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.
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.
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.
Holata Micco was a leader of the Seminoles in Florida during the Second Seminole War and was the remaining Seminole's most prominent chief during the Third Seminole War, when he led the Seminoles' last major resistance against the United States government. With the possibilities of military victory dwindling, he finally agreed to relocate with his people to Indian Territory in 1858. As part of the settlement, he was paid $6,500 plus $1,000 each for the subchiefs and $100 each for the women and children who went with him. Several sources claim that he is buried at the Fort Gibson National Cemetery, but it is disputed whether the grave marked "Captain Billy Bowlegs" is actually his or that of a different Billy Bowlegs.
Fort Dallas was a military base during the Seminole Wars on the banks of the Miami River in what is now Downtown Miami, Florida, United States.
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.
The Jupiter Inlet Light is located in Jupiter, Florida, on the north side of the Jupiter Inlet. The site for the lighthouse was chosen in 1853. It is located between Cape Canaveral Light and Hillsboro Inlet Light. The lighthouse was designed by then Lieutenant George G. Meade of the Bureau of Topographical Engineers. Meade's design was subsequently modified by Lieutenant William Raynolds. The Jupiter Inlet silted shut in 1854, forcing all building supplies to be shipped in light boats down the Indian River. Work was interrupted from 1856 to 1858 by the Third Seminole War. The lighthouse was completed under the supervision of Captain Edward A. Yorke in 1860 at a cost of more than $60,000.
The Palm Beach Inlet, also known as the Lake Worth Inlet is an artificial cut through a barrier island connecting the northern part of the Lake Worth Lagoon in Palm Beach County, Florida with the Atlantic Ocean. It is bordered by the town of Palm Beach on the south, and by the town of Palm Beach Shores to the north. The inlet is also the entrance channel for the Port of Palm Beach. Its coordinates are 26°46′20″N80°02′14″W.
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.
A national push for expansion and progress toward the latter part of the 19th century stimulated interest in draining the Everglades, a region of tropical wetlands in southern Florida, for agricultural use. According to historians, "From the middle of the nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth century, the United States went through a period in which wetland removal was not questioned. Indeed, it was considered the proper thing to do."
The New River is a tidal estuary in South Florida, United States. Despite its name, it is not a true natural river, but a channel composed of many tributary canals. The channel is connected to the Everglades through a series of man-made canals. After passing through Fort Lauderdale, the channel connects to the Intracoastal Waterway and Atlantic Ocean at Port Everglades cut. The channel is entirely within Broward County and is composed from the junction of three main canals which originate in the Everglades, splitting off from the Miami Canal. They are the North New River Canal, which flows south from Lake Okeechobee along the east side of U.S. 27 and then east along the north side of State Road 84 / Interstate 595; the South New River Canal, which flows east from the Miami Canal along the north side of Griffin Road and the south side of Orange Drive; and a canal which flows east along the south side of Sunrise Boulevard. The Henry E. Kinney Tunnel in downtown Fort Lauderdale travels underneath the New River.
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.
Donald "Isa" Hamm Bryant was an artist, an author, a historian and activist in Florida and California. He founded the Florida Black Historical Research Project and worked to preserve the history of Black Seminoles.
Riverbend Park is a 680-acre (280 ha) park in the Jupiter Farms section of Jupiter, in Palm Beach County, Florida. The area includes the Riverbend Regional Park Historic District with Indian middens and a preserved battlefield from the Seminole War at the Loxahatchee River Battlefield Park adjacent to Riverbend. The park includes 10 miles of hiking/biking trails, 7 miles of equestrian trails and 5 miles of canoeing/kayaking trails and includes a section of the Loxahatchee River, a National Wild and Scenic River. A Florida cracker farmstead is displayed, as well as a Seminole-style chickee for picnics. The battlefield area was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2024.
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.
Levin Mynn Powell was a rear admiral of the United States Navy. He was known for his service in the Second Seminole War and developing riverine warfare techniques to fight the Seminole tribe in Florida. He also served with the Union Navy in the American Civil War.
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.
United States 
Levin M. Powell (WIA)