Richard Lang: #4 Building a Life in Spanish East Florida
The Life and Times of Richard Lang (1744-1817), His Family and Other Related Matters
Much of what I know about Richard Lang and his family comes from secondary sources which is not ideal. Both information and evidence are incomplete in places.
This post is the fourth in a series of posts about Richard Lang, his family and other related matters. If you would like to read from the beginning, you can find Part #1 here:
As you may recall from previous posts, Richard and his wife and family had moved from South Carolina to East Florida before the end of the American Revolutionary War while the area was still a British Colony and a safe haven for Loyalist refugees from America. They had been there since about 1782. After the area reverted to Spanish control in 1783, Richard swore allegiance to the Spanish Crown.
Richard Regarded as Suspicious
Both Governor Vicente Manual de Céspedes [Governor of the Spanish Province of East Florida from 1784-1790] and his successor, Governor Juan Nepomuceno de Quesada [Governor of the Spanish Province of East Florida from 1790-1796], generally regarded Richard with some suspicion. It is likely that these suspicions were fuelled by Colonel Charles Howard, also known as Colonel Carlos Howard. For a time, Colonel Howard was Secretary to Governor de Céspedes. Later, from 1793, he was Commander of the Georgia-Florida Frontier1.
Toward the end of 1787, Richard was a candidate to replace Henry O’Neill, a former British Officer, as the Spanish Magistrate for the St Marys River Valley. Eighteen men on the Florida-Georgia border submitted a petition endorsing Richard’s candidacy. When Henry O’Neil was murdered in May 1788, the Spanish suspected that Richard Lang’s followers and associates were responsible. Regardless, Richard was appointed to the position of Spanish magistrate of the St. Marys River valley by the then Governor, Vicente Manual de Céspedes in 17882.
Sometime after 1790, it was alleged that, following his appointment as magistrate of St Marys River Valley, Richard used his official position to allow illegal immigration into East Florida and profited financially from the process. He allegedly was paid by the immigrants to delay informing the Governor of their presence until they were well established in the province so that they could side-step Spanish immigration laws3. This may or may not be true. As far as I can see, this assessment of Richard and his activities has its basis in correspondence between Colonel Howard and Governor de Quesada rather than in any hard evidence. It isn’t clear what underpinned Colonel Howard’s suspicions of Richard. At one point, he described him as being 'a typical American, ambitious and grasping'4.
When Richard was accused of sanctioning James Allen’s illegal trade with Indians, he denied responsibility and identified a number of other people who he suspected of illegal trading5.
Growing Dissatisfaction in Spanish East Florida
By the 1790’s, Richard, along with American immigrants such as Samuel and Abner Hammond, William Jones, John McIntosh, William Plowden and John Peter Wagnon, had become increasingly dissatisfied with the lack of commercial and political freedom in Spanish East Florida6. There were severe trade restrictions with the United States and, for many of the settlers, there were language problems7.
In 1791, as Magistrate for St Marys River Valley, Richard complained that, due to the distance to St. Augustine, settlers along the St. Marys River Valley could not get medicines for their families and the commander of the garrison on Amelia Island made it difficult for these settlers to cross over to Georgia to get vital supplies8.
In September 1791, Richard was given a contract to construct a guard house on Amelia Island. Because of his frustration at the lack of supplies and funding for the project, Richard offered to purchase what was needed for the build himself, as long as he was reimbursed.
Reimbursement proved to be a problem and, by June 1792, Richard was owed sixteen months backpay for his services. As the money still had not arrived by March 1793, Richard wrote a critical letter to the Governor. He complained of injury to his livelihood due to unpaid services rendered and to the neglect of his farm while he was working for the government9. If and when he got paid I don’t know.
As mentioned previously, Governor de Quesada was suspicious of Richard and his use of his magistrate's office. When Richard travelled to South Carolina in April 1792 to settle some family matters, the Governor took this opportunity to appoint John Forrester as Magistrate of St Marys River Valley in place of Richard10.
It isn't clear, what family matters Richard needed to attend to in South Carolina. His father, Robert Lang had died in Saluda, South Carolina in 1763. His Mother, Millicent (Myrick) Lang, was still living in South Carolina in 1771. Perhaps she died in 1792 necessitating Richard’s visit? I have been unable to find a death date for her. If she was a similar age to her husband and still living, she would have been in her 80's in 1792 when Richard travelled there.
