1739: The Stono Rebellion takes place on September 9. Fort Mose The Florida Historical Society Thanks Our Sponsors: A haven for refugee slaves from the Southern colonies to the north, Fort Mose is considered the "premier site on the Florida Black Heritage Trail". Manuel Montiano established Fort Mose in 1738, according to the Fort Mose Historical Society. A formerly enslaved African led the free black militia of Fort Mose. [22] They attended Mass in a wooden chapel where their priest also lived. This tidal estuary was a rich source of food. Fort Mose became the site of the first free black community in what is now the United States. Florida's Spanish Gov. Established in 1738, Fort Mose was the first free black settlement in what is now the United States. An archeological excavation in 1986, led by Kathleen A. Deagan and historian Jane Landers revealed the site of the original Fort Mose,[26] as well as the second facility constructed in 1752. In that year, a fortified town named Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose was constructed on St. Augustine’s northernmost border. This placed additional hardship on the English plantation owners and resulted in a military expedition by British General James Oglethorpe against Fort Mose and St. Augustine. Museum Hours & Fees. 15 Fort Mose Trail, St. Augustine, FL 32084. It was established in 1738 – more than 120 years before the Emancipation Proclamation and 80 years before Florida became a U.S. territory. Established by Colonial Spanish Florida’s Governor Manuel Montiano, Fort Mose provided a much needed sanctuary to Africans who were fighting for freedom from the English Colony of Carolina. He had been captured by slave traders and shipped across the Atlantic to the colony of Carolina,[9] from where, he, like many other black enslaved persons, escaped and sought refuge in Spanish Florida. There, they re-established their community as Ceiba Mocha. In the first year of excavating the archaeologists uncovered remains of fort structures, including its moat, clay-daubed earthen walls and the wooden structures inside the walls. Manuel Montiano in 1738, but Africans began fleeing to Spanish Florida early than that. *The founding of Fort Mose occurred on this date in 1738. By 1738, more than 100 freedom seekers had achieved asylum. Public Domain. One of the earliest hopes for Black sanctuary was Fort Mose, Florida, the first known free Black settlement in British North America. Fort Mose was considered the city's northern defense against invading British. This will be considered the first permanent Black American settlement. Fort Mose is the site of the first free African settlement in the United States. Stono Rebellion: September 9, 1739 . Fort Mose would be considered the first permanent Black American settlement in the Americas. Fort Mose Historic State Park in St. Augustine, Florida, the site of America's first free black community. Colonial Spanish Florida’s Governor Manuel Montiano established the … Hundreds of thousands of enslaved Africans were imported in the 18th century to the Carolinas, where their labor was essential to the plantation economy. Late last month, the United Nations added Fort Mose to its Slave Routes Project as a Site of Memory. [6] By 1742 the community had grown into a maroon settlement similar to those in other European colonies in the Americas, and the Spanish utilized the settlement as the first line of defence against outside incursions into Florida.[7]. The empty site was demolished by the British in 1812, during the War of 1812. They created a frontier community. As early as 1689, the colonial authorities of Spanish Florida had begun to offer asylum to escaped slaves fleeing from the Virginia Colony. Fort Mose: The First Black American Settlement . For years, the warriors valiantly protected St. Augustine. More than 300 years ago, courageous Africans escaped from enslavement in British colonies. [5] This was the network in the antebellum years preceding the American Civil War by which slaves escaped to freedom, most often to the North and Canada, but also to the Bahamas and Mexico. [24], Fort Mose's location on the small tidal channel called Mose Creek (Caño Mose) gave the Mose settlers access to the estuarine mud flats, oyster bars, salt marshes, and other tidal creeks of the North River, which joins the Matanzas River to form Matanzas Bay, St. Augustine's harbor. Along they way, they sought assistance from Natives, thus creating the first ‘underground railroad’. In the 18th century, two Fort Mose sites existed, one that the Spanish occupied between 1737 and 1740, and another occupied between 1752 and 1763. The 24-acre (9.7 ha) site is now protected as a Florida Sta… [27], Modern identification and recovery of the Fort Mose site, U.S. National Register of Historic Places, "El Fuerte Mosé: Primera Comunidad Negra Libre", "Legacy of Fort Mose - Archaeology Magazine Archive", Aboard the Underground Railroad – Fort Mose Site, "Finding Freedom in Florida: Native Peoples, African Americans, and Colonists, 1670-1816", "The Atlantic Transformations of Francisco Menéndez", "Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose: A Free Black Town in Spanish Colonial Florida", "Fort Mose's Call To Freedom. The new governor forcibly relocated most of the free blacks back into the defensive settlement, from the more cosmopolitan, multilingual culture of St. They hd more than 20 households. Analysis of faunal remains found at the site by the team zooarchaeologist Elizabeth Reitz indicated that the Mose villagers had a diet very similar to that of the nearby Indian communities, with a heavy dependence on marine proteins and wild foods.