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- History
of
English
Florida
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As
time
passed,
the
English
and
the
French
threatened
Spanish
Florida.
Before
the
Treaty
of
Paris
with
the
English
in
1763,
the
French
threatened
Spanish
Pensacola.
The
English
threatened
St.
Augustine
to
the
east.
In
1702,
Carolina
Governor
Moire
(English)
made
a
significant
sea
attack
against
St.
Augustine,
but
had
to
go
back
by
land,
as
the
Spanish
fleet
from
Havana
blocked
his
escape
by
sea.
Later,
Georgia
Governor
James
Oglethorpe
(English)
sailed
up
the
St.
Johns
River
in
1740
and
took
two
small
Florida
forts.
The
Spanish
retaliated
with
an
offensive
in
1741.
They
captured
English
ships
and
plundered
plantations
on
the
Georgia
and
Carolina
coasts.
Again,
in
September
1742,
General
Oglethorpe
attacked
St.
Augustine,
but
was
repelled.
Oglethorpe
then
moved
down
the
coast
for
another
attack,
but
his
fleet
was
scattered
by
a
storm.
Why
so
many
naval
attacks
were
attempted
in
September
after
200
years
of
being
repeatedly
aborted
by
hurricanes
at
that
time
of
year
is
not
understood.
Back
to
the
Treaty
of
Paris
in
1763.
To
set
the
stage
for
the
year
1763,
other
comparison
chronological
events
were:
the
end
of
the
Seven
Year's
War;
Voltaire
wrote
his
"Treatise
on
Tolerance,"
Mozart
at
age
seven
was
touring
Europe
and
the
first
Chambers
of
Commerce
were
established
in
New
York
and
New
Jersey.
The
British
armada
had
captured
Havana
in
the
summer
of
1762,
but
apparently
had
little
use
for
it.
She
had
the
13
colonies
to
Florida's
north.
Spain
had
less
use
for
Florida
than
her
center
of
New
World
commerce
(Havana),
so
Florida
was
traded
to
England
for
Havana.
In
about
four
months
of
negotiation
in
Paris,
250
years
of
Spanish
rule
of
Florida
was
ended.
The
English
traded
Havana
for
Florida.
At
this
time,
Florida
extended
as
far
north
as
the
Yazoo
River
on
the
Mississippi
River.
Small
settlements
at
St.
Marks,
Mobile,
New
Orleans,
Manchac
and
Natchez
existed
and
Pensacola
and
St.
Augustine
were
still
the
largest.
Florida
was
too
large
to
govern
as
one
colony
so
England
divided
Florida
into
two
colonies.
East
Florida
was
under
Governor
James
Grant
and
West
Florida
under
George
Firestone.
England's
Major
Ogilvie
was
in
charge
of
East
Florida
affairs
at
St.
Augustine
and
Don
Elixio
de
la
Puente
was
the
Spanish
agent
in
charge
of
Spanish
goods
and
properties
remaining
in
East
Florida.
Spain's
Don
Elixio
insisted
that
the
1763
treaty
only
transferred
the
mainland
of
Florida,
and
not
the
Florida
Keys,
to
England.
His
argument
was
that
the
Keys
("Los
Martires")
were
"Norte
Havana"
and
parts
of
Cuba,
not
Florida.
Ogilvie,
knowing
of
the
ambiguity
of
the
treaty,
said
the
Keys
would
be
occupied
anyway
and
defended
as
part
of
English
East
Florida.
When
reading
Spanish,
Spain
owned
the
"Keys"
continously
from
1513
to
1821.
Neither
country
did
much
complaining,
neither
made
much
use
of
the
Keys,
and
neither
really
contested
the
other's
claim.
Havana
did
issue
licenses
to
its
fishermen,
which
the
English
called
passports,
to
fish
in
the
Keys.
It
appears
that
both
countries
principal
concern
was
that
the
other
would
build
forts
and
attempt
to
control
the
Bahama
Channel
shipping
lane.
Later
(1822)
the
United
States
did
not
make
the
same
mistake
as
it
dispatched
the
schooner
Shark
to
plant
the
U.S.
flag
at
Key
West
to
make
it
clear
that
the
Keys
were
U.S.
property.
This
ambiguity
may
be
the
reason
that
there
were
no
English
land
grants
in
the
Keys.
On
the
mainland,
the
English
government
gave
generous
land
grants
and
the
Floridians
(except
the
Indians)
prospered
as
never
before.
New
Smyrna
Beach,
founded
by
Dr.
Turnbull
and
named
after
his
Greek
wife,
is
probably
the
best
known
new
settlement
of
this
English
era
(1767).
Denys
Rolles
also
formed
an
early
English
settlement
known
today
as
Palatka.
The
Keys
were
only
affected
indirectly.
For
example,
the
British
warship
H.M.S.
Carysfort
in
1770
ran
aground
(She
did
not
sink.)
on
the
reef
now
named
Carysfort
Reef.
George
Gault,
surveying
eastward
from
the
Mississippi
River
for
the
British,
surveyed
most
of
the
Florida
Keys
in
1774.
His
charts
and
notes
are
an
important
part
of
Keys
history.
