Seminole Wars The Seminole Wars , also known as the Florida Wars , were three conflicts in Florida between the Seminole — the collective name given to the amalgamation of various groups of native Americans and Black people who settled in Florida in the early 18th century — and the United States Army . The First Seminole War was from 1814 to 1819 ( although sources differ ) , the Second Seminole War from 1835 to 1842 , and the Third Seminole War from 1855 to 1858 . The first conflict with the Seminoles arose out of tensions relating to General Andrew Jackson ' s attack and destruction of Negro Fort in Florida in 1816 . Jackson also attacked the Spanish at Pensacola . Ultimately , the Spanish Crown ceded the colony to United States rule . Background . Colonial Florida . The indigenous peoples of Florida declined significantly in number after the arrival of Europeans in the region . The Native Americans had little resistance to diseases newly introduced from Europe . Spanish suppression of native revolts further reduced the population in northern Florida . By 1707 , colonial soldiers from the Province of Carolina and their Yamasee Indian allies had killed or carried off nearly all the remaining native inhabitants , having conducted a series of raids extending the full length of the peninsula . In the first decade of the 18th century , 10 , 000 – 12 , 000 Indians were taken as slaves according to the governor of La Florida and by 1710 , observers noted that north Florida was virtually depopulated . The few remaining natives fled west to Pensacola and beyond or east to the vicinity of St . Augustine ; in 1763 , when Spain ceded Florida to Great Britain as part of the Treaty of Paris , the Spanish took the few surviving Florida Indians with them to Cuba and New Spain . Bands from various Native American tribes from the southeastern United States began moving into the unoccupied lands of Florida . In 1715 , the Yamasee moved into Florida as allies of the Spanish , after conflicts with the English colonies . Creek people , at first primarily the Lower Creek but later including Upper Creek , also started moving into Florida from the area of Georgia . The Mikasuki , " Hitchiti " - speakers , settled around what is now Lake Miccosukee near Tallahassee . ( Descendants of this group have maintained a separate tribal identity as today ' s Miccosukee . ) Another group of Hitchiti speakers , led by Cowkeeper , settled in what is now Alachua County , an area where the Spanish had maintained cattle ranches in the 17th century . One of the best - known ranches was " Rancho de la Chua " . The region became known as the " Alachua Prairie " . The Spanish in Saint Augustine began calling the Alachua Creek " Cimarrones " , which roughly meant " wild ones " or " runaways " . This was the probable origin of the term " Seminole " . This name was eventually applied to the other groups in Florida , although the Indians still regarded themselves as members of different tribes . Other Native American groups in Florida during the Seminole Wars included the Choctaw , Yuchi or Spanish Indians , so called because it was believed that they were descended from Calusa s ; and " rancho Indians " , who lived at Spanish / Cuban fishing camps on the Florida coast . Escaped African and African - American slaves who could reach the fort were essentially free . Many were from Pensacola ; some were free citizens though others had escaped from United States territory . The Spanish offered the slaves freedom and land in Florida ; they recruited former slaves as militia to help defend Pensacola and Fort Mose . Other escaped slaves joined various Seminole bands as free members of the tribe . While most of the former slaves at Fort Mose went to Cuba with the Spanish when they left Florida in 1763 , others lived with or near various bands of Indians . Slaves continued to escape from the Carolinas and Georgia and make their way to Florida . The blacks who stayed with or later joined the Seminoles became integrated into the tribes , learning the languages , adopting the dress , and inter - marrying . Some of the Black Seminoles , as they were called , became important tribal leaders . Early conflict . During the American Revolution , the British — who controlled Florida — recruited Seminoles to raid frontier settlements in Georgia . The confusion of war allowed more slaves to escape to Florida . The British promised slaves freedom for fighting with them . These events made the Seminoles enemies of the new United States . In 1783 , as part of the treaty ending the Revolutionary War , Florida was returned to Spain . Spain ' s grip on Florida was light , as it maintained only small garrison s at St . Augustine , St . Marks and Pensacola . They did not control the border between Florida and the United States . Mikasukis and other Seminole groups still occupied towns on the United States side of the border , while American squatter s moved into Spanish Florida . The British had divided Florida into East Florida and West Florida in 1763 , a division retained by the Spanish when they regained Florida in 1783 . West Florida extended from the Apalachicola River to the Mississippi River . Together with their possession of Louisiana , the Spanish controlled the lower reaches of all of the rivers draining the United States west of the Appalachian Mountains . It prohibited the US from transport and trade on the lower Mississippi . In addition to its desire to expand west of the mountains , the United States wanted to acquire Florida . It wanted to gain free commerce on western rivers , and to prevent Florida from being used a base for possible invasion of the U . S . by a European country . The Louisiana Purchase in 1803 put the mouth of the Mississippi River in US hands . But , much of Georgia , Alabama , Mississippi and Tennessee were drained by rivers that passed through East or West Florida to reach the Gulf of Mexico . The U . S . claimed that the Louisiana Purchase had included West Florida west of the Perdido River , while Spain claimed that West Florida extended to the Mississippi River . Patriot War . In 1810 , American residents of Baton Rouge overthrew the local Spanish government , seized the corresponding fort and requested protection by the United States . President James Madison authorized William C . C . Claiborne , governor of the Territory of Orleans , to seize West Florida from the Mississippi River to as far east as the Perdido River . Claiborne only occupied the area west of the Pearl River ( the current eastern boundary of Louisiana ) . Madison sent George Mathews to deal with the disputes over West Florida . When an offer to turn the remainder of West Florida over to the U . S . was rescinded by the governor of West Florida , Mathews traveled to East Florida to incite a rebellion similar to that in Baton Rouge . The residents of East Florida were happy with the status quo , so the US raised a force of volunteers in Georgia with a promise of free land . On 13 March 1812 , this force of " Patriots " , with the aid of some United States Navy gunboat s , seized Fernandina . The seizure of Fernandina was authorized by President James Madison , but he later disavowed it . The Patriots were , however , unable to take the Castillo de San Marcos in St . Augustine . The increasing tensions and approach of war with Great Britain led to an end of the US incursion into East Florida . In 1813 an American force succeeded in seizing Mobile , Alabama from the Spanish . Before the Patriot army withdrew from Florida , the Seminole , as allies of the Spanish , began to attack them . First Seminole War . The beginning and ending dates for the First Seminole War are not firmly established . The U . S . Army Infantry indicates that it