Davis - The rogue republic: how would-be patriots waged the shortest revolution in American history

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
BOSTON NEW YORK
2011

Copyright 2011 by William C. Davis

All rights reserved

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to
Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 215 Park Avenue
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Davis, William C., 1946
The rogue republic : how would-be patriots waged the shortest revolution
in American history / William C. Davis.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-15-100925-1
1. West FloridaHistory19th century. 2. FloridaHistorySpanish colony,
17841821. 3. RevolutionsWest FloridaHistory19th century. I. Title.
F 301. D 36 2011
975.9'03dc22
2010026068

Endpaper maps by Jacques Chazaud

Book design by Dennis Anderson

Printed in the United States of America

DOC 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Bird, once more

Dramatis Personae

Preface: Revolutions

1 Realm of Happiness

2 Kemper & His Madly Deluded Party

3 The Late Insurrection at Baton Rouge

4 Birds of a Feather

5 You Have Ruined Our Country

6 Live Hogs, Bees-Wax, Coffee, Etc.

7 A Second Edition of the Kemper Attempt

8 Our Tribunal Cannot Be Men of Business

9 The Spirit of Independence

10 A New Order of Things

11 Thus Has Terminated the Revolution

12 A Battle for the Freedom of the World

13 The Commonwealth of West Florida

14 Our Infant but Beloved Country

15 The Star Will Rise and Shine

17 The Whole of the Mississippi Is Now American

18 The Star of Florida Is Not Set

19 The Old Hero

Acknowledgments

Notes

Bibliography

Index

S OLOMON A LSTON Captain of militia who helped put down the Kemper revolt of 1804; participant in the revolutionaries' kidnapping in 1805

J OHN B ALLINGER Leader in putting down the Shepherd Brown counter-revolt, later a West Florida agent to the United States

W ILLIAM B ARROW One of West Florida's wealthiest planters and most ardent proponents of independence from Spain

S HEPHERD B ROWN Land speculator, loyal supporter of Spanish rule, and leader of the brief counter-revolt in the St. Helena District

A ARON B URR Vice president of the United States from 1801 to 1805; father of an ill-defined effort to create an empire in the Southwest

J AMES C ALLER Colonel in Mississippi Territory militia and leader in the Mobile Society plot to seize Mobile

J OHN C ALLER Mississippi militia officer arrested with Kemper for plotting to capture Mobile; brother of James Caller

M ARQUS DE C ASA C ALVO Spanish official who handed Louisiana over to the United States; later expelled by Claiborne

W ILLIAM C. C. C LAIBORNE Governor of Orleans Territory and an agent of Jefferson and Madison in pressuring Spain to yield West Florida

D ANIEL C LARK Irish-born land speculator, intriguer with Burr, enemy of Claiborne, and first congressman from Louisiana

W ILLIAM C OOPER Convention delegate from St. Ferdinand District who joined Shepherd Brown in his counter-revolt

R APHAEL C ROCKER Corrupt secretary to Delassus; a major agent in spreading unrest among American planters in West Florida

C HARLES DE H AULT D ELASSUS Indecisive and largely helpless commandant of the four districts of West Florida that rebelled in 1810

A RMAND D UPLANTIER French-born planter and leader in the militia that put down the 1804 Kemper revolt

S TERLING D UPRE Leader of volunteers from the Pascagoula region who raided and plundered under the lone-star flag

T HOMAS E STEVAN Spanish captain commanding at Bayou Sara and loyal subordinate of Grand-Pr and Delassus

V ICENTE F OLCH Governor of Spanish West Florida; responsible for defending Pensacola, Mobile, and Baton Rouge

C ARLOS DE G RAND -P R Spain's popular commandant of the four western districts; his removal in 1808 encouraged general unrest

P HILIP H ICKY Baton Rouge attorney and friend of Grand-Pr who became a leader in the convention

D AVID H OLMES Governor of Mississippi Territory; Claiborne's partner in keeping peace and taking over the West Florida republic

A BRAM H ORTON Leader of the gang who kidnapped and assaulted the Kempers in 1805, arousing anti-Spanish sentiment

T HOMAS J EFFERSON President who purchased the Louisiana Territory and pressed for the inclusion of West Florida

I SAAC J OHNSON Major of cavalry volunteers who helped take Baton Rouge; probable designer of the lone-star flag

J OHN H UNTER J OHNSON Owner of the Troy plantation, where the convention was born; ordered the attack on Baton Rouge

N ATHAN K EMPER Instigator of 1804 raids into West Florida that raised the first armed resistance to Spanish rule

R EUBEN K EMPER Storekeeper, flatboatman, implacable foe of Spain, and leader of the expedition to take Mobile

S AMUEL K EMPER Partner with brother Nathan in 1804 raids; later commander of American invasion of Spanish Texas

J OSEPH P. K ENNEDY Mississippi lawyer and kingpin of the Mobile Society, dedicated to taking Mobile by force

I RA C. K NEELAND Loyal surveyor for Spain, participant in Kemper kidnapping, and object of Kemper revenge

G ILBERTO L EONARD Treasurer under Grand-Pr and Delassus

J OHN W. L EONARD Presumed royalist delegate to 1810 convention who became a leader in the independence movement

T HOMAS L ILLEY Baton Rouge merchant; leader in the convention efforts for reform and eventual revolt

M ANUEL L PEZ Baton Rouge lawyer; the only Spaniard among the revolutionaries, he faced constant tests of his loyalties

J AMES M ADISON President who took West Florida without risking war by inciting the locals to do it for him

J OHN M ILLS Founder of Bayou Sara, leader in the West Florida Convention, and agent to New Orleans

J UAN V ENTURA M ORALES Corrupt land speculator; Spanish intendant of Louisiana until 1803; later Spanish intendant of West Florida

J OHN M URDOCH Bayou Sara civic leader who worked for John Smith and assisted in suppressing the Kemper raids in 1804

J OHN O'C ONNOR Early Bayou Sara settler and alcalde who was kidnapped by the Kempers in 1804 in their effort to take Baton Rouge

R OBERT P ERCY Irish privateer, bombastic blowhard, and alcalde who encouraged resistance to Grand-Pr and Delassus

V ICENTE P INTADO Spain's surveyor general and captain of militia who oversaw response to the Kemper uprising in 1804

E DWARD R ANDOLPH Mississippi speculator and merchant, close friend of the Kempers, and behind-the-scenes revolutionary leader

J OHN R HEA Storekeeper who became president of the West Florida Convention

F ULWAR S KIPWITH Governor of the brief republic; he threatened to fight before he would allow the republic to be absorbed by the United States

J OHN S MITH Merchant and politician who brought the Kempers to West Florida and whose feud with Reuben Kemper ignited unrest

A LEXANDER S TIRLING Respected alcalde and militia captain who put down the Kemper revolt of 1804

C HAMPNESS T ERRY West Florida planter and militia leader who played both sides of the field in the years of unrest

P HILEMON T HOMAS Semiliterate storekeeper who led the 1810 capture of Baton Rouge and became general of the republic's army

H ARRY T OULMIN Federal judge of eastern Mississippi who led the effort to prevent American filibusters' attack on Mobile

C ATO W EST Acting governor of Mississippi in 1804; later, political opponent of Claiborne and David Holmes

J AMES W ILKINSON U.S. Army general, spy for Spain, and plotter with Aaron Burr; he later betrayed Burr and others