Editing History of Florida (section)

==Colonial battleground==

===First Spanish rule (1513–1763)===
{{Main article|Spanish Florida}}
[[File:RUIDIAZ(1893) 1.083 JUAN PONCE DE LEÓN.jpg|thumb|left|[[Juan Ponce de León]] was one of the first Europeans to set foot in the current United States; he led the first European expedition to Florida, which he named.]]
[[File:Cantino Map - 1502 - Florida.jpg|thumb|A depiction of what might be Florida from the 1502 [[Cantino planisphere|Cantino map]] ]]
[[File:Florida worship french column 1591.jpeg|thumb|Timucua Indians at a column erected by the French in 1562]]
[[File:1527-TeraFlorida.jpg|thumb|A 1527 map by [[Vesconte Maggiolo]] showing the east coast of North America with "Tera Florida" at the top and "Lavoradore" at the bottom.]]
[[File:Florida Moyne 1591.jpeg|thumb|A 1591 map of Florida by [[Jacques le Moyne|Jacques le Moyne de Morgues]].]]

Spanish conqueror and explorer [[Juan Ponce de León]] is usually given credit for being the first European to sight Florida in 1513, but he may have had predecessors. Florida and much of the nearby coast is depicted in the [[Cantino planisphere]], an early world map which was surreptitiously copied in 1502 from the most current [[Portuguese discoveries|Portuguese sailing charts]] and smuggled into Italy a decade before Ponce sailed north from [[Puerto Rico]] on his voyage of exploration. Ponce de León may not have even been the first Spaniard to go ashore in Florida; slave traders may have secretly raided native villages before Ponce arrived, as he encountered at least one indigenous tribesman who spoke Spanish.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Smith|first1=Hale G.|last2=Gottlob|first2=Marc|date=1978 |editor-last1=Milanich|editor-first1=Jerald|editor-last2=Proctor |editor-first2=Samuel |title=Tacachale: Essays on the Indians of Florida and Southeastern Georgia during the Historic Period'|publisher=University Presses of Florida|chapter=Spanish-Indian Relationships: Synoptic History and Archaeological Evidence, 1500–1763|isbn=978-0-8130-0535-5}}</ref> However, Ponce's 1513 expedition to Florida was the first open and official one. He also gave Florida its name, which means "full of flowers".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.history.com/topics/exploration/juan-ponce-de-leon|title=Juan Ponce de Léon|website=History|publisher=A&E Television Networks|access-date=March 2, 2016}}</ref> A dubious legend states that Ponce de León was searching for the [[Fountain of Youth]] on the island of Bimini, based on information from natives.<ref name="Peck">{{cite web|last=Peck |first=Douglas T. |title=Misconceptions and Myths Related to the Fountain of Youth and Juan Ponce de Leon's 1513 Exploration Voyage |url=http://www.newworldexplorersinc.org/FountainofYouth.pdf |publisher=New World Explorers, Inc |access-date=2008-04-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080409062720/http://www.newworldexplorersinc.org/FountainofYouth.pdf |archive-date=April 9, 2008  }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/ponce-de-leon-never-searched-for-the-fountain-of-youth-72629888/?no-ist | title=Ponce de Leon Never Searched for the Fountain of Youth|date=2013|author=Matthew Shaer|publisher=Smithsonian Magazine}}</ref>

On March 3, 1513, Juan Ponce de León organized and equipped three ships for an expedition departing from "[[Aguada, Puerto Rico|Punta Aguada]]", Puerto Rico. The expedition included 200 people, including women and free black people.

Although it is often stated that he sighted the peninsula for the first time on March 27, 1513, and thought it was an island, he probably saw one of the Bahamas at that time.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.floridahistory.org/floridians/conquis.htm|title=Florida of the Conquistador|date=n.d.|publisher=FloridaHistory.org|access-date=June 17, 2006|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060615120550/http://www.floridahistory.org/floridians/conquis.htm |archive-date=June 15, 2006 }}</ref> He went ashore on Florida's east coast during the Spanish Easter feast, [[Pascua Florida]], on April 7 and named the land ''La Pascua de la Florida.'' After briefly exploring the land south of present-day [[St. Augustine, Florida|St. Augustine]], the expedition sailed south to the bottom of the Florida peninsula, through the [[Florida Keys]], and up the west coast as far north as [[Charlotte Harbor, Florida|Charlotte Harbor]], where they briefly skirmished with the [[Calusa]] before heading back to Puerto Rico.

