American History - Seminole
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"Seminole" means "pioneer" or "runaway," possibly from the Spanish cimarrón ("wild").
The Seminoles, known as such by 1775, formed in the 18th century from members of
other Indian peoples, mainly Creeks, but also Oconees, Yamasees, and others. The
Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Cherokees, and Seminoles were known by non-Natives
in the 19th century as the Five Civilized Tribes.
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Until 1962, the Miccosukee Indians were part of the Seminoles. According to their
traditions, they were descended from Chiaha Indians. The name "Miccosukee" means
"Red Person." Located in north Florida in the early 18th century, the Seminoles and
Miccosukees were forced southward into the swamps and westward to Oklahoma from the mid-19th century on.
Seminoles spoke two mutually unintelligible Muskogean languages: Hitchiti, spoken by Oconee Indians and today
mostly by Miccosukees, and Muskogee.
The Seminoles considered themselves children of the sun. They observed the Green Corn ceremony as early as May
or June. This ritual helped to unify the tribe after the wars. Seminoles believed that a person's soul exited the body
when he or she slept. Illness occurred when the soul failed to return, in which case a priest was called to coax the
soul back.
Before the wars, Seminole towns had chiefs and councils of elders. Afterward, there were three bands, based on
language (two Miccosukee and one Creek). Each had its own chief and council of elders. Matrilineal clans helped
provide cultural continuity among widely scattered bands after the wars. There was also a dual division among the
people. Particularly after 1817, the Seminoles lived in small extended families.
Owing to a fairly mobile and decentralized existence, the early towns were much less organized than were those of the
Creeks. For example, there were no yards for chunkey (a variety of hoop-and-pole in which an arrow was shot through
a loop) and only a vague public square. People living in these towns generally owned a longhouse, divided by mats
into a kitchen, dining area, and sleeping area, and another, smaller house of two stories, similar to the Creek granary.
People in south Florida built their villages on hammocks and near rivers. Houses, or chickees, had pole foundations of
palmetto trunks and palmettothatched roofs, platforms raised about three feet off the ground, and open walls. The
thatch was water-tight and could resist very strong winds.
Women grew corn, beans, squash, and tobacco. They made hominy and flour from corn and "coontie" from certain
roots. They also grew such non-Native crops as sweet potatoes, bananas, peanuts, lemons, melons, and oranges.
They also gathered wild rice; cabbage palmetto; various roots and wild foods, such as persimmon, plum, honey, and
sugarcane; and nuts, such as hickory and acorns. Men hunted alligator, bear, opossum, rabbit, squirrel, wild fowl,
manatee, and turkeys (using calls for the turkeys). The people ate fish, turtles, and shellfish.
Traditional trade items included alligator hides, otter pelts, bird plumes, and foods. Bird plumes and alligator hides in
particular were very much in demand in the late 19th century. Seminoles were known for their patchwork clothing and
baskets. Their geometric designs were often in the pattern of a snake. Ribbon appliqué, previously consisting mainly of
bands of triangles along borders, became much more elaborate during the late 19th century.
Men built fire-hollowed cypress dugout canoes, often poled from a stern platform. Canoes were relatively flat to
accommodate the shallow, still water of the swamps. Some had sails, for journeys on Lake Okeechobee and even to
the Bahamas. The Seminoles eventually developed their own breed of horses. There was no intertribal warfare:
Seminoles fought only with the U.S. Army and local non-Native settlers.
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American History - Seminole
Women made colorful patchwork clothing beginning around 1900. Some clothing was made of tanned deerskin as well.
Women wore short shirts and long skirts, both generally of cloth. They also wore as many as 200 bead necklaces
around the neck. Men, especially among the Miccosukee, wore turbans made of wrapped shawls. Other clothing
included shirts, neckerchiefs, breechclouts, and, occasionally, buckskin moccasins. Both sexes wore ornaments of
silver and other metals and painted their faces and upper bodies.
