With her opening lines, Tanner begins to rough out a very human image of Zespedes, whose governorship and milieu she goes on to portray with great artistry in this biographical history. East Florida’s first governor during the Second Spanish Period, Zespedes set out to reestablish Spanish rule after twenty years of British occupation, to protect his colony from the new United States, the French, the English, and the Indian factions and to cope with myriad internal problems.
Skillfully blending chronological and topical approaches, Tanner deals with Zespedes’ arrival in St. Augustine and his problems, with economic and religious issues, border difficulties and defense, census taking, manners and morals, fiestas, and repercussions from the clandestine marriage of his eldest daughter.
The finished work re-creates late eighteenth –century Florida in rich color. Although the historical narrative of the governorship occupies the foreground, Tanner paints in the background with an equally deft touch, focusing on the activities of such figures as Daniel McGirt, Francisco Sanchez, and Alexander McGillivray and sketching intimate vignettes of St. Augustine life.
This new edition of Tanner’s 1963 study includes an introduction commissioned from anthropologist Patricia Griffin by the St. Augustine Historical Society.
