Here's another chapter in America's history that I doubt will be getting a studio backed film adaptation. It's about another attempt by Black Americans to free themselves from slavery and in the process defied America, Spain and UK. Sadly as you probably guessed there isn't a happy ending.
Historian Adam Wasserman's account of Andrew
Jackson's excursion into Spanish Florida to destroy the "Negro Fort"
situated on the mouth of the Appalachicola River in Florida. The "Negro
Fort" was a free black settlement that served as a rendezvous for
fugitive slaves from the Southern states.
This article is an excerpt of Wasserman's A People's History of Florida.
The Patriots War, the War of 1812, the Creek War, and the Seminole
War were all closely interrelated conflicts, revolving around Indian
Removal and slavery. The fighting in the U.S. Southeast during the
second decade of the 19th century defined Manifest Destiny, which was
underlined by a disposition to expand slavery and white supremacy.
Manifest Destiny was the self-declared right of the United States to
violate national sovereignty to eliminate any perceived threat of an
encroaching foreign colonial power in its vicinity. This policy also
intended to seize Spanish colonial possessions and annex them in order
so the South could procure additional slave states. Indian Removal and
slavery were combined with Manifest Destiny in the war of 1812 as
British agents utilized disaffected native tribes and fugitive slaves to
form a Southern front against the United States. The wars in the
Southeastern United States were all characterized by the same
predisposition of U.S. expansionism – which itself was characterized by
attempts to expand and protect slavery. The reigning U.S. doctrines of
the early 19th century came about in opposition to the threat that slave
and native sanctuaries like Florida posed to the Southern states. As
the policies of Indian Removal and Manifest Destiny became more defined
in the Southern theater of war, the free black and native settlements
found themselves in a constant conflict with the slave-raiding,
land-grabbing white settlers of Georgia. After their defeat at Horseshoe
Bend in the Creek War, the Red Stick Creeks fled into Florida to avoid
Jackson’s draconian terms of surrender. Jackson’s military intervention
in Florida partially focused on further destroying the anti-white Red
Sticks Creeks that were incorporated into the Seminole and black
settlements. As with the fugitive blacks, they grew to hold considerable
power in the Seminole tribe, eventually enveloping the old chiefs. In
the war of 1812, the British used Florida as their base of operations to
create a Southern front against the U.S. military. Florida was a
diversion from the war in a North. British agents promised thousands of
natives and fugitive blacks land, freedom, and protection as long as
they fought on the British side in the war. The Seminoles, Miccosukees,
Red Stick Creeks, and blacks established closer ties in these frontier
operations, with the further understanding that they all shared a mutual
interest to fend off the encroaching white settlers.
In 1814, British military official Col. Nichols ordered his Red
Stick Creek allies to construct a fort on the Appalachicola River. The
British retreated from their position at Pensacola after Andrew
Jackson’s invasion. They were joined by their Red Stick Creek allies and
several hundred slaves belonging to the residents of that town. 1
Nichols furnished the fort with artillery and munitions. The fort was
located fifteen miles above the mouth of the river, manned with three
hundred British soldiers and an immediate flow of refugee Seminoles and
runaway slaves from Southern states who sought the protection of the
British military and arms to defend their lands from white settlers. 2
The purpose of the fort was to assemble an army of disaffected
indigenous people and runaway slaves to attack the white settlements on
the southern Georgia/Alabama borders. By December 1814, over 1,400
warriors gathered at the fort – a coalition of refugee Red Stick Creeks,
Seminoles, blacks, and numerous tribes indigenous to Florida. 3 General
Gaines estimated 900 warriors and 450 armed blacks inhabited the fort. 4
The runaway slaves were given the opportunity to either leave for the
British colonies to receive land as free settlers or fight under the
British military. 5 By the early summer of 1815, Nichols left the
Appalachicola for England accompanied by a handful of Red Stick Creek
chiefs. He intended on making their cause known to the British Crown in
hopes for protection against the Americans. The Red Stick Creeks and
Seminole warriors who remained behind abandoned the fort soon
afterwards. 6 Before Nichols had even left, the blacks had already taken
possession of the fort. An additional 300 to 400 runaways were
estimated to have fled to the fort for protection. 7 A letter from
General Gaines on May 14th declared: “Certain Negroes and outlaws have
taken possession of a Fort on the Appalachicola River in the territory
of Florida.” 8 The Seminoles “were kept in awe” at the hundreds of armed
blacks in the vicinity. “For a period,” William H. Simmons claimed, the
Seminoles “were placed in the worst of all political conditions, being
under a dulocracy or government of slaves.” 9 Nichols left behind a
large supply of arms, artillery, and ammunition to protect the
inhabitants from slave raiders and to commission raids on Southern
plantations. They were supplied with 2,500 stands of musketry, 500
carbines, 500 steel scabbard swords, four cases containing 200 pistols,
300 quarter casks of rifle powder, 162 barrels of cannon powder, and a
large count of military stores. On the walls of the fort were mounted
four long twenty-four pounder cannon, four long six-pounder cannon, a
four-pound field pierce, and a five and a half inch howitzer. 10
 |
| A sketch of Fort Gadsden which also shows the outline of the "Negro Fort". |
The fort grew from a strategically defensive base to a flourishing
free black community around the banks of the Appalachicola. The blacks
cultivated fields and plantations extending fifty miles up the river.
