USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The fort was destroyed in 1816, while under the command of General Edmund P. Gaines, when a “hot cannon ball” landed in the magazine, destroying the fort. This action is also sometimes referred to as the Battle of Negro Fort (also called the Battle of Prospect Bluff or the Battle of African Fort).

Detailed explanation-2: -On this day, July 27th, 1816, troops of the United States military assaulted and blew up an African-American and Native American settlement on the frontier of Spanish Florida during the Battle of Negro Fort. Negro Fort had served as a refuge for freed men and women, as well as those fleeing slavery in the South.

Detailed explanation-3: -By the end of the Civil War, as many as 40, 000 fugitives from slavery had made their way to Washington.

Detailed explanation-4: -In general they fled to Canada or to free states in the North, though Florida (for a time under Spanish control) was also a place of refuge. (See Black Seminoles.) From the very beginning of slavery in America, enslaved people yearned to escape from their owners and flee to safety.