The last confrontation of the American Revolution was recorded in the Florida Parishes some 27 years after the end of military hostilities and the subsequent political resolution, according to research done by historian Don Sharp. The final resolution of the conflict actually came with the raising of the American Flag in Madisonville in 1811.
Sharp feels that the upcoming celebration of the 250th anniversary of American independence is a great time to focus on the part played by pioneer residents of St. Tammany and Tangipahoa Parish residents.
The Florida Parishes, which are now considered by historians as the "14th colony," were actually the last to throw off foreign rule, made possible by the establishment of the Independent Republic of West Florida. The lingering animosity between new Americans there and the residents who had been loyal to Britain was still festering, however, and fighting was still going on in many areas in the Northshore. To calm things down, they were then quickly annexed into the United States.
When America concluded the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and the Florida parishes became surrounded by American territory, the last vestiges of fighting between patriots and the British loyalists had to be quelled by American intervention.
Sharp lays the groundwork for the events leading up to the West Florida Republic representing the end of the American Revolution by listing the people who played an important part in the drama. Those people had lived through four different nations laying claim to the same area: from the French, the British, the Spanish and finally the Americans.
As a result, Sharp feels The Revolutionary War actually ended when the United States took over the Republic of West Florida.
It all started with the French period, when Bienville came in 1699. Bienville left in 1732, and Pierre Rigaud Cavagnial de Vaudreuil was appointed Governor of Louisiana. The Vaudreuil family was from Canada, and was well known in government circles there. Many Canadians settled in what would become St. Tammany Parish, around Lacombe.
Vaudreuil bought a plantation in New Orleans which later became Audubon Park, and he (as governor) also gave himself a 4800 acre land grant on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain between Lacombe and Mandeville. Later land grant records showed the parcel owned by Jean Pierre Cousin (and later Francois Cousin) and this was where Vaudreuil's property was originally situated.) Vaudreuil started an indigo plantation on the property, according to records researched by Sharp.
The property included the location where inventor James Rumsey would, in 1774, develop a steam-engine powered water craft that would eventually revolutionize boat transportation.
Vaudreiul's wife Charlotte had a relative who lived in Montreal, Canada, and she was married to a gentleman by the name of Jacques Hertel de Rouville. Rouville eventually became owner of this land grant, and he left his mark on the Lacombe area with a Bayou named after him as well as a street still in use today. It was Rouville who sold part of the property in the early 1770's to Rumsey for his use as a hideaway for developing his steamboat.
At that point in history, political anguish was mounting both in Canada and the 13 colonies on the Eastern seaboard, and Britain starting aggravating people with more and more restrictive mandates. Rouville left Lacombe to return to Canada to fight the political harassment against his family, and he turned over the Lacombe land grant to his wife.
When the American Revolution broke out, Rumsey's work was in danger of falling into enemy's hands, so he moved to Baltimore, Maryland, and continued to work in secret on his boat design. His day job was serving as Chief Engineer to General George Washington.
While the fighting in the 13 colonies may have ended militarily in 1781, for years after that emotions still ran high among those loyal to Britain during the war and the newly-minted American patriots. Bloody encounters continued to take lives among the inhabitants of the 13 colonies.
Sharp found that after the war ended in the 13 colonies, many of those who had been loyal to Britain left the eastern seaboard and came to settle in the Florida Parishes where Spain was still in charge, and they thought it would be more peaceful. Unfortunately, there were still hard feelings between them and those who had been cheering on the Americans. The hostility kept increasing between the two vengeance-minded groups.
So the years wore on, and while many were trying to forget the anguish of the war, others were finding it hard to forgive the atrocities that had occurred during the conflict. So even after Britain surrendered, many still remembered what horrors had been done in Georgia where they were from. When a number of British loyalists also fled the 13 colonies and came to the Florida Parishes, tempers of the locals flared and fighting broke out.
During the war years earlier, one British commander had captured a number of revolutionaries in Georgia, burned their homes, killed their cattle, and hung them all, even a 13-year-old boy whose mother had pleaded for his life. That sort of thing was hard to forgive and forget. The residents of the Florida Parishes were surprised to find out that the very same British commander responsible for that now lived in the Bedico area. They found him, killed him, killed his cattle, and burned his crops. It was a time of great upheaval.
All this post-war fighting and discord resulted in efforts to create the Republic of West Florida, a free and independent country, Sharp stated. The republic didn't last long, since the United States "annexed" it within months.
The American commandant in Baton Rouge John Shaw was becoming convinced there was a need to help the Florida Parishes inhabitants cool off and work together. Shaw's letters during this time period mentioned his concerns with the increasingly violent situation. He and his troops entered the area, confronted those still fighting the revolutionary war and told them the war had been over for years. "We are all Americans now," he said.
So when the American Revolution came to an end, it actually ended in three different ways: (1) with the cessation of military actions in 1781, (2) with the political paperwork signed by all parties in 1783, and (3) with the population all realizing that they were no longer French, Spanish or English. They were now indeed all Americans. And that realization fully occurred when the new United States took over the Republic of West Florida in 1811 and declared all its inhabitants "Americans."
Raising the American flag in Madisonville on January 6, 1811, was a fitting symbol of that new status for all those who lived there. It didn't solve all their problems, there were still people who wanted to continue with being the free and independent Republic of West Florida. But the die had been cast and the Florida Parishes became part of the United States, legally as well as in spirit.
The timing was fortunate. Almost four years later to the day, General Andrew Jackson won the Battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815, after bringing together a diverse band of American patriots, Native Americans, and even a pirate to fight British troops to preserve the independence of the new nation. On his way to the battle grounds in Chalmette, Jackson had passed through Covington and Madisonville.
Links of Interest:
The Establishment of the United States Navy at New Orleans, after the Louisiana Purchase, and its Influence on West Florida