From 1513 onward, the land became known as ''La Florida''. After 1630, and throughout the 18th century, Tegesta (after the [[Tequesta]] tribe) was an alternate name of choice for the Florida peninsula following publication of a map by the Dutch cartographer [[Hessel Gerritsz]] in [[Joannes de Laet]]'s ''History of the New World''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://scholar.library.miami.edu/floridamaps/view_image.php?image_name=dlp00020000020001001&group=sp|title=Florida et Regiones Vicinae|date=n.d.|publisher=University of Miami|access-date=2013-06-30}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.broward.org/library/bienes/lii14003.htm|title='Marvellous countries and lands' Notable Maps of Florida, 1507–1846|date=n.d.|publisher=Broward|last=Ehrenberg|first=Ralph E.|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080803204621/http://www.broward.org/library/bienes/lii14003.htm|archive-date=August 3, 2008 }}</ref><ref name="De Bow's Review, Vol. XXII Third Series Vol. II">{{Cite book|title=De Bow's Review|volume=XXII|series=Third Series Vol. II|last= De Bow|first=J. D. B. |author-link=James Dunwoody Brownson DeBow |year=1857 |location=Washington, D.C. and New Orleans |pages= 303–305|quote=The name Florida, sometimes expanded to cover more of the present-day southeastern U.S., remained the most commonly used Spanish term, however, throughout the entire period.}}</ref>

Further Spanish attempts to explore and colonize Florida were disastrous. Ponce de León returned to the Charlotte Harbor area in 1521 with equipment and settlers to start a colony, but was soon driven off by hostile Calusa, and de León died in Cuba from wounds received in the fighting. [[Pánfilo de Narváez]]'s expedition explored Florida's west coast in 1528, but his violent demands for gold and food led to hostile relations with the [[Tocobaga]] and other native groups. Facing starvation and unable to find his support ships, Narváez attempted return to Mexico via rafts, but all were lost at sea and only four members of the expedition survived. [[Hernando de Soto (explorer)|Hernando de Soto]] landed in Florida in 1539 and began a multi-year trek through what is now the southeastern United States in which he found no gold and lost his life. In 1559 [[Tristán de Luna y Arellano]] established the first settlement in [[Pensacola, Florida|Pensacola]] but, after a violent hurricane destroyed the area, it was abandoned in 1561.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Archaeology of colonial Pensacola|last=Bense|first=Judith Ann|year=1999|publisher=University Press of Florida|isbn= 978-0-8130-1661-0|page=6}}</ref>

The horse, which the natives had hunted to extinction 10,000 years ago,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historical-museum.org/archaeology/first_arrivals/first_arrivals.htm |title=First Arrivals: The Archaeology of Southern Florida |publisher=Historical-museum.org |access-date=September 13, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130326120957/http://www.historical-museum.org/archaeology/first_arrivals/first_arrivals.htm |archive-date=March 26, 2013 |url-status=dead  }}</ref> was reintroduced into North America by the European explorers, and into Florida in 1538.<ref name = IberianOrigins>{{cite journal|last=Luís|first= Cristina|year=2006|title=Iberian Origins of New World Horse Breeds|journal=[[Journal of Heredity]]|volume=97|issue=2|pages=107–113|doi=10.1093/jhered/esj020|pmid=16489143|display-authors=etal|doi-access=free}}</ref> As the animals were lost or stolen, they began to become feral.

