FIRST -- Raising of the US Flag over Pensacola and West Florida, Pensacola FL
N 30° 24.516 W 087° 12.837
16R E 479450 N 3364082
Monument in Plaza Ferdinand VII to Gen. Andrew Jackson, who received West Florida from Spain and raised the flag of the United States over this territory for the first time on 17 June 1821.
Waymark Code: WMND23
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 02/17/2015
Views: 8
Pensacola's historic Plaza Ferdinand VII was the center of life in this community when it was controlled by various European powers from its discovery and claim by the Spanish in 1559.
In 1818 Gen. Andrew Jackson launched a military expedition into West Florida against the Seminole Indians who were threatening US territory in Georgia. During this expedition, Jackson captured Spanish forts at Pensacola and at St. Mark's. This created a diplomatic issue with Spain which culminated three years later in the treaty of Onis-Adams of 1819, where the Spanish ceded West Florida to the United States and voluntarily relinquished of its claims to East Florida. Essentially this gave all of Florida to the United States without having to go to war with Spain.
For more on how Florida transitioned from European possession to a United States territory see here: (
visit link)
Gen. Andrew Jackson received the Spanish cessation in this Plaza and raised the flag of the United States over the territory of West Florida and Pensacola for the first time on 17 June 1821. A monument in the Plaza is topped with a bronze bust of Gen. Jackson with a plaque that reads as follows:
"In this Plaza
GEN. ANDREW JACKSON
Received West Florida from Spain and
Raised the flag of the U.S.,
July 17, 1821
To recall the flags of five nations which have been raised in turn ten times over Pensacola
Spain 1559 -1719 * 1723 – 1763 * 1783 – 1821
France 1719 – 1723
Great Britain 1763 – 1783
United States of America 1821 – 1861 * 1862-
Confederate States of America 1861 -1862
Recalling that here was the center of life in the town and of the province of West Florida during the greater part of the Colonial era
Erected by the Pensacola Historical Society
1935"
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