"The Battle of ‘Negro Fort’ – The Most Remarkable Armed" Topic

… Slave Rebellion You've Probably Never Heard About

"THE TIDAL MARSHES of Florida's Apalachicola River were still under the authority of the Spanish crown in 1816, yet the events that took place there would go onto become a forgotten yet tragic chapter in the long and bloody history of American slavery.

It was during that year that an army of fugitive slaves, armed with foreign weaponry and united by dreams of freedom, would fight and die against a legion of American troops and allied Creek Indians dispatched by a future U.S. president bent on their destruction.

The Battle of the ‘Negro Fort,' marks a critical moment when the federal government took a decisive stance in support of slavery and its expansion…"
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Amicalement
Armand

Interesting article but I did not cover it in my articles because it was outside the 1812-15 time frame. The Mucogee Creeks had a tradition of allowing black fugitive slaves to join their tribe. There were several cases in the Alabama Civil War and American intervention where slaves were not killed in an ambush but given the choice of joining or even returning to another settlement.
This incursion by Americans was one of at least six expeditions into northern Florida.

The site is a National Historic Landmark within a region of state and national forests in the Florida panhandle.

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I visited with one of my sons in 2011; the site is somewhat hard to reach in that it was 10 miles or so out of cell coverage. You have to follow forest roads off the main highway, with minimally marked turns.

The WikiCommons diagram is misleading. Fort Gadsden is the US Army fort that was rebuilt within the original perimeter several years after. Basically, it reestablished the earthworks that commanded the Apalachicola River with a artillery battery. The smaller area labeled "negro fort" at the top of the diagram was the site of the powder magazine. I say was, because it was totally flattened in the explosion. Only a single plaque marks the site now, in an area of grass and pine trees. The outer perimeter of the original fort is marked by the single black line encompassing the two areas. The original ditch marking the perimeter survives in vestigial form, and can be traced. The earthworks encompassing the battery are in relatively better shape.

Alas, the USDA website lists the site as still closed from aftereffects of Hurricane Maria.

Rick

Thanks!.

Amicalement
Armand