conquest and colonization of Florida; and in May, 1565, a
compact was framed and confirmed by which Melendez, who
desired an opportunity to retrieve his honor, was constituted
the hereditary governor of a territory of almost unlimited
extent. On his part he stipulated, at his own cost, in the
following May, to invade Florida with 500 men; to complete its
conquest within three years; to explore its currents and
channels, the dangers of its coasts, and the depth of its
havens; to establish a colony of at least 500 persons, of whom
100 should be married men; with 12 ecclesiastics, besides four
Jesuits. ... Meantime, news arrived, as the French writers
assert through the treachery of the court of France, that the
Huguenots had made a plantation in Florida, and that Ribault
was preparing to set sail with re-enforcements. The cry was
raised that the heretics must be extirpated; and Melendez
readily obtained the forces which he required."
G. Bancroft,
History of the United States
(author's last revision), part 1, chapter 4.
ALSO IN:
G. R. Fairbanks,
History of Florida,
chapters 7-8.
W. G. Simms,
History of South Carolina,
book 1.
FLORIDA: A. D. 1565.
The Spanish capture of Fort Caroline and
massacre of the Huguenots.
Founding of St. Augustine.
"The expedition under Menendez consisted of an army of 2,600
soldiers and officers. He sailed straight for Florida,
intending to attack Fort Caroline with no delay. In fact he
sighted the mouth of the port [Sept. 4, 1565] two months after
starting; but, considering the position occupied by the French
ships, he judged it prudent to defer the attack, and make it,
if possible, from the land. A council of war was held in Fort
Caroline, presided over by Ribaut. Laudonnière proposed that,
while Ribaut held the fort with the ships, he, with his old
soldiers, who knew the country well, aided by the Floridans as
auxiliaries, should engage the Spaniards in the woods, and
harass them by perpetual combats in labyrinths to which they
were wholly unaccustomed. The advice was good, but it was not
followed. Ribaut proposed to follow the Spanish fleet with his
own--lighter and more easily handled--fall on the enemy when
the soldiers were all disembarked, and, after taking and
burning the ships, to attack the army. In the face of
remonstrances from all the officers, he persisted in this
project. Disaster followed the attempt. A violent gale arose.
The French ships were wrecked upon the Floridan coast; the men
lost their arms, their powder, and their clothes; they escaped
with their bare lives. There was no longer the question of
conquering the Spaniards, but of saving themselves. The
garrison of Caroline consisted of 150 soldiers, of whom 40
were sick. The rest of the colony was composed of sick and
wounded Protestant ministers, workmen, royal commissioners,'
and so forth. Laudonnière was in command. They awaited the
attack for several days, yet the Spaniards came not. They were
wading miserably through the marshes in the forests, under
tropical rains, discouraged, and out of heart." But when, at
length, the exhausted and despairing Spaniards, toiling
through the marshes, from St. Augustine, where they had landed
and established their settlement, reached the French fort
(Sept. 20), "there was actually no watch on the ramparts.
Three companies of Spaniards simultaneously rushed from the
forest, and attacked the fortress on the south, the west and
the south-west. There was but little resistance from the
surprised garrison. There was hardly time to grasp a sword.
About 20 escaped by flight, including the Captain,
Laudonnière; the rest were every one massacred. None were
spared except women and children under fifteen; and, in the
first rage of the onslaught, even these were murdered with the
rest. There still lay in the port three ships, commanded by
Jacques Ribaut, brother [son] of the unfortunate Governor. One
of these was quickly sent to the bottom by the cannon of the
fort; the other two cut their cables, and slipped out of reach
into the roadstead, where they lay, waiting for a favourable
wind, for three days. They picked up the fugitives who had
been wandering half-starved in the woods, and then set sail
from this unlucky land. ... There remained, however, the
little army, under Ribaut, which had lost most of its arms in
the wreck, and was now wandering along the Floridan shore."
When Ribaut and his men reached Fort Caroline and saw the
Spanish flag flying, they turned and retreated southward. Not
many days later, they were intercepted by Menendez, near St.
Augustine, to which post he had returned. The first party of
the French who came up, 200 in number, and who were in a
starving state, surrendered to the Spaniard, and laid down
their arms. "They were brought across the river in small
companies, and their hands tied behind their backs. On
landing, they were asked if they were Catholics. Eight out of
the 200 professed allegiance to that religion; the rest were
all Protestants.' Menendez traced out a line on the ground
with his cane. The prisoners were marched up one by one to the
line; on reaching it, they were stabbed. Next day, Ribaut
arrived with the rest of the army. The same pourparlers began.
But this time a blacker treachery was adopted." An officer,
sent by Menendez, pledged his honor to the French that the
lives of all should be spared if they laid down their arms.
"It is not clear how many of the French accepted the
conditions. A certain number refused them, and escaped into
the woods. What is certain is, that Ribaut, with nearly all
his men, were tied back to back, four together. Those who said
they were Catholics, were set on one side; the rest were all
massacred as they stood. ... Outside the circle of the
slaughtered and the slaughterers stood the priest, Mendoza,
encouraging, approving, exhorting the butchers."
W. Besant,
Gaspard de Coligny,
chapter 7.
The long dispatch in which Menendez reported his fiendish work
to the Spanish king has been brought to light in the archives
at Seville, and there is this endorsement on it, in the
hand-writing of Philip II.: "Say to him that, as to those he
has killed, he has done well; and as to those he has saved,
they shall be sent to the galleys."
F. Parkman,
Pioneers of France in the New World,
chapters 7-8.
