The Seminole Wars...No the Gullah Wars. A war oblivious to African Americans
- Thread starter Bawon Samedi
- Start date
Connecting the dots even more...
Tye(c. 1753–1780), the black brigade, etc, the Caribbean and the start of free northern states
Josef Korbel School Professor, Alan Gilbert, publishes new book; “Black Patriots and Loyalists: Fighting for Emancipation in the War for Independence”
According to author Alan Gilbert, in his newly published book; “Black Patriots and Loyalists: Fighting for Emancipation in the War for Independence,” there were two revolutions in America in the mid-1770s, one for Independence whose history is seemingly well-known, the other for emancipation of slaves, long buried on both side of the Atlantic. Alan Gilbert Black Patriots and Loyalists: Fighting for Emancipation in the War for Independence published May 20th [the book is just arriving in stores now] by University of Chicago Press tells the remarkable story of this second revolution to make American freedom the freedom not of the few (male slave-owners, the propertied along with white artisans) but of the many.
These two revolutions moved often in opposition, but sometimes in harmony. George Washington relied on black troops, particularly the First Rhode Island Regiment, at Yorktown. Under the command of his aides John Laurens and Alexander Hamilton, black soldiers stormed and took the two crucial British positions and decided the battle.
But the dark secret of the American Revolution and the reason that historians, until recently, have ignored the leading role of black soldiers on both sides is the recruitment of escaped slaves by the British and their later leaving for freedom with the British.
Starting in 1772, Royal Governor of Virginia Dunmore threatened to free all the slaves and indentured servants of American rebels and raze their mansions to the ground. In 1773, Chief Justice Mansfield in Britain rule that the slave James Somersett was free on British soil. But if slavery was not legal in Britain, how long would it remain legal in the colonies?
Poor whites were also often abolitionists. Sailors, black and white, had learned from slave ***uprisings in the Caribbean*** and took the word to London and Boston and Charleston. Quakers had been opposed to slavery since the journeys and conversation of John Woolman in the 1750s. With competition among Protestant sects, their influence spread. In 1775, the New Light Presbyterian minister Samuel Hopkins in Providence denounced bondage as “a sin of crimson dye.” He wisely warned that Patriots must free their slaves now to prevent the British from mobilizing them against the revolution.
Around every owner’s table as revolution approach, Patriots denounced American enslavement by the Crown. As the servants cleaned, did they not think: but what about my natural rights? And the measure, as the Quaker David Cooper wrote, was clear enough. Patriots rebelled over arbitrary Royal tax on tea. They spoke of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” But what is a tax on tea compared to the enslavement (physical and intimate) of a human being for her whole life?
As John Adams reported of the South, a long train of information from house slaves to field slaves travelled hundreds of miles. As James Madison said, potential slave insurrection was the “Achilles’ heel” of the American Revolution and that word of uprisings in Virginia and elsewhere, increasing in 1773-74, must be, at all costs suppressed.
Samuel Johnson, the famous British essayist quipped: “How come we hear the greatest yelps for liberty from the drivers of slaves?”
In South Carolina, Henry Laurens, soon to be the second President of the Continental Congress, helped railroad a free black sea captain, Thomas Jeremiah, for allegedly plotting a slave uprising to greet the British troops sailing in Charleston. Some Patriots and the British Governor worked to free Jeremiah against whom there was no reliable evidence and towards whom the law was misapplied. A Patriot-led “Court” beheaded him and burned his body.
Laurens also plotted a mission with the Georgia Council of Safety to massacre maroons – escaped blacks who were not participants in the war at Tybee Island.
In Virginia, Patrick henry called for using the militia to present slaves from escaping. His riveting “Give me liberty or give me death!” also meant: give me bondage over others or give me death!
Prefiguring the Civil War, this book startlingly reveals, the South seceded from Britain primarily to preserve bondage. The Battle of Great Bridge where Lord Dunmore’s forces, numbering 600, were half black, made up of a newly recruited Royal Ethiopian Regiment, was an early Patriot victory. But one hears in history texts of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, and not of battles in the South which previously have been “whited out.”
Fortunately, George Washington was more a statesman than a slave owner. In answer to the British, he allowed Rhode Island in 1778 to recruit an all-black and Narragansett indian regiment. They fought throughout the war – most mainly white militias served only for 10 months – and had become, by Yorktown, the most disciplined and determined American fighters.
John Laurens, the son of Henry, had studied in Switzerland, learned from Rousseau that the two words slavery and right can never go together, and led the fight in the American leadership for abolition. In 1779, the Continental Congress passed a resolution calling for the freeing of 5,000 slaves in South Carolina and Georgia in exchange for soldiering. Unlike the Crown which freed slaves simply opportunistically, Gilbert shows, these forces fought to make the American revolution consistently for freedom.
Georg Daniel Flohr, a German private with a French unit allied to the Patriots, walked around the field at Yorktown. In his diary, he reported that most of the corpses on both sides were “Mohren” (Moors). Until this book, this has been one of the most deeply kept secrets of the American Revolution.
The military competition to free and recruit slaves nearly resulted in gradual emancipation in the American Revolution. As Gilbert shows, other independence movements of black and brown people in the Hemisphere, long neglected in the comparative study of revolutions, resulted at least in gradual emancipation. They did in the North, too. Why slavery survived the American revolution in the South, is, as Black Patriots and Loyalists shows, something of a mystery.
What happened during the Revolutionary war to cause free states?
TO BE CONTINUED IN NEXT POST
Tye(c. 1753–1780), the black brigade, etc, the Caribbean and the start of free northern states
Josef Korbel School Professor, Alan Gilbert, publishes new book; “Black Patriots and Loyalists: Fighting for Emancipation in the War for Independence”
According to author Alan Gilbert, in his newly published book; “Black Patriots and Loyalists: Fighting for Emancipation in the War for Independence,” there were two revolutions in America in the mid-1770s, one for Independence whose history is seemingly well-known, the other for emancipation of slaves, long buried on both side of the Atlantic. Alan Gilbert Black Patriots and Loyalists: Fighting for Emancipation in the War for Independence published May 20th [the book is just arriving in stores now] by University of Chicago Press tells the remarkable story of this second revolution to make American freedom the freedom not of the few (male slave-owners, the propertied along with white artisans) but of the many.
These two revolutions moved often in opposition, but sometimes in harmony. George Washington relied on black troops, particularly the First Rhode Island Regiment, at Yorktown. Under the command of his aides John Laurens and Alexander Hamilton, black soldiers stormed and took the two crucial British positions and decided the battle.
But the dark secret of the American Revolution and the reason that historians, until recently, have ignored the leading role of black soldiers on both sides is the recruitment of escaped slaves by the British and their later leaving for freedom with the British.
