Seminole Wars

SEMINOLE WARS

SEMINOLE WARS. In the first decades of the nineteenth century, Seminole Indians in the Spanish colony of Florida faced numerous pressures. With the Spanish and then the French expelled from Louisiana, interior southeastern Indians no longer had European allies for protection or as markets for their goods. Everywhere, Americans were turning Indian lands into farms—particularly along the fertile rivers of the South, where cotton plantations mushroomed. Many Seminole communities increasingly incorporated runaway African American slaves into their societies, in which the escapees became productive community members. Meanwhile, as southern plantation owners became more militant, raids and counterraids across the U.S.–Florida border characterized Seminole–white relations.

In 1816, detachments of the U.S. Army began pursuing runaways into Florida, and in March 1818, General Andrew Jackson assumed control of nearly three thousand men in an invasion of Seminole Florida that began the First Seminole War. Focusing on several Seminole communities in northern Florida, Jackson marched southward, burning Seminole fields, villages, and houses. As Seminoles abandoned their settled communities and retreated into the interior, Jackson turned west, capturing St. Marks in April 1818 and Pensacola the following month. In 1819, Spain relinquished control of Florida to the United States, and when Florida became a territory of the United States in 1822, thousands of settlers rushed south to claim plantation lands. Jackson became the first governor of the Florida Territory.

Throughout the 1820s and into the 1830s, Florida officials attempted to pressure Seminole groups to leave their lands and move westward. The Seminoles, however, were required to leave behind their black community members, who were to become the slaves of whites. Refusing to leave their homelands and to break up their families—many runaway slaves had intermarried with Seminoles—Seminole leaders defied all attempts to force their removal. In 1835, as U.S. officials attempted a final drive to displace the Seminoles, a young warrior, Osceola, was arrested after failing to sign a removal treaty. After his arrest, Osceola killed a proremoval leader and called on his community members to join him in driving out white officials. This began the Second Seminole War.

From 1835 to 1842, Osceola and other Seminole leaders orchestrated guerrilla campaigns against U.S. Army stations throughout north-central Florida. Often overwhelming vastly superior forces, Seminoles became renowned for their military prowess and strategy. In the last week of 1835, Osceola led his forces to three stunning victories over the Americans, culminating in his triumph at Withlacoochee on 31 December, when the Seminoles dispersed a force of about 750 whites under General Duncan Clinch. Andrew Jackson, now president of the United States, appointed nine commanders before finally capturing Osceola, who died in captivity in 1838.

The Second Seminole War continued until 1842, when the U.S. government at last accepted the futility of its campaign. Although three thousand Seminoles were removed west to Indian Territory, with about a thousand left behind, the government lost just under fifteen hundred soldiers and spent nearly $40 million, including fighting the Third Seminole War in 1855. Although enduring recurrent infringements on their lands, the remaining Seminole groups created lasting communities in the Florida Everglades.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Walton, George. Fearless and Free: The Seminole Indian War, 1835–1842. Indianapolis, Ind.: Bobbs-Merrill, 1977.

Weisman, Brent Richards. Like Beads on a String: A Cultural History of the Seminole Indians in North Peninsular Florida. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1989.

Ned Blackhawk

See also Florida ; Indian Policy, U.S.: 1775–1830, 1830–1900 ; Indian Removal ; Indians and Slavery ; Wars with Indian Nations: Early Nineteenth Century (1783–1840), Later Nineteenth Century (1840–1900) .