Action Around Apalachicola Bay-- Part 10: Action After the Battle of New Orleans

Not knowing that the Treaty of Ghent  had been signed in December, Admiral Cochrane moved his forces back to Mobile and Prospect Bluff.  Just after his marines captured Fort Bowyer in a second attack at Mobile Bay, Cochrane got word of the Treaty of Ghent and began to withdraw from Mobile.

However, he left Nicholls and Woodbine  in command of the black Colonial Marines and Choctow Indians at the fort at Prospect Bluff.

The War of 1812 on the Gulf of Mexico began and ended at Apalachicola River.

But the departure of the Royal Navy did not end  the conflict with the blacks and Seminoles.  Attempts to recover Forbes & Company's losses during the three successive wars occupied Forbes and the Innerarity brothers for the rest of their lives, and led to the second largest Spanish  land grant in Florida's history.

Called the Innerarity's Claim of Searcy's  1829 map of Florida, the grant extended from Apalachicola to the Choctawhatchee River.  The story of how that land claim was settled  and the gradual decline of the John Forbes and Company's trading firm in the Territory of Florida is another story in itself.

--Brock-Perry

Action Around Apalachicola Bay, Florida-- Part 6: The War Comes to the Gulf Coast

In July 1814, a second British fleet anchored at Havana, Cuba,  and the Royal Marine commander, Lt. Col. Edward Nicholls, attempted to persuade the Spanish governor general, Ruiz Apodaca, , to allow British troops to defend Florida against the Americans.  Spain was neutral in the conflict, and although Apodaca  did not protest British troops on the Apalachicola River, he demanded the British stay out of Pensacola.

Nicholls departed for Apalachicola in August , only to find Woodbine had left Prospect Bluff for Pensacola in an effort to get fresh provisions for his Indian and black recruits.  Nicholls followed immediately to Pensacola., and was given permission to occupy Fort St. Michael (former Fort George and Fort San Miguel depending on who had control of it).

However, he alienated Spanish citizens by taking military control of the town and recruiting slaves into the marines.

News of the British advances along the Apalachicola River reached Andrew Jackson, and he moved his headquarters to Mobile on August 21, 1814.  That city was defended by the newly-built Fort Bowyer located on a sand spit east of the entrance to Mobile Bay (present side of Fort Morgan).

--Old Secesh

Fort Gadsden-- Part 7 The British Post on the Apalachicola

From Explore Southern History.com "Fort Gadsden Historic Site" by Dale Cox.

The Battle of Negro Fort took place on July 27, 1816.  It was a brief battle, but resulted in the deaths of 270 men, women and children.

The current Fort Gadsden was originally built by British Major Edward Nicholls (often misspelled Nichols).  It was a very strong fortification built at Prospect Bluff which had been used as an outpost by the British firm of Forbes & Co.

The fort was originally usually referred to as the British Post on the Apalachicola and consisted of an earthwork battery on the river, a strongly-built octagon magazine and arsenal, all surrounded by a palisade and entrenchments.

--Brock-Perry

Fort Gadsden, Fla.-- Part 3: British Post, Negro Fort

Before he left Florida, Edward Nicholls built a fort at Prospect Bluff, 15 miles above the mouth of the Apalachicola River and 60 miles below U.S. territory.

 It was originally known as British Post and served as base for British troops (though in Spanish Florida) and actively recruited former slaves into the new Corps of Colonial Marines.  It also was the local rallying point for Seminole Indians for attacks on U.S. territory.

When the British evacuated the fort in the spring of 1815, they left a well-constructed and fully armed fort on the east bank of the Apalachicola River and about 400 Colonial Marines assumed command.  News of the "Negro Fort" attracted 800 black fugitives (runaway slaves) ro the fort who settled around it.

--Brock-Perry

Fort Gadsden-- Part 2: Built By Edward Nicholls

The original fort was built by the British, though in Spanish territory, as an attempt to recruit local Indians to fight against the Americans.  A force of 100 Royal Marines led by Lt. Col. Edward Nicholls arrived on the Apalachicola River in August 1814 to aid and train local Indians.  They built the fort, but there is little evidence of much success with the Indians and the war ended shortly thereafter.

So, the Nicholls connection for Nicholls' Outpost.  He evidently built both.

In late November 1814, Major Uriah Blue, commanding a force of 1.000 Mississippi militia, Chickasaw and Choctow warriors, left Fort Montgomery (east of Mobile and west of Pensacola) to seek out and destroy the Red Stick Creek Indians.  Among them was Creek War veteran Davy Crockett.

However, the Americans were unfamiliar with the area and running out of supplies and never found their objective or the British fort and were forced to return to Fort Montgomery on 9 January 1815.

It is kind of strange that this expedition would be going on while New Orleans was in danger of being captured.

--Brock-Perry

Fort Gadsden-- Part 1: Fort of Many Names

It would appear that I am beginning to write a whole lot about the War of 1812 in western Florida now.  Much of the history so far has involved Nicholls' Post and the Corps of Colonial Marines.

From Wikipedia.

Fort Gadsden is located at Franklin County, Florida, on the Apalachicola River.  The site contains the ruins of two forts and it has been called many names over the years:  Prospect Bluff Fort, Nicholls Fort, Blount's Fort, British Post, Negro Fort, African Fort and Fort Apalachicola.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it is located in the Apalachicola National Forest which is managed by the U.S. Forest Service.

It became a National Historic Landmark in 1972.

--Brock-Perry

Nicholls' Outpost-- Part 2

The British arrived at the mouth of the Apalachicola River in May 1814.  Thomas and William Perryman, two Lower Creek chiefs had appealed in the Bahamas to England for aid fighting U.S. troops.

By the time the British arrived, however, the Red Sticks had been smashed by General Andrew Jackson at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in Alabama.

The British troops were led by Brevet Major George Woodbine, who met the Indians who were fleeing into Spanish Florida.

The British apparently evacuated Nicholls' Outpost in April 1814.

No visible traces of the fort remain.

--Brock-Perry

Nicholls' Outpost-- Part 1

From the Explore Southern History Blog by Dale Cox.

The other British fort built on the Apalachicola River was at Prospect Bluff and Nicholls' Outpost was located upriver at present day Chattahoochee, Florida.  The Post and fort were built as part of a British plan to recruit Red Stick and Seminole Indians to their cause during the War of 1812.

The other fort was 30 miles north of the mouth of the Apalachicola River at the site of present day Fort Gadsden Historic Site. Both forts were built by Edward Nichols of the Royal Marines.   This fort later was referred to as the "Negro Fort."

Nicholls' Post was the smaller fortification of the two and was built on top of a large Indian mound at Chattahoochee Landing in Gadsden County, Florida.

--Brock-Perry