The Apalachee and Timucua Indians were the original inhabitants of north Florida. By about 1700, most had been
killed by disease and raids by more northerly tribes. Non-Muskogee Oconee Indians from south Georgia, who moved
south during the early 18th century, formed the kernel of the Seminole people. They were joined by Yamasee refugees
from the Carolina Yamasee War (1715–1716), as well as by some Apalachicola, Calusa, Hitchiti, and Chiaha Indians
and escaped slaves. The Chiahas were known as Miccosukees by the late 18th century. Several small Muskogean
groups joined the nascent Seminoles in the late 18th century.
Seminoles considered themselves Creek; they supported the Creeks in war and often attended their councils. They
experienced considerable population growth after the 1814 Creek War, mainly from Muskogeans from Upper Creek
towns. From this time on, the dominant language among the Seminoles was Muskogee, or Creek. However, Seminole
settlements, mainly between the Apalachicola and the Suwannee Rivers, were too scattered to permit the
reestablishment of Creek towns and clan structures.
Prior to the Civil War some Seminoles owned slaves, but the slaves' obligations were minimal, and Seminoles
welcomed escaped slaves into their communities. Until 1821, U.S. slaves might flee across an international boundary
to Florida. Even after that year, the region remained a haven for escaped slaves because of the presence of free
African American and mixed African American and Seminole communities.
Seminoles first organized to fight the United States in 1817–1818. The conflict was begun by state militias chasing
runaway slaves, and it resulted in the Spanish cession of Florida. In the Treaty of Moultrie Creek (1823), the
Seminoles traded their north Florida land for a reservation in central Florida. The 1832 Treaty of Payne's Landing,
which was signed by unrepresentative chiefs and was not supported by most Seminoles, called for the tribe to relocate
west to Indian Territory. By 1838, up to 1,500 Seminoles had been rounded up and penned in concentration camps.
These people were forcibly marched west, during which time as many as 1,000 died from disease, starvation, fatigue,
heartbreak, and attacks from whites. Although under pressure to do so, the Seminoles consistently refused to give up
the considerable number of African Americans among them. In 1856, the western Seminoles were given a strip of land
of about 2 million acres west of the Creeks.
Resistance to relocation and to white slave-capturing raids led to the second Seminole War of 1835–1842. Under
Osceola, Jumper, and other leaders, the Seminoles waged a guerrilla war against the United States, retreating deep
into the southern swamps. Although Osceola was captured (at a peace conference) and soon died in captivity, and
although at war's end most Seminoles, about 4,500 people, were forced into Indian Territory, the Seminoles were not
militarily defeated. The war ended because the United States decided not to spend more than the $30 million it had
already spent or to lose more than the 1,500 soldiers that had already been killed.
A third Seminole war took place from 1855 to 1858. From their redoubt in the Everglades, the Indians attacked nonNative surveyors and settlers. The Army, through its own attacks and by bringing in some Oklahoma Seminoles,
succeeded in persuading another 100 or so Seminoles to relocate, but about 300 remained, undefeated, in Florida.
There was never a formal peace treaty.
In the 1870s, as the first non-Natives began moving south of Lake Okeechobee, there was another call for Seminole
removal, but the government decided against an attempt. In the late 19th century, a great demand for Seminole trade
items led to close relationships being formed between Florida Indians and non-Native traders.
Western Seminoles settled in present-day Seminole County, Oklahoma, in 1866. By the 1890s the people had formed
14 bands, including two composed of freedmen, or black Seminoles. Each band was self-governing and had
representation on the tribal council. Most of the western Seminole reservation, almost 350,000 acres, was allotted in
the early 20th century. Through fraud and other questionable and illegal means, non-Natives by 1920 had acquired
about 80 percent of the land originally deeded to Indians. Tribal governments were unilaterally dissolved when
Oklahoma became a state in 1907. An oil field opened on Seminole land in 1923, but few Indians benefited. Many
Oklahoma Seminoles moved away from the community during and after World War II in search of jobs.
