Fort Gadsden
Encyclopedia
Fort Gadsden is located in Franklin County
, Florida
, on the Apalachicola River
. The site contains the ruins of two forts, and has been known by several other names at various times, including Prospect Bluff Fort, Nichol's Fort, British Post, Negro Fort, African Fort, and Fort Apalachicola.
Listed in the National Register of Historic Places
, the Fort Gadsden Historic Site is located in Apalachicola National Forest
and is managed by the U.S. Forest Service
. It was named a National Historic Landmark
in 1972.
, the British
hoped to recruit the Seminole Indians
as allies in their war against the United States. In August 1814, a force of over 100 officers and men led by a lieutenant colonel of Royal Marines
, Edward Nicolls
, was sent into the Apalachicola River
region in Spanish Florida
, where they began to aid and train local Indians. Although Nicolls claimed he rallied large numbers of Indians, his efforts bore little fruit in terms of actual fighting, and the completion of the war ended his mission a few months after his arrival.
Before Nicolls left, however, he built a fort at Prospect Bluff, 15 miles above the mouth of the Apalachicola and sixty miles below U.S. territory, which he equipped with cannon, guns, and ammunition. The fort, originally known as the British Post, served as a base for British troops and for recruitment of ex-slaves into the new Corps of Colonial Marines
, and as a rallying point to encourage the local Seminole
Indian tribes to attack the United States. When the British evacuated Florida in the spring of 1815, they left the well-constructed and fully armed fort on the Apalachicola River in the hands of their allies, about 300 fugitive slave
s, including members of the disbanded Corps of Colonial Marines
, and 30 Seminole and Choctaw
Indians. News of the "Negro Fort" (as it came to be called) attracted as many as 800 black fugitives who settled in the surrounding area.
Under the command of a black man named Garson and a Choctaw chief (whose name is unknown), the inhabitants of Negro Fort launched raids across the Georgia
border. The fort, located as it was near the U.S. border, was seen as a threat to Southern slavery. The U.S. considered it "a center of hostility and above all a threat to the security of their slaves." The Savannah Journal wrote of it:
in Georgia
for the purpose of guarding the Spanish-American border. Supplying the fort, however, was a problem; to take materials overland required traveling through unsettled wilderness. Major General Andrew Jackson
, the military commander of the southern district, preferred supplying Fort Scott by boat over the Apalachicola River in Spanish territory, which had the advantages of being both easier and of providing a likely casus belli for destroying the Negro Fort. As expected, when a naval force attempted the passage on July 17, 1816, it was fired on by the Negro Fort, and four U. S. soldiers were killed.
Ten days later, Andrew Jackson
ordered Brigadier General Edmund P. Gaines
at Fort Scott to destroy the Negro Fort. The American expedition included Creek Indians
from Coweta
, who were induced to join by the promise that they would get what they could salvage from the fort if they helped in its capture. On July 27, 1816, following a series of skirmishes, the American forces and their Creek allies launched an all-out attack under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Duncan Clinch, with support from a naval convoy commanded by Sailing Master Jarius Loomis.
The two sides exchanged cannon fire, but the shots of the inexperienced black gunners failed to hit their targets. A "hot shot" (a cannonball heated to a red glow) from the American forces entered the opening to the fort's powder magazine, igniting an explosion that was heard more than 100 miles (160 km) away in Pensacola
, and destroyed the fort, killing all but 30 of 300 occupants. Garson and the Choctaw chief, among the few who survived the carnage, were handed over to the Creeks, who "Scalped the Choctaw alive and then fatally stabbed him; Garson was shot in execution style." Other survivors were returned to slavery.
The Creeks salvaged 2,500 muskets, 50 carbines, 400 pistols, and 500 swords from the ruins of the fort, increasing their power in the region. The Seminoles, who had fought with the blacks
, were conversely weakened by the loss of their allies, and Creek involvement in the attack increased tension between the two tribes. Seminole anger at the Americans for the fort's destruction would contribute to the breakout of the First Seminole War
a year later.
Spain
protested the violation of its soil, but according to historian John K. Mahon
, it "lacked the power to do more."
to rebuild the fort, which he did on a nearby site. Jackson was so pleased with the result that he named the location Fort Gadsden.
During the American Civil War
, Confederate troops occupied the fort until July 1863, when an outbreak of malaria
forced its abandonment.
Franklin County, Florida
Franklin County is a coastal county located in the panhandle of the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2000, the population was 11,057. The U.S. Census Bureau 2005 estimate for the county is 11,177...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, on the Apalachicola River
Apalachicola River
The Apalachicola River is a river, approximately 112 mi long in the State of Florida. This river's large watershed, known as the ACF River Basin for short, drains an area of approximately into the Gulf of Mexico. The distance to its farthest headstream in northeast Georgia is approximately 500...
. The site contains the ruins of two forts, and has been known by several other names at various times, including Prospect Bluff Fort, Nichol's Fort, British Post, Negro Fort, African Fort, and Fort Apalachicola.
