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.

A year after the Louisiana purchase, Thomas Jefferson sought to solidify America's claim to West Florida by urging Congress to pass the Mobile Act.  However, this angered Spain.  Jefferson backed down rather than to risk war.  Plus, he knew that the influx of American settlers into the territory would likely turn the tide in his favor.

In 1804, the Kemper brothers of Pinkneyville in the Mississippi Territory made an initial attempt at revolt.  However, the uprising failed mostly in part due to lack of support.  As it turns out, pro-European settlers felt threatened by this pro-American faction.  Spain viewed it as nothing more than a series of border raids and not a true rebellion.

And this was the environment James Madison inherited when he succeeded Jefferson as president of the United States in 1808.  Like Jefferson, Madison also greatly wanted to acquire West Florida.  And there is evidence that American officials stirred the pot to encourage residents in the territory to overthrow Spanish rule.  

A pro-American faction in the territory began holding conventions and secret meetings, and then on September 23, 1810, Philemon Thomas led a group of armed rebels that captured the Spanish fort at Baton Rouge.   

Following the fight where two Spanish soldiers were killed and five wounded, rebels declared West Florida free from Spanish rule.  In November, leaders of the revolt adopted a constitution they modeled after that of the American's.  

A Page from the Constitution of the Republic of West Florida
http://www.modern-constitutions.de/nbu.php?page_id=02a1b5a86ff139471c0b1c57f23ac196&show_doc=US-WF-1810-10-24-en&viewmode=thumbview

Officials established the capital of the Republic of West Florida at St. Francisville, Louisiana and elected Fulwar Skipwith as the president.

 
The fledgling army had a marching song.  One verse was:

West Floriday, that lovely nation,
Free from king and tyranny,
Thru’ the world shall be respected,
For her true love of Liberty.

And they had a flag.  The banner they raised over the fort they captured in September was this one:

Recognize it?  It's the Bonnie Blue Flag, the one that officials would raise fifty years later in Jackson, Mississippi, when the state declared itself free from American rule in 1861.  The flag inspired a song that is recognizable to Civil War buffs.  Here is country music artist, Bo Bice, singing a unique version that I tend to fancy:

So the Bonnie Blue Flag had its origins from a small republic in 1810.  

Not everybody supported the revolt or this new entity.   Many residents remained staunch loyalists who supported the Spanish government, and a civil war broke out amidst the revolt.   Regardless, the pro-American revolutionaries desired to bring West Florida into the United States......at least initially. 

And Madison wanted the territory, too.  But there was a problem.  He needed congressional approval to occupy West Florida, and the body would not meet until December.  Madison nevertheless acted without authority on the grounds that “a crisis has at length arrived subversive of the order of things under the Spanish authorities.” In December, Madison sent the aforementioned Claiborne to seize West Florida, which he did without firing a shot.  Thus ended the Republic of West Florida, also called the Lone Star Republic.  It had existed for a mere seventy-four days.  And while the revolutionaries were grateful for American intervention out of fear of foreign retaliation, they were offended by the fact that Madison did not respect the republic's elected officials.   Skipwith desired to negotiate terms upon which West Florida would submit itself to American rule.  He declared they had a right to “self-government, despite the imperative tone in which the president summoned them to submit to the Orleans governor. [Claiborne]”  Resentment began to build, and Claiborne had to resort to military force to exert his authority.

The territory Madison initially seized included land in present-day Louisiana only.  In 1812, the United States annexed the remainder of West Florida - from the Pearl to the Perdido Rivers.  The state of Mississippi - including the area formerly part of West Florida - entered the union on this day, December 10th, in 1817.  But it was not until 1819  upon the ratification of Adams-Onís Treaty did Spain officially abandon all claims to West Florida.

Marker is in Hammond, Louisiana
https://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=108900

Jackson, Louisiana
https://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=108626

Brooklyn, Mississippi
https://historicalmarkerproject.com/markers/HMQ3X_old-west-florida_Brooklyn-MS.html#prettyPhoto

Monument to the Original Lone Star Republic, 1810, Slidell, Louisiana
https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMNEBE_FIRST_Lone_Star_Republic_in_the_US_Slidell_LA

Monument in St. Francisville, capital of the West Florida Republic
https://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=109953

The West Florida revolt is not easy to grasp - much less attempt to summarize in a short blog post.  Here are sources for further reading:

http://www2.latech.edu/~bmagee/louisiana_anthology/texts/arthur/arthur--west_florida.html

(Lengthy article with lots of details and primary sources.)

http://www.southeastern.edu/acad_research/programs/csls/west_florida/documents/west_florida_travel_.pdf

(West Florida Republic Trail, all of which is in Louisiana)

https://www.independent.org/pdf/tir/tir_10_2_7_etc.pdf

(Nice article detailing the politics and diplomacy issues behind the territorial disputes)

My county, Pearl River County, was carved from Hancock County. The following are a couple of good articles detailing the events of my area during this time.

http://www.hancockcountyhistoricalsociety.com/history/hancock-county-as-part-of-west-florida

http://www.hancockcountyhistoricalsociety.com/vignettes/the-republic-of-west-florida/

What does this have to do with women soldiers of the Civil War?  Nothing directly.  I just wanted to divert from the topic for a little while as I have done a couple of times previously.  

Until next formation.....rest.