The Second Seminole war
“The nation abandoned older Jeffersonian ideals of national expansion predicated upon ideological conversion and instead embraced violent conquest, without a real debate, let alone a fight. This project has two main focuses. In the first, I examine how disparate people in Florida, including generals, volunteers, soldiers, Seminoles, and Black Seminoles, viewed the war and, through the use of diaries, letters, personal narratives, and professional reports, demonstrate the centrality of competing conceptions of slavery and race relations to the everyday struggles of the conflict. Several times, American generals proposed peace treaties that would allow the Seminoles to remain in southern Florida.” (Scallet)
The second Seminole war started when the American government attempted to relocate the Native Americans of Florida to Oklahoma. During 1880s president Jackson held the power position in the U.S. despite him being part Native American he believed that them living and breathing was one of the biggest threats to the harmony of the American people and heavily desired to see them removed from existence. He has stated that the Native Americans are an inferior race that has neither intelligence, morals, or the ability to evolve. Moreover, President Jackson held a grudge against the Seminole tribe because they helped runaway slaves and gave them food and shelter. Perhaps this was one of the most important contributing factors for the second Seminole war because the Natives were concerned about the well-being of the blacks as they had assimilated to the culture very well and some were even married to parts of the Seminole tribe. When the American settlers began to take action towards enslaving the blacks again that’s when tension started to rise. One of the Seminole leaders had mouth full to say towards representatives of the American government which lead to an huge ambush ” a war party led by Osceola ambushed Charley Emathla, the Seminole leader who signed the removal treaty with the Americans. As a symbolic gesture, Osceola scattered the money Emathla received from the Americans over his dead body. Osceola’s warriors then ambushed Indian agent Wiley Thompson, killing seven of the Americans. Warriors led by Alligator, Micanopy, and Jumper attacked American soldiers near Tampa Bay, Florida and killed 105 of the 108 soldiers. This marks the formal beginning of the Second Seminole War.” ( Admin). After, a couple of battles the Americans chose to make the a piece council which was really a disguise to capture the Seminole leaders while there guard was down. The leader that lead the first ambush Osceola was murdered after being battered and captured. The aftermath was some the Seminoles giving up their territory and the blacks with them being captured and returned back to slavery. However, this did not cease the war ” Most of the battles of the Second Seminole War were guerilla skirmishes in which small groups of Seminole warriors quickly vanished. One of the largest battles of the war was the 1837 Battle of Lake Okeechobee. Alligator, Arpeika, and Wildcat led their Seminole warriors against Colonel Zachary Taylor’s troops. The Americans, with 1,000 soldiers, were under orders to destroy any Seminole force which they met. The American troops were met with well-directed fire from the Seminole warriors. The Seminole warriors had breech-loading Spanish long guns with rifled barrels which meant that they were more accurate and could be reloaded quickly. Taylor’s plan was for his militia to retreat at first fire and then re-form behind the regular soldiers. However, the militia sustained heavy losses and the frightened volunteers broke and ran for their horses, too shattered to re-form. The battle left 26 soldiers dead and 112 wounded. The Seminole casualties included 11 dead and 14 wounded. ” (Admin) the war ended with the United States withdrawing their troops in 1842 when most if the Seminoles relocated to Oklahoma with a a couple of hundred still residing in Florida, but the U.S. government did pay a large total of 40 million dollars for their war efforts.
Seminole Tribe 