Slave Uprising

In the general uprising, blacks and Indians specifically targeted the sugar plantations along the St. John's River, west of St. Augustine. At the time these were some of the most developed plantations in all U.S. territory in one of the richest sugar-growing areas in the South. Their destruction was swift and devastating. By February of 1836, less than two months into the war, the Seminole allies had destroyed 21 plantations. Where slavery and sugar mills once flourished, soldiers found smoking ruins and an industry laid waste.