Q: Congratulations on the book. I must say I was skeptical, but I ordered it on the Kindle and I learned a whole lot.

My big question for you is why did the colonists not actively court Florida?

Why did they not move or settle in big numbers in Florida after it became British?

A: The Continental Congress did invite both East and West Florida to the First Continental Congress but both colonies choose not to attend.

In terms of British settlement, New Smyrna was planned to be the biggest single colonial settlement in British North America, but political intrigue and issues with the climate limited its population at its height to about 1,300 settlers. West Florida attracted more settlers, but the Crown and Parliament were both more focused on trying to turn East Florida which they saw as a strategic colony based on location into a thriving colony. New Smyrna ultimately failed, but truthfully St Augustine was thriving even during the Revolutionary War – probably doing better than it had at any previous point during since Queen Anne’s War had broken out in 1702. Britain losing the war and ceding Florida to Spain who had little in the way of resources or desire to resettle Florida, leaves us with a lot of “what if’s” regarding this. I ultimately believe East Florida would have became much more prominent in British North America after 1775 had the Revolution not broken out.

Q: How did Saint Augustine compare commercially to places like Charleston and Savannah?

A: In the 1700’s St Augustine was a backwater relatively speaking compared to both which is a far cry from pre-1702 St Augustine which was vibrant with merchants, artisans, traders and right on many of the shipping routes. After Queen Anne’s War, St Augustine declined and became basically a fortified military town while Charleston became a larger version of what St Augustine had effectively been in 1650. Savannah was founded in 1733 and by 1775 had become an important town. Of course during the Revolution, St Augustine and Charleston were linked as the British took in loyalists from Charleston and also made captured patriots prisoners in St Augustine. By 1780, St Augustine probably had a larger population than Savannah having been much smaller in 1775. The combination of loyalists fleeing to East Florida and the collapse of the New Smyrna colony did this.

Q: Why didn’t the Spanish ever try and repopulate the interior of Florida after Queen Anne’s War?

A: The natives were eliminated by British and without gold to be found or a reliable road network it was pointless.