Siege of Fort Mose

Battle of Fort Mose
	Part of theWar of Jenkins' Ear
	; Site of the old fort
Date	14 June 1740
Location	Fort Mose,Florida29°55′40.01″N81°19′31.01″W/ 29.9277806°N 81.3252806°W
Result	Spanish victory
Belligerents
Great Britain	Spain
Commanders and leaders
Col. John Palmer†	Cap.Antonio Salgado; Francisco Menéndez
Strength
170 regulars and Indians	300 regulars; some militia; Indian auxiliaries; free black auxiliaries
Casualties and losses
68–75 killed; 34 captured	10 killed; 20 wounded
	class=notpageimage\|Location within Florida Siege of Fort Mose (North America)

TheBattle of Fort Mose(often calledBloody Mose,orBloody Moosa) was a significant action of theWar of Jenkins' Earthat took place on June 14, 1740 inSpanish Florida.^[7]Captain Antonio Salgado commanded aSpanishcolumn of 300regulartroops, backed by thefree blackmilitia underFrancisco Menéndezand alliedSeminolewarriors consisting ofIndian auxiliaries.They stormedFort Mose,a strategically crucial position newly held by 170Britishsoldiers under Colonel John Palmer.^[8]Palmer and his garrison had taken the fort from the Spanish as part ofJames Oglethorpe's offensive to captureSt. Augustine.

Taken by surprise, the British garrison was virtually annihilated.^[8]Colonel Palmer, three captains and three lieutenants were among the British troops killed in action.^[6]The battle destroyed the fort. The Spanish did not rebuild it until 1752.^[9]^[10]

Background

Located two miles north of St. Augustine,Fort Mosewas established in 1738 by the Spanish as a refuge forfugitive slavesescaping from the colonies ofGeorgiaandSouth Carolina.Forty-five years earlier, in 1693,King Charles IIhad ordered his Florida colonists to give all runaway slaves from theVirginia Colonyfreedom and protection if they converted to Catholicism and agreed to serve Spain.^[11]

The fort consisted of a church, a wall of timber with some towers, and some twenty houses inhabited by a hundred people.^[12]Themaroonswere commissioned as Spanish militia by GovernorManuel de Montianoand put under the command of CaptainFrancisco Menéndez,amulattoorcreoleof African-Spanish descent, who had escaped from slavery in the colony South Carolina.^[11]

The fort, to the Spanish, served as both a colony of freedmen and asSpanish Florida's front-line of defense against possible incursions from theSouthern colonies.Word of the free black settlement reached the Province of South Carolina; it is believed to have helped inspire theStono Rebellionin September 1739. During the slave revolt, several dozen blacks headed for Spanish Florida, and were recruited into the colonial militia.^[12]^[13]^[14]

At the outbreak of the War of Jenkins’ Ear in 1739, GeneralJames Oglethorpe,governor of Georgia, encouraged by some successful raids made by the British and their Indian allies in the frontier, decided to raise a significant expedition to captureSt. Augustine,capital ofSpanish Florida.^[15]As part of the campaign, he realized his forces had to capture and hold Fort Mose.^{[citation needed]}

Oglethorpe launched his campaign. Regular troops from South Carolina and Georgia, militia volunteers, about 600 allied IndianCreekandUchiseallies, and about 800 blacks as auxiliaries made up the expedition, which was supported at sea by seven ships of theRoyal Navy.^[15]Montiano, who had 600 regulars including reinforcements recently arrived fromCuba,began toentrenchhis position. On several occasions he attempted to unsuccessfully attack the British lines by taking them by surprise.^[2]

Battle

Approaching St. Augustine, a British party under Colonel John Palmer, composed of 170 men belonging to the Georgia colonial militia, the Highland Independent Company of Darien, and auxiliary native allies, rapidly occupied Fort Mose, strategically sited on a vital travel route.^[8]The British forces suffered from conflicts in command and control. The Highlanders were primarily Gaelic speaking and were unimpressed with Colonel Palmer's leadership. For his part, Colonel Palmer was likewise distrustful of the Highlanders' abilities as disciplined soldiers.

Manuel de Montiano had ordered the fort abandoned after some of its inhabitants had been killed by Indian allies of the British. The free black residents moved to St. Augustine.^{[citation needed]}

While the Oglethorpe expedition laid siege to St. Augustine, Montiano considered his options. Knowing the strategic importance of Fort Mose, and realizing its vulnerabilities, Montiano decided to undertake acounter-offensiveoperation. At dawn on June 14, Captain Antonio Salgado commanded Spanish regulars, and Francisco Menéndez led the maroon militia and Seminole Indian auxiliaries, in a surprise attack on Mose.^[2]^[4]The attack was initiated two hours before the British soldiers awoke so that they could not prepare their arms for defense.^[16]About 75 of the British troops were killed and 34 were captured in bloodyhand-to-hand combatwith swords, muskets, and clubs.^[4]

Aftermath

The Spanish victory at Fort Mose demoralized the badly divided British forces and was a significant factor in Oglethorpe's withdrawal toSavannah.^[4]In late June St. Augustine was relieved by Spanish forces fromHavana,and the Royal Navy's warships abandoned the land forces.^[4]Governor Montiano commended the maroons for their bravery.^[16]Although Fort Mose had been destroyed during the siege, its former residents were resettled in St. Augustine for the next decade as free and equal Spanish colonial citizens.^[16]

