United States territorial acquisitions
West Florida was declared to be a U.S. possession in 1810 by President James Madison after the territory had declared its independence from Spain. Madison ordered the U.S. Army to take control. Six weeks later, the army entered and occupied the capital, St. Francisville, putting an end to the republic after 74 days of independence. Spain did not relinquish its claim to sovereignty (see West Florida Controversy) until ratification of the Adams–Onís Treaty. General Andrew Jackson personally accepted the delivery of West Florida from its Spanish governor on July 17, 1821.
Florida Parishes
Following the American Revolutionary War, West Florida was the subject of a border dispute between the newly-formed United States and Spain, which acquired West and East Florida from the British after the war. The dispute led American and British settlers in the part of West Florida west of the Perdido River to declare an independent Republic of West Florida in 1810 and elected their leader, Fulwar Skipwith, as president. (None of the short-lived Republic of West Florida lay within the boundaries of the modern state of Florida.) The flag of the Republic of West Florida, which is often identified with the Bonnie Blue Flag of the Civil War era, flies on many public buildings in the Florida Parishes. In 2006 the state legislature designated it the "official flag of the Republic of West Florida Historic Region."