The following is an excerpt from my book – The American Conquest of Florida

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It’s not discussed much in relation to the Monroe Doctrine which is hailed as a triumph of American anti-imperialism. But what it was also doing was announcing to the British and the Spanish that our policy on slavery was really not the business  of European powers. This was done once again in a time period where the English were becoming increasingly anti-slavery.

In fact, by this time the British were also patrolling coastlines and looking for any camps that were engaged in the slave trade and working to seize ships that might be transporting slaves across the oceans. This is a historical reversal of Britain’s role in the previous centuries of facilitating the slave trade. The United States had technically outlawed the slave trade in 1808, but smuggling was frequent and quite honestly enabled by many officials. Though some slaveholders were strongly opposed to any smuggling because it reduced the value of slave offspring they produced.  

In 1825 the British made what was already in practice- any African-American that made it to British territory was free regardless of prior status.  This has been talked about in American history as the impetus for the Underground Railroad to Canada, but obviously helped stimulate further activity on the so-called Saltwater Railroad. 

Key Biscayne and the Cape Florida Light 

Between 1821 and 1825 the most frequent departure point for runaway slaves seeking freedom in the Bahamas was Key Biscayne. At the time, the area had no white inhabitants with the closest settlement after 1823 being Coole Hammock on the New River in what is now Fort Lauderdale. 

By 1825, an estimated 1,000 runaways had reached Andros Island via Key Biscayne. 

As a result, the US built the Cape Florida Light in 1825, which is now in Bill Baggs State Park on Key Biscayne. The lighthouse was a deterrent to escaping runaways. 

Other departure points in southeast Florida

However, the runaways continued escaping to the Bahamas via southern Florida, using other departure points including Jupiter and Hillsboro Inlets. Jupiter Inlet in particular was used as it connected to the Indian River Lagoon, giving runaways the opportunity to escape from points north and take a water highway all the way to the Bahamas. 

American privateers sailed the waters around Florida’s Atlantic coast looking for runaways to capture and return to their masters for a reward. This business became especially lucrative for some after the formal British abolition of slavery. 

Seminoles support of the Saltwater Railroad 

The Seminole tribe of Florida was very much supportive of the saltwater railroad unlike other native tribes that often cooperated with American authorities when it came to enforcing slavery. 

For many years the Seminole had a group known to history as the “Black Seminoles” that had been runaways.  During this period, after the US conquest of Florida, many of them escaped to the Bahamas.  

The Seminoles were adept at building makeshift boats or rafts to sail through the rivers and lagoons of Florida and into the open ocean to the Bahamas. 

Into the era of the Second Seminole War (1835-1842) the Black Seminoles played a role with the natives as they tried to hold their land. But as most Seminole were forced to relocate to Oklahoma, it appears the majority of Black Seminole used the saltwater railroad as a means to escape.