lasted from 1814 until 1819 . The U . S . Navy Naval Historical Center gives dates of 1816 - 1818 . Another Army site dates the war as 1817 - 1818 . Finally , the unit history of the 1st Battalion , 5th Field Artillery describes the war as occurring solely in 1818 . Creek War and the Negro Fort . During the Creek War ( 1813 - 1814 ) , Colonel Andrew Jackson became a national hero after his victory over the Creek Red Sticks at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend . After his victory , Jackson forced the Treaty of Fort Jackson on the Creek , resulting in the loss of much Creek territory in southern Georgia and central and southern Alabama . As a result , many Creek left Alabama and Georgia , and moved to Spanish West Florida . The Creek refugees joined the Seminole of Florida . In 1814 , Britain was still at war with the United States , and saw merit in recruiting Indian allies . In May 1814 , a British force entered the mouth of the Apalachicola River , and distributed arms to the Seminole and Creek warriors , and fugitive slaves . The British moved upriver and began building a fort at Prospect Bluff . A company of Royal Marines , commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Edward Nicolls , were to subsequently arrive , but were invited to relocate to Pensacola in late August 1814 . It was estimated , by Captain Lockyer of , that in August 1814 there were 1 , 000 Indians at Pensacola , of whom 700 were warriors . Two months after the British and their Indian allies were beaten back from an attack on Fort Bowyer near Mobile , a US force led by General Jackson drove the British out of Pensacola , and back to the Apalachicola River . They managed to continue work on the fort at Prospect Bluff . When the War of 1812 ended , all the British forces left the Gulf of Mexico except for Lieutenant Colonel Nicolls and his force in ( neutral ) Spanish West Florida . He directed the provisioning of the fort at Prospect Bluff with cannon , muskets and ammunition . He told the Indians that the Treaty of Ghent guaranteed the return of all Indian lands lost during the War of 1812 , including the Creek lands in Georgia and Alabama . As the Seminole were not interested in holding a fort , they returned to their villages . Before Nicolls left in the summer of 1815 , he left the fort in the hands of fugitive slaves and Seminoles whom he had originally recruited for possible incursions into U . S . territory during the war . As word spread in the American Southeast about the fort , whites called it the " Negro Fort . " The Americans worried that it would inspire their slaves to escape to Florida or revolt . After a garrison of the Negro Fort killed a group of American sailors , General Jackson decided to destroy it . Acknowledging that it was in Spanish territory , in April 1816 , he informed Governor José Masot of West Florida that if the Spanish did not eliminate the fort , he would . The governor replied that he did not have the forces to take the fort . Jackson assigned Brigadier General Edmund Pendleton Gaines to take control of the fort . Gaines directed Colonel Duncan Lamont Clinch to build Fort Scott on the Flint River just north of the Florida border . Gaines said he intended to supply Fort Scott from New Orleans via the Apalachicola River . As this would mean passing through Spanish territory and past the Negro Fort , it would allow the U . S . Army to keep an eye on the Seminole and the Negro Fort . If the fort fired on the supply boats , the Americans would have an excuse to destroy it . In July 1816 , a supply fleet for Fort Scott reached the Apalachicola River . Clinch took a force of more than 100 American soldiers and about 150 Lower Creek warriors , including the chief " Tustunnugee Hutkee " ( White Warrior ) , to protect their passage . The supply fleet met Clinch at the Negro Fort , and its two gunboats took positions across the river from the fort . The blacks in the fort fired their cannon at the U . S . soldiers and the Creek , but had no training in aiming the weapon . The Americans fired back . The gunboats ' ninth shot , a " hot shot " ( a cannonball heated to a red glow ) , landed in the fort ' s powder magazine . The explosion leveled the fort and was heard more than 100 miles ( 160 km ) away in Pensacola . Of the 320 people known to be in the fort , including women and children , more than 250 died instantly , and many more died from their injuries soon after . Once the US Army destroyed the fort , it withdrew from Spanish Florida . American squatters and outlaws raided the Seminole , killing villagers and stealing their cattle . Seminole resentment grew and they retaliated by stealing back the cattle . On February 24 , 1817 , a raiding party killed Mrs . Garrett , a woman living in Camden County , Georgia , and her two young children . Fowltown and the Scott Massacre . Fowltown was a Mikasuki village in southwestern Georgia , about 15 miles ( 24 km ) east of Fort Scott . Chief Neamathla of Fowltown got into a dispute with the commander of Fort Scott over the use of land on the eastern side of the Flint River , essentially claiming Mikasuki sovereignty over the area . The land in southern Georgia had been ceded by the Creeks in the Treaty of Fort Jackson , but the Mikasukis did not consider themselves Creek , did not feel bound by the treaty , and did not accept that the Creeks had any right to cede Mikasuki land . In November 1817 , General Gaines sent a force of 250 men to seize Fowltown . The first attempt was beaten off by the Mikasukis . The next day , November 22 , 1817 , the Mikasukis were driven from their village . Some historians date the start of the war to this attack on Fowltown . David Brydie Mitchell , former governor of Georgia and Creek Indian agent at the time , stated in a report to Congress that the attack on Fowltown was the start of the First Seminole War . A week later a boat carrying supplies for Fort Scott , under the command of Lt . R . W . Scott , was attacked on the Apalachicola River . There were forty to fifty people on the boat , including twenty sick soldiers , seven wives of soldiers , and possibly some children . ( While there are reports of four children being killed by the Seminoles , they were not mentioned in early reports of the massacre , and their presence has not been confirmed . ) Most of the boat ' s passengers were killed by the Indians . One woman was taken prisoner , and six survivors made it to the fort . While General Gaines had been under orders not to invade Florida , he later decided to allow short intrusions into Florida . When news of the Scott Massacre on the Apalachicola reached Washington , D . C . , Gaines was ordered to invade Florida and pursue the Indians but not to attack any Spanish installations . However , Gaines had left for East Florida to deal with pirates who had occupied Fernandina . Secretary of War John C . Calhoun then ordered Andrew Jackson to lead the invasion of Florida . Jackson invades Florida . Jackson gathered his forces at Fort Scott in March 1818 , including 800 U . S . Army regulars , 1 , 000 Tennessee volunteers , 1 , 000 Georgia militia , and about 1 , 400 friendly Lower Creek warriors . On March 15 , Jackson ' s army entered Florida , marching down the Apalachicola River . When they reached the site of the Negro Fort , Jackson had his men construct a new fort , Fort Gadsden . The army then set out for the Mikasuki villages around Lake Miccosukee . The Indian town of Tallahassee was burned on March 31 , and the town of Miccosukee was taken the next day . More than 300 Indian homes were destroyed . Jackson then turned south , reaching St . Marks on April 6 . At St . Marks Jackson seized the Spanish fort . There he found Alexander George Arbuthnot , a