[25]. His status as a leader was solidified with the Spanish colonial authorities when he helped defend the city from a British attack led by John Palmer in 1728, and distinguished himself by his bravery. It contains material not typically found in a children's book: an index, a long list of sources, internet resources, and documentation for all the illustrations. Your membership supports our living history, restoration and preservation projects! In the 1730s, a black Spanish community formed in St. Augustine, the capital of Spanish Florida, and founded a town called Fort Mose. The black militia fought beside Spanish regular soldiers against British forces under James Oglethorpe, who launched an attack St. Augustine in 1740 during the War of Jenkins' Ear; these troops also participated in the unsuccessful Spanish counterattack against the colony of Georgia in 1742. It is the first major revolt by enslaved people in South Carolina. [5] The fort has also been called Fort Moosa or Fort Mossa, variants of the Spanish pronunciation. [10] He was the de facto leader of the maroon community at Mose. Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose (Fort Mose) is established in present-day Florida by freedom seekers. Located just north of St. Augustine, Florida, Fort Mose played an important role in the development of colonial North America. Fort Mose became the site of the first free black community in what is now the United States. A traveling museum exhibit, Fort Mose: America's Black Fortress of Freedom, was developed and opened at the Museum of Science and History in Jacksonville in February 1994. Florida's Little-known Underground Railroad Was the Escape Route Taken by Slaves Who Fled to the State in the 1700s and Established America's First Black Town", "(13) Fort Mose: Earliest Free African-American Town in the United States", "Fort Mose: America's Black Colonial Fortress of Freedom", The National Park Service – Links to the Past, "Fort Mose: A Legacy That Can Not Be Ignored", Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, History of the National Register of Historic Places, Independence of Spanish continental Americas, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, northernmost France, Law of coartación (which allowed slaves to buy their freedom, and that of others), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fort_Mose_Historic_State_Park&oldid=1006968034, National Register of Historic Places in St. Johns County, Florida, Former populated places in St. Johns County, Florida, Forts on the National Register of Historic Places in Florida, 1738 establishments in the Spanish Empire, Populated places established by African Americans, Parks on the National Register of Historic Places in Florida, Populated places on the Underground Railroad, Demolished buildings and structures in Florida, Articles using NRISref without a reference number, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages using infobox NRHP with governing body, Wikipedia articles with WorldCat-VIAF identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 15 February 2021, at 20:03. Fort Mose is the "premier site on the Florida Black Heritage Trail". They fled southward on foot to Spanish St. Augustine, crossing swamps and dense tropical forests. If they accepted Catholicism and were baptized with Christian names, and those capable served in the colonial militia, the Spanish treated them as free. Today, Fort Mose is recognized as a significant local, national and international historic landmark. [21] Their discoveries showed that Africans played important roles in the geopolitical conflicts between European colonial powers in the southeast of what is now the United States. In 1738, the Spanish governor of Florida chartered the settlement of Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose, or Fort Mose for short, as a settlement for those fleeing slavery from the English colonies in the Carolinas. An African American community of freedom established by the Spanish in 1738, the fort was a major defensive point for St. Augustine. [13] During the Stono revolt, several dozen Africans believed to be from the Kingdom of Kongo tried to reach Spanish Florida. [14] While struggling to make their way to freedom in Florida, they had frequent interactions with many Native American peoples. The Spanish colony needed skilled laborers, and the freedmen strengthened St. Augustine's military forces. Fellow blacks and their Indian allies helped runaways flee southward to Florida. A formerly enslaved African led the free black militia of Fort Mose. Located just north of St. Augustine, Florida, Fort Mose played an important role in the development of colonial North America. The first freedom seekers arrived in 1687. Fort Mose Historic State Park (originally known as Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose ) is a U.S. National Historic Landmark (designated as such on October 12, 1994), located two miles north of St. Augustine, Florida, on the edge of a salt marsh on the western side of the waterway separating the mainland from the coastal barrier islands. Established in 1738, Fort Mose was the first free black settlement in what is now the United States. The story of Fort Mose is told in a juvenile book published in 2010. As Africans continued to flee Carolina, frontier skirmishes between the English, Spanish, and their Native American allies threatened to escalate into war. Established in 1738, Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose, or Fort Mose, became the first free black settlement 38 years before the initial formation of what is now known as the United States of America.