African-American History Month

he fabric of Col. Horace Tucker's uniform is much different from that worn by his Florida National Guard predecessor more than 260 years ago. But there is a common thread that binds him to the soldiers of the past, and particularly to one who served at an old Florida post, Fort Mose (pronounced mo-zay).

Tucker shares similarities with an 18th century officer named Capt. Francisco Menendez. Like Menendez, Tucker commands a North Florida military installation, Camp Blanding Training Site in Starke, Fla. The sprawling 72,000-acre base every year hosts nearly 250,000 troops who come from all over the world to hone their military skills.

In 1738, Menendez commanded a North Florida military post in St. Augustine, several miles east of Starke. Originally established as Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose and later renamed, Fort Mose was the first free, black community in what is now the United States, according to the National Park Service. Black slaves fled to Mose to escape slavery in British territories and served in the community's militia.

What links Tucker and Menendez goes beyond their commands and their service in Florida's militia. What binds them more closely throughout the span of history is that they are both African Americans.

"I feel very proud and very connected to the leadership and the many accomplishments of Capt. Menendez," Tucker said. "I think his leadership illustrates what people of color can do, if given an opportunity."

Born in Mandingo, Africa, Menendez fled slavery in the British territories and escaped through Georgia to Florida's Spanish-occupied lands in 1724. In exchange for emancipation, he joined other blacks in the Spanish militia and converted to Catholicism. His community thrived for several years until the British came to Florida.

In May 1740, Gen. James Oglethorpe, founder and governor of the British colony of Georgia, marched on St. Augustine and captured Fort Mose. The post was abandoned without resistance to protect civilians who lived there.

The Spanish militiamen regrouped inside the nearby walls of St. Augustine. With help from a local garrison, they stormed Fort Mose on June 26 and bloodied Oglethorpe's force badly. Only two dozen British soldiers are known to have survived to tell the tale after their retreat to Georgia. The attack has been known to the British as "Bloody Mose" ever since.

"At length they came on again sword in hand and entered the gate. At the same time another party entered one of the breaches so that the fort was at once full of Spaniards, it being then about half an hour before the day," a British soldier wrote of the battle, according to the Florida Park Service and Fort Mose Historical Society.

Don Manuel de Montiano, the Spanish governor of Florida at the time of the battle, wrote later that he had "sent out 300 men to make an attack on the Fort of Mose. … Our people swept over it with such impetuosity that it fell with a loss of 68 dead and 34 prisoners."

The black militiamen rebuilt Fort Mose and prospered until 1763, when Spain ceded Florida to Britain by treaty. Today, although most of the fort has been reduced to remnant stone foundations, the battle is a reminder of the resolute character of African American soldiers and their contributions to the U.S. military history.

U.S. history includes notable accomplishments by African Americans, such as the 54th Massachusetts Regiment of the Civil War, the Buffalo Soldiers of the Indian Wars and the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II. Blanding commander Tucker feels the soldiers of Fort Mose belong in the same annals.

"The soldiers of Fort Mose are just as important to America," Tucker said. The soldiers demonstrated their loyalty and love of country, he said. Though soldiers of Spain, they were every bit as "American" as their British colonial neighbors to the north.

Robert Hawk, author of the book "Florida's Army," wrote that Florida's Spanish militias are "America's oldest," not English units formed in the 1600s.

What's not disputed is that the Florida National Guard embraces its Spanish heritage and claims to have been born in 1565 when militia mustered under the Spanish flag near St. Augustine. Florida claims those forces as the nation's first and oldest militia and that the citizen-soldiers were the first Florida National Guardsmen to serve the state and the country.

"They are all great patriots. The actions of the soldiers at Fort Mose were important in improving the perception of blacks as good citizens and very capable fighting men," Tucker said. "Leaders come in all colors, shapes and sizes. That is the true essence of diversity. Many times the full depth and breadth of a person's leadership ability is not apparent until they are tested under stressful situations. This was true back in the day of Capt. Menendez, and it is still valid today."

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