Florida Historical Quarterly OCTOBER 1969 PUBLISHED BY THE FLORIDA HISTORICAL SOCIETY F RONT C OVER An engraving by Arnoldus Montanus of the ninth wooden fort constructed by the Spanish in St. Augustine. It is not known exactly when this forti- fication was built, but it was sometimes after 1647. This fanciful picture of the fort and St. Augustine was likely drawn from hearsay descriptions, but Jeannette Thurber Connor says that it was “probably trustworthy as to the fort. - [It] shows a very large rickety building with two massive towers, a smaller one with a poivriere - pepper-pot-top, enough houses within the fort to make it a town in itself, and nearly as many props or buttresses as a centipede has legs.” See Connor “The Nine Old Wooden Forts of St. Augustine, Part II,” Florida Historical Quarterly, IV (April 1926), 173-74. The engraving appeared first in De Nieuwe en onbekende weereld, which was granted copyright privileges in July 1670, and was published in Amster- dam the following year. There is a copy of this work in the Library of Congress. The St. Augustine engraving is also in John Ogilby’s America: Being the latest and most accurate description of the New World . which Sabin says was pirated, along with the plates, from Montanus. The en- graving reappeared in Montanus’ Die Unbekante Neue Welt (Amsterdam, 1673). Copies of the latter two works are in the P. K. Yonge Library of Florida History, University of Florida, Gainesville. THE FLORIDA HISTORICAL SOCIETY Volume XLVIII, Number 2 October 1969 THE FLORIDA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY SAMUEL PROCTOR, Editor PETER D. KLINGMAN, Editorial Assistant EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD LUIS R. ARANA CASTILLO DE SAN MARCOS, ST. AUGUSTINE HERBERT J. DOHERTY, JR. UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA JOHN K. MAHON UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA WILLIAM W. ROGERS FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY JERRELL H. SHOFNER FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY CHARLTON W. TEBEAU UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI Correspondence concerning contributions, books for review, and all editorial matters should be addressed to the Editor, Florida Historical Quarterly, Box 14045, University Station, Gainesville, Florida 32601. The Quarterly is interested in articles and documents pertaining to the history of Florida. Sources, style, footnote form, original- ity of material and interpretation, clarity of thought, and interest of readers are considered. All copy, including footnotes, should be double-spaced. Footnotes should be numbered consecutively in the text and assembled at the end. Particular attention should be given to following the footnote style of the Quarterly. The author should submit an original and retain a carbon for security. The Florida Historical Society and editor of the Florida Historical Quarterly accept no responsibility for statements made by contributors. ii CONTENTS ASPECTS OF THE DEVELOPMENT AND EXPLORATION OF THE FORBES PURCHASE ............. John C. Upchurch ..... 117 SPANISH TREATIES WITH WEST FLORIDA INDIANS 1784-1802 ............................................... Jack D. L. Holmes .... 140 LIZZIE BROWN’S TALLAHASSEE .......... Bertram H. Groene ..... 155 NOTES AND DOCUMENTS: CAPTAIN YOUNG’S SKETCH MAP, 1818 Alan K. Craig and Christopher S. Peebles ...... 176 ST. AUGUSTINE, 1784: DECADENCE AND REPAIRS ............................................ John D. Ware ...... 180 B OOK REVIEWS ................................................................................ 188 B OOK NOTES ..................................................................................... 214 HISTORICAL NEWS ......................................................................... 222 A NNUAL MEETING, MAY 9-10, 1969 ............................................ 225 COPYRIGHT 1969 by the Florida Historical Society, Tampa, Florida. Second class postage paid at Tampa, Florida, and at additional mailing offices. Printed by E. O. Painter Printing Co., DeLand, Florida. iii BOOK REVIEWS Dinkins, Dunnellon-Boomtown of the 1890’s: The Story of Rainbow Springs and Dunnellon, by Baynard Kendrick ........................................ 188 Lyons, My Florida, by Pat Parks ...................................................................... 189 Murphy, The Frank Murphy Story, by John Frasca ....................................... 191 Severein, Explorers of the Mississippi, by Jack D. L. Holmes ......................... 192 Wood, The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787, by Paul H. Smith .......................................................................... 193 Kammen, A Rope of Sand: The Colonial Agents, British Politics, and the American Revolution, by Charles L. Mowat ............................... 