Negro Fort

Although the Black Seminoles in West Florida had suffered an inconsolable loss, their communities in East and Central Florida remained intact. Within days, the settlements on the Suwannee welcomed hundreds of refugees from the west. Young John Horse was living on the Suwannee, where he and his mother would have met the survivors. One can only imagine the grieving, the sense of loss for friends and relatives -- for a way of life that had briefly flowered on the banks of the Appalachicola. John Horse was only a child at the time, but the tragedy must have haunted his community and his imagination for years to come.