Listed in the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
, the Fort Gadsden Historic Site is located in Apalachicola National Forest
Apalachicola National Forest
The Apalachicola National Forest is the largest U.S. National Forest in the state of Florida. It contains and is the only national forest located in the Florida Panhandle. The Apalachicola National Forest contains two Wilderness Areas, Bradwell Bay and Mudswamp/New River...
and is managed by the U.S. Forest Service
United States Forest Service
The United States Forest Service is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands, which encompass...
. It was named a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
in 1972.
Original fort
During the War of 1812War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
, the British
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
hoped to recruit the Seminole Indians
Seminole
The Seminole are a Native American people originally of Florida, who now reside primarily in that state and Oklahoma. The Seminole nation emerged in a process of ethnogenesis out of groups of Native Americans, most significantly Creeks from what is now Georgia and Alabama, who settled in Florida in...
as allies in their war against the United States. In August 1814, a force of over 100 officers and men led by a lieutenant colonel of Royal Marines
Royal Marines
The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...
, Edward Nicolls
Edward Nicolls
General Sir Edward Nicolls, KCB was an Irish officer of the Royal Marines. Known as "Fighting Nicolls", he had a distinguished career, was involved in numerous actions, and often received serious wounds. For his service, he received medals and honours, reaching the rank of General...
, was sent into the Apalachicola River
Apalachicola River
The Apalachicola River is a river, approximately 112 mi long in the State of Florida. This river's large watershed, known as the ACF River Basin for short, drains an area of approximately into the Gulf of Mexico. The distance to its farthest headstream in northeast Georgia is approximately 500...
region in Spanish Florida
Spanish Florida
Spanish Florida refers to the Spanish territory of Florida, which formed part of the Captaincy General of Cuba, the Viceroyalty of New Spain, and the Spanish Empire. Originally extending over what is now the southeastern United States, but with no defined boundaries, la Florida was a component of...
, where they began to aid and train local Indians. Although Nicolls claimed he rallied large numbers of Indians, his efforts bore little fruit in terms of actual fighting, and the completion of the war ended his mission a few months after his arrival.
Before Nicolls left, however, he built a fort at Prospect Bluff, 15 miles above the mouth of the Apalachicola and sixty miles below U.S. territory, which he equipped with cannon, guns, and ammunition. The fort, originally known as the British Post, served as a base for British troops and for recruitment of ex-slaves into the new Corps of Colonial Marines
Corps of Colonial Marines
Corps of Colonial Marines were raised from former slaves as auxiliary units of the Royal Marines for service in the Americas: Two of these units were raised and subsequently disbanded...
, and as a rallying point to encourage the local Seminole
Seminole
The Seminole are a Native American people originally of Florida, who now reside primarily in that state and Oklahoma. The Seminole nation emerged in a process of ethnogenesis out of groups of Native Americans, most significantly Creeks from what is now Georgia and Alabama, who settled in Florida in...
Indian tribes to attack the United States. When the British evacuated Florida in the spring of 1815, they left the well-constructed and fully armed fort on the Apalachicola River in the hands of their allies, about 300 fugitive slave
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
s, including members of the disbanded Corps of Colonial Marines
Corps of Colonial Marines
Corps of Colonial Marines were raised from former slaves as auxiliary units of the Royal Marines for service in the Americas: Two of these units were raised and subsequently disbanded...
, and 30 Seminole and Choctaw
Choctaw
The Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States...
Indians. News of the "Negro Fort" (as it came to be called) attracted as many as 800 black fugitives who settled in the surrounding area.
Under the command of a black man named Garson and a Choctaw chief (whose name is unknown), the inhabitants of Negro Fort launched raids across the Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
border. The fort, located as it was near the U.S. border, was seen as a threat to Southern slavery. The U.S. considered it "a center of hostility and above all a threat to the security of their slaves." The Savannah Journal wrote of it:
It was not to be expected, that an establishment so pernicious to the Southern States, holding out to a part of their population temptations to insubordination, would have been suffered to exist after the close of the war. In the course of last winter, several slaves from this neighborhood fled to that fort; others have lately gone from Tennessee and the Mississippi Territory. How long shall this evil, requiring immediate remedy, be permitted to exist?
Seminole Wars
In early 1816 the U.S. built Fort Scott on the west bank of the Flint RiverFlint River (Georgia)
The Flint River is a river in the U.S. state of Georgia. The river drains of western Georgia, flowing south from the upper Piedmont region south of Atlanta to the wetlands of the Gulf Coastal Plain in the southwestern corner of the state. Along with the Apalachicola and the Chattahoochee rivers,...
in Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
for the purpose of guarding the Spanish-American border. Supplying the fort, however, was a problem; to take materials overland required traveling through unsettled wilderness. Major General Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...