Indian Baptists from Oklahoma achieved the first large-scale successes in Christianizing Florida Seminoles in the early
20th century. Most Florida Seminoles lived by subsistence hunting, trapping, and fishing, as well as by trading, until
non-Natives overhunted and trapped out the region. Around the time of World War I, the subsistence economy
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American History - Seminole
disintegrated even further as Florida began to drain the swamps and promote agriculture. By the 1920s, the new land
boom, in conjunction with the drainage projects, led to significant Indian impoverishment and displacement.
Most Seminoles relocated to reservations during the 1930s and 1940s. There they quickly acculturated, adopting cattle
herding, wage labor, schools, and Christianity. With the help of Florida's congressional delegation, the tribe avoided
termination in the 1950s. At that time they adopted an Indian Reorganization Act–style corporate charter. Formal
federal recognition came in 1957. By the 1950s, a group of more traditional Mikasuki-speaking Indians, mostly living
deep in the Everglades, moved to separate themselves from the Seminoles, whom they regarded as having largely
renounced their Indian traditions. After a great deal of struggle, the Miccosukees were given official permission by the
federal government to form their own government, the Miccosukee Tribe, which they did in 1962.
Further Reading
Debo, Angie. A History of the Indians of the United States. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1970; Iverson,
Peter. "We Are Still Here": American Indians in the Twentieth Century. Arlington Heights, IL: Davidson, 1998; Power,
Susan C. Early Art of the Southeastern Indians: Feathered Serpents and Winged Beings. Athens: University of Georgia
Press, 2004; Rawls, James. Chief Red Fox is Dead: A History of Native Americans in the Twentieth Century. Fort
Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace College Publishing, 1996.
MLA Citation
"Seminole." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2014. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.
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Seminole Wars
Date: 1817–1858
From: Atlas of the North American Indian, Third Edition.
In 1817, Florida was a Spanish possession and the United States was in an expansionist mood.*
Moreover, there was growing ill-feeling between the Seminole and whites along the Florida–
Georgia border, the primary reason being the harboring of runaway African-American slaves by
the Indians. Negotiations for the purchase of Florida from Spain had dragged on for years.
Incidents involving the Seminole, however, gave President James Monroe, Secretary of War John
Calhoun, and their favorite general, Andrew Jackson, an excuse for making a move on territory
they considered manifestly American.
During the period preceding major United States involvement, raids and counterraids occurred
along the border. In 1816, a detachment of U.S. troops crossed the border in pursuit of runaway
slaves and destroyed Negro Fort (which became Fort Gadsden). In 1817, troops from Fort Scott
attacked the Seminole village of Fowltown in northwest Florida when Chief Neamathla insisted
that the soldiers stop trespassing on Indian hunting grounds. Both Indians and non-Indians were
killed, and the First Seminole War had begun.
In March 1818, General Jackson, having had recent success in the Creek War, organized his
forces at Fort Scott in Georgia—800 regulars, 900 Georgia militiamen, as well as a force of Lower
Creeks under the mixed-blood William MacIntosh. Six days later, they crossed the border and
marched on St. Marks, which was supposedly held by Seminole. But having learned of the
enemy's approach, the Indians had abandoned the fort. Jackson's forces captured only an old
Scottish trader, Alexander Arbuthnot, and two Creek chiefs who had been active in the Creek
War. Jackson had the two Creek executed at once and held Arbuthnot for trial.
Jackson's troops headed southward to the village of Chief Bolek on the Suwanee River. But again
the Indians had been forewarned and had vanished into the Florida jungle. Jackson's men
captured only two Englishmen who had been living among the Seminole, Lieutenant Robert
Ambrister of the Royal Marines and Peter Cook. The troops burned the village and then returned
to St. Marks, where Arbuthnot and Ambrister were sentenced to death in a travesty of a trial and
hung for aiding and abetting the Indians. Jackson next marched westward on the Spanish fort of
Pensacola and, after a three-day siege, captured it, claiming West Florida for the United States.
