Preserving our Seminole Heritage for a better Florida State University

Spanish and English settlers in the early 1700s soon used the term "Seminole" to refer to all Native Americans in Florida, including the remnants of the indigenous tribes. During the war of 1812 Spain aided England by allowing English ships to dock in Pensacola. The U.S. Government sent General Andrew Jackson to raid Creek and Seminole villages to keep the Indians from fighting for England. After the war, white settlers moved into the lands Jackson had raided, and when the Seminoles in turn raided the villages of white settlers, the U.S. Government again sent Jackson to fight. The first Seminole War consisted mainly of Andrew Jackson and his men burning Seminole villages and driving the Indians out of northwest Florida. The war ended in 1819.

When Spain sold Florida to the U.S. in 1819, slave catchers from the southern states swarmed in to Florida to reclaim the escapees. The catchers not only captured former slaves, but free-born blacks and even mixed-blood and full-blooded Seminoles. During the early 1800s one of the many Indians migrating south was young Osceola, then called Billy Powell. As a young man Osceola excelled in hunting and sports (especially the Indian ball game) and was respected throughout the different clans.

During the Second Seminole War, Osceola and Coacoochee (Wildcat) were clan leaders and tried to negotiate several peace treaties. In April 1835 Osceola met with U.S. officials who tried to persuade the Seminoles to leave. Osceola responded by stabbing his knife through the paper saying, "This is the only way I sign." In 1828 President Andrew Jackson approved the Indian Removal Act that required all southeastern Indians to move to the Indian Territory, later the state of Oklahoma. Osceola and Coacoochee (Wildcat) led a seven year resistance to the move. In 1837 Osceola and Wildcat, along with several of their people, again met under the flag of truce, but Colonel Jesup of the U.S. Army arrested the leaders and imprisoned them at Fort Marion. Wildcat and several others managed to escape, but Osceola fell ill and was taken to Fort Moultrie, South Carolina, where he died one year later. By 1838, the end of Colonel Jesup’s command in Florida, approximately 1,000 Seminoles remained in Florida in scattered groups and clans.

Between 1838-1842 there were several U.S. Army commanders in Florida who chased the Seminole bands throughout the state. Leaders emerged in the separate Seminole camps including Sam Jones and Billy Bowlegs. Seven years of conflict ended in 1842 when the military authorities and President John Tyler realized that total Seminole removal was impossible. The negotiated peace recognized hunting and farming grounds, but did not give definite borders to any Indian territory and made no provisions for an independent Indian government.

Seminoles continued to be harassed by settlers and the government did not give up trying to negotiate a move out of Florida. In 1855 Bolek led the Seminoles in the Third Seminole War. "Bolek" was translated into Bowleg by the whites who called the Chief Bill Bowlegs. Militia volunteers were highly paid for the capture of live Seminoles and pursued them relentlessly. In May 1858 Bowlegs agreed to the government’s terms and left Florida with about 100 others. Shortly after Colonel Loomis, commander of the forces in Florida, proclaimed the end to all hostilities. Two organized bands and several families were all that remained, but those who stayed in Florida never surrendered during the last Seminole War. To this day no official peace treaty was made and the Florida Seminoles are the only tribe that never surrendered to the U.S. Government.

The migrating Creek Indians brought with them their form of government and customs, including the Green Corn Dance. The dance, still held among the Seminole Tribes today, is an annual gathering of all the Seminole clans and lasts over several days. Inter-clan contests include the prestigious Indian ball game, which is very much like rugby. The most important activity is lighting the ceremonial fire in the middle of the camp, which is completed by the tribe shaman, or holy man. The shaman is in charge of the tribal medicine bag which is passed from generation to generation, and is essential in lighting the fire. Modern Seminole tribes still see the Green Corn Dance as the central religious, social and political focus of tribal life.

Today the Seminoles of Florida are divided into three different political groups. The reservation or "traditional" Seminoles, the Miccosukee Tribe of Seminole Indians and a loosely organized group called the Trail or non-reservation Indians. The splits were caused over political disagreements surrounding the compensation for lost lands, cultural accommodation to the "white man’s" way of life and acceptance of federal aid. The reservation Seminoles receive much of their income from running bingo halls, but the Miccosukee are associated with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and receive federal aid. Both major groups also get income from raising cattle and from the limited proceeds of tourist-oriented concerns such as souvenir shops, exhibits, alligator wrestling, village exhibitions and air boat rides.