Soon after hostilities began in late 1835, a portion of the Seminole and Black Seminole of north and central Florida removed to the Wahoo Swamp – a largely unmapped wilderness of wetlands, dense hardwood hammocks, and scattered wet prairies – as a refuge from attempts to expel them from the territory as demanded by the Indian Removal Act. Settlements were established on patches of dry land along the Withlacoochee River, and the area became a base from which small raiding parties launched attacks on US military forces and plantations between Fort Brooke and Fort King.
In the autumn of 1836, General Call's forces arrived in the area to seek out and destroy Seminole villages and farms along the Withlacoochee to break their resistance. However, though he forced the Seminoles to retreat deeper into the swamp in a series of sharp engagements, he was unable to follow due to difficult terrain and dwindling supplies. American forces had left the Wahoo Swamp by the end of November 1836, and Call was relieved of his command by General Thomas Jesup the following month.[1][2]
Background
The Second Seminole War between the Government of the United States and the Seminole escalated after the Dade Massacre on December 28, 1835, and the killing by Osceola of the Indian agentWiley Thompson, who was organizing the removal of the Seminoles from Florida, on the same day.[3] The Seminoles and the Maroons (enslaved Africans who had escaped from their bondage),[4] who lived in their own villages or towns near those of the Seminoles and became known as Black Seminoles, found themselves under constant threat by the US Army and territorial militias, who wanted to relocate the Seminoles and return the refugees to the slaveholders who claimed them.
The Black Seminoles occupied many small villages and plantations along the Withlacoochee River where they raised large crops of corn, pumpkins, squash, beans, and sugar cane during the growing season;[5] the whites were aware that they stored provisions in various hammocks surrounded by the swamps along the river, and in the morass called the "Wahoo Swamp". This large swamp was the stronghold of the Indians, where their cattle and their families were hidden, with many Maroon families residing there as well.[6][7] Consequently, the white soldiers made it a priority to destroy the villages and seize their supplies; the Seminoles had much to lose and could be expected to make a strong defense.
On November 14, Brig. Gen. Robert Armstrong, who was marching with five hundred mounted men toward these settlements, encountered a well-armed force of Indians and Maroons, and heavy gunfire ensued. Eleven of Armstrong's men fell before the allied barrage in less than an hour. Nevertheless, he managed to drive them from the battlefield, but they recovered their dead and wounded, the possession of which the Indians regarded as the only proof of success in battle; they never acknowledged defeat while they had them.[8]
Battle of Wahoo Swamp
Excerpt from "A Map of the Seat of War in Florida" by Captain John Mackay and Lieutenant J. Black, U.S. Topographical Engineers, 1839, showing location of Battle of Wahoo Swamp
On November 18, 1836, Gen. Call, having left his baggage train under a strong guard, marched again, with 550 Tennesseans, chiefly foot soldiers, to the Wahoo Swamp. At about 3 miles from their camp, they fell upon a large Indian trail, which led through two dense hammocks, and over two creeks, into a large field, surrounded on three sides by hammocks. The Seminoles were retreating to gain securer positions to begin the attack, leaving their houses in flames; at length, making a stand, the Tennesseans formed a line of attack.[9]
The foot soldiers in the regiment under Col. William Trousdale were formed in open order to charge into the hammock,[10] while the horsemen, to the right and left, were thrown back to protect the flank,[11] and to act as a reserve corps. The columns had not received the word to advance, when a tremendous volley of gunfire was opened along their whole front, from a hammock. They began slowly to advance, exchanging shots at short intervals. The order being given to charge, it was quickly obeyed; but the Indians did not break and fly as formerly; they stood and fought hand to hand, while at the same time their wings attacked both flanks of the army, and a small body of about 50 men fell on its rear.
