Slavery and Red Stick Creeks

Tale of Angola: Free Blacks, Red Stick Creeks, and International Intrigue in Spanish Southwest Florida, 1812-1821. Tale of Angola: Free Blacks, Red Stick Creeks, and International Intrigue in Spanish Southwest Florida, 1812-1821 by Canter Brown Jr. talks about the relationship between free blacks of Florida who were also known as the maroon people fighting a long with Red Stick Creeks Indians and international help against European men to keep the black people free.

Also it talks about a piece of history in the state of Florida that no one knew anything about. With the help of these people the free blacks and some slaves were able to keep their freedom. Since there where not too many documented information much of the information comes from memories of past marooners or ancestors of those who knew the free blacks and/or the Red Stick Creeks. I think that this article gives a good examples on how black people and Indians fought together and formed military tactics to have the only slave revolt in US history.

According to article, Individuals who had arrived from the United States after the Revolutionary War who were unsuccessful of overthrowing Spain rule in the colony started the Patriot war of 1812-1814. The text states that in September 1812 Seminoles and blacks allied with Spain turned back a patriot advance only to run away when they thought that the white men would return. After hearing about the people called Angola which spread within the Spanish empire and also to the British, not only did These blacks also received help from Indians they also was helped by two British officers named Edward Nicolls and George Woodbine.

These two men helped to created Florida’s second free- black refuge of the period and helped them bill a fortified outpost known as Negro Fort. These men and women got guns and weapons from the British and Spanish connections. They learned how to use them and the Indians knew the land so it was easy for them to escape capture. They launched a series of diplomatic initiatives. In 1819 the Spanish tried to protect blacks and Indians by agreeing to the Adams-onis Treaty that transferred the colonies of east and west Florida to the united states by utting a certain language in the pact. Even though this did not work it showed that Spain was trying to use political power to help them. Also, many of times after these attacks on these people the ones who could get away to safety got picked up by fisherman and taken to the Bahamas were British officials allowed them to stay. This was a good article to read because I don’t know too much about Florida’s history because I am not from here and I never heard of the Angola people.

I found it interesting that British and the Spanish tried to help. I always wondered why slaves in America never tried to revolt against slavery cause the history I know only talks about certain people who tried to revolt. It was always made to believe that black slaves and Indians were to dum to from an army. Weather all this information is true or not because most of it is told from second hand stories and can not be accounted for, but I would like to believe that the natives did fight with the free blacks and slaves to save each other.

Jackson, David H. , and Canter Brown. “Tale of Angola: Free Blacks, Red Stick Creeks, and International Intrigue in Spanish Southwest Florida, 1812-1821. ” Go Sound the Trumpet! : Selections in Florida’s African American History. Tampa, FL: University of Tampa for the Florida A & M University Dept. of History, Political Science/Public Administration, Geography, and African American Studies, 2005. 5-18. Print. Jessica Geralds AMH 2091. 7 Response Paper 1 09/11/2012