{1151}
ALSO IN:
C. W. Baird,
History of the Huguenot Emigration to America,
volume 1, introduction.
FLORIDA: A. D. 1567-1568.
The vengeance of Dominic de Gourgues.
"As might have been expected, all attempts to rouse the French
court into demanding redress were vain. Spain, above all other
nations, knew the arts by which a corrupt court might be
swayed, and the same intrigues which, fifty years later, sent
Raleigh to the block and well-nigh ended the young colony of
Virginia, now kept France quiet. But though the court refused
to move, an avenger was not wanting. Dominic de Gourgues had
already known as a prisoner of war the horrors of the Spanish
galleys. Whether he was a Huguenot is uncertain. Happily in
France, as the history of that and all later ages proved, the
religion of the Catholic did not necessarily deaden the
feelings of the patriot. Seldom has there been a deed of more
reckless daring than that which Dominic de Gourgues now
undertook. With the proceeds of his patrimony he bought three
small ships, manned by eighty sailors and a hundred
men-at-arms. He then obtained a commission as a slaver on the
coast of Guinea, and in the summer of 1567 set sail. With
these paltry resources he aimed at overthrowing a settlement
which had already destroyed a force of twenty times his
number, and which might have been strengthened in the
interval. ... To the mass of his followers he did not reveal
the true secret of his voyage till he had reached the West
Indies. Then he disclosed his real purpose. His men were of
the same spirit as their leader. Desperate though the
enterprise seemed, De Gourgues' only difficulty was to
restrain his followers from undue haste. Happily for their
attempt, they had allies on whom they had not reckoned. The
fickle savages had at first welcomed the Spaniards, but the
tyranny of the new comers soon wrought a change, and the
Spaniards in Florida, like the Spaniards in every part of the
New World, were looked on as hateful tyrants. So when De
Gourgues landed he at once found a ready body of allies. ...
Three days were spent in making ready, and then De Gourgues,
with a hundred and sixty of his own men and his Indian allies,
marched against the enemy. In spite of the hostility of the
Indians, the Spaniards seem to have taken no precaution
against a sudden attack. Menendez himself had left the colony.
The Spanish force was divided between three forts, and no proper
precautions were taken for keeping up the communications
between them. Each was successively seized, the garrison slain
or made prisoners, and, as each fort fell, those in the next
could only make vague guesses as to the extent of the danger.
Even when divided into three the Spanish force outnumbered
that of De Gourgues, and savages with bows and arrows would
have counted for little against men with fire arms and behind
walls. But after the downfall of the first fort a panic seemed
to seize the Spaniards, and the French achieved an almost
bloodless victory. After the death of Ribault and his
followers nothing could be looked for but merciless
retaliation, and De Gourgues copied the severity, though not
the perfidy of his enemies. The very details of Menendez' act
were imitated, and the trees on which the prisoners were hung
bore the inscription: 'Not as Spaniards, but as traitors,
robbers, and murderers.' Five weeks later De Gourgues anchored
under the walls of Rochelle. ... His attack did not wholly
extirpate the Spanish power in Florida. Menendez received the
blessing of the Pope as a chosen instrument for the conversion
of the Indians, returned to America and restored his
settlement. As before, he soon made the Indians his deadly
enemies. The Spanish settlement held on, but it was not till
two centuries later that its existence made itself remembered
by one brief but glorious episode in the history of the
English colonies."
J. A. Doyle,
The English in America: Virginia, &c.,
chapter 5.
ALSO IN:
W. W. Dewhurst,
History of St. Augustine, Florida,
chapter 9.
FLORIDA: A. D. 1628.
Claimed by France, and placed, with New France, under the
control of the Company of the Hundred Associates.
See CANADA: A. D. 1616-1628.
FLORIDA: A. D. 1629.
Claimed in part by England and embraced in the Carolina grant
to Sir Robert Heath.
See AMERICA: A. D. 1629.
FLORIDA: A. D. 1680.
Attack on the English of Carolina.
See SOUTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1680.
FLORIDA: A. D. 1702.
Adjustment of western boundary with the French of Louisiana.
See LOUISIANA: A. D. 1698-1712.
FLORIDA: A. D. 1740.
Unsuccessful attack on St. Augustine by the English of Georgia
and Carolina.
See GEORGIA: A. D. 1738-1743.
FLORIDA: A. D. 1763 (February).
Ceded to Great Britain by Spain in the Treaty of Paris.
See SEVEN YEARS WAR.
FLORIDA: A. D. 1763 (July).
Possession taken by the English.
"When, in July [1763], possession was taken of Florida, its
inhabitants, of every age and sex, men, women, children, and
servants, numbered but 3,000; and, of these, the men were
nearly all in the pay of the Catholic king. The possession of
it had cost him nearly $230,000 annually; and now it was
accepted by England as a compensation for Havana. Most of the
people, receiving from the Spanish treasury indemnity for
their losses, had migrated to Cuba, taking with them the bones
of their saints and the ashes of their distinguished dead. The
western province of Florida extended to the Mississippi, on
the line of latitude of 31°. On the 20th of October, the
French surrendered the post of Mobile, with its brick fort,
which was fast crumbling to ruins. A month later, the slight
stockade at Tombigbee, in the west of the Chocta country, was
delivered up. In a congress of the Catawbas, Cherokees,
Creeks, Chicasas, and Choctas, held on the 10th of November,
at Augusta, the governors of Virginia and the colonies south
of it were present, and the peace with the Indians of the
South and South-west was ratified."
G. Bancroft,
History of the United States
(Author's last revision.),
volume 3, page 64.