Starting in 1772, Royal Governor of Virginia Dunmore threatened to free all the slaves and indentured servants of American rebels and raze their mansions to the ground. In 1773, Chief Justice Mansfield in Britain rule that the slave James Somersett was free on British soil. But if slavery was not legal in Britain, how long would it remain legal in the colonies?
Poor whites were also often abolitionists. Sailors, black and white, had learned from slave ***uprisings in the Caribbean*** and took the word to London and Boston and Charleston. Quakers had been opposed to slavery since the journeys and conversation of John Woolman in the 1750s. With competition among Protestant sects, their influence spread. In 1775, the New Light Presbyterian minister Samuel Hopkins in Providence denounced bondage as “a sin of crimson dye.” He wisely warned that Patriots must free their slaves now to prevent the British from mobilizing them against the revolution.
Around every owner’s table as revolution approach, Patriots denounced American enslavement by the Crown. As the servants cleaned, did they not think: but what about my natural rights? And the measure, as the Quaker David Cooper wrote, was clear enough. Patriots rebelled over arbitrary Royal tax on tea. They spoke of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” But what is a tax on tea compared to the enslavement (physical and intimate) of a human being for her whole life?
As John Adams reported of the South, a long train of information from house slaves to field slaves travelled hundreds of miles. As James Madison said, potential slave insurrection was the “Achilles’ heel” of the American Revolution and that word of uprisings in Virginia and elsewhere, increasing in 1773-74, must be, at all costs suppressed.
Samuel Johnson, the famous British essayist quipped: “How come we hear the greatest yelps for liberty from the drivers of slaves?”
In South Carolina, Henry Laurens, soon to be the second President of the Continental Congress, helped railroad a free black sea captain, Thomas Jeremiah, for allegedly plotting a slave uprising to greet the British troops sailing in Charleston. Some Patriots and the British Governor worked to free Jeremiah against whom there was no reliable evidence and towards whom the law was misapplied. A Patriot-led “Court” beheaded him and burned his body.
Laurens also plotted a mission with the Georgia Council of Safety to massacre maroons – escaped blacks who were not participants in the war at Tybee Island.
In Virginia, Patrick henry called for using the militia to present slaves from escaping. His riveting “Give me liberty or give me death!” also meant: give me bondage over others or give me death!
Prefiguring the Civil War, this book startlingly reveals, the South seceded from Britain primarily to preserve bondage. The Battle of Great Bridge where Lord Dunmore’s forces, numbering 600, were half black, made up of a newly recruited Royal Ethiopian Regiment, was an early Patriot victory. But one hears in history texts of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, and not of battles in the South which previously have been “whited out.”
Fortunately, George Washington was more a statesman than a slave owner. In answer to the British, he allowed Rhode Island in 1778 to recruit an all-black and Narragansett indian regiment. They fought throughout the war – most mainly white militias served only for 10 months – and had become, by Yorktown, the most disciplined and determined American fighters.
John Laurens, the son of Henry, had studied in Switzerland, learned from Rousseau that the two words slavery and right can never go together, and led the fight in the American leadership for abolition. In 1779, the Continental Congress passed a resolution calling for the freeing of 5,000 slaves in South Carolina and Georgia in exchange for soldiering. Unlike the Crown which freed slaves simply opportunistically, Gilbert shows, these forces fought to make the American revolution consistently for freedom.
Georg Daniel Flohr, a German private with a French unit allied to the Patriots, walked around the field at Yorktown. In his diary, he reported that most of the corpses on both sides were “Mohren” (Moors). Until this book, this has been one of the most deeply kept secrets of the American Revolution.
The military competition to free and recruit slaves nearly resulted in gradual emancipation in the American Revolution. As Gilbert shows, other independence movements of black and brown people in the Hemisphere, long neglected in the comparative study of revolutions, resulted at least in gradual emancipation. They did in the North, too. Why slavery survived the American revolution in the South, is, as Black Patriots and Loyalists shows, something of a mystery.
What happened during the Revolutionary war to cause free states?
TO BE CONTINUED IN NEXT POST
The Revolution was a remarkable saga in African-American history. This huge conflict offered an opportunity for vast numbers of slaves to fight, and many did, on both sides, in the hope of earning their freedom.[44] It has been suggested that two revolutions went on at once—the Patriot one against the British, and a second one fought by blacks for their freedom.[45]
Throughout the war, the British repeatedly offered freedom to those slaves who would join their side. This was the first large-scale opportunity in American history for slaves to escape from their bondage. One historian has said, "Thousands of blacks fought with the British."[46] The white Tories were fighting out of loyalty to Great Britain, or out of an attachment to the British Crown, emotions which modern Americans cannot understand. The ex-slaves who joined the British cause were fighting for the most fundamental of American values—freedom—and they were fighting for it in a basic sense which no white Patriot could ever have equaled.
The historical neglect of the black Tories may not come entirely from the fact that they were not on the Patriot side. It may stem as well from the uncomfortable fact that, as an American historian has said regarding the Revolution, "... more often than otherwise, it is the British who are in the right and the Patriots who are in the wrong on the issue of [black] civil rights."[47] The story began when Lord Dunmore, the former royal governor of Virginia, on November 7, 1775, proclaimed freedom for all slaves (or indentured servants) belonging to Patriots, if they were able and willing to bear arms, and joined the British forces. One historian has said, "The proclamation had a profound effect on the war, transforming countless slaveholders into Rebels and drawing thousands of slaves to the Loyalist side."[48] Within a month of the proclamation, more than five hundred slaves left their masters and became Tories. The Ethiopian Regiment was raised, and put on uniforms with "Liberty to Slaves" across the chest. British regulars, white Tories and the Ethiopian Regiment attacked Great Bridge, near Norfolk, Virginia. The attack failed, and thirty-two captured blacks were sold by their captors back into slavery.[49]
Some of the Ethiopian Regiment escaped with Dunmore to New York shortly after the city was captured by the British in 1776. There the regiment was disbanded, but some of its men joined the Black Pioneers. This unit had been formed by the British general Henry Clinton, in North Carolina, from slaves responding to Dunmore's proclamation. (A pioneer in the British Army was a soldier who built bridges and fortifications.)[50]
In August 1775, South Carolina Patriots executed Thomas Jeremiah for treason. Jeremiah was a freed black man allegedly sympathetic to the British. Within three months of his death, five hundred blacks, a tenth of the black population of Charleston, had escaped to join the British forces, and both black and white Tories were raiding Patriot plantations.[51]
At the end of 1775, the British officer Captain William Dalrymple proposed that blacks be used as "irregulars"—that is, for what we now call guerilla warfare.[52] As the war ground on, an increasing number of blacks did indeed fight as Tory irregulars, or with the regular British forces. There can be no doubt that a yearning for freedom was their motivation.
