Fort Mose State Historic Site, Florida-- Part 2

The Spanish began offering asylum to slaves from the British colonies as early as 1687.  In 1693, they proclaimed that runaway slaves could be free in Florida if they converted to the Catholic religion and gave four years of military service.

Spain planned essentially to use the blacks as a buffer between St. Augustine and an English attack from the north.

In 1738, Fort Mose was built and escaped slaves directed there on arrival.  Its leader wasan African-European Creole named Francisco Menendez.

Fort Mose was the very first legally sanctioned free African settlement in what eventually became the United States and eventually had 100 people.

--Brock-Perry