Jackson's actions in what is known as the First Seminole War were illegal under international law,
and both Spain and England protested. But the new administration of John Quincy Adams backed
Jackson, sending an ultimatum to Spain either to control the Seminole or to cede the territory. A
treaty between the two countries in 1819 provided for the sale of East Florida to the United
States. Official occupation took place in 1821, and Florida was organized as a territory in 1822,
after which settlers began pouring in and grabbing the good land. In 1823, the Seminole were
pressured into signing the Treaty of Tampa, in which they assented to move to a reservation
inland from Tampa Bay. The first governor of the Florida Territory doing the pressuring was none
other than Andrew Jackson. "Sharp Knife," as he was known to Indians, was one step closer to
the White House.
By 1829, Jackson had become president, and the next year, with the Removal Act, he was calling
for the relocation of all eastern Indians to an Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River. The
Treaty of Payne's Landing in 1832, forced upon the Seminole by James Gadsden, a representative
of Secretary of War Lewis Cass, required all Indians to evacuate Florida within three years in
exchange for western lands, a sum of money, plus blankets for the men and frocks for the
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Facts On File: American Indian History Online
women. It was also established that any Seminole with African-American blood would be treated
as a runaway slave, which meant the disintegration of many Seminole families. A delegation of
seven Seminole traveled west and in the Treaty of Fort Gibson of 1833 accepted an offer by Creek
for lands near them in the Indian Territory.
By the end of the appointed grace period, no Seminole had moved west. In 1835, at Fort King on
the Seminole reservation, the Indian agent General Wiley Thompson forced still another treaty
upon the Indians, which confirmed the terms of the Removal Act. One young Seminole by the
name of Osceola (Black Drink Singer), who had risen to prominence within the tribe because of
his steadfast opposition to relocation, refused to sign. Thompson had him arrested. Finally, after
a night of incarceration, Osceola capitulated, but only to gain his escape. A short time afterward,
he killed one of the leaders of the pro-Removal faction, Charley Emathla, and as a symbolic
gesture, scattered the money whites had paid him for his cows to the wind. With it, active
Seminole resistance had begun.
Seminole women and children hid out deep in the Florida jungles and swamps. The men formed
small marauding parties, which used the guerrilla tactics of hit-and-run raids with great success.
Three of the earliest Seminole victories took place within days of each other during the last week
of 1835. Osceola and a small band of warriors ambushed and killed General Thompson and four
other whites at Fort King. That same day, a larger contingent of 300 Indians under the chiefs
Micanopy, Alligator, and Jumper attacked and massacred a column of 100 soldiers under Major
Francis Dade on their way from Fort Brooke on Tampa Bay to reinforce Fort King. Only three
soldiers escaped by feigning death. Three days later on New Year's Eve, several hundred
Seminole under Osceola and Alligator surprised a force of 300 regulars and 500 Florida militia
under General Clinch on the Withlacoochee River. In one of the few battles in which the Seminole
risked open conflict, they managed to drive the much larger enemy force away.
The Second Seminole War lasted seven years. Many indecisive battles were fought and many
commanders in chief were appointed and recalled by President Jackson. Generals Edmund Gaines,
Duncan Clinch, Winfield Scott, Robert Call, Thomas Jesup, Colonel Zachary Taylor, generals
Alexander McComb, Walker Armistead, and William Worth all failed in their efforts to conquer the
Seminole. General Jesup did manage to capture Osceola in 1837, but only through trickery at a
supposed peace council near St. Augustine. The Seminole freedom fighter died in an army prison
in South Carolina on January 30, 1838, almost exactly two years after his victory at
Withlacoochee. Resistance persisted, however, under such leaders as Alligator and Billy Bowlegs.
Also in 1837, the United States had one of its few military victories when Colonel Zachary Taylor
surprised Alligator's warriors at Lake Okeechobee and won the ground. But even in this
engagement the Indians suffered fewer dead and wounded than Taylor's men.
