In 1738, Spanish colonials authorized the creation of the first free black town in northern Florida. Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose, or Fort Mose, was strategically located two miles north of St. Augustine, close to Indian trails leading both north and west. The fort, which was commanded by Francisco Menéndez, leader of St. Augustine’s free black militia, provided the Spanish with a northern outpost for warning against British attacks.

City Plan of St. Augustine Florida, depicting Negro Fort at right. 1785.
Courtesy of P. K. Yonge Library of Florida History,
University of Florida.

When first settled, Fort Mose was composed of an estimated 100 blacks, most of who had run away from Carolina plantations and farms. Residents included the skilled artisans who built the walled fort.

A British invasion damaged the fort in the 1740s, but it was re-built in 1752. As depicted in this drawing, the new Fort Mose consisted of a walled enclosure, with interior structures and a moat.

It remained a free black community until 1763, when Florida became an English colony. Fort Mose’s residents were then evacuated to Cuba along with most of the Spanish colony.

Artist’s Rendering of second Fort Mose. 1990s.
Courtesy of Florida Museum of Natural History.

In 1740, Fort Mose’s residents played a critical role in the defeat of a British-led invasion of St. Augustine by General James Oglethorpe. Oglethorpe’s forces seized control of the fort, whose forewarned occupants had been evacuated to St. Augustine. Spanish armed forces, which included Native Americans and Fort Mose’s free blacks, repelled the English in an early morning raid on the captured fort.

A View of the Town and Castle of St. Augustine and the English camp before it,
by Thomas Silver.
Printed in Gentlemen’s Magazine, July 1740.
Historical Museum of Southern Florida.
1994-339-2.