Second Seminole War

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 (see below). 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.

Bands from various tribes in the southeastern United States had moved into the unoccupied lands in Florida in the 18th century. These included Alabamas, Choctaw, Yamasees, Yuchis and Muscogees (then called "Creeks"). The Muscogees were the largest group, and included people from the Lower Towns and Upper Towns of the Muscogee Confederacy, and both Hitchiti and Muscogee speakers. One group of Hitchiti speakers, the Mikasuki, settled around what is now Lake Miccosukee near Tallahassee. Another group of Hitchiti speakers settled around the Alachua Prairie in what is now Alachua County (see Ahaya). The Spanish in St. Augustine began calling the Alachua Muscogees cimarrones, which roughly meant "wild ones" or "runaways", and which is the probable origin of "Seminole". This name was eventually also applied to the other groups in Florida, although the Native Americans still regarded themselves as members of different tribes. Other groups in Florida at the time of the Seminole Wars included "Spanish Indians", so called because it was believed that they were descended from Calusas, and "rancho Indians", persons of Native American ancestry, possibly both Calusa and Muscogee, and mixed Native American/Spanish ancestry, living at Spanish/Cuban fishing ranchos on the Florida coast. For a brief period after the start of the war, these rancho Indians, particularly those residing along Tampa Bay, were offered protection. However, they were also eventually forced onto reservations.

The United States and Spain were at odds over Florida after the Treaty of Paris ended the American Revolutionary War and returned East and West Florida to Spanish control. The United States disputed the boundaries of West Florida. They accused the Spanish authorities of harboring fugitive slaves (see the Negro Fort) and of failing to restrain the Native Americans living in Florida from raiding the United States. Starting in 1810, the United States occupied and annexed parts of West Florida. Also, the Patriot War of 1812 was part of these ongoing conflicts. In 1818, Andrew Jackson led an invasion of Spanish Florida, during the War of 1812 and the Creek War leading to the First Seminole War.

The United States acquired Florida from Spain through the Adams–Onís Treaty in 1819 and took possession of the territory in 1821. Now that Florida belonged to the United States, settlers pressured the government to remove the Seminole and their allies altogether. In 1823 the government negotiated the Treaty of Moultrie Creek with the Seminoles, establishing a reservation for them in the middle of the territory. Six chiefs, however, were allowed to keep their villages along the Apalachicola River (see Neamathla).

The Seminoles gave up their lands in the panhandle and slowly settled into the reservation, although they occasionally had clashes with European Americans. Colonel (later General) Duncan Lamont Clinch was placed in charge of the Army units in Florida. Fort King was built near the reservation agency, at the site of present-day Ocala, Florida.

By early 1827, the Army reported that the Seminoles were on the reservation and Florida was peaceful. This peace lasted for five years, during which time there were repeated calls for the Seminoles to be sent west of the Mississippi. The Seminoles were opposed to the move, and especially to the suggestion that they should be placed on the Creek reservation. Most European Americans regarded the Seminoles as simply Creeks who had recently moved to Florida, while the Seminoles claimed Florida as their home and denied that they had any connection with the Creeks.

The status of runaway slaves was a continuing irritation between Seminoles and European Americans. "The major problem was not with them [Seminoles] but with the Indian-Negros." General Taylor would not, being a slave holder himself, deny "the Seminoles of their Negros", and "in practice", handed his captives over to Lt. J. G. Reynolds, U.S. Marine Corps, "in charge of immigration." Spain had given freedom to slaves who escaped to Florida under their rule, although the U.S. did not recognize it. Over the years, those who became known as Black or Negro Seminoles established communities separate from the Seminole villages, and the two peoples had close alliances although they maintained separate cultures. "Negroes among the Seminoles constituted a threat to the institution of slavery north of the Spanish border. Slave holders in Mississippi and other border areas were aware of this and "constantly accused the Indians of stealing their Negroes. However, this "accusation" was often reversed; whites were raiding Florida and forcibly stealing the red men's slaves.

Worried about the possibility of an Indian uprising and/or an armed slave rebellion, Governor DuVal requested additional Federal troops for Florida. Instead, Fort King was closed in 1828. The Seminoles, short of food and finding the hunting becoming poorer on the reservation, were wandering off of it more often. Also in 1828, Andrew Jackson, the old enemy of the Seminoles, was elected President of the United States. In 1830 Congress passed the Indian Removal Act. They wanted to solve the problems with the Seminoles by moving them to west of the Mississippi River.