This is an excerpt from my book, Florida and the British, before the American Revolution

King Charles II of Spain in 1693 issued a proclamation “giving liberty to all” runaway slaves provided they converted to Catholicism. It was effectively the response from Spain to England’s foundation of Charles Town. For several years prior to the proclamation the Governors of Florida had actively pursued a policy of harboring runaway slaves. But now official crown policy sanctioned and encouraged what Florida administrators were already doing on their own.   

After Queen Anne’s War, St Augustine was rebuilt. Once Georgia was founded, Spanish Florida redoubled its efforts to attract runaway slaves. As more runaways came to Florida, the more important they became in the colony’s defense. 

In 1738, Fort Mose was established two miles north of St Augustine – A village designed to defend St Augustine that was notably operated by free blacks – by 1740, the town had a population of 100 within its walls and was governed by Antonio Salgado. Military defenses were led by Francisco Menéndez, a runaway slave from South Carolina who in 1726 had been placed in charge of a militia of Africans in St Augustine. 

 Fort Mose was the first legally sanctioned free African settlement in what would become the United States. The town’s founding had the desired impact- once word reached Georgia and the Carolina’s, Slaveholders and British authorities became nervous. Spanish agents fanned into British territory to let slaves know that freedom awaited them if they made it to Florida. 

The promise of freedom and a life at Fort Mose led directly to the Stono Rebellion in 1739, the largest slave rebellion in North America’s history. Many of the rebellious slaves began heading for Florida before the rebellion was crushed. Stono was only 150 miles from the Florida-Georgia border. 

The rebellion in South Carolina was crushed but in the next year, hearing of the freedoms offered to blacks in Florida, smaller rebellions popped up in the southern British colonies. 

At this point war was inevitable between Spanish Florida and the British Southern colonies. Fort Mose and freed Africans would play a key role in defending Florida from the British. Native Americans as was the case in Queen Anne’s War would once again largely side with the Spanish. But unlike the previous war, Spain was now defending a highly-militarized colony, one whose economic value had diminished greatly since the disasters of the early part of the century.