Memorial Day in Florida - Fort Gadsden Historic Site

This is part of a weekend long series dedicated to Floridians who gave their lives for freedom, liberty, their follow citizens, their state and their country.

Perhaps the deadliest cannon shot in American history was fired in Florida on July 27, 1816. The target was a powerful fort on the lower Apalachicola River and the resulting explosion left an estimated 270 men, women and children either dead or dying.

British forces had built the fort in 1814 as part of their expanding campaign along the Gulf Coast during the closing months of the War of 1812. Its purpose was to serve as a recruitment and training base for a large force of Native American and African American volunteers that had joined the British as they came ashore in what was then Spanish Florida.

At its height, the post provided security and housing for more than 2,000 men and their families. The War of 1812 came to an end, however, before this force could be put into the field for a campaign into Georgia. The British left the lower Apalachicola in May of 1815 and American authorities initially thought the fort had been abandoned. They soon learned otherwise.

When Colonel Edward Nicolls (sometimes misspelled Nichols) left the "British Post on the Apalachicola" with his force of Royal Marines, he left the fortress, its artillery and a massive supply of ammunition, small arms and other military goods in the hands of his former allies. Most of the Indians soon drifted back to their villages, but the African Americans - many of whom had escaped slavery in the United States - remained.

Commanded by their sergeant major, a former slave named Garcon, they continued to conduct artillery drills and flew the English Jack over the fort. When American officials learned of this, they began calling the establishment the "Negro Fort" on the Apalachicola and demanded that Spanish authorities eliminate it. The free colony and fort on the Apalachicola served as a natural beacon to slaves on the plantations of Georgia and the Carolinas.

Ultimately, Major General Edmund P. Gaines (although Andrew Jackson often gets the blame) sent a joint land and sea expedition to destroy the fort. A force of 116 men left Camp Crawford, Georgia, in July of 1816 and dropped down the Apalachicola River by boat. Joined by more than 200 allied Creek warriors en route, they landed and surrounded the land approaches to the fort.

At the same time, a flotilla of U.S. gunboats and supply vessels arrived in Apalachicola Bay. To the outrage of the sailors, several members of a party sent into the mouth of the river to obtain fresh water were ambushed and killed by men from the "Negro Fort." One of the survivors was taken back to the fort were he was tortured and burned to death.

A demand from Lt. Col. Duncan L. Clinch for the surrender of the fort was answered with a cannon shot and on the morning of July 27, 1816, the American forces began their main attack.

Two U.S. gunboats moved to within range of the fort and were greated by artillery fire from its garrison. The sailors responded with their own cannon and to the shock of all involved, fired a heated cannonball directly through the doors of one of the fort's magazines on only their fifth shot. The entire structure disappeared in a massive explosion.

Of the estimated 320 men, women and children in the fort at the time of the blast, 270 died instantly. Most of the rest were wounded. Colonel Clinch, the commander of the American forces, remarked that he shed a tear over the fate of the unfortunate beings and described how he and his men rushed to help the few survivors that remained.

The site of the "Negro Fort" on the Apalachicola is now a historic site within the Apalachicola National Forest. Maintained by the forest service, the park is open daily and also includes the earthwork remains of Fort Gadsden, a U.S. fort built at the site in 1818 by Andrew Jackson.

To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/fortgadsden.

Fort Mitchell: A Site Critical to Florida History

Fort Mitchell is located in Russell County, Alabama, but it is a site that holds great significance in Florida history.

Established in 1813 by Gen. John Floyd and the Georgia Militia, the fort was a key base for operations during the Creek War of 1813-1814. Floyd and his army marched from Fort Mitchell en route to the critical battles of Autossee and Calabee Creek during that war.

After the collapse of Creek forces at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, Fort Mitchell continued to be occupied by U.S. troops to both guard against Indian raids and to serve as an outpost against rumored British activities in Florida. In addition to its war against the Creeks, the United States was then engaged in the War of 1812 against the British and within weeks of Horseshoe Bend, Great Britain began to open a Southern front in the war by landing troops along the Gulf Coast.

U.S. and militia troops passed through Fort Mitchell while on their way to join Andrew Jackson at New Orleans and in early 1815, Col. Benjamin Hawkins (U.S. Indian Agent and veteran of the American Revolution) led a large force of whites and allied Creek Indians down the Chattahoochee River from Fort Mitchell. Hawkins planned to attack two British forts on the Apalachicola River in Florida. On the verge of his first attack, however, word arrived of the end of the War of 1812 and the campaign was ended within site of the enemy.