In [[Timeline of Florida history|1564]], [[René Goulaine de Laudonnière]] founded [[Fort Caroline]] in what is now [[Jacksonville, Florida|Jacksonville]], as a haven for [[Huguenot]] Protestant refugees from religious persecution in France.<ref name=RowlandMooreRogers>{{cite book|last1=Rowland|first1=Lawrence S.|last2=Moore|first2=Alexander|last3=Rogers|first3=George C.|title = The History of Beaufort County, South Carolina: 1514–1861|edition= 1996| publisher=University of South Carolina Press| isbn= 978-1-57003-090-1|year=1996}}</ref>{{rp|26}} Further down the coast, in 1565 [[Pedro Menéndez de Avilés]] founded San Agustín ([[St. Augustine, Florida|St. Augustine]])<ref name=RowlandMooreRogers/>{{rp|27}} which is the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in any U.S. state. It is second oldest only to [[San Juan, Puerto Rico]], in the United States' current territory. From this base of operations, the Spanish began building [[Spanish missions in Florida|Catholic missions]].

All colonial cities were founded near the mouths of rivers. St. Augustine was founded where the [[Matanzas Inlet]] permitted access to the [[Matanzas River]]. Other cities were founded on the sea with similar inlets: Jacksonville, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Pensacola, Tampa, Fort Myers, and others.<ref name=ft150628>{{Cite news | first=Hank | last=Fishkind | title=Transportation routes transform landscape, economy | newspaper=Florida Today | location=Melbourne, Florida| page= 28A | date=June 28, 2015 }}</ref><!---softcopy not yet available on author's site, not paper-->

On September 20, 1565, Menéndez de Avilés attacked Fort Caroline, killing most of the French Huguenot defenders.<ref name=RowlandMooreRogers/>{{rp|28}} Two years later, [[Dominique de Gourgue]] recaptured the settlement for France, this time slaughtering the Spanish defenders.

St. Augustine became the most important settlement in Florida. Little more than a fort, it was constantly in some form of danger and did face the dangers many other early European colonies had. It was notably devastated in 1586, when English sea captain and sometime pirate Sir [[Francis Drake]] plundered and burned the city. Later sometime in 1599 a fire would burn down the Franciscan monastery that was present and the southern part of St. Augustine and a few months later on September 22, 1599, a hurricane would hit destroying much of the town. Although St. Augustine faced many hardships the Spanish decided to maintain the town and the colony as a way to counteract English expansion in the Americas and to help protect Spanish ships.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Parker |first=Susan Richbourg |date=2013 |title=St. Augustine in the Seventeenth-Century: Capital of La Florida |url=https://stars.library.ucf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4680&context=fhq |format=PDF |journal=Florida Historical Quarterly |volume=92 |issue=3 |via=STARS}}</ref>

Catholic missionaries used St. Augustine as a base of operations to establish over 100 far-flung missions throughout Florida.<ref name="Han1990">{{cite book|first=John H.|last=Hann|title=Summary Guide to Spanish Florida Missions and Visitas|url={{Google books|8DYLAAAAYAAJ|page=97|plainurl=yes}}|year=1990|publisher=Academy of American Franciscan History|isbn=978-0883822852|page=97}}</ref> They converted 26,000 natives by 1655,{{Citation needed|date=August 2023}} but a revolt in 1656 and an epidemic in 1659 proved devastating.{{Citation needed|date=August 2023}} Construction on [[Castillo de San Marcos]] in St. Augustine would begin in 1672 and finish in 1695.<ref name=":4" /> Another fort, named [[Fort Matanzas National Monument|Fort Matanzas]] would be built in 1742 to defend St. Augustine's entrance from the [[Matanzas Inlet]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fort Matanzas National Monument Florida |url=https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/american_latino_heritage/fort_matanzas_national_monument.html |access-date=August 25, 2023 |website=nps.gov}}</ref> The total population of St. Augustine during the Spanish period has some degree of uncertainty but several census were taken. A 1675 census found it had a population of 300 while a 1689 census found there was 1,444 people that lived there. Another done in 1736 found 1,409 residents. By 1763 the population of St. Augustine was larger than [[Williamsburg, Virginia]] or any other town in the southern British colonies with the exception of [[Charleston, South Carolina]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Corbett |first=Theodore G. |date=1975 |title=Population Structure in Hispanic St. Augustine, 1629-1763 |url=https://stars.library.ucf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3390&context=fhq |format=PDF |journal=Florida Historical Quarterly |volume=54 |issue=3 |via=STARS}}</ref>

