 Once war broke out, loyalist St. Augustine residents burned effigies of Sam Adams and John Hancock in the plaza.Fort St. Mark became a training and supply base, as well a prisoner of war camp where three signers of the Declaration of Independence and South Carolina's lieutenant governor Christopher Gadsden were held.Local militia composed of Florida, Georgia, and Carolina inhabitants formed the East Florida Rangers in 1776 and were reorganized to form the King's Rangers in 1779.