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(Florida) |
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 The 8 Flags of Amelia Island |
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  French |
 Spanish |
 British |
 Patriots |
 1817 |
 Mexican |
 CSA |
 U.S. |
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Native American bands associated with the Timucuan mound-building culture settled on the island, which they called Napoyca, circa 1000. They would remain on Napoyca until the early 18th century. It is the only location in the United States to have been under eight different flags. | |
  French |
 (1562-1565) In 1562, French Huguenot explorer Jean Ribault became the first recorded European visitor to Napoyca, and named the island Īle de Mai. |
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 Spanish |
(1565-1763) In 1565, Spanish forces led by Pedro Menendez de Aviles drove the French from northeastern Florida, slaughtering Ribault and approximately 350 other French colonists. In 1573, Spanish Franciscans established the Santa Maria mission on the island, which was named 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. Catherine's 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), King George II'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. |
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 British |
(1763-1783) The Treaty of Paris in 1763 ratified Britain's victory in the Seven Years' War, ceding Florida to Britain in exchange for Havana and nullifying all Spanish land grants in Florida. The Proclamation of 1763 established the St. Mary's River as East Florida's northeastern boundary. |
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Spanish |
(1565-1763) 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. |
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 Patriots |
(March 1812) 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 raising a Patriot flag, they replaced it with the United States Flag. |
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Spanish |
(1813-1817) American gunboats under the command of Commodore Hugh Campbell maintained control of the island until Spanish pressure forced their evacuation in 1813. Spanish forces erected Fort San Carlos on the island in 1816. |
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 1817 |
(June 1817) 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 "Green Cross of Florida" over the fort. |
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 Mexican |
(September 1817) 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 Luis Aury, who laid claim to the island on behalf of the Republic of Mexico. U. S. Navy forces drove Aury from the island, and President James Monroe vowed to hold Amelia Island "in trust for Spain." |
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 U.S. |
U.S. Although angered by U.S. interference at Fort San Carlos, Spain ceded Florida. The proclamation of the Adams-Onis Treaty on February 22, 1821, two years after its signing in 1819, officially transferred East Florida and what remained of West Florida to the United States. Work began on Fort Clinch in 1847. |
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 C.S.A. |
CSA On January 8, 1861, two days before Florida's 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. |
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U.S. |
(1862-present) Union forces, consisting of 28 gunboats commanded by Commodore Samuel Dupont, restored Federal control of the island on March 3, 1862 and raised the American Flag |
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