Stunning Archaeological Discovery made in Chattahoochee, Florida

 

Nicolls' Outpost interpretive panel
at River Landing Park in
Chattahoochee, Florida.

Archaeologists find complete War of 1812 fort in a Chattahoochee Park!

Advanced technology deployed for the first time in North America has produced stunning results in Chattahoochee, Florida. A team of scientists led by Dr. Mary Glowacki, PhD, of Pre-Columbian Archaeological Research Group, Inc., a 501(c)3 nonprofit contracted by the City of Chattahoochee, have revealed the entire outline of Nicolls' Outpost or "Fort Apalachicola". 

As explained in Dale Cox's book Nicolls' Outpost: A War of 1812 Fort at Chattahoochee, Florida, the fort was built by the British in 1814-1815. It was to serve as a "jumping off" point for one wing of a planned invasion of the State of Georgia. Lt. Col. Edward Nicolls of His Majesty's Royal Marines would lead a column from the head of the Apalachicola River up the Flint River against the Georgia frontier and the state capital in Milledgeville, while a second British force advanced up the coast from Cumberland Island to Savannah. 

The War of 1812 ended as Nicolls was assembling a column that included thousands of British Royal and Colonial Marines; the 5th West Indian Regiment from Jamaica; and Seminole, Miccosukee, Yuchi, and Red Stick Creek warriors in late February 1815. The Colonial Marines were composed largely of free Black men who had self-liberated from slavery, while the Native Americans had spent months training in light infantry tactics at Nicolls' Outpost and its sister post, the Fort at Prospect Bluff (later called "Negro Fort" by American officials).

Outline of the fort at
River Landing Park in
Chattahoochee as determined
by the new project.

The end of the war cancelled a looming a battle with an outgunned U.S. force under Col. Benjamin Hawkins that was camped a few miles above the forks of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers (today's Lake Seminole) in what is now Seminole County, Georgia. Each side saluted the other and Hawkins withdrew his fighters with relief. 

The role of Nicolls' Outpost, however, was not yet over. Col. Nicolls assembled a large gathering of American Indian leaders there for an important council on March 10, 1815. Important chiefs and warriors representing most of the towns of today's Seminole Tribe of Florida and Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida marked a treaty that day requesting continued independent relations with Great Britain. More significantly, the document represented the first time that so many representatives of towns that eventually became part of today's federally recognized Seminole and Miccosukee Tribes committed to remain free and independent in Florida, and to mutually defend each other if attacked. 

The exact date on which the fort was evacuated by the British is not known, but Lt. Col. Nicolls reported to a Spanish officer that a handful of soldiers were still there as late as April 1815. The British withdrew from the Apalachicola River in late May, so the evacuation date was probably around the end of April or beginning of May 1815.

The fort was later mentioned in U.S. Army reports as the site where Seminole, Miccosukee, and Maroon (self-liberated Black fighters) forces achieved the first Native American victory of the Seminole Wars during the Scott Battle on November 30, 1817.

To learn more about the archaeological discovery and the remarkable technology that made it possible, enjoy this video from Two Egg TV:

 

Also of interest is this acclaimed Two Egg TV documentary on the Fort at Prospect Bluff, sister post to Nicolls' Outpost:

Black Seminoles march for the Apalachicola

Fighters from the Suwannee prepare to battle the U.S. Army.

by Dale Cox

Abraham was a prominent Black Seminole or Maroon
freedom fighter and "sense bearer" or advisor.
He is portrayed here by Antonio Wright.

The United States Army's attacks on the Creek Indian village of Fowltown ignited outrage across the Florida borderlands. (Please see First Blood at Fowltown and Neamathla battles Arbuckle for details on the two days of fighting at Fowltown).

News that U.S. troops attacked the town in the dark, killing women as well as men, brought warriors across the region to their feet. Any hope that Cappachimico, the principal chief of Miccosukee, and others had of avoiding war with the United States, was now gone. Even leaders friendly to the whites were upset over the unprovoked raids and warned that they might not be able to control their young men.

