States. Mathews wrote to Madison of the mission's success, while also requesting additional U.S. military personnel in acknowledgment of the difficulty he had faced in galvanizing local support. Mathews also revealed to Madison his intention to similarly overthrow Spanish rule of the cities of Mobile and Pensacola in West Florida. The Madison administration's reaction By late 1811, James Madison had become convinced of the inevitability of war with Great Britain on the Canadian border (he would officially declare war with Britain in June 1812, setting off the War of 1812). On learning of Mathews' request for further U.S. military support in Florida, as well as Spain's outrage towards the mission, Madison worried about the possibility of provoking Spain and its allies, the British, to join forces against the U.S. Further, a scandal had broken in national newspapers about Madison's purchase of dirt on political opponents from a British secret agent in New England mere days before the news of Mathews' seizure of Fernandina broke in the papers. While Monroe in particular admitted "much cleverness" in Mathews's plan, and hoped to salvage his efforts, he and Madison agreed that the political costs of publicly supporting Mathews at present were too high. Madison publicly repudiated Mathews, relieving him of duty on April 4, 1812. Madison then assigned Georgia Governor David Mitchell as his new special agent in East Florida, tasked with keeping Mathews' Patriot army intact and preserving its military occupations. Mitchell quickly informed East Florida Governor Juan José de Estrada that any attempt to drive out the Patriots would not be tolerated by the United States. Mathews, furious with the Madison administration's repudiation, set off to Washington, D.C., where he'd "be damned if [he] didn't blow them all up." However, on the way he suffered from a recurrent malarial fever and was forced to stop in Augusta, Georgia. He died there on his 73rd birthday, and is buried in Saint Paul's Church. Legacy and historical interpretations Historians have been divided over the legacy of the Patriot War of East Florida. Some conclude that Mathews overstepped his authority and deliberately departed from Madison's intentions, while others believe Mathews fulfilled Madison's intentions, and that Madison repudiated Mathews for political reasons. These differences in analysis are exacerbated by the fact that Madison and Mathews left no notes of their meeting to discuss the campaign. J.C.A. Stagg, in George Mathews and John McKee, Revolutionizing East