 Simmons and John Lee Williams of Pensacola were commissioned by the second Territorial Council of Florida to select a central point between St. Augustine and Pensacola to serve as capital of the territory in 1823.In 1831, John James Audubon spent ten days as a guest of Hernández at Mala Compra.There he shot dozens of American coots, one of which was a male from which he drew the figure for the plate which appeared in his The Birds of America.