He
did
not
return
the
following
year
due
to
the
Revolutionary
War
scare.
No
known
English
land
grants
or
settlements
were
made
in
the
Keys.
It
is
significant
to
mention
that
the
two
English
Florida
colonies
did
not
join
their
13
sister
colonies
in
the
American
Revolution
of
1776.
They
were
probably
too
small,
too
new
and
undeveloped
to
shed
their
mother
country's
apron
strings.
In
fact,
in
1776,
when
the
news
of
the
Declaration
of
Independence
reached
St.
Augustine,
the
townspeople
burned
Hancock
and
Adams
in
effigy.
Three
signers
of
the
Declaration
of
Independence,
Arthur
Middleton,
Edward
Rutledge
and
Thomas
Heyward,
were
later
held
captive
in
the
English
prison
at
St.
Augustine.
As
a
trivia
item,
Florida
celebrated
its
first
4th
of
July
in
1822
after
it
became
a
U.S.
territory.
During
and
after
the
American
Revolution,
many
English
Loyalists
in
the
13
Colonies
wished
to
remain
under
the
English
Crown.
Some
went
directly
to
the
Bahamas
and
others
came
to
Florida,
which
was
still
English.
The
Florida
native
Indians
were
being
pushed
out
by
everyone,
including
the
invading
Creek
Indians
from
the
north.
The
white
man
was
pushing
the
Creeks
out
of
their
native
lands
to
their
north
and
east.
The
Creeks
spread
as
far
south
as
the
Keys.
A
band
of
48
Uchise
attacked
a
group
of
nine
Spaniards
in
Key
West
on
February
28,
1762.
Eventually,
all
Creek
and
other
Indians
in
Florida
were
called
Seminoles.
The
Spanish
in
Cuba
made
several
attempts
to
rescue
the
native
Florida
Indians.
They
were
taken
to
Cuba
where
many
died
of
disease,
or
reportedly
returned
to
Florida.
The
last
major
exodus
reportedly
took
place
in
1763,
when
some
at
St.
Augustine
and
Key
West
departed
by
ship
to
Havana.
Although
it
is
credible
that
some
intermarried
or
were
adopted
by
the
Creek,
this
was
the
theoretical
end
of
the
native
Florida
Indian.
The
whites
and
the
newly
named
Seminoles
from
the
north
had
taken
over.
In
1783,
with
the
Revolutionary
War
ended,
England
was
forced
to
give
up
a
large
part
of
her
American
possessions.
The
Treaty
of
Versailles
returned
Florida
to
Spain
in
exchange
for
the
Bahama
Islands.
(Nassau
in
the
Bahamas
had
been
captured
by
Havana's
Governor
Don
Cargigal
in
1782.)
Many
of
the
English
Loyalists
(Tories),
who
had
moved
to
Florida
during
and
after
the
1776
Revolutionary
War,
now
moved
to
the
Bahamas
to
remain
under
England.
Some
of
their
descendants
become
the
"Conch"
settlers
in
the
Keys
in
later
years.
In
summary,
Florida
became
a
Spanish
territory
with
the
arrival
of
Ponce
de
Leon
in
1513.
After
50
years
of
Spanish
attempts
to
settle
Florida,
Spain
decided
not
to
send
more
expeditions.
Then
the
French
made
their
move
to
settle
in
the
Jacksonville
area,
and
Spain
sent
an
expedition
to
annihilate
them.
The
French
shifted
their
attention
to
the
New
Orleans
area,
and
Spain
developed
St.
Augustine,
our
oldest
city.
England
began
developing
colonies
in
the
northeastern
United
States
in
the
1600s
and
Spain
did
relatively
little
with
Florida.
In
1763,
the
Spanish
had
to
trade
Florida
to
England
in
order
to
repossess
Havana.
England
lost
its
13
colonies
to
the
United
States
in
the
revolution,
but
the
two
Florida
settlements
did
not
participate.
During
the
American
Revolution,
Spain
declared
war
with
England
in
1779
and
by
1780
Spain
had
captured
the
English-owned
Nassau.
In
the
Treaty
of
Versailles
(1783),
England
traded
Florida
for
Nassau
with
Spain.
English
ownership
of
Florida
had
lasted
only
twenty
years
and
the
English
were
given
until
March
19,
1785
to
settle
their
ownership
interests.
I
repeat
that
considerable
maritime
activity
took
place
off
the
coasts
of
the
Keys,
but
there
was
little
terrestrial
activity
other
than
the
native
Americans.
The
Keys
had
provided
many
shipwrecks,
lumbering,
fishing
and
hiding
areas,
and
fresh
drinking
water
for
every
nation.
The
deep-water
anchoring
facility
at
Cayo
Hueso
(Key
West)
permitted
anchoring
for
ships
not
wishing
to
stop
in
Havana
or
Charleston.
Most,
if
not
all,
of
the
Florida
indigenous
natives
had
been
killed
or
driven
from
their
homeland
by
about1763.
Corresponding
events
in
1783
were:
American
author
Washington
Irving
was
born,
Mozart
wrote
his
"Mass
in
C
Minor"
and
the
Society
of
Cincinnati
was
founded.
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