The Seminole Wars were a series of three military conflicts between the United States and the Seminoles that took place in Florida between about 1816 and 1858. The Seminoles are a Native American nation which coalesced in northern Florida during the early 1700s, when the territory was still a Spanish colonial possession. Tensions grew between the Seminoles and settlers in the newly independent United States in the early 1800s, mainly because enslaved people regularly fled from Georgia into Spanish Florida, prompting slaveowners to conduct slave raids across the border. A series of cross-border skirmishes escalated into the First Seminole War, when American General Andrew Jackson led an incursion into the territory over Spanish objections. Jackson's forces destroyed several Seminole, Mikasuki and Black Seminole towns, as well as captured Fort San Marcos and briefly occupied Pensacola before withdrawing in 1818. The U.S. and Spain soon negotiated the transfer of the territory with the Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819.
Okeechobee is a city in and the county seat of Okeechobee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 US census, the city's population was 5,254.
The Second Seminole War, also known as the Florida War, was a conflict from 1835 to 1842 in Florida between the United States and groups of people collectively known as Seminoles, consisting of American Indians and Black Indians. It was part of a series of conflicts called the Seminole Wars. The Second Seminole War, often referred to as the Seminole War, is regarded as "the longest and most costly of the Indian conflicts of the United States". After the Treaty of Payne's Landing in 1832 that called for the Seminole's removal from Florida, tensions rose until fierce hostilities occurred in the Dade battle in 1835. This conflict started the war. The Seminoles and the U.S. forces engaged in mostly small engagements for more than six years. By 1842, only a few hundred native peoples remained in Florida. Although no peace treaty was ever signed, the war was declared over on August 14, 1842.
William Selby Harney, otherwise known among the Lakota as "Woman Killer" and "Mad Bear," was an American cavalry officer in the US Army, who became known during the Indian Wars and the Mexican–American War for his brutality and ruthlessness. One of five general officers in the US Army at the beginning of the American Civil War, he was removed from overseeing the Department of the West because of his Southern sympathies early in the war, although he kept Missouri from joining the Confederacy. Under President Andrew Johnson, he served on the Indian Peace Commission, negotiating in several treaties before spending his retirement partly in Missouri and partly trading reminiscences with Jefferson Davis and Ulysses S. Grant in Mississippi, eventually moving to Florida afterwards, where he spent the last few years of his life.
Halleck Tustenuggee was a 19th-century Seminole war chief. He fought against the United States government in the Second Seminole War and for the government in the American Civil War.
The Battle of Wahoo Swamp was an extended military engagement of the Second Seminole War fought in November 1836 in the Wahoo Swamp, approximately 50 miles northeast of Fort Brooke in Tampa and 35 miles south of Fort King in Ocala in modern Sumter County, Florida. General Richard K. Call, the territorial governor of Florida, led a mixed force consisting of Florida militia, Tennessee volunteers, Creek mercenaries, and some troops of the US Army and Marines against Seminole forces led by chiefs Osuchee and Yaholooche.
Thomas Sidney Jesup was a United States Army officer known as the "Father of the Modern Quartermaster Corps". His 52-year (1808–1860) military career was one of the longest in the history of the United States Army.
The Florida Trail is one of eleven National Scenic Trails in the United States, created by the National Trails System Act of 1968. It runs 1,500 miles (2,400 km), from Big Cypress National Preserve to Fort Pickens at Gulf Islands National Seashore, Pensacola Beach. Also known as the Florida National Scenic Trail, the trail provides permanent non-motorized recreation for hiking and other compatible activities within an hour's drive of most Floridians.
The Okeechobee Battlefield is a U.S. National Historic Landmark. It is located four miles (6 km) southeast of Okeechobee, on US 441/98, near Taylor Creek. The Battle of Lake Okeechobee, one of the major conflicts of the Second Seminole War, was fought at the site. Part of the battlefield is preserved as Okeechobee Battlefield State Historic Park.
Abiaka, also known as Sam Jones, was a Seminole-Miccosukee chief, warrior, and shaman who fought against the United States during the Seminole Wars. He was born among the Miccosukee people of Georgia, who would migrate south into Florida and become part of the Seminole tribe. He initially rose to prominence among the Seminoles as a powerful shaman. Abiaka became the principal chief of the Seminoles in 1837 during the Seminole Wars. He was a guerrilla warfare tactician and he led the Seminoles at the Battle of Lake Okeechobee, the largest battle of the conflict. Abiaka successfully resisted the United States and its policy of Indian Removal, and his leadership resulted in the continued presence of the Seminole people in Florida.
