The Battle of Negro Fort

Matthew J. Clavin, Professor of History at the University of Houston, is the author of Aiming for Pensacola and Toussaint Louverture and the American Civil War.

"Clavin's work is a welcome addition to existing literature on the rise of the Slave Power. Scholars interested in military history, maroon communities, Indian-American relations, and especially the rise of proslavery foreign policy during the early republic will find his work a quick and useful read." * H-Net * "Clavin vividly chronicles the development of the fort and the surrounding community and explains why this largely forgotten historical episode has such great importance." * Choice * "Clavin's clearly written book illuminates several themes in early national US history by placing the rise and violent destruction of the Negro Fort in its full context, including its political aftermath. It also tells a remarkable tale of a vigorous interracial coalition that fought against that expansion." * Matthew Mason, Professor of History, Brigham Young University * "A fascinating account of the largest maroon community in the history of the present-day United States. This is an important story and Matthew Clavin does an excellent job of discussing the Negro Fort's formation, its cataclysmic destruction, and its subsequent role in the abolitionist struggle against slavery." * Gad Heuman, Professor Emeritus, University of Warwick * "In this riveting account, Clavin delves deep into the bloody battle and its often-surprising aftermath." * Richard Price, author of Maroon Societies, Travels with Tooy, and Saamaka Dreaming * "Matthew Clavin has uncovered a history of slavery and freedom that is revealing and, at times, haunting. The book is clearly and beautifully written, allowing scholars and casual readers to access and experience a narrative of struggle, of people escaping bondage and establishing a free community, only to have liberty cruelly extinguished. Clavin marshals an impressive array of American and European correspondence, diaries, and newspapers to offer a transnational perspective of slavery and the US government's commitment to preserve it. This brilliantly created volume presents a new story of freedom seekers in North America and advances pathways for fresh research." * Ronald Angelo Johnson, author of Diplomacy in Black and White: John Adams, Toussaint Louverture, and Their Atlantic World Alliance * "Matthew Clavin's [work] offers an important discussion of an event that many know too little about. It is well-written, rich in primary sources, and adds substantially to our knowledge of early U.S. history and the role of pro-slavery forces in creating a 'white man's republic.'" -- Beverly C. Tomek, Author of Colonization and Its Discontents "Negro Fort ... served as a source of inspiration to runaways and enslaved people in the states bordering Florida. Clavin tells the story of this fugitive slave outpost at the hands of the combined US Army and Navy force led by Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson. A must-read for those interested in early American republic history." -- STARRED Library Journal