FLORIDA: A. D. 1763 (October).
English provinces, East and West, constituted by the King's
proclamation.
See NORTHWEST TERRITORY OF THE UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA: A. D. 1763.
{1152}
FLORIDA: A. D. 1779-1781.
Reconquest of West Florida by the Spanish commander at New
Orleans.
"In the summer of 1779 Spain had declared war against Great
Britain. Galvez [the Spanish commander at New Orleans]
discovered that the British were planning the surprise of New
Orleans, and, under cover of preparations for defense, made
haste to take the offensive. Four days before the time he had
appointed to move, a hurricane destroyed a large number of
houses in the town, and spread ruin to crops and, dwellings up
and down the 'coast,' and sunk his gun flotilla. ... Repairing
his disasters as best he could, and hastening his ostensibly
defensive preparations, he marched, on the 22d of August,
1779, against the British forts on the Mississippi. His ...
little army of 1,434 men was without tents, other military
furniture, or a single engineer. The gun fleet followed in the
river abreast of their line of march along its shores,
carrying one 24-pounder, five 18-pounders, and four
4-pounders. With this force, in the space of about three
weeks, Fort Bute on bayou Manchac, Baton Rouge and Fort
Panmure. 8 vessels, 556 regulars, and a number of sailors,
militia-men, and free blacks, fell into the hands of the
Spaniards. The next year, 1780, re-enforced from Havana,
Galvez again left New Orleans by way of the Balize with 2,000
men, regulars, militia, and free blacks, and on the 15th of
March took Fort Charlotte on Mobile river. Galvez next
conceived the much larger project of taking Pensacola. Failing
to secure re-enforcements from Havana by writing for them, he
sailed to that place in October, to make his application in
person, intending to move with them directly on the enemy.
After many delays and disappointments he succeeded, and early
in March, 1781, appeared before Pensacola with a ship of the
line, two frigates, and transports containing 1,400 soldiers
well furnished with artillery and ammunition. Here he was
joined by such troops as could be spared from Mobile, and by
Don Estevan Mirò from New Orleans, at the head of the
Louisiana forces, and on the afternoon of the 16th of March,
though practically unsupported by the naval fleet, until
dishonor was staring its jealous commanders in the face, moved
under hot fire, through a passage of great peril, and took up
a besieging position. ... It is only necessary to state that,
on the 9th of May, 1781, Pensacola, with a garrison of 800
men, and the whole of West Florida, were surrendered to
Galvez. Louisiana had heretofore been included under one
domination with Cuba, but now one of the several rewards
bestowed upon her governor was the captain-generalship of
Louisiana and West Florida."
G. E. Waring, Jr., and G. W. Cable,
History of New Orleans
(United States Tenth Census, volume 19).
ALSO IN:
C. Gayarré,
History of Louisiana: Spanish Domination,
chapter 3.
FLORIDA: A. D. 1783-1787.
The question of boundaries between Spain and the United
States, and the question of the navigation of the Mississippi.
"By the treaty of 1783 between Great Britain on the one part
and the United States and her allies, France and Spain, on the
other, Great Britain acknowledged the independence of the
colonies, and recognized as a part of their southern boundary
a line drawn due east from a point in the Mississippi River,
in latitude 31° north, to the middle of the Appalachicola; and
at the same time she ceded to Spain by a separate agreement
the two Floridas, but without defining their northern
boundaries. This omission gave rise to a dispute between Spain
and the United States as to their respective limits. On the
part of Spain it was contended that by the act of Great
Britain, of 1764, the northern boundary of West Florida had
been fixed at the line running due east from the mouth of the
Yazoo to the Chattahoochee, and that all south of that line
had been ceded to her; whilst on the other hand, the United
States as strenuously maintained that the act fixing and
enlarging the limits of West Florida was superseded by the
recent treaty, which extended their southern boundary to the
31st degree of north latitude, a hundred and ten miles further
south than the line claimed by Spain. Spain, however, had
possession of the disputed territory by right of conquest, and
evidently had no intention of giving it up. She strengthened
her garrisons at Baton Rouge and Natchez, and built a fort at
Vicksburg, and subsequently one at New Madrid, on the Missouri
side of the Mississippi, just below the mouth of the Ohio; and
of the latter she made a port of entry where vessels from the
Ohio were obliged to land and declare their cargoes. She even
denied the right of the United States to the region between
the Mississippi and the Alleghany Mountains, which had been
ceded to them by Great Britain, on the ground that the
conquests made by Governor Galvez, of West Florida, and by Don
Eugenio Pierre, of Fort St. Joseph, 'near the sources of the
Illinois,' had vested the title to all this country in her;
and she insisted that what she did not own was possessed by
the Indians, and could not therefore belong to the United
States. Even as late as 1795, she claimed to have bought from
the Chickasaws the bluffs which bear their name, and which are
situated on the east bank of the Mississippi some distance
north of the most northerly boundary ever assigned by Great
Britain to West Florida. Here, then, was cause for 'a very
pretty quarrel,' and to add to the ill feeling which grew out
of it, Spain denied the right of the people of the United
States to the 'free navigation of the Mississippi,'--a right
which had been conceded to them by Great Britain with all the
formalities with which she had received it from France. ...
What was needed to make the right of any value to the people
of the Ohio valley was the additional right to take their
produce into a Spanish port, New Orleans, and either sell it
then and there, or else store it, subject to certain
conditions, until such time as it suited them to transfer it
to sea-going vessels. This right Spain would not concede; and
as the people of the Ohio valley were determined to have it,
cost what it might, it brought on a series of intrigues
between the Spanish governors of Louisiana and certain
influential citizens west of the Alleghanies which threatened
the stability of the American Union almost before it was
formed."