195 Prucha, The Sword of the Republic: The United States Army on the Frontier, 1783-1846, by J. Leitch Wright, Jr. ...................................... 197 McConnell, Negro Troops of Antebellum Louisiana: A History of the Battalion of Free Men of Color, by Joseph G. Tregle, Jr. ................... 199 Phillips, The Slave Economy of the Old South: Selected Essays in Economic and Social History, by Leedell W. Neyland ........................... 201 Bailey, Edgar Gardner Murphy: Gentle Progressive, by Thomas D. Clark ................................................................. 202 Carter, Scottsboro: A Tragedy of the American South, by Dewey W. Grantham ...................................................... 204 Gatewood, Controversy in the Twenties: Fundamentalism, Modern- ism, and Evolution, by Byron S. Hollinshead ......................................... 206 Jewell, Legislative Representation in the Contemporary South, by Gladys M. Kammerer ............................................................................ 207 English, Roads to Research: Distinguished Library Collections of the Southeast, by Sam B. Smith .......................................................... 210 Talmadge, Corra Harris: Lady of Purpose, by H. Grady Hutcherson ........ 212 ASPECTS OF THE DEVELOPMENT AND EXPLORATION OF THE FORBES PURCHASE by JOHN C. UPCHURCH * TTEMPTS AT LAND SPECULATION have been common in the AUnited States. In Florida an early attempt involved an im- mense tract of land known as the “Forbes Purchase.” This territory, situated in the north-central part of the state bordering the Gulf of Mexico, was the object of exploitation as a unit for approximately fifty-seven years, 1804-1861. First under the trading firm of Panton, Leslie and Company and its successor John Forbes and Company, and later under the Apalachicola Land Company, this practically virgin wilderness was explored, surveyed, and to a degree developed. Events leading to territorial acquisition can be traced back to the early days of the American Revolution when William Panton, Thomas Forbes, and John Leslie fled to British-con- trolled Florida because of unfavorable reaction to their Tory sympathies. 1 These men, kinsmen and partners in the firm of Panton, Leslie and Company, were formerly engaged in Indian trade, chiefly in South Carolina and Georgia. In 1776, the three partners arrived in the vicinity of St. Augustine where there was already a small outpost of Panton, Leslie and Company. From that station the company was able to rapidly expand its trade area and volume of sales so that when Spain regained the Flor- idas from Great Britain in 1783, it was on the way to becoming one of the largest trading firms in southeastern North America. 2 * Mr. Upchurch is assistant professor of geography at Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina. 1. Panton was the principal partner. His will, quoted in Record in the Case of Colin Mitchel and Others, Versus the United States (Wash- ington, 1831), 352, indicates that he left Georgia for Florida in 1776. It can be assumed that Forbes and Leslie arrived in Florida about the same time. Leslie later returned to London. Hereinafter referred to as the Record in the Case of Colin Mitchel and Others. 2. Spain, not wanting Americans to move into the West, but at the same time unable to provide a land force to prevent it, allowed Panton, Leslie and Company to become its controlling agent in the interior. This was done by giving the firm a monopoly on the lucrative Indian trade. [ 117 ] 118 FLORIDA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY The company’s operations included extending credit to Indians. From the beginning some of them either would not or could not pay however, and Indian debts began to accumulate with interest on the company’s books. While indebtedness mounted, the overall trade expanded, eventually to the degree that John Forbes, brother of Thomas, and James and John Innerarity, nephews of Panton, were admitted to the firm as partners. Enjoying the upswing of trade the merchants seemed to worry little about Indian debts until 1792. In January of that year William Augustus Bowles sacked a Panton branch store near Fort St. Marks. 3 The following year Alexander McGillivray, who had helped the company obtain and maintain the trade monopoly with the southern Indians, died. 4 Finally, in 1794, Panton learned that the United States was contemplating the establishment of trading posts among several Indian tribes. 5 Largely as a consequence of these events the company soon be- gan to take steps to collect at least part of the Indian debts. It is likely that the partners first endeavored to obtain pay- ment in cash, furs, or naval stores. When this met with little or no success the firm then looked to the Spanish king for in- demnification. 6 This also failed. Several Spanish officials did, however, suggest a possible solution: since there was little hope of being repaid in