And so the war dragged on. With more and more troops sent against them, the Seminole
retreated farther and farther southward into the Everglades. Some warriors surrendered and
some were captured. From 1835 to 1842, about 3,000 Seminoles were shipped to the Indian
Territory. But for every two Seminole transferred, one soldier died. And the war cost the federal
government $20 million. In 1842, the government decided that the task of rounding up the
Seminole in the Everglades was too costly and gave up trying. The Second Seminole War wound
down with the Seminole never formally conquered, a distinction their 20th-century descendants
in Florida point out in claiming to have the rights of a sovereign nation.
A third Seminole uprising flared up in 1855, when a party of engineers and surveyors in the Great
Cypress Swamp stole some crops and destroyed others belonging to Indians in Billy Bowlegs's
band, and then, when confronted, refused to give either an apology or compensation. Once
again, the Seminole went on a campaign of guerrilla warfare, attacking settlers, trappers, and
traders in the region, then retreating into the wilds. And once again army regulars and militiamen
could not contain them.
Finally in 1858, when a group of Seminole from the Indian Territory were brought to Florida to
negotiate with their relatives, making an offer of peace and cash on behalf of officials, Billy
Bowlegs and his followers agreed to emigrate west. In fact, the chief later fought valiantly for the
Union in the Civil War. But many Seminole still refused to depart, remaining in the Florida
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Facts On File: American Indian History Online
Everglades.
*NOTE: Wars for the Southeast: Just as Native peoples living in the North felt the pressures of U.S.
expansionism— because of increasing numbers of settlers on their lands as well as attempts by
government officials to force relocation west of the Mississippi—so did the Southeast tribes. The two
Indian nations of the region to launch organized rebellions against U.S. forces were the Creek (Muskogee)
in the Creek War of 1813–14 and the Seminole in the Second Seminole War of 1835–42. An earlier
conflict involving the Seminole—referred to as the First Seminole War of 1817–18—was essentially a
punitive expedition against them by U.S. forces. The Third Seminole War of 1855–58 was a campaign of
resistance by a small number of holdouts, continuing their opposition to removal from their ancestral
homelands.
Text Citation (Chicago Manual of Style format):
Waldman, Carl. "Seminole Wars." Atlas of the North American Indian, Third Edition. New York: Facts On
File, Inc., 2009. American Indian History Online. Facts On File,
Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?
ItemID=WE43&iPin=ind5435&SingleRecord=True (accessed March 12, 2014).
Other Citation Formats:
Modern Language Association (MLA) Format
American Psychological Association (APA) Format
Additional Citation Information
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Record URL:
http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?
ItemID=WE43&iPin=ind5435&SingleRecord=True
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Facts On File: American Indian History Online
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Second Seminole War
Date: 1835–1842
From: Encyclopedia of Native American Wars and Warfare.
After enduring the pressure of a growing influx of non-Indian
settlers into Florida for several years and the recent effects of a
severe drought, several Seminole leaders agreed to the Treaty
of Payne's Landing (1832). The agreement called for the
removal of the tribes from Florida within three years in exchange
for money and annuities. Although a delegation of Seminole
leaders investigated living arrangements in Indian Territory
(present-day Oklahoma), as the time of relocation neared, no
actual movement occurred.
Many tribal leaders, notably Osceola, claimed the treaty was illegal. Although Osceola was a
friend to the Red Sticks, the war faction of the Creek, he knew the Seminole did not want to live
among the Creek, as the treaty provided. Fugitive slaves also became an issue; they remained
loyal to their Seminole owners because they enjoyed freedom among the Indians. Long known
among the Seminole for his determined opposition to Removal, Osceola was forced to sign a new
agreement with Indian Agent Wiley Thompson and General Duncan L. Clinch acknowledging that
Seminole immigration would begin in early 1836.
