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British Pensacola

2,022 bytes added, 19:04, 27 August 2013
British placenames
===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 received it arrived from Havana to receive Pensacola from the Spanish commandant. On [[September 3]] Spain evacuated the last of its troopsand 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 [[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.
===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===
*[[Peter Chester]] (1770-1781)
JohnstonCommodore [[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 late December [[1766]] or early [[1767]]. <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]])
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|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]]''
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|Johnstone Street
|Princess Street
|[[Romana Street]]
|-
|Red Cliffs
|[[Barrancas]]
|-
|Sandy Point
|''[[Town Point]]''
|-
|Tartar Point
|''[[Tartar Point]]''
|-
|York Street
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