African slaves used primarily for labor were first introduced to Spanish Florida as early as 1580, when officials asked for permission to import slaves to bolster the workforce in and around St. Augustine. However, due to restrictions by the Spanish crown, the population of African slaves in Florida remained relatively low until around the period of British control in 1763.<ref name="Smith2017">{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Julia F. |title=Slavery and Plantation Growth in Antelbellum Florida, 1821–1860 |date=2017 |publisher=University Press of Florida |location=Gainesville, FL |isbn=978-1947372627 |page=9}}</ref>

Throughout the 17th century, English settlers in [[Colony of Virginia|Virginia]] and [[Province of Carolina|Carolina]] gradually pushed the boundaries of Spanish territory south, while the French settlements along the [[Mississippi River]] encroached on the western borders of the Spanish claim. In 1702, Governor of Carolina [[James Moore Sr.|James Moore]] and allied [[Yamasee]] and [[Creek people|Creek Indians]] attacked and razed the town of St. Augustine, but they could not gain control of the fort. In 1704, Moore and his soldiers began burning Spanish missions in north Florida and executing Indians friendly with the Spanish. The collapse of the Spanish mission system and the defeat of the Spanish-allied [[Apalachee]] Indians (the [[Apalachee massacre]]) opened Florida up to [[Slavery among the indigenous peoples of the Americas|slave raids]], which reached to the Florida Keys and decimated the native population. The [[Yamasee War]] of 1715–1717 in the Carolinas resulted in numerous Indian refugees, such as the Yamasee, moving south to Florida. In 1719, the French captured the Spanish settlement at Pensacola.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Indian Slave Trade: The Rise of the English Empire in the American South, 1670–1717|last=Gallay|first=Alan|year=2002|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=0-300-10193-7|pages=144–147}}</ref>

====Fugitive slaves and conflicts====
The border between the British colony of Georgia and Spanish Florida was never clearly defined, and was the subject of constant harassment in both directions, until it was ceded by Spain to the U.S. in 1821. The [[Monarchy of Spain|Spanish Crown]], beginning with [[Charles II of Spain|King Charles II]] in 1693, encouraged [[Fugitive slaves in the United States|fugitive slaves]] from the [[Thirteen Colonies|British North American colonies]] to escape and offered them freedom and refuge if they converted to Catholicism. This was well known through word of mouth in the colonies of Georgia and South Carolina, and hundreds of [[Slavery in the colonial history of the United States|enslaved Africans]] escaped to their freedom, which infuriated colonists in the British North American colonies. They settled in a buffer community north of St. Augustine, called [[Fort Mose Historic State Park|Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose]], the first settlement made of [[Free people of color|free black people]] in North America.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Landers|first=Jane|date=January 1984|title=Spanish Sanctuary: Fugitives in Florida, 1687–1790|url=https://ucf.digital.flvc.org/islandora/object/ucf%3A25466/datastream/OBJ/view|journal=The Florida Historical Quarterly|volume=62|issue=3|pages=296–313|via=University of Central Florida Digital Library}}</ref>

During this period, the British (including their North American colonies) repeatedly attacked Spanish Florida, especially in 1702 and again in 1740, when a large force under [[James Oglethorpe]] sailed south from Georgia and [[Siege of St. Augustine (1740)|besieged St. Augustine]], but was unable to capture the [[Castillo de San Marcos]]. The [[1755 Lisbon earthquake]] triggered a [[tsunami]] that would have struck Central Florida with an estimated {{convert|1.5|m|sp=us|adj=on}} wave.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20110321/NEWS01/110321001/Large-margins-safety-Florida-s-nuclear-plants |title=Large margins of safety in Florida's nuclear plants|access-date=November 26, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110326212607/http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20110321/NEWS01/110321001/Large-margins-safety-Florida-s-nuclear-plants |archive-date=March 26, 2011 }}</ref>

