Seminole
Seminole was a Native American nation.
Contents
History
The Seminole nation emerged from the Creek nation. The Red Stick War ended in the Treaty of Fort Jackson, which ceded all Creek territories to the United States. This led to a mass migration into Spanish Florida.
The First Seminole War began with the United States assaulting and destroying the Negro Fort. The presence of a fortification armed by free Black men and escaped Black slaves caused anxiety for slavers in neighboring Georgia, so in 1817, Jackson was charged with invading Spanish Florida to destroy it and the associated Seminole towns. He briefly occupied Pensacola. In 1819, with Spain's inability to hold Florida plain to see, the territory was ceded to the United States by the Adams-Onis Treaty. The Treaty of Moultrie Creek removed the Seminole to a reservation in central Florida.
The Second Seminole War began when that treaty was unilaterally voided in 1836. Jesup was charged with the removal of the Seminole nation. He had been previously leading a campaign in the undeclared Creek War. He abducted tribal leaders including Osceola and Micanopy, and burned settlements. By the 1840s, the U.S. Army began to withdraw; the Seminole nation had been reduced greatly and forced deep into the Everglades.
The Third Seminole War began in 1855 with the sudden burning of Seminole plantations by the U.S. Army. Violence continued until 1858. Again the Seminole nation was reduced and forced deeper into the Everglades.