History
Native American bands associated with the Timucua settled on the island, which they called Napoyca, circa 1000. They would remain on Napoyca until the early 18th century. In 1562, French Huguenot explorer Jean Ribault became the first recorded European visitor to Napoyca. He named the island Isle de Mar (Sea Island). In 1565, Spanish forces led by Pedro Menendez de Aviles drove the French from northeastern Florida, slaughtering Ribault and approximately 350 other French colonists.
Spanish Franciscans established the Santa Maria mission on the island in 1573, naming it Isla de Santa Maria. The mission was abandoned in 1680 after the inhabitants refused a Spanish order to relocate. British raids forced the relocation of the Santa Catalina de Guale mission on St. Catherines Island, Georgia, to the abandoned Santa Maria mission on the island in 1685. In 1702, this mission was again abandoned when South Carolina's colonial governor, James Moore, led a joint British-Indian invasion of Florida.
Georgia's founder and colonial governor, James Oglethorpe, renamed the island "Amelia Island" in honor of Princess Amelia (1710–1786), George II of Great Britain's daughter, although the island was still a Spanish possession. After establishing a small settlement on the northwestern edge of the island, Oglethorpe negotiated with Spanish colonial officials for a transfer of the island to British sovereignty. Colonial officials agreed to the transfer, but the King of Spain nullified the agreement.
The Treaty of Paris in 1763 ratified Britain's victory in the Seven Years' War, ceding Florida to Britain in exchange for Havana, Cuba and nullifying all Spanish land grants in Florida. The Proclamation of 1763 established the St. Marys River as East Florida's northeastern boundary.
In 1783, the Second Treaty of Paris ended the Revolutionary War and returned Florida to Spain. British inhabitants of Florida had to leave the province within 18 months unless they swore allegiance to Spain. In 1811, surveyor George J. F. Clarke platted the town of Fernandina, named in honor of King Ferdinand VII of Spain by the governor of the Spanish province of East Florida, Enrique White.
With the approval of President James Madison and Georgia Governor George Mathews in 1812-1813, insurgents known as the "Patriots of Amelia Island" seized the island. After initially raising the Patriot flag, they replaced it with the flag of the United States. American gunboats under the command of Commodore Hugh Campbell maintained control of the island until Spanish pressure forced their evacuation in 1813. The Spanish erected Fort San Carlos on the northwest end of the island in 1816.
Gregor MacGregor, a Scottish-born soldier of fortune, led an army of only 150 men including recruits from Charleston and Savannah, some War of 1812 veterans, and 55 musketeers in an assault of Fort San Carlos on June 29, 1817. The commander, Francisco Morales, struck the Spanish flag and fled. MacGregor raised his flag, the "Green Cross of Florida", a green cross on a white ground, over the fort and proclaimed the "Republic of the Floridas". Spanish soldiers forced MacGregor's withdrawal, but their attempt to regain complete control was foiled by American irregulars organized by Ruggles Hubbard and former Pennsylvania congressman Jared Irwin. Hubbard and Irwin later joined forces with the French-born pirate Louis Michel Aury, who laid claim to Amelia Island supposedly on behalf of the Republic of Mexico. Aury surrendered the island to U.S. forces on December 23, 1817, and President James Monroe vowed to hold it "in trust for Spain". This episode in Florida's history became known as the Amelia Island Affair.
Although angered by U.S. interference at Fort San Carlos, Spain ceded Florida in 1821. The Adams-Onis Treaty officially transferred East Florida, and what remained of West Florida, to the United States as of February 22, 1821.
On January 8, 1861, two days before Florida secession, Confederate sympathizers (the Third Regiment of Florida Volunteers) took control of Fort Clinch, already abandoned by Federal workers who had been constructing the fort. General Robert E. Lee visited Fort Clinch in November 1861, and again in January 1862, during a survey of coastal fortifications.
Union forces, consisting of 28 gunboats commanded by Commodore Samuel Dupont, restored Federal control of the island on March 3, 1862, raising the American flag.
Read more about this topic: Amelia Island
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