Creek and Seminole Native Americans, who had established buffer settlements in Florida at the invitation of the Spanish government, also welcomed any fugitive slaves who reached their settlements. In 1771, Governor [[John Moultrie (politician)|John Moultrie]] wrote to the [[Board of Trade]] that "it has been a practice for a good while past, for negroes to run away from their Masters, and get into the Indian towns, from whence it proved very difficult to get them back". When British colonial officials in Florida pressed the Seminole to return runaway slaves, they replied that they had "merely given hungry people food, and invited the slaveholders to catch the runaways themselves".<ref>{{cite journal|last=Miller|first=E|date=2001|title=St. Augustine's British Years|journal=The Journal of the St. Augustine Historical Society|pages=38}}</ref>

===British rule (1763–1783)<!--'British Florida' redirects here-->===
{{Main article|East Florida|West Florida}}
[[File:West Florida Map 1767.svg|thumb|right|300px|The expanded West Florida territory in 1767.]]

In [[Timeline of Florida history|1763]], Spain traded Florida to the [[Kingdom of Great Britain]] for control of [[Havana]], Cuba, which [[Battle of Havana (1762)|had been captured]] by the British during the [[Seven Years' War]]. It was part of a large expansion of British territory following the [[Great Britain in the Seven Years' War|country's victory in the Seven Years' War]]. Almost the entire Spanish population left, taking along most of the remaining indigenous population to Cuba. The British divided the territory into [[East Florida]] and [[West Florida]].<ref name="http://fcit.usf.edu/Florida/docs/f/florbrit.htm">{{cite web|author=Florida Center for Instructional Technology |url=http://fcit.usf.edu/Florida/docs/f/florbrit.htm |title=Floripedia: Florida: As a British Colony |publisher=Fcit.usf.edu |access-date=2009-10-02}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title = A History of Florida|first1= Caroline Mays|last1= Brevard|first2= Henry Eastman|last2 = Bennett|page=77|url = https://archive.org/details/historyofflorida00brevar|location = New York|publisher = American Book Company|date = 1904}}</ref> The British soon constructed the [[King's Road (Florida)|King's Road]] connecting St. Augustine to [[Province of Georgia|Georgia]]. The road crossed the [[St. Johns River]] at a narrow point, which the [[Seminole]] called ''Wacca Pilatka'' and the British named "Cow Ford", both names ostensibly reflecting the fact that cattle were brought across the river there.<ref>{{cite book |title= Jacksonville's Architectural Heritage |last= Wood |first= Wayne |year= 1992 |publisher= [[University Press of Florida]] |isbn= 978-0-8130-0953-7|page= 22}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title= The Indian Miscellany |last= Beach |first= William Wallace |year= 1877 |publisher= J. Munsel|page=125|url= https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_lqqAAAAAIAAJ|access-date= July 12, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Wells |first=Judy|title=City had humble beginnings on the banks of the St. Johns|url=http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/030200/ent_S0302FIR.html|access-date=July 2, 2011|newspaper=The Florida Times-Union|date=March 2, 2000|url-status=dead|archive-date=2000-10-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001026115121/http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/030200/ent_S0302FIR.html}}</ref>  The British government gave land grants to officers and soldiers who had fought in the [[French and Indian War]] in order to encourage settlement. In order to induce settlers to move to the two new colonies reports of the natural wealth of Florida were published in England. A large number of British colonists who were "energetic and of good character" moved to Florida, mostly coming from [[South Carolina]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] and England, though there was also a group of settlers who came from the colony of [[Bermuda]]. This would be the first permanent English-speaking population in what is now [[Duval County, Florida|Duval County]], [[Baker County, Florida|Baker County]], [[St. Johns County, Florida|St. Johns County]], and [[Nassau County, Florida|Nassau County]]. The British built good public roads and introduced the cultivation of sugar cane, indigo, and fruits, as well the export of lumber. As a result of these initiatives northeastern Florida prospered economically in a way it never did under Spanish rule. Furthermore, the British governors were directed to call general assemblies as soon as possible to make laws for the Floridas and in the meantime they were, with the advice of councils, to establish courts. This would be the first introduction of much of the English-derived legal system which Florida still has today, including [[Jury Trial|trial by jury]], [[habeas corpus]], and county-based government.<ref>{{cite book|title = A History of Florida|first1= Caroline Mays|last1= Brevard |first2= Henry Eastman|last2 = Bennett|url = https://archive.org/details/historyofflorida00brevar |location = New York|publisher = American Book Company|date = 1904}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Mowat|first=Charles L.|date=1940|title=The Land Policy in British East Florida|journal=Agricultural History|volume=14|number=2|pages=75–77}}</ref>

