FLORIDA, FLAG OF

U.S. state flag consisting of a white field (background) with a red saltire (diagonal cross) and, in the centre, the state seal. The first flag of Florida was hoisted on June 25, 1845, at the inauguration of its first governor, William D. Moseley. It had five horizontal stripes (blue, orange, red, white, and green) and a ribbon with the inscription Let us alone. The U.S. flag served as a canton. The states' rights and antifederalist symbolism in the design is clear, but the associations of the colours are unknown; in any event the flag seems not to have been extensively used. The next state flag was established on January 13, 1861, following the secession of Florida from the Union. The design, prescribed by the commander of the state's armed forces, was similar in many respects to the Stars and Stripes; it consisted of 13 red and white horizontal stripes and a white star on a blue canton. The next flag, dating to September 13, 1861, was based on the Stars and Bars of the Confederacy; it had red-white-red horizontal stripes and a vertical blue stripe bearing an elaborate seal. After the Civil War, Florida was the first Southern state to adopt a flag of its own. On August 6, 1868, the state seal was designated to appear in the centre of a white flag; the design showed an American Indian woman on a promontory extending into water where a steamboat was sailing. A band with the state name and the motto In God we trust completed the design. On November 6, 1900, a red saltire was added to the background of the flag so it would not resemble a symbol of surrender. That design may also have been based on the saltire in the Confederate Battle Flag. On May 21, 1985, an artistic revision of the seal was made, resulting in the present design of the flag. Whitney Smith History Exploration and settlement The early history of Europeans in Florida reflects the conflicts of the Spanish, French, and English crowns for empire and wealth. Juan Ponce de Len's quest for the Fountain of Youth brought him to the peninsula in 1513 and 1521. Because he landed on the peninsula during the Easter season (Spanish: Pascua florida [season of flowers]) and because of the vegetation he found there, Ponce de Len named the area Florida. Ponce de Len made no attempt to found a settlement in 1513. In fact, he was under the impression that Florida was one of the islands in the Bahamas archipelago, and he does not seem to have ventured much north of present-day West Palm Beach. After an intermission of eight years, Ponce de Len returned to establish a colony in the vicinity of modern Fort Myers. He was mortally wounded there in 1521 by the Calusa Indians and died the same year in Havana. In 1528 Pnfilo de Narvez landed on the shores of Tampa Bay with more than 400 men, with the intent of learning how this land was connected to Mexico. Within a year, and while still no closer to Mexico than northern Florida, the force was reduced to 15 survivors. Of this group, four Spaniardsincluding lvar Nez Cabeza de Vaca and Estebn, a Moorish slave who was the first black man known to enter Floridareached Culiacn, Mexico, in 1536. Hernando de Soto came in 1539, landing somewhere between Fort Myers and Tampa, and led a devastating expedition through western Florida. Almost 20 years elapsed before Tristn de Luna y Arellano attempted to set up a colony at Pensacola Bay. It was abandoned in 1561, following devastation by a hurricane. In 1564 a group of French Protestants (Huguenots) who originally had been led by Jean Ribault established Fort Caroline on the banks of the River of May (St. Johns River), near modern Jacksonville. This group was seen by the Spaniards as a threat to their sea-lane from Havana to Spain. An expedition commanded by Pedro Menndez de Avils massacred most of the French colony in 1565 after founding St. Augustine nearby. Shifting alliances and allegiances During the following centuries there were frequent raids by English seafarers, including Sir Francis Drake in 1586, and clashes with French colonizers along the northern coasts of the Gulf of Mexico and with English settlers in the Carolina and Georgia colonies. Shifting alliances among the three powers reflected the vicissitudes of European politics, and St. Augustine and the English ports of Savannah and Charleston to the north of Florida were besieged at various times throughout the first half of the 18th century. England received Florida in return for Havana in 1763 and replaced its military government with civilian officials. Expenditures for economic development brought prosperity as well as loyalty from most Floridians during the U.S. War of Independence, when the area was used as a base for attacks on colonial coastal cities. Three decades of political and social instability followed Florida's return to Spain after the war, with U.S. expansionist interests in constant conflict with the Spanish presence. Pensacola was a base for the British during the War of 1812, when Indians and runaway slaves were employed to harass U.S. settlements. The First Seminole War (181718) was the beginning of armed conflict between the U.S. government and the Indians in Florida. General Andrew Jackson's capture of Pensacola led to the cession of Florida to the United States in a treaty signed in 1819 and ratified in 1821. But the following territorial years were difficult and included the Second Seminole War (183542), the most costly of the conflicts arising from Indian resistance to giving up their valuable land.