The Battle of Negro Fort by Matthew J. Clavin

Author:Matthew J. Clavin [Clavin, Matthew J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HIS036040 History / United States / 19th Century
Publisher: NYU Press

Figure 5.1. The drawing details the smaller Fort Gadsden, which American troops built on Prospect Bluff in 1818, while also providing a clear outline of Negro Fort’s outer perimeter and interior citadel. Courtesy of State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory, www.floridamemory.com.

Having forced the enemy to flee, the American army aimed for Fort St. Marks. After arriving at the Spanish outpost several days later, Jackson informed Commander Francisco Caso y Luengo of his reason for returning to Florida: “To chastise a savage foe, who, combined with the lawless band of negro brigands, have, for some time past, been carrying on a cruel and unprovoked war against the citizens of the United States.” Jackson further explained that as “Indians and negroes” had received military supplies from the Spanish station in recent months, “the immutable principle of self-defence” required that the American troops take immediate possession of its garrison.69 When Luengo denied having supplied any parties with weapons of war, Jackson declared that his American and Creek forces would remain in control of Fort St. Marks regardless of the thoughts of the Spanish government. He added that any further discussion of the matter would have to wait, as the war “against our common enemy should not be retarded by a tedious negotiation.”70

In the coming days, Jackson made his authority clear in a variety of ways. He began by taking custody of Alexander Arbuthnot, who was already being held at the fort under the authority of the Spanish commandant. Jackson then ordered the arrest and execution of two Indian chiefs believed to be conspiring against the United States. Among them was the Prophet Josiah Francis, who had traveled to London with Edward Nicolls two years earlier in an effort to gain further assistance from the British government for his people. Lastly, Jackson saw to the release of William Hambly and Edmund Doyle, who almost immediately began assisting the US military with its efforts in Florida. Jackson became quite enamored of Hambly, whom he employed as an interpreter and later sent to Washington to meet with President James Monroe. From Spanish store clerk to British lieutenant, Indian captive, and American emissary, Hambly lived a more interesting and colorful life than most.71

With the United States in complete control of Fort St. Marks, Jackson set his sights on Nero’s Town and Bowlegs’s Town. Though often remembered as an effort to secure the American border, the ensuing Battle of Suwannee was essentially another federally sponsored slave-hunting expedition. Arbuthnot learned as much during his brief incarceration at Fort St. Marks. An American army deserter came to the fort and revealed that the United States’ primary motivation for attacking the two settlements was not to secure the southern border but “to destroy the black population at Suwanee.”72

As had happened before the Battle of Negro Fort, national media justified the invasion of Suwannee by depicting the community’s residents as rebellious slaves and Indian savages, who, along with their foreign allies, threatened the peace and security of the southern frontier. One anonymous

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