Historical Sketches of Colonial FloridaCampbell, Richard L.
History
Historical Sketches of Colonial Florida
Campbell, Richard L.
Florida -- History -- To 1821; Pensacola (Fla.) -- History
Tartar Point, now the site of the Navy Yard, where a battery and
barracks were erected by the British, is the only existing name in this
part of West Florida which carries one’s thoughts back to the days of
British rule. The name of the point under the second Spanish dominion,
which lasted about forty years, was _Punta de la Asta Bandera_—the Point
of the Flagstaff. It seems strange that an English name which had been
superseded for that period by a Spanish designation, should after that
lapse of time be restored.
The locality of Red Cliff was for a time a puzzle. Such a name for a
locality at once induced a search for a suggestive aspect. No red bluff,
however, not too far eastward to serve as the site of a work for the
defense of the town or harbor, could be found, and yet, no bluff
westward of the former could be observed to suit the designation. But at
length, a letter in the Canadian archives fixed Barrancas as the
locality by stating that there was at about the distance of a half to a
quarter of a mile from Red Cliff a powder magazine, built by the
Spaniards, capable of holding 500 barrels of powder, which was then
being used as the powder depôt of the province, evidently the relic of
old San Carlos, destroyed by the French in 1719, and stood on the site
of the present Fort Redoubt.
The defenses of Red Cliff consisted of two batteries, “one on the top
and the other at the foot of the hill.” There were quarters for the
officers and barracks for the soldiers in one building, so constructed
as to be proof against musket balls and available as an ample defense
against an Indian attack.[13]
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Footnote 12:
Mr. Fairbanks, in his ‘History of Florida,’ calls the fort St.
Michael; but that was, in fact, a name bestowed upon it after 1783,
when Florida became a Spanish colony.
Footnote 13:
Canadian Archives—Rept. of T. Sowers, Capt. Engineers Series B., Vol.
XVII., page 302.
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CHAPTER XI.
Representative Government.
When the governments of West and East Florida were established, as
before related, their governors were, severally, vested with authority,
their councils consenting and the condition of the provinces being
favorable, to call for the election of general assemblies by the people.
In 1773, Governor Chester concluded that the time had arrived when it
would be expedient for him to exercise this power. He, accordingly,
issued writs authorizing an election, fixing the time it was to be held,
the voting precincts, the qualifications of voters, and the number and
qualifications of assemblymen to be chosen, as well as the day of the
sitting of the general assembly at Pensacola.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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