The 5 Flags of Escambia County

More than 438 years ago, settlement of Florida began here on the shores of Pensacola Bay. With more than one thousand colonists, Don Tristan de Luna raised the flag of Spain in Escambia County. Although this first settlement would last only two years, it was a precursor to the struggles which, over the intervening years, saw the flags of five nations flutter in our skies.

Abandoned for 139 years, the bluffs bordering the bay again saw visitors, and another attempt at settlement in 1698. In that year, Don Andres de Ariola and 350 Spanish soldiers succeeded in constructing the first permanent post and fort on Pensacola Bay. Seeing an opportunity to secure the port, the Spanish constructed another fort on Santa Rosa Island near the mouth of the harbor. That was in 1719. Troops of the King of France took control of the forts and Bay soon after.

Spain regained control of the area in 1722, and moved their settlement to Santa Rosa Island where they could better defend against an approach by hostile troops. Like the first attempt at colonization, a hurricane passed over the Bay and wiped out the colony.

Spain abandoned further attempts to settle it. As part of the Treaty of Paris of 1763, which ended the Seven Years War in Europe, Spain ceded the area to the British. The British added order to the area by laying out the streets of today's Pensacola Historic District, establishing gardens and a public water well. While Britain was occupied in the Revolutionary War, Spain recaptured Florida in 1781.

A new chapter of history in the County began when Pensacola became part of the United States in 1821. With future-president Andrew Jackson as a resident and the first territorial governor, Escambia County became the first county in the new territory.

A new flag was raised over the County in 1861 when troops of the Confederate States of America occupied Fort McRee at the harbor entrance. After a lengthy standoff, Confederate forces evacuated the city in 1862 leaving it again under the "Stars and Stripes."

Our Nations First Settlement

Discovering Our Past