...Captain Spencer therefore had to rescind Admiral Cochrane's offer to relocate all who would serve the British. He told the assembled crowds of runaways at Prospect Bluff that new orders prevented him from transporting them as promised and warned them (correctly) that after the British departed, they would be preyed upon by the Americans and their Indian allies. In Pintado's presence, Spencer disarmed the Negro Colonial Marines, paid them for their service, and gave each discharge papers... the British officer would not allow the Appalachicola runaways to be forcibly returned to slavery. Following the same policy enacted by Admiral Cockburn at Cumberland Island, Spencer only permitted Pintado to interview the runaways to see if any would choose to go with him of their own free will. Of the 128 runaways Pintado was able to interview, only 28 individuals agreed to return to their former owners, and overight several of those ran away or changed their minds. One... named Samson proclaimed on being interviewed that the Spaniards and the Americans were the same, and that they would kill him if he returned. In the end, Pintado was only able to persuade ten women with small children to return voluntarily to flavery. He estimated the total number of runaways left at the fort at about 250, and reported that many of the former occupants were leaving for the black Seminole settlements at Tampa Bay." AN330 (Landers: Atlantic Creoles)