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Florida in the early 19th Century was home to the Seminole Indians. The Seminole had bitterly opposed the coming of the white man. Raids were made against white settlements in Georgia, just across the Florida border. In 1818 General Andrew Jackson was sent to patrol the border with 800 regular troops and an additional 900 Georgia volunteers. Jackson wasted no time in asserting his authority. Seminole villages were burned to the ground. The Seminoles were chased all the way to West Florida, territory under Spanish control. Jackson took control of Seminole Forts as he went, inflicting punishment upon British and Spanish traders who had aided the Seminoles.
In 1819 Spain sold East Florida to the United States for five million dollars and a promise of fair treatment for the Indians. Despite this, however, in 1830 the Government passed the Indian Removal Act, which required all of the tribes to move across the Mississippi to an Indian Territory. In order to facilitate the removal of the Seminole from Florida, some of their Chiefs were pressured into signing the Treaty of Payne’s Landing, which required all Seminoles to be out of Florida within three years. However, when the appointed time had expired, not one Seminole had been moved West. Another treaty was presented in 1835 and again a few years Chiefs signed. One warrior, however, jumped up and plunged his hunting knife into the treaty paper. His name was Osceola.
Osceola was thrown in jail for his insolence. After just a day he agreed to sign but, upon his release, he fled into the swamps. He now set about organizing a resistance movement. This group now began a series of raids on isolated settlements. A major blow was struck when a band of 180 Seminole surprised an Army Column on the military road out of Fort King, Tampa. 112 men of the 45th Infantry and the 2nd and 3rd Artillery regiments were destroyed. Only three of them escaped.
Meanwhile Osceola was still smarting from the treatment he had received at the hands of the whites at the Treaty Conference. He vowed to take his revenge, singling out hated Indian Agent Wiley Thompson. Osceola crept upon Thompson’s farmhouse one evening and shot the agents along with four of his dinner guests. Then the Indian disappeared back into the wilderness.
Osceola’s next encounter with the whites was on New Years Eve, 1835. He and his warriors encountered a force of about 800 soldiers on the Withlacoochee River. The Indians won the day, killing some 63 of the enemy. But they too suffered heavy casualties. Osceola himself was injured. From that point on the Seminoles would avoid open conflicts in favor of the hit and run guerrilla tactics that the terrain so well suited.
The Indian raids continued. The Army proved hopelessly at odds to counter these swift, violent attacks. One Commander after another was brought in to try to put an end to the Seminole War. Winfield Scott faced a Court of Inquiry for his failure to subjugate the Seminoles. He was, however, exonerated of all blame.
In a final desperate bid to end the War, the Army resorted to outright deception. In October of 1837, General Thomas Jessup invited Osceola to a peace talk under a flag of truce. But when the Chief turned up he was seized and thrown into a dungeon. A few months later, Osceola died of malaria and a throat ailment. But other Chiefs were ready to take up his mantle. Another new Commander was brought in. This time it was seasoned campaigner, Zachary Taylor who was pit at the helm of the operation. Taylor decided to beat the Seminole at their own game – hit and run forest fighting. The entire peninsula was plotted into 20 mile grids and posts were garrisoned to constantly patrol them.
The last major engagement of the war was on Christmas Day, 1837 when Taylor’s forces of over 1000 men attacked the Seminole Village at Lake Okeechobee. A bitter, bloody fight ensued. The Seminoles finally withdrew, giving the victory to Taylor. But it was a costly one. 28 soldiers were killed with 111 injured. The Indian losses were much less.
Still the Seminole resisters could not be broken. Now a different tactic was tried. Reservation Seminoles from Oklahoma were brought in an attempt to persuade the hostiles into handing themselves in. This was unsuccessful, however. The next step was to engage in a scorched earth policy, systematically burning all crops, canoes, and shelters as the army moved through the swamplands. Finally, results were forthcoming. The tired and hungry resisters began to hand themselves in. The Seminole War was finally over. It had cost the United States Government about 60 million dollars and 2000 lives.
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