Estimates of the number of slaves who escaped to the British range from twenty thousand to one hundred thousand.[53] Thomas Jefferson estimated that thirty thousand slaves fled their masters just during the brief British invasion of Virginia in 1781.[54] Recent studies show that black soldiers fought in the British forces in large numbers, and one historian has said, that "... black soldiers were the secret of the imperial [British] army in North America."[55]
In Massachusetts, the British organized both all-black and multi-racial units. In 1779, Emmerich's Chasseurs, a Tory unit in New York, included blacks who raided the Patriots. There were black soldiers in De Lancey's Brigade in Savannah. There were blacks in the Royal Artillery units in Savannah, and black dragoons (cavalry). There were also large numbers of black pioneers and other non-combatant troops. At one point, ten per cent of the British forces at Savannah were black. There were substantial numbers of black soldiers in the British forces at Charleston, and analyses of British records show that blacks were represented in British units in Rhode Island at about the same time (1779).[56]
One of the most famous black Tories was an escaped slave named Tye. This charismatic young man escaped in 1775 from his master in New Jersey, at that time a colony where slavery was legal. In Virginia, Colonel Tye joined Dunmore's regiment. After the regiment was disbanded, Colonel Tye fought on the British side in the battle of Monmouth. He then founded a unit which the British called the Black Brigade. The Brigade relentlessly raided Patriot homes and farms in New Jersey, gathered intelligence for the British, kidnapped Patriot leaders, and gathered firewood and provisions for the British Army. Colonel Tye's men became a scourge to the Patriots. They were headquartered in a timber-built fortress at Bull's Ferry, New Jersey. George Washington was so angered by Tye's raids that he sent a thousand troops against the fortress. A force of black and white Tories fought them off after a bloody assault, and the raids went on. Colonel Tye finally died after being wounded in an assault by his men on the home of Joshua Huddy, the Patriot later hanged by William Franklin's Associated Loyalists.[57]
In addition, from at least 1776 through 1779, other black Tories were heavily involved in raids against Patriot forces in New Jersey.[58]
An American historian has said about the war in the South, condescendingly, "The more intelligent and articulate [sic] of the freed slaves were quite frequently used by the British as guides in raiding parties or assigned to the commissary…"[59] (to help round up provisions). Eliza Wilkinson, daughter of slave-holding Patriots, recorded a Tory raid of which she predictably thought one of the most terrible features was the presence of "armed Negroes".[60] Battalions of blacks fought in the successful defense of Savannah against a French and Patriot siege at the end of 1779. One British observer wrote, "Our armed Negroes [were] skirmishing with the rebels the whole afternoon", and, later, "... the armed Negroes brought in two Rebel Dragoons and eight Horses, and killed two Rebels who were in a foraging party."[61] When Lord Cornwallis invaded Virginia in 1781, twenty-three of Jefferson's slaves escaped and joined the British forces.[62] It was said that two or three thousand black Tories were with Cornwallis in the Carolinas.[63] This may have included men and their wives and children, following in the wake of an army which could protect them from their former oppressors........]
Leading to the northern free states (connecting the dots)
TO BE CONTINUED IN NEXT POST
Throughout the war, the British repeatedly offered freedom to those slaves who would join their side. This was the first large-scale opportunity in American history for slaves to escape from their bondage. One historian has said, "Thousands of blacks fought with the British."[46] The white Tories were fighting out of loyalty to Great Britain, or out of an attachment to the British Crown, emotions which modern Americans cannot understand. The ex-slaves who joined the British cause were fighting for the most fundamental of American values—freedom—and they were fighting for it in a basic sense which no white Patriot could ever have equaled.
The historical neglect of the black Tories may not come entirely from the fact that they were not on the Patriot side. It may stem as well from the uncomfortable fact that, as an American historian has said regarding the Revolution, "... more often than otherwise, it is the British who are in the right and the Patriots who are in the wrong on the issue of [black] civil rights."[47] The story began when Lord Dunmore, the former royal governor of Virginia, on November 7, 1775, proclaimed freedom for all slaves (or indentured servants) belonging to Patriots, if they were able and willing to bear arms, and joined the British forces. One historian has said, "The proclamation had a profound effect on the war, transforming countless slaveholders into Rebels and drawing thousands of slaves to the Loyalist side."[48] Within a month of the proclamation, more than five hundred slaves left their masters and became Tories. The Ethiopian Regiment was raised, and put on uniforms with "Liberty to Slaves" across the chest. British regulars, white Tories and the Ethiopian Regiment attacked Great Bridge, near Norfolk, Virginia. The attack failed, and thirty-two captured blacks were sold by their captors back into slavery.[49]
Some of the Ethiopian Regiment escaped with Dunmore to New York shortly after the city was captured by the British in 1776. There the regiment was disbanded, but some of its men joined the Black Pioneers. This unit had been formed by the British general Henry Clinton, in North Carolina, from slaves responding to Dunmore's proclamation. (A pioneer in the British Army was a soldier who built bridges and fortifications.)[50]
In August 1775, South Carolina Patriots executed Thomas Jeremiah for treason. Jeremiah was a freed black man allegedly sympathetic to the British. Within three months of his death, five hundred blacks, a tenth of the black population of Charleston, had escaped to join the British forces, and both black and white Tories were raiding Patriot plantations.[51]
At the end of 1775, the British officer Captain William Dalrymple proposed that blacks be used as "irregulars"—that is, for what we now call guerilla warfare.[52] As the war ground on, an increasing number of blacks did indeed fight as Tory irregulars, or with the regular British forces. There can be no doubt that a yearning for freedom was their motivation.
