With revolutionary activity on the rise in Georgia, where was an embattled Loyalist to go? For many, the answer—by choice or by force—soon became the British colony of East Florida. From 1763 to 1783, this colony was nearly the size of modern-day Florida. Another colony, West Florida, was separated from its neighbor by the Apalachicola River west of Tallahassee. While conflict increased along the coast, East Florida remained loyal to the crown, attracting Loyalists driven from other British North American colonies. Families fled entirely, bringing their children, their businesses, and those they enslaved. As the population grew, Black East Floridians came to outnumber whites two to one.
Courtesy of the Florida Maps Collection at the University of South Florida
1763 map of the East and West Florida
Not all Black Floridians arrived by force, though. Between the early days of the Revolution and the first Seminole War, which began in 1817, hundreds or even thousands of enslaved freedom seekers from Georgia made their way into Florida or into the continent’s interior. According to historian Dr. Paul Pressly, Director Emeritus of the Ossabaw Island Foundation, these freedom seekers were aided by local Seminole and Creek people, who, like many Indigenous groups, often sided with the British to protect their rights to their land.
Coastal Georgia Historical Society.\
A page from “Memoirs of the Wylly Family” showing early Wylly ancestors
Our slice of Coastal Georgia was, in many ways, a bastion of Loyalism. Even today, place names here bear the mark of British influence. On St. Simons Island, Demere Road takes its name from two brothers, Paul and Raymond Demeré, who served under Oglethorpe. Jekyll Island’s Captain Wylly Road also takes its name from a Loyalist family who resided there.
Some Loyalists were banished by order of the Assembly of the State of Georgia, which also seized their property by an “Act of Attainder, Banishments and Confiscation” in August 1783. Two Wyllys, William and Campbell, were on the list, as was James Spalding, who owned a prominent cotton plantation on St. Simons. In all, fifteen families from St. Simons relocated to St. Augustine during the Revolution. Some, like the Wyllys and the Demerés, eventually returned. By 1807, both had regained much of their former property in Coastal Georgia. Twenty years after the Revolution, many of the same families occupied this land, now part of the new United States.
The first of this month’s featured images, a 1763 map of the East and West Florida colonies, comes from the Florida Maps Collection at the University of South Florida. The second, a page from “Memoirs of the Wylly Family” showing early Wylly ancestors, comes from the collections of the Coastal Georgia Historical Society.
Coastal Georgia Historical Society presents this article and images from our archives as part of our mission “to connect people to Coastal Georgia’s dynamic history.” The Society operates the iconic St. Simons Lighthouse Museum and the World War II Home Front Museum, housed in the Historic Coast Guard Station at East Beach. To learn more about the Society, its museums, diverse programs, and membership, please visit coastalgeorgiahistory.org.