Scottish trader working out of the Bahamas . He traded with the Indians in Florida and had written letters to British and American officials on behalf of the Indians . He was rumored to be selling guns to the Indians and to be preparing them for war . He probably was selling guns , since the main trade item of the Indians was deer skins , and they needed guns to hunt the deer . Two Indian leaders , Josiah Francis , a Red Stick Creek , also known as the " Prophet " ( not to be confused with Tenskwatawa ) , and Homathlemico , had been captured when they had gone out to an American ship flying the British Union Flag that had anchored off of St . Marks . As soon as Jackson arrived at St . Marks , the two Indians were brought ashore and hanged without trial . Jackson left St . Marks to attack villages along the Suwannee River , which were occupied primarily by fugitive slaves . On April 12 , the army found a Red Stick village on the Econfina River , and attacked it . Close to 40 Red Stick s were killed , and about 100 women and children were captured . In the village , they found Elizabeth Stewart , the woman who had been captured in the attack on the supply boat on the Apalachicola River the previous November . Harassed by Black Seminoles along their route , the army found the villages on the Suwannee empty . Having destroyed the major Seminole and black villages , Jackson declared victory and sent the Georgia Militia and the Lower Creeks home . The remaining army then returned to St . Marks . About this time , Robert Ambrister , a former Royal Marine and self - appointed British " agent " , was captured by Jackson ' s army . At St . Marks a military tribunal was convened , and Ambrister and Arbuthnot were charged with aiding the Seminoles and the Spanish , inciting them to war and leading them against the United States . Ambrister threw himself on the mercy of the court , while Arbuthnot maintained his innocence , saying that he had only been engaged in legal trade . The tribunal sentenced both men to death but then relented and changed Ambrister ' s sentence to fifty lashes and a year at hard labor . Jackson , however , reinstated Ambrister ' s death penalty . Ambrister was executed by a firing squad on April 29 , 1818 . Arbuthnot was hanged from the yardarm of his own ship . Jackson left a garrison at St . Marks and returned to Ft . Gadsden . Jackson had first reported that all was peaceful and that he would be returning to Nashville , Tennessee . He later reported that Indians were gathering and being supplied by the Spanish , and he left Fort Gadsden with 1 , 000 men on May 7 , headed for Pensacola . The governor of West Florida protested that most of the Indians at Pensacola were women and children and that the men were unarmed , but Jackson did not stop . When Jackson reached Pensacola on May 23 , the governor and the 175 - man Spanish garrison retreated to Fort Barrancas , leaving the city of Pensacola to Jackson . The two sides exchanged cannon fire for a couple of days , and then the Spanish surrendered Fort Barrancas on May 28 . Jackson left Colonel William King as military governor of West Florida and went home . Consequences . There were international repercussions to Jackson ' s actions . Secretary of State John Quincy Adams had just started negotiations with Spain for the purchase of Florida . Spain protested the invasion and seizure of West Florida and suspended the negotiations . Spain did not have the means to retaliate against the United States or regain West Florida by force , so Adams let the Spanish protest , then issued a letter ( with 72 supporting documents ) blaming the war on the British , Spanish , and Indians . In the letter he also apologized for the seizure of West Florida , said that it had not been American policy to seize Spanish territory , and offered to give St . Marks and Pensacola back to Spain . Spain accepted and eventually resumed negotiations for the sale of Florida . Defending Jackson ' s actions as necessary , and sensing that they strengthened his diplomatic standing , Adams demanded Spain either control the inhabitants of East Florida or cede it to the United States . An agreement was then reached whereby Spain ceded East Florida to the United States and renounced all claim to West . Britain protested the execution of two of its subjects who had never entered United States territory . There was talk in Britain of demanding reparations and taking reprisals . Americans worried about another war with Britain . In the end Britain , realizing how important the United States was to its economy , opted for maintaining good relations . There were also repercussions in America . Congressional committees held hearings into the irregularities of the Ambrister and Arbuthnot trials . While most Americans supported Jackson , some worried that Jackson could become a " man on horseback " , a Napoleon , and transform the United States into a military dictatorship . When Congress reconvened in December 1818 , resolutions were introduced condemning Jackson ' s actions . Jackson was too popular , and the resolutions failed , but the Ambrister and Arbuthnot executions left a stain on his reputation for the rest of his life , although it was not enough to keep him from becoming president . First Interbellum . Spain did cede Florida , and the United States took possession in 1821 . Effective government was slow in coming to Florida . General Andrew Jackson was appointed military governor of Florida in March 1821 , but he did not arrive in Pensacola until July 1821 . He resigned the post in September 1821 and returned home in October , having spent just three months in Florida . His successor , William P . DuVal , was not appointed until April 1822 , and he left for an extended visit to his home in Kentucky before the end of the year . Other official positions in the territory had similar turn - over and absences . The Seminoles were still a problem for the new government . In early 1822 , Capt . John R . Bell , provisional secretary of the Florida territory and temporary agent to the Seminoles , prepared an estimate of the number of Indians in Florida . He reported about 22 , 000 Indians , and 5 , 000 slaves held by Indians . He estimated that two - thirds of them were refugees from the Creek War , with no valid claim ( in the U . S . view ) to Florida . Indian settlements were located in the areas around the Apalachicola River , along the Suwannee River , from there south - eastwards to the Alachua Prairie , and then south - westward to a little north of Tampa Bay . Officials in Florida were concerned from the beginning about the situation with the Seminoles . Until a treaty was signed establishing a reservation , the Indians were not sure of where they could plant crops and expect to be able to harvest them , and they had to contend with white squatters moving into land they occupied . There was no system for licensing traders , and unlicensed traders were supplying the Seminoles with liquor . However , because of the part - time presence and frequent turnover of territorial officials , meetings with the Seminoles were canceled , postponed , or sometimes held merely to set a time and place for a new meeting . Treaty of Moultrie Creek . In 1823 , the government decided to settle the Seminole on a reservation in the central part of the territory . A meeting to negotiate a treaty was scheduled for early September 1823 at Moultrie Creek , south of St . Augustine . About 425 Seminole attended the meeting , choosing " Neamathla " to be their chief representative or Speaker . Under the terms of the treaty negotiated there , the Seminole were forced to go under the protection of the United States and give up all claim to lands in Florida , in exchange for