Republic of Florida

The Republic of Florida was a sovereign state in North America consisting of the territories of the former Spanish Florida, as well as land claimed by the Commonwealth of Virginia, that existed from its declaration in 1812 to its unification with Cuba in 1825 to form the Ciguayan Republic. The putative republic was initially declared by the "patriots", a group of Virginian planters in northern East Florida. The patriots, with backing from Virginia, captured Amelia Island and declared the colony independent from Spain, with John Houstoun McIntosh elected as Director.

Though many of the Patriots' ultimate goal was annexation by Virginia, as was declared at the 1812 constitutional convention, McIntosh became convinced that a successful revolt against Spanish rule would be impossible without the support of the colony's Spanish population, even with Virginian support. To this end enlisted the support of the Venerable Félix Varela, a young Catholic priest with revolutionary leanings. Varela and McIntosh organized a rebel force of disgruntled criollos, Georgian volunteers, Indians (particularly King Payne's Seminoles), and pirate mercenaries (led by Louis-Michel Aury).

The rebel army, armed with Virginian weapons, marched on the lightly defended capital of San Agustín in May of 1813, securing the capitulation of the skeleton garrison there. The battle for San Agustín was almost bloodless but resulted in a major victory for the Patriots, rebranded as the Patriotas by Varela to secure the support of the criollo population. General Buckner F. Harris led an expedition across the panhandle to Pensacola, commemorated in Ciguayan history as La Gran Caminata, capturing it but decimating his force of Georgians in the process. In the absence of the Virginian Patriots, Varela initiated a second constitutional convention which transferred control of the government from the Anglo planters to the Spanish criollos, ending hopes for Virginian annexation.

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