Osceola

The Seminole Indian war chief Osceola (ca. 1800-1838) led his tribe's fight against being removed from their lands in Florida.

Born about 1800 on the Tallapoosa River in the present state of Georgia, Osceola was a member of the Creek nation. His mother's second husband was William Powell, a Scottish trader, but Osceola, sometimes called Powell, was a full-blooded Creek.

In 1808 Osceola and his mother moved to Florida. They were associated with the Seminoles, and with them Osceola fought in the War of 1812 and in 1818 against American troops under Andrew Jackson. By 1832 Osceola was living near Ft. King in Florida. Apparently he was not hostile, for he was employed occasionally by the Indian agent to pacify restless tribesmen. Such activities gradually brought him to prominence among the Seminoles.

In 1832, however, the United States government was under pressure to move the Seminoles west of the Mississippi River. Some Seminole chiefs were persuaded to sign a treaty of removal. Osceola opposed this, as he did a similar agreement made in 1835. Most Seminole chiefs signified their disagreement by refusing to touch the pen; Osceola did so by plunging his knife into the paper. He was arrested for this defiance. To secure his release, he pretended that he would work for approval for the treaty. By now a Seminole war chief, once freed, he began gathering warriors for battle.

On Dec. 28, 1835, Osceola and his warriors brutally murdered the agent Wiley Thompson and Chief Charley Emathla, thereby precipitating the Second Seminole War. With Indian followers and fugitive slaves, Osceola overcame many enemies during the next 2 years.

The first of his major battles occurred when Osceola killed Maj. Francis L. Dade and 110 soldiers. Days later, with 200 followers, he fought against Gen. Duncan L. Clinch and 600 soldiers. Wounded, he was forced to retreat. On June 8, 1836, he was repelled at a fortified post, but on August 16 he almost overwhelmed Ft. Drane. Osceola's fight was so successful that it led to widespread public criticism of the U.S. Army, especially of Gen. Thomas S. Jesup, who ordered Osceola's arrest while under a flag of truce on Oct. 21, 1837.

The captured Seminole chief was imprisoned at Ft. Marion, Fla., then removed to Ft. Moultrie, S.C. He died there on Jan. 30, 1838, of unknown causes.

Further Reading

A full-length biography of Osceola is James B. Ransom, Osceola (1838). Information on him is in Theodore Pratt, Seminole: A Drama of the Florida Indian (1953), and Alvin Josephy, Jr., The Patriot Chiefs: A Chronicle of American Indian Leadership (1961). A good general study of the Seminole problem is Edwin C. McReynolds, The Seminoles (1957). For an overview of the war which Osceola commanded see John K. Mahon, History of the Second Seminole War (1967). □

Osceola (Maskókî—Black Drink singer, ca. 1804–1838), Native American war leader.Osceola was born into the Tallassee tribe of Maskókî speakers (called Creeks by the British), whose village was near present‐day Tuskegee, Alabama. He was never a chief.

Dispossessed by Andrew Jackson's settlement of the Creek War of 1813–14, he and part of his family migrated southward into the Spanish Floridas. His plight and passion captured the imagination of the U.S. press, which romanticized Osceola as a symbol of Indian resistance to forced removal. Acquisition of the territory by the United States in 1821 increased tensions, and the young warrior spoke vehemently against the treaties by which the United States sought to confine Florida Indians to peninsular reservations. Imprisoned for several days by U.S. Indian agent Wiley Thompson in 1835, Osceola determined to fight removal. Along with tribal leaders, he planned the opening gambits of the Second Seminole War.

On 28 December 1835, Osceola murdered Agent Thompson at Fort King (Ocala) as his compatriots were attacking a U.S. Army column under Maj. Francis Dade en route there. Two days later, he was one of the leaders of the Battle of the Withlacoochee, in which U.S. regulars and volunteers were routed by the numerically inferior Indian forces. He led warriors throughout 1836–37 although his health declined.

On 21 October 1837, Osceola was captured by U.S. troops, while under a white flag of truce, near St. Augustine, East Florida. He was transferred from Fort Marion (St. Augustine) to Fort Moultrie, South Carolina, where he died a prisoner on 30 January 1838.
[See also Native Americans, U.S. Military Relations with; Native American Wars: Wars Between Native Americans and Europeans and Euro‐Americans; Seminole Wars.]

Bibliography

John K. Mahon , History of the Second Seminole War, 1967; reprint 1991.
Patricia R. Wickman , Osceola's Legacy, 1991.

Patricia R. Wickman

Osceola , c.1800–1838, leader of the Seminole . He was also called Powell, the surname of his supposed white father. In the early 1830s, Osceola was living close to Fort King, near the site of Ocala, Fla. Although not a chief, he rose to a position of prominence among the Seminole and led the young warriors who denounced the treaties of 1832 and 1833, which provided for the removal of the Native Americans to the West. In Dec., 1835, Osceola's warriors killed Wiley Thompson, the Indian agent in charge of the removal. U.S. troops under General Jesup drove his band southward into the Everglades, but Osceola, skillfully using guerrilla tactics, resisted capture. Fighting ceased early in 1837, only to break out again in June. Overtures for peace were sent to Osceola, and he agreed to meet with Jesup in St. Augustine under a flag of truce. Jesup, never intending to discuss peace, had Osceola seized and imprisoned at Fort Moultrie, S.C., where he died shortly afterward.

Bibliography: See study by W. and E. Hartley (1973).

Osceola (c. 1804–38) Native American war leader, born in Alabama. Osceola became a symbol of Indian resistance to forced removal. A member of a Tallassee tribe, he was outspoken in his denouncement of the treaties by which the United States sought to remove Florida Indians from their lands and confine them to reservations. Along with tribal leaders, he planned the opening gambits of the Second Seminole War (1835–42) and led warriors in its first major engagements (1836–37). Captured while under a white flag of truce (1837), Osceola was imprisoned in South Carolina, where he died a few months later.

Osceola was much romanticized as a noble, tragic figure because of his defiance and treacherous capture. Noted Indian artist George Catlin painted his portrait, further contributing to the mythical aura surrounding him.

Osceola (c.1800–39) Seminole chief. During the SEMINOLE WAR (1835–42), Osceola, an extremely capable military leader, held off US attempts to remove his tribe to the west for three years. Frustrated by his successful resistance in the Florida Everglades, General Jessup offered Osceola safe conduct to a peace conference, but treacherously imprisoned him at Fort Moultrie near Charleston, where he died.

Osceola, USA Six states have cities with this name, all linked directly or indirectly to Osceola (c.1804–38), a Seminole leader during the Second Seminole War (1835–42).