Estimates of the number of slaves who escaped to the British range from twenty thousand to one hundred thousand.[53] Thomas Jefferson estimated that thirty thousand slaves fled their masters just during the brief British invasion of Virginia in 1781.[54] Recent studies show that black soldiers fought in the British forces in large numbers, and one historian has said, that "... black soldiers were the secret of the imperial [British] army in North America."[55]
In Massachusetts, the British organized both all-black and multi-racial units. In 1779, Emmerich's Chasseurs, a Tory unit in New York, included blacks who raided the Patriots. There were black soldiers in De Lancey's Brigade in Savannah. There were blacks in the Royal Artillery units in Savannah, and black dragoons (cavalry). There were also large numbers of black pioneers and other non-combatant troops. At one point, ten per cent of the British forces at Savannah were black. There were substantial numbers of black soldiers in the British forces at Charleston, and analyses of British records show that blacks were represented in British units in Rhode Island at about the same time (1779).[56]
One of the most famous black Tories was an escaped slave named Tye. This charismatic young man escaped in 1775 from his master in New Jersey, at that time a colony where slavery was legal. In Virginia, Colonel Tye joined Dunmore's regiment. After the regiment was disbanded, Colonel Tye fought on the British side in the battle of Monmouth. He then founded a unit which the British called the Black Brigade. The Brigade relentlessly raided Patriot homes and farms in New Jersey, gathered intelligence for the British, kidnapped Patriot leaders, and gathered firewood and provisions for the British Army. Colonel Tye's men became a scourge to the Patriots. They were headquartered in a timber-built fortress at Bull's Ferry, New Jersey. George Washington was so angered by Tye's raids that he sent a thousand troops against the fortress. A force of black and white Tories fought them off after a bloody assault, and the raids went on. Colonel Tye finally died after being wounded in an assault by his men on the home of Joshua Huddy, the Patriot later hanged by William Franklin's Associated Loyalists.[57]
In addition, from at least 1776 through 1779, other black Tories were heavily involved in raids against Patriot forces in New Jersey.[58]
An American historian has said about the war in the South, condescendingly, "The more intelligent and articulate [sic] of the freed slaves were quite frequently used by the British as guides in raiding parties or assigned to the commissary…"[59] (to help round up provisions). Eliza Wilkinson, daughter of slave-holding Patriots, recorded a Tory raid of which she predictably thought one of the most terrible features was the presence of "armed Negroes".[60] Battalions of blacks fought in the successful defense of Savannah against a French and Patriot siege at the end of 1779. One British observer wrote, "Our armed Negroes [were] skirmishing with the rebels the whole afternoon", and, later, "... the armed Negroes brought in two Rebel Dragoons and eight Horses, and killed two Rebels who were in a foraging party."[61] When Lord Cornwallis invaded Virginia in 1781, twenty-three of Jefferson's slaves escaped and joined the British forces.[62] It was said that two or three thousand black Tories were with Cornwallis in the Carolinas.[63] This may have included men and their wives and children, following in the wake of an army which could protect them from their former oppressors........]
Leading to the northern free states (connecting the dots)
TO BE CONTINUED IN NEXT POST
Background
The Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic States (colonies), including Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, had legally permitted slavery in the 17th, 18th, and even part of the 19th centuries, but in the generation or two before the American Civil War, almost all slaves in such states had been emancipated through a series of statutes.
The first U.S. region by federal law that prohibited slavery was the Northwest Territory, which was ordained free under the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, passed just before the U.S. Constitution was ratified. The states created from this region—Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota —were generally settled by ****New Englanders and American Revolutionary War veterans**** granted land there. Because in this region slavery was prohibited from its inception and separated by the Ohio River from the South—which was pushing an expansion of legal slavery into the west—the concept developed of "free states" in contrast to "slave states."The rural parts of these states, at one time in direct East-West rivalry with the Northeastern commercial states, realigned with the Northeastern states, which were newly free of slavery, and together these regions created the amalgamation of states prohibiting slavery, known in the context of the Civil War as the free states.
Anti-slavery settlers in "Bleeding Kansas" in the 1850s were called Free-Soilers, because they fought (successfully) to include Kansas in the Union as a free state.
Original state-based abolition efforts
Prior to the American Revolution, all of the British North American colonies had slavery, but the Revolutionary War gave impetus to a general anti-slavery sentiment. The Northwest Territory, now known as part of the Midwest, was organized under the Northwest Ordinance with a prohibition on slavery in 1787. Massachusetts accepted that its 1780 Constitution effectively abolished slavery, and several other northern states adopted statutes requiring gradual emancipation. In 1804, New Jersey became the last original state to embark on the course of gradual emancipation.
Conflict over new territories
During the War of 1812, the British accepted as free all slaves who came into their hands, with no conditions as to military service such as had been made in Dunmore's Proclamation in the Revolutionary War. By the end of the War of 1812, the momentum for antislavery reform, state by state, appeared to run out of steam, with half of the states having already abolished slavery (Northeast), prohibited from the start (Midwest) or committed to eliminating slavery, and half committed to continuing the institution indefinitely (South).
The potential for political conflict over slavery at a federal level made politicians concerned about the balance of power in the U.S. Senate, where each State was represented by two Senators. With an equal number of slave states and free states, the United States Senate was equally divided. As the population of the free states began to outstrip the population of the slave states, leading to control of the House of Representatives by free states, the Senate became the preoccupation of slave state politicians interested in maintaining a Congressional veto over federal policy in regard to slavery. As a result of this preoccupation, slave states and free states were often admitted into the Union in pairs to maintain the existing Senate balance between slave and free.
Those free northern states opened the door for the activities of who? (connecting the dots)
Harriet Tubman (1820 – March 10, 1913)
All those re-captured experienced soldiers in virginia, carolinas, and georgia provided knowledge and/or troops for who & what?
John Horse (ca. 1812–1882)
Check the dates and events its all one big continuation from Colonel Tye(c. 1753–1780) to John Horse (ca. 1812–1882) with little pause inbetween
But I'm not done just yet...Not even close...
The Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic States (colonies), including Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, had legally permitted slavery in the 17th, 18th, and even part of the 19th centuries, but in the generation or two before the American Civil War, almost all slaves in such states had been emancipated through a series of statutes.
The first U.S. region by federal law that prohibited slavery was the Northwest Territory, which was ordained free under the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, passed just before the U.S. Constitution was ratified. The states created from this region—Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota —were generally settled by ****New Englanders and American Revolutionary War veterans**** granted land there. Because in this region slavery was prohibited from its inception and separated by the Ohio River from the South—which was pushing an expansion of legal slavery into the west—the concept developed of "free states" in contrast to "slave states."The rural parts of these states, at one time in direct East-West rivalry with the Northeastern commercial states, realigned with the Northeastern states, which were newly free of slavery, and together these regions created the amalgamation of states prohibiting slavery, known in the context of the Civil War as the free states.
Anti-slavery settlers in "Bleeding Kansas" in the 1850s were called Free-Soilers, because they fought (successfully) to include Kansas in the Union as a free state.
Original state-based abolition efforts
Prior to the American Revolution, all of the British North American colonies had slavery, but the Revolutionary War gave impetus to a general anti-slavery sentiment. The Northwest Territory, now known as part of the Midwest, was organized under the Northwest Ordinance with a prohibition on slavery in 1787. Massachusetts accepted that its 1780 Constitution effectively abolished slavery, and several other northern states adopted statutes requiring gradual emancipation. In 1804, New Jersey became the last original state to embark on the course of gradual emancipation.
