Juan Nepomuceno de Quesada y Barnuevo Arrocha (1738–1798) was a military officer who served as Governor and

intendant An intendant (; pt, intendente ; es, intendente ) was, and sometimes still is, a public official, especially in France, Spain, Portugal, and Latin America. The intendancy system was a centralizing administrative system developed in France. In ...

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

between 1783 and 1789, and Governor of East Florida from July 1790 to March 1796.

Early life

De Quesada was born in 1738 at Jaén, Spain. He joined the Spanish Royal Army in his youth, attaining the ranks of Brigadier of the Infantry of the Royal Armies and Commander General of the ''presidio'' of St. Augustine.

Political career

De Quesada was appointed Governor and

in 1783, and remained in this office until 1789, when he was replaced in the Honduran government by Alejo García Conde. Saint Augustine Basilica, St

In 1790 De Quesada was appointed Governor of East Florida by Charles IV of Spain, to replace

Vicente Manuel de Céspedes Vicente Manuel de Céspedes (1721?-1794),Cahoon, Ben also known as Vicente Manuel de Zéspedes, was a Spanish colonel and field marshal in the Spanish Royal Army who served as governor of Santiago de Cuba (1781-1782) and the Spanish province of Ea ...

. He assumed the governorship in July 1790, during the Nootka Sound Crisis. Upon his appointment, De Quesada wrote to

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

informing the president of his new position in Florida and offering his diplomatic friendship to the United States. After his arrival at Saint Augustine, as a consequence of the Nootka Crisis, De Quesada revamped the defenses of the city, which were not extensive enough, according to him and his engineer, Mariano de la Roque. The

garrison A garrison (from the French ''garnison'', itself from the verb ''garnir'', "to equip") is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a mil ...

was small and dispirited, as the Spanish royal subsidy (''situado'') had not arrived in Florida since 1787. In the course of his service as governor of the province, De Quesada also obtained the titles of Vice Royal Patron, and Subdelegate of St. Augustine and the province. Construction of the Cathedral was begun in 1793 under his administration and finished in 1797, a year after he left his post.

Slavery

De Quesada banned the recognition of runaway slaves who had fled from the

American South The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

to Florida seeking freedom. He had corresponded with Thomas Jefferson in 1791 on the matter of fugitive slaves coming from the southern United States. Through commissioner

James Seagrove James Seagrove was an ambassador for the United States to the Creek Nation and merchant who lived in southern Georgia. Early career as a merchant and trader Although Seagrove's early life is obscure, he was probably born in southern Ireland in 17 ...

of Georgia, De Quesada wrote a letter initiating the agreement that stated any American slaveowner immigrating to Florida simply had to swear that they were the legitimate owners of the enslaved person for their ownership to be recognized.

Death

He became ill in February 1796, and continued to serve as governor of East Florida only until March of that year, when he was succeeded by

Bartolomé Morales Bartolomé Félix Morales y Ramírez (1737 - date of death unknown) was a lieutenant colonel of the Spanish infantry who served as lieutenant governor in Holguín, Cuba, and briefly as an interim governor of East Florida (March 1796 - June 1796). ...

. He died in 1798.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quesada, Juan Nepomuceno de 1738 births 1798 deaths Cuban politicians Royal Governors of La Florida Spanish colonial governors and administrators Governors of Honduras