The John S. Steiner Endowed Lecture Series Presents: “Fourteenth Colony: The Forgotten Story of the Gulf South During America’s Revolutionary Era”

For this year’s UA Museums’ John S. Steiner Endowed Lecture, author and historian Mike Bunn is giving a free public presentation titled “Fourteenth Colony: The Forgotten Story of the Gulf South During America’s Revolutionary Era” at The University of Alabama’s Math and Science Education Building (Room 1001) on February 28, 2026 at 11:00 a.m.

Reception and Book Signing to follow in the Alabama Museum of Natural History (Smith Hall, located on The University of Alabama campus).

About the Topic:
The British colony of West Florida―which once stretched from the mighty Mississippi to the shallow bends of the Apalachicola and portions of what are now the states of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana―is the forgotten fourteenth colony of America’s Revolutionary era. The colony’s eventful years as a part of the British Empire form an important and compelling interlude in Gulf Coast history that has for too long been overlooked. For a host of reasons, including the fact that West Florida did not rebel against the British government, the colony has long been dismissed as a loyal but inconsequential fringe outpost, if considered at all.

But the colony’s history showcases a tumultuous political scene featuring a halting attempt at instituting representative government; a host of bold and colorful characters; a compelling saga of struggle and perseverance in the pursuit of financial stability; and a dramatic series of battles on land and water that brought about the end of its days under the Union Jack. In Fourteenth Colony, historian Mike Bunn offers the first comprehensive history of the colony, introducing readers to the Gulf Coast’s remarkable British period and putting West Florida back in its rightful place on the map of colonial America.

About the Speaker:
Mike Bunn is a historian and author who has worked with several cultural heritage organizations in the Southeast including the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, the Historic Chattahoochee Commission, and the Columbus (Georgia) Museum. He currently serves as Director of Historic Blakeley State Park in Spanish Fort, Alabama. He is author or co-author of several books, including Settling the Mississippi Territory: The Origin of Two States, The Tensaw River: Alabama’s Hidden Heritage Corridor, This Southern Metropolis: Life in Antebellum Mobile, Fort Stoddert: American Sentinel on the Mobile River, 1799-1814; Fourteenth Colony: The Forgotten Story of the Gulf South During America’s Revolutionary Era (winner of the NSDAR Excellence in American History Award); Old Southwest to Old South; Mississippi 1798-1840; The Assault on Fort Blakeley: “The Thunder and Lightning of Battle”; Early Alabama: An Illustrated Guide to the Formative Years, 1798-1826;Alabama From Territory to Statehood: An Alabama Heritage Bicentennial Collection; Well Worth Stopping to See: Antebellum Columbus, Georgia Through the Eyes of Travelers; Civil War Eufaula; Battle for the Southern Frontier: The Creek War and the War of 1812; and Images of America: The Lower Chattahoochee River. He was recently announced as the recipient J.Y. Sanders Research Scholar Award by The Center for Southeast Louisiana Studies as Southeastern Louisiana University. Mike is editor of Muscogiana, the journal of the Muscogee County (Georgia) Genealogical Society. He is also Chair of the Baldwin County Historic Development Commission, vice president of the Mobile Area Civil War Roundtable, the secretary of the Friends of Old Mobile, and a board member for the Bartram Trail Conference, the Friends of the Alabama Archives, and the Alabama Historical Association. He is a graduate of Leadership Baldwin, and a co-founder of Baldwin Up, a youth career education initiative. Mike is a certified interpretive guide by the National Association for Interpretation. Mike earned his undergraduate degree at Faulkner University and two masters degrees at The University of Alabama. Mike and his wife Tonya live in Daphne, Alabama with their daughter Zoey.

About the Event: UA Museums’ John S. Steiner Lecture Series includes public lectures on a variety of topics in disciplines emphasized by The University of Alabama Museums, such as anthropology, archaeology, biology, geology, paleontology, and history.