Many of the black Seminoles were descendents of West Africans. They
inherited generations of knowledge of African agricultural techniques.
The community surrounding the fort was attractive for its defensible
position and cultivatable lands. Runaway slaves were pouring in on a
daily basis. The community grew to about 1,000 blacks in the fields
surrounding the fort. 11 A total 300 black men, women, and children were
in possession of the fort, accompanied by about twenty Choctaws and a
number of
Seminoles. 12 Joshua Giddings vividly depicted the “Negro
Fort”:
“
Their plantations extended along the
river several miles, above and below the fort. Many of them possessed
large herds of cattle and horses, which roamed in the forests, gathering
their food, both in summer and winter, without expense or trouble to
their owners. The Pioneer Exiles from South Carolina had settled here
long before the Colony of Georgia existed. Several generations had lived
to manhood and died in those forest-homes. To their descendants it had
become consecrated by “many an oft told tale” of early adventure, of
hardship and suffering; the recollection of which had been retained in
tradition, told in story, and sung in their rude lays. Here were graves
of their ancestors, around whose memories were clustered the fondest
recollections of the human mind. The climate was genial. They were
surrounded by extensive forests, and far removed from the habitations of
those enemies of freedom who sought to enslave them; and they regarded
themselves as secure in the enjoyment of liberty. Shutout from the cares
and strifes of civilized men, they were happy in their own social
solitude. So far from seeking to injure the people of the United States,
they were only anxious to be exempt, and entirely free from all contact
with our population or government; while they faithfully maintained
their allegiance to the Spanish crown.” 13
Colonel Patterson wrote about the Appalachicola Fort:
“
The force of the negroes was daily
increasing; and they felt themselves so strong and secure that they had
commenced several plantations on the fertile banks of the Appalachicola,
which would have yielded them every article of sustenance, and which
would, consequently, in a short time have rendered their establishment
quite formidable and highly injurious to the neighboring States.” 14
The fort was becoming a growing threat to slavery itself. The
existence of an autonomous free black community was intolerable alone,
but it became a rallying point for runaway slaves fleeing from other
Southern states. The blacks were less concerned about “committing
depredations” as was depicted by U.S. military officials than they were
about protecting their freedom. As Giddings described, they were “happy
in their own social solitude,” finally free and safe after decades of
harassment and terror. They had the means for sufficient provisions with
no reason to attack the frontier settlers. As much as the expansionists
wished to depict them as outlaws they could not attribute them to even
one instance of murder or theft. The crime they were guilty for was to
“inveigle negroes from the citizens of Georgia, as well as from the
Creek and Cherokee nations of Indians.” 15 Col. Patterson commended its
elimination:
“
The service rendered by the
destruction of the fort, and the band of negroes who held it, and the
country in its vicinity, is of great and manifest importance to the
United States, and particularly those States bordering on the Creek
nation, as it had become the general rendezvous for runaway slaves and
disaffected Indians; and asylum where they were assured of being
received; a stronghold where they found arms and ammunition to protect
themselves against their owners and the Government.” 16
As the blacks peacefully flourished in their isolated community on
the Appalachicola, military officials and slaveholders planned its
destruction. On May 21, a British “gentleman of respectability” from
Bermuda wrote a memorandum disapproving Col Nichols for having “espoused
the cause of the slaves.” He wrote of the “Negro Fort”: “No time ought
to be lost in recommending the adoption of speedy, energetic measures
for the destruction of a thing held so likely to become dangerous to the
state of Georgia.” 17 On March 15, 1816 the Secretary of War ordered
General Andrew Jackson to call attention to the governor of Pensacola to
the fort. If the Spanish governor refused to “put an end to an evil of
so serious nature,” the U.S. government would promptly take measures to
reduce it. If the Spanish government was too weak to destroy it, then
the U.S. was more than willing to take it into its own hands. On April
23, Jackson transmitted the demands of Secretary Crawford, ordering the
Spanish governor to “destroy or remove from out frontier this banditti,
put an end to an evil of so serious a nature, and return to our citizens
and friendly Indians inhabiting our territory those negroes now in said
