British arrive on the Gulf Coast, 200 years ago today

Union Jack flies over the Gulf Coast

Today marks the 200th anniversary of the arrival of British forces on the Gulf Coast as the War of 1812 shifted south.

The warships HMS Orpheus and HMS Shelburne arrived at Apalachicola Bay on May 10, 1814. Florida was then Spanish territory and Spain was ostensibly neutral in the conflict between the United States and Great Britain, but the British prepared to land on the Apalachicola to open a southern front against U.S. forces.

The commander of the expedition, Captain Hugh Pigot, had been directed to land a small force of British Royal Marines and a massive stockpile of arms and ammunition at the mouth of the Apalachicola River. The weapons would be delivered to Seminole and Creek warriors in order to secure their allegiance to the British.

Waters off Apalachicola Bay where the British arrived

To achieve this goal, Pigot ordered Brevet Captain George Woodbine of the Royal Marines to enter the river and make contact with any chiefs in the vicinity:

You are hereby directed to proceed up the river Appalachicola and endeavour by every means in your power to procure an interview with the Chiefs of the Creek Nation. You will inform them that the Orpheus Frigate has arrived on the coast with two thousand muskets, ammunition, &c. &c. for them, and...should cavalry be able to act inform me what arms and furniture they stand in need of. - Captain Hugh Pigot, Royal Navy, to Brevet Captain George Woodbine, Royal Marines, May 10, 1814. 

Apalachicola Bay, Florida

The British had come to Apalachicola Bay at the request of Chiefs Thomas and William Perryman, who lived on the lower Chattahoochee River in what is now Seminole County, Georgia, and Jackson County, Florida. The two leaders had headed a delegation that met with a British officer in September 1813 to request military support from the British. They had recently learned of the American attack on Red Stick Creek warriors at Burnt Corn Creek in what is now Alabama and were concerned that the United States was preparing to open an indiscriminate war on Creek towns, including their own.

Horseshoe Bend National Military Park

By the time their request was delivered to the Bahamas and then on to London, the Creek War of 1813-1814 had erupted into a full scale conflict between the Red Stick faction of the Creek Nation and the United States. When the British arrived at Apalachicola Bay 200 years ago today, they were unaware of the devastating defeat inflicted on the Red Sticks by the army of Major General Andrew Jackson at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. Thousands of Red Stick warriors and their families were fleeing into Florida.

Site of the British Post at Prospect Bluff

Over the days ahead, the British established a depot at Prospect Bluff on the lower Apalachicola River. This post would later be known as the "Negro Fort" and finally as Fort Gadsden. It would play a major role in the history not only of Florida, but of the entire United States.

To learn more about the fort, please visit: www.exploresouthernhistory.com/fortgadsden.

Later in the year 1814, the British built a second fort at the head of the Apalachicola where the City of Chattahoochee stands today. Often overlooked or confused with the post on the lower river, this outpost was intended to serve as a base of operations for a major British invasion of Georgia.

Learn more about it at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/nicollsoutpost.

I will follow the history of the British invasion of the Gulf Coast over coming days, weeks and months so be sure to check back often here at http://southernhistory.blogspot.com.

The Scott Massacre of 1817 - New Book Details First U.S. Defeat of the Seminole Wars

My newest book, The Scott Massacre of 1817, is now available in both print and Kindle editions at Amazon.com.

Named for Lieutenant Richard W. Scott of the 7th U.S. Infantry, this encounter on the banks of the upper Apalachicola River was the first defeat for the army in a series of wars between the United States and the Seminole Indians. It assured that the full power of the expanding nation would be brought to be bear on the alliance of Red Stick Creek, Seminole and African ("Black Seminole") warriors that overwhelmed and then inflicted a stunning 98% casualty rate on Lieutenant Scott's command.

Much has been written about the later Dade Massacre or Battle, but this is the first book-length study of the event that led the Monroe Administration to order the invasion of Spanish Florida by Major General Andrew Jackson. More than any other event, the attack on Scott's command enabled the United States to pressure Spain into giving up Florida. The colony became a U.S. territory just four years after the battle on the upper Apalachicola.


The new book explores events leading up to the retaliatory attack on Scott's command, the incidents of the battle itself, the repercussions of Scott's defeat and provides the first ever listing of U.S. casualties. With attention also devoted to the preliminary Battle of Fowltown and the subsequent U.S. invasion of Florida, I believe you will find this to be a fascinating and informative read.

Read excerpts and learn more about ordering:

The Scott Massacre of 1817 (Print Edition $19.95)

The Scott Massacre of 1817 (Kindle Edition $9.95)

Paddlewheel Steamboat Montgomery - Pickensville, Alabama

U.S. Snagboat Montgomery

Many residents living along the Apalachicola, Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers in Florida, Alabama and Georgia can still remember the days when the paddlewheel riverboat Montgomery used to churn its way up and down the waterway. The historic steamboat is now on permanent display in Pickensville, Alabama.

The historic snagboat was built in Charleston for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1926. For nearly sixty years it worked to keep the channels of a number of Southern rivers free from snags and debris. By the time the Montgomery was retired in 1982, it was one of the last original paddlewheel steamboats of its kind in the United States.

