284: FLORIDA them on Pascua Florida, or Easter Sunday) was originally not confined to the present state limits, but extended over an indefinite region northward, and to the Mississippi. The first visitant to the actual territory of Florida was Ponce de Leon, who landed near St. Augustine in 1513. It was subsequently visited in 1520 by Vasquez, a Spaniard ; in 1523 by Verrazzano, a Florentine; and in 1524 by De Geray, a Spaniard. Two years later Pamfilo de Nar- vaez obtained a grant from Charles V. of all the lands from Cape Florida to Rio Panuco. In 1528 he landed with a numerous army at Appalachee, but met with a formidable resist- ance from the Indians, and at last perished on the coast near the Panuco by shipwreck, only 10 of his followers returning to Spain. In 1539 Fernando de Soto explored Florida. About the middle of the 16th century many Protestants of France sought refuge in Florida, but only to experience greater evils than they had endured at home. In 1565 they were attacked by the Spaniards, and many were hanged on the trees with an inscription purporting that they were destroyed "not as Frenchmen, but as heretics." This barbarity was soon afterward avenged by a party of Frenchmen, who attacked the Spanish fort, and hung up the garrison on the same trees that sustained the mouldering bones of their countrymen, inscribing over them that they were executed " not as Spaniards, but as cutthroats and murderers." The Spaniards, persevering in their attempts to obtain a foot- hold in Florida, established a fort at St. Au- gustine in 1565, which they held till 1586, when it was captured by Sir Francis Drake. Two years earlier Captains Barlow and Amidas had taken nominal possession in right of Eng- land of the northern portion of the coast and the adjoining country. From this period for nearly a century, history is silent in relation to this country. In 1682 La Salle visited West Florida or Louisiana. In 1696 Pensa- cola was settled by Spaniards. In 1702 the Carolinians made an unsuccessful attack on St. Augustine, but in 1704 captured Fort St. Mark. The subsequent expedition of Ogle- thorpe against the Spanish settlements will be spoken of in the article GEORGIA. In 1763 the whole province of Florida was ceded to Great Britain in exchange for Cuba, which the English had then recently taken. Soon after the British divided the territory into two provinces, the river Appalachicola being the boundary between them, and by a proclama- tion invited settlers. Many Carolinians emi- grated thither ; and about 1,500 Greeks, Ital- ians, and Minorcans were brought from the Mediterranean and settled at New- Smyrna, about 60 m. S. of St. Augustine, where they began the cultivation of indigo and the sugar cane. Being badly treated by their employers, they removed to St. Augustine. During the revolutionary war privateers were fitted out at the ports of Florida, by which the trade of the southern provinces was severely harassed, and the Indians were encouraged to a barbarous hostility against the Americans. In 1778 Gen. Prevost marched from Florida into Georgia, and captured Savannah and other towns. While engaged on this expedition he left his province open to incursions from Louisiana. In 1779 the Spaniards invested the garrison and settlement of Baton Rouge, and compelled them to surrender, and in May, 1781, Pensacola was captured. By the treaty of 1783 Florida was retroceded to Spain, and the greater part of the inhabitants deserted the country and set- tled in the United States. When Louisiana was ceded to the United States by France in 1803, it was declared to be ceded with the same extent that it had in the hands of Spain, and as it had been ceded by Spain to France. The terms of this cession gave rise to a claim on the part of the United States to the country west of the Perdido river ; and to prevent the occupation of this territory by any other pow- er, the government took possession in 1811 of the principal posts. The rest of Florida re- mained unmolested until the second war be- tween the United States and Great Britain. In 1814, a British expedition having been fitted out from Pensacola, Gen. Jackson marched against that town and captured it. In 1818 it was again taken by Jackson, and also Fort St. Mark, but they were subsequently restored to Spain. Finally in 1819 Spain ceded the whole province to the United States, and possession was surrendered to the Americans in July, 1821. Immigration now set in to the territory, but the lack of surveys, the uncertainty of titles, &c., prevented its rapid settlement ; and the Seminoles, a fierce and warlike Indian race, occupied the best lands. Yet in spite of these obstacles, a considerable population settled in the country. In 1835 a deadly war be- tween the Indians and settlers broke out, and suspended what progress had hitherto been effected. A long contest ensued between the savages and the United States troops, which is known as the Seminole war, and resulted in 1842 in the subjection of the Indians, of whom the greater part were removed west of the Mississippi. The few remaining Indians con- tinued to be troublesome, and on several occa- sions committed great depredations on the set- tlers ; but on May 4, 1858, the whole body was removed, and on the 8th Gen. Loomis, then commanding in Florida, issued a procla- mation declaring the war closed. Florida was admitted into the Union, March 3, 1845. An ordinance of secession from the Union was passed Jan. 10, 1861, by a convention which had assembled on the 3d. On the 7th Fort Marion, the arsenal at St. Augustine, and the Chattahoochee arsenal were seized by order of the state authorities ; and on the 12th the navy yard and forts at Pensacola were taken. Fernandina, Jacksonville, St. Augustine, and other places on the E. coast were retaken by the national forces early in 1862, and held. Restrictions on commercial intercourse with