fort, and which have been stolen and enticed from them.” The blacks at
the Appalachicola Fort were supposedly “enticed from the service of
their masters.” 18 Of course the runaways couldn’t have possibly been
dissatisfied with a life of servitude. Jackson knew that the slaves were
not actually stolen away. They were runaways from slaveholders who
sought refuge at the fort with the promise of abundance and freedom
under the protection of the free blacks. Most of the black warriors and
families had been free for generations. Their ancestors had fled from
their masters to Spanish Florida many decades before. Plus Jackson’s
request to the Spanish governor only gave a façade of legitimacy to the
inevitable designs of the U.S. government. On April 8, two weeks before
Jackson wrote the Spanish governor, he ordered General Gaines to destroy
the “Negro Fort” regardless of its location on Spanish territory:
“
I have little doubt of the fact,
that this fort has been established by some villains for rapine and
plunder, and that it ought to be blown up, regardless of the land on
which it stands; and if your mind shall have formed the same conclusion,
destroy it and return the stolen Negroes and property to their rightful
owners.” 19
General Gaines carefully prepared for the operation. He himself
believed that the fort would “produce much evil among the blacks of
Georgia, and the eastern part of the Mississippi territory.” 20
Obviously this terrible evil meant to leave their lifetime of bondage
for a state of freedom. Lt. Col. Duncan Lamont Clinch was assigned to
destroy the fort. Clinch had his own interests when it came to the fort,
being among the most prosperous slaveholders of Florida. He undoubtedly
felt that his profit interests were threatened by its continued
existence. Gaines ordered him to speedily establish a fort near the
junction of the Flint and Chattahoochee rivers, where they joined to
form the Appalachicola, to intimidate the “Negro Fort.” Clinch was to
meet the convoy of supplies from New Orleans with fifty soldiers once he
was informed that they had arrived at the river. The convoy was
detached with two gunboats. From that point, Gaines ordered him to
proceed to the “Negro Fort” where if he was to “meet with opposition”
then “arrangements will immediately be made for its destruction.” Gaines
wished to provoke an attack to justify the destruction of the fort. For
this purpose, Clinch was supplied with two eighteen-pound cannons and
one howitzer. 21 On July 10, the supply convoy reached the mouth of the
Appalachicola where they received a dispatch from Col. Clinch ordering
them to hold their position until he could arrive with troops to escort
them up the river. On July 17, a party of five men from the supply
vessels was sent to gather fresh water. Once the party entered the
river, they discovered a black man on the shore, near one of the
plantations along the Appalachicola. As soon as they touched down on the
shore, about forty blacks and Seminoles fired a volley of shots from
their hidden position in the bushes. The black man on the beach served
as a decoy to lure the small party into the ambush. Three of the men
were immediately killed, one dove into the water and made it back to the
convoy, and the other was captured. 22
On that same day, Col. Clinch commenced to the “Negro Fort.” He left
with about 116 soldiers and incidentally met a party of slave-hunting
Creeks led by Chief McIntosh. The Coweta Creeks numbered about 150. They
had been hired by General Jackson to capture slaves in the
Appalachicola - offered fifty dollars for every slave they seized and
returned to their owner. A council was held where the Creeks agreed to
keep parties in advance and capture every black that they discovered. On
the 19th, they caught a black Seminole in the vicinity heading to the
Seminole chiefs with the scalp of one of the members of the party they
ambushed. The blacks were attempting to garner the assistance of their
Seminole allies. The prisoner communicated the story of the ambush. On
the 20th, Clinch proceeded with the Creek force over to the fort and
came within gunshot range. It was impossible to destroy the fort without
artillery. They were forced to wait until the gunboats from the supply
vessel arrived. McIntosh was ordered to surround the fort with a third
of his force and maintain an irregular fire. The blacks fired artillery
back but to no avail. On the 23rd, the Creeks demanded that the blacks
surrender but they responded defiantly. The black commander Garcon told
the deputation of Creeks “he would sink any American vessels that should
attempt to pass it; and he would blow up the fort if he could not
defend it.” 23 The blacks then hoisted the English Union Jack
accompanied with the red flag over the fort. The blacks knew that
surrender would only mean slavery so they would be no compromise. For
the next several days the blacks opened fire whenever any troops
appeared in their view. On July 27, the gunboats approached the fort.