L. Carr,
Missouri,
chapter 4.
ALSO IN:
E. Schuyler,
American Diplomacy,
chapter 6.
FLORIDA: A. D. 1810-1813.
Continued occupation of West Florida by the Spaniards.
Revolt of the inhabitants.
Possession taken by the Americans from the Mississippi to the
Perdido.
"The success of the French in Spain, and the probability of
that kingdom being obliged to succumb, had given occasion to
revolutionary movements in several of the Spanish American
provinces. This example ... had been followed also in that
portion of the Spanish province of West Florida bordering on
the Mississippi. The inhabitants, most of whom were of British
or American birth, had seized the fort at Baton Rouge, had met
in convention, and had proclaimed themselves independent,
adopting a single star for their flag, the same symbol
afterward assumed by the republic of Texas.
{1153}
Some struggles took place between the adherents of the Spanish
connection and these revolutionists, who were also threatened
with attack from Mobile, still held by a Spanish garrison. In
this emergency they applied, through Holmes, governor of the
Mississippi Territory, for aid and recognition by the United
States. ... The president, however, preferred to issue a
proclamation, taking possession of the east bank of the
Mississippi, occupation of which, under the Louisiana treaty,
had been so long delayed, not, it was said, from any defect of
title, but out of conciliatory views toward Spain. ...
Claiborne, governor of the Orleans Territory, then at
Washington, was dispatched post-haste to take possession." The
following January Congress passed an act in secret session
"authorizing the president to take possession as well of East
as of West Florida, under any arrangement which had been or
might be entered into with the local authorities; or, in case
of any attempted occupation by any foreign government, to take
and to maintain possession by force. Previously to the passage
of this act, the occupation of the east bank of the
Mississippi had been already completed by Governor Claiborne;
not, however, without some show of resistance. ... Captain
Gaines presently appeared before Mobile with a small
detachment of American regulars, and demanded its surrender.
Colonel Cushing soon arrived from New Orleans with several
gun-boats, artillery, and a body of troops. The boats were
permitted to ascend the river toward Fort Stoddard without
opposition. But the Spanish commandant refused to give up
Mobile, and no attempt was made to compel him." By an act of
Congress passed in April, 1812, "that part of Florida recently
taken possession of, as far east as Pearl River, was annexed to
the new state [of Louisiana]. The remaining territory, as far
as the Perdido, though Mobile still remained in the hands of
the Spaniards, was annexed, by another act, to the Mississippi
Territory." A year later, in April, 1813, General Wilkinson
was instructed to take possession of Mobile, and to occupy all
the territory claimed, to the Perdido, which he accordingly
did, without bloodshed.
R. Hildreth,
History of the United States, 2d series,
chapters 23, 24, 26 (volume 3).
FLORIDA: A. D. 1816-1818.
The fugitive negroes and the first Seminole War.
Jackson's campaign.
"The tranquillity of Monroe's administration was soon
seriously threatened by the renewal of trouble with the
Southern Indians [the Seminoles, and the refugee Creeks]. ...
The origin of the difficulty was twofold: first, the injustice
which has always marked the treatment of Indian tribes whose
lands were coveted by the whites; and secondly, the revival of
the old grievance, that Florida was a refuge for the fugitive
slaves of Georgia and South Carolina. ... The Seminoles had
never withheld a welcome to the Georgia negro who preferred
their wild freedom to the lash of an overseer on a cotton or
rice plantation. The Georgians could never forget that the
grand-children of their grandfathers' fugitive slaves were
roaming about the Everglades of Florida. ... So long as there
were Seminoles in Florida, and so long as Florida belonged to
Spain, just so long would the negroes of Georgia find an
asylum in Florida with the Seminoles. ... A war with the
Indians of Florida, therefore, was always literally and
emphatically a slave-hunt. A reclamation for fugitives was
always repulsed by the Seminoles and the Spaniards, and, as
they could be redeemed in no other way, Georgia was always
urging the Federal Government to war."
W. C. Bryant and S. H. Gay,
Popular History of the United States,
volume 4, chapter 10.
During the War of 1812-14, the English, who were permitted by
Spain to make use of Florida with considerable freedom, and
who received no little assistance from the refugee negroes and
Creek Indians, "had built a fort on the Appalachicola River,
about 15 miles from its mouth, and had collected there an
immense amount of arms and ammunition. ... When the war ended,
the English left the arms and ammunition in the fort. The
negroes seized the fort, and it became known as the 'Negro
Fort.' The authorities of the United States sent General
Gaines to the Florida frontier with troops, to establish peace
on the border. The Negro Fort was a source of anxiety both to
the military authorities and to the slave-owners of Georgia,"
and a pretext was soon found--whether valid or not seems
uncertain--for attacking it. "A hot shot penetrated one of the
magazines, and the whole fort was blown to pieces, July 27, 1816.
