| |
Chronology of Fort Mose Events
|
|
1565
|
Pedro Menendez de Aviles founds
St. Augustine. Free and enslaved Africans are part of
his colonial expedition and become a constant component
of St. Augustine society. |
|
1606
|
First recorded birth of an
African American child in the St. Augustine Catholic parish
records. |
|
1670
|
English colonists settle Carolina,
bringing African slaves with them. Throughout he seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries English colonists import Africans
and also capture Native Americans, impressing them into
slavery. Many Native Americans are shipped as slaves to
the Caribbean. |
|
1683
|
First African American militia
formed to help defend Florida against English encroachment. |
|
1686
|
A Spanish raiding party form
Florida, including 53 Native Americans and African Americans,
attack the Carolina colony, carrying away booty, money
and slaves. |
|
1687
|
First recorded escaped slave
enter St. Augustine, eight men, two women and a three
year old nursing child. Florida governor refuses to return
them to Carolina and puts the men to work on the Castillo
de San Marcos for wages. Runaway African Americans accept
the Catholic faith. |
|
1693
|
King Charles II of Spain approves
official sanctuary for runaway foreign slaves. |
|
1702
|
Col. James Moore of Carolina
attacks and burns St. Augustine. Residents including African
Americans, take refuge in the fort and Moore fails to
capture the town. Many Native Americans from outlying
missions and villages are taken into slavery by the English. |
|
1708
|
Africans now outnumber Europeans
in the Carolina colony. African slave revolts occur in
1711 and 1714. Many slaves join the Yamasee (a Carolina
Native American tribe) in their war against the English
in 1715. |
|
1726
|
African American slave militia
formed in Florida. This group participates in the defense
of St. Augustine in 1728 and in attacks on the Carolina
province. |
|
1733
|
Royal edict reiterates freedom
for African Americans who reach Florida from Carolina,
but requires conversion to Catholicism and four years
of service to the Spanish crown. |
|
1739
|
Gracia Real de Santa Teresa
de Mose (Fort Mose) is established for African American
freedmen. The settlement includes a four-sided fort, houses
and fields. Fort Mose militia forms and Fort Mose becomes
the northern defense post for St. Augustine. |
|
1740
|
General James Oglethorpe of
Georgia attacks St. Augustine and Fort Mose is abandoned.
Mose militia men fight bravely in defense of St. Augustine
and recapture their town. This battle is a key turning
point and Oglethorpe retreats. |
|
1740-1752
|
Mose residents live in St.
Augustine, their numbers increase by further runaways.
Mose militia continues to distinguish itself in skirmishes
with British colonists. |
|
1752
|
Fort Mose resettled. In 1759
it contained twenty-two households of sixty-seven people. |
|
1763
|
The site is abandoned when
the British take possession of Florida. The residents
of Mose evacuate to Cuba and form a new town, Ceiba Mocha,
Matanzas province. |
|
1980s and 1990s
|
The location of Fort Mose reestablished
through archeological (Dr. Kathleen Deagan) and documentary
(Dr. Jane Landers) research. |
|
1989
|
The site of Fort Mose (23 acres)
is purchased by the State of Florida. |
|
1994
|
Fort Mose is given national
Landmark status, the highest designation of national site
significance, by the U. S. Department of the Interior. |
| |
|
| |
<
Return to main History page |
| |
|