One group of men who responded to Neamathla's calls for help knew well what it meant to oppose the United States military. They were Maroons or escaped slaves - commonly called Black Seminoles - from Nero's town on the Suwannee River. They were black men for whom every battle was a fight for freedom, and every night brought fears of raids by slave catchers from Georgia or the Carolinas.

The real Abraham as he appeared two decades later.
This engraving by N. Orr appeared in the 1848 book
The Origin, Progress, and Conclusion of the Florida
War, by John T. Sprague.

Among these fighters were survivors of the deadly 1816 U.S. attack on the Fort at Prospect Bluff or "Negro Fort." Abraham, Polydore, and others were in the log and earth fort on the lower Apalachicola River when a heated cannonball from an American gunboat ricocheted off a pine tree and struck one of their three gunpowder magazines. The result was a horrible explosion that killed 270 men, women, and children in an instant. 

Now, just one year later, they grabbed their British-made Brown Bess muskets and started for the Apalachicola, where the Prophet Josiah Francis, an influential Red Stick Creek leader, was raising an army to fight the Americans. The Maroons or Black Seminoles marched with confidence because they still possessed a magazine of arms and ammunition that was removed from the Negro Fort before its destruction.

The number of men under Nero's command is difficult to determine, as estimates by white writers of the time vary wildly. The consensus seems to be that he commanded around 300 well-armed men, many of whom were trained during their time with the British Colonial Marines in 1814-1815. In fact, quite a few probably still wore their British uniforms in 1817, although they were definitely starting to assimilate to the culture of the Alachua Seminoles alongside whom they lived.

The Maroons or Black Seminoles were among hundreds of
warriors who gathered here on the Apalachicola River to
attack any U.S. boats trying to bring supplies upstream.

A large contingent of the black fighters was sent by the Prophet to join a force assembling just below the forks of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers. The Red Stick chief "Homathlemico" (probably Hoboeithle Mico) commanded the group of 300-400 warriors. In addition to the men from Nero's town, they included angry warriors from Fowltown, a group of Yuchi from the lower Chattahoochee River, and many Red Stick Creeks. Others joined as well.

The plan developed by Francis and the other vital leaders was to blockade all approaches to Fort Scott and prevent supplies from reaching the soldiers there. The Prophet learned well from the Creek War of 1813-1814 that the only way to defeat the U.S. Army was to cut off its provisions. Any boats coming upriver would be attacked and stopped.

Lt. Scott's command was aboard a keelboat similar to the
Aux Arc (pronounced "Ozark"), seen here. The beautiful
vessel will participate in this year's Scott 1817 Seminole War
Battle Reenactments on December 6-8.

The strike force just below the confluence camped around the abandoned War of 1812 British fort that is commonly called Nicolls' Outpost today. Several U.S. reports refer to it as "Fort Apalachicola." It stood atop a large prehistoric Native American mound at today's River Landing Park.

They waited there for an American vessel to appear and offer them a chance to strike back not just for Fowltown but for the destruction of the Negro Fort one year before. The next boat to come into view on this section of the big river would be the keelboat commanded by Lt. Richard W. Scott of the 7th Regiment, U.S. Infantry.

Editor's Note: The Maroons or Black Seminoles played a critical role in the Seminole victory at the Scott Battle of 1817. Antonio Wright will portray the famed leader Abraham this year. More than 1,000 area school students will have a remarkable educational opportunity to learn the real Abraham's story during Education Day activities on Friday, December 6. Wright will be joined this year by Matthew Shack, a descendent of Maroons and noted educator from Gulf Coast State College, who will tell the students more about Black Seminoles and their struggle for freedom.

The annual Scott 1817 Seminole War Battle Reenactment takes place at River Landing Park in Chattahoochee on December 6-8, 2019. Entry is free to all. Click to visit Scott1817.com for more information.

Click play below to enjoy a brief 30-second preview of this year's reenactment:

More new details from 1814 British map of Apalachicola & Chattahoochee Rivers

Section of Woodbine's
Map of 1814.
National Archives of Great Britain
(Click to Enlarge)

I first showed you part of the newly discovered Woodbine Map of 1814 in a post earlier this week. If you missed it, just click here to read that part before continuing with this article.