Conflict over new territories
During the War of 1812, the British accepted as free all slaves who came into their hands, with no conditions as to military service such as had been made in Dunmore's Proclamation in the Revolutionary War. By the end of the War of 1812, the momentum for antislavery reform, state by state, appeared to run out of steam, with half of the states having already abolished slavery (Northeast), prohibited from the start (Midwest) or committed to eliminating slavery, and half committed to continuing the institution indefinitely (South).
The potential for political conflict over slavery at a federal level made politicians concerned about the balance of power in the U.S. Senate, where each State was represented by two Senators. With an equal number of slave states and free states, the United States Senate was equally divided. As the population of the free states began to outstrip the population of the slave states, leading to control of the House of Representatives by free states, the Senate became the preoccupation of slave state politicians interested in maintaining a Congressional veto over federal policy in regard to slavery. As a result of this preoccupation, slave states and free states were often admitted into the Union in pairs to maintain the existing Senate balance between slave and free.
Those free northern states opened the door for the activities of who? (connecting the dots)
Harriet Tubman (1820 – March 10, 1913)
All those re-captured experienced soldiers in virginia, carolinas, and georgia provided knowledge and/or troops for who & what?
John Horse (ca. 1812–1882)
Check the dates and events its all one big continuation from Colonel Tye(c. 1753–1780) to John Horse (ca. 1812–1882) with little pause inbetween
But I'm not done just yet...Not even close...
From @iLLaV3 awesome thread:
We found these negroes in possession of large fields of the finest land, producing large crops of corn, beans, melons, pumpkins, and other esculent vegetables. saw, while riding along the borders of the ponds, fine rice growing; and in the village large corn-cribs were filled, while the houses were larger and more comfortable than those of the Indians themselves."
- Lieutenant George McCall regarding Black Seminoles in 1826
"The negroes ... have, for their numbers, been the most formidable foe, more bloodthirsty, active, and revengeful, than the Indians .... The negro, returned to his original owner, might have remained a few days, when he again would have fled to the swamps, more vindictive than ever.... Ten resolute negroes, with a knowledge of the country, are sufficient to desolate the frontier, from one extent to the other."
- General Jesup
Connecting the dots...
Black Seminoles were decedents of runaway slaves from South Carolina and Georgia.
Originally Spain had tried to enlist the indigenous natives to help defend Florida from the expansionist English, but european diseases practically wiped out the local tribes. Spain then encouraged runaway slaves to migrate to Florida and join their militias, getting freedom in exchange for service. Thousands took up the offer, but many others didn't find military service to their liking, and went to live in the Florida swamps instead.
Both the Seminole indians and the runaway slaves (black Loyalists) sided with the British during the American Revolution and the War of 1812. This brought the two groups together and they both discovered they were natural allies. This also led to inter-marriage. The word "Seminole" is derived from a spanish word, cimarron, which means "runaway", denoting the tribes breakaway status with the Creeks. Cimarron is also the source of the English word "maroon", used to describe the runaway slave communities of Florida.
The seminoles would fake being slave owners in order to protect the maroons, and get tribute from the maroons for doing it. The maroons could live free and prosper. Both gained much needed allies.
Source:
The First Emancipation Proclamation
Again this was one big continuation...Also where are the Gullah's from? That's right. South Carolina and they still live in isolation with their culture still intact:
We found these negroes in possession of large fields of the finest land, producing large crops of corn, beans, melons, pumpkins, and other esculent vegetables. saw, while riding along the borders of the ponds, fine rice growing; and in the village large corn-cribs were filled, while the houses were larger and more comfortable than those of the Indians themselves."
- Lieutenant George McCall regarding Black Seminoles in 1826
"The negroes ... have, for their numbers, been the most formidable foe, more bloodthirsty, active, and revengeful, than the Indians .... The negro, returned to his original owner, might have remained a few days, when he again would have fled to the swamps, more vindictive than ever.... Ten resolute negroes, with a knowledge of the country, are sufficient to desolate the frontier, from one extent to the other."
- General Jesup
Connecting the dots...
Black Seminoles were decedents of runaway slaves from South Carolina and Georgia.
Originally Spain had tried to enlist the indigenous natives to help defend Florida from the expansionist English, but european diseases practically wiped out the local tribes. Spain then encouraged runaway slaves to migrate to Florida and join their militias, getting freedom in exchange for service. Thousands took up the offer, but many others didn't find military service to their liking, and went to live in the Florida swamps instead.
Both the Seminole indians and the runaway slaves (black Loyalists) sided with the British during the American Revolution and the War of 1812. This brought the two groups together and they both discovered they were natural allies. This also led to inter-marriage. The word "Seminole" is derived from a spanish word, cimarron, which means "runaway", denoting the tribes breakaway status with the Creeks. Cimarron is also the source of the English word "maroon", used to describe the runaway slave communities of Florida.
The seminoles would fake being slave owners in order to protect the maroons, and get tribute from the maroons for doing it. The maroons could live free and prosper. Both gained much needed allies.
Source:
The First Emancipation Proclamation
Again this was one big continuation...Also where are the Gullah's from? That's right. South Carolina and they still live in isolation with their culture still intact:
First African American community?
The Attack on the "Negro Fort"
By the spring of 1816 there were more than
300 people living on farms that extended for
miles up the Apalachicola River from the
"Negro Fort." Most were occupied by African
Americans, many of whom had escaped
from slavery in the United States or Spanish
Pensacola.
The well-defended colony of free blacks
offered a natural refuge for individuals fleeing
the forced labors of slavery. As might be
expected, this original "Underground
Railroad" was not viewed favorably by the
U.S. Government. Gen. Edmund P. Gaines
was authorized to move against the fort.
Under orders from Gaines, a battalion from
the 4th Infantry Regiment moved down the
Chattahoochee River from Fort Mitchell in
Alabama and established new posts at Fort
Gaines and Camp Crawford (later Fort Scott)
in Georgia. These new posts provided bases
for a move against the "Negro Fort."
Supplies and artillery for the new forts were
sent via the Gulf of Mexico on two schooners
escorted by U.S. Navy Gunboats #149 and
#154 and Clinch started downstream from
Camp Crawford with 116 men in boats.
When the ships arrived in Apalachicola Bay
they sent a party of sailors into the mouth of
the river for fresh water. The sailors, however,
were attacked by men from the "Negro Fort"
in what became known as the "Watering
Party Massacre."
Reinforced by a large party of U.S.-allied
Creek warriors under the Coweta chief Major
William McIntosh, Clinch surrounded the fort
and demanded its surrender. The garrison
responded by opening fire with their artillery.
