SEMINOLES ON A TRAIL OF TEARS

THE SEMINOLE IS A FIERCE AND PROUD TRIBE OF FLORIDA. THEY FACED THREE WARS WITH THE ARMY AND THE EVERGLADE SWAMPS AND OVER CAME THEM. SEMINOLE IS A SPANISH WORD MEANING 'WILD MEN'. THEY ORIGINALLY HAD ESCAPED FROM SLAVERY IN BRITISH CONTROLLED NORTHERN COLONIES. WHEN THEY WERE RELOCATED TO FLORIDA THEY WERE CREEKS , INDIANS OF MUSKOGEE. MUSKOGEE TRIBES COMPRISED MISSISSIPPI CULTURES THAT WERE TEMPLE MOUND BUILDERS. THE MUSKOGEE TRIBES WERE CREEKS, HITICHIES, YAMASES OF GEORGIA, APALACHIAS OF FLORIDA, THE ALABAMAS, AND MOBILES OF ALABAMA, AND CHOCTAWS, AND CHICKASAS.



MANY TRIBES IN FLORIDA HAD BEEN DECIMATED IN THE 1700'S BY THE SPANISH EITHER IN BATTLES OR DISEASE. ORIGINALLY 100,000 NATIVE AMERICANS WERE PRESENT AND BY 1500 THERE WERE 50,000. THE CHOCTAWS, AND CHICKASAWS, CREEKS, AND CHEROKEES, AND SEMINOLE WERE CALLED FIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES. THEY ADOPTED WHITE WAYS AND OFTEN BECAME CHRISTIANS. MANY OF THE NATIVE AMERICANS ACQUIRED SLAVERY. THE SEMINOLES ENJOYED PLAYING BALL GAMES, SINGING, AND DANCING.



MANY BLACK AFRICANS ESCAPED FROM SLAVERY AND CAME TO FLORIDA. THEY UNIFIED WITH THEY FEARED SLAVERY. THEY INTERMARRIED AND WERE KNOWN AS BLACK SEMINOLES. THE SEMINOLES HUNTED DEER, TURKEY, ETC. AND FISHED. THEY GATHERED FRUITS, NUTS, AND BERRIES. LATER IN THE 1700'S THEY BECAME EXCELLENT FARMERS. THEY GREW CORN, SUGAR CANE, AND BANANAS. THEY RAISED STOCK AND HORSES AND CATTLE.



THE SEMINOLE WARS



THE PROSPERITY OF THE SEMINOLES DISTURBED FORMER SLAVE HOLDERS IN THE U.S. IN 1812 THEIR PROSPERITY DISTURBED FORMER SLAVE HOLDERS IN THE U.S. IN 1812 SEMINOLES LEARNED THAT A GROUP OF GEORGIANS WHO CALLED THEMSELVES PATRIOTS WERE PLOTTING TO ATTACK THEM. INSTEAD THEY PLANNED AN ATTACK ON THE PLANTATIONS. AMERICAN TROOPS LED BY JACKSON CROSSED INTO FLORIDA AND DESTROYED TOWNS. IN 1816 ARMY FORCES ATTACKED FORT NEGRO. THE SEMINOLES REFUSED TO SURRENDER. A CANNONBALL HIT THE FORT'S MUNITION'S STORAGE SHELTER KILLING 300 SOME MEN, WOMEN, CHILDREN. THEY WERE DRAGGED THEN INTO SLAVERY. IN 1817 ANGLOS ARRESTED A SEMINOLE CHIEF AND THIS LED TO THE 1ST SEMINOLE WAR. JACKSON AND HIS TROOPS BURNED THEIR VILLAGES AND CAPTURED SPANISH TOWNS.



IN 1819 SPAIN CEDED FLORIDA TO THE U.S., ALLOWING AMERICANS TO SETTLE THERE. THE SEMINOLES AGREED TO MOVE TO A RESERVATION IN THE CENTER OF THE STATE. IN 1930 THE SETTLERS WANTED THE U.S. GOVERNMENT TO PASS THE INDIAN REMOVAL ACT. THEY REMOVED ALL FIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES TO A TERRITORY IN ARKANSAS AND OKLAHOMA. THOSE WHO DID NOT GO PEACEFULLY WERE FORCED TO GO. THE CHOCTAWS LEFT IN 1831, THE CREEKS IN 1835 AND CHICKASAWS IN 1837. THE CHEROKEES SUED THE GOVERNMENT. THE SUPREME COURT AGREED WITH THEM. PRESIDENT JACKSON DISAGREED AND THE CHEROKEES WERE FORCED ONTO A TRAIL OF TEARS IN WHICH MANY LIVES WERE LOST - ABOUT ONE FOURTH OF ALL CHEROKEES. ONLY ONE GROUP OF INDIANS RESISTED THE REMOVAL AND THEY WERE FIERCE.



THE FAMOUS SEMINOLE LEADER OSCEOLA, CAME WITH 250 WARRIERS AND DEFEATED 750 ARMY MEN IN A BATTLE. THERE WERE MANY MORE BATTLES.

TODAY THE SEMINOLES ARE CREATING ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY AND PRESERVING THEIR HERITAGE.





DREW MURRAY/H MERRILL