LORIDA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY P BUSHED BY THf{f08J\Jffi-I00PtlSRAffiCIETY NOV 2 9 2011 VOLUME 90 FALL 2011 NUMBER 2 The Florida Historical Quarterly Published by the Florida Historical Society Connie L. Lester, Editor Daniel S. Murphree, Assistant Editor and Book Review Editor Robert Cassanello, Podcast Editor Sponsored by the University of Central Florida Board ofEditors Robert Cassanello, University of Central Florida Frederick R. Davis, Florida State University Jack Davis, University of Florida James M. Denham, Florida Southern College Andrew Frank, Florida State University Elna C. Green, San Jose State University Lu Ann Jones, National Park Service Raymond A. Mohl, University of Alabama, Birmingham Gregory O'Brien, University of North Carolina, Greensboro Paul Ortiz, University of Florida John David Smith, University of North Carolina, Charlotte Melanie Shell-Weiss, Grand Valley University Irvin D.S. Winsboro, Florida Gulf Coast University The Florida Historical Quarterly (ISSN 0015-4113) is published quarterly by the Florida Historical Society, 435 Brevard Avenue, Cocoa, FL 32922 in cooperation with the Department of History, University of Central Florida, Orlando. Printed by The Sheridan Press, Hanover, PA. Periodicals postage paid at Cocoa, FL and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the Florida Historical Society, 435 Brevard Ave., Cocoa, FL 32922. Subscription accompanies membership in the Society. Annual membership is $50; student membership (with proof of status) is $30; family membership in $75; library and institution membership is $75; a contributing membership is $200 and higher; and a corporate membership is $500 and higher. Correspondence relating to membership and subscriptions, as well as orders for back copies of the Quarterly, should be addressed to Dr. Ben D. Brotemarkle, Executive Director, Florida Historical Society, 435 Brevard Ave., Cocoa, FL 32922; (321) 690-1971; email: (Ben. [email protected].) Correspondence concerning contributions, books for review, and all editorial matters should be addressed to Editor, Florida Historical Quarterly, Dept. of History, CNH 551, Univ. of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32816- 1350; (407) 823-0261; fax: (407) 823-3184; email: ([email protected] or [email protected].) Manuscripts should be submitted in triplicate. Guidelines for preparing manuscripts are available in the End Notes and at (http:/ / www.cas.ucf.edu/ history/ fhq_index.php.) The Quarterly is a member of the Conference of Historical Journals. The Florida Historical Society and the editor of the Florida Historical Quarterly disclaim responsibility for statements whether of fact or opinion made by contributors. THE FLORIDA Fall 2011 HIS T 0 RIC A L QUARTERLY Vol. 90, No.2 Introduction: Setting a Precedent for Regional Revolution: The West Florida Revolt Considered Samuel C. Hyde,Jr. 121 Some Thoughts on Spanish East and West Florida as Borderlands James G. Cusick 133 The Origins of the Monroe Doctrine Revisited: The Madison Administration, the West Florida Revolt, and the No Transfer Policy WilliamS. Belko 157 The Rise and Fall of the Original Lone Star State: Infant American Imperialism Ascendant in West Florida Cody Scallions 193 Book Reviews 221 End Notes 245 Cover Illustration: West Florida Revolt, 1810. Image courtesy of West Florida Revolt Collection, the Center for Southeast Louisiana Studies, Southeastern Louisiana University. Copyright 2011 by the Florida Historical Society, Cocoa, Fla. Book Reviews Gallay, ed., Indian Slavery in Colonial America. by Heidi Scott Giusto ...................... 221 Belko, ed., America'sHundredYears'War: U.S. Expansion to the Gulf Coast and the Fate of the Seminole, 1763-1858. by Brent R. Weisman ....... .............. .. 223 Kolb III and Weir, eds., Captured at Kings Mountain: The Journal of Uzal Johnson, A Loyalist Surgeon. by Jim Piecuch . 226 Kenny, Contentious Liberties: American Abolitionists in Post-EmancipationJamaica, 1834-1866. by Susan]. Fernandez ..................... 228 Waters and Edmonds, A Small but Spartan Band: The Florida Brigade in Lee's Army ofNorthern Virginia. by Daniel James Flook ...................... 231 Sharpless, Cooking in Other Women's Kitchens: Domestic Workers in the South, 1865-1960. by Jennifer Jensen Wallach .................. 233 Cobb, The South and America since World War II. by Robert]. Norrell ........................ 236 Turner, Sitting In and Speaking Out: Student Movements in the American South, 1960-1970. by Melissa Kean ........................... 237 MacKay and Edmonds, How Florida Happened: The Political Education of Buddy MacKay. by Gordon E. Harvey. 240 Haskins, Fifteen Florida Cemeteries: Strange Tales Unearthed. by Joy M. Giguere ......................... 