Prospect Bluff Historic Sites
The earthworks of the forts that
once stood on Prospect Bluff
survive as visible traces of a violent
past.
Grave of Maj. Peters?
The remains of a single brick
tomb may mark the resting place
of Maj. George Peters who died of
fever.
PROSPECT BLUFF HISTORIC SITES
Apalachicola National Forest - Franklin County, Florida
Site of the Fort on the Apalachicola
A British flag flies over the site of the fort that was
blown up by an American cannon shot in 1816,
killing 270 people in a furious blast.
On July 27, 1816, at the culmination of an
invasion of Spanish Florida, a pair of U.S.
Navy gunboats attacked a powerfully-built fort
on the
Apalachicola River. Before the brief
battle was over, 270 men, women and
children lay dead.

The site is preserved today at Prospect Bluff
Historic Sites near Sumatra, Florida. Part of
the Apalachicola National Forest, it is one of
America's most significant historic sites.

The original fort at the site was built by the
British during the final year of the War of
1812. Anxious to open a southern front
against the United States and planning an
invasion of the Gulf Coast, British command
sent Captain George Woodbine to the mouth
of the Apalachicola River in Spanish Florida.

Woodbine's orders were to open contact with
and provide arms and ammunition to the
thousands of Red Stick Creek warriors who
had fled into Florida after their defeat at the
Battle of Horseshoe Bend, Alabama. That
battle had all but ended the
Creek War of
1813-1814 and came just two months before
Woodbine arrived on the Florida coast.

Reaching Apalachicola Bay in May 1814,
Captain Woodbine landed supplies on the
barrier islands and soon moved about 30
miles up the Apalachicola River to Prospect
Bluff. Forbes & Company, a British-owned
firm that operated in Spanish Florida, had a
trading post at the bluff and it seemed an
ideal place for the British to establish a post
to distribute military supplies to their new
allies, the Red Sticks and Seminoles.

Over the months that followed, Major Edward
Nicolls (often misspelled Nichols) arrived at
the Bluff and supervised the construction of a
massive fortification there. Usually called the
British Post on the Apalachicola, it consisted
of an earthwork battery on the river and a
strongly built octagonal magazine and
arsenal, all surrounded by a palisade and
entrenchments.

In addition to more than 2,000 Red Stick,
Seminole and even a few Choctaw warriors,
Nicolls, Woodbine and other British officers
also assembled a force of more than 100
black soldiers at the British Post. These men
were mostly free black citizens of Florida, but
some had been the slaves of plantation
owners in the United States.

The irregular forces assembled at Prospect
Bluff were equipped, supplied and trained by
British officers and rapidly developed into a
cohesive fighting force. A number of them
took part in the unsuccessful
attack on Fort
Bowyer at Mobile Bay, Alabama, and others -
particularly several Red Stick chiefs - were
present at the massive British defeat in the
Battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1814.

Despite learning of the end of the War of
1812 in March 1815, the British did not
evacuate the Apalachicola for more than two
months. During that time they continued to
distribute arms and ammunition to their
allies and held a major council of Seminole
and Red Stick chiefs at a second fort near
present-day Chattahoochee, Florida.

When they finally left in May 1815, the fort, its
cannon and a massive supply of small arms,
ammunition and other material was turned
over to the Indian and black allies they had
enlisted there. The fort was left under the
command of Garcon, a former slave who had
served as sergeant major of the post, and he
was instructed to defend it against any attack.

Most of the Indian warriors who had flocked
to the British standard soon returned to their
villages, but Garcon and a force of 80-100
black soldiers continued to hold the fort and
live there with their families. Fields were
cleared extending up the river and the citadel
became the focal point of a settlement of free
blacks that caused much concern for the
government of the United States.

Slavery was then legal in the U.S. and many
officials and plantation owners complained
that the fort across the line in Spanish Florida
served as a beacon of sorts for runaway
slaves from the United States. The U.S.
demanded that Spain deal with the situation
and the Spanish Governor of Pensacola
seemed willing, but had to seek authority and
reinforcements from the Captain General in
Cuba.

This delay was unacceptable to the American
government, which authorized Major General
Edmund P. Gaines to deal with the situation.
Gaines placed the operation in the hands of
Lieutenant Colonel Duncan L. Clinch, who
moved down from
Fort Gaines in Georgia to
a position near the Florida border. There he
built a new stockade called Camp Crawford.
The name was later changed to
Fort Scott.

From this post Clinch moved in July 1816
with a force of 112 soldiers from the 4th U.S.
Infantry. En route down the Apalachicola they
were reinforced by several hundred Creek
warriors led by Major William McIntosh, a
Coweta chief who had fought alongside
Andrew Jackson during the Creek War.

The land force surrounded the "Negro Fort"
and demanded its surrender, but Garcon
refused and responded with a shot from one
of his heavy guns. His men raised the
English Jack and a red or "bloody" flag.

At 5 a.m. on July 27, 1816, the battle began in
earnest. Clinch was supported by the U.S.
Navy, which moved Gunboats #149 and #154
into range of the fort. They were welcomed by
a shot from its battery that flew too high..

