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'''Pensacola''' was under '''British''' control, and served as the capital of its West Florida territory, from [[1763]] until [[1781]].
==History==
===Spain takes Pensacola===
On [[March 9]], [[1781]], Spanish Field Marshal [[Bernardo de Gálvez]] began an amphibious siege of Pensacola. The siege lasted for two months before Gálvez took the town on [[May 8]]. Later that year, British forces under General Charles Cornwallis surrendered to American forces at [[Wikipedia:Siege of Yorktown|Yorktown]], essentially ending the land war, although British and French naval forces continued to battle at sea. The war officially ended with the [[Wikipedia:Treaty of Paris (1783)|Treaty of Paris]] ([[1783]]), at which time Britain ceded East and West Florida to Spain.
==British occupation==
In [[1764]], British civil engineer [[Elias Durnford]] surveyed the town and laid out a street grid which remains mostly preserved to the present day. British Pensacola centered on a large public space which included modern-day [[Plaza Ferdinand VII]], [[Seville Square]] and the space between the two (the area which today lies between [[Palafox Street|Palafox]] and [[Alcaniz Street]]s and south of [[Government Street]]). The water line at that time was located approximately where [[Main Street]] lies today. Within the public space was a large fort.
==Citizens==