a reservation of about four million acres ( 16 , 000 km² ) . The reservation would run down the middle of the Florida peninsula from just north of present - day Ocala to a line even with the southern end of Tampa Bay . The boundaries were well inland from both coasts , to prevent contact with traders from Cuba and the Bahamas . Neamathla and five other chiefs were allowed to keep their villages along the Apalachicola River . Under the Treaty of Moultrie Creek , the US was obligated to protect the Seminole as long as they remained law - abiding . The government was supposed to distribute farm implements , cattle and hogs to the Seminole , compensate them for travel and losses involved in relocating to the reservation , and provide rations for a year , until the Seminoles could plant and harvest new crops . The government was also supposed to pay the tribe US $ 5 , 000 per year for twenty years and provide an interpreter , a school and a blacksmith for twenty years . In turn , the Seminole had to allow roads to be built across the reservation and had to apprehend and return to US jurisdiction any runaway slaves or other fugitives . Implementation of the treaty stalled . Fort Brooke , with four companies of infantry , was established on the site of present - day Tampa in early 1824 , to show the Seminole that the government was serious about moving them onto the reservation . However , by June James Gadsden , who was the principal author of the treaty and charged with implementing it , was reporting that the Seminole were unhappy with the treaty and were hoping to renegotiate it . Fear of a new war crept in . In July , Governor DuVal mobilized the militia and ordered the Tallahassee and Mikasukee chiefs to meet him in St . Marks . At that meeting , he ordered the Seminole to move to the reservation by October 1 , 1824 . The move had not begun , but DuVal began paying the Seminole compensation for the improvements they were having to leave as an incentive to move . He also had the promised rations sent to Fort Brooke on Tampa Bay for distribution . The Seminole finally began moving onto the reservation , but within a year some returned to their former homes between the Suwannee and Apalachicola rivers . By 1826 , most of the Seminole had gone to the reservation , but were not thriving . They had to clear and plant new fields , and cultivated fields suffered in a long drought . Some of the tribe were reported to have starved to death . Both Col . George M . Brooke , commander of Fort Brooke , and Governor DuVal wrote to Washington seeking help for the starving Seminole , but the requests got caught up in a debate over whether the people should be moved to west of the Mississippi River . For five months , no additional relief reached the Seminole . The Seminoles slowly settled into the reservation , although they had isolated clashes with whites . Fort King was built near the reservation agency , at the site of present - day Ocala , and by early 1827 the Army could report that the Seminoles were on the reservation and Florida was peaceful . During the five - year peace , some settlers continued to call for removal . The Seminole were opposed to any such move , and especially to the suggestion that they join their Creek relations . Most whites regarded the Seminole as simply Creeks who had recently moved to Florida , while the Seminole claimed Florida as their home and denied that they had any connection with the Creeks . The Seminole and slave catchers argued over the ownership of slaves . New plantations in Florida increased the pool of slaves who could escape to Seminole territory . Worried about the possibility of an Indian uprising and / or a slave rebellion , Governor DuVal requested additional Federal troops for Florida , but in 1828 the US closed Fort King . Short of food and finding the hunting declining on the reservation , the Seminole wandered off to get food . In 1828 , Andrew Jackson , the old enemy of the Seminoles , was elected President of the United States . In 1830 , Congress passed the Indian Removal Act he promoted , which was to resolve the problems by moving the Seminole and other tribes west of the Mississippi . Treaty of Payne ' s Landing . In the spring of 1832 , the Seminoles on the reservation were called to a meeting at Payne ' s Landing on the Oklawaha River . The treaty negotiated there called for the Seminoles to move west , if the land were found to be suitable . They were to settle on the Creek reservation and become part of the Creek tribe . The delegation of seven chiefs who were to inspect the new reservation did not leave Florida until October 1832 . After touring the area for several months and conferring with the Creeks who had already been settled there , the seven chiefs signed a statement on March 28 , 1833 , that the new land was acceptable . Upon their return to Florida , however , most of the chiefs renounced the statement , claiming that they had not signed it , or that they had been forced to sign it , and in any case , that they did not have the power to decide for all the tribes and bands that resided on the reservation . The villages in the area of the Apalachicola River were more easily persuaded , however , and went west in 1834 . The United States Senate finally ratified the Treaty of Payne ' s Landing in April 1834 . The treaty had given the Seminoles three years to move west of the Mississippi . The government interpreted the three years as starting 1832 and expected the Seminoles to move in 1835 . Fort King was reopened in 1834 . A new Seminole agent , Wiley Thompson , had been appointed in 1834 , and the task of persuading the Seminoles to move fell to him . He called the chiefs together at Fort King in October 1834 to talk to them about the removal to the west . The Seminoles informed Thompson that they had no intention of moving and that they did not feel bound by the Treaty of Payne ' s Landing . Thompson then requested reinforcements for Fort King and Fort Brooke , reporting that , " the Indians after they had received the Annuity , purchased an unusually large quantity of Powder & Lead . " General Clinch also warned Washington that the Seminoles did not intend to move and that more troops would be needed to force them to move . In March 1835 , Thompson called the chiefs together to read a letter from Andrew Jackson to them . In his letter , Jackson said , " Should you . . . refuse to move , I have then directed the Commanding officer to remove you by force . " The chiefs asked for thirty days to respond . A month later , the Seminole chiefs told Thompson that they would not move west . Thompson and the chiefs began arguing , and General Clinch had to intervene to prevent bloodshed . Eventually , eight of the chiefs agreed to move west but asked to delay the move until the end of the year , and Thompson and Clinch agreed . Five of the most important of the Seminole chiefs , including Micanopy of the Alachua Seminoles , had not agreed to the move . In retaliation , Thompson declared that those chiefs were removed from their positions . As relations with the Seminoles deteriorated , Thompson forbid the sale of guns and ammunition to the Seminoles . Osceola , a young warrior beginning to be noticed by the whites , was particularly upset by the ban , feeling that it equated Seminoles with slaves and said , " The white man shall not make me black . I will make the white man red with blood ; and then blacken him in the sun and rain . . . and the buzzard live upon his flesh . " In spite of this , Thompson considered Osceola to be a friend and gave him a rifle . Later , though , when Osceola was causing trouble , Thompson had him locked up at Fort King for a night . The next day , in order to secure his release , Osceola