in their commerce with other nations and at the close the English had almost a monopoly of the Louisiana trade. |
| 1771 April |
New Orleans experiences its first serious fire of the Spanish era. It breaks out on Conti Street, but few volunteer to fight the blaze. Governor Unzaga issues an edict that requires all able-bodied men to help and provides fines for men and slave owners who did not comply. At this time many one-story buildings lacked chimneys and residents built fires on dirt floors, a practice the edict discouraged. A large quantity of leather buckets were purchased. |
| 1771 |
A formal request is sent to the king outlining the deplorable state of the Louisiana colony due to restrictions on commerce. Last year s tobacco for slave request has done little to relieve conditions. Governor Unzaga tacitly allows the smuggling to continue. |
| 1772 June |
Promoted to rank of brigadier general. |
| 1772 |
Expecting a flour shortage to occur in 1772 because of the arrival of Spanish soldiers, the Cabildo and governor Unzaga take measures to control the market. Because few small coins circulate in Louisiana the price of bread and other basic commodities is changed by raising or lowering the volume of the product. |
| 1773 April |
The post of Receptor de Penas de Camara will be sold at auction by governor Unzaga. Denis Braud has abandoned his post and thus his seat on the Cabildo. He has tried to sell his post several times with no takers for the collector of fees and taxes is not a popular post. From Rochelle France he writes that he wishes his wife Juana Lemelle to have the post, which is an unusual request. |
| 1773 |
The planters on the Cabildo begin efforts to control fugitive slaves who are committing crimes while at large. The Cabildo agreed to assess all slaves and compile a census of them. The resulting tax would be used to pursue the fugitive slaves and compensate them if the slaves were killed as fugitives.. The regulation covered all of lower Louisiana from Balize to Natchitoches. Unzaga calls a Cabildo abierto to ask slaveholders at large to modify and support the application for royal authorization. The Cabildo begins enforcement immediately, royal approval comes four years later. Like all taxes collection was a problem. Slave owners were also compensated when slaves died protecting their master's homes and property or doing public works. The demands of this fund exceeded the Cabildo s efforts to keep it solvent. |
| 1776 June 22 |
Unzaga asks to be relieved on account of his age, impaired health and failing sight, but the Spanish government paid no heed to his request, which was repeated the following August.. Finally he was relieved, but not to retire from public service, as he was appointed captain-general of Caracas. Some years after he left the colony his official acts were investigated by Gov. Miro as a Juez de Residencia, or judge of residence, whose report was all that Unzaga s friends and admirers could desire. |
| 1776 |
The Cabildo and governor Unzaga issue a public edict that all measures used to sell goods would be brought to the casa capitular each year to be inspected and marked. If a measure was found to be false all merchandise possessed by the offender was donated to Charity Hospital. This system worked for many years. |
| 1777 June 17 |
Service after Louisiana: governor and captain-general of Venezuela from June 17, 1777 to December 10, 1782, during difficult period of transition from rule of the Caracas Company to renewed royal rule. |
| 1782 December 30 |
Interim governor and captain-general of Cuba from December 30, 1782, to February 4, 1785, when replaced by Bernardo de Galvez. Term as interim governor noted for expulsion of U. S. merchants, including Oliver Pollock, first U. S. consul. to Cuba. |