In July/August 1793, Colonel Howard was the new commander of the Georgia-Florida Frontier. Howard reported to the Governor that there were signs of growing unrest among the settlers, particularly those who had recently arrived from the United States. As mentioned previously, one of his concerns was the activities of the settlers who were illegally trading with their friends on the northern bank of the St Marys River.
Howard told Governor de Quesada that these settlers of American origin comprised most of the border militia. At the time, Richard was a Captain of the Militia. Colonel Howard further advised that they could be counted on in the event of an Indian Campaign but they weren’t likely to remain loyal if there were difficulties with the United States11.
Threat of Invasion
During 1793, the Spanish were aware of, and concerned about, the action of French Agents in Charleston who were attempting to gain American support. The Spanish were right to be worried because, at this time, considerable action was underway from within the United States, with the help of the French, to mount an invasion of Spanish East Florida from Georgia.
Various members of the American Immigrant community of Spanish East Florida were part of this conspiracy including Samuel Hammond, Abner Hammond and William Jones who was Abner Hammond’s father-in-law12.
While Richard was thought to have knowledge of illegal trading with Georgia, particularly the purchase of herds of cattle to be used as fresh meat for the garrison and population of St Augustine, he was not initially suspected of having plans with French agents in the United States. Nor, as far as I can see, is there any evidence to suggest he did have. In fact his background suggests that he would not have.
My sense is that, in the early stages of his residency in East Florida, Richard’s focus was on building a life for himself and his family as Spanish citizens, not on making trouble. He was actively involved as Captain of the Militia and, for a time, the Spanish Magistrate for the St Marys River Valley.
However, things were to change as he became disaffected by the treatment of himself and his family. More about that in Part #5 …
This post draws information from my family history archive on the WeAre.xyz platform.
Extracts from: Bennett, Charles E. (1981) Florida's "French" Revolution 1793-1795. Gainesville: University of Florida Press in document 'Florida's French Revolution' via Ancestry.com (shared by Ralan64 on 19 May 2013). Accessed 24 May 2022.
Extracts from: Charles E. Bennett (1981) - See Note 1.
O’Riordan, Cormac A. (1995) The 1795 Rebellion in East Florida. UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 99 (pp.34, 42-43) via University of North Florida Digital Commons. Accessed 23 May 2022.
Murdoch, Richard K. (1951) The Georgia-Florida Frontier 1793-1796. Spanish Reaction to French Intrigue and American Designs University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles.
O’Riordan, Cormac A. (1995) The 1795 Rebellion in East Florida. UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 99 (p. 43) via University of North Florida Digital Commons. Accessed 23 May 2022.
Coker, William S. Book Review [Untitled] The Florida Historical Quarterly', vol. 61, no. 2, 1982, (pp. 185–187) via JSTOR [Website]. Accessed 24 May 2022.
Morris, Michael Dreams of Glory, Schemes of Empire: The Plan to Liberate Spanish Florida The Georgia Historical Quarterly', vol. 87, no. 1, 2003, pp. 1–21 via JSTOR [Website] Accessed 24 May 2022.
O’Riordan, Cormac A. (1995) The 1795 Rebellion in East Florida. UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 99 (p.59) via University of North Florida Digital Commons. Accessed 23 May 2022.
Lang to Quesada, September 15, October 16, 1791, bnd. 121DlO EFP; January 13, February 14, February 21, February 23, June 1, June 17,1792, bnd. 122ElO EFP; March 14, 1793, bnd. 123FlO EFP - Cited O’Riordan, Cormac A. (1995) (p. 78) - See Note 8.
O’Riordan, Cormac A. (1995) The 1795 Rebellion in East Florida. UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 99 (p.43) via University of North Florida Digital Commons. Accessed 23 May 2022.
Murdoch, Richard K. (1951) The Georgia-Florida Frontier 1793-1796. Spanish Reaction to French Intrigue and American Designs University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles (p.39).
Miller, J., Nepomuceno de Quesada - Cited in Michael Morris Dreams of Glory, Schemes of Empire: The Plan to Liberate Spanish Florida The Georgia Historical Quarterly', vol. 87, no. 1, 2003, pp. 1–21 via JSTOR [Website] Accessed 24 May 2022.