Florida and the American Revolution: The Forgotten 14th and 15th Colonies.
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| Original signed copy of the Declaration: https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs |
July 4th, 1776- Every American citizen knows the story of the Declaration of Independence (hopefully). The original 13 Colonies exhausted over years of taxation and exploitation, drafted and signed a Declaration of Independence from British rule and began the start of The United States America. But what about the 14th and 15th colonies of East and West Florida?
The first line of the Declaration of Independence reads: The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America". At the time there were 15 colonies on continental America and numerous others in the Caribbean.
The so called "original 13 colonies" of the United States of America, are truly only that, 13 united colonies (note the convenient capitalization of united). These colonies; Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island, committed treason against England, the King and ultimately, God himself (King George was the head of the Church of England).
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| "1776" a 1972 musical comedy. |
At least that is what the remaining two colonies would have thought.
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| East and West Florida Colonies Circa 1765: http://fcit.usf.edu/florida/maps/pages/3800/f3890/f3890.htm |
East Florida had been adamant about their loyalty ever since receiving the invitation to the First Continental Congress in 1774. Not only with the symbolic burning in St. Augustine, they also wrote their loyalty publicly and to the King, but they also developed their own militia, the East Florida Rangers.
These Rangers consisted of East Florida citizens and refugee Tories from the Carolinas and Georgia. The East Florida Rangers worked for the Governor keeping the peace between plantation owners and local Native American groups, they also were on scouting missions for the British, including traveling to just outside of Savannah, GA!
The Florida colonies were significant as they opened the rest of the 13 colonies to the Caribbean and trade. George Washington issued five different invasions of East Florida between 1776 and 1780. One of the larger battles took place on May 17, 1777, known as the Battle of Thomas Creek. The southern most batter of the Revolution, the battle began due to the East Florida rangers raiding into Georgia stealing cattle and other supplies. American forces of 100 Georgia militia marched into Florida in attempts to quell the raids. They were to meet 400 Continental soldiers at Thomas Creek. Before they had the chance to reinforce their numbers British troops, Loyalists, and Creek Indians attacked the Georgia militia. Of the 100 Patriots, 8 dead, 9 wounded, and 39 captured.
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| "Incident at Thomas Creek" by Jackson Walker commissioned by the Florida National Guard: http://jacksonwalkerstudio.com/Gallery%20items/incidentatthomascreek.html |
In 1779, East Floridians must have been feeling confident in their status as British Citizens, the East Florida Rangers were now formally recognized by the England and were renamed the King's Rangers, but the Spanish had found a weakness in West Florida. The capital of West Florida was an important military staging ground just like St. Augustine, but was under In 2 short years West Florida was lost to Spain and 3 years later England sold both Florida Colonies to Spain to fund the war effort and to reclaim the original 13 colonies.
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| Fireworks celebrating 4th of July in St. Augustine. Good thing we don't "celebrate" like they did in 1776! |
So remember Floridians as you celebrate 4th of July- we are a bunch of Tories!
For further reading, check out my sources!
https://www.nps.gov/casa/learn/historyculture/upload/British-East-Florida-2017.pdf
https://myfloridahistory.org/frontiers/article/135
http://www.jaxhistory.org/portfolio-items/battle-thomas-creek/
http://eastfloridarangers.org/ef-ranger-history/
http://www.americanantiquarian.org/proceedings/44806786.pdf
http://www.colonialra.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/dr-smith-phd-dissertation.pdf