There were 300 negro men, women and children, and 20 Choctaws
in the fort; 270 were killed. Only three came out unhurt, and
these were killed by the allied Indians. ... During 1817 there
were frequent collisions on the frontiers between Whites and
Indians. ... On the 20th of November, General Gaines sent a
force of 250 men to Fowltown, the headquarters of the chief of
the 'Redsticks,' or hostile Creeks. They approached the town
in the early morning, and were fired on. An engagement
followed. The town was taken and burned. ... The Indians of
that section, after this, began general hostilities, attacked
the boats which were ascending the Appalachicola, and
massacred the persons in them. ... In December, on receipt of
intelligence of the battle at Fowltown and the attack on the
boats, Jackson was ordered to take command in Georgia. He
wrote to President Monroe: 'Let it be signified to me through
any channel (say Mr. J. Rhea) that the possession of the
Floridas would be desirable to the United States, and in sixty
days it will be accomplished.' Much was afterwards made to
depend on this letter. Monroe was ill when it reached
Washington, and he did not see or read it until a year
afterwards, when some reference was made to it. Jackson
construed the orders which he received from Calhoun with
reference to this letter. ... He certainly supposed, however,
that he had the secret concurrence of the administration in
conquering Florida. ... He advanced through Georgia with great
haste and was on the Florida frontier in March, 1818. He ...
immediately advanced to St. Mark's, which place he captured.
On his way down the Appalachicola he found the Indians and
negroes at work in the fields, and unconscious of any
impending attack. Some of them fled to St. Mark's. His theory,
in which he supposed that he was supported by the
administration, was that he was to pursue the Indians until he
caught them, wherever they might go; that he was to respect
Spanish rights as far as he could consistently with that
purpose; and that the excuse for his proceedings was that
Spain could not police her own territory, or restrain the
Indians.
{1154}
Jackson's proceedings were based on two positive but arbitrary
assumptions: (1) That the Indians got aid and encouragement
from St. Mark's and Pensacola. (This the Spaniards always
denied, but perhaps a third assumption of Jackson might be
mentioned: that the word of a Spanish official was of no
value.) (2) That Great Britain kept paid emissaries employed
in Florida to stir up trouble for the United States. This
latter assumption was a matter of profound belief generally in
the United States." Acting upon it with no hesitation, Jackson
caused a Scotch trader named Arbuthnot, whom he found at St.
Mark's, and an English ex-lieutenant of marines, Ambrister by
name, who was taken prisoner among the Seminoles, to be
condemned by court martial and executed, although no
substantial evidence of their being in any way answerable for
Indian hostilities was adduced. "It was as a mere incident of
his homeward march that Jackson turned aside and captured
Pensacola, May 24, 1818, because he was told that some Indians
had taken refuge there. He deposed the Spanish government, set
up a new one, and established a garrison. He then continued
his march homewards. "Jackson's performances in Florida were
the cause of grave perplexities to his government, which
finally determined "that Pensacola and St. Mark's should be
restored to Spain, but that Jackson's course should be
approved and defended on the grounds that he pursued his enemy
to his refuge, and that Spain could not do the duty which
devolved on her."
W. G. Sumner,
Andrew Jackson as a public man,
chapter 3.
ALSO IN:
J. Parton, Life of Andrew Jackson,
volume 2, chapters 31-39.
J. R. Giddings,
The Exiles of Florida,
chapters 1-4.
FLORIDA: A. D. 1819-1821.
Cession by Spain to the United States.
"Jackson's vigorous proceedings in Florida would seem not to
have been without effect. Pending the discussion in Congress
on his conduct, the Spanish minister, under new instructions
from home, signed a treaty for the cession of Florida, in
extinction of the various American claims, for the
satisfaction of which the United States agreed to pay to the
claimants $5,000,000. The Louisiana boundary, as fixed by this
treaty, was a compromise between the respective offers
heretofore made, though leaning a good deal to the American
side: the Sabine to the 32d degree of north latitude; thence a
north meridian line to the Red River; the course of that river
to the 100th degree of longitude east [? west] from Greenwich;
thence north by that meridian to the Arkansas; up that river
to its head, and to the 42d degree of north latitude; and
along that degree to the Pacific. This treaty was immediately
ratified by the Senate," but it was not until February, 1821,
that the ratification of the Spanish government was received.
R. Hildreth,
History of the United States,
2d series, chapters 31-32 (volume 3).
ALSO IN:
J. T. Morse,
John Quincy Adams,
pages 109-125.
Treaties and Conventions between the United States and
other countries (edition of 1880), pages 1016-1022.
FLORIDA: A. D. 1835-1843.
The Second Seminole War.
"The conflict with the Seminoles was one of the legacies left
by Jackson to Van Buren; it lasted as long as the
Revolutionary War, cost thirty millions of dollars, and
baffled the efforts of several generals and numerous troops,
who had previously shown themselves equal to any in the world.
... As is usually the case in Indian wars there had been wrong
done by each side; but in this instance we were the more to
blame, although the Indians themselves were far from being
merely harmless and suffering innocents. The Seminoles were
being deprived of their lands in pursuance of the general
policy of removing all the Indians [to] west of the
Mississippi. They had agreed to go, under pressure, and
influenced, probably, by fraudulent representations; but they
declined to fulfill their agreement. If they had been treated
wisely and firmly they might probably have been allowed to
remain without serious injury to the surrounding whites. But
no such treatment was attempted, and as a result we were
plunged in one of the most harassing Indian wars we ever
waged. In their gloomy, tangled swamps, and among the unknown
and untrodden recesses of the everglades, the Indians found a
secure asylum; and they issued from their haunts to burn and
ravage almost all the settled parts of Florida, fairly
depopulating five counties. ... The great Seminole leader,
Osceola, was captured only by deliberate treachery and breach
of faith on our part, and the Indians were worn out rather
than conquered. This was partly owing to their remarkable
capacities as bush-fighters, but infinitely more to the nature
of their territory. Our troops generally fought with great
bravery; but there is very little else in the struggle, either
as regards its origin or the manner in which it was carried
on, to which an American can look back with any satisfaction."
T. Roosevelt,
Life of Thomas H. Benton,
chapter 10.
