Eric Musgrove
Contributor
This week, we will continue our discussion of Black history in Suwannee County, a history that has spanned nearly five centuries.
Slavery had become a part of American culture well before Suwannee County was established in 1858. The first Africans had arrived in the land that became the United States in 1619 as either indentured servants and/or slaves (the record is unclear as to the exact nature of their servitude). They joined many white men and women who served their masters for a certain number of years (usually between three and seven) to pay off the debt of coming to the Americas, and then were freed. In fact, one of my own Musgrove ancestors was a 16-year-old boy who was sent to America by his father as an indentured servant in the 1600s.
However, it eventually became more profitable to keep Africans as full-blown slaves. These Africans were usually on the losing side in some of the native wars in Africa. They would be defeated by another African tribe and enslaved, then sold to Europeans for a profit. White men and women were also slaves, usually from Muslim countries in North Africa, but most slaves were African. These Africans were shipped to North and South America as laborers and gradually increased in number. Records indicate that approximately 12.5 million Africans were transported to the New World, with roughly 10.7 million surviving the passage. Of those who survived, the vast majority were sent to places like Brazil (estimated 4.8 million) and the Caribbean (estimated 4.7 million), while between 388,000 and 470,000 (approximately 5%) were sent to what is now the United States.
As the British Empire expanded into the Thirteen Colonies that would eventually become the United States, it brought with it its slaves. Some of these slaves, unhappy with a lifetime of servitude, escaped their masters and traveled to Florida, which at the time was a sparsely populated territory of Spain. If they entered Spanish-held communities, they were often allowed their freedom.
In 1818, Major General Andrew Jackson marched through North Florida, destroying any Seminole or “Negro Town” (made up of escaped slaves) that he could find. General Jackson and his men marched all the way to the Suwannee River before deciding that enough punishment had been inflicted upon the Seminoles and their Black allies.
Some slaves entered the interior of Florida and moved into locations along the Suwannee River. These slaves often befriended the Native Americans who had fled there over the years. The Spanish named these Indians (made up of Upper and Lower Creeks, Yamassee and other Indian groups that had fled to Florida) “Cimarron,” meaning “runaways” or “separatists.” Eventually, “Cimarron” was anglicized to “Seminoles.” The slaves were sometimes owned by the Seminole people, but sometimes the slaves would receive their freedom while adopting the culture of the native peoples.
By the early 1800s, the Seminoles had established themselves in the interior of Florida. Spain still owned places such as Pensacola and St. Augustine, but the interior had been devoid of Spanish communities since several devastating British attacks in the early 1700s. The Spanish had allowed the Seminoles to live there as a sort of buffer between them and the British, for whom they had no love.
The Spanish attempted to increase the population of their floundering colony of La Florida by enticing Americans to settle there after the United States won its independence from Great Britain in 1783. These Americans, many of whom were veterans of the War for American Independence and later the War of 1812 (both fought primarily against Great Britain), decided that the cheap forested lands of Florida under loose Spanish control would be a viable option for them. However, the Seminoles and former slaves who now lived in the interior of Florida did not take too kindly to the reduction in their hunting lands and interference from the Americans, including frequent incursions to retrieve slaves. Several incidents occurred, some of which turned into bloodshed. Black residents who lived in and around Suwannee County joined their adopted Seminole brothers to fight against the American settlers.
After one particularly nasty incident in 1817 that led to dozens of American fatalities, the United States had had enough. Major General Andrew Jackson, hero of the Battle of New Orleans (1815) and numerous other battles, was ordered into Florida with a 3,000-man army to punish the Seminoles for their “aggressive” behavior. Jackson marched through North Florida, destroying any Seminole or “Negro Town” (made up of escaped slaves) that he could find. Few Seminoles or slaves were captured, as they would simply flee when Jackson’s force neared.
General Jackson and his men marched all the way to the Suwannee River before deciding that enough punishment had been inflicted upon the Seminoles and their Black allies. He declared the campaign a success and made his way back into American territory, ending what is now called the First Seminole War. The Seminoles and Black individuals who had escaped Jackson’s fury simply returned to their burned-out villages and rebuilt, but native resistance had been checked for the time being.
The First Seminole War had several lasting repercussions. First, the Seminoles realized that the Americans were not a force to be trifled with or really trusted. Secondly, the incursion caused Spain to speed up its sale of Florida to the United States; they figured that if they did not sell it quickly, the Americans would simply move in and conquer it. Thirdly, the strain the Americans had regarding former slaves and the Seminoles would lead to two more Seminole Wars over the next 40 years.
Next week, we continue our discussion of Black history in and around Suwannee County.
Eric Musgrove can be reached at ericm@suwgov.org or 386-362-0564.