Today we are focusing on the next part of the map, which covers the Apalachicola River from the confluence of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers to the Gulf of Mexico. In the next post, we will look at the section that covers the Chattahoochee River north from the Alabama state line to above Eufaula.

The more than 200 year old Woodbine Map was discovered in the National Archives of Great Britain. It reveals a great deal of new information about the location of Native American settlements and refugee camps along the Apalachicola and Chattahoochee Rivers in the days immediately following the Creek War of 1813-1814.

Red Stick Creek refugees were pouring south into Spanish West Florida following the defeat of their last army at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, Alabama. They were starving and fleeing for their lives. Not only were they being pursued by U.S. troops, but white-allied Creeks under William McIntosh and Choctaws under Pushmataha had joined the chase. Even William Weatherford, a former Red Stick fighter, was now guiding U.S. troops in pursuit of his former friends and allies.

 The Woodbine Map was drawn at a time when Red Stick families were establishing refugee camps along the Conecuh, Choctawhatchee, Chattahoochee, Apalachicola and other rivers of the region. So many of these refugees had died along the way that one old warrior told a British officer that he knew the trail to his enemy because it was marked by the graves of his children.

Capt. George Woodbine of the British Royal Marines arrived on the Apalachicola in May 1814. Ordered to recruit Creek and Seminole warriors to the cause of Great Britain in the ongoing War of 1812, Woodbine traveled as far upstream as Eufaula on the Chattahoochee River. His map appears to have been drawn during his journey and pinpoints the locations of both established towns and refugee camps.

It should be noted before continuing that the map was drawn at a time when large numbers of Native American men, women and children were still on the move. Many of the sites shown were transitory at best. Some were occupied for no more than a few weeks, which makes the document extremely valuable in understanding the movements of Red Stick groups as they entered Florida.

In our last article about the map, we discussed the massive number of towns and camps that had appeared along the relatively short section of the Chattahoochee River in Jackson County, Florida. Most Red Stick groups had not yet reached the Apalachicola River.

Looking at today's section of the map, we will move south down the Apalachicola from the forks of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers. The Tocktoethla towns of the Perryman family, shown just above the forks, were discussed in the last article.

The Apalachicola River as seen from River Landing Park in
Chattahoochee, Florida. Mosquito Creek enters from the left.

Moving downstream from the forks, the map shows Mosquito Creek flowing into the river from the east were the City of Chattahoochee stands today. The large island in the river below Chattahoochee is also shown.

The first Native American village below the confluence was the town of "Tomathleu" (also spelled "Tomatley" and "Tomathli") on the west bank in what is now Jackson County, Florida. This town had been established in the 1760s by a Creek band that moved down the river at the invitation of the British, who possessed Florida from 1763-1783.

Tomatley was one of the towns where the white trader James Burges had a home and operated a trading post. He also lived, had a family and operated a store on the bluff at today's Bainbridge, Georgia. Burges had died by 1814, but his children and grandchildren by his Tomatley wife still lived in the town.

The village was also the home of a man called Vaccapuchasse by the Spanish and the "Mulatto King" by the Americans. A maroon or escaped slave, he was the child of black and Native American parents and had become one of the principal chiefs of Tomatley. John Yellowhair was also an important leader in the town, which stood near the old Jackson County Port Authority complex.

Section of the Woodbine Map showing "Ocheesee Town" and
"Negro Settlements" in what is now Calhoun County, Florida.

The next village down the Apalachicola was Ocheesee Talofa, which stood on Ocheesee Bluff in what is now Calhoun County, Florida. This well-known town had also been established in the 1760s and was the one-time home of the white trader John Mealy. He had provided horses and other support to the British during the American Revolution. His son, Jack Mealy, was now the principal chief of Ocheesee.

Perhaps the biggest surprise from the Apalachicola River section of the newly discovered map is the large "Negro Settlements" that it shows running down the west side of the river below Ocheesee Bluff. This previously unknown settlement had been established by maroons (runaway slaves) who fled to the Apalachicola during and following the Creek War of 1813-1814. Some had been held by white plantation owners but others had been the slaves of Creek chiefs and principal men.

