Fourteenth Colony: The Forgotten Story of the Gulf South During America's Revolutionary Era

by Mike Bunn

Overview

The British colony of West Florida—which once stretched from the mighty Mississippi to the shallow bends of the Apalachicola and portions of what are now the states of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana—is the forgotten fourteenth colony of America's Revolutionary era. The colony's eventful years as a part of the British Empire form an important and compelling interlude in Gulf Coast history that has for too long been overlooked. For a host of reasons, including the fact that West Florida did not rebel against the British Government, the colony has long been dismissed as a loyal but inconsequential fringe outpost, if considered at all. But the colony's history showcases a tumultuous political scene featuring a halting attempt at instituting representative government; a host of bold and colorful characters; a compelling saga of struggle and perseverance in the pursuit of financial stability; and a dramatic series of battles on land and water which brought about the end of its days under the Union Jack. In Fourteenth Colony, historian Mike Bunn offers the first comprehensive history of the colony, introducing readers to the Gulf Coast's remarkable British period and putting West Florida back in its rightful place on the map of Colonial America.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781588384140
Publisher:	NewSouth Books
Publication date:	11/03/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
File size:	18 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

MIKE BUNN is an author and historian who has worked with several cultural heritage organizations in the Southeast. He currently serves as director of Historic Blakeley State Park in Spanish Fort, Alabama. He is author or co-author of several books, including Early Alabama: An Illustrated Guide to the Formative Years, 1798–1826; Alabama From Territory to Statehood: An Alabama Heritage Bicentennial Collection; Well Worth Stopping to See: Antebellum Columbus, Georgia Through the Eyes of Travelers; Civil War Eufala; Battle for the Southern Frontier: The Creek War and War of 1812; and Images of America: The Lower Chattahoochee River. Mike is editor of Muscogiana, the journal of the Muscogee County Genealogical Society. He is also a member of the board of directors of the Alabama Historical Association, the Alabama Trust for Historic Preservation, and the Baldwin County Historical Development Commission. Mike and his wife live in Daphne, Alabama, with their daughter.

Table of Contents

Preface / ix 1 The British Takeover of the Gulf Coast / 3 2 The Government of West Florida / 21 3 The Role of the Indian Trade / 39 4 Settlement / 56 5 Daily Life / 75 6 Earning a Living / 100 7 The Coming of the Revolutionary War / 117 8 Willing’s Raid / 131 9 The March of Galvez / 142 10 The Capture of Mobile and the Battle at The Village / 160 11 The Siege of Pensacola / 176 Epilogue / 192 Bibliography / 197 Endnotes / 218

Editorial Reviews

09/07/2020

Historian Bunn (Early Alabama) spotlights British West Florida during the American Revolution in this accessible and well-researched account. In 1763, at the end of the Seven Years’ War (known in the U.S. as the French and Indian War), Britain took control of territories on the Gulf Coast formerly claimed by France and Spain, including substantial sections of present-day Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi. West Florida remained loyal to Britain during the Revolutionary War, leading to the influx of thousands of settlers—some loyal to the British crown and some just hoping to avoid the conflict—from Georgia, South Carolina, and England’s Caribbean colonies. Bunn also documents Philadelphia patriot James Willing’s 1778 raid on British forts and plantations in the Natchez area (“a mission of unvarnished plunder”), and Spanish commander Bernardo de Gálvez’s seizure of Mobile and Pensacola in 1781, effectively ending British rule. Though West Florida was formally ceded to Spain in 1783, a series of annexations, uprisings, and military interventions brought the region entirely under U.S. control by 1819. Bunn combines deep scholarship with vivid storytelling, though the subject remains somewhat niche. Still, Revolutionary War completists and regional history buffs will appreciate this comprehensive record of the period. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

Mike Bunn's groundbreaking new book Fourteenth Colony takes readers where few have gone before, to an all-but-forgotten English outpost in the land of live oaks and Spanish moss on the Gulf coast. When thirteen other British colonies revolted in 1775, West Florida discovered that it had its own role in the drama of revolution, not as player, but as a target. Bunn's description of those events is unsurpassed. Combining groundbreaking research with mature judgments and crisp narrative, Fourteenth Colony will surely be the definitive work on one colony that somehow escaped becoming another stripe on Old Glory.

author of The Rogue Republic: How Would-Be Patriots Waged the Shortest Revolution in American History - William C. Davis

Engaging and well written. A smart, well-researched book.

Journal of the American Revolution

A thorough synthesis of every important aspect of British West Florida history. Nothing quite like this currently exists. This will be a very useful book.

author of The Economy of British West Florida, 1763–1783 - Robin Fabel

A readable and well-researched history of British West Florida has long been overdue. Now, finally, we have one thanks to Mike Bunn. In briskly paced prose, Bunn explores Britain’s under-appreciated 'fourteenth colony' from its straggling Mississippi River outposts to its Gulfside Pensacola capital. Along the way he introduces us to a host of colorful personalities including tattooed Indian warriors, Indigo cultivators, runaway slaves, harrumphing administrators, determined ship captains, and underfed soldiers before ending the saga, too soon, amidst Spanish smoke and cannon balls. Nicely done!

author of The Mobile River and The Gulf of Mexico: A Maritime History - John S. Sledge

Mike Bunn’s accomplishment with Fourteenth Colony is an impressive one. Accessible and captivating colonial history and wartime exploits are presented with a striking human dimension. Bunn illuminates obscure history in a palatable and compulsively readable way.

