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[[Image:1764Plan.jpg|thumb|right|300px|''A Plan of the Harbour of Pensacola in West-Florida'', 1764]]
'''Pensacola''' was under '''British''' control, and served as the capital of its West Florida territory, from [[1763]] until [[1781]].
===British acquisition===
[[Image:West Florida Map 1767.jpg|thumb|right|British West Florida in [[1767]]]]
Great Britain came into possession of Pensacola, and the rest of Florida, as a result of the [[Wikipedia:Treaty of Paris (1763)|Treaty of Paris]] (1763), which ended the [[Wikipedia:French and Indian War|French and Indian War]], the North American component of the wider [[Wikipedia:Seven Years' War|Seven Years' War]]. Britain organized its new holdings into two territories: '''East Florida''', which comprised modern Florida east of the [[Wikipedia:Apalachicola River|Apalachicola River]], with its capital at Saint Augustine; and '''West Florida''', which comprised the portions of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida that laid south of the [[Wikipedia:31st parallel north|31st parallel]] and between the Mississippi and Apalachicola Rivers. In [[1764]], the British moved the northern boundary up to 32° 22′ 28′ north, absorbing the southern thirds of modern-day Mississippi and Alabama. Britain took official possession of Pensacola on [[August 7]], [[1763]], when a Captain Wills of the Third Battery of the Royal Artillery arrived from Havana to receive Pensacola from the Spanish commandant. On [[September 3]] Spain evacuated its troops and the town's citizens to Vera Cruz.<ref>Hamilton, Peter J. [http://books.google.com/books?id=_0wUAAAAYAAJ&printsec=titlepage#PPA399,M1 "British West Florida"]. ''Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society''. Oxford, Miss.: 1903.</ref> According to a report written by Captain Wills, the town at that time consisted of "40 huts, thatched with palmetto leaves, and barracks for a small garrison, the whole surrounded by a stockade of pine posts." Wills went on to describe the terrain::''"The country, from the insuperable laziness of the Spaniards, still remains uncultivated. The woods are still near the village, and a few paltry gardens show the only improvements. Stock, they have none, being entirely supplied by Mobile, which is pretty well cultivated and produces sufficient for export."''<ref name="Campbell">Campbell, Richard L. [http://ia311206.us.archive.org/1/items/historicalsketch00camprich/historicalsketch00camprich.pdf "Historical Sketches of Colonial Florida"]. The Williams Publishing Co., Cleveland: 1892.</ref>
===Revolutionary War===
In the early 1770s, British colonists in North America began to rebel against Britain, eventually declaring their independence as the United States of America in 1775. Britain, determined not to lose its valuable colonies, attempted to regain them by force, initiating the [[Wikipedia:American Revolutionary War|American Revolutionary War]]. In [[1778]], hoping to undermine British world power, France entered the war on the side of the United States.
In [[1779]], France and Spain signed the [[Wikipedia:Treaty of Aranjuez (1779)|Treaty of Aranjuez]]. Although Spain did not recognize the United States, it agreed under the terms of the treaty to aid France in its war against Britain.
===Spain takes retakes Pensacola==={{main|Siege of Pensacola}}On [[March 9]], [[1781]], Spanish Field Marshal [[Bernardo de Gálvez]] began an amphibious [[siege of Pensacola]]. The siege lasted for two months before Gálvez took the town on [[May 8]]. Later that year, British forces under General Charles Cornwallis surrendered to American forces at [[Wikipedia:Siege of Yorktown|Yorktown]], essentially ending the land war, although British and French naval forces continued to battle at sea. The war officially ended with the [[Wikipedia:Treaty of Paris (1783)|Treaty of Paris]] ([[1783]]), at which time Britain ceded East and West Florida to Spain.
==British occupation==
===City plan===
[[Image:1778PurcellPlan.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Joseph Purcell's 1778 plan of the city]]
In [[1764]], British civil engineer [[Elias Durnford]] surveyed the town and laid out a street grid which remains mostly preserved to the present day. British Pensacola centered on a large public space which included modern-day [[Plaza Ferdinand VII]], [[Seville Square]] and the space between the two (the area which today lies between [[Palafox Street|Palafox]] and [[Alcaniz Street]]s and south of [[Intendencia Street]]). The water line at that time was located approximately where [[Main Street]] lies today. Within the public space was [[Fort at Pensacola|a large fort]].The fort and its surroundings were the center of public life:{{cquote|In the centre of [the public space] was a star-shaped stockade fort, designed as a place of refuge for the population in case of an Indian attack. Near it were the officers' quarters, barracks, guard house, ordinance store-house and laboratory, two powder magazines, the King's bake-house, cooperage shelter, and government store-house. This park was, therefore, in the early days of Pensacola, the liveliest and busiest part of the town.|20px|20px|Campbell, Richard L. [http://ia311206.us.archive.org/1/items/historicalsketch00camprich/historicalsketch00camprich.pdf "Historical Sketches of Colonial Florida"], 1892.}}
The British also later constructed [[Fort George]] north of the town at [[Gage Hill]], and the [[Queen's Redoubt]] to the northwest.
===Administration===
During the course of the British occupation, the five successive Crown-appointed governors of West Florida took up residence in Pensacola:
*[[George Johnstone]] (1763-1767)
*[[Elias Durnford]] (1769-1770)
*[[Peter Chester]] (1770-1781)
Commodore [[George Johnstone]] of the Royal Navy arrived at Pensacola in February 1764, becoming Pensacola's first British governor.<ref name="Campbell" /> Johnstone, though, became unpopular with settlers due to his faithful enforcement of unpopular British policies such as the [[Wikipedia:Stamp Act 1765|Stamp Act]]. He caused further discord with his policy of aggression toward Indians, and under pressure either resigned or was recalled in December [[1766]].<ref name="Campbell" /> The lieutenant governor, [[Montfort Browne]], served as governor until his replacement, [[John Eliot]], arrived. Eliot was delayed in England and did not arrive in Pensacola until [[1769]]. However, Eliot was affected by a strange malady, possibly a brain tumor, and committed suicide shortly after arriving in Pensacola. Montfort Browne, who was still serving as lieutenant governor, briefly took charge again, but soon left for England. [[Elias Durnford]] thereafter served as governor until Eliot's replacement, [[Peter Chester]], arrived in [[1770]]. Chester served until the Spanish took Pensacola in [[1781]].
===British placenames===
|[[Zaragoza Street]], west of the public space (west of modern-day [[Palafox Street]])
|-
|Butt Bute Street
|[[Government Street]], east of the public space (east of modern-day [[Alcaniz Street]])
|-
|Gloucester Street
|[[Cevallos Street]]
|-
|Gull Point
|''[[Gull Point]]''
|-
|Harcourt Street
|[[Intendencia Street]], east of the public space (east of modern-day [[Alcaniz Street]])
|-
|Indian Point
|''[[Garcon Point]]''
|-
|Johnstone Street
|Princess Street
|[[Romana Street]]
|-
|Red Cliffs
|[[Barrancas]]
|-
|Sandy Point
|''[[Town Point]]''
|-
|Tartar Point
|''[[Tartar Point]]''
|-
|York Street
:''Notes:'' '''=''' indicates damage to the document that may have rendered some portion illegible. '''+''' was a marginal notation next to many of the names, the significance of which is unknown.
==Other images==<gallery>Image:1767Plan.jpg|''A Plan of the Town of Pensacola'', 1767Image:Map1780.jpg|''A Chart of the Bay and Harbour of Pensacola, in the Province of West Florida'', 1780Image:BritishMap1781.jpg|British map, 1781</gallery> ==Notes & and references==
{{reflist}}
