Lucas Fernando Palacios y Valenzuela (?? - 1761) was a military official who served as governor of

Spanish Florida Spanish Florida () was the first major European land-claim and attempted settlement-area in northern America during the European Age of Discovery. ''La Florida'' formed part of the Captaincy General of Cuba in the Viceroyalty of New Spain, and th ...

from 21 April 1758 to 6 December 1761.

Biography

Palacios joined the

Spanish Royal Army The Spanish Army () is the terrestrial army of the Spanish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is one of the oldest active armies – dating back to the late 15th century. The Spanish Army has existed continuously ...

in his youth as a

cadet A cadet is a student or trainee within various organisations, primarily in military contexts where individuals undergo training to become commissioned officers. However, several civilian organisations, including civil aviation groups, maritime ...

, attaining the ranks of

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

and

Field Marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army (in countries without the rank of Generalissimo), and as such, few persons a ...

. He served in the Spanish Guards Regiment as well, where he also ascended the ranks, eventually being named Knight of the Order of Alcantara and Commander of the Order of Calatrava. On April 21, 1758, Palacios was appointed Royal Governor of the Spanish province of ''La Florida''.Ben Cahoon.
U.S. States F-K
Under his administration, the province saw renewed growth of the Spanish population with the arrival of Spanish settlers sent by the Spanish crown from the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

(a colonization effort that began in 1757 and would extend for 47 years). In 1759, still under the Palacios administration, the Spanish began to build a stone fort designed to resist bombardment by ships at San Marcos de Apalache ( St. Marks, Florida) in East Florida; the boundary between the two Floridas, East and West, was the

Apalachicola River The Apalachicola River is a river, approximately long, in the state of Florida. The river's large drainage basin, watershed, known as the ACF River Basin, Apalachicola, Chattahoochee and Flint (ACF) River Basin, drains an area of approximately ...

. They abandoned it to Native Americans for use as a trading post after ceding the territory to the British following the defeat of France in the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

, also known as the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War, 1754 to 1763, was a colonial conflict in North America between Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of France, France, along with their respective Native Americans in the United States, Native American ...

(1754–1763). The British then installed a garrison at the fort, but following the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

, the British traded some territory with Spain, which resumed control of

West West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

and

East Florida East Florida () was a colony of Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain from 1763 to 1783 and a province of the Spanish Empire from 1783 to 1821. The British gained control over Spanish Florida in 1763 as part of the Treaty of Paris (1763), Tre ...

. Spanish forces reoccupied the fort in 1783 and strengthened its defenses. In late 1761, while still governor of the province, Palacios was killed in battle fighting against Amerindian forces in the area.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Palacios, Lucas Fernando Royal governors of La Florida Year of birth unknown 1761 deaths