Esteban Miro

Esteban Rodríguez Miró
Governor Esteban Rodríguez Miró
6th Colonial Spanish governor of Louisiana
In office 1785–1791
Preceded by	Bernardo de Gálvez y Madrid, Count of Gálvez
Succeeded by	Francisco Luis Héctor de Carondelet
Personal details
Born	1744 Reus (currently in the province of Tarragona, Catalonia), Spain
Died	June 4, 1795 Spain
Profession	army officer and governor

Esteban Rodríguez Miró y Sabater (1744 – June 4, 1795), also known as Esteban Miro and Estevan Miro, was a Spanish army officer and governor of the Spanish American provinces of Louisiana and Florida.

Miró was one of the most popular of the Spanish governors largely because of his prompt response to the Great New Orleans Fire (1788) which destroyed almost all of the city.

Esteban Miró was born in Reus (currently in the province of Tarragona, Catalonia), Spain, to Francisco Miró and Marian de Miró y Sabater. He joined the military in 1760 during the Seven Years' War. Around 1765, he was transferred to Mexico and rose to the rank of lieutenant. He returned to Spain in the 1770s and received military training before being sent to Louisiana in 1778.

In 1779 during the American Revolutionary War and Anglo-Spanish War (1779–83), Miró was a part of the forces commanded by Bernardo de Gálvez in campaigns against the British in West Florida. Gálvez appointed Miró acting Governor of Louisiana (New Spain) on January 20, 1782. He became proprietary governor on December 16, 1785.

After the war, Miró was a key figure in the boundary dispute with the U.S. over the northern boundary of West Florida. Under Spanish rule, the boundary had been 31° north latitude. In 1763, it came under British control at the end of the Seven Years' War. In 1767, the northern boundary was moved to 32°28' north latitude (from the current location of Vicksburg, Mississippi, east to the Chattahoochee River).