Negro Fort

Under the protection of black warriors and British arms, a community began to flourish. Situated just 60 miles from Georgia, the fort attracted upwards of 1,000 black refugees. Fugitives and maroons took up residence in the surrounding fields. By 1816, they were cultivating crops and pastures for 45 miles up and down the river.

"The force of the Negroes was daily increasing, and they felt themselves so strong and secure that they commenced several plantations on the fertile banks of the Apalachicola." -- Commodore Daniel Patterson