Fort Gadsden
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| Fort Gadsden | |
|---|---|
| (U.S. National Register of Historic Places) | |
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| Location: | Franklin County, Florida |
| Nearest city: | Sumatra |
| Added to NRHP: | February 23, 1972 |
| Reference #: | 72000318 |
| Governing body: | United States Forest Service |
Fort Gadsden is located in Franklin County, Florida on the Apalachicola River. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places, the Fort Gadsden Historic Site is managed by the U.S. Forest Service.
[edit] History
During the War of 1812, the British constructed a fort at Prospect Bluff on the Apalachicola River in what was then Spanish Florida. 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 a well-constructed and fully-armed fort on the Apalachicola River in the hands of their allies, about 300 fugitive slaves, including members of the disbanded Corps of Colonial Marines, and 30 Seminole and Choctaw Indians. News of "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. According to the Savannah Journal, fugitives ran from as far away as Tennessee and the Mississippi Territory to seek refuge at the fort.
In March of 1816, under mounting pressure from Georgia slaveholders, General Andrew Jackson petitioned the Spanish Governor of Florida to destroy the settlement. At the same time, he instructed Major General Edmund P. Gaines, commander of U.S. military forces "in the Creek nation," to destroy the fort and "restore the stolen negroes and property to their rightful owners."
On July 27, 1816, following a series of skirmishes in which they were routed by Negro Fort warriors, the American forces and their 500 Lower 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 Jairus Loomis.
The two sides exchanged cannon fire, but the shots of the inexperienced black gunners failed to hit their targets. A cannon ball from the American forces entered the opening to the fort's powder magazine, igniting an explosion that destroyed the fort and 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.
In 1818 General Jackson directed Lieutenant James Gadsden 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.
[edit] External links
- 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
[edit] References
- Robert V. Remini, Andrew Jackson and his Indian Wars. Viking Penguin, 2001.
- Mark F Boyd, "Events at Prospect Bluff on the Apalachicola River, 1808-1818". Florida Historical Quarterly No.16 (1937).
- Benjamin W. Griffith, Jr., McIntosh and Weatherford Creek Indian Leaders. The University of Alabama Press, 2005 (Page 176)
