Abraham

Abraham was one of the most remarkable African Americans of his time. Born around 1790 in Georgia, he became the servant of a Spanish physician in Pensacola, and then subsequently joined the British in the War of 1812. Somewhere around this time he left Pensacola and took to the wilderness, living near the Indians. He rose among the Seminoles by serving as Chief Micanopy's interpreter, councilor, and "sense bearer." After the trip to Washington in 1826, the chief granted him freedom as a reward for his services. Whites considered Abraham a cunning diplomat and politician, "a perfect Talleyrand of the Savage Court," wrote Surgeon Motte. His genteel manners surprised many an outsider, including Lt. McCall, who described him in 1826 as "shrewd, intelligent, and to the highest degree obsequious." Obsequiousness was a ruse. A survivor of the Negro Fort disaster, Abraham would show by his later actions the extent to which he desired freedom -- and vengeance -- for his people.