The following is an excerpt about the Mobile Campaign from Spain’s Louisiana Patriots in its 1779-1783 War with England During the American Revolution, Spanish Borderland Studies by Granville W. and N. C. Hough: “As soon as the Mississippi River area was secure, Governor Galvez sent Estevan Miro to Havana to seek 2000 more troops for an attack on Mobile, but Miro could only get 567. Galvez combined the forces he had with these and moved against Mobile in Feb 1780. His forces included:567 soldiers from the Regiment of Navarre,
50 soldiers from the Havana Regiment, 141 soldiers from the Louisiana Regiment, 14 gunners, 26 carabineers, 323 white militiamen, 107 negro and mulatto militiamen, 24 negro slaves, and 26 American volunteers. This totals to 1278 persons, though 1321 is frequently seen in historical accountings. Probably 1500 soldiers and sailors were involved in the Battle of Mobile. After a 21 day siege, the surrender took place 14 Mar 1780.

This was just in time, as a relief force of 1100 British and Creek Indians were just a few miles away. The second phase of the Mobile campaign was its defense against the British counter attack on 7 Jan 1781. Spanish authorities in Cuba, learning of the attack, dispatched additional forces to hold Mobile. The British fled back to their main base at Pensacola. Gálvez captured Pensacola from the British in May 1781.”

Galvez' diary http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/America/United_States/Louisiana/_Texts/LHQ/1/1/Galvez_Diary*.html

Galvez capture of Mobile http://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/fortcharlotte.html

British counterattack in January 1781 https://books.google.com/books?id=78T1PSu0IIYC&pg=PA161&lpg=PA161&dq=january+1781+british+%22dauphin+island%22&source=bl&ots=kmEe-146zz&sig=izmbU3BNtAGTDT4jmBZ4sHff5YQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CEgQ6AEwCGoVChMI6Yuti4i_xwIVxIoNCh1jaQ_0#v=onepage&q=january%201781%20british%20%22dauphin%20island%22&f=false

General Campbell ordered Colonel Johann Ludwig Wilhelm von Hanxleden, commanding officer of the 3rd Waldeck Regiment, to take a mixed force of German and British regulars, Provincials, and native peoples and attack the post at the Village of Mobile on Sunday, January 7, 1781.  Again, according to Starr's work, Tories, Dons, and Rebels, page 183, "the colonel [von Hanxleden] waited until Sunday morning in order to allow the [HMS] Mentor to arrive in Mobile Bay to prevent the Spanish crossing the bay to the aid of the Village of Mobile".  According to Servies's work, The Log of the H.M.S. Mentor, pages 149-150, the HMS Mentor reached the mouth of Mobile Bay in plenty of time to support the land attack but, inexplicably, chose not to enter Mobile Bay to support Colonel von Hanxleden in his attack on the Village of Mobile.  Instead, Robert Deans, Captain of the HMS Mentor, chose to send some of his naval personnel and marines to attack the Spanish post on Dauphin Island, at the mouth of Mobile Bay.  Again, according to Servies's work, The Log of the H.M.S. Mentor, pages 149-150, the entry for January 8, 1781 reads as follows: "The boats returned from attacking Dauphin Island with several prisoners, small arms & the colours.  Burnt their barracks & block house, the rest escaped..."  A little further on in this same entry, one reads, "...saw a large smoak [smoke] at The Village ocasioned [occasioned] by our troops attacking it. Sailed, the Mentor's tender".  It is almost impossible that the HMSMentor could have been positioned to see any smoke rising from action taking place at the Village of Mobile due to the fact that at this point in the action, she would have been positioned about 30 miles south of the Village of Mobile.  Thus, it appears that the HMS Mentor did not fulfill its role of supporting the forces under Colonel Johann Ludwig Wilhelm von Hanxleden in their land attack on the Village of Mobile.

HMS Mentor attack on Dauphin Island http://thefrigatesouthcarolina.weebly.com/

http://thefrigatesouthcarolina.weebly.com/blog/another-pair-of-german-soldiers-on-board-the-frigate-south-carolina-the-special-case-of-carl-klein-and-heinrich-weber-of-the-3rd-waldeck-regiment-pt-ii-service-in-west-florida-and-the-fall-of-pensacola