Aaron Carter, a Black man killed defending Cape Florida Light against a Seminole attack (Key Biscayne, July 23, 1836)

SUMMARYAaron Carter, a Black man killed defending Cape Florida Light against a Seminole attack (Key Biscayne, July 23, 1836) [Connections: Miami & Lake Okeechobee, Nov 5, 2026]

RECORDOn July 23, 1836, Seminoles attacked the lighthouse; assistant keeper John W. B. Thompson and Aaron Carter, an African American, sheltered in the tower; rifle fire ignited stored lamp oil; Carter died of wounds and the fire; Thompson survived and was rescued by Navy crews; Thompson told the story in a letter to the Charleston Courier

PATTERNThe record is not one-sided: a Black worker died in federal service at the same light that had cut off the Black Seminole escape route

LENS (WW9)The colonial system put us on both sides of the same tower; that is what being renamed does

OPENWas Carter free or enslaved (who "owned" his labor)? Find Thompson's full Charleston Courier letter (1836)

SOURCECape Florida Light (Wikipedia); primary: J.W.B. Thompson letter, Charleston Courier (1836), survivor's account.