The National Park Service’s National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom accepted Frederica (Fort Frederica National Monument) as one of 9 new listings from the 45th round of applications in 2023. Located on St. Simons Island, Georgia, it is a unit of the National Park Service and was the setting where enslaved people made several escapes to freedom. In 1751, Johann Martin Bolzius wrote that enslaved people passed Frederica on their way to freedom in Spanish-held Florida, and in 1766, an enslaved girl named Maria evaded capture for at least 10 months. During the Civil War, a contraband community camp was established on St. Simons Island. After the war, some of those communities continued to thrive and advocated for education, equality and civil rights.
Frederica has meant different things to enslaved people over the course of the 18th and 19th centuries. However, individuals and groups of people have used Frederica in different ways to flee from slavery and to defend their freedom. Frederica was a colonial fort and town built on the southern frontier of the thirteen British colonies. Established in February, 1736, it functioned primarily as a military outpost to defend against a possible Spanish invasion from Florida, specifically St. Augustine. A fort was built on the Frederica River and a town of British settlers was established on the grounds outside the fort. The town eventually grew to 1000 inhabitants and included a garrison of several hundred soldiers and a number of businesses that supported this garrison. However, much of the town fell into disrepair when the regiment disbanded in 1749, and a large fire in 1758 damaged or destroyed many of the structures within the town.
Johann Martin Bolzius wrote an account called Reliable Answer to Some Submitted Questions Concerning the Land Carolina in an attempt to publish information about the colonies of Georgia and South Carolina. In this work, he responded to a series of questions posed to him. The 13 Question reads as follows: “Whether there are many instances of Negroes murdering their masters, and whether in this case they have the opportunity to flee inland and to escape punishment with the help of the Indians, and whether for such cases the government has established good relations." He answered this question in detail, and wrote that “As long as our colony is not filled with Negroes, the deserters in Carolina, if they want to cross Georgia towards Augustine, cannot easily remain hidden. Generally, however, they escape by water, past Frederica to St. Augustine, where they receive their freedom, be it war or peace."
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service