241 Introduction: Setting a Precedent for Regional Revolution: The West Florida Revolt Considered by Samuel C. Hyde, Jr. n the course of its historical development, Florida has endured shifting and contested lines of demarcation. Few I casual observers and likely a large percentage of the recent transplants to the Sunshine State, realize that Florida's borders once extended far beyond the current confines of the state. Many students of history are surprised to learn that Florida once included a significant portion of Louisiana. On the eve of the bicentennial of the Louisiana Purchase in 2003, scholars were hard pressed to explain to a skeptical public that all of the Bayou State was not a part of the Purchase. Despite President Thomas Jefferson's instructions, his negotiating agents failed to secure the territory situated between the Mississippi and Pearl rivers - the "toe" of Louisiana. It would take a little known armed insurrection, ironically referred to as the West Florida Revolt, to complete the current configuration of Louisiana. Arguably the most strategically important territory in the entire region, "West Florida" as Louisiana's Florida Parishes were then known, enjoyed an extremely colorful, and convoluted, pattern of development. One of the only known territories within the modern Samuel C. Hyde, Jr. is a Professor of History at Southeastern Louisiana University, Director of the Center for Southeast Louisiana Studies and the Leon Ford Endowed Chair in Regional Studies. He is the author of five books, including Pistols and Politics: The Dilemma of Democracy in Louisiana's Florida Parishes, 1810-1899 (1997). He also has produced 5 films, including "Reluctant Americans: The West Florida Revolt, Completing the Louisiana Purchase," (2003). [121] 122 FLORIDA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY United States that witnessed governance by each of the major European powers that intruded into the North American wilderness, the inhabitants found stability extremely elusive. Successive periods of governance by France, Britain, and Spain contributed to a chaotic cauldron of divided loyalties, overlapping land claims, and differing perspectives on the nature and purpose of government.1 The various colonial administrations differed significantly in their commitment to and vision for West Florida. Other than establishing some rudimentary trade networks with the local Native American population, the original French claimants of the territory invested few resources in regional development. Mter being lost to Britain in 1763 as a result of the treaty concluding the French and Indian War, the first substantive efforts at development of the region were formulated. British initiatives were just gaining momentum when the American Revolution offered an unprecedented challenge to their colonial authority. In support of the American rebels, the Spanish governor at New Orleans, Bernardo de Galvez, launched a 1779 military campaign that "liberated" the territory from British authority adding it to the dominions of Spain. It is the Spanish period that contributed the most to defining an identity in West Florida.2 While Spain savored the ejection of rival Britain from the Gulf Coast, the limited resources and absence of precious metals in the territory rendered the region little more than a buffer zone against the encroaching Americans. Spain, accordingly, devoted only limited resources to maintaining the territory which in itself did much to define regional identity. The only significant Spanish garrison remained at Pensacola with a smaller posting at Mobile, both of which remained painfully distant from the woefully inadequate garrison on the Mississippi River at Baton Rouge. Typically manned by no more than 28 to 30 soldiers, the fortification at Baton Rouge revealed Spain's imperial weakness in the region. Other than a half dozen soldiers stationed at the town of St. Francisville just below the 31 sl parallel border with the 1. For descriptions of the chaotic pattern of development see, Samuel C. Hyde, Jr., Pistols and Politics: The Dilemma of Democracy in Louisiana's Florida Parishes, 1810-1899 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1996); Alvin L. Bertrand, The Many Louisianas: Rural Social Areas and Cultural Islands (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1955). 2. Robin Fabel, The Economy of British West Florida, 1763-1783 (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1988); KingS. Robinson, "Sustaining the Glory: Spain's Melting Pot Army in the Lower Mississippi Valley 1779-1781," Southeast Louisiana Review, I (Fall 2008), 5-23. RECEIVED UCF UBRARY WEST FLORIDA REVOLT NOV 2 9 2011123 hJ!S ,. ' n u M E X t Q t • f. ,j_\LA LOri 8IAi:\"'F.lNFERIEl.RE,_ --- 1 • p,..,..-,,._ .{oo 1.:.,~ ... Jil" fl"IH~ / ; -'-- - ~~'~N...-4' . ,~ .