Saturday was the first commemoration of the establishment of the free black town of Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose. This important beginning of the community also serves as a reminder of just how short its life would be.
In a little more than two years, Mose was evacuated and physically destroyed. The battle at Mose will be re-enacted in June. Florida Gov. Manuel de Montiano had evacuated Mose’s residents to safety in St. Augustine because he feared he could not protect them against an invasion of British troops. Thus, forces from Georgia and South Carolina under Gen. James Oglethorpe literally walked into the abandoned Mose village and fort.
The reports of the battle in June 1740 offered by the British and the Spanish participants provide different, and at times, conflicting information. Gov. Montiano wrote the Spanish report within two weeks of the battle. The language is that of a military report, unembellished and unemotional. The British participants compiled their report a year after the battle during an investigation of why it all went so wrong. Their rancor is obvious.
Their report referred to St. Augustine as “that den of thieves and ruffians, receptacle of debtors, servants and slaves, bane of industry and society.”
The first dissonance to note is different dates for the battle although that is easily explained by the British and Spanish using different calendars. The British dated the attack on June 15, 1740. The Spanish Floridians used the date June 26. In 1740, Great Britain still used the old Julian calendar, which was eleven days behind the Gregorian calendar. Spain (and much of the European continent) had converted to the modern Gregorian calendar in the 1580s; it is the one we use today.
The timing of the attack matches in both reports. Gov. Montiano wrote that he had sent his men out at 11 p.m. at night. As the summer solstice had just taken place, perhaps he waited until late in the evening for adequate darkness. British troops encamped at Mose reported that at about one in the morning that they heard Spanish Indians dancing a war dance.
The description of the fighting comes from British reports, with comments on the Spanish forces being masters of slashing and clubbing. The British reported that the Spanish fielded 450 fighting men although there were some who put the number as low as 300. On July 6, Gov. Montiano wrote to his superior in Havana that on the night of Saturday, June 25 he sent out 300 men to make a dawn attack on Mose.
Montiano’s July 6 description of the battle was a single sentence: “Our people swept over it with such impetuosity, that it fell.” For Montiano, the fight at Mose was over and with success he had little to explain, but still much to worry him. He still had to contend with Oglethorpe’s ships just off shore and British bombardment from the barrier islands, Mose lay in ruins, and its former residents living within St. Augustine for their safety.