The 1764 British plan that greatly expanded St Augustine/from Florida Memory

The Seven Years War/French and Indian War ended formally on this day in 1763 with the Treaty of Paris. With this treaty Florida changed hands from the Spanish to the French.

The Seven Years War was the first truly world war which had battles in Europe, the Middle East and India as well as North America. In North America the war has been historically called “The French and Indian War,” but it was simply a theater in the larger world war between Britain and her allies versus France and her allies.

The British had captured Havana during the fighting and the Spanish needing the important port back handed Florida over to the British in exchange for the return of Havana. This began a twenty-year period of British rule in Florida which may not seem like a long period of time but was critical in the region’s development.

Spain had long neglected the colony since Queen Anne’s War (1702-1711) instead choosing to abandon smaller settlements and fortify larger ones as military outposts. By 1763, only Pensacola and Saint Augustine remained permanent settlements and both had seen depopulation since the beginning of the century.

The British quickly divided Florida into East and West with capitals at Saint Augustine and Pensacola.

While the British did not do a whole lot with Pensacola they did expand Saint Augustine dramatically, and the population swelled even further when loyalists from the Carolinas and Georgia fled to the city during the American Revolution. The British gave generous land grants to move colonists from further north into Florida.

They also looked to start new settlements in the east including the famous Andrew Turnbull settlement at New Smyrna Beach. 

The Spanish joined the Franco-American side in the Revolutionary War in 1779 and recaptured Pensacola in 1781. They never made an attempt to recapture Saint Augustine, which by this time had become one of the most populated British outposts in North America (behind only Montreal, Philadelphia, New York, Boston and Charleston) and those loyal to the crown fleeing the war further north generally found safe haven in the East Florida capital.

Many colonists in Saint Augustine planned an invasion American held Georgia but the expedition seems to have never really begun. The Americans also contemplated invading Florida, but did not. They would save their invasion for the next war with Britain a few decades later in 1814, something we celebrate and honor later this year.

The British departed Florida in 1783 but an indelible mark was left on the future US state. The economy had been diversified and new settlers had come. The beginnings of American Florida were now in place.