A [[Scottish people|Scottish]] settler named Dr. [[Andrew Turnbull (colonist)|Andrew Turnbull]] transplanted around 1,500 [[indentured]] settlers, from [[Menorca]], [[Majorca]], [[Ibiza]], [[Smyrna]], [[Crete]], [[Mani Peninsula]], and [[Sicily]], to grow [[hemp]], [[sugarcane]], [[indigo]], and to produce [[rum]]. Settled at [[New Smyrna Beach, Florida|New Smyrna]], within months the colony suffered major losses primarily due to insect-borne diseases and Native American raids. Most crops did not do well in the sandy Florida soil. Those that survived rarely equaled the quality produced in other colonies. The colonists tired of their servitude and Turnbull's rule. On several occasions, he used African [[slaves]] to whip his unruly settlers. The settlement collapsed and the survivors fled to safety with the British authorities in St. Augustine. Their descendants survive to this day, as does the name New Smyrna.

In 1767, the British moved the northern boundary of West Florida to a line extending from the mouth of the [[Yazoo River]] east to the [[Chattahoochee River]] (32° 28′ north latitude), consisting of approximately the lower third of the present states of [[Mississippi]] and [[Alabama]]. During this time, Creek Indians migrated into Florida and formed the Seminole tribe.

====Florida in the American Revolutionary War====
{{Anchor|Florida in the American Revolutionary War|Florida in the American Revolution}}
When representatives from thirteen North American colonies [[United States Declaration of Independence|declared independence from Great Britain]] in 1776, many Floridians condemned the action. East and West Florida were backwater outposts whose populations included a large percentage of British military personnel and their families. There was little trade in or out of the colonies, so they were largely unaffected by the [[Stamp Act 1765|Stamp Act Crisis of 1765]] and other taxes and policies which brought other British colonies together in common interest against a shared threat. Thus, a majority of Florida residents were [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalists]], and both East and West Florida declined to send representatives to any sessions of the [[Continental Congress]].

Governor [[Patrick Tonyn]] raised four black militia units to protect East Florida. Enslaved blacks who fought for the British Crown were promised freedom. However, due to the passing of stricter slave codes and the efforts of slave owners, few of those who fought were granted their freedom.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rivers |first1=Larry E. |title=Slavery in Florida : territorial days to emancipation |date=2000 |publisher=University Press of Florida |location=Gainesville |isbn=978-0813018133 |page=6}}</ref>

During the [[American Revolutionary War]], Florida Loyalists fighting for the English Crown participated in raids against the Patriot forces in South Carolina and Georgia.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-04 |title=Decisions and destiny –Florida Humanities |url=https://floridahumanities.org/decisions-and-destiny/ |access-date=2023-01-22 |language=en-US}}</ref> Continental forces attempted to invade East Florida early in the conflict, but they were defeated on May 17, 1777, at the [[Battle of Thomas Creek]] in today's [[Nassau County, Florida|Nassau County]] when American Colonel John Baker surrendered to the British.<ref name="upperstjohn2004">{{cite web|url=http://www.upperstjohn.com/people/johnbaker.htm |title=John Baker |publisher=Upperstjohn.com |date=June 6, 2004 |access-date=2009-10-02}}</ref> Another American incursion into the same area was repelled at the [[Battle of Alligator Bridge]] on June 30, 1778.