When the Spanish rebuilt the fort in 1752, free blacks returned there. After the British victory against the French in theSeven Years' War,it took overEast Floridain a related trade with Spain. Most of the residents and military evacuated toCuba,andFrancisco Menéndezand most of the free blacks went with them.^[17]^[18]

Notes

^^a ^bWasserman p. 61
^^a ^b ^cMartínez Láinez/Canales p. 239
^^a ^bQuesada p. 49
^^a ^b ^c ^d ^eLanders p. 37
^Marley p. 254
^^a ^bGómez
^Fischer, David Hackett (2022).African Founders: How Enslaved People Expanded American Ideals.Simon and Schuster. p. 684.ISBN 978-1-9821-4511-8.
^^a ^b ^cBurnett p. 167
^Jones p. 13
^Henderson p. 94
^^a ^bPatrick Riordan (Summer 1996)."Finding Freedom in Florida: Native Peoples, African Americans, and Colonists, 1670–1816".The Florida Historical Quarterly.75(1). Florida Historical Society: 30.
^^a ^bMartínez Láinez/Canales p. 236
^Linebaugh, p. 250
^Peter Linebaugh; Marcus Rediker (2000).The Many-headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves, Commoners, and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic.Beacon Press. p. 205.ISBN 978-0-8070-5007-1.
^^a ^bLanders p. 35
^^a ^b ^cWasserman p. 96
^Jane Landers (1990)."Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose: A Free Black Town in Spanish Colonial Florida".The American Historical Review.95(1). Oxford University Press: 29.doi:10.2307/2162952.ISSN 0002-8762.JSTOR 2162952.
^Kathleen A. Deagan; Darcie A. MacMahon (1995).Fort Mose: Colonial America's Black Fortress of Freedom.University Press of Florida. p. 17.ISBN 978-0-8130-1352-7.

References

Burnett, Gene M. (1997).Florida's Past: People and Events That Shaped the State.Pineapple Press Inc.ISBN 978-1-56164-139-0
De Quesada, A. M. (2006).A History of Florida Forts: Florida's Lonely Outposts.The History Press.ISBN 978-1-59629-104-1
Gómez, Santiago:La Guerra de la Oreja de Jenkins. Combates en el Caribe. Operaciones principales.Revista de Historia Naval(in Spanish)
Henderson, Ann L. (1991).Spanish Pathways in Florida, 1492–1992.Pineapple Press Inc.ISBN 978-1-56164-004-1
Jones, Maxine D.; McCarthy, Kevin M. (1993).African Americans in Florida.Pineapple Press Inc.ISBN 978-1-56164-031-7
Landers, Jane (1999).Black Society in Spanish Florida.University of Illinois Press.ISBN 978-0-252-06753-2
Linebaugh, Peter and Marcus Rediker (2001).The Many-headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves, Commoners, and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic.Beacon Press.ISBN 978-0-8070-5007-1.
Marley, David (1998).Wars of the Americas: a Chronology of Armed Conflict in the New World, 1492 to the Present.ABC-CLIO.ISBN 978-0-87436-837-6
Martínez Laínez, Fernando; Canales, Carlos (2009).Banderas Lejanas: la Exploración, Conquista y Defensa por España del Territorio de los Actuales Estados Unidos.EDAF.ISBN 978-84-414-2119-6
Riordan, Patrick. "Finding Freedom in Florida: Native Peoples, African Americans, and Colonists, 1670–1816",Florida Historical Quarterly 75(1), 1996, pp. 25–44, at JSTOR.
Twyman, Bruce Edward. The Black Seminole Legacy and Northern American Politics, 1693–1845. Washington: Howard University Press, 1999.
Wasserman, Adam (2009).A People's History of Florida 1513–1876: How Africans, Seminoles, Women, and Lower Class Whites Shaped the Sunshine State.Adam Wasserman.ISBN 978-1-4421-6709-4

[Wasserman61-1] Wasserman p. 61

[Lainez239-2] Martínez Láinez/Canales p. 239

[Quesada-3] Quesada p. 49

[Landers37-4] Landers p. 37

[5] Marley p. 254

[todoababor-6] Gómez

[Fischer2022-7] Fischer, David Hackett (2022).African Founders: How Enslaved People Expanded American Ideals.Simon and Schuster. p. 684.ISBN 978-1-9821-4511-8.

[Burnett-8] Burnett p. 167

[9] Jones p. 13

[10] Henderson p. 94

[Riordan1996-11] Patrick Riordan (Summer 1996)."Finding Freedom in Florida: Native Peoples, African Americans, and Colonists, 1670–1816".The Florida Historical Quarterly.75(1). Florida Historical Society: 30.

[Lainez236-12] Martínez Láinez/Canales p. 236

[linebaugh-13] Linebaugh, p. 250

[LinebaughRediker2000-14] Peter Linebaugh; Marcus Rediker (2000).The Many-headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves, Commoners, and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic.Beacon Press. p. 205.ISBN 978-0-8070-5007-1.

[Landers35-15] Landers p. 35

[Wasserman96-16] Wasserman p. 96

[Landers1990-17] Jane Landers (1990)."Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose: A Free Black Town in Spanish Colonial Florida".The American Historical Review.95(1). Oxford University Press: 29.doi:10.2307/2162952.ISSN 0002-8762.JSTOR 2162952.

[DeaganMacMahon1995-18] Kathleen A. Deagan; Darcie A. MacMahon (1995).Fort Mose: Colonial America's Black Fortress of Freedom.University Press of Florida. p. 17.ISBN 978-0-8130-1352-7.

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Background

Battle

Aftermath

See also

Notes

References