agreed to abide by the Treaty of Payne ' s Landing and to bring his followers in . The situation grew worse . On June 19 , 1835 , a group of whites searching for lost cattle found a group of Indians sitting around a campfire cooking the remains of what they claimed was one of their herd . The whites disarmed and proceeded to whip the Indians , when two more arrived and opened fire on the whites . Three whites were wounded and one Indian was killed and one wounded , at what became known as the skirmish at Hickory Sink . After complaining to Indian Agent Thompson and not receiving a satisfactory response , the Seminoles became further convinced that they would not receive fair compensations for their complaints of hostile treatment by the settlers . Believed to be in response for the incident at Hickory Sink , in August 1835 , Private Kinsley Dalton ( for whom Dalton , Georgia , is named ) was killed by Seminoles as he was carrying the mail from Fort Brooke to Fort King . In November 1835 Chief Charley Emathla , wanting no part of a war , agreed to removal and sold his cattle at Fort King in preparation for moving his people to Fort Brooke to emigrate to the west . This act was considered a betrayal by other Seminoles who months earlier declared in council that any Seminole chief who sold his cattle would be sentenced to death . Osceola met Charley Emathla on the trail back to his village and killed him , scattering the money from the cattle purchase across his body . Second Seminole War . As Florida officials realized the Seminole would resist relocation , preparations for war began . Settlers fled to safety as Seminole attacked plantations and a militia wagon train . Two companies , totaling 110 men under the command of Major Francis L . Dade , were sent from Fort Brooke to reinforce Fort King . On December 28 , 1835 , Seminoles ambushed the soldiers and destroyed the command . Only two soldiers survived to return to Fort Brooke , and one died of his wounds a few days later . Over the next few months Generals Clinch , Gaines and Winfield Scott , as well as territorial governor Richard Keith Call , led large numbers of troops in futile pursuits of the Seminoles . In the meantime the Seminoles struck throughout the state , attacking isolated farms , settlements , plantations and Army forts , even burning the Cape Florida lighthouse . Supply problems and a high rate of illness during the summer caused the Army to abandon several forts . Major Ethan Allen Hitchcock was among those who found the remains of the Dade party in February . In his journal he wrote of the discovery and expressed his discontent : " The government is in the wrong , and this is the chief cause of the persevering opposition of the Indians , who have nobly defended their country against our attempt to enforce a fraudulent treaty . The natives used every means to avoid a war , but were forced into it by the tyranny of our government . " On November 21 , 1836 at the Battle of Wahoo Swamp , the Seminole fought against American allied forces numbering 2500 , successfully driving them back . ; among the American dead was David Moniac , the first Native American graduate of West Point . . The skirmish restored Seminole confidence , showing their ability to hold their ground against their old enemies the Creek and white settlers . Late in 1836 , Major General Thomas Jesup , US Quartermaster , was placed in command of the war . Jesup brought a new approach to the war . He concentrated on wearing the Seminoles down rather than sending out large groups who were more easily ambushed . He needed a large military presence in the state to control it , and he eventually brought a force of more than 9 , 000 men into the state under his command . About half of the force were volunteers and militia . It also included a brigade of marines , and Navy and Revenue - Marine personnel patrolling the coast and inland rivers and streams . In January 1837 , the Army began to achieve more tangible successes , capturing or killing numerous Indians and blacks . At the end of January , some Seminole chiefs sent messengers to Jesup , and arranged a truce . In March a " Capitulation " was signed by several chiefs , including Micanopy , stipulating that the Seminole could be accompanied by their allies and " their negroes , their " bona fide " property , " in their removal to the West . By the end of May , many chiefs , including Micanopy , had surrendered . Two important leaders , Osceola and Sam Jones ( a . k . a . Abiaca , Ar - pi - uck - i , Opoica , Arpeika , Aripeka , Aripeika ) , had not surrendered , however , and were known to be vehemently opposed to relocation . On June 2 these two leaders with about 200 followers entered the poorly guarded holding camp at Fort Brooke and led away the 700 Seminoles who had surrendered . The war was on again , and Jesup decided against trusting the word of an Indian again . On Jesup ' s orders , Brigadier General Joseph Marion Hernández commanded an expedition that captured several Indian leaders , including Coacoochee ( Wild Cat ) , John Horse , Osceola and Micanopy when they appeared for conferences under a white flag of truce . Coacoochee and other captives , including John Horse , escaped from their cell at Fort Marion in St . Augustine , but Osceola did not go with them . He died in prison , probably of malaria . Jesup organized a sweep down the peninsula with multiple columns , pushing the Seminoles further south . On Christmas Day 1837 , Colonel Zachary Taylor ' s column of 800 men encountered a body of about 400 warriors on the north shore of Lake Okeechobee . The Seminole were led by Sam Jones , Alligator and the recently escaped Coacoochee ; they were well positioned in a hammock surrounded by sawgrass with half a mile of swamp in front of it . On the far side of the hammock was Lake Okeechobee . Here the saw grass stood five feet high . The mud and water were three feet deep . Horses would be of no use . The Seminole had chosen their battleground . They had sliced the grass to provide an open field of fire and had notched the trees to steady their rifles . Their scouts were perched in the treetops to follow every movement of the troops coming up . As Taylor ' s army came up to this position , he decided to attack . At about half past noon , with the sun shining directly overhead and the air still and quiet , Taylor moved his troops squarely into the center of the swamp . His plan was to attack directly rather than try to encircle the Indians . All his men were on foot . In the first line were the Missouri volunteers . As soon as they came within range , the Seminoles opened fire . The volunteers broke , and their commander Colonel Gentry , fatally wounded , was unable to rally them . They fled back across the swamp . The fighting in the saw grass was deadliest for five companies of the Sixth Infantry ; every officer but one , and most of their noncoms , were killed or wounded . When those units retired a short distance to re - form , they found only four men of these companies unharmed . The US eventually drove the Seminoles from the hammock , but they escaped across the lake . Taylor lost 26 killed and 112 wounded , while the Seminoles casualties were eleven dead and fourteen wounded . The US claimed the Battle of Lake Okeechobee as a great victory . At the end of January , Jesup ' s troops caught up with a large body of Seminoles to the east of Lake Okeechobee . Originally positioned in a hammock , the Seminoles were driven across a wide stream by cannon and rocket fire , and made another stand . They faded away , having inflicted more casualties than they suffered , and the Battle of Loxahatchee was over . In February 1838 , the Seminole chiefs Tuskegee and Halleck Hadjo approached