ALSO IN:
J. R. Giddings,
The Exiles of Florida,
chapters 7-21.
J. T. Sprague,
The Florida War.
See also,
AMERICAN ABORIGINES: SEMINOLES.
FLORIDA: A. D. 1845.
Admission into the Union.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1845.
FLORIDA: A. D. 1861 (JANUARY).
Secession from the Union.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1861 (JANUARY-FEBRUARY).
FLORIDA: A. D. 1862 (February-April).
Temporary Union conquests and occupation.
Discouragement of Unionists.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1862 (FEBRUARY-APRIL: GEORGIA--FLORIDA).
FLORIDA: A. D. 1864.
Unsuccessful National attempt to occupy the State.
Battle of Olustee.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1864 (JANUARY-FEBRUARY: FLORIDA).
FLORIDA: A. D. 1865 (JULY).
Provisional government set up under President Johnson's plan
of Reconstruction.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1865 (MAY-JULY).
FLORIDA: A. D. 1865-1868.
Reconstruction.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1865 (MAY-JULY), and after, to 1868-1870.
----------FLORIDA: End----------
FLORIN, The.
"The Republic of Florence, in the year 1252, coined its golden
florin, of 24 carats fine, and of the weight of one drachm. It
placed the value under the guarantee of publicity, and of
commercial good faith; and that coin remained unaltered, as
the standard for all other values, as long as the republic
itself endured."
J. C. L. de Sismondi,
History of the Italian Republics,
chapter 4.
FLOTA, The.
See PERU: A. D. 1550-1816.
FLOYD, JOHN B., Treachery of.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1860 (DECEMBER).
FLUSHING: A. D. 1807.
Ceded to France.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1807-1808 (NOVEMBER-FEBRUARY).
{1155}
FLUSHING: A. D. 1809.
Taken and abandoned by the English.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1809 (JULY-DECEMBER).
FOCKSHANI, Battle of (1789).
See TURKS: A. D. 1776-1792.
FODHLA.
See IRELAND: THE NAME.
FŒDERATI OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.
The bodies of barbarians who were taken in the military
service of the Roman empire, during the period of its decline,
serving "under their hereditary chiefs, using the arms which
were proper to them, from preserving their language, their
manners and their customs, were designated by the name of
frederati" (confederates or allies).
J. C. L. de Sismondi,
The French under the Merovingians,
chapter 2.
ALSO IN:
T. Hodgkin, The dynasty of Theodosius,
chapter 4.
FOIX, Rise of the Counts of.
See BURGUNDY: A. D. 1032.
FOIX, The house in Navarre.
See NAVARRE: A. D. 1442-1521.
FOLCLAND.--FOLKLAND.
Public land, among the early English. "It comprised the whole
area that was not at the original allotment assigned to
individuals or communities, and that was not subsequently
divided into estates of bookland [bocland]. The folkland was
the standing treasury of the country; no alienation of any
part of it could be made without the consent of the national
council; but it might be allowed to individuals to hold
portions of it subject to rents and other services to the
state."
W. Stubbs,
Constitutional History of England,
chapter 5, section 36.
The theory here stated is questioned by Prof. Vinogradoff, who
says: "I venture to suggest that folkland need not mean the
land owned by the people. Bookland is land that is held by
bookright; folkland is land that is held by folkright. The
folkland is what our scholars have called ethel, and alod, and
family-land, and yrfeland; it is land held under the old
restrictive common-law, the law which keeps land in families,
as contrasted with land which is held under a book, under a
'privilegium,' modelled on Roman precedents, expressed in
Latin words, armed with ecclesiastical sanctions, and making
for free alienation and individualism."
P. Vinogradoff,
Folkland
(English History Rev., January, 1893).
ALSO IN:
J. M. Kemble,
The Saxons in England,
book 1, chapter 11.
See, also, ALOD.
FOLIGNO, Treaty of.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1800-1801 (JUNE-FEBRUARY).
FOLKLAND.
See FOLCLAND.
FOLKMOOT.
See HUNDRED:
also SHIRE;
also WITENAGEMOT;
also TOWNSHIP AND TOWN-MEETING, THE NEW ENGLAND.
FOLKTHING.--FOLKETING, The.
See SCANDINAVIAN STATES
(DENMARK--ICELAND): A. D. 1849-1874.
FOLKUNGAS, The.
See SCANDINAVIAN STATES: A. D. 1018-1397.
FOMORIANS, OR FORMORIANS, The.
A people mentioned in Irish legends as sea-rovers. Mr.
Sullivan, in his article on "Celtic Literature" in the
Encyclopædia Britannica advances the opinion that the Romans
were the people alluded to; but the general view is quite
different.
See IRELAND: THE PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS;
also, NEMEDIANS.
FONTAINE FRANĆAISE, Battle of (1595).
See FRANCE: A. D. 1593-1598.
FONTAINEBLEAU: A. D. 1812-1814.
Residence of the captive Pope.
See PAPACY: A. D. 1808-1814.
FONTAINEBLEAU,
Treaties of (1807).
See PORTUGAL: A. D. 1807,
and SPAIN: A. D.1807-1808.
FONTAINEBLEAU,
Treaties of (1814).
See FRANCE: A. D. 1814 (MARCH-APRIL).
FONTAINEBLEAU DECREE, The.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1806-1810.
FONTARABIA, Siege and Battle (1638).
See SPAIN: A. D. 1637-1640.
FONTENAILLES, OR FONTENAY,
Battle of, A. D. 841.
