Siege of Fort Mose

Battle of Fort Mose

Site of the old fort

Date	26 June 1740
Location	Fort Mose, Florida
Result	Decisive Spanish victory

Belligerents

Great Britain

Spain

Commanders and leaders

John Palmer †

Antonio Salgado
Francisco Menendez

Strength

170 regulars and indians

300 regulars, plus militia,
Indian auxiliaries and free blacks

Casualties and losses

68–75 killed,
34 captured

10 killed,
20 wounded

The Battle of Fort Mose (often called Bloody Mose, or Bloody Moosa at the time) was a significant action of the War of Jenkins’ Ear, and it took place on June 26 of 1740. Captain Antonio Salgado commanded a Spanish column of 300 regular troops, backed by the free black militia and allied Seminole warriors consisting of Indian auxiliaries. They stormed Fort Mose, a strategically crucial position newly held by 170 British soldiers under Colonel John Palmer. This garrison had taken the fort as part of James Oglethorpe's offensive to capture St. Augustine. Taken by surprise, the British garrison was virtually annihilated. Colonel Palmer, three captains and three lieutenants were among the British troops killed in action. The battle destroyed the fort. The Spanish did not rebuild it until 1752.

Located two miles north of St. Augustine, Fort Mose was established in 1738 by the Spanish as a refuge for British black slaves escaping from the colonies of Georgia and South Carolina. Forty-five years earlier, in 1693, King Charles II of Spain had ordered his Florida colonists to give all runaway slaves from British colonies freedom and protection if they converted to Catholicism and agreed to serve Spain. This is the Spanish Royal Edict, from the translation by Bruce Twyman:

It has been notified … that eight black males and two black females who had run away from the city of San Jorge [Charlestown], arrived to that presidio asking for the holy water of baptism, which they received after being instructed in the Christian doctrine. Later on, the chief sergeant of San Jorge visited the city with the intention to claim the runaways, but it was not proper to do so, because they had already become Christians .... As a prize for having adopted the Catholic doctrine and become Catholicized, as soon as you get this letter, set them all free and give them anything they need, and favor them as much as possible. I hope them to be an example, together with my generosity, of what others should do.

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