Florida during the Revolutionary War
The Florida Territory had been under British control since 1763, after which, the territory was split into two colonies: East Florida and West Florida.
By 1775, the start of the Revolutionary War, when the American Colonies were fighting for independence from Britain, all of Florida belonged to the British and those residing there were loyal to the crown.
A few white hunters and traders lived in the area that would become Lake County, together with runaway slaves and free black men, who found hiding in the scrub to be very effective means of evading the slave hunters.
At the end of the Revolutionary War, Florida territory remained under British control until they gave it back to the Spanish in 1783, as part of The Peace of Paris treaty that ended the Revolutionary War.
However, the treaty did not specify the boundaries of the Florida Territory.
Spain would eventually cede it to the United States in 1819 through the Adams-Onís Treaty.
[Contributors: Jason Brown]
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