Despite the negotiations, in April 1835, the army suspended sales of guns and ammunition to the
Seminole. Osceola took this as a bitter insult and in June he stormed into Thompson's office and
denounced the policy. Thompson had him arrested. The following morning, Osceola apologized
and Thompson allowed him his freedom, an act he would later regret. Osceola fled to rejoin his
warriors, who began raiding non-Indian settlements. Osceola himself engineered the
assassination of Seminole chief Charley Emathla, leader of the pro-Removal faction. He also took
vengeance on Thompson, ambushing the agent and a small escort at Fort King. This incident
ignited the Second Seminole War.
The Seminole united under Osceola, making him their war chief. He would turn out to be a skilled
military leader. His assistant commanders were the warriors Alligator and Jumper. Osceola
established communications to coordinate his activities with Micanope (King Philip) leader of the
Seminole east of the St. Johns River. After raiding a plantation in Philip's territory, Osceola took
his people into hiding in the swamplands near the Withlacoochee River, southwest of Fort King
and the Indian agency.
Osceola proved a formidable opponent to the federal government. As his men raided they also
burned bridges, slowing down the movement of troops and artillery. The war chief also made
excellent use of reconnaissance, so he was always abreast of the army's movements. On
December 18, 1835, in an area west of the town of Micanopy (present-day Gainesville), Osceola
led 80 warriors in an ambush of a wagon train. The warriors were busy plundering the wagon
when a group of 30 mounted militia happened upon the scene. The troops, commanded by
Captain John McLemore, were ordered to attack the Indians, but only a handful obeyed.
McLemore's tiny force was quickly defeated in the Battle of Black Point, with the loss of eight
dead and six wounded.
Osceola used King Philip to raid white plantations in his territory, causing the army to funnel off
troops, and thus weakening them. On December 28, 1835, Major Francis L. Dade and 110 troops
were ambushed while marching to relieve Fort King; the Battle of the Great Wahoo Swamp
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Facts On File: American Indian History Online
(1835), as it came to be known, was another decisive Seminole victory.
Osceola now directed his attention to the movements of General Clinch, who was on his way with
750 troops to attack Seminole villages along the Withlacoochee River. Assisted by Alligator, the
Seminole war chief prepared an ambush. On December 31, 1835, Osceola and Alligator attacked
Clinch's force after it had crossed the river. For unknown reasons, Clinch had allowed his men to
stack their guns and rest. They were thus unprepared when the Indian attack came, and the
troops were quickly beaten. Clinch lost four soldiers and another 52 were wounded, but more
important, as a result of this attack he cancelled his offensive campaign.
During the seven years of the Second Seminole War, a host of U.S. commanders were sent after
the Seminole. Taking full advantage of the terrain, the Seminole's hit-and-run tactics completely
baffled the U.S. regulars dispatched to Florida. General Zachary Taylor did manage to defeat
warriors under Alligator at the Battle of Lake Okeechobee (1837), but that was the extent of the
army's success.
Thomas Sidney Jesup finally succeeded in capturing Osceola on October 21, 1837, but only
because his rival was under the protection of a flag of truce. General Jesup had the Seminole
leader imprisoned at Fort Moultrie, South Carolina, where he fell ill and died on January 3, 1838.
Osceola was buried with honors at Fort Moultrie, while Alligator and Billy Bowlegs continued the
Seminole resistance. Gradually, the army's pursuits and scorched earth tactics, wore down
Seminole will to resist. By 1842 about 3,000 Seminole, had agreed to be removed, and the war
came to a close. The price paid by the United States to remove the Seminole Indians was high,
with 1,500 non-Indian deaths from combat and disease and a monetary cost of $30 million.
Harley, William and Ellen.Osceola: The Unconquered Indian. New York: Hawthorn Books, 1973.
Josephy, Alvin M., Jr.The Patriot Chief: A Chronicle of American Indian Resistance, rev. ed. New York:
Penguin Books, 1994.
McReynolds, Edwin C.The Seminoles. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1985.
