Action Around Apalachicola Bay-- Part 3: Why Was Forbes Mad?

At Prospect Bluff, George Woodbine conscripted John Forbes' agents, William Hanby and Edmund Doyle, along with 25 black slaves, to help build and manage their fort.  With Doyle and Hanby preoccupied, the British and their allies looted the Forbes store.

The former slaves were recruited into the Colonial Marines, and 300 of Forbes' cattle were confiscated to feed Creek and Seminole Indians., who were starving because Andrew Jackson's  forces had burned their villages and crops during the Creek War of 1813.

Woodbine's actions at Prospect Bluff convinced Forbes' partners, James and John Innerarity, the firm would fare better with the Americans than the British.  For the rest of the war, they aided Americans by sharing crucial information they gleaned from their vast trading network that extended from Amelia Island to Pensacola and New Orleans.

--Brock-Perry

Action Around Apalachicola Bay, Florida-- Part 2: Part of a Three-Pronged Attack By the British

Continued from  September 16, 2020.

The British advance on Apalachicola Bay, Florida, was the first part of a three-pronged British attack on the Gulf of Mexico coast planned by Admiral Alexander Cochrane.  He would next hit Mobile and then new Orleans (which resulted in the famed Battle of New Orleans).  From new Orleans, his command could then control  navigation on the all-important Mississippi River.

He sent Navy Captain Hugh Pigot and  Marine Captain George Woodbine to the Apalachicola River to train Creek Indians and black Colonial Marines, expecting that these allies would then prevent American reinforcements coming from Georgia on the Old Federal Road and block them from helping protect Mobile and New Orleans.

Without permission from the neutral Spanish government, who owned the area, the British began constructing a fort  25 miles up the Apalachicola River less than a mile from the store at Prospect  Bluff that was run by the merchants and Indian traders of John Forbes & Company.

Although Forbes and his partners James and John Innerarity were British subjects, conflict was inevitable because British officers could augment their  pay by looting Forbes' business and selling the plunder as prizes of war.  (Kind of a land-based privateering scheme.)

--Brock-Perry

Ten Strange Tales From America's Second War For Independence-- Part 4: T.J.'s Library

2.  Along with other buildings in Washington, D.C., the British also burned the nation's Library of Congress, consuming all the accumulated books.  Thomas Jefferson sold his 6,487 books to it in 1815 to settle debts he had incurred.

1.  Black refugees:  The British promised black slaves their freedom if they joined them and served.  Some 4,000 did.

After the war, they settled in Trinidad, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and the West Indies.

--Brock-Perry

The British Corps of Colonial Marines-- Part 1

From the BlackPast.org. site.

The British Corps of Colonial Marines (1808-1810 and 1814-1816)

This group was involved in the Fort Gadsden and Nicholls' Post operations.

This unit was made up mostly of escaped American slaves.  The first years of its existence, 1808-1810)  it was used primarily to garrison Caribbean bases during the Napoleonic Wars.  It was disbanded in 1810.

However, this unit set new standards for the men of African descent and formerly enslaved members.  They received the same training, uniforms, pay and pensions as their Royal marine counterparts.

--Brock-Perry

Marker Placed at Nicholls' Outpost in Florida

From the Oct. 15, 2014, Explore Southern History Blog " Market to be placed at British War of 1812 fort site in Florida" by Dale Cox.  If you ever want to know anything about Florida history, check it out.

The new marker was unveiled November 9th.  It marks the northernmost incursion of the British forces along the Gulf coast during the war.

It was placed at River Landing Park in Chattahoochee, Florida, at the site of Nicholls' Outpost.  (I've also seen it spelled Nichols' Outpost.)  It was built near the head of the Apalachicola River during the British Gulf Coast Campaign which included the Battle of New Orleans.

It was built by Royal Colonial Marines along with Creek and Seminole warriors as part of a planned invasion of Georgia, but the war ended before it took place.

It was one of two forts built on the Apalachicola River.  The other is the Fort Gadsden Historic Site in the Apalachicola National Forest.

--Brock-Perry