The battle had raged nearly half an hour, when a general charge broke out and dispersed them in every direction, leaving 25 of their number dead on the field, while the whites had but three killed and 18 wounded. Six hundred Seminoles were said to have been engaged in this battle. The hour being late, and the men exhausted, the army retreated to its appointed place for the meeting with Col. Pierce, near Dade's battleground.[12]
On November 21, Gen. Armstrong ordered a combined attack, and the army marched, in three columns, into the swamp with the Tennesseans and regulars, and Col. Warren's mounted men on the right, the center under Col. Pierce, and the Creek regiment on the left, the line extending for a full mile. When they came to the battleground of the 18th, they found it in possession of the Indians. As the Tennesseans and regulars advanced, a heavy fire was opened upon them, but they did not answer it until they got into the midst of the Indians; then charging them, the Seminoles gave way and retreated.[10]
As soon as the direction of their retreat was observed by a party in reserve, Col. Pierce, with his division, and the Creek Indians, were ordered to pursue them; soon afterwards, Col. Trousdale with his regiment, and Col. Warren with the Florida horsemen, were sent to support them. The greater part of the regulars and Tennesseans, however, by taking a trail to the right, were caught in an almost impassable morass, where no horse could move, and where the men were obliged to wade waist-deep in mud and water. A small number of Creek warriors on the left, led by Col. Brown, taking a better path, followed closely upon the enemy and found them strongly positioned in a cypress swamp. The Creeks charged them, and their leader, Major David Moniac, a mix-blooded Creek who was the first Native American to graduate from West Point, was shot and killed while trying to determine how deep the stream was, as also were several other Creek warriors. It was soon discovered that this party would be overpowered, and the struggle was momentarily becoming even more desperate, when two companies of Florida militia under Capt. Groves and Lieut. Myrick, three companies of artillery under Maj. Gardner, Capts. Tompkins, Porter, and Lee, and Col. Waire with his mounted men, coming successively into action, enabled the Creeks to maintain their ground.
Plaque near the battle site
It was not until nearly all the force of the Tennesseans was brought to bear on this point that the Indians could be dislodged. Thus ended the second battle of the Wahoo Swamp, in which Gen. Call's army suffered 25 casualties, with nine being killed. The Indians left 10 on the field; but the whites said they lost "50 at least."
Call had pushed the Seminole back through the swampy marsh, consequently they had retreated southward by nightfall and Call chose not to pursue them because of the difficult terrain. The army having consumed all its provisions and made its way out of this hostile region; it accordingly returned to its late encampment at 10 o'clock at night, and the next day marched for Volusia.[13]
Aftermath
The offensive against the Seminoles began in the fall of 1836 under the leadership of Gen. Call, a protégé of President Jackson and a veteran of previous Indian Wars;[14][15] however, it failed to achieve its objective of neutralizing the Indian resistance to involuntary removal. Leading a large force of volunteers, regular soldiers, and mercenary Creeks, Call managed to force the Seminole from their strongholds near the Withlacoochee River, but he was thwarted at the Battle of Wahoo Swamp;[16] being unable to advance in the swamp, he fell back to Volusia, allowing the Indians time to escape into the unmapped Florida wilderness, from which they continued to send war parties to attack the whites' plantations.[17][18][19]
On December 9, Call was relieved of overall command and replaced by Major Gen. Thomas Jesup,[20] who returned with the federal troops to Fort Brooke. As the short enlistments of the volunteers ended in late December, they went home.[21] Osceola himself led hit-and-run raids against vulnerable Army detachments and outposts until he was captured on October 21, 1837, under a white flag of truce near Fort Peyton a few miles south of St. Augustine, by Gen. Joseph Marion Hernández, per Gen. Jesup's orders.[22]
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 American 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.
Center Hill is a city in Sumter County, Florida, United States. The population was 846 at the 2020 census.
Lake Panasoffkee is a census-designated place (CDP) in Sumter County, Florida, United States. The population was 3,551 at the 2010 census.
Osceola, named Billy Powell at birth, was an influential leader of the Seminole people in Florida. His mother was Muscogee, and his great-grandfather was a Scotsman, James McQueen. He was reared by his mother in the Creek (Muscogee) tradition. When he was a child, they migrated to Florida with other Red Stick refugees, led by a relative, Peter McQueen, after their group's defeat in 1814 in the Creek Wars. There they became part of what was known as the Seminole people.
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 Creek and Black Seminoles as well as other allied tribes. 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 Seminoles' removal from Florida, tensions rose until fierce hostilities occurred in Dade's massacre in 1835. This engagement officially started the war although there were a series of incidents leading up to the Dade battle. 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 by Colonel William Jenkins Worth.
Prospect Bluff Historic Sites is located in Franklin County, Florida, on the Apalachicola River, 6 miles (9.7 km) SW of Sumatra, Florida. The site contains the ruins of two forts.