Pilot House of the Montgomery

In 1984, after its days of use as a snagboat were over, the Montgomery doubled as a Mississippi riverboat in the made for tv movie Louisiana. Starring Margot Kidder, that film ended with a steamboat race and a boiler "explosion" aboard the Montgomery.

Once its starring role was over, the steamboat was restored by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and placed on permanent display at the Tom Bevill Visitor Center in Pickensville, Alabama. It has since undergone a second restoration and been placed on display in a dry slip adjacent to the visitor center.

To learn more about the historic U.S. Snagboat Montgomery, please visit http://www.exploresouthernhisotry.com/montgomeryboat.

Apalachicola Bay Oysters - Rich History of the World's Best Oyster

Pic by Betty Gilbert Davis

Many top chefs and culinary experts have proclaimed it as the world's best oyster and any oyster lover who has ever tasted the famed Apalachicola Bay oyster is likely to agree.

Harvested from a 30 mile stretch of Florida's Apalachicola Bay for thousands of years, the oysters are prized for their clean taste, consistency and size. They are also the center of a significant and deeply historic industry that has been a way of life in Apalachicola since before the Civil War.

Apalachicola Bay Oyster Boats

Ancient Indians discovered the prize oysters thousands of years ago and they have been hand harvested ever since. Even today, the wild oysters are harvested by men and women in small boats, using long rake-like tongs to bring them up from the oyster beds of the bay. The sight of the Apalachicola oyster fleet out working the bay on a clear day is one of the most interesting in the South.

Surprisingly, just as the oyster has meant a way of life for Apalachicola bay, it has also played a critical role in preserving Apalachicola as one of the most charming and best-preserved historic cities on the Florida Gulf Coast. To learn how and to read more about the delicacy of Apalachicola Bay oysters, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/apalachicolaoysters.

Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines Preserve - Bristol, Florida

Some of the most beautiful as well as historically and ecologically important land in the South can be found in the Nature Conservancy's Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines Preserve near Bristol, Florida.

The preserve contains more than 6,000 acres and protects beautiful bluffs and steephead ravines along the Apalachicola River where some of the rarest plants in the world can be found. Among these are the Florida Torreya, which local legend holds is the "gopher wood" from which Noah built the ark, and the Florida yew, a similar but even rarer tree.

A Bristol writer, E.E. Callaway, once advanced the theory that the Alum Bluff portion of the preserve was the Biblical Garden of Eden. To commemorate this theory, the Nature Conservancy now maintains the more than three mile long Garden of Eden Trail that provides public access to Alum Bluff and the site where Callaway believed the Garden of Eden once stood.

While most Biblical scholars place the Garden of Eden in the Middle East, Callaway's theory is still popular locally. Whether or not Alum Bluff was the site of Eden, it was the site of numerous significant events in Southern history. Andrew Jackson camped atop the bluff on March 13, 1818, during the First Seminole War. Confederate troops built fortifications here and lined the top of the bluff with heavy cannon during the Civil War as part of a defensive effort to guard the Apalachicola River against Union attack. Traces of the Civil War earthworks can still be seen.

The hike to Alum Bluff is strenuous, but leads to one of the most beautiful views in Florida. The towering bluff rises 135 feet above the river and offers a scenic panorama of Northwest Florida.

To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/apalachicolabluffs1.

Fort Gadsden and the British Post on the Apalachicola - Florida

One of the South's most significant historic sites can be found deep in Florida's Apalachicola National Forest.

Formerly a state park but now maintained by the U.S. Forest Service, Fort Gadsden Historic Site is the location of two 19th century military outposts. The first of these was a British fort built during the War of 1812. Called the "British Post on the Apalachicola" during the war, by 1816 it had become known to American authorites as the "Negro Fort."

The other outpost was Fort Gadsden, from which the park takes its name. Fort Gadsden was built by Andrew Jackson during his 1818 invasion of Spanish Florida.

The British came to the Apalachicola River in 1814 following a plea for military assistance from Creek warriors then being overwhelmed by American armies in Alabama. They established the British Post as a recruiting and training base for thousands of Creek and Seminole warriors, but also appealed to both free and enslaved African Americans along the frontier to come to the fort and join their growing army.

When the War of 1812 ended, the British left the fort along with its artillery, ammunition and supplies in the hands of their Indian and black allies. Most of the Native Americans soon drifted away, but the African Americans set about turning the fort into a colony deep in Spanish territory where they could live in freedom under the protection of the heavy artillery given to them by the British.

U.S. authorities soon began calling the post the "Negro Fort" and in 1816 - despite the fact that it was in Spanish territory - sent a joint land and sea force to destroy it. The fort was blown to bits on July 27, 1816, when a red hot cannon ball fired by an American ship sailed over the wall and into the open door of a gunpowder magazine. The resulting explosion killed 270 of the 320 or so men, women and children in the fort. It was one of the deadliest single shots in American history.

American troops later built Fort Gadsden on the site and the park today preserves the locations of both forts.

If you would like to learn more about this fascinating historic site, please visit our new pages at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/fortgadsden.