First Seminole War

The Seminole Wars were three separate conflicts between the Seminole Indians and their allies and the U.S. Military. The First Seminole War began sometime between 1814 and 1817 when U.S. forces began capturing runaway slaves who had integrated with the Seminoles. Led by future president Andrew Jackson, 4,000 soldiers, including 2,000 Creek Indians, burned Seminole villages and crops and killed hundreds. Jackson proceeded to capture the Spanish towns of St. Mark’s and Pensacola. After Spain ceded Florida to the United States in 1821, thousands of settlers rushed into Florida, invading Seminole lands.

Second Seminole War

As American settlers crowded the Seminoles out of their land in the 1820’s and 1830’s, they banded together under Osceola, a half-White war chief whose bravery and determination inspired the resistance. The Seminoles lashed out against the settlers by destroying white plantations and routing a military detachment under the command of Major Francis Dade. As a result, the Seminoles temporarily regained control of a portion of their ancestral land. Up to 40,000 soldiers, volunteers, and Indians, under Zachary Taylor, Winfield Scott and others eventually dislodged the Seminoles from their positions, captured key Seminole leaders, stamped out Seminole ambush parties, and effectively surrounded the remaining resistance in the swamps of southern Florida. By 1842, the few remaining hostile bands of Seminoles, ragged and starving, were forced to surrender. Other bands of Seminoles persisted in the Everglades region for another decade and a half.

Third Seminole War

In 1857, the Seminoles made their last stand in what was known as the Third Seminole War, in which Seminole warriors were gradually defeated by various volunteer armies and militias. In all, over two thousand American soldiers were killed in the Seminole Wars along with many thousands of Seminoles. Most of the Seminoles would eventually be moved to reservations in Oklahoma.

Discussion Questions

How did the U.S. government’s actions during the Seminole Wars reflect its broader policy toward Native American tribes during the early 19th century? What role did key figures like Andrew Jackson and Osceola play in shaping the outcomes of the Seminole Wars, and how did their leadership styles differ? Why did the Seminoles resist U.S. expansion so fiercely, and how did their actions in the Second Seminole War, particularly the destruction of plantations and military defeats, challenge U.S. military strategies? What were the long-term impacts of the Seminole Wars on the Seminole people, and how did their resistance shape their survival and cultural preservation in Florida and later in Oklahoma?