On this week’s Florida History Podcast, we discuss the situation in British-governed St Augustine from 1780-1783.

St Augustine’s population swelled with loyalists and prisoners’ including signers of the Declaration of Independence. By early 1781, St Augustine had one of the largest populations in British North America and was heavily fortified. British St Augustine was at its apex, but American victory at Yorktown would change everything. 

Hurricanes impacted the area also in this period more than usual, in a period of time where Atlantic tropic weather was its worst until the 21st Century and the record 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons.