The Patriot War was an attempt in 1812 to foment a rebellion in Spanish East Florida with the intent of annexing the province to the United States.

The Patriot Army, with the aid of U.S. Navy gunboats, was able to occupy Fernandina and parts of northeast Florida, but never gathered enough strength to attack St. Augustine.

Conflict between Spain and the United States over the status of East and West Florida arose during the American Revolutionary War.

Leaders of the American Revolution hoped that all of British North America, including Canada, the Floridas, and even Bermuda, would become part of the United States.

In the event that Spain recovered Florida, the United States wanted access to a free port on the Gulf of Mexico.

"[7] Prior to 1763 France had claimed all of the coast along the Gulf of Mexico from the Perdido River to the Rio Grande as part of Louisiana, i.e., from Mobile to southern Texas.

[8] In order to obtain a port on the Gulf of Mexico with secure access for Americans, United States diplomats in Europe were instructed to try to purchase the Isle of Orleans and West Florida from whichever country owned them.

When Robert Livingston approached France in 1803 about buying the Isle of Orleans, the French government offered to sell it and all of Louisiana, as well.

President Thomas Jefferson, after extensive research, concluded that the Louisiana Purchase included West Florida to the Perdido River, and gave the United States a strong claim to Texas.

[9] The American claim that West Florida west of the Perdido River was included in the Louisiana Purchase was rejected by Spain, and American plans to establish a customs house at Mobile Bay in 1804 were dropped in the face of Spanish protests, although the United States government still considered the claims to be valid.

It was soon decided, however, that rather than paying for the colonies, the United States would offer to assume Spanish debts to American citizens in return for Spain ceding the Floridas.

[15] United States officials feared that France would overrun all of Spain, with the result that Spanish colonies would either fall under French control, or be seized by Great Britain.

[19] Under the resolution, General Mathews, as well as Colonel John McKee, were given commissions and asked to help fulfill the purpose of the act: to bring Florida into United States control.

These meetings led Mathews to believe that the settlers in East Florida would prefer to join the United States rather than be vassals of the British Crown or Napoleon Bonaparte, if he did in fact depose the Spanish regency.

He said of Florida: "the whole province will be the refuge of fugitive slaves; and from thence emissaries can, and no doubt will be detached, to ring about a revolt of the black population in the United States.

[25] In September of 1811, the British ambassador in Washington, Augustus Foster, wrote a letter to President Madison's cabinet protesting American incursions in East Florida.

In early January of 1811, a letter from George J. F. Clarke, deputy surveyor general of East Florida and a loyal subject of Spain, described a group of "invaders" from Georgia who had crossed over the border and camped out near Fernandina with the intent to destabilize or otherwise create havoc in the region.

It was discovered that they were under the orders of Lt. Col. Thomas Adam Smith, commanding U.S. officer at Point Peter, a military post on the Georgia side of the St. Mary's river about five miles from Amelia Island, Florida.

At some point during the summer of 1811, Mathews met with John Houston McIntosh and discussed a plan to set up a temporary local authority in Spanish Florida.

To further hide their intent, and because he was having trouble finding many Floridians who actually wanted to rebel, Mathews primarily recruited soldiers north of the St. Mary's river.

He sent a request to Commodore Hugh G. Campbell, commanding officer of the naval forces at St. Mary's, asking for weapons as well as the aid of gunboats.

At each population center that they stopped at along the way, they would repeat what they had done in Fernandina, take the place in the Patriots' name, and then immediately relinquish the land to the U.S. By late March/early April, Mathews' and his band had captured and set up a headquarters at Fort Mose, just outside of St. Augustine[35] By April of 1812, the U.S. government feared entering open warfare with Spain, lest they join their ally, Britain, in the impending War of 1812.

[37] On July 17, 1812, the provisional government published a constitution signed by 14 members of the Patriot group, with John Houston McIntosh serving as President.

[39] In late September 1812, two companies of Georgia militiamen under the command of Colonel Smith were ambushed by a group of Seminoles and their black allies led by King Payne.

After building the fort, a petition was drafted to the U.S. Congress asking to annex the "District of Elotchaway [Alachua] in the Republic of East Florida" as a territory to the U.S.

[44] Many Seminole as well as African Americans, both enslaved and freed, fled East Florida and settled further south, such as in the Peace River region.

[45] In the summer of 1817, another group of filibusters would cross the border from the United States into Spanish Florida and establish an interim government at Fernandina.