On the morning of July 27, 1816, the U.S.
gunboats moved within range of the fort and
opened fire. Cannon fire was returned from
the fort and a brief but intense battle followed.
After firing four shots to test the range, the
sailors loaded their guns with "hot shot"
(cannonballs heated until they were red hot).
The fifth shot overall and the first hot shot
fired by the American vessels sailed over the
wall of the fort and into an open door in the
magazine. The entire "Negro Fort" was blown
to bits in the blink of an eye.
"The explosion was awful and the scene
horrible beyond description," Col. Clinch
reported a short time later. The death toll was
horrendous.
Of the 320 men, women and children in the
fort when the attack began, 270 were killed
and many others were horribly wounded.
Stunned by the devastation and horror, the
soldiers tried to assist the wounded as best
they could. The commander or sergeant
major of the fort was a man named Garcon.
He had been severely wounded in the blast
but was captured alive, as was a refugee
Choctaw chief. Both were instantly executed
by McIntosh's warriors.
The few survivors of the explosion were
carried upstream to Camp Crawford (Fort
Scott) by Clinch and notices posted so their
former "owners" could come to that post and
claim them. The artillery and other supplies
were seized over the objections of Spanish
officers who arrived in Apalachicola Bay a
short time later.
Source:
Explosion of the Negro Fort on the Apalachicola River, FloridaExplosion of the Negro Fort on the Apalachicola River, Florida
The Attack on the "Negro Fort"
By the spring of 1816 there were more than
300 people living on farms that extended for
miles up the Apalachicola River from the
"Negro Fort." Most were occupied by African
Americans, many of whom had escaped
from slavery in the United States or Spanish
Pensacola.
The well-defended colony of free blacks
offered a natural refuge for individuals fleeing
the forced labors of slavery. As might be
expected, this original "Underground
Railroad" was not viewed favorably by the
U.S. Government. Gen. Edmund P. Gaines
was authorized to move against the fort.
Under orders from Gaines, a battalion from
the 4th Infantry Regiment moved down the
Chattahoochee River from Fort Mitchell in
Alabama and established new posts at Fort
Gaines and Camp Crawford (later Fort Scott)
in Georgia. These new posts provided bases
for a move against the "Negro Fort."
Supplies and artillery for the new forts were
sent via the Gulf of Mexico on two schooners
escorted by U.S. Navy Gunboats #149 and
#154 and Clinch started downstream from
Camp Crawford with 116 men in boats.
When the ships arrived in Apalachicola Bay
they sent a party of sailors into the mouth of
the river for fresh water. The sailors, however,
were attacked by men from the "Negro Fort"
in what became known as the "Watering
Party Massacre."
Reinforced by a large party of U.S.-allied
Creek warriors under the Coweta chief Major
William McIntosh, Clinch surrounded the fort
and demanded its surrender. The garrison
responded by opening fire with their artillery.
On the morning of July 27, 1816, the U.S.
gunboats moved within range of the fort and
opened fire. Cannon fire was returned from
the fort and a brief but intense battle followed.
After firing four shots to test the range, the
sailors loaded their guns with "hot shot"
(cannonballs heated until they were red hot).
The fifth shot overall and the first hot shot
fired by the American vessels sailed over the
wall of the fort and into an open door in the
magazine. The entire "Negro Fort" was blown
to bits in the blink of an eye.
"The explosion was awful and the scene
horrible beyond description," Col. Clinch
reported a short time later. The death toll was
horrendous.
Of the 320 men, women and children in the
fort when the attack began, 270 were killed
and many others were horribly wounded.
Stunned by the devastation and horror, the
soldiers tried to assist the wounded as best
they could. The commander or sergeant
major of the fort was a man named Garcon.
He had been severely wounded in the blast
but was captured alive, as was a refugee
Choctaw chief. Both were instantly executed
by McIntosh's warriors.
The few survivors of the explosion were
carried upstream to Camp Crawford (Fort
Scott) by Clinch and notices posted so their
former "owners" could come to that post and
claim them. The artillery and other supplies
were seized over the objections of Spanish
officers who arrived in Apalachicola Bay a
short time later.
Source:
Explosion of the Negro Fort on the Apalachicola River, FloridaExplosion of the Negro Fort on the Apalachicola River, Florida
Connecting the dots EVEN FURTHER.
Fort Moses
While Spain owned Florida in the early 1700s, Great Britain had lands on the north Atlantic coast line. These two nations had overlapping claims from the St. Johns River, up to South Carolina. The slaves from Great Britain's territory fled to Spain's land for freedom. The Spanish took them in as long as they became Catholic and served as militia for the Spanish.
Fort Mose became a freedom home to those slaves who had escaped. African Americans came down the Atlantic coast to be in this Spanish settlement. (see Fort Mose-Underground Railroad connection). This flight of slaves to Florida was not welcomed by the English colonists who felt their economy could not survive without slave labor.
In September of 1739 war erupted between Spain and Great Britain. The governor and founder of the British colony of Georgia, General James Ogelthorpe, then decided that it was time to march on St. Augustine in May of 1740. The British first came to Fort Mose and the inhabitants briefly tried to defend their small outpost, but it was decided that everyone would retreat to St. Augustine for safety. The British then took over Fort Mose.
In June, 137 armed force was sent by Oglethorpe to stop Spaniards from foraging for food and horses outside the city. Oglethorpe, had brought in a great number of soldiers with him to Florida. The attack had combined forces of the 42 British regiment, the Highland Independent Company of Foot (Scottish), South Carolina militia, Georgia volunteers and Indian allies. Captain Hugh Mackay held the real command of the troops whom had settled in the abandoned Fort. A volunteer who held operational control was Colonel John Palmer. Conflicts between Palmer and Mackay and mistrust of South Carolinians and Georgians made for much fighting inside the Fort which was now held by the English.
Six months later, a combined force of Spanish regulars, black militia and Indian allies planned to retake the fort. It was a battle without mercy or prisoners, and would be referred to in English annals as "Bloody Mose." Colonel Palmer knew the attack was coming. He had fought against the Yammasee Indians (Spanish allies) before. He knew that they would attack just before dawn. He got his troops up at 3:00am every morning to prepare for an attack. This attack came on the morning of June 26, 1740. He told them to stay watching since they had heard the Indian war Dance. But, knowing of the fights between Captain Mackay and Col. Palmer, most of the men did not listen to Palmer, and went back to bed.
Then what happened was the Indians attacked with many simultaneous missiles creating a great hurry and confusion. Indians attacked in different groups while Col. Palmer kept telling soldiers not to give up. Col. Palmer's attack plan was this: 1) wait till they shoot 2) half of the soldiers shoot back and fall back 3) the rest of the soldiers come up and do the same. But the Spanish were winning and moving on to reclaim Fort Mose. An Indian prisoner had informed the Spanish that he saw Col. Palmer dead with his head cut off.
