Revolt of the Floridians
During the American Revolution, many Loyalists in Georgia and South Carolina fled to the Royal Colony of Florida. At the end of the American Revolution, Spain received both East Florida and West Florida from the British for their part in helping us rebels win our independence from Great Britain.
However, the territory from the Atlantic Coast to the Mississippi South of the Canadian border and north of the Florida border was largely surveyed. In true Imperial or Colonial fashion, diplomats in Europe drew lines on the map that were often unrelated to the realities of the terrain or the people who lived there. Florida was no different.
The northern border of Florida was established by the Pickney Treaty with Spain in 1795. East of the Apalachicola River, the border was set at 310 North, and west of the river it was 320 22’ North. How and why, this came about is beyond the scope of this post.
In 1803, the U.S. acquired the Louisiana Territory from France. Now, there was U.S. turf to the west and north of Florida. The U.S. claimed West Florida, which ended at the Pearl River, was part of the Louisiana Purchase, and, understandably, the Spanish disagreed.
After a series of secret meetings, a group of rebels under the leadership of Philemon Thomas attacked the Spanish Fort San Carlos on September 23rd, 1810. They captured the fort and Spanish Governor Carlos de Hault de Lassus. Thomas immediately declared himself as the president of the independent Republic of West Florida.
There was a minor problem. The Spanish still had troops near Mobile and Pensacola. Thomas’s soldiers tried to take Mobile and failed.
In Washington, President Madison had taken an interest in the revolt and sent two agents, William Claiborne and David Holmes to gather intelligence. Madison was in a governmental and geopolitical quandary. He could not order the U.S. Army to march into West Florida in support of the rebels without Congressional approval. Congress would not be back in session until December 1810.
Within the population of West Florida, four factions competed for power. Some wanted to join the United States. Others wanted to remain Spanish citizens. Still others wanted to return to being British citizens. At the same time, there was a fourth group that wanted to be independent of every country.
On October 27th, 1810, Madison issued a proclamation of annexation of the territory of the Independent Republic of Florida. This made West Florida part of the U.S. And, as such, Madison could use military force and changed the role of Claiborne and Holmes.
Shortly after Madison’s proclamation, Fulmar Skipwith, who helped negotiate the Louisiana Purchase and was once the U.S. Ambassador to France, was elected governor of the Republic of Florida. He was inaugurated on November 29th, 1810.
Now Claiborne and Holmes had to deal with Skipwith and keep Thomas’ army from taking control of all the territory claimed by the new Republic of Florida.
Initial negotiations with Skipwith failed. He contended that after seven years of Spanish rule, the U.S. had given up its right to the territory of West Florida. However, on December 9th, when Holmes arrived with 600 men, Skipwith told Holmes that he would not resist but would not order his soldiers to surrender.
Holmes then went to the commander of the republic’s forces in Fort San Carlos, John Ballinger, who surrendered after being assured that they would not be punished and would be welcomed as U.S. citizens.
Thus ended the revolt. West Florida on January 15th, 1811, Congress authorized the occupation of West Florida. It would officially become part of the United States of America as part of the Adams-Onís Treaty signed with Spain on February 22nd, 1819. It would become effective two years later.
Henry E. Chambers Map of the disputed Florida Territory in 1810.
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