Impact - Suwannee County Chamber of Commerce 2022-2023 | Page 15

Ferry in Irvine , 1882
Americans ; by the end of the Seventeenth Century ( less than two hundred years after first contact with the Europeans ), only 1,000 Timucua remained . This number continued to rapidly decline throughout the middle of the Eighteenth Century . The last recorded survivor of the Timucua speakers was Juan Alonso Cabale , who died in Cuba in 1767 .
European history of the Suwannee County region begins in 1528 , when a member of Spanish explorer Panfilo de Narvaez ’ s 300-man expedition became the first recorded casualty of drowning in the Suwannee River . Just over ten years later , in 1539 , Hernando de Soto and his expedition entered the Suwannee Valley region as they traveled westward on an epic four thousand-mile journey . A battle between de Soto and the Timucua was fought at the village of Napituca . The location of the so-called “ Battle of the Lakes ”, “ Battle of the Ponds ”, or “ Battle of Napituca ” has not yet been discovered with certainty .
After de Soto ’ s expedition through or near Suwannee County , little was done for nearly 75 years . In the early 1600s , several Spanish missions were established in the region , including San Juan de Guacara , Santa Catalina de Afucia ( also known as “ Afuyca ”, “ Ahoica ”, or “ Afuerica ”), Santa Cruz de Tarihica , and San Agustin de Urihica ( also known as “ Utoca ”, “ Niahica ”, and later , “ Axoyca ”). These missions were established on or near the Camino Real , the Spanish Royal Road between Pensacola and St . Augustine . The missions provided stops for weary travelers , income to the poor Spanish colony of La Florida , and converted the local native peoples . Within one hundred years , the Spanish missions in Suwannee County had been destroyed by war , famine , and consolidations with missions closer to St . Augustine .
Snowing in Live Oak , 1899
The interior of Florida , including Suwannee County , was abandoned .
The Spanish lost Florida to Great Britain after the Seven Years ’ War ( called the French and Indian War by Americans ) in 1763 , at which time the few remaining Timucua left with the Spanish or intermingled with other Native Americans moving into the area . Suwannee County remained a frontier with the only inhabitants being the Seminole Indians , a conglomeration of several Indian tribes that included the Yamassee , Upper and Lower Creeks , runaway slaves , and other persecuted peoples who gradually moved into Florida during the 1700s .
The British returned Florida to Spain in 1783 , after the American Revolution , having done little with the territory in the twenty years that they had controlled it . The Spanish , reeling from a costly war , did little more than allow more settlers into the struggling territory . Issues with the Seminole Indians led American forces under the command of General Andrew Jackson to enter Florida and destroyed Seminole villages westward to the Suwannee River .
Jackson ’ s incursion hastened the purchase of Florida by the United States , which was concluded in 1821 . General Jackson became the first military governor . Two counties were formed , Escambia in the west and St . Johns in the east , with the Suwannee River the dividing line . After Flor-
2022-2023 | SUWANNEE CHAMBER IMPACT 15