1,500, where they engaged in the cultiva- United States a claim to the country west tion of indigo and the sugar-cane; but, of the Perdido River, and the government becoming dissatisfied with their employ- took possession of it in 1811. Some irriers, they removed to St. Augustine. Dur- tation ensued. In the war with Great ing the Revolutionary War the trade of Britain (1812), the Spanish authorities the Southern colonies was seriously in- at Pensacola favored the English. An terfered with by pirates fitted out in expedition against the Americans having Florida, and the British incited the Ind- been fitted out there, General Jackson ians in that region to make war on the captured that town. Again, in 1818, it Americans. The Spaniards invaded west was captured by Jackson, but subsequentFlorida, and captured the garrison at ly returned to Spain. Baton Rouge, in 1779; and in May, 1781, Florida was purchased from Spain they seized Pensacola. By the treaty of by the United States in 1819, and was 1783, Florida was retroceded to Spain, and surrendered to the latter in July, the western boundary was defined, when a 1821. Emigration then began to flow greater part of the inhabitants emigrated into the Territory, in spite of many to the United States. When, in 1803, obstacles. In 1835 a distressing warfare Louisiana was ceded to the United States broke out between the fierce SEMIby France, it was declared to be ceded NOLE INDIANS (q. v.), who inhabited some with the same extent that it had in the of the better portions of Florida, and hands of Spain, and as it had been ceded the government of the United States, by Spain to France. This gave the and continued until 1842, when the Ind ians were subdued, though not thoroughly of the Fourteenth Amendment to the naconquered. was tional Constitution, on June 14, Florida Florida was admitted into the Union was recognized as a reorganized State of as a State on March 8, 1845. Inhabitants the Union. The government was transof the State joined in the war against ferred to the State officers on July 4. In the government, a secession ordinance 1899 the assessed (full cash value) valuhaving been passed Jan. 10, 1861, by a ation of taxable property was $93,527,353, convention assembled on the 3d. Forts and in 1900 the total bonded debt was and arsenals and the navy-yard at Pensa- $1,275,000, of which all excepting cola were seized by the Confederates. $322,500 was held in various State The State authorities continued hostili- funds. The population in 1890 ties until the close of the war. On July 391,422; in 1900, 528,542. 13, 1865, William Marvin was appointed provisional governor of the State, and on Oct. 28 a State convention, held at Tallahassee, repealed the ordinance of secession. The civil authority was transferred by the national government to the provisional State officers in January, 1866, and, under the reorganization measures of Congress, Florida was made a part of the 3d Military District, in 1867. A new constitution was ratified by the people in May, 1868, and, after the adoption Don Tristan de Luna sailed from Vera Cruz, Mexico, Aug. 14, 1559, with 1,500 soldiers, many zealous friars who wished to convert the heathen, and many women and children, families of the soldiers. He landed near the site of Pensacola, and a week afterwards a terrible storm destroyed all his vessels and strewed the shores with their fragments. He sent an exploring party into the interior. They travelled forty days through a barren and almost uninhabited country, and found a deserted Indian village, but not a trace resist it. He penetrated Florida with a of the wealth with which it was supposed Florida abounded. Constructing a vessel sufficient to bear messengers to the viceroy of Mexico, De Luna sent them to ask for aid to return. Two vessels were sent by the viceroy, and, two years after his departure, De Luna returned to Mexico. small force and captured some outposts early in 1740; and in May he marched towards St. Augustine with 600 regular troops, 400 Carolina militia, and a large body of friendly Indians. With these he stood before St. Augustine in June, after capturing two forts, and demanded the instant surrender of the post. It was refused, and Oglethorpe determined to starve the garrison by a close investment. The town was surrendered, and a small squadron blockaded the harbor. Swiftsailing galleys ran the weak blockade and supplied the fort. Oglethorpe had no cannon and could not breach the walls. In the heats of summer malaria invaded his camp, the siege was raised, and he returned to Savannah. Hostilities were then suspended for about two years. When Oglethorpe returned to Georgia from England (1736) he discovered a hostile feeling among the Spaniards at St. Augustine. They had tried to incite the Indians against the new settlements, and also to procure the assassination of Oglethorpe. The latter, not fairly prepared to resist an invasion, sent a messenger to St. Augustine to invite the Spanish commandant to a friendly conference. He explored some of the coast islands and prepared for fortification. His messenger did In the summer of 1776 a citizen of not return, and he proceeded to secure Georgia visited General Charles Lee at possession of the country so far as its Charleston and persuaded him that St. defined boundary permitted him. His Augustine could easily be taken. The hostile preparations made the Spaniards man was a stranger, but, without further RUINS OF AN OLD SPANISH FORT IN FLORIDA. vigilant, and inquiry, Lee announced to the Continental troops under his command that he had planned for them a safe, sure, and remunerative expedition, of which the very large booty would be all their own. Calling it a secret, he let everybody know its destination. Without adequate preparation, without a field-piece or a medicine-chest, he hastily marched off the Virginia and North Carolina troops, in the second week in August, to the malarious regions of Georgia. By his order, Howe, of even threaten war; and North Carolina, and Moultrie, of South Carolina, soon followed. About 460 men from South Carolina were sent to Savannah by water, with two field-pieces; and on the 18th, Lee, after reviewing the collected troops, sent the Virginians and a portion itia, with whom they skirmished. In one of the South Carolinians to Sunbury. of these General Scriven, who commanded The fever made sad havoc among them, the Americans, was mortally wounded. and fourteen or fifteen men were buried At near Ogeechee Ferry the invaders were daily. Then Lee sought to shift from himself to Moultrie the further conduct of the expedition, for he saw it must be disastrous. Moul trie warned him that no available resources which would render success possible had been provided, and the wretched expedition was then abandoned. Fortunately for his reputation Lee was ordered North early