The following is an excerpt from my book Florida and the American Revolution

The American rebels made several failed attempts to capture St Augustine, and raiding was a very common occurrence along the Georgia-East Florida border just north and south of the St Marys River. While this is an undercovered front in popular lore, fighting in one form or another lasted for almost the entire duration of the conflict. 

Historic Florida-Georgia border historical conflicts 

Much of the Revolutionary War in East Florida was based around the border between Florida and Georgia. From the foundation of Georgia in 1733 until Florida became a US Territory in 1821, this border was constantly either in dispute or the scene of potential trouble. In this period, only between 1763 and 1775 were Florida and Georgia flying under the same flag. 

Foundation of Georgia

Georgia was founded by James Oglethorpe in 1733 as a buffer state against Spanish Florida. Florida had continued to be a haven for runaway slaves and St Augustine had by this time become a heavily fortified town that was a threat to British holdings in the region. Before the Florida-Georgia rivalry of NCAA Football fame, there was almost a century of armed conflicts between Georgia and Florida. 

Regularly between Georgia’s founding in 1733 and Florida’s ceding to the United States in 1819, armed conflicts took place near or along the border. In fact, the conflicts that sprung up were a semi-regular event; 1740-42, 1775-81, 1795, 1812-1813, and several smaller skirmishes along the way. 

The British initially founded Georgia as a colony to be a strategic hedge against Spanish Florida. Georgia was to be a white-only colony. This was done to avoid the threat of runaway slaves to Florida. In fact, historian Gerald Horne has called Georgia the key to the construction of a “white pro-slavery wall” as a bulwark against St Augustine. 

As we discussed in Florida and the British, Prior to the American Revolution,  the harboring and eventual arming of runaway slaves made St Augustine a constant target of the white settlers to the north. The British colonists residing from Georgia to Virginia along the Atlantic Seaboard could not feel safe until St Augustine was flying under the same flag they were. 

So while much of the written history of the United States  has recorded Georgia as being founded as a penal colony – the ultimate motivation for Georgia’s creation was without question down to Florida’s growing militarization of the era and the Spanish colony’s increasing role as a haven for runaway slaves. A penal colony could have and probably would have been founded elsewhere if not for the presence of Florida to the south and the need for the British to create bulwark as a result. It should also be noted at this point Spain had claimed territory well to the north of the St Mary’s River as part of Florida. Spain would not relinquish these claims until 1750, which came eight years after an invading force from Florida was defeated at Fort Frederica on St Simons Island. 

When the British assumed control of Florida in 1763, efforts were made to make the colony a plantation-based economy much like its neighbors to the north. In Florida and the British Prior to the American Revolution, the larger plans for the colony and its success and failures were explained. While Florida did develop some large plantations, the topography and climate was fundamentally inhospitable to many, and the types of crops that would grow were different than in places like Virginia or South Carolina. Though Indigo cultivation, unlike in the sister colony of West Florida was somewhat successful. 

Ultimately, as noted in our discussion of St Augustine’s population many colonists from outside the British Isles were imported to East Florida. This population was fundamentally different from that of the thirteen colonies to the north and with an economy that wasn’t fully mature, ties to the mother country and the trade network around the Caribbean were critical to East Florida’s survival. But a uniformity never existed among the colonists as we will explore. 

After the Battle of Lexington and Concord in April 1775, British Military Commander General Thomas Gage ordered 150 soldiers to leave St Augustine and fortify Savannah, the capital of Georgia. However, the Royalists were ousted in Georgia, and with the Whig takeover of the state, East Florida’s soldiers returned home. 

Following the Whig takeover of Georgia in 1775, conflict would once again spring up along the border.