![]() ![]() On this march the Patriots were slightly in advance of the American troops. Within several days the Patriots, along with a regiment of regular Army troops and Georgian volunteers, moved toward St. military, an event that soon gave the U.S. As agreed, the Patriots held Fernandina for only one day before turning authority over to the U.S. The next day, a detachment of 250 regular United States troops were brought over from Point Peter, and the Patriots surrendered the town to Gen. Clarke and Justo López, representing the Spanish government, signed the articles of capitulation the Patriots then raised their own standard. ![]() McIntosh, representing the Patriots, and George J. López acknowledged the superior force and surrendered the port and the town. Marys River in Georgia, demanded that Justo López, commandant of Fort San Carlos and Amelia Island, surrender. Mathews, still ensconced at Point Peter on the St. On March 16, nine American gunboats under the command of Commodore Hugh Campbell lined up in the harbor at Fernandina with guns aimed at the town as cover for the Patriot volunteers. Accounts of the group's size range from 250 to 357, but only a small number were Spanish subjects. They selected temporary officers under the supervision of Gen. On March 14, 1812, the self-named "Patriots of Amelia Island" armed and assembled on the Florida side of the St. military to the rebels in order to wrest control of the Spanish fort at Fernandina but also to defend the territory once they, as the new local authority, ceded it to the United States. Mathews not only promised arms and the support of the U.S. Mathews persuaded their leaders that he had the full authorization of a United States government that was determined to take possession of East Florida. They were supported by slave-holding planters who wanted to stop raiding parties of Seminole Indians from the Alachua region and feared the presence of armed free black militias in Spanish Florida. Instead, Mathews set about recruiting leaders of a rebellion among the frontier inhabitants in the northern part of the province, mostly Georgia militiamen, wood-choppers and boatmen from the neighborhood of St. A revolution at this time was not to rise organically among the inhabitants. ![]() It was also a center of the illicit trade of cotton with Great Britain and smuggling in general. The town of Fernandina on Amelia Island was a neutral or free port at which a large and lucrative trade was carried on with many nations. However, the local inhabitants had little cause for complaint toward the Spanish government, as the province was enjoying prosperity from the markets in cotton and timber, with prices high and demand increasing. Being unable to satisfy his instructions straightforwardly, he schemed to organize a rebel group to seize the local governing authority. McKee recused himself, while Mathews proceeded on the mission to East Florida and moved into a house at St. Barring that and an attempted occupation by any foreign government, they were not to take possession of any part of Florida. Their instructions were to take possession of any part of the territory of the Floridas upon making "arrangement" with the "local authority" to deliver possession to the U.S. In 1812, General George Mathews and Colonel John McKee were commissioned by President James Madison as agents "with secret instructions " to repair to that quarter with all possible expedition," for the purpose of carrying out the intentions of the act." (i.e., a secret Act of Congress on January 15, 1811) and to approach the Spanish governor in an attempt to acquire East Florida. John Houstoun McIntosh marker in McIntosh County, Georgia, USA commemorating McIntosh's role as the first American "Governor or Director" of the Republic of Florida History General Mathews and Patriots Patriots wished neither independence nor statehood in the United States they desired annexation by the U.S., connoted by the word "Territory" in their name of the country, and as expressly declared by the delegates at their constitutional convention. He was later succeeded in that office by Gen. Under its provisions, on July 27 McIntosh was named "Director of the Territory of East Florida". forces, the Patriots created a constitution of government that provided for an executive office, a legislative council, and a court system. In July, while under the occupation of U.S. John Houstoun McIntosh was chosen as "Director" of the self-named Patriots in March, 1812, to receive formal Spanish capitulation at Amelia Island. The Republic of East Florida, also known as the Republic of Florida or the Territory of East Florida, was a putative republic declared by insurgents against the Spanish rule of East Florida, most of whom were from Georgia. ![]()
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