, the military commander of the southern district, preferred supplying Fort Scott by boat over the Apalachicola River in Spanish territory, which had the advantages of being both easier and of providing a likely casus belli for destroying the Negro Fort. As expected, when a naval force attempted the passage on July 17, 1816, it was fired on by the Negro Fort, and four U. S. soldiers were killed.
Ten days later, Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...
ordered Brigadier General Edmund P. Gaines
Edmund P. Gaines
Edmund Pendleton Gaines was a United States army officer who served with distinction during the War of 1812, the Seminole Wars and the Black Hawk War.-Early life:...
at Fort Scott to destroy the Negro Fort. The American expedition included Creek Indians
Creek people
The Muscogee , also known as the Creek or Creeks, are a Native American people traditionally from the southeastern United States. Mvskoke is their name in traditional spelling. The modern Muscogee live primarily in Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida...
from Coweta
Coweta County, Georgia
Coweta County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of 2000, the population was 89,215. The 2009 Census Estimate placed the population at 131,936...
, who were induced to join by the promise that they would get what they could salvage from the fort if they helped in its capture. On July 27, 1816, following a series of skirmishes, the American forces and their Creek allies launched an all-out attack under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Duncan Clinch, with support from a naval convoy commanded by Sailing Master Jarius Loomis.
The two sides exchanged cannon fire, but the shots of the inexperienced black gunners failed to hit their targets. A "hot shot" (a cannonball heated to a red glow) from the American forces entered the opening to the fort's powder magazine, igniting an explosion that was heard more than 100 miles (160 km) away in Pensacola
Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida, United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2009, the estimated population was 53,752...
, and destroyed the fort, killing all but 30 of 300 occupants. Garson and the Choctaw chief, among the few who survived the carnage, were handed over to the Creeks, who "Scalped the Choctaw alive and then fatally stabbed him; Garson was shot in execution style." Other survivors were returned to slavery.
The Creeks salvaged 2,500 muskets, 50 carbines, 400 pistols, and 500 swords from the ruins of the fort, increasing their power in the region. The Seminoles, who had fought with the blacks
Black Seminoles
The Black Seminoles is a term used by modern historians for the descendants of free blacks and some runaway slaves , mostly Gullahs who escaped from coastal South Carolina and Georgia rice plantations into the Spanish Florida wilderness beginning as early as the late 17th century...
, were conversely weakened by the loss of their allies, and Creek involvement in the attack increased tension between the two tribes. Seminole anger at the Americans for the fort's destruction would contribute to the breakout of the First Seminole War
Seminole Wars
The Seminole Wars, also known as the Florida Wars, were three conflicts in Florida between the Seminole — the collective name given to the amalgamation of various groups of native Americans and Black people who settled in Florida in the early 18th century — and the United States Army...
a year later.
Spain
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire comprised territories and colonies administered directly by Spain in Europe, in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. It originated during the Age of Exploration and was therefore one of the first global empires. At the time of Habsburgs, Spain reached the peak of its world power....
protested the violation of its soil, but according to historian John K. Mahon
John K. Mahon
John K. Mahon .In 1954 Mahon accepted a teaching position in the history department at the University of Florida...
, it "lacked the power to do more."
Rebuilt fort
In 1818 General Jackson directed Lieutenant James GadsdenJames Gadsden
James Gadsden was an American diplomat, soldier and businessman and namesake of the Gadsden Purchase, in which the United States purchased from Mexico the land that became the southern portion of Arizona and New Mexico. James Gadsden served as Adjutant General of the U. S...
to rebuild the fort, which he did on a nearby site. Jackson was so pleased with the result that he named the location Fort Gadsden.
During the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, Confederate troops occupied the fort until July 1863, when an outbreak of malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
forced its abandonment.
Further reading
- Skip HorackSkip Horack-Personal Life/Education:He was raised in Covington, Louisiana where he attended St. Paul's School.Horack holds a B.A. in English and a J.D. from Florida State University...
. The Eden Hunter, Counterpoint, 2010. (A novel inspired by the assault on the Negro Fort.)
External links
- Fort Gadsden Historic Site - official site at Apalachicola National ForestApalachicola National ForestThe Apalachicola National Forest is the largest U.S. National Forest in the state of Florida. It contains and is the only national forest located in the Florida Panhandle. The Apalachicola National Forest contains two Wilderness Areas, Bradwell Bay and Mudswamp/New River...
- Fort Gadsden and the "Negro Fort" at exploresouthernhistory.com.
- Map to Fort Gadsden
- Negro Fort, 8 Story Panels with Pictures narrating the attack on the fort in 1816, from the documentary site Rebellion: John Horse and the Black Seminoles
- Negro Fort at Ghost Towns
- Fort Gadsden at American Forts Network
- The First Emancipation Proclamation at Daily KosDaily KosDaily Kos is an American political blog that publishes news and opinions from a progressive point of view. It functions as a discussion forum and group blog for a variety of netroots activists, whose efforts are primarily directed toward influencing and strengthening the Democratic Party...