SW0136 Nicoll’s Outpost Yields War Site Clues to First Seminole War

**Patrick Swan** (0:09)
This is the Seminole Wars Authority. Hello and welcome. We have devoted several episodes in our podcast to the Fort at Prospect Bluff, known best as the Negro Fort on the Apalachicola River in Florida's Panhandle. During the War of 1812, the British also built a smaller fork, which historians dubbed Nicoll's Outpost. They and their Seminole allies used this as a base to conduct offensive operations into georgia and Alabama during that conflict. Seminole Indians later used it to stage attacks on the US Army in the First Seminole War. And historian Dale Cox, he's here to tell us all about it. Dale Cox, welcome back to the Seminole Wars Authority.

**Dale Cox** (0:58)
Well, thank you very much. I'm happy to be here.

**Patrick Swan** (1:00)
Dale, what was Nicoll's Outpost or Fort and why is it important?

**Dale Cox** (1:05)
The one that most people call Nicoll's Outpost, and you're correct to call it Nicoll's Fort, was a second fort that was built on the Apalachicola by the British during the War of 1812 And although it receives much less attention, it was equally important because it was the northernmost fort built by the British during the War of 1812, during what we would call the New Orleans Campaign.

**Patrick Swan** (1:32)
It seems kind of sneaky, constructing forts in neutral Spanish territory right on the border with the Americans.

**Dale Cox** (1:39)
It was in the Spanish colony of West Florida. It put them literally right up on the border of the United States. This fort was built one mile south of the georgia border. It was put in a position where they could launch raids into georgia against the georgia frontier, which they did. They launched raids that reached as far north as the outskirts of Milledgeville, georgia, for anyone who's familiar with the geography of georgia. That's way up into the heart of georgia today.
It also was significant because it created a point to which maroons or self-liberated slaves could go to right on the border of Spanish Florida. They could reach that point and then they could move deeper into Spanish Florida for their security. This fort was highly significant. It was, however, one that history kind of forgot as time passed and we moved into the 20th and 21st centuries. And because it was not later blown up by the United States, time just sort of forgot about it. Spain at that time was a neutral country and had not taken sides in the War of 1812 However, the United States seized Mobile, which was a Spanish city. So Spain did not look favorably upon that and invited the British to station troops in West Florida after the United States did that. Spain still on the whole was a neutral country. However, Spanish troops did not have the strength they needed to defend the Spanish city. Spain was concerned that the United States might invade further into West Florida, might try to seize more territory. So they did invite the British to occupy Pensacola. They did turn the other way when the British built these two forts on the Apalachicola River, the one at Prospect Bluff and the one that was one mile below the forks of the Chattahoochee and Flint rivers.

**Patrick Swan** (3:42)
Dale, what is the timeline here?

**Dale Cox** (3:44)
There were troops on the Apalachicola as early as May of 1814 at both of these locations. The actual construction of these forts took place beginning in about November of 1814

**Patrick Swan** (3:57)
Where is this occupation in relation to the attack on Prospect Bluff?

**Dale Cox** (4:02)
So, we're talking about, let's say, a month prior to the Battle of New Orleans. The Battle of New Orleans, the first fighting took place in December of 1814, and then of course the big battle was on January 8, 1815 We're looking at a month or two prior to the Battle of New Orleans. Not that long prior to the Battle of New Orleans, they began building the actual defenses of these forts when the British moved. Most of their troops began doing the big landing south of New Orleans or south of Chalmette to begin the attack south of New Orleans.

**Patrick Swan** (4:38)
What were the differences between the purposes for these two forts?

**Dale Cox** (4:42)
The one south, immediately south of the border, was created more as a base for offensive operations. It was designed to provide the British and their Native American allies as a launching point for attacks into georgia. The one at Prospect Bluff was originally designed as a defensive post. It was designed to provide a place for the Native American women and children to be in security while the warriors went off to fight. So it was designed more really as a depot where the women and children could be, where supplies could be gathered. It was not really designed as a point from which offensive operations were going to be launched. The second fort, however, this one that is today called Nicolls Outpost, was designed as this is the point from which we're going to launch offensive operations into the United States.