In 1816, troops would again leave Fort Mitchell bound for the Apalachicola River. Led by Lt. Col. Duncan L. Clinch, a battalion from the 4th U.S. Infantry dropped down the Chattahoochee River from Fort Mitchell on a campaign that would ultimately lead to the destruction of what U.S. officials called the "Negro Fort" on the Apalachicola.

One of the former British outposts on the Apalachicola, the fort had been left in the hands of a large force of African American and Indian allies when the British departed the region. These individuals had been part of a Colonial Marine force raised during the War of 1812 and had extensive military training. They flew the Union Jack over their works and pledged to defend the fort to the last man. They literally did so. The fort withstood a siege by U.S. and Creek forces until a cannonball sailed into its gunpowder magazine. The resulting blast killed 270 of the 320 men, women and children in the fort.

Fort Mitchell also served as an important base of operations during the First Seminole War of 1817-1818. An expedition launched from the post in early 1818 resulted in the destruction of a major Seminole village in Jackson County, Florida.

The fort remained a significant military post into the 1830s and was a key base during the Creek War of 1836. It was from here that Neamathla, a Creek chief famed in the early history of Florida, was sent on the Trail of Tears. According to eyewitnesses, the old chief who had once opposed Andrew Jackson in Florida, was sent away in irons.

The site of Fort Mitchell is now a historic site near Phenix City, Alabama. For more information, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/fortmitchell1.

Fort Gadsden - A Black History Landmark in Florida

February is observed as Black History Month in the United States and one of the most significant American black history landmarks can be found in North Florida's Apalachicola National Forest.

Fort Gadsden Historic Site near the small community of Sumatra preserves the site of the "Negro Fort" on the Apalachicola. Also called the British Post and, for unclear reasons, Fort Blunt (this name appears in no official documents), this was the location of a major colony established by both free African Americans and refugee slaves from the United States and Spanish Florida in 1815. (Note: Fort Gadsden was the name of an American fort built on the same site in 1818).

The fort itself was originally built by British forces during the summer of 1814 as a base for operations during the War of 1812. Colonel Edward Nicolls (sometimes mispelled Nicholls) and Captain George Woodbine assembled a large force of Seminole and Creek warriors and African American soldiers here for planned attacks on Georgia. The war ended before the attacks could take place.

In May of 1814, Colonel Nicolls withdrew from Florida, but left his fort, its artillery and a massive stockpile of arms and ammunition in the hands of his former allies. Most of the Native American warriors soon drifted away, but a colony of several hundred African Americans remained. Farms were established along the riverbanks near the fort and the occupants continued to fly the British flag over their settlement.

The colony naturally became a beacon for slaves living on the plantations of the Southeast and numbers slipped away from bondage to seek freedom at the black settlement on the Apalachicola. U.S. officials began calling the establishment the "Negro Fort" in their reports and demanded that the Spanish take action to destroy it and return its occupants to slavery.

Before the Spanish could act, however, the United States launched a combined land and sea operation against the fort. Reinforced by several hundred friendly Creek warriors, Lt. Col. Duncan L. Clinch and 112 men from the 4th United States Infantry surrounded the fort in July of 1816 and demanded its surrender. The commander of the fort, a former slave named Garcon who had served as a sergeant major in the British forces, replied with a cannon shot.

U.S. forces launched their main attack at 5 a.m. on July 27, 1816, when Gunboats #149 and #154 moved upstream to within range of the fort. The cannon of the fort opened fire, but the shots went wide and did no damage. The sailors, meanwhile, fired four rounds at the fort to test the range and then loaded their guns with cannonballs they had heated until they were red hot.

They hoped to set the wooden parts of the fort on fire, but instead the first "hot shot" fired sailed directly through the open door of a gunpowder magazine and blew the massive fort to bits. The explosion killed 270 of the 320 men, women and children in the fort and injured most of the survivors.

Garcon was captured and executed, as was a Choctaw chief in the fort. The other survivors of the blast were carried to Georgia where they were claimed by plantation owners.

Click here to learn more about this dramatic episode of Florida history and to see photographs of the site of the deadly explosion.