Seminole Wars

Seminole Wars, three wars (1817-1818, 1835-1842, 1855-1858) between the Seminole peoples and the United States. The Seminole occupied lands in northern Florida that were coveted by American settlers in the neighboring state of Georgia, although Florida at the beginning of the 19th century belonged to Spain. Another cause for dissension was the Seminole practice of giving refuge to fugitive slaves.

While the U.S. was fighting the War of 1812 with Britain, a series of incidents led to an increase in hostility between the U.S. and the Seminole. In 1817 the First Seminole War began with skirmishes between American troops and native peoples along the Florida border. In 1818 the American general (later president) Andrew Jackson was sent with an army to Florida to quell the Seminole rebellion. After destroying several Native American settlements and executing two British traders accused of encouraging Seminole resistance in the region, General Jackson captured the city of Pensacola in May 1818 and deposed the Spanish government.

When Florida became U.S. territory in 1819 and colonists began entering from the north, the Native Americans were forced to move south into regions unsuitable for their agricultural economy. In 1823 the Seminole officially ceded most of their former tribal lands to the United States; in 1832, by the treaty of Paynes Landing, the tribe was bound to move to territory west of the Mississippi River within three years. Widespread opposition to this treaty, led by the Seminole chief Osceola, resulted in the outbreak of the Second Seminole War. In 1837 Osceola was captured while under a flag of truce, but the war, which for the U.S. was extremely costly in both troops and revenue, continued until most of the Seminole finally surrendered in 1842. The majority of the tribe was then moved to the present-day state of Oklahoma. A few hundred, however, took refuge in the Everglades of southern Florida. After the Third Seminole War, about half of those were moved west. The rest remained in Florida; their descendants did not sign a peace treaty with the U.S. until 1935.