in Septem AN EARLY VIEW OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. ber and joined Washington on Harlem Heights. See LEE, CHARLES. Tory refugees from Georgia acquired considerable influence over the Creek Indians, and from east Florida, especially from St. Augustine, made predatory excursions among their former neighbors. Gen. Robert Howe, commanding the South ern Department, in 1778, was ordered from Charleston to Savannah to protect the Georgians and attack St. Augustine. A considerable body of troops led by Howe, and accompanied by General Houstoun, of Georgia, penetrated as far as the St. Mary's River, where sickness, loss of draught-horses, and disputes about command checked the expedition and caused it to be abandoned. The refugees in Florida retaliated by an invasion in their turn. In the summer of that year two bodies of armed men, composed of regulars and refugees, made a rapid incursion into Georgia from east Florida-one in boats through the inland navigation, the other overland by way of the Altamaha River. The first party advanced to Sunbury and summoned the fort to surrender. Colonel McIntosh, its commander, replied, "Come and take it." The enterprise was abandoned. The other corps pushed on towards Savannah, but was met by about 100 mil repulsed by General Elbert with 200 Continental soldiers. Hearing of the repulse at Sunbury, they also retreated. Galvez, the Spanish governor of New Orleans, took measures in 1779 to establish the claim of Spain to the territory east of the Mississippi. He invaded west Florida with 1,400 men, Spanish regulars, American volunteers, and colored people. He took Fort Bute, at Pass Manshac (September, 1779), and then went against Baton Rouge, where the British had 400 regulars and 100 militia. The post speedily surrendered, as did also Fort Panmure, recently built at Natchez. A few months later he captured Mobile. leaving Pensacola the only port of west Florida in possession of the British. On May 9, in the following year, Don Galvez took possession of Pensacola, capturing or driving away the British there, and soon afterwards completed the conquest of the whole of west Florida. The success of Napoleon's arms in Spain and the impending peril to the Spanish monarchy gave occasion for revolutionary movements in the Spanish province of west Florida bordering on the Mississippi early in 1810. That region undoubtedly belonged to the United States as a part of Louisiana bought from the French, but Spain had refused to relin- session of Congress in 1810-11, to secure quish it. The inhabitants were mostly that province should it be offered to the of British or American birth. Early in United States, stirred up an insurrection the autumn of 1810 they seized the fort there. AMELIA ISLAND (q. v.), lying a at Baton Rouge, met in convention, and proclaimed themselves independent, adopting a single star for their flag, as the Texans did in 1836. There were some conflicts between the revolutionists and adherents of the Spanish connection, and an attack upon the insurgents seemed imminent from the Spanish garrison at Mobile. Through Holmes, governor of the Mississippi Territory, the revolutionists applied to the United States for recognition and aid. They claimed all the unlocated lands in the domain, pardon for all deserters from the United States army (of whom there were many among them), and an immediate loan of $100,000. Instead of complying with these requirements, the President issued a proclama tion for taking possession of the east bank of the Mississippi, an act which had been delayed because of conciliatory views towards Spain. Claiborne, governor of the Orleans Territory, then in Washington, was sent in haste to take possession, authorized, in case of resistance, to call upon the regular troops stationed on the Mississippi, and upon the militia of the two adjoining Territories. It was not necessary. Soon after this movement at Baton Rouge a man named Kemper, who purported to act under the Florida insurgents, approached Mobile, with some followers, to attempt the capture of the garrison. He was repulsed; but the alarmed Spanish governor wrote to the American authorities that if he were not speedily reinforced he should be disposed to treat for the transfer of the entire province. Congress passed an act authorizing the President to take possession of both east and west Florida to prevent its falling into the hands of another foreign power. Thus it might be held subject to future peaceful negotiations with Spain. Florida, it will be remembered, was divided into two provinces, east and west. The boundary-line was the Perdido River, east of Mobile Bay. The Georgians coveted east Florida, and in the spring of 1812 Brig.-Gen. George Mathews, of the Georgia militia, who had been appointed a commissioner, under an act of a secret little below the dividing line between Georgia and Florida, was chosen for a base of operations. The fine harbor of its capital, Fernandina, was a place of great resort for smugglers during the days of the embargo, and, as neutral ground. might be made a dangerous place. The possession of the island and harbor was therefore important to the Americans, and a sought-for pretext for seizing it was soon found. The Florida insurgents planted the standard of revolt, March, 1812, on the bluff opposite the town of St. Mary, on the border line. Some United States gunboats under Commodore Campbell were in the St. Mary's River, and Mathews had some United States troops at his command near. The insurgents, 220 in number, sent a flag of truce, March 17, to Fernandina, demanding the surrender of the town and island. About the same time the American gunboats appeared there. The authorities bowed in submission, and General Mathews, assuming the character of a protector, took possession of the place in the name of the United States. At the same time the commodore assured the Spanish governor that the gunboats were there only for aid and protection to a large portion of the popu lation, who thought proper to declare themselves independent. On the 19th the town was formally given up to the United States authorities; a custom-house was established; the floating property in the harbor was considered under the protection of the United States flag, and smuggling ceased. The insurgent band, swelled to 800 by reinforcements from Georgia, and accompanied by troops furnished by General Mathews, besieged the Spanish garrison at St. Augustine, for it was feared the British might help the Spaniards in recovering what they had lost in the territory. The United States government would not countenance this kind of filibustering, and Mathews was superseded as commissioner, April 10, 1812, by Governor Mitchell, of Georgia. Mitchell, professing to believe Congress would sanction Mathews's proceedings, made no change in policy. The House of |