SW021 Prelude to the Seminole Wars: American 'Patriot' Invasion of Spanish East Florida in 1812

<p></p> <p>To explain how the Patriot War set the stage for an early military showdown between American forces and Seminole Indians, one that would chart the course of US-Seminole relations in Florida for the next half century, is James G. Cusick. Dr. Cusick is the author of The Other War of 1812: The Patriot War and the American Invasion of Spanish East Florida. He is the curator of the P. K. Yonge Library of Florida at the University of Florida, a research associate with the Saint Augustine Historical Society, and a former board member and officer of the Seminole Wars Foundation, producer of this podcast.  </p> <p>In March of 1812, on the eve of a major war with Great Britain, the United States became embroiled in a military incursion with Spain on its southern doorstep, in Spanish East Florida. Called the Patriot War, the Georgia militia "assisted" local English-speaking Floridians (e.g., "Patriots") in laying siege to Saint Augustine. They occupied nearby Spanish towns and forts in an attempt to seize East Florida from Spain by force. The US Government's special envoy to the Seminole, a retired Georgia governor, George Mathews, sought to keep them neutral in any conflict between the Patriots and Spain. This covert and unjustified military occupation of Spanish territory destroyed livestock and countless homesteads, The "Patriots" claimed to have established a free republic in East Florida. They drafted and approved a constitution, and called for US annexation. All that remained for success was for Spain to surrender her garrison at the Castillo de San Marcos in Saint Augustine.</p> <p>That surrender never took place. Spain steadfastly held out. The Alachua Seminole ultimately decided to back the Spanish, concluding that while the Spanish would not seek to encroach upon their lands, the Americans, in contrast, likely would, soon or later. Mathews' black interpreter, a slave called Tony Proctor, had escaped his servitude and sought refuge with the Seminole. He confirmed their worst suspicions about the Ameri