Editing Fernandina Beach, Florida (section)

===Old Town Fernandina===
{{main|Original Town of Fernandina Historic Site}}

On January 1, 1811, [[Enrique White]], governor of Spain's [[East Florida]] province, named the town of Fernandina, about a mile from the present city, in honor of [[King Ferdinand VII]]. On May 10 of that year,<ref name="Society1941">{{cite book|author= Louise Biles Hill|title=Florida Historical Quarterly|chapter-url=https://palmm.digital.flvc.org/islandora/object/ucf%3A22306|access-date=May 3, 2013|edition=3|volume=21|year=1941|publisher=Florida Historical Society|page=214|chapter=George J. F. Clarke, 1774-1836}}</ref> Fernandina became the last town platted under the [[Laws of the Indies]] in the Western hemisphere. The town was intended as a bulwark against U.S. territorial expansion. In the following years, it was captured and recaptured by a succession of renegades and privateers.

====Republic of East Florida====
At the beginning of the [[Florida Seminole Wars#Patriot War of East Florida (1812)|Patriot War]], with the approval of President [[James Madison]] and [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] Governor [[George Mathews (Georgia)|George Mathews]] on March 13, 1812,<ref>{{cite book|last=Cusick|first=James G.|title=The other war of 1812 : the Patriot War and the American invasion of Spanish East Florida|year=2007|publisher=University of Georgia Press|location=Athens, Georgia|isbn=978-0820329215|pages=32}}</ref> insurgents known as the "Patriots of Amelia Island" seized the island. After raising a Patriot flag, they replaced it with the [[Flag Acts (United States)#Flag Act of 1794|United States flag]]. American gunboats under the command of [[Commodore (United States)|Commodore]] Hugh Campbell maintained control of the island. On May 15, 1812, the British brig. [[HMS Sappho (1806)|''Sappho'']] fired on Gunboat no. 168, which had fired on the loyalist merchant vessel ''Fernando'' to prevent her leaving. Outgunned, the American gunboat withdrew, which enabled several vessels to escape from the port. President Madison eventually denounced the filibustering of George Mathews, however, on the grounds that Mathews had violated his instructions.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ibiblio.org/uncpress/chapters/may_manifest.html |title=Manifest Destiny's Underworld: Filibustering in Antebellum America, by Robert e. May. Chapter 1 |access-date=July 23, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090209182541/http://www.ibiblio.org/uncpress/chapters/may_manifest.html |archive-date=February 9, 2009 }} Manifest Destiny's Underworld: Filibustering in Antebellum America. Robert E. May. Chapter 1</ref><!-- Bot generated title -->

====Mexico====
Spanish pressure forced the American evacuation from the island in 1813. Spanish forces erected [[Fort San Carlos]] on the island in 1816. However, A Scottish soldier and adventurer named [[Gregor MacGregor]] with 55 musketeers seized [[Fort San Carlos (Fernandina, Florida)|Fort San Carlos]] in 1817, claiming the island on behalf of "the brethren of Mexico, Buenos Ayres, New Grenada and Venezuela",<ref name="Another View of Gregor MacGregor">[http://www.amelianow.com/winter01-gregor.htm "Another View of Gregor MacGregor"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090328174504/http://www.amelianow.com/winter01-gregor.htm |date=March 28, 2009 }} in ''[http://www.amelianow.com/ Amelia Now On Line]'', Winter 2001.</ref> and raised the Green Cross of Florida flag over the Spanish [[Fort San Carlos]].<ref name="Burnett2014">{{cite book|author=Gene M. Burnett|title=Florida's Past, Vol 2: People and Events That Shaped the State|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a5hxDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT120|date=1 October 2014|publisher=Pineapple Press|isbn=978-1-56164-759-0|page=120}}</ref>
MacGregor claimed to be Brigadier General of the armies of the United Provinces of New Grenada and Venezuela (where he had successfully fought and led troops), and General-in-Chief of the armies for the two Floridas, commissioned by the Supreme Director of Mexico.<ref name="Another View of Gregor MacGregor"/>

Spanish soldiers forced MacGregor's withdrawal, but their attempt to regain complete control was foiled by American irregulars organized by Ruggles Hubbard and former Pennsylvania congressman [[Jared Irwin (Pennsylvania politician)|Jared Irwin]]. Hubbard and Irwin later joined forces with the French-born pirate [[Louis Aury]], who laid claim to the island on behalf of the Republic of Mexico. U.S. Navy forces drove Aury from the island, and President [[James Monroe]] vowed to hold Amelia Island "in trust for Spain."