The blacks opened fire when they entered into gunshot range. The
gunboats fired back with some cold shots to get an idea of their real
distance. The gunboats then fired “the first hot one,” made red-hot in
the cook’s galley, which went screaming over the wall and into the
fort’s magazine full of gunpowder. The fort completely exploded. Col.
Clinch reported the horrific destruction:
“
The explosion was awful, and the
scene horrible beyond description. Our first care, on arriving at the
scene of the destruction, was to rescue and relieve the unfortunate
beings who survived the explosion. The war yells of the Indians, the
cries and lamentations of the wounded, compelled the soldier to pause in
the midst of victory, to drop a tear for the sufferings of his fellow
beings, and to acknowledge that the great Ruler of the Universe must
have used us as his instruments in chastising the blood-thirsty and
murderous wretches that defended the fort.” 24
He gave a “divine justification” for the massacre in the official
report. But he also wrote a far more descriptive alternative account of
the event without involving God:
"
The explosion was awful, and the
scene horrible beyond description. You cannot conceive, nor I describe
the horrors of the scene. In an instant lifeless bodies were stretched
upon the plain, buried in sand and rubbish, or suspended from the tops
of the surrounding pines. Here lay an innocent babe, there a helpless
mother; on the one side a sturdy warrior, on the other a bleeding squaw.
Piles of bodies, large heaps of sand, broken guns, accoutrements, etc,
covered the site of the fort. The brave soldier was disarmed of his
resentment and checked his victorious career, to drop a tear on the
distressing scene." 25
The terrible explosion instantly killed 270 black men, women, and
children within the fort, the rest being mortally wounded out of the
total 330 residents. Only a few survived. The black commander Garson and
the Choctaw chief somehow managed to survive the explosion. The Creeks
sentenced them to death for the murder of the four U.S. soldiers. They
learned that the blacks had tarred and feathered the captured soldier.
The Creeks immediately executed them afterwards. Some six of the blacks
were captured and immediately returned to their speculated masters -
that is if they were ever held in bondage at all. The large number of
runaway slaves on the fields that surrounded the river scattered about
to safety. Some fled to the protection of the blacks and Seminoles at
the Suwannee and others left to the growing free black community just
south of Tampa Bay. The elimination of the fort was not the end of the
black Seminole social structure in Florida. Several other black
communities remained largely intact. But it was far from the end of the
terror inflicted on the black Seminoles by the Federal government. It
was far from the end of their resistance either. They would strive to
avenge the loss of their family members and loved ones. 26
References:
1. “Letters of John Innerarity: The Seizure of Pensacola by Andrew
Jackson, November 7, 1814.” Florida Historical Quarterly 9 (Jan. 1931):
128-135.
2. Sugden, John. "The Southern Indians in the War of 1812: The Closing
Phase." Florida Historical Quarterly 60 (Jan. 1982): 275-313.
3. Ibid. 299.
4. ASPFA 4: 552.
5. Ibid.
6. Wright Jr., J.L. “A Note on the First Seminole War as Seen by the
Indians, Negroes, and Their British Advisers.” The Journal of Southern
History 34 (Nov., 1968): 569-570.
7. ASPFA 4: 552.
8. Ibid. 551.
9. Simmons, Notices of East Florida, 75.
10. Ibid. 560.
11. Williams, John L. A View of West Florida. Philadelphia: H.S. Tanner, 1827. 96-102.
12. ASPFA 4: 560.
13. Giddings, “Exiles,” 34-35.
14. ASPFA 4: 561.
15. Ibid. 499, 555.
16. Ibid. 561.
17. Ibid. 552.
18. Ibid. 555-556.
19. Letter from the Secretary of War, Transmitting, Pursuant to a
Resolution of the House of Representatives, of the 26th Ult. Information
in Relation to the Destruction of the Negro Fort, in East Florida, in
the Month of July, 1816. Washington: E. De. Krafft, 1819. 10-11.
20. Ibid. 17.
21. ASPFA 4: 558.
22. Forbes, James Grant. Sketches, historical and topographical, of the
Floridas, more particularly of east Florida. 1821. Ed. with intro. James
W. Covington. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1964. 202.
23. Ibid. 200-202.
24. Ibid. 203-204.
25. Army and Navy Chronicle. 13 vols. Washington: B. Homans, 1835-1842. Vol. 2, 115; Hereafter cited as A&NC.
26. McMaster, John B. A History of the People of the United States: From
the Revolution to the Civil War Vol. 4. New York: D. Appleton and
Company, 1895. 433-434; “Letters of John Innerarity and A. H. Gordon.”
Florida Historical Quarterly 12 (July 1933) 38-42.
Taken from
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