Editing Gregor MacGregor (section)

===Florida republic; Amelia Island affair===
Arismendi proposed to MacGregor that capturing one of the ports in [[East Florida|East]] or [[West Florida]], which were then Spanish colonies, might provide an excellent springboard for republican operations elsewhere in Latin America.{{sfn|Sinclair|2004|pp=174–176}} MacGregor liked the idea and, after an abortive attempt to recruit in Haiti, sailed with Josefa to the United States to raise money and volunteers. Soon after he left in early 1817, a further congratulatory letter arrived in Margarita from Bolívar, promoting MacGregor to [[divisional general]], awarding him the ''Orden de los Libertadores'' (Order of the Liberators), and asking him to return to Venezuela. MacGregor remained ignorant of this for two years.{{sfn|Sinclair|2004|pp=174–176}} On 31 March 1817 in [[Philadelphia]], MacGregor received a document from [[Lino de Clemente]], [[Pedro Gual Escandón|Pedro Gual]], and Martin Thompson, each of whom claimed to speak for one or more of the Latin American republics. They called themselves the "deputies of free America" and  called upon MacGregor to take possession of "both the Floridas, East and West" as soon as possible.{{#tag:ref|Clemente was one of Bolívar's agents, Gual signed in the name of [[United Provinces of New Granada|New Granada]] and Mexico, and Thompson, a US citizen, informally represented the [[United Provinces of the River Plate]]. According to Bushnell, none of these governments had specifically instructed any action in Florida, which at that time was a province of the Captaincy General of Cuba.{{sfn|Bushnell|1986|p=9}}|group="n"|name="mandate"}} Florida's proposed fate was not specified; MacGregor presumed that the Floridians would seek US annexation, as they were mostly of non-Spanish origin, and that the US would quickly comply. He thus expected at least covert support from the US government.{{sfn|Bushnell|1986|p=9}}

MacGregor raised several hundred armed men for this enterprise in the [[Mid-Atlantic states]], South Carolina, and particularly [[Savannah, Georgia|Savannah]], Georgia. He also raised $160,000 by the sale of "[[scrip]]ts" to investors, promising them fertile acres in Florida or their money back with interest.{{sfn|Sinclair|2004|p=178}}{{sfn|Bushnell|1986|p=10}} He determined to first attack [[Original Town of Fernandina Historic Site|Fernandina]], a small settlement with a fine harbor at the very northern tip of Amelia Island, which  contained about 40% of East Florida's population (recorded as 3,729 in 1815).{{sfn|Bushnell|1986|p=10}} He expected little to no resistance from the tiny Spanish garrison there. MacGregor left [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]] in a ship with fewer than 80 men,{{sfn|Sinclair|2004|p=179}}{{sfn|Norris|1986|pp=19–21}} mostly US citizens.{{sfn|Bushnell|1986|p=10}} He led the landing party personally on 29 June 1817{{sfn|Norris|1986|pp=19–21}} with the words: "I shall sleep either in hell or Amelia tonight!"{{sfn|Sinclair|2004|p=179}} The Spanish commander at [[Fort San Carlos]], with 51 men and several cannon, vastly overestimated the size of MacGregor's force and surrendered without either side firing a shot.{{sfn|Norris|1986|pp=19–21}}

{{Location map+|Florida|width=170 |float=left |places=
  {{Location map~|Florida|label=Amelia<br/>Island|position=right|lat=30.704689|long=-81.454461|marksize=8}}
  {{Location map~|Florida|label=[[File:Green Cross flag of Florida.svg|80px|border|alt=A green St George's Cross on a white background.]]|position=left|lat=28.4|long=-83.4|mark=|marksize=0}}
  |caption=[[Amelia Island]]'s location in modern [[Florida]]. Inset: the Green Cross flag raised by MacGregor, later the flag was reused by MacGregor as the flag of the fraudulent country of Poyais{{sfn|Sinclair|2004|pp=77–78}}
  |alt=A map. See description.
}}
Few of Amelia's residents came out to support MacGregor but, at the same time, there was little resistance; most simply left for mainland Florida or Georgia.{{sfn|Bushnell|1986|p=10}} MacGregor raised a flag showing a green cross on a white field—the "Green Cross of Florida"—and issued a proclamation on 30 June urging the island's inhabitants to return and support him. This was largely ignored, as was a second proclamation in which MacGregor congratulated his men on their victory and exhorted them to "free the whole of the Floridas from Tyranny and oppression".{{sfn|Norris|1986|pp=21–22}}

