Mauricio de Zúñiga (died 1816) was a Spanish military officer who served as governor of West Florida from 1812 to 1813, and again in 1816.
In 1814, during the War of 1812, the British Royal Marines established what became known as the Negro Fort on Prospect Bluff along the Spanish side of the Apalachicola River.
[7] After Zúñiga resumed the governorship of West Florida in March 1816, Andrew Jackson, commander of the Southern Military Division of the United States,[8] wrote him and demanded that the Spanish authorities immediately intervene to destroy or remove the denizens of the fort and the surrounding community of escaped slaves and Indians.
[9] Although Zúñiga did not have enough troops to deploy and drive them out, he did send Captain Sebastián Pintado to investigate the matter and recover any runaway slaves who belonged to the Spanish.
This gave Jackson the excuse he needed to order the attack and destruction of the fort by General Edmund P. Gaines on July 27.