Seminole is a 1953 American Western film directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Rock Hudson, Barbara Hale, Anthony Quinn and Richard Carlson. Much of the film was shot in the Everglades National Park, Florida. The film depicts the Second Seminole War (1835-1842).
Richard Gentry was an American politician, slave owner, and soldier from Missouri. Gentry was killed in Florida during the Seminole Wars. The Missouri county of Gentry is named for him. He was the first mayor and founder of Columbia, Missouri.
The Battles of the Loxahatchee occurred west of Jupiter Inlet in South Florida in January 1838 between the United States Military and the Seminole Indians led by Chief Abiaka. The First Battle of the Loxahatchee occurred on January 15, involving a joint Navy-Army unit led by U.S. Navy Lieutenant Levin M. Powell. The Second Battle of the Loxahatchee occurred on January 24 involving a large army under U.S. Army General Thomas Jesup. The two battles were fought around the same area against the same group of Seminoles.
Fisheating Creek is a stream that flows into Lake Okeechobee in Florida. It is the only remaining free-flowing water course feeding into the lake, and the second-largest natural source for the lake. Most of the land surrounding the stream is either publicly owned or under conservation easements restricting development. The lower part of the stream remains in a largely natural state, and efforts are underway to restore the upper part of the stream to a more natural state.
The Battle of Pine Island Ridge was a battle during the Second Seminole War fought on March 22, 1838, at the site of Pine Island Ridge in South Florida. U.S. troops under the command of Lieutenant Colonel James Bankhead and Major William Lauderdale attacked a large Seminole village on top of Pine Island Ridge, an island in the Everglades at the time. The village was headed by Abiaka, who had recently become the principal chief of the Seminoles. As the U.S. troops approached the village, they were fired upon by Seminole warriors perched in the trees on Pine Island Ridge, who held off the U.S. troops long enough for Abiaka and the other villagers to escape. The attack ended in failure for the U.S. troops as they failed to kill or capture any of the Seminoles, who successfully evacuated their village without casualties. The battle was the closest the United States came to catching Abiaka during the Seminole Wars.
Fort Gardiner was a stockaded fortification with two blockhouses that was built in 1837 by the United States Army. It was one of the military outposts created during the Second Seminole War to assist Colonel Zachary Taylor's troops to capture Seminole Indians and their allies in the central part of the Florida Territory that were resisting forced removal to federal territory west of the Mississippi River per the Indian Removal Act.
Fort Basinger's original site is located approximately 35 miles (56 km) west of Fort Pierce, Florida, along U. S. Highway 98 in Highlands County, Florida. It was a stockaded fortification with two blockhouses that was built in 1837 by the United States Army. It was one of the military outposts created during the Second Seminole War to assist Colonel Zachary Taylor's troops to confront and capture Seminole Indians and their allies in the central part of the Florida Territory in the Lake Okeechobee region. The Seminole Indians and their allies were resisting forced removal to federal territory west of the Mississippi River as directed by the Indian Removal Act.
Alexander Ramsey Thompson Jr. (1793–1837) was a United States soldier. He was a graduate of the West Point Military Academy, who fought in the War of 1812 and the Second Seminole War. In the latter war, Thompson was killed by Seminoles at the Battle of Lake Okeechobee in Florida.
The Battle of the Caloosahatchee, also called the Harney Massacre, was a battle that took place during the Second Seminole War on July 23, 1839. A large group of Seminole raiders attacked a trading post and U.S. Army encampment along the Caloosahatchee River. The U.S. Army troops were part of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment and under the command of Lieutenant Colonel William Harney. The Seminole raiders were from various bands of Miccosukees, Muscogees, and "Spanish Indians". The battle happened because the Seminoles learned that the United States intended to violate the terms of the Macomb Treaty, a peace treaty they had recently negotiated with General Alexander Macomb that would allow them to remain in Florida. The Seminole warriors overran the trading post and encampment, killing most of the soldiers and civilian traders. Harney and some of his soldiers managed to escape at the last moment. The battle led to a resumption of fighting as the war would continue for three more years.
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