MacGregor announced a "Republic of the Floridas" under a government headed by himself. He attempted to tax the local pirates' booty at an "admiralty court",{{sfn|Owsley|Smith|1997|pp=127–128}}{{sfn|Sinclair|2004|p=182}} and tried to raise money by seizing and selling dozens of slaves found on the island. Morale among the troops plummeted when he prohibited looting.{{sfn|Bushnell|1986|pp=10-11}} Most of his recruits were still in the US; American authorities prevented most of them from leaving port, and MacGregor was able to muster only 200 on Amelia. His officers clamoured for an invasion of mainland Florida, but he insisted that they did not have enough men, arms, or supplies.{{sfn|Sinclair|2004|p=183}} Bushnell suggests that MacGregor's backers in the US may have promised him more support in these regards than they ultimately provided.{{sfn|Bushnell|1986|p=13}} Eighteen men sent to reconnoitre around [[St. Augustine, Florida|St Augustine]] in late July 1817 were variously killed, wounded, or captured by the Spanish. Discipline disintegrated among MacGregor's troops, who were paid first in "Amelia dollars" that he had printed, and later not at all.{{sfn|Sinclair|2004|pp=183–187}}

Spanish forces congregated on the mainland opposite Amelia, and MacGregor and most of his officers decided on 3 September 1817 that the situation was hopeless and that they would abandon the venture. MacGregor announced to the men that he was leaving, explaining vaguely that he had been "deceived by my friends." He turned over the command to one of his subordinates, a former [[Pennsylvania]] congressman named [[Jared Irwin (Pennsylvania politician)|Jared Irwin]],{{sfn|Norris|1986|p=28}} and he boarded the ''Morgiana'' with his wife on 4 September 1817 with an angry crowd looking on and hurling insults at him. He waited offshore for a few days,{{sfn|Norris|1986|p=28}} then left on the schooner ''Venus'' on 8 September.{{sfn|Sinclair|2004|pp=183–187}} Two weeks later, the MacGregors arrived at [[Nassau, Bahamas|Nassau]] in the Bahamas, where he arranged to have commemorative medallions struck bearing the Green Cross motif and the Latin inscriptions ''Amalia Veni Vidi Vici'' ("Amelia, I Came, I Saw, I Conquered") and ''Duce Mac Gregorio Libertas Floridarium'' ("Liberty for the Floridas under the leadership of MacGregor"). He made no attempt to repay those who had funded the Amelia expedition.{{sfn|Sinclair|2004|pp=183–187}} Irwin's troops defeated two Spanish assaults and were then joined by 300 men under [[Louis-Michel Aury]], who held Amelia for three months before surrendering to American forces, who held the island "in trust for Spain" until the [[Adams–Onís Treaty|Florida Purchase]] in 1819.{{sfn|Sinclair|2004|pp=183–187}}{{sfn|Brown|2015|p=8}}{{sfn|Bushnell|1986|pp=13–17}}

Press reports of the [[Amelia Island affair]] were wildly inaccurate, partly because of misinformation disseminated by MacGregor himself. His sudden departure, he claimed, was because he had sold the island to Aury for $50,000.{{sfn|Sinclair|2004|p=187}} Josefa gave birth to their first child in Nassau on 9 November 1817, a boy named Gregorio.{{sfn|Sinclair|2004|pp=183–184}} The owner of the ''Venus'' was an ex-captain of the British [[Corps of Colonial Marines]] named George Woodbine. He drew MacGregor's attention to the [[British Legions]] being raised by the Latin American revolutionaries in London, and suggested that he could recruit and command such a force himself. MacGregor was excited by the idea of leading British troops again after years in command of colonials, tribesmen, and miscellaneous adventurers. He sailed for home with Josefa and Gregorio and landed in [[Dublin]] on 21 September 1818, and from there made his way back to London.{{sfn|Sinclair|2004|pp=188–189}}