THE SEMINOLE WARS
A Case Study
HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF SPANISH FLORIDA
• 18th c.
– Asylum for colonial slaves
– Maroon communities
– Seminole Tribe firmly established
• 19th c.
– US desire for expansion into Spanish Florida
– Desire for Seminole cattle w/in the US
• Raids of reprisal
– Destination for runaway slaves
• Slave catchers
THE FIRST SEMINOLE WAR: 1818-1819
• November, 1817
– Gen. Edmund Gaines attempt to take Neamathla (Micc)
– Retaliation & ambush by Seminoles + allies  WAR!
• 35 US soldiers dead + 6 women
• March, 1818
– AJ + 3,500 sent by Monroe into W FL
– 3 months of fighting
• Seminole settlements destroyed
• Execution of 2 Brits (oops! Diplomacy in order)
• Capture of St. Marks, Pensacola
• "Do you think . . . I am like a bat, that hangs by its claws in a
dark cave, and that I can see nothing of what is going on
around me? Ever since I was a small boy I have seen the white
people steadily encroaching upon the Indians, and driving
them from their homes and hunting grounds . . . I will tell you
plainly, if I had the power, I would tonight cut the throat of
every white man in Florida.”
-Neamaltha
• 1821 = Territory of FL
– Territorial Gov. AJ
• Treaty of Fort Moultire  Seminole Restriction
– 2nd Territorial Gov. William Duval
• 1828- President AJ + Southern Congressmen
–  Indian Removal Act 1830
• 1932- Treaty of Payne’s Landing
– Inspection of OK grounds
– Micanopy, Treaty of Fort Gibson
– Osceola  Resistance
• Slave question
“Am I a negro, a slave? I am an Indian. The white man shall not
make me black. I will make the white man red with blood, and then
blacken him in the sun and rain, where the wolf shall smell his
bones and the vulture live upon his flesh.”
-Osceola
SECOND SEMINOLE WAR:
1835-1842
• December 28, 1835
– Seminoles destroy sugar plantations
– 3 prong attack
• Murder of IA Wiley Thompason by Osceola
– Fort King (Ocala)
• Dade’s Massacre
– 108 dead
• Retaliation by Seminoles against General Clinch
+ 750 @ Withlacoochee
• Longest, costliest, deadliest
WAR IN FLORIDA
• Impact of attacks = Northern support for military reinforcement
– Ft. Lauderdale, Ft. Meade, Ft. Pierce
– Troops by land, by boat across interior  Seminoles into open country
• Attacks on villages
• 1836  Seminole Success
– General Gaines forced to retreat
– General Winfield Scott unsuccessful at hunting
down Seminoles
– Gov. Richard K. Call stopped by resistance
– Heat, rain, disease
WAR ENDS
• Late 1836
– General Thomas Jesup- forts built, methodical campaign sweep through
swamps
• Surrender of Micanopy?
• 1837  summer break
– Jesup sense of betrayal from Micanopy  policy to capture
Seminole leaders
• Osceola, Micanopy
– Prison @ Fort Moultrie (Charleston) = disease, death, beheading
– Wildcat, Alligator, Jumper, Billy Bowlegs, Sam Jones
• Survivors head south + Jesup & 9k
– Patrol of coats, rivers
– Supplies to forts
– Freedom to Black Seminoles (in West)
• Dec. 25, 1837- Col. Zachary Taylor vs. Seminoles
– Victory for US?
– Defeat or draw
• High causalities
• Seminoles buy time
– Families  Everglades
• Taylor? War hero and general
• 1838- Everglades = protection
– Jesup desire war to end
– Pres. MVB deny, command to Gen. ZT
• Slave holding interest power
– Removal of ALL Seminoles
–  continued war
• 1839- Gen. Alexander Macomb sent to negotiate peace
– Negotiation break down
– Temporary provisions to stay in FL
– N FL booming with settlers, S FL war zone
• Federal troops into Everglades year round
– Advantage to Seminoles when retreat in summer
• Leadership under Billy Bowlegs
– Soldiers, sailors, Marines, captured black/Indian POWs
• Small bands of Seminoles captured
– Treaties/removal on individual basis
• August 1842- US say war ended
– 7 years of war
– 1,500 US men dead
– All regiments of Army committed to Seminoles
– 30k citizen soldiers involved
– 4k Seminoles removed (2k warriors)
– $30 million total
• Budget of 1836 = $25 million
THIRD SEMINOLE WAR: 1855-1858
• Approx. 350 Seminoles remained in Everglades
– White encroachment (+ FL militia) through “farms”
– Muck of S FL
• Dec. 1855- Billy Bowlegs retaliation = attack on military camp
– 2 ½ years of guerilla warfare
– White bounty hungers
• $500, $250, $100
– Capture or surrender
– May 1858- Chief Bowlegs surrender
• Family captured  surrender, 200 + BB move to OK
• -200 remain in Everglades as sovereign nation