Brown, Canter and David H. Jackson, Jr., eds. Tales of Angola: Free Blacks, Red Stick Creeks, and International Intrigue in Spanish Southwest Florida, 1812-1821.
Tales of Angola: Free Blacks, Red Stick Creeks, and International Intrigue in Spanish Southwest Florida, 1812-1821 by Canter Brown Jr explains how the maroons, Red Stick Indians, and Europeans in Southwest Florida built a relationship that helped keep blacks free. This article also describes President Andrew Jackson’s main objective to destroy their forts and rightfully return them to their slave owners. Brown provides the reader with reliable examples on how the only slave revolt in United States history was as a result of blacks and Indians collectively fighting together to establish a common goal. In the …show more content…
The town existed for two years before it was attacked by the bordering Georgians. Forces led by Captain Francisco Menendez overwhelmed the Georgians by a nighttime raid. The Spanish government had begun to offer free blacks refuge from British colonies but in return they had to convert to Catholicism and the men had to serve four years of military service. Free blacks received help from the neighboring Red Stick Indians and two British officers named Edward Nicolls and George Woodbine. With the help of Nicolls and Woodbine the maroons were able to create Negro Fort, which was a well defended settlement located on the Apalachicola River. The British and Spanish supplied the men and women of the fort with guns and weapons. The Battle of Negro Fort in 1816 marked the first major battle of the Seminole Wars era and the beginning of Andrew Jackson’s conquest of Florida. Jackson’s men destroyed the Negro Fort killing 200 people and injuring others. The news of Angola brought anger to Andrew Jackson and he decided to personally lead an invasion of Spanish Florida. The maroons and Red Stick Indians