How many seminole wars

The Seminole Wars also helped produce two American presidents, Andrew Jackson, who enhanced his reputation as an Indian fighter by raiding villages in North Florida, and deporting Indians to the western wastelands, and Zachary Taylor, who gained national prominence as an Indian fighter, despite losing the great Battle of Okeechobee on Christmas Day As Taylor watched from the rear of his 1, troops, no more than Seminoles including Sam Jones Abiaka , Coacoochee Wildcat , Alligator, and the Prophet, killed 26 soldiers and wounded more than , while suffering only 11 casualties themselves.

Other Seminoles profited from the early boom in Florida tourism by selling crafts and wrestling alligators. In the s and 40s, American Indians were treated as orphaned wards by a federal government preoccupied with world conflict. Again, the Seminoles were among the resisters, demanding a settlement for lands lost, writing their own constitution and receiving federal recognition in For the next 40 years, the Tribe moved toward the new millennium as a prosperous economic and political force in the State of Florida.

Separate events, a broad perspective, one view of the history of a people, and a story of survival against all odds. First recorded European contact with Seminole ancestors. Spanish slave ship reaches South Florida peninsula.

Hernando DeSoto explores Southeast; this is the first contact with a white person for many tribes. The Treaty of Paris places Florida under the rule of Britain. Multiple southeastern Indian groups.

June 18, United States declares war on Britain, beginning the War of Subjected to repeated raids by American plantation owners, the Spanish Governor permits Florida Indians and former slaves to attack Georgia.

Illegally established American settlements on the St. Johns River are the first to be besieged. September — October Two months in which Seminoles and their allies engage in multiple skirmishes with Georgia volunteer soldiers.

During this time, General Andrew Jackson rises to power. December 26, Andrew Jackson is given the authority by the Secretary of War to take command of the situation along the border between Florida and Georgia and bring the Seminole under control.

Andrew Jackson is then appointed by Congress as the first governor of Florida Territory. All tribes east of the Mississippi River are to be removed to the west.

In it the Seminoles would agree to move to Oklahoma, but first, a party of tribal leaders would survey the proposed land. However, none of the chiefs had the power to agree to the land for all Seminoles. Seminole leaders refuse to honor the treaty: the chiefs were coerced and they did not have the authority to accept.

The Second Seminole War begins. February 27 — March 6, By daybreak a group of Seminoles waiting to emigrate are persuaded to disappear into the Florida swamps with supplies of food and ammunition. October 21, Osceola and several other Seminoles are captured under a flag of truce and sent to Fort Moultrie, South Carolina.

December 25, The Battle of Okeechobee takes place. Although the chiefs did sign a document stating their satisfaction with the new land, upon their return to Florida they denounced both agreements as being fraudulent, claiming they had either been forced or tricked into signing away the rights to their Florida homeland. The Second Seminole War For the next three years, the Seminole quietly resisted all attempts to gather the tribe for deportation to the west.

Hostile feelings turned into open warfare on December 28, , when the Seminole attacked and nearly annihilated a detachment of soldiers commanded by Major Francis L. King Ocala. Within weeks, the Seminole scored other stunning victories. On December 31, they turned back a force of soldiers and volunteers at the Withlacoochee River. Edmund Gaines came to Florida in February of with over 1, men. Instead of capturing the belligerent Seminole, Gaines and his force soon found themselves held under siege for over a week before being rescued and forced to withdraw.

Gaines was soon followed by Maj. Winfield Scott, who fielded 5, men in an elaborate plan to surround and capture the Seminole warriors and their families. The campaign ended in embarrassment when it failed to locate, kill, or capture any significant number of their enemy. Due to heavy rains and rampant disease, the offensive was suspended for the summer months, but was resumed in the fall of under the leadership of Florida Governor Richard K.

Call managed to force the Seminole from their strongholds near the Withlacoochee, but was stalled at the Battle of Wahoo Swamp, allowing the Indians time to escape. The year of proved a turning point in the war. Command of the war was given to Maj.

Thomas Jesup, who began a methodical offensive to drive the Seminole from the Territory. Forts were established throughout the Indian territory and mobile columns of soldiers scoured the countryside. Feeling the pressure, many Seminoles, including head chief Micanopy, offered to surrender.

The Seminoles slowly gathered for emigration near Tampa, but in June they fled the detention camps, driven off by disease and the presence of slave catchers who were hoping to take Black Seminoles captive.

The war was on again. Incensed at what he felt was Seminole treachery, Jesup responded in kind, taking many Seminole leaders prisoner while under a flag of truce, including Osceola, who would later die in captivity. In December of Jesup began a massive offensive, employing over 9, men, a significant number when one considers that at the beginning of the war the entire US Army numbered only 7, men. The offensive swept southward through the peninsula, culminating in the Battle of Okeechobee on Christmas Day, and two battles at the Loxahatchee River in January.

The Battle of Okeechobee, led by Col. Zachary Taylor, would be hailed as a great American victory, but could also be considered a Seminole victory, as it stopped the army, inflicted severe casualties on the Americans, and provided time for the Seminole women and children to escape. Having killed or captured the majority of the Seminole, their senior leaders, and having driven the remnants deep into the Everglades, General Jesup asked the War Department to declare an end to the conflict.

The purpose of this act was to move all the Indians to land west of the Mississippi River. The Seminole did not want to leave their Florida home, but agreed to send some chiefs to look at the new land where they would be relocated. While they were viewing the land, the chiefs were persuaded to sign a treaty agreeing to move. When they returned back to Florida, however, they claimed they had been tricked. They refused to leave.

A warrior named Osceola led the Seminole in surprise attacks against the Americans. The first battle of the war was known as the Dade Massacre.

In an attack by Osceola and his men, over a hundred soldiers were killed near what is now Bushnell. The United States sent many troops into Florida to defeat the Seminole. They were successful in pushing the Seminole further and further south into the wilderness. Several agreements were made by Seminole chiefs to leave the area, but the agreements continually fell through.

Finally, Osceola was captured and he died in prison in Following his death, the Seminole began to decline. Many were killed; others were captured and relocated out west. As a result, many Seminole were sent to reservations in the west. Florida Becomes the 27th State. Floridians had continued to take steps toward statehood throughout the confrontations with the Indians.

In December , the year Osceola died, Florida held a convention to write a constitution.