Jesup with the proposal to stop fighting if they could stay in the area south of Lake Okeechobee , rather than relocating west . Jesup favored the idea but had to gain approval from officials in Washington for approval . The chiefs and their followers camped near the Army while awaiting the reply . When the secretary of war rejected the idea , Jesup seized the 500 Indians in the camp , and had them transported to the Indian Territory . In May , Jesup ' s request to be relieved of command was granted , and Zachary Taylor assumed command of the Army in Florida . With reduced forces , Taylor concentrated on keeping the Seminole out of northern Florida by building many small posts at twenty - mile ( 30 km ) intervals across the peninsula , connected by a grid of roads . The winter season was fairly quiet , without major actions . In Washington and around the country , support for the war was eroding . Many people began to think the Seminoles had earned the right to stay in Florida . Far from being over , the war had become very costly . President Martin Van Buren sent the Commanding General of the Army , Alexander Macomb , to negotiate a new treaty with the Seminoles . On May 19 , 1839 , Macomb announced an agreement . In exchange for a reservation in southern Florida , the Seminoles would stop fighting . As the summer passed , the agreement seemed to be holding . However , on July 23 , some 150 Indians attacked a trading post on the Caloosahatchee River ; it was guarded by a detachment of 23 soldiers under the command of Colonel William S . Harney . He and some soldiers escaped by the river , but the Seminoles killed most of the garrison , as well as several civilians at the post . Many blamed the " Spanish " Indians , led by Chakaika , for the attack , but others suspected Sam Jones , whose band of Mikasuki had agreed to the treaty with Macomb . Jones , when questioned , promised to turn the men responsible for the attack over to Harney in 33 days . Before that time was up , two soldiers visiting Jones ' camp were killed . The Army turned to bloodhound s to track the Indians , with poor results . Taylor ' s blockhouse and patrol system in northern Florida kept the Seminoles on the move but could not clear them out . In May 1839 , Taylor , having served longer than any preceding commander in the Florida war , was granted his request for a transfer and replaced by Brig . Gen . Walker Keith Armistead . Armistead immediately went on the offensive , actively campaigning during the summer . Seeking hidden camps , the Army also burned fields and drove off livestock : horses , cattle and pigs . By the middle of the summer , the Army had destroyed of Seminole crops . The Navy sent its sailors and marines up rivers and streams , and into the Everglades . In late 1839 Navy Lt . John T . McLaughlin was given command of a joint Army - Navy amphibious force to operate in Florida . McLaughlin established his base at Tea Table Key in the upper Florida Keys . Traveling from December 1840 to the middle of January 1841 , McLaughlin ' s force crossed the Everglades from east to west in dugout canoes , the first group of whites to complete a crossing . The Seminoles kept out of their way . Indian Key . Indian Key is a small island in the upper Florida Keys . In 1840 , it was the county seat of the newly created Dade County , and a wrecking port . Early in the morning of August 7 , 1840 , a large party of " Spanish " Indians sneaked onto Indian Key . By chance , one man was up and raised the alarm after spotting the Indians . Of about fifty people living on the island , forty were able to escape . The dead included Dr . Henry Perrine , former United States Consul in Campeche , Mexico , who was waiting at Indian Key until it was safe to take up a 36 - square mile ( 93 km² ) grant on the mainland that Congress had awarded to him . The naval base on the Key was manned by a doctor , his patients , and five sailors under a midshipman . They mounted a couple of cannon on barges to attack the Indians . The Indians fired back at the sailors with musket balls loaded in cannon on the shore . The recoil of the cannon broke them loose from the barges , sending them into the water , and the sailors had to retreat . The Indians looted and burned the buildings on Indian Key . In December 1840 , Col . Harney at the head of ninety men found Chakaika ' s camp deep in the Everglades . His force killed the chief and hanged some of the men in his band . War winds down . Armistead received US $ 55 , 000 to use for bribing chiefs to surrender . Echo Emathla , a Tallahassee chief , surrendered , but most of the Tallahassee , under Tiger Tail , did not . Coosa Tustenuggee finally accepted US $ 5 , 000 for bringing in his 60 people . Lesser chiefs received US $ 200 , and every warrior got US $ 30 and a rifle . By the spring of 1841 , Armistead had sent 450 Seminoles west . Another 236 were at Fort Brooke awaiting transportation . Armistead estimated that 120 warriors had been shipped west during his tenure and that no more than 300 warriors remained in Florida . In May 1841 , Armistead was replaced by Col . William Jenkins Worth as commander of Army forces in Florida . Worth had to cut back on the unpopular war : he released nearly 1 , 000 civilian employees and consolidated commands . Worth ordered his men out on " search and destroy " missions during the summer , and drove the Seminoles out of much of northern Florida . The Army ' s actions became a war of attrition ; some Seminole surrendered to avoid starvation . Others were seized when they came in to negotiate surrender , including , for the second time , Coacoochee . A large bribe secured Coacoochee ' s cooperation in persuading others to surrender . In the last action of the war , General William Bailey and prominent planter Jack Bellamy led a posse of 52 men on a three day pursuit of a small band of Tiger Tail ' s braves who had been attacking settlers , surprising their swampy encampment and killing all 24 . William Wesley Hankins , at sixteen the youngest of the posse , accounted for the last of the kills and was acknowledged as having fired the last shot of the Second Seminole War . After Colonel Worth recommended early in 1842 that the remaining Seminoles be left in peace , he received authorization to leave the remaining Seminoles on an informal reservation in southwestern Florida and to declare an end to the war . , He announced it on August 14 , 1842 . In the same month , Congress passed the Armed Occupation Act , which provided free land to settlers who improved the land and were prepared to defend themselves from Indians . At the end of 1842 , the remaining Indians in Florida living outside the reservation in southwest Florida were rounded up and shipped west . By April 1843 , the Army presence in Florida had been reduced to one regiment . By November 1843 , Worth reported that only about 95 Seminole men and some 200 women and children living on the reservation were left , and that they were no longer a threat . Aftermath . The Second Seminole War may have cost as much as $ 40 , 000 , 000 . More than 40 , 000 regular U . S . military , militiamen and volunteers served in the war . This Indian war cost the lives of 1 , 500 soldiers , mostly from disease . It is estimated that more than 300 regular U . S . Army , Navy and Marine Corps personnel were killed in action , along with 55 volunteers . There is no record of the number of Seminole killed in action , but many homes and Indian lives were lost . A great many Seminole died of disease or starvation in Florida , on the journey west , and after they reached Indian Territory . An unknown but apparently substantial number of white civilians were killed by Seminole during the war . Second Interbellum . Peace