Abraham
Counsel to Seminole Chief Micanopy.
Abraham
This guest profile was written by Dr. Anthony Dixon in 2024.
Visit The Black Seminole Project's website to learn more about their mission.
Early Life
Abraham is generally believed to have been born between 1787 and 1791, but there are different accounts of his birth and early years.
What is evident is that he spent a good portion of his youth in Pensacola, enslaved to a Spanish doctor.
The Negro Fort at Prospect Bluff
Though it was more than 200 miles from St. Augustine, this site on the Apalachicola River is relevant to the city's history.
During the Second Spanish Period (1784-1821), this remote site in southwest Florida witnessed a collision of global powers and the development of a maroon community. The British built the fort between 1814 and 1815 and abandoned it soon after. 300 or so Black soldiers remained, trained by the British as allies.
Now called the African Fort or Negro Fort, this settlement was governed by formerly enslaved Africans between 1814 and 1816. Its destruction marked the start of Florida's First Seminole War. Learn more about the Negro Fort in the Related Media section.
Abraham's Life as a Maroon
It is believed that in July 1814, Abraham was one of the Black slaves fighting alongside the British during the War of 1812, motivated by the promise of freedom and land in the British West Indies.
Following the British leaving Florida, Abraham was discovered at the Negro Fort (or Fort Negro).
Abraham's Life in Seminole Society
Following the destruction of the Negro Fort on July 27, 1816, Abraham would go on to gain the titles of interpreter, spokesman, sense bearer, and chief counselor to Micanopy. After the death of Nero in the First Seminole War, he rose to prominence as the advisor and primary interpreter to Chief Micanopy.
However, unlike most Black Seminoles, this man’s intelligence and influence was recognized by all. Abraham, referred to by Seminoles as Yobly, was given the title “Prophet” by fellow Black Seminoles and "Sense bearer" by his Seminole comrades.
Both his leadership and contributions to the Black Seminole’s quest for freedom in Florida rank Abraham with other great abolitionists, such as Samuel R. Ward, Henry Bibb, and Mary A. Shadd-Cary.
He would also marry the widow of a former Chief Seminole and become the Chief of Pilaklikaha (also known as “Abraham’s Old Town”) Abraham was then discovered at the Negro Fort (or Fort Negro).
Through the Second Seminole War, Abraham successfully negotiated the freedom and safe passage of Blacks to the Arkansas Territory.
Resources
Online Resources
Article about the African Fort at Prospect Bluff, from the Zinn Education Project.
Virtual Exhibit about Maroon Communities of Florida's Gulf Coast, from the New College of Florida.
2002 Fort Gadsden Historic Site Brochure, from the United States Forest Service.
Scholarship for Approaching the Interpretation of Early 19th Century Maroon Gulf Coast Florida, from Tragedy and Survival: Bicentennial of the Southward Movement of Black Seminoles on Florida’s Gulf Coast.
Further Reading
Florida's Negro War: Black Seminoles and the Second Seminole War 1835-1842, by Anthony Dixon, 2014.
The Black Seminoles: History of a Freedom-Seeking People, by Kenneth W. Porter, 1996.
Black Society in Spanish Florida, by Jane Landers, 1999.
The Maroons of Prospect Bluff and Their Quest for Freedom in the Atlantic World, by Nathaniel Millett, 2013.
