Enrique White

Enrique White (1741 - April 13, 1811) was an Irish-born Spanish soldier who served as Governor of West Florida (May 1793 – May 1795)[1] and of East Florida (June 1796 - March 1811).[2]

Enrique White
3rd Governor of West Florida
In office
May 1793 – May 1795
Preceded byCarlos Howard
Succeeded byFrancisco de Paula Gelabert
4th Governor of East Florida
In office
June 1796 – March 1811
Preceded byBartolomé Morales
Succeeded byJuan José de Estrada
Personal details
Born1741
Dublin, Ireland
DiedApril 13, 1811
St. Augustine, Florida
ProfessionMilitary officer and Governor of Florida

Biography

Enrique (Henry) White was born in Dublin, Ireland. He later immigrated to Spain, where he served the Spanish Crown from age 22 until his death. The young man joined the Spanish Royal Army, eventually rising to the rank of colonel.[3] In 1779 he was appointed commander of the third battalion of the Louisiana Infantry Regiment,[4] with the title Sargento Mayor (Sergeant Major).[5] serving several times in that capacity, and eventually attained the rank of brigadier.[6]

On May 15, 1793, White was appointed acting Governor of West Florida, and remained in the position until June 1795.[7][8]

White was appointed Governor of East Florida in the spring of 1796, and arrived in its capital, Saint Augustine, on June 5. He assumed his duties on June 20.[9] Construction of the cathedral of St. Augustine, initiated by his predecessor Bartolomé Morales, was completed the next year in 1797.[10][11] It was in January of 1797 that Governor White received news that Spain was at war with England (Anglo-Spanish War).[12] This conflict would last until 1802 and was part of the larger Napoleonic Wars in Europe.

New construction was encouraged in St. Augustine during White's governorship, with numerous new houses being built. The military preparedness of the city and its fortifications were strengthened. The garrison's morale improved as well with better conditions. White was very strict in granting the concession of lands from the public domain, and often enforced the laws more rigorously than the legal code itself would allow.[13]

In 1799, English corsairs took Amelia Island along the much contested Florida-Georgia border.[14] Officials in Georgia's Camden County corresponded with White whenever American fugitives crossed the southern border fleeing the law.[15]

Illness & Death

White fell ill in 1800, and was temporarily replaced by Lt. Col. Bartolomé Morales, who had previously served as acting governor of East Florida (March 1796 - June 1796), accompanied by Gonzalo Zamorano, Commissary of the army and accountant of the royal finance.[16] White recovered from his illness in 1801 and resumed his office, remaining in that position until March 1811, when he fell ill again and died on April 13 of that year in St. Augustine.[17] He is buried in Tolomato Cemetery in St. Augustine.[18]

Personal life

Governor White never married. He owned several slaves, who gained their freedom when he died.

Legacy

In 1811, White officially named a town on Amelia Island "Fernandina," in honor of the Catholic monarch Ferdinand VII of Spain.[19][20][21] This renaming followed Napoleon's invasion of Spain and the Court's exile.

The street running east and west in Fernandina called "White Street" was named after Enrique White.[22]

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References
  1. W. S. Murphy (January 1960). "The Irish Brigade of Spain at the Capture of Pensacola, 1781". The Florida Historical Quarterly. Florida Historical Society. 38 (3): 222.
  2. Worth, John E. "The Governors of Colonial Spanish Florida, 1565-1763". University of West Florida. Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  3. Notre Dame Archives: ANO 1801/04/09 University of Notre Dame.
  4. Jack David Lazarus Holmes (1965). Honor and Fidelity: The Louisiana Infantry Regiment and the Louisiana Militia Companies, 1766-1821. Jack D. L. Holmes. p. 48.
  5. James Alexander Robertson (1928). The Hispanic American Historical Review. Williams & Wilkins. p. 89.
  6. Gilbert C. Din (1999). Spaniards, Planters, and Slaves: The Spanish Regulation of Slavery in Louisiana, 1763-1803. Texas A&M University Press. p. 176. ISBN 978-0-89096-904-5.
  7. Caroline Mays Brevard (1924). A History of Florida from the Treaty of 1763 to Our Own Times. Florida State Historical Society. p. 149.
  8. Louis Milfort (1956). Memoir: Or, A Cursory Glance at My Different Travels & My Sojourn in the Creek Nation. Lakeside Press. p. xxxi. ... for nothing in his own narrative substantiates the claim and a reliable witness, Enrique White, an officer in the fixed regiment of Louisiana and presently acting governor at Pensacola, placed him there no earlier than 1785.10 Milford began to ...
  9. Richard K Murdoch; University of California, Berkeley (1951). The Georgia-Florida Frontier, 1793-1796: Spanish Reaction to French Intrigue and American Designs. University of California Press. p. 172.
  10. Dona Susan Strait (1 January 1977). The Pioneer Churches of Florida. Daughters of the American Revolution. p. 61. ISBN 978-0-913122-11-2.
  11. Richard R. Henderson; International Council on Monuments and Sites. U.S. Committee; United States. National Park Service (March 1989). A Preliminary inventory of Spanish colonial resources associated with National Park Service units and national historic landmarks, 1987. United States Committee, International Council on Monuments and Sites, for the U.S. Dept. of the Interior, National Park Service. p. 71.
  12. "Card Description". www.uflib.ufl.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-25.
  13. The Impact of Spanish Land Grants on the Development of Florida and the South Eastern United States. Joe Ketsch. p. 6.
  14. "Card Description". www.uflib.ufl.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-25.
  15. "Card Description". www.uflib.ufl.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-25.
  16. United States. Congress (1859). American State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States ... Gales and Seaton. p. 271.
  17. Benson John Lossing (1873). American Historical Record, and Repertory of Notes and Queries. Chase & Town, Publishers. p. 300.
  18. "Monuments and Markers". TolomatoCemetery.com. Tolomato Cemetery Preservation Association. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
  19. Louise Biles Hill (1941). "George J. F. Clarke, 1774-1836". Florida Historical Quarterly. 21 (3 ed.). Florida Historical Society. p. 214. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
  20. Plan of Fernandina - Old Florida Maps. University of Miami.
  21. "Letter from Spanish Governor of Florida, Enrique White, to Commandant of Amelia Island, Justo Lopez, the army post and town will be called Fernandina and the rest of the island will still be called Amelia, as of Jan. 1, 1811. - Letter". ameliaisland.pastperfectonline.com. Retrieved 2019-03-25.
  22. Mike Harrison (Editor/Publisher; April 6, 2010). Leaflet - Old Town Fernandina. Retrieved in July 11, 2014, to 17:20pm.
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