Map of Fort Gadsden, also showing the location of the original "Negro Fort". Prepared by Major James Gadsden in 1818.[3]A Union Jack on the site of the original British fort.A commemorative plaque marks the location of the fort's powder magazine.
Prospect Bluff Historic Sites (until 2016 known as Fort Gadsden Historic Site, and sometimes written as Fort Gadsden Historic Memorial)[4] is located in Franklin County, Florida, on the Apalachicola River, 6 miles (9.7 km) SW of Sumatra, Florida. The site contains the ruins of two forts.
The earlier and larger one was built by the British in 1814, during the War of 1812. They allowed the members of the disbanded Corps of Colonial Marines, made up largely of fugitive slaves, and Creek tribesmen to occupy it after the British evacuated Florida in 1815, deliberately leaving their munitions behind. At that point, since the British had not named it, Americans started referring to it as Negro Fort. It was destroyed in a river attack from U.S. forces in 1816.
Fort Gadsden was built in 1818 within the former walls of the former Negro Fort.
The site has been known by several other names at various times, including Prospect Bluff,[5]: 48 British post,[5]: 48 [6] Nicholls' Fort, Blount's Fort,[7][8] Fort Blount,[9] African Fort, and Fort Apalachicola.[10]: 60 The local natives called the land Achackwheithle.[11]
Listed in the National Register of Historic Places and named a National Historic Landmark in 1972, the Prospect Bluff Historic Sites was acquired by the Apalachicola National Forest in 1940 and is managed by the U.S. Forest Service. [2] The process of memorializing the site began in 1961, when the Apalachicola National Forest issued the State of Florida a term special use permit for an area of approximately 78 acres (32 ha) including the site to be run as a state park. Administration of the site reverted to the federal government[4] in the 1990s. The site contains interpretive signage, picnic area with pavilion, and rest rooms.[4]
^"National Register of Historical Places - Florida (FL), Franklin County". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. September 22, 2007. Archived from the original on October 4, 2007. Retrieved September 23, 2007.
^ abBritish Fort Archived May 2, 2009, at the Wayback Machine at National Historic Landmarks Program Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
^Cox, Dale (2016). "The Defenses of Prospect Bluff (July 14, 1816)". exploresouthernmedia.com. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
^ abcCite error: The named reference nps was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ abCite error: The named reference Carlisle was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Life of Andrew Jackson. James Parton, Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1880. p. 393. [1] Archived June 17, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
^Giddings, Joshua Reed (1964). The exiles of Florida, or, The crimes committed by our government against the maroons, who fled from South Carolina, and other slave states, seeking protection under Spanish laws (1858). University of Florida Press. p. 46.
^Nell, William C. (1855). The Colored Patriots of the American Revolution. Boston: Robert F. Wallcut. pp. 256–263.
^Federal Writers' Project (1939), Florida. A Guide to the Southernmost State, New York: Oxford University Press, p. 489
^Heidler, David S.; Heidler, Jeanne T. (2003). Old Hickory's War. Andrew Jackson and the Quest for Empire. Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 0807128678.
^Clavin, Matthew J. (2019). The Battle of Negro Fort : the rise and fall of a fugitive slave community. New York. p. 22. ISBN 9781479837335.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
and 24 Related for: Prospect Bluff Historic Sites information
natural and historic areas include: St. Joseph Peninsula State Park Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve ProspectBluffHistoricSites St. Vincent...
December 5, 2017. Rajtar, Steve; Rajtar, Gayle Prince (2008). A Guide to Historic Winter Park, Florida. History Press. p. 11. ISBN 978-1-59629-436-3. Fort...
Seminoles. The British had built a strong fort on the Apalachicola River at ProspectBluff, and in 1815, after the end of the War of 1812, offered it, with all...
Cyclopædia article about Muscogee language. The Creek Language Archive. This site includes a draft of a Creek textbook, which may be downloaded in .pdf format...
to cross and were forced to take shelter under "Mantle Rock", a shelter bluff on the Kentucky side, until "Berry had nothing better to do". Many died...
tribe based in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The nation descends from the historic Muscogee Confederacy, a large group of indigenous peoples of the Southeastern...
to Koasati. Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas, official site Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town, official site Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, official site...
to relocate to sites along the Trail. Over a dozen camps, or villages, moved closer to the Trail between 1928 and 1938. From these sites, Miccosukee Indians...
located adjacent to the Tuscarora Nation Longhouse in the rural community of Prospect, North Carolina. The Creek tribe today has 16 active ceremonial grounds...
Alabama-Coushatta Website, Retrieved on 2008-10-01. "Economic Opportunities". Official Site of The Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas. http://www.alabama-coushatta...
require excavation and reinterment of remains from an historic Creek burial ground at the site. The tribe made a deal in 2016 to purchase the Margaritaville...
Seminole War. His people settled along the Apalachicola River near ProspectBluff after 1816, where they were called Lower Creeks, Seminoles, or Apalachicolas...
Battle of Holy Ground. Weatherford barely escaped capture, jumping from a bluff into the Alabama River while on horseback. Having repelled the Red Stick...
Columbus. Both sites had large platform mounds, and may have served as ceremonial centers. While some archaeologists believe that some sites along the Chattahoochee...
the British established an outpost on the Apalachicola River (ProspectBluffHistoricSites). Cochrane sent a company of Royal Marines commanded by Edward...
and fort have been reconstructed at the historicsite. The state installed a historic plaque at the Fort Mims site that notes the British had provided weapons...
was among the first who responded.: 27 The officer also identified ProspectBluff as a good location for the logistical base for a planned invasion of...
many of the Muscogee escaped to Florida to create the Seminole. The early historic Muscogee were probably descendants of the Mississippian culture peoples...
Mikasuki language. It was spoken in Georgia and eastern Alabama in the early historic period, with speakers moving into Florida during the 18th and 19th centuries...
of Oakfuskee, located on the Tallapoosa River in present-day Alabama. The site is now covered by the lower part of Lake Martin, created by a dam. His mother...
supplies for an invasion of the United States via Georgia (see ProspectBluffHistoricSites). (The British and the Americans could not understand that in...
Global Information