had come to Florida . The Indians were mostly staying on the reservation . Groups of ten or so men would visit Tampa to trade . Squatters were moving closer to the reservation , however , and in 1845 President James Polk established a 20 - mile ( 30 km ) wide buffer zone around the reservation . No land could be claimed within the buffer zone , no title would be issued for land there , and the U . S . Marshal would remove squatters from the buffer zone upon request . In 1845 , Thomas P . Kennedy , who operated a store at Fort Brooke , converted his fishing station on Pine Island into a trading post for the Indians . The post did not do well , however , because whites who sold whiskey to the Indians told them that they would be seized and sent west if they went to Kennedy ' s store . The Florida authorities continued to press for removal of all Indians from Florida . The Indians for their part tried to limit their contacts with whites as much as possible . In 1846 , Captain John T . Sprague was placed in charge of Indian affairs in Florida . He had great difficulty in getting the chiefs to meet with him . They were very distrustful of the Army since it had often seized chiefs while under a flag of truce . He did manage to meet with all of the chiefs in 1847 , while investigating a report of a raid on a farm . He reported that the Indians in Florida then consisted of 120 warriors , including seventy Seminoles in Billy Bowlegs ' band , thirty Mikasukis in Sam Jones ' band , twelve Creeks ( Muscogee speakers ) in Chipco ' s band , 4 Yuchis and 4 Choctaws . He also estimated that there were 100 women and 140 children . Indian attacks . The trading post on Pine Island had burned down in 1848 , and in 1849 Thomas Kennedy and his new partner , John Darling , were given permission to open a trading post on what is now Paynes Creek , a tributary of the Peace River . One band of Indians was living outside the reservation at this time . Called " outsiders " , it consisted of twenty warriors under the leadership of Chipco , and included five Muscogees , seven Mikasukis , six Seminoles , one Creek and one Yuchi . On July 12 , 1849 four members of this band attacked a farm on the Indian River just north of Fort Pierce , killing one man and wounding another man and a woman . The news of this raid caused much of the population of the east coast of Florida to flee to St . Augustine . On July 17 , four of the " outsiders " who had attacked the farm on the Indian River , plus a fifth man who had not been at Indian River , attacked the Kennedy and Darling store . Two workers at the store , including a Captain Payne , were killed , and another worker and his wife were wounded as they escorted their child into hiding . The U . S . Army was not prepared to engage the Indians . It had few men stationed in Florida and no means to move them quickly to where they could protect the white settlers and capture the Indians . The War Department began a new buildup in Florida , placing Major General David E . Twiggs in command , and the state called up two companies of mounted volunteers to guard settlements . Captain John Casey , who was in charge of the effort to move the Indians west , was able to arrange a meeting between General Twiggs and several of the Indian leaders at Charlotte Harbor . At that meeting , Billy Bowlegs promised , with the approval of other leaders , to deliver the five men responsible for the attacks to the Army within thirty days . On October 18 , Bowlegs delivered three of the men to Twiggs , along with the severed hand of another who had been killed while trying escape . The fifth man had been captured but had escaped . After Bowlegs had delivered the three murderers , General Twiggs told the Indians , much to their dismay , that he had been ordered to remove them from Florida . The government would apply three tactics to carry out the removal . The Army in Florida was increased to 1 , 500 men . One hundred thousand dollars was appropriated for bribing Indians to move . Finally , a delegation of Seminole chiefs was brought from the Indian Territory to negotiate with their counterparts in Florida . Eventually a Mikasuki sub - chief , Kapiktoosootse , agreed to lead his people west . In February 1850 , 74 Indians boarded ship for New Orleans . They were paid a total of US $ 15 , 953 in bribes and compensation for property left behind in Florida . There were a couple of incidents that soured relations after that . A Muskogee and a Mikasuki who had gone in to trade at the same time as Kapiktoosootse and his band were surrendering were involuntarily shipped off to New Orleans with them . Then , in March a mounted detachment of the Seventh Infantry penetrated far in the reservation . As a result , the other Indians broke off contact with the negotiators . By April , Twiggs was reporting to Washington that there was no hope of convincing any more Indians to move . In August 1850 , an orphan boy living on a farm in north central Florida was apparently killed by Indians . Eventually enough complaints about the incident had reached Washington to cause the secretary of war to order the surrender of the Indians responsible , or the president would hold the whole tribe responsible . Captain Casey was able to get word to Bowlegs and arrange a meeting in April . Bowlegs promised to deliver the men responsible , although they apparently were members of Chipco ' s band , over whom Bowlegs had no authority . Chipco decided to surrender three men as the possible killers , and they were arrested when they showed up to trade in Fort Myers . Once in custody , the three protested their innocence , saying that Chipco did not like them and that other men in Chipco ' s band were the actual killers , and Captain Casey believed them . The three men tried to escape from the jail in Tampa but were caught and chained up in their cell . They were later found hanging from the bars in their cell . One was still alive when found but was not cut down until the next day , after he had died . It was noted in the community that the constable who had chained the three men in their cell was the father - in - law of a brother of one of the men killed at the Kennedy and Darling store in 1849 ( the Paynes Creek Massacre ) . Further Indian removal . In 1851 , General Luther Blake was appointed by the secretary of the interior to move the Indians west . He had successfully removed the Cherokee from Georgia and was presumably up to the job of removing the Seminole . He had funding to pay every adult male $ 800 and every woman and child $ 450 . He went to the Indian Territory to find interpreters and returned to Florida in March 1852 . Traveling into the field to meet with all of the Indian leaders , by July he had found sixteen Seminole to send west . Finding Billy Bowlegs insistent on staying in Florida , Blake took Bowlegs and several other chiefs to Washington . President Millard Fillmore presented Bowlegs with a medal , and he and three other chiefs were persuaded to sign an agreement promising to leave Florida . The chiefs were taken on a tour that included Baltimore , Philadelphia and New York City . Upon returning to Florida , the chiefs repudiated the agreement they had signed in Washington . Blake was fired in 1853 , and Captain Casey was put back in charge of Indian removal . In January 1851 , the Florida Legislature had created the position of commander of the Florida Militia , and Governor Thomas Brown appointed Benjamin Hopkins to it . Over the next two years , the Florida Militia pursued Seminole who were outside the reservation boundaries . During this period the militia captured one man and a few women , and 140 hogs . One Seminole woman elder committed suicide while being held by the militia , after