Alabama Writers' Forum

Mike Bunn has written the first thorough history of West Florida, a British colony in America during the era of the American Revolution. He chronicles the lives and labors of settlers, slaves, and soldiers in the sickly, even deadly, subtropical region of present day southern Alabama and Mississippi. His story includes a compelling account of the three-year war that culminated in Spain’s capture of the colony at near the same moment that the British surrendered at Yorktown in 1781. Fourteenth Colony is good history and a good read, which significantly adds to our knowledge of colonial America and the Revolutionary War.

bestselling author of several books on early America, including Apostles of Revolution - John Ferling

At last we have an easy-to-read book that corrects the long-embraced notion of thirteen American colonies rising in revolution against Britain. Bunn's impressively researched and well-written volume reveals that there were actually fourteen colonies and that one, though largely forgotten to history, remained loyal. Fourteenth Colony will open many eyes to a startling historical omission just as it will force reconsideration of how we teach, and interpret, the American Revolution.

Samuel C. Hyde Jr.

At last we have an easy-to-read book that corrects the long-embraced notion of thirteen American colonies rising in revolution against Britain. Bunn's impressively researched and well-written volume reveals that there were actually fourteen colonies and that one, though largely forgotten to history, remained loyal. Fourteenth Colony will open many eyes to a startling historical omission just as it will force reconsideration of how we teach, and interpret, the American Revolution.

From the Publisher

At last we have an easy-to-read book that corrects the long-embraced notion of thirteen American colonies rising in revolution against Britain. Bunn's impressively researched and well-written volume reveals that there were actually fourteen colonies and that one, though largely forgotten to history, remained loyal. Fourteenth Colony will open many eyes to a startling historical omission just as it will force reconsideration of how we teach, and interpret, the American Revolution. — Samuel C. Hyde Jr., Leon Ford Endowed Chair, Professor of History, Southeastern Louisiana University

Source

12/04/2020

Once upon a time Great Britain had 14 American colonies, not 13. The 14th colony was a latecomer. And it was short-lived. West Florida was a prize, like Canada, from the defeated French and Spanish at the end of the Seven Years War in 1763. The new British colony stretched from the Apalachicola to the Mississippi. Its boundaries encompassed large portions of the present states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, situated between the Spanish and French colonies of East Florida and Louisiana, respectively. Pensacola, the territory's largest settlement, became the colonial capital while Mobile, with its natural bay, became the major shipping point. But it failed to establish a stable, functioning government, as its sister colonies along the Atlantic seaboard did. Bunn (director, Historic Blakeley State Park, Spanish Fort, AL; Alabama from Territory to Statehood) explains how the colony struggled to attract settlers and to become economically viable. Weak militarily, West Floridians were generally uninterested in the Americans' revolution, despite two failed filibuster expeditions from their sister colonies. The author details how the British lost the territory when the Spanish, an American ally, easily reconquered it in 1781. VERDICT An excellent, well-researched introduction to a long-forgotten British colony of America's Revolutionary era; for general readers.—Glen Edward Taul, formerly with Campbellsville Univ., KY

Library Journal

2020-08-25
A history of a short-lived British colony on the Gulf Coast in the mid-to-late 1700s.

West Florida came into being in 1763 and lasted until 1781, when the Spanish captured it. Originally ceded to the British (along with East Florida) in the wake of the Seven Years’ War, the colony included parts of modern-day Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. From the beginning, its strategic location on the Gulf Coast outweighed its economic contribution to the empire. From there, “they facilitated control of the outlets of a number of major interior river systems and potentially important Gulf and Atlantic ports.” However, the fortifications left behind by the French badly needed upgrading, and many were ultimately abandoned. The British also faced the question of how to manage relations with the Native American inhabitants of the territory as well as the former French and Spanish colonists. Bunn, the author of several regional histories, outlines the struggles to set up a government, with regular clashes between the often overmatched royal governors and the colonists, most of whom were struggling despite receiving large land grants. Furthermore, writes the author, “a host of dangerous communicable diseases plagued the new colonists.” Attempts to find exportable commodities fell short of expectations except for trade with Natives for deerskins and fur. Bunn aptly summarizes the colony’s history, which really comes alive with the arrival of the Revolution. West Florida, isolated from the other colonies, remained officially loyal to the crown—“a lukewarm and conditional loyalty to say the least but a circumstance that, given the situation, Great Britain was happy to have.” A raiding expedition along the Mississippi by Philadelphian Thomas Willing and then a campaign by the Spanish governor of Louisiana, Bernardo de Galvez, brought the conflict to West Florida—and ultimately brought the colony under Spanish control.

A readable and illuminating exploration of a chapter of American history most readers haven’t previously encountered.

Kirkus Reviews