1810 - West Florida Declares Independence
The American migrants, mixed with the settlers from Florida's British period would become the progenitors of the people known as Florida Crackers.
In West Florida, these American and British settlers established a permanent foothold during the first decade of the 1800s.
In the summer of 1810, they began plans for a rebellion against the Spanish authority.
By September of the same year, these plans turned into open revoltas, the settlers overtook the Spanish garrison at Baton Rouge and proclaimed the area as the "Free and Independent Republic of West Florida" on September 23.
(Ironically, the area would later become part of the state of Louisiana, not Florida.)
Their flag was the first known use of the "Bonnie Blue Flag", a single white five-pointed star on a blue field.
On October 27, 1810, most of the area for the Republic of West Florida was annexed into the U.S. by proclamation of President James Madison.
He claimed that the region was included in the Louisiana Purchase and it was incorporated into the newly formed Territory of Orleans.
Some leaders of the newly declared republic objected to the takeover by the United States government.
However, all of them deferred to the arriving American troops by mid-December of 1810.
1812 - The War of 1812
During the War of 1812, Spain allied with Great Britain, while the U.S. annexed the Mobile District of West Florida into the Mississippi Territory in May 1812.
In April 1813, the surrender of Spanish forces at Mobile officially established American control over the area, which was later divided between the states of Alabama and Mississippi.
The Florida Parishes in the modern state of Louisiana include most of the territory that was claimed by the short-lived Republic of West Florida.
1812-1813 - The Spanish Surrender East Florida
... Sort Of
Meanwhile, in East Florida:
General George Matthews, of the U.S. Army, had been authorized by the U.S. government to secretly negotiate with the Spanish governor for American acquisition of East Florida.
Instead, in March of 1812, General Matthews organized a group of frontiersmen from Georgia, who arrived at the Spanish town of Fernandina and demanded the surrender of all of Amelia Island.
They took control of Amelia Island on the Atlantic coast and declared themselves a republic free from Spanish rule.
After declaring the island a free republic, he led his rag tag group, along with a contingent of U.S. army troops, south towards the Spanish controlled city of St. Augustine.
Upon receiveing word of Matthews' actions, Congress became alarmed that he would provoke war with Spain.
Then Secretary of State James Monroe quickly ordered Matthews to return all captured territory to Spanish authorities.
After several months of negotiations on the withdrawal of the American forces and compensation for their foraging through the countryside, the countries finally came to an agreement and Amelia Island was returned to the Spanish in May 1813.
[Contributors: Jason Brown]
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