Governor DeSantis on Friday claimed if Georgia elected Stacey Abrams as Governor, a Cold War looms between the states. “If Stacey Abrams is elected governor of Georgia, I just want to be honest, that will be a cold war between Florida and Georgia,” The Governor sais.

Georgia and Florida have been, very recently locked in a pretty nasty water dispute, but the history of actual hot wars between the locales is something we’ve previously covered on this site. Governor DeSantis probably doesn’t want this taught in Florida schools as Florida was a haven for runaway slaves (can the horrors of slavery even legally be taught in Florida schools anymore?) and different than much of the colonial south, which created this dynamic of hot wars with our neighbors.

We’ve had three real hot wars between Florida and Georgia in the past.

War of Jenkins Ear – Slavery created an economic system that wasn’t long-term beneficial to the American south. We discus this on Episode 148 of the Florida History Podcast, how the system of slavery in the south kept the economy of the region down as a lead in to discuss the 1740 Siege of St Augustine and the War of Jenkins Ear which in theory wasn’t about slavery, but was really very much about slavery. The British had no tolerance for Spanish Florida harboring and arming runaway slaves.

In the fifth installment of our Albion Florida podcast series, we discuss runaway slaves from the Carolina’s coming to Florida, the tension along the Florida-Georgia border following the formation of Georgia, free African-Americans founding Fort Mose and the initiation of the War of Jenkins Ear.

American Revolution (East Florida/Georgia front) – The Florida/Georgia border was the site of constant raiding and fighting during the American Revolution as East Florida had opted to stay loyal to the British Crown. We’ve previously penned a long narrative on the raiding and the battles close to the Florida/Georgia border and in the next few weeks will have a few new podcast resources on this period.

Patriots War of 1812- The War of 1812 has for whatever reason a certain obscurity in American History. Even more obscure is the so-called “Patriot Rebellion” and American invasion from Georgia of Spanish Florida in 1812. Florida History Podcast on the conflict. Runaway slaves continued to come to Florida in this period and the British and Spanish were only too happy to destabilize the newly-independent nation of the United States.