The two Floridas remained loyal to Great Britain throughout the war. However, Spain, participating indirectly in the war as an ally of France, captured [[Battle of Pensacola (1781)|Pensacola]] from the British in 1781. The [[Peace of Paris (1783)]] ended the Revolutionary War and returned all of Florida to Spanish control, but without specifying the boundaries. The Spanish wanted the expanded northern boundary Britain had made to West Florida, while the new United States demanded the old boundary at the [[31st parallel north]]. This [[West Florida Controversy|border controversy]] was resolved in the 1795 [[Treaty of San Lorenzo]] when Spain recognized the 31st parallel as the boundary.

====Departure of the British====
Just as most residents of Spanish Florida had left when Britain gained possession of the territory in 1763, the impending return to Spanish control in 1783 saw a vast exodus of those who had settled in the area over the previous twenty years. This included many [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalists]] who had fled there during the American War of Independence and had caused East Florida's population to swell considerably if temporarily.<ref name=Fhq>{{cite journal|last=May|first=Philip S.|year=1944|title=Zephaniah Kingsley, Nonconformist (1765–1843)|journal=[[Florida Historical Quarterly]]|volume=23|number=3|url=https://stars.library.ucf.edu/fhq/vol23/iss3/3|pages=145–159, at p. 145}}</ref>

===Second Spanish rule (1783–1821)===
{{Main article|Spanish Florida#Second Spanish period}}
Spain's reoccupation of Florida involved the arrival of some officials and soldiers at St. Augustine and Pensacola but very few new settlers. Most British residents had departed, leaving much of the territory depopulated and unguarded. North Florida continued to be the home of the newly amalgamated black–native American Seminole culture and a haven for people escaping slavery in the southern United States. Settlers in southern Georgia demanded that Spain control the Seminole population and capture runaway slaves, to which Spain replied that the slave owners were welcome to recapture the runaways themselves.

Americans began moving into northern Florida from the backwoods of [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] and [[South Carolina]]. Though technically not allowed by the Spanish authorities, the Spanish were never able to effectively police the border region, and a mix of American settlers, escaped slaves, and Native Americans would continue to migrate into Florida unchecked. The American migrants, mixing with the few remaining settlers from Florida's British period, would be the progenitors of the population known as [[Florida Cracker]]s.<ref>{{cite book|title=Cracker: Cracker Culture in Florida History|last=Ste Claire|first=Dana M.|publisher=University Press of Florida|date=2006|isbn=978-0-8130-3028-9}}</ref>

====Republic of West Florida====
{{main article|Republic of West Florida}}

Ignoring Spanish territorial claims, American settlers, along with some remaining British settlers, established a permanent foothold in the western end of West Florida during the first decade of the 1800s. In the summer of 1810, they began planning a rebellion against Spanish rule which became open revolt in September. The rebels overcame the Spanish garrison at [[Baton Rouge, Louisiana|Baton Rouge]] and proclaimed the "Free and Independent Republic of West Florida" on September 23. (None of it was within what is today the state of Florida.) Their flag was the original "[[Bonnie Blue Flag]]", a single white star on a blue field. On October 27, 1810, most of the Republic of West Florida was annexed by proclamation of President [[James Madison]], who claimed that the region was included in the [[Louisiana Purchase]] and incorporated it into the newly formed [[Territory of Orleans]]. Some leaders of the newly declared republic objected to the takeover, but all had deferred to arriving American troops by mid-December 1810. The [[Florida Parishes]] of the modern state of [[Louisiana]] include most of the territory claimed by the short-lived Republic of West Florida.

Spain sided with Great Britain during the [[War of 1812]], and the U.S. annexed the [[Mobile District]] of West Florida to the [[Mississippi Territory]] in May 1812. The surrender of Spanish forces at [[Mobile, Alabama|Mobile]] in April 1813 officially established American control over the area, which was eventually divided between the states of [[Alabama]] and [[Mississippi]].

