The Union Government at Philadelphia faced a problem. Georgia had declared war to a foreign power and while they do not have the authority to do so, if Spain attacks Georgia would have attacked the Union. Information was not clear about who started the war. Some claim that all incidents occurred south of the border and all death Georgians had been there illegally, which might count as Georgia having perpetrated the first act of war, but some other said that the massacre occurred in Georgian soil and nothing justified that five hundred Spanish regulars had ambushed Georgian citizens in Georgia. This would be a casus belli.
On the other side, if the Union backs the Georgian declaration of war, then any other state would then take the precedent to declare wars to fellow nations and get the Continental Army involved. Georgia herself or North Carolina over East Mississippi might be next; or New York over Canada. But if Georgia fights and loses to Spain, the existence of the whole Union would be jeopardized, and chances are that Georgia alone would lose to Spain.
The Georgia militia had little problem to occupy great parts of northeastern Florida, but Saint Augustine was an impressive plaza, and the Georgians could barely laid a siege on Saint Augustine and its Fortresses. It took, however, a small flotilla from Cuba to break the siege and set the Georgians in their way back. A second flotilla has landed several regulars in the Apalachicola who were now marching northwards.
By December, the Spanish had crossed the border both in the southeast and the southwest, and concentrated in occupying the southern towns. They will hold those positions while two bigger fleets would come: one from Spain and one from Cuba.