Ferry in Irvine, 1882
Native 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,
Snowing in Live Oak, 1899
and consolidations with missions closer to St. Augustine. 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
2026-2027 | SUWANNEE CHAMBER IMPACT 15