In the civil war between the three grandsons of Charlemagne,
which resulted in the partition of his empire and the definite
separation of Germany and France, the decisive battle was
fought, June 25, 841, at Fontenailles, or Fontenay
(Fontanetum), near Auxerre. It was one of the fiercest and
bloodiest fights of mediæval times, and 80,000 men are said to
have died on the field.
Sir F. Palgrave, History of Normandy and England,
book 1, chapter 2.
See FRANKS (CAROLINGIAN EMPIRE): A. D. 814-962.
FONTENOY, Battle of(1745).
See NETHERLANDS (AUSTRIAN PROVINCES): A. D. 1745.
FOOT, The Roman.
"The unit of lineal measure [with the Romans] was the Pes,
which occupied the same place in the Roman system as the Foot
does in our own. According to the most accurate researches,
the Pes was equal to, about 11.64 inches imperial measure, or
.97 of an English foot. The Pes being supposed to represent
the length of the foot in a well proportioned man, various
divisions and multiples of the Pes were named after standards
derived from the human frame. Thus: Pes=16 Digiti, i. e.
finger-breadths, [or] 4 Palmi, i. e. hand-breadths;
Sesquipes=l cubitus, i. e. length from elbow to extremity of
middle finger. The Pes was also divided into 12 Pollices, i.
e. thumb-joint-lengths, otherwise called Unciae (whence our
word 'inch')."
W. Ramsay,
Manual of Roman Antiquity,
chapter 13.
FOOTE, Commodore.
Gun-boat campaign on the western rivers.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1862 (JANUARY-FEBRUARY: KENTUCKY-TENNESSEE);
(MARCH-APRIL: ON THE MISSISSIPPI).
FORBACH, OR SPICHERN, Battle of.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1870 (JULY-AUGUST).
FORCE BILL, The.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1871 (APRIL).
FORESTS, Charter of.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1216-1274.
FORLI, Battle of (1423).
See ITALY: A. D. 1412-1447.
FORMORIANS.
See FOMORIANS.
FORMOSUS, Pope, A. D. 891-896.
FORNUOVA, Battle of (1495).
See ITALY: A. D. 1494-1496.
FORT EDWARD.--FORT ERIE.--FORT FISHER, ETC.
See EDWARD, FORT; ERIE, FORT, ETC.
FORTRENN, Men of.
A Pictish people who figure in early Scottish history, and
whom Mr. Rhys derives from the tribe known to the Romans as
Verturiones. The western part of Fife was embraced in their
kingdom.
J. Rhys,
Celtic Britain,
pages 158-159.
FORTUNATE ISLANDS.
See CANARY ISLANDS, DISCOVERY OF.
{1156}
FORTY-FIVE, The.
The Jacobite rebellion of 1745 is often referred to as "the
Forty-five."
See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1745.
FORTY-SHILLING FREEHOLDERS.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1884-1885.
FORUM, The Julian, and its extensions.
"From the entrance of the Suburra branched out the long
streets which penetrated the hollows between the Quirinal,
Viminal, and Esquiline to the gates pierced in the mound of
Servius. It was in this direction that Cæsar effected the
first extension of the Forum, by converting the site of
certain streets into an open space which he surrounded with
arcades, and in the centre of which he erected his temple of
Venus. By the side of the Julian Forum, or perhaps in its
rear, Augustus constructed a still ampler inclosure, which he
adorned with the temple of Mars the Avenger. Succeeding
emperors ... continued to work out the same idea, till the
Argiletum on the one hand, and the saddle of the Capitoline
and Quirinal, excavated for the purpose, on the other, were
both occupied by these constructions, the dwellings of the
populace being swept away before them; and a space running
nearly parallel to the length of the Roman Forum, and
exceeding it in size, was thus devoted to public use,
extending from the pillar of Trajan to the basilica of
Constantine."
C. Merivale,
History of the Romans,
chapter 40.
FORUM BOARIUM AND VELABRUM OF ANCIENT ROME, The.
"The Velabrum, the Forum Boarium, the Vicus Tuscus, and the
Circus Maximus are names rich in reminiscences of the romantic
youth and warlike manhood of the Roman people. The earliest
dawn of Roman history begins with the union of the Capitoline
and Palatine hills into one city. In those far-distant times,
however, no population was settled in the Velabrum or Circus
valley; for, as we have seen, until the drainage was
permanently provided for by the cloacæ, these districts were
uninhabited swamps; and the name Velabrum itself is said to
have been derived from the boats used in crossing from one
hill to the other. Perhaps such may not have been the case
with the Forum Boarium, which lay between the Velabrum and the
river. ... The limits of the Forum Boarium can be clearly
defined. It was separated from the Velabrum at the Arch of the
Goldsmiths. ... On the south-eastern side the Carceres of the
Circus, and the adjoining temple on the site of S. Maria in
Cosmedin, bounded the district, on the western the Tiber, and
on the north western the wall of Servius. ... The immediate
neighbourhood of the river, the Forum, the Campus Martius, and
the Palace of the Cæsars would naturally render this quarter
one of the most crowded thoroughfares of Rome. ... The Forum
itself, which gave the name to the district, was probably an
open space surrounded by shops and public buildings, like the
Forum Romanum, but on a smaller scale. In the centre stood the
bronze figure of a bull, brought from Ægina, either as a
symbol of the trade in cattle to which the place owed its
name, or, as Tacitus observes, to mark the supposed spot
whence the plough of Romulus, drawn by a bull and a cow, first
started in tracing out the Palatine pomœrium."
R. Burn,
Rome and the Campagna,
chapter 12.
FORUM GALLORUM, Battle of (B. C. 43).
