Negro Fort        
"[C]ertain Negroes and outlaws have taken possession of a Fort on the Appalachicola River in the territory of Florida," wrote General Edmund Gaines on May 14, 1815. British agents had helped Seminoles construct the fort during the War of 1812. When the British left, so did most of the Indians, but the "Negro Fort" rapidly became a beacon for fugitive slaves.* By June of 1815, approximately 330 black warriors and 30 Seminole Indians were stationed on the banks of the Appalachicola at Prospect Bluff, protecting the region with four pieces of artillery, six light cannon, and a large stock of British ammunition and arms.
  
Sources:
Giddings Exiles 35-43, Forbes 200-05, ASPFR 4: 559-61.
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Part 1, Early Years: l
*The Fort was also known as "African Fort," "Prospect Bluff
Fort," and "Nicholl's Fort," after the British agent who oversaw
its construction. The U.S. later built Fort Gadsden on the same site. |