These individuals were now free and living in Spanish Florida. Woodbine undoubtedly spent considerable time with them as one of his assignments was to recruit a battalion of black soldiers for service in the British Colonial Marines. The maroon settlement below Ocheesee was not shown on later maps and its villagers probably moved downstream to Prospect Bluff at Woodbine's request. A number of the recruits who enlisted in the British service there gave their home town as "Ocheesee Talofa."

Prospect Bluff on the Apalachicola River.

The last Creek town shown on the river was Yawalla (Iola), the primary town of chief John Blunt. This village was at the site of today's Blountstown and not at Iola Landing lower down the river.

Blunt had fled with his people from the Creek Nation during the war and had suffered great losses in the process. White people sometimes called him Lafarka, but this must be a corruption of an Indian name or title as the Muscogee language includes neither the letter "r" nor its equivalent sound.

More Red Sticks would soon arrive on the Apalachicola as the bands of Prophet Josiah Francis, Homathlemico (Hoboithle Mico?) and others made their way east from the western Florida Panhandle. At the time of Woodbine's trip, however, these groups were still on the Choctawhatchee, Conecuh and other rivers to the west.

A noteworthy point of interest is Forbes Island just below Panton's Cliffs. This was not the Forbes Island today, but an upriver island formed by the confluence of the Apalachicola with the River Styx and other streams. It was also shown as Forbes Island on Spanish maps of this era.

Lower Apalachicola River as shown on the
Woodbine Map. Notice Prospect Bluff on the
east bank and the offshore anchorage of the
British warship HMS Orpheus.

Panton's Cliffs was Estiffanulga Bluff. It had been called Estiffanulga as late as 1804, but officers of John Forbes & Company renamed it in honor of William Panton. He had been a partner in Panton, Leslie & Company, the original name of the trading company. The name never stuck, however, and Estiffanulga remains in use today.

Further downstream can be seen the mouth of the Chipola River and Prospect Bluff. The bluff, called the Loma de Buena Vista by the Spanish, was the site of a Forbes & Company trading post and would soon be selected by the British as a location for one of two forts that they would build on the river.

Below Prospect Bluff, no settlements are shown as existing on the Apalachicola River. The map does show the anchorage of the HMS Orpheus off Cape St. George. The Orpheus was a British warship filled with arms and ammunition for the Creeks and Seminoles. She remained offshore while Woodbine made his trip up the Apalachicola and Chattahoochee Rivers. The war materials from the ship were being landed on St. Vincent Island where they were housed in temporary structures until they could be transported up to Prospect Bluff.

The next installment in this series will focus on the Chattahoochee River from the Alabama line north to Eufaula. If you would like to learn more about British activities on the Apalachicola and Chattahoochee Rivers during the War of 1812, please consider my books Nicolls' Outpost: A War of 1812 Fort at Chattahoochee, Florida and Milly Francis: The Life & Times of the Creek Pocahontas.

Both are available in either book or Amazon Kindle formats.

      

The Confluence of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers

This photograph was taken from the Jackson County shore of the Apalachicola River during the 1940s and provides a rare view of the original confluence of "forks" of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers. Construction was just beginning on the Jim Woodruff Dam at the time.

Today, the scenery shown here is completely submerged by Lake Seminole, the huge reservoir created by the completion of the dam.

For centuries, however, the "forks" was a major landmark for both Native Americans and early European explorers and settlers. Eventually the point where the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers met came to be accepted as the official dividing line between Georgia and Florida. The Spanish maintained a mission, La Encarnacion a la Santa Cruz de Sabacola on the point of land visible near the center of the photograph between the two rivers during the late 1600s. Later this was the site of the large fort and town of the Native American leader Chislacasliche ("Cherokee Killer").

The right bank of the river, visible here, was the site of a fort constructed in 1814 by British troops during the closing months of the War of 1812. The fort was an outpost of the better known British fort at Prospect Bluff that later became known as the "Negro Fort" of the Apalachicola River.