Prucha, Francis Paul.Sword of the Republic: The United States Army on the Frontier. Lincoln: University
of Nebraska Press, 1969.
Text Citation (Chicago Manual of Style format):
Kessel, William B., and Robert Wooster, eds. "Second Seminole War." Encyclopedia of Native American
Wars and Warfare. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2005. American Indian History Online. Facts On File,
Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?
ItemID=WE43&iPin=ENAW0478&SingleRecord=True (accessed March 12, 2014).
Other Citation Formats:
Modern Language Association (MLA) Format
American Psychological Association (APA) Format
Additional Citation Information
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Record URL:
http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?
ItemID=WE43&iPin=ENAW0478&SingleRecord=True
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American History - Third Seminole War
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Third Seminole War
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The Third Seminole War lasted from 1855 to 1858 and marked the end of U.S. conflict
with the Seminole of Florida.
EVENTS
INDIVIDUALS
By November 1855, the U.S. Army's presence in Florida had been reduced to about 700
men, down from several thousand during the height of the first two Seminole wars. Even
so, the army still outnumbered the remaining male Seminole by nearly four to one.
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On December 7, 1855, Lt. George Hartsuff of the Second Artillery left Fort Myers in
command of an 11-man patrol. Hartsuff's mission was to move through Big Cypress
Swamp and observe Seminole activity, nothing more. On the morning of December 20, the patrol was attacked by a
band of Seminole led by Billy Bowlegs, whose village it had passed through the previous day. In the ensuing fight, six
members of the patrol were killed or wounded. Hartsuff himself was badly wounded but managed to escape; several
more were able to find their way back to Fort Myers, where they reported what happened.
The attack on Hartsuff's patrol ushered in the third and final Seminole War. Florida mobilized its militia, which vastly
outnumbered the Seminole when combined with the regular army in the area. That numerical advantage, however,
was offset by the regular army's disinclination to pursue the Seminole aggressively as well as by disorganization in the
militia.
The Seminole, led by Billy Bowlegs, Oscen Tustenuggee, and his brothers, Micco and Old, followed up the initial attack
on the Hartsuff patrol with a raid on a Miami River farm and an attack on some woodcutters working out of Fort
Denaud, east of Fort Myers. Slave quarters on some of the plantations were also targets. A militia column did manage
to surprise a small party of Seminole led by Oscen and killed a few and wounded some, including the leader, who
managed to escape.
The raids continued. During the spring of 1856, probes by both the militia and regulars had little luck locating the
elusive Seminole bands, except for one encounter in April with the Billy Bowlegs band. The summer of 1856 witnessed
several clashes, none of which accomplished much except to illustrate the ineffectiveness of the militia system. That
fall, however, Col. William S. Harney was appointed commander of the federal troops in Florida. Harney, a tough
regular, had been in the Second Seminole War, where he had had the humiliating experience of having to escape
while wearing only underwear during a surprise Seminole attack.
Harney's strategy was to apply relentless pressure against the Seminole by sending out constant patrols and utilizing
shallow-draft whaleboats to move through Florida's myriad inland waterways. The strategy began to wear the
Seminole down. Clothing grew threadbare, and they were forced to find lead for ammunition by scavenging for
expended army bullets.
An increase in army troop strength meant more patrols and continued pressure. Some Seminole who had been
relocated to the Indian Territory were also brought in to persuade their recalcitrant brothers to surrender. The
combined strategy proved successful, and the war was finally brought to a close on January 19, 1858; on March 27, a
Seminole delegation accepted government terms. Some were removed to the Indian Territory; some who refused
removal were allowed to remain in Florida.
Further Reading
Covington, James, The Seminoles of Florida, 1993; Gifford, John C., Billy Bowlegs and the Seminole War, 1925.
http://americanhistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/297386?terms=Seminole+Wars[3/12/2014 9:05:40 AM]
American History - Third Seminole War
MLA Citation
"Third Seminole War." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2014. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.
View all citation styles.
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Entry ID: 297386
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