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Overview of FL governor as a Military Tactician
Source: The Governorship of Spanish Florida #122
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The Governor as a Military Tactician: A Critique Within the Spanish empire Florida was a vitally strategic outpost that protected the Bahama Channel and the north coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Called by some Spaniards “the first line of defense for New Spain,” Florida was significant for the king militarily. In the first two decades of the 18th century, it appeared as if he would lose the province. Apalache was abandoned in the early years of Queen Anne’s War, and by 1706 all Spain could claim in Florida was the area immediately surrounding the indestructible Fort San Marcos. Saint Augustine was in ashes as a result of the English siege of 1702, and hostile Indians made continuous raids on Spanish settlements. But somehow the governor managed to hold the colony for the king, and once Queen Anne’s War was over, the effectively re-established Spanish power in Apalache, built new fortifications at Saint Augustine, and deployed his troops in critical points throughout the Florida peninsula. Strong enough to withstand another major assault in 1740, Florida stood defiantly as a symbol of Spanish power in the Southeast until 1763, when England assumed control of the province. Skilled as defensive strategists, the governors of Florida were less successful when they waged offensive war. Lack of supplies, insufficient troops, bad weather, bad luck, indecisive leadership, and the shrewd defensive tactics of their English opponents thwarted all Spanish attempts to recover Carolina and Georgia. It appears, however, that the failure to bring these two colonies again under Spanish control could hardly be blamed solely on the governor. By the opening of the 18th century Spain had had its day in the Southeast. If the governor kept the Spanish flag flying over Fort San Marcos in Saint Augustine and Fort San Marcos in Apalache, he was fulfilling the expectations of his superiors in Spain. Hopes for great offensive victories were surely chimerical. (Tepaske GSF)
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