Christmas Gift Ideas!

If you're looking for a Christmas gift for the history enthusiast on your list, consider items on my reading list.  Most center around women soldiers, of course, but I do have a section at the bottom that includes books published by my friends that deal with other topics.

Check it out by clicking [HERE].

The true gift:  John 3:16.

If At First You Don't "Secede": The Republic of West Florida

You probably recall learning about the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 in school.  But what you may not know is that the deal wasn't as straight forward as you may think.  A dispute arose over whether the agreement included territory called West Florida.  Despite the name, this region did not include any part of Florida we know today.  Rather, it stretched from the Mississippi River in the west, across the Mississippi and Alabama Gulf Coasts, and over to the Perdido River, which forms the boundary between present-day Alabama and Florida.  The 31st parallel was the northern boundary.

This area was ruled by the Spanish, claimed by the United States, and inhabited by French, British, and others.  It was quite an interesting place filled with diverse individuals and unsavory characters.  Indeed, West Florida attracted buccaneers, thieves, malcontents, misfits, political refugees, and ruffians, among others.  William C. C. Claiborne, the only governor of Orleans Territory and later the first governor of the state of Louisiana, described the people of Louisiana West Florida by noting that “a more heterogeneous mass of good and evil was never before met in the same extent of territory.”  And with the political unrest, the region was prime for tension, drama, confrontations, and clashes.