MOSE:
Free Black Town by Aaron London of Florida’ s strategic significance to Spain’ s Caribbean colonies – and the growing influx of runaway enslaved people to Spanish Florida – the role of the former enslaved took on a greater significance.
According to an article by Jane Landers in the American Historical Review in February 1990,“ Spaniards depended upon Africans to be their laborers and to supplement their defenses. Black laborers and artisans helped establish St. Augustine, the first successful Spanish settlement in Florida, and a black and mulatto militia was established there as early as 1683.”
For their part, the now freed enslaved people understood their expected role in Spanish Florida. In a declaration to the king, they vowed to be“ the most cruel enemies of the English” and to fight to“ the last drop of blood in defense of the Great Crown of Spain and the Holy Faith,” according to Landers’ article.
As British colonization in North America grew and tensions between England and Spain over colonial
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