The Republic of Florida

From the Florida Memory Blog.

In March 1812 a group of Georgia settlers organized themselves as the Patriot Army and had the defacto support of the U.S. government for the invasion of Spanish East Florida where they hoped to get settlers there to join the cause and proclaim their independence from Spain.  Once this was accomplished, it was the Patriots intention to transfer control of their new republic over to the United States.

They seized Fernadina, on the northeast corner of the Spanish colony without firing a shot. Their next target was to be St. Augustine, farther south.  They approached the Spanish city but couldn't get it to surrender.

Over the next several months, the Patriots fought several skirmishes against the Spanish. the Seminoles and their black allies.

They abandoned the project in early 1813.

Florida remained in Spanish hands for now.

--Brock-Perry