the rest of her family had escaped . The whole operation cost the state US $ 40 , 000 . Pressure from Florida officials pushed the federal government to take action . Captain Casey continued to try to persuade the Seminole to move west without success . He sent Billy Bowlegs and others to Washington again , but the chiefs refused to agree to move . In August 1854 , Secretary of War Jefferson Davis initiated a program to force the Seminole into a final conflict . The plan included a trade embargo against them , the survey and sale of land in southern Florida to European - American settlers , and a stronger Army presence to protect the new settlers . Davis said that if the Seminole did not agree to leave , the Army would use force . Third Seminole War . Increased Army presence and Indian attacks . By late 1855 , there were more than 700 Army troops stationed on the Florida peninsula . Around that time the Seminoles decided that they would strike back at the increasing pressure being put on them and attack when an opportunity presented itself . Sam Jones may have been the instigator of this decision ; Chipco was said to have been against it . On December 7 , 1855 , First Lieutenant George Hartsuff , who had led previous patrols into the reservation , left Fort Myers with ten men and two wagons . They found no Seminoles but did pass corn fields and three deserted villages , including Billy Bowlegs ' village . On the evening of December 19 , Hartsuff told his men that they would be returning to Fort Myers the next day . As the men were loading the wagons and saddling their horses the next morning ( December 20 , 1855 ) , forty Seminoles led by Billy Bowlegs attacked the camp . Several soldiers were shot , including Lieutenant Hartsuff , who managed to hide himself . The Seminoles killed and scalped four men in the camp , killed the wagon mules , looted and burned the wagons and took several horses . Seven men , four of them wounded , made it back to Fort Myers . When the news of the attack reached Tampa , the men of the city elected militia officers and organized companies . The newly formed militia marched to the Peace River valley , recruited more men , and manned some forts along the river . Governor James Broome started organizing as many volunteer companies as he could . Because the state had limited funds , he tried to have the Army accept the volunteers . Secretary of War Jefferson Davis accepted two infantry companies and three mounted companies , about 260 men . Governor Broome kept another 400 men mobilized under state control . The state troops , both those accepted by the Army and those remaining under state control , had been partly armed and supplied by private donations . General Jesse Carter was appointed by Governor Broome as " special agent . . . without military rank " to lead the state troops . Carter set half of the state troops to growing crops , and so only 200 of his men were available for patrols . A Tampa newspaper noted that the mounted patrols preferred to patrol in open country , which was easier for the horses , but it allowed the Seminoles to see them coming . On January 6 , 1856 , two men gathering coontie south of the Miami River were killed . The settlers in the area promptly fled to Fort Dallas and Key Biscayne . A party of some twenty Seminoles under Ocsen Tustenuggee attacked a wood - cutting patrol outside of Fort Denaud , killing five of the six men . Despite the positioning of militia units to defend the area , the Seminoles also raided along the coast south of Tampa Bay . They killed one man and burned a house in what is now Sarasota , and on March 31 , 1856 , they tried to attack the " Braden Castle " , the plantation home of Dr . Joseph Braden , in what is now Bradenton . The " Castle " was too strong for them , but they led away seven slaves and three mules . Burdened with prisoners and loot , the Seminoles did not move fast . While they were stopped at Big Charley Apopka Creek eating barbecued beef from a cow they had found and slaughtered , the militia caught up with them . The militiamen killed two of the Seminoles and recaptured the slaves and mules taken from Dr . Braden ' s plantation . The scalp of one of the dead Seminoles was displayed in Tampa , the other in Manatee . During April , regular Army and militiamen patrolled around and into the reservation but made little contact with the Seminoles . One six - hour battle was fought near Bowlegs Town in April , with four regulars killed and three wounded before the Seminoles withdrew . The Seminoles continued to carry out small raids around the state . On May 14 , 1856 , fifteen Seminoles attacked the farm house of Captain Robert Bradley north of Tampa , killing two of his young children . One Seminole was killed by Bradley . Bradley may have been targeted because he had killed Tiger Tail ' s brother during the Second Seminole War . On May 17 , Seminoles attacked a wagon train in central Florida , killing three men . Mail and stagecoach service in and out of Tampa was suspended until the military could provide protection . On June 14 , 1856 , Seminoles attacked a farm two miles ( 3 km ) from Fort Meade . All of the household made it safely into the house , and they were able to hold the Seminoles at bay . The gunfire was heard at Fort Meade , and seven mounted militiamen responded . Three of the militiamen were killed and two others wounded . More militiamen pursued the Seminoles but had to retreat when a sudden rain wet their powder . On June 16 , twenty militiamen from Fort Fraser surprised a group of Seminoles along the Peace River , killing some of the Seminoles . The militiamen withdrew after losing two dead and three wounded . They claimed to have killed as many as twenty Seminoles , but the Indians admitted to only four dead and two wounded . However , one of the dead was Ocsen Tustenuggee , who seems to have been the only chief who would actively lead attacks against settlements . The citizens of Florida were becoming disenchanted with the militia . There were complaints that the militiamen would pretend to patrol for a day or two and then go home to work their fields , and that they were given to idleness , drunkenness , and thievery . The officers were reported to be unwilling to submit required paperwork . Most importantly , the militia had failed to prevent attacks against settlers . New strategy . In September 1856 , Brigadier General William S . Harney returned to Florida as commander of the federal troops . Remembering the lessons he had learned in the Second Seminole War , he set up a system of forts in a line across Florida , and patrols moved deep into Seminole territory . He planned to confine the Seminoles to the Big Cypress Swamp and the Everglades , because he believed they would be unable to live there during the wet season . He anticipated being able to catch the Indians when they left their flooded sanctuaries seeking dry land for raising their crops . Part of Harney ' s plan involved using boats to reach islands and other dry spots in the swamps . He first made one more attempt to negotiate with the Seminoles but was unable to make contact with them . In early January 1857 , he ordered his troops to actively pursue the Indians . Harney ' s plan , however , had shown few results by the time he and the Fifth Infantry were transferred to Kansas to aid in the uprisings there in April . Colonel Gustaus Loomis replaced General Harney as commander in Florida , but the withdrawal of the Fifth Infantry left him with only ten companies of the Fourth Artillery , which was later reduced to just four companies . Loomis organized volunteers into boat companies , which were given metal " alligator boats " that had been built earlier specifically for use in the Big Cypