The Seminole Wars
11 AUGUST 1835
THE SEMINOLE WARS
Florida’s aboriginal natives fell victim to European diseases and enslavement during two centuries of Spanish rule from the 1500s. Their demise left a vacuum into which displaced northern tribes, runaway slaves, and American squatters filed. Locals began referring to the amalgamation of immigrant Indians as “Seminoles,” from the Spanish word “cimarròns” meaning “wild ones.” But Spain proved a detached landlord, little concerned over the Indian problem that was growing by the 18th century.
US interests in Florida began after the 1803 Louisiana Purchase. In that day, West Florida extended along the Gulf Coast from the Perdido River to the Mississippi River. France and Spain both claimed West Florida; after 1803, we favored French claims. Americans were encouraged to settle in West Florida and inevitably came into conflict with British, Spanish, and Native Americans already there. In 1817-18, GEN Andrew Jackson led a punitive expedition against Native Americans in West Florida who were implicated in cross-border raids–an extension of the Creek Wars in western Georgia. This 1st Seminole War drove the Indians south. When the United States purchased Florida from Spain the following year, a large tract in central Florida was set aside for their use. To contain them, the US Army built Fort Brooke to the west and Fort King to the north (modern Tampa and Ocala, respectively).
But animosities toward the Seminoles continued, as they were now collectively known. A decade of further tensions led to calls for their relocation with other Native American tribes to the Oklahoma Territory. With the 1832 Treaty of Payne’s Landing, the US won relocation. Officials grouped all of Florida’s Indians as “Seminoles,” but in truth the Creek, Alabama, Yamassee, Yuchi, and Muskogee elements remained culturally distinct. Not all bands felt bound by the agreements of others, and some Seminoles refused to leave. White vs. Seminole clashes erupted over this issue, and over cattle rustling, land disputes, and Seminole mistrust of White agents. Vigilantism festered, but violence became “official” this day when PVT Kinsley H. Dalton of the US Army’s 3rd Artillery was killed while carrying mail between Fort Brooke and Fort King. Then in December, MAJ Francis L. Dade’s Army detachment was ambushed and massacred en route to reinforce Fort King (Dade massacre). Thus began the 2nd Seminole War. This is the only “Indian War” in which our Navy played a substantive role, blockading Florida from Cuban filibustering and pursuing renegade bands with landing parties. At a cost of 1500 Army, Navy, and Marine Corps casualties (most to non-battle injury (NBI)), this war ended in 1842 with the extermination or relocation of most renegade Seminoles.
Watch for more “Today in Naval History” 20 AUG 24
CAPT James Bloom, Ret.
Buker, George E. Swamp Sailors: Riverine Warfare in the Everglades, 1835-1842. Gainesville, FL: Univ. Presses of Florida, 1975, pp. 1-15.
Mahon, John K. History of the Second Seminole War, 1835-1842. Gainesville, FL: Univ. of Florida Press, 1985, pp. 1-134.
Sweetman, Jack. American Naval History: An Illustrated Chronology of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, 1775-Present, 3rd ed. Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 2002, p. 40.
ADDITIONAL NOTES: Between 1855-58, the remaining Seminoles struck once more against continued infringements. Our Army’s reactionary punitive engagements have been called the 3rd Seminole War. All three were characterized by the paucity of pitched battles, the exposure of US forces to harsh environments and strange diseases, and victory through attrition rather than military defeat. Efforts to relocate all of Florida’s Seminoles ultimately failed, as they continue a legitimate presence in south central Florida today.
Army PVT Dalton is the namesake of Dalton, Georgia. MAJ Dade is remembered in the naming of Dade Counties in Florida, Georgia and Missouri.