====Republic of East Florida====
{{main article|Republic of East Florida}}
In March 1812, a small independent band of Americans took control of [[Amelia Island]] on the Atlantic coast. They declared that they were now an independent republic free from Spanish rule in what would become known as the [[Patriot War (Florida)|Patriot War]]. The revolt was organized by [[George Mathews (Georgia)|General George Mathews]] of the U.S. Army, who had been authorized to secretly negotiate with the Spanish governor for American acquisition of East Florida. Instead, Mathews organized a group of frontiersmen in Georgia, who arrived at the Spanish town of [[Fernandina, Florida|Fernandina]] and demanded the surrender of all of Amelia Island. Upon declaring the island a republic, he led his volunteers along with a contingent of regular army troops south towards St. Augustine. Upon hearing of Mathews' actions, the government became alarmed that he would provoke war with Spain. Secretary of State [[James Monroe]] ordered Matthews to return all captured territory to Spanish authorities. After several months of negotiations on the withdrawal of the Americans and compensation for their foraging through the countryside, the countries came to an agreement, and Amelia Island was returned to the Spanish in May 1813.<ref>James G. Cusick, ''The Other War of 1812: The Patriot War and the American Invasion of Spanish East Florida'' (University of Georgia Press, 2007).</ref>

A similar filibuster action took place in September 1817, when the Scottish veteran and con-man [[Gregor MacGregor]] led a private force and captured Amelia Island and declared it part of the [[Republic of the Floridas]]. By December 1817, the United States seized the island.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Doyle |first1=Patrick W. |title=Unmasked: The Author of 'Narrative of a Voyage to the Spanish Main in the Ship ''Two Friends'' ' |journal=The Florida Historical Quarterly |date=Fall 1999 |volume=78 |issue=2 |pages=192–193 |url=http://palmm.digital.flvc.org/islandora/object/ucf%3A25534 |access-date=27 December 2022}}</ref>

====First Seminole War====
{{main|Seminole Wars|Black Seminoles}}
The unguarded Florida border was an increasing source of tension late in the second Spanish period. Seminoles based in [[East Florida]] had been accused of raiding Georgia settlements, and settlers were angered by the stream of slaves escaping into Florida, where they were welcomed. [[Negro Fort]], an abandoned British fortification in the far west of the territory, was manned by both indigenous and black people. The [[United States Army]] would lead increasingly frequent incursions into Spanish territory, including the 1817–1818 campaign against the Seminole Indians by [[Andrew Jackson]] that became known later as the [[First Seminole War]]. Jackson took temporary control of Pensacola in 1818, and though he withdrew due to Spanish objections, the United States continued to effectively control much of West Florida. According to Secretary of State [[John Quincy Adams]], this was necessary because Florida had become "a derelict open to the occupancy of every enemy, civilized or savage, of the United States, and serving no other earthly purpose than as a post of annoyance to them".<ref>{{cite book|first = Alexander |last =Deconde|title =A History of American Foreign Policy|date=1963|page= 127|publisher = Charles Scribner's Sons}}</ref>

====End of Spanish control====
{{main article|Adams-Onis Treaty}}
After Jackson's incursions, Spain decided that Florida had become too much of a burden, as it could not afford to send settlers or garrisons to properly occupy the land and was receiving very little revenue from the territory. Madrid therefore decided to cede Florida to the United States. The transfer was negotiated as part of the [[Adams–Onís Treaty]], which also settled several boundary disputes between Spanish colonies and the U.S. in exchange for American payment of $5,000,000 in claims against the Spanish government.<ref name=tebeau>{{cite book|last=Tebeau|first=Charlton W.| title = A History of Florida|edition=3rd|year=1999|orig-year=1971|publisher=University of Miami Press|isbn=978-0870243387}}</ref>{{rp|156}} The treaty was signed in 1819 and took effect in 1821, and the United States formally took possession of Florida on July 17, 1821.