The sailors responded with slow shelling
from the 18-pounders on their vessels, using
their first four shots to establish the range.
Then, for their fifth shot, they loaded a
cannonball that had been heated red hot into
the 18-pounder on Gunboat #154.

As the defenders of the fort worked their guns
and cheered with yells of defiance, the
cannon was fired and the cannonball flew
high over the walls of the fort and directly
through the entrance to the gunpowder
magazine. In a single instant, the "Negro
Fort" was blown to bits.
"The Scene was Horrible"
Archaeologists uncovered these
twisted fragments from the site
where a cannon shot killed 270
men, women and children.
Site of the Explosion
Posts outline the site of the
octagonal magazine of the original
British Post. A heated American
cannonball entered the entrance
and blew up a stockpile of
gunpowder.
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Copyright 2017 by Dale Cox
All rights reserved.

Last Updated: August 16, 2017

(Some contents Copyright 2014)
Deadliest Shot in American History?
It may have been the single deadliest cannon
shot in American history. The fort was
reduced to a smoking ruin in the blink of an
eye and an estimated 270 of its 320 or so
inhabitants - men, women and children -
were killed. Bodies and parts of bodies were
later found lodged in the tops of the tall pine
trees that surrounded the fort.

The survivors were taken prisoner, but many
of them died. Soldiers cried as they
advanced over the ruined walls of the fort to
render what assistance they could give to the
survivors.

The ruined fort lay abandoned for two years
until Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson arrived at the
site with his army in the Spring of 1818. The
First Seminole War was then raging and
Jackson had been ordered to invade Florida
and punish the Red Sticks and Seminoles
responsible for a bloody attack known as the
Scott Massacre of 1817.

Impressed by the military worthiness of the
site, he ordered Lt. James Gadsden, an army
engineer, to supervise the construction of a
new fort there. Gadsden used the old earthen
British battery, which had survived the 1816
blast, as the river face of the new fort. The
rear was enclosed by a bastioned work of
earth and logs. Jackson was impressed and
named the new post after his young engineer.

Fort Gadsden was used as a forward base
for army movements during the First
Seminole War and was held by the United
States until 1821 when Spain gave up its
rights to Florida. More than 100 men died at
the isolated fort during the years between
1818 and 1821 and are buried at the site.

The fort was again occupied by U.S. troops,
although on a temporary basis, during the
Second Seminole War (1835-1842). Part of
Col. William Davenport's command used it
as a base while scouring the swamps of
today's Apalachicola National Forest for
small bands of refugee Creeks in 1840. It
was also at Fort Gadsden that Gen. Zachary
Taylor formally resigned the command of the
U.S. Army in Florida.

The fort's final military occupation came
twenty years later when Confederate forces
positioned a battery of field artillery and small
guard force there. By 1865, when a U.S. Navy
boat party captured a few sentries at the site,
the cannon had been withdrawn and the fort
was little more than a campsite for a few
men from the 5th Florida Cavalry (CSA)
posted to watch the river.

After the end of the Civil War, Fort Gadsden
was never used again for military purposes.
Riverboats landed there and people
sometimes lived on the bluff, but for the most
part the site was enveloped by oblivion.

That changed in the 1960s when the Florida
Board of Parks & Historic Memorials
established Fort Gadsden State Historic Site,
cleared back the forest growth from the
remains of the earthworks and established a
picnic area and other amenities.

Florida eventually gave up the park in a cost-
cutting move, however, and returned it to the
Federal government which had acquired the
land decades earlier while establishing the
Apalachicola National Forest.  The U.S.
Forest Service stepped in to care for the site
and today it is known as Fort Gadsden
Historic Site.

Beautifully maintained, the rustic park
features the earthwork remains of Fort
Gadsden, traces of the destroyed "Negro
Fort," a cemetery, mini-museum, interpretive
signs and a walking trail that leads through
the site. A picnic area can be enjoyed, but the
historic site is day-use only and there is no
camping at the fort.

To reach Prospect Bluff Historic Sites from
SR 65, four miles south of Sumatra, turn
west on Forest Road 129-B (Brickyard Road)
and follow it 1.9 miles and turn left on Fort
Gadsden Road. The entrance will be 1 mile
straight ahead. GPS coordinates are
29.94076132
-85.00704297.

Prospect Bluff Historic Sites is free to visit
and is listed on the National Register of
Historic Places. The site is currently open
Thursday-Sunday during normal business
hours (Closed Monday-Wednesday). It is free
to visit.

Please click here to visit the official National
Forest Service website for more information.
Book
Kindle
The First Seminole War
Interpretive Displays
The interpretive kiosk features
displays, information and a scale
model of Fort Gadsden as it
appeared in 1818.
Apalachicola River
U.S. Navy gunboats attacked the fort
from the river on July 27, 1816,
lobbing a heated cannonball into a
powder magazine to ignite the blast
that killed 270 people.
Moat of Exploded Fort
Faint traces of the moat that
surrounded the central magazine
are still visible. This was the scene
of the explosion that was felt more
than 100 miles away in Pensacola.
Earthworks of Fort Gadsden
The earthen ramparts of the 1818
U.S. fort are in excellent condition.
This structure was built during the
First Seminole War and remained
in use through the War Between the
States (or Civil War)