See ROME: B. C. 44-42.
FORUM JULII.
A Roman colony and naval station (modern Frejus) founded on
the Mediterranean coast of Gaul by Augustus.
FORUM ROMANUM, The.
"The older Forum, or Forum Romanum, as it was called, to
distinguish it from the later Fora, which were named after
their respective builders [Forum of Julius Cæsar, of Augustus,
of Nerva, of Vespasian, of Trajan, etc.], was an open space of
an oblong shape, which extended in a south-easterly direction
from near the depression or intermontium between the two
summits of the Capitoline hill to a point opposite the still
extant temple of Antoninus and Faustina. ... Round this
confined space were grouped the most important buildings of
Republican Rome."
R. Burn,
Rome and the Campagna,
chapter 6, part 1.
"Forum, in the literal sense of the word merely a marketplace,
derives its name 'á ferendo,' (from bringing, getting,
purchasing). ... Narrow is the arena on which so great a drama
was enacted in the Republican and Imperial City! the
ascertainable measurements of this region, according to good
authorities, being 671 English feet in the extreme length; 202
in the extreme breadth, and 117 feet at the narrower, the
south-eastern, side. A wildly picturesque marshy vale,
overshadowed by primæval forests, and shut in by rugged
heights, was that low ground between the Palatine and
Capitoline hills when the 'Roma Quadrata,' ascribed to
Romulus, was founded about seven centuries and a half before
our era. After the wars and finally confirmed alliance between
Romans and Sabines ... the colonists agreed to unite under the
same government, and to surround the two cities and two hills
with a wider cincture of fortifying walls than those the still
extant ruins of which are before us on the Palatine. Now was
the swampy waste rendered serviceable for civic purposes; the
forest was cut down; the stagnant marshes were drained, the
clayey hollows filled up; the wild valley became the appointed
arena for popular assemblage; though Dionysius tells us it was
for some time on a spot sacred to Vulcan (the 'Vulcanale'),
probably a terrace on the slope of the Palatine overlooking
the Forum, that the people used to meet for political affairs,
elections, etc. During many ages there were, it appears, no
habitations save on the hills. ... The Forum, as an enclosed
public place amidst buildings, and surrounded by graceful
porticos, may be said to have owed its origin to Tarquinius
Priscus, between the years 616 and 578 B. C. That king (Livius
tells us) was the first who erected porticos around this area,
and also divided the ground into lots, where private citizens
might build for their own uses. Booths, probably wooden (the
'tabernæ veteres'), were the first rude description of shops
here seen. ... Uncertain is the original place of the 'Rostra
Veteres'--the ancient tribunal for orators. No permanent
tribunal for such purpose is known to have been placed in the
Forum till the year of the city 417. ... In the year 336 B.
C., the Romans having gained a naval victory over the
citizens' of Antium, several of those enemies' ships were
burnt, others transported to the Roman docks, and the bronzed
prows of the latter were used to decorate a pulpit, now raised
for public speaking, probably near the centre of the Forum."
C. I. Hemans,
Historic and Monumental Rome,
chapter 6.
ALSO IN:
R. Lanciani,
Ancient Rome,
pages 75-82.
{1157}
FORUM TREBONII, Battle of (A. D. 251).
See GOTHS, FIRST INVASIONS OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.
FOSI, The.
See CHAUCI.
FOSSA.
See CASTRA.
FOSSE, The.
One of the great Roman roads in Britain, which ran from
Lincoln southwestwardly into Cornwall.
See ROMAN ROADS IN BRITAIN.
FOSTAT.
The original name of Cairo, Egypt, signifying "the
Encampment."
See MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 640-646.
FOTHERINGAY CASTLE, Mary Stuart's execution at.
See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1561-1568;
and ENGLAND: A. D. 1585-1587.
FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH, Ponce de Leon's quest of the.
See AMERICA: A. D. 1512.
FOUR HUNDRED AND FIVE THOUSAND AT ATHENS.
See ATHENS: B. C. 413-411.
FOUR HUNDRED AT ATHENS, The.
See ATHENS: B. C. 594.
FOUR MASTERS, The.
Four Irish antiquaries of 17th century, who compiled the mixed
collection of legend and history called the "Annals of the
Kingdom of Ireland," are commonly known as the Four Masters.
They were Michael O'Clery, a lay brother of the order of St.
Francis; Conaire O'Clery, brother of Michael; Cucogry or
Peregrine O'Clery, head of the Tirconnell sept of the
O'Clerys, to which Michael and Conaire belonged; and Ferfeasa
O'Mulconry, of whom nothing is known, except that he was a
native of the county of Roscommon. The "Annals" of the Four
Masters have been translated into English from the Irish
tongue by John O'Donovan.
J. O'Donovan,
Introduction to Annals of the Kingdom of
Ireland by the Four Masters.
FOUR MILE STRIP, Cession of the.
See PONTIAC'S WAR.
FOURMIGNY, Battle of (1449).
See FRANCE: A. D. 1431-1453.
FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1865-1866 (DECEMBER-APRIL);
1866 (JUNE);
1866-1867 (OCTOBER-MARCH).
FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT:
The enforcement of.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1871 (APRIL).
----------FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT: End----------
FOURTH OF JULY.
The anniversary of the adoption of the American Declaration of
Independence.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1776 (JULY).
FOWEY, Essex's surrender at.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1644 (AUGUST-SEPTEMBER).
FOWLTOWN, Battle of (1817).
See FLORIDA: A. D. 1816-1818.
FOX AND NORTH COALITION, The.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1782; 1783;