The Battle of Lake Okeechobee was one of the major battles of the Seminole Wars. It was fought between 1,000 U.S. Army troops of the 1st, 4th, and 6th Infantry Regiments and 132 Missouri Volunteers under the command of Colonel Zachary Taylor, and about 400 Seminole warriors led by chiefs Abiaka, Billy Bowlegs, and Wild Cat on 25 December 1837. The Seminoles defended their large encampment by Lake Okeechobee against an attack by Zachary Taylor's troops. Zachary Taylor's march to Lake Okeechobee was part of a larger offensive into South Florida that was planned by General Thomas Jesup. The battle was a victory for the Seminoles, as they held off the U.S. troops long enough to safely evacuate their encampment. Due to the large amount of casualties his troops suffered, Zachary Taylor was forced to end his offensive into South Florida, and he marched his army over 100 miles back to Tampa Bay.
The Black Seminoles, or Afro-Seminoles, are an ethnic group of mixed Native American and African origin associated with the Seminole people in Florida and Oklahoma. They are mostly blood descendants of the Seminole people, free Africans, and escaped former slaves, who allied with Seminole groups in Spanish Florida. Many have Seminole lineage, but due to the stigma of having mixed origin, they have all been categorized as slaves or Freedmen in the past.
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 Treaty of Payne's Landing was an agreement signed on 9 May 1832 between the government of the United States and several chiefs of the Seminole Indians in the Territory of Florida, before it acquired statehood.
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.
The Dade battle was an 1835 military defeat for the United States Army.
John Horse, also known as Juan Caballo, Juan Cavallo, John Cowaya and Gopher John, was a man of mixed African and Seminole ancestry who fought alongside the Seminoles in the Second Seminole War in Florida. He rose to prominence in the third year of what was to become a seven-year war when the first generation of Black Seminole leaders was largely decimated and the primary Seminole war chief, Osceola, fell into the hands of the American military commander, General Thomas Sydney Jesup.
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.
David Moniac was a United States Army soldier of Muscogee descent. He was the first Native American and first non-white graduate of any race from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York in 1822. He was born into a prominent family of Upper Creeks, and was related to major Creek leaders on both sides of his family. Moniac was also the first cadet to enter West Point from the new state of Alabama. Moniac resigned his commission in 1822 to manage his clan's property in Alabama, where he developed a cotton plantation.
Fort Peyton was a stockaded fort built in August 1837 by the United States Army, one of a chain of military outposts created during the Second Seminole War for the protection of the St. Augustine area in Florida Territory. Established by Maj. Gen. Thomas Jesup, it was garrisoned by regular army troops.
Wahoo is an unincorporated community in Sumter County, Florida, United States. First settled by the Timucua, the area was eventually settled by the Seminoles. During the Second Seminole War, Wahoo and the surrounding area served as shelter to the Seminoles and as the site of several skirmishes. After the war, white settlers migrated to the area and established a thriving town.
Benjamin Kendrick Pierce was a career officer in the United States Army. He was a son of New Hampshire Governor Benjamin Pierce and brother of President Franklin Pierce. Benjamin K. Pierce was a veteran of the War of 1812, the Second Seminole War, and the Mexican–American War, and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Army and colonel in the Florida Militia.
Gad Humphreys was an officer in the United States Army and an Indian agent in Florida. He was appointed to his post in 1822. He was supportive of the Indians and tried to help them and protect them from encroachments by White settlers. He was accused of abusing his post by preventing or delaying the return to their owners of fugitive slaves that had taken refuge with the Indians. An investigation was conducted, but none of his accusers were willing to testify. Even so, he was removed from his post in 1830.
↑ Bahamas Handbook. E. Dupuch, Jr., Publications. 2000. p.228. ISBN9780914755692. They farmed squash, beans, corn, pumpkin and sugar cane as sharecroppers, and hunted and fished for food. Intermarriage was inevitable. Descendants of Africa's fiercest fighting tribes, including the Ashanti, Ebo and Senegal, Seminole blacks were fine horsemen and crack shots who earned a reputation as ferocious fighters. General Andrew Jackson once said, "I would rather fight 500 white men than do battle with 50 black Seminoles."
↑ Junius P. Rodriguez (26 March 2015). "Caesar, John (ca. 1770–1837)". In Junius P. Rodriguez (ed.). Encyclopedia of Emancipation and Abolition in the Transatlantic World. Vol.1–3. Routledge. pp.104–105. ISBN978-1-317-47180-6.
"Warrior From West Point" in Soldiers Magazine February 1974 issue
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