During ferocious fighting, the fort was destroyed by fire.
After getting Fort Mose the Spanish had 34 prisoners and 68 dead.
Source:
ThinkQuest
Fort Moses
While Spain owned Florida in the early 1700s, Great Britain had lands on the north Atlantic coast line. These two nations had overlapping claims from the St. Johns River, up to South Carolina. The slaves from Great Britain's territory fled to Spain's land for freedom. The Spanish took them in as long as they became Catholic and served as militia for the Spanish.
Fort Mose became a freedom home to those slaves who had escaped. African Americans came down the Atlantic coast to be in this Spanish settlement. (see Fort Mose-Underground Railroad connection). This flight of slaves to Florida was not welcomed by the English colonists who felt their economy could not survive without slave labor.
In September of 1739 war erupted between Spain and Great Britain. The governor and founder of the British colony of Georgia, General James Ogelthorpe, then decided that it was time to march on St. Augustine in May of 1740. The British first came to Fort Mose and the inhabitants briefly tried to defend their small outpost, but it was decided that everyone would retreat to St. Augustine for safety. The British then took over Fort Mose.
In June, 137 armed force was sent by Oglethorpe to stop Spaniards from foraging for food and horses outside the city. Oglethorpe, had brought in a great number of soldiers with him to Florida. The attack had combined forces of the 42 British regiment, the Highland Independent Company of Foot (Scottish), South Carolina militia, Georgia volunteers and Indian allies. Captain Hugh Mackay held the real command of the troops whom had settled in the abandoned Fort. A volunteer who held operational control was Colonel John Palmer. Conflicts between Palmer and Mackay and mistrust of South Carolinians and Georgians made for much fighting inside the Fort which was now held by the English.
Six months later, a combined force of Spanish regulars, black militia and Indian allies planned to retake the fort. It was a battle without mercy or prisoners, and would be referred to in English annals as "Bloody Mose." Colonel Palmer knew the attack was coming. He had fought against the Yammasee Indians (Spanish allies) before. He knew that they would attack just before dawn. He got his troops up at 3:00am every morning to prepare for an attack. This attack came on the morning of June 26, 1740. He told them to stay watching since they had heard the Indian war Dance. But, knowing of the fights between Captain Mackay and Col. Palmer, most of the men did not listen to Palmer, and went back to bed.
Then what happened was the Indians attacked with many simultaneous missiles creating a great hurry and confusion. Indians attacked in different groups while Col. Palmer kept telling soldiers not to give up. Col. Palmer's attack plan was this: 1) wait till they shoot 2) half of the soldiers shoot back and fall back 3) the rest of the soldiers come up and do the same. But the Spanish were winning and moving on to reclaim Fort Mose. An Indian prisoner had informed the Spanish that he saw Col. Palmer dead with his head cut off.
During ferocious fighting, the fort was destroyed by fire.
After getting Fort Mose the Spanish had 34 prisoners and 68 dead.
Source:
ThinkQuest
More on Fort Moses:
Fort Mose: Birthplace of Freedom
Hidden away in the marshes of St. Augustine, Florida is one of the most important sites in American history: the first free community of ex-slaves, founded in 1738 and called Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose or Fort Mose (pronounced Moh-Say).
More than a century before the Emancipation Proclamation, slaves from the British colonies were able to follow the original "Underground Railroad" which headed not to the north, but rather south, to the Spanish colony of Florida. There they were given their freedom, if they declared their allegiance to the King of Spain and joind the Catholic Church.
Fort Mose was the northern defense of St.Augustine, the nation's oldest city.
The events that took place there should cause all American history textbooks to be rewritten.
African American Community of Freedom - Fort Mose
Fort Mose: Birthplace of Freedom
Hidden away in the marshes of St. Augustine, Florida is one of the most important sites in American history: the first free community of ex-slaves, founded in 1738 and called Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose or Fort Mose (pronounced Moh-Say).
More than a century before the Emancipation Proclamation, slaves from the British colonies were able to follow the original "Underground Railroad" which headed not to the north, but rather south, to the Spanish colony of Florida. There they were given their freedom, if they declared their allegiance to the King of Spain and joind the Catholic Church.
Fort Mose was the northern defense of St.Augustine, the nation's oldest city.
The events that took place there should cause all American history textbooks to be rewritten.
African American Community of Freedom - Fort Mose
This was much larger than the USA, but was felt across the Americas. Ever wonder why the Gullah people have similarities to Maroon/Creole people of the Caribbean?
Today, there are still small Black Seminole communities scattered by war across North America and the West Indies. The "Black Indians" live on Andros Island in the Bahamas where their ancestors escaped from Florida after the First Seminole War. The "Seminole Freedmen," the largest group, live in rural Seminole County, Oklahoma where they are still official members of the Seminole Indian Nation. The "Mascogos" dwell in the dusty desert town of Nacimiento in the State of Coahuila in Northern Mexico. And, finally, the "Scouts" live in Brackettville, Texas outside the walls of the old fort where their grandfathers served in the U.S. Cavalry. These groups have lost almost all contact with one another, but they have all retained the memory of their ancestors' gallant fight for freedom in the Florida wilderness. In 1978, Dr. Ian Hancock discovered that elders among the Texas Scouts still speak a dialect of Gullah—140 years after their ancestors were exiled from Florida and as much as 200 years after their early ancestors escaped from rice plantations in South Carolina and Georgia! In 1980, this writer found that elderly people among the Oklahoma Seminole Freedmen also speak Gullah, while many younger people remember words and phrases once used by their grandparents. Both the Oklahoma and Texas groups, though deeply conscious of their Florida heritage, were unaware of their connection with the Gullah in South Carolina and Georgia. They did not know precisely where their slave ancestors had come from before fleeing into the Florida wilderness. The Oklahoma Seminole Freedmen still possess a rich traditional culture combining both African and American Indian elements. They continue to eat rice as a characteristic part of their diet, sometimes applying a sauce of okra or spinach leaves—like the Gullah, and like their distant relatives in West Africa.
Black Seminoles -- Gullahs Who Escaped From Slavery
Again all this was one complex continuation...
Today, there are still small Black Seminole communities scattered by war across North America and the West Indies. The "Black Indians" live on Andros Island in the Bahamas where their ancestors escaped from Florida after the First Seminole War. The "Seminole Freedmen," the largest group, live in rural Seminole County, Oklahoma where they are still official members of the Seminole Indian Nation. The "Mascogos" dwell in the dusty desert town of Nacimiento in the State of Coahuila in Northern Mexico. And, finally, the "Scouts" live in Brackettville, Texas outside the walls of the old fort where their grandfathers served in the U.S. Cavalry. These groups have lost almost all contact with one another, but they have all retained the memory of their ancestors' gallant fight for freedom in the Florida wilderness. In 1978, Dr. Ian Hancock discovered that elders among the Texas Scouts still speak a dialect of Gullah—140 years after their ancestors were exiled from Florida and as much as 200 years after their early ancestors escaped from rice plantations in South Carolina and Georgia! In 1980, this writer found that elderly people among the Oklahoma Seminole Freedmen also speak Gullah, while many younger people remember words and phrases once used by their grandparents. Both the Oklahoma and Texas groups, though deeply conscious of their Florida heritage, were unaware of their connection with the Gullah in South Carolina and Georgia. They did not know precisely where their slave ancestors had come from before fleeing into the Florida wilderness. The Oklahoma Seminole Freedmen still possess a rich traditional culture combining both African and American Indian elements. They continue to eat rice as a characteristic part of their diet, sometimes applying a sauce of okra or spinach leaves—like the Gullah, and like their distant relatives in West Africa.
Black Seminoles -- Gullahs Who Escaped From Slavery
Again all this was one complex continuation...
Andros Island
What Wikipedia has to say.
After the United States acquired Florida in 1821, Seminoles and black American slaves escaped and sailed to the west coast of Andros by the wrecking sloop Steerwater, where they established the settlement of Red Bays.[47] Hundreds of Black Seminoles and slaves travelling in 1823 by canoe and 27 sloops across the Gulf Stream joined them in 1823, with more arriving in later years. While sometimes called "Black Indians", the descendants of Black Seminoles identify as Bahamians, while acknowledging their connections to the American South.
Andros, Bahamas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
What Wikipedia has to say.
After the United States acquired Florida in 1821, Seminoles and black American slaves escaped and sailed to the west coast of Andros by the wrecking sloop Steerwater, where they established the settlement of Red Bays.[47] Hundreds of Black Seminoles and slaves travelling in 1823 by canoe and 27 sloops across the Gulf Stream joined them in 1823, with more arriving in later years. While sometimes called "Black Indians", the descendants of Black Seminoles identify as Bahamians, while acknowledging their connections to the American South.
Andros, Bahamas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The "Black Seminoles" are really just "Indianized" Gullah people.
From @iLLaV3 link in his thread (you dont know how much good you did by posting it on this site):
First Seminole War
Jackson's objectives in the 1817-1818 war was to destroy Seminole villages and seize the Florida panhandle from the Spanish. The largest fight of the entire war happened when Jackson attacked and destroyed a Black Seminole village at Suwannee River. However, he failed to destroy their military force and was harrassed by the black warriors through most of the campaign.
Despite instructions by Congress not to engage the Spanish, Jackson captured Pensacola and the 175-man garrison in May of 1818, thus ending the war. America eventually gave back West Florida, but the message had been sent to Spain. Within three years Spain had sold Florida to America.
Before President Adams could even act, Jackson's Creek allies led a brutal slave raid deep into Florida, capturing 300 maroons, plundering their plantations, and setting fire to their homes. Almost all of them were sold into slavery. Many of the rest of the Black Seminoles fled the inevitable terror by leaving Florida altogether and going to the Bahamas. Meanwhile the slave raids continued. The white slavers cared little in distinguishing between a black born free and a recent runaway.
Second Seminole War
Jackson becoming president was a nightmare come true. One of his first actions was to implement the Indian Removal Act, which led directly to the infamous Trail of Tears. The Seminoles were to be the last tribe to be moved. Abraham sent a delegation to Oklahoma to look at the land. He discovered that the Seminole land was actually part of Creek country. Jackson had planned to incorporate the Seminoles into their hated rival, slave-code tribe, the Creeks.
Negotiations did not go well.
"Slaves belonging to the Indians have a controlling influence over them and are utterly opposed to any change of residence. No treaty can be enforced as long as these Blacks are present, every Indian who seeks to stay will run from them."
- Governor William DuVal
"The only treaty I will ever execute will be this! [plunging his knife into the treaty] There remains nothing worth words. If the hail rattles, let the flowers be crushed - the stately oak of the forest will lift its head to the sky and the storm, towering and unscathed."
--Osceola at the Fort King negotiations
"Should you...refuse to move, I have then directed the Commanding officer to remove you by force."
- President Jackson
"The white man shall not make me black. I will make the white man red with blood; and then blacken him in the sun and rain ... and the buzzard live upon his flesh."
- Osceola
First Seminole War
Jackson's objectives in the 1817-1818 war was to destroy Seminole villages and seize the Florida panhandle from the Spanish. The largest fight of the entire war happened when Jackson attacked and destroyed a Black Seminole village at Suwannee River. However, he failed to destroy their military force and was harrassed by the black warriors through most of the campaign.
Despite instructions by Congress not to engage the Spanish, Jackson captured Pensacola and the 175-man garrison in May of 1818, thus ending the war. America eventually gave back West Florida, but the message had been sent to Spain. Within three years Spain had sold Florida to America.
Before President Adams could even act, Jackson's Creek allies led a brutal slave raid deep into Florida, capturing 300 maroons, plundering their plantations, and setting fire to their homes. Almost all of them were sold into slavery. Many of the rest of the Black Seminoles fled the inevitable terror by leaving Florida altogether and going to the Bahamas. Meanwhile the slave raids continued. The white slavers cared little in distinguishing between a black born free and a recent runaway.
Second Seminole War
Jackson becoming president was a nightmare come true. One of his first actions was to implement the Indian Removal Act, which led directly to the infamous Trail of Tears. The Seminoles were to be the last tribe to be moved. Abraham sent a delegation to Oklahoma to look at the land. He discovered that the Seminole land was actually part of Creek country. Jackson had planned to incorporate the Seminoles into their hated rival, slave-code tribe, the Creeks.
Negotiations did not go well.
"Slaves belonging to the Indians have a controlling influence over them and are utterly opposed to any change of residence. No treaty can be enforced as long as these Blacks are present, every Indian who seeks to stay will run from them."
- Governor William DuVal
"The only treaty I will ever execute will be this! [plunging his knife into the treaty] There remains nothing worth words. If the hail rattles, let the flowers be crushed - the stately oak of the forest will lift its head to the sky and the storm, towering and unscathed."
--Osceola at the Fort King negotiations
"Should you...refuse to move, I have then directed the Commanding officer to remove you by force."
- President Jackson
"The white man shall not make me black. I will make the white man red with blood; and then blacken him in the sun and rain ... and the buzzard live upon his flesh."
- Osceola