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A History of Columbia County Florida (1996) Edward F. Keuchel 17/340

Chapter II
EARLY SETTLEMENT 1821 - 1845

By the treaty of February 22, 1819, Spain ceded Florida to the
United States for $5 million and a settlement in Spain’s favor of
the boundary between Spain and the United States in the South­
west. Thus ended a 300 year period in which Florida was a pawn in
the international affairs of nations striving for control of the Gulf
of Mexico. Except for the early period of the Spanish mission
settlements, no European nation was able to maintain an extended
period of stable control. During the British period (1763-1783) a
serious effort was made to define the actual limits of Florida, and
the territory was divided for administrative purposes into East and
West Florida.
Present Columbia County was in East Florida which extended
on its northern boundary from the mouth of the St. Marys River
westward to the junction of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers;
the western boundary was the Apalachicola River; and the eastern
was the Atlantic Ocean from the mouth of the St. Marys to
Dartmouth Inlet at Cape Florida.

West Florida extended west from the Apalachicola to the
Mississippi River. East Florida had some 15,000 British subjects
by 1783 when it was transferred back to Spain and most of these
settlers moved to the West Indies. Spain was unable to maintain
the area, particularly because of the incursions of Americans
trying to detach the province from Spanish rule, and Florida
became a part of the United States in 1821. After the purchase by
the United States the western boundary was set at the Perdido
River.
On July 17, 1821, the formal transfer of West Florida to the
United States was made at the old plaza in Pensacola. Andrew
Jackson, having recently been appointed provisional territorial
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