The History of Florida (34 page)

experienced by many of the refugees “pitiful indeed . . . having already been

forced to move two or three times from plantation to plantation, from coun-

try to town . . . herded together, prosperous and poor alike on the quays

of Savannah and Charleston, surrounded by cases and bundles containing

their few salvaged effects, and waiting to embark with their Negroes.” By the

end of December, more than 6,147 refugees had arrived in East Florida.

proof

The refugees were provided emergency rations, tools, and seeds for plant-

ing provisions crops at unoccupied rural tracts marked out by order of the

governor. New farms were created on vacant land along the rivers north and

south of St. Augustine and the banks of creeks and rivers feeding into the St.

Johns. The new planters focused on forest products for export to Britain’s

other Caribbean colonies, where demand was high for naval stores, lumber,

and provisions. Seemingly overnight, a new town of between two and three

hundred houses was created at St. Johns Bluff, six miles inland from the

Atlantic Ocean on the south bank of the St. Johns River. Governor Tonyn

was optimistic that the influx of refugees, which eventual y increased the

population to between 17,000 and 18,000, would result in “a happy Era [for]

this Province,” and that the new settlers would regard it a “safe asylum and

permanent residence.” Tonyn felt confident enough to authorize elections

for delegates to a Lower House of Assembly.

These hopes were dashed in January 1783 when British, Spanish, French,

and American negotiators meeting in Paris agreed to preliminary terms

of another Treaty of Paris. The colonies in rebellion were granted inde-

pendence, and East and West Florida were ceded to Spain. In June, John

British Rule in the Floridas · 159

Moultrie informed his friend James Grant he had decided to leave East Flor-

ida. After achieving a life of “real plenty, ease and elegance,” he expected “to

be turned adrift, and again seek a resting place. . . . England, I think, will

bring me up. My feelings, principles, everything prevents me having any

idea of remaining in America.”

Moultrie grieved for the other British residents of the colony. “What

shal become of these poor unfortunate but virtuous people I cannot di-

vine. . . . Thousands . . . have settled here and were just made comfortable,

and quite happy, astonished at the crops in the ground. . . . Had this province

not been ceded in the course of this year every part would have been full of

industrious people, the only thing wanted to make it great and flourishing.”

David Yeats had also decided to depart. In May 1784 he lamented: “The

idea of keeping possession of Estates in this Province under the Spanish

government is now I suppose vanished, we being told that such as choose

to remain must publicly profess the Catholic religion or absolutely quit their

Estates.” Yeats and the other British Loyalists were faced with a bitter choice:

stay in Florida under the terms of Spanish rule, or sacrifice wealth and prop-

erty and embark on a ship of the evacuation fleet.

On July 12, 1784, Spanish Governor Vizente Manuel de Zéspedes wit-

nessed the formal change of flags at the Plaza in St. Augustine. For the next

proof

year, two governors—one Spanish, the other British—resided in the town.

Eventual y Patrick Tonyn moved to the St. Marys River to supervise the final

departures, but it was not until November 10, 1785, that a troop transport

carried him and the last of the Loyalists away. British rule in the Floridas

had ended.

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10

The Second Spanish Period

in the Two Floridas

Susan Richbourg Parker and William S. Coker

Spanish rule returned to East and West Florida in 1784. Spain regained its

former colonies at the peace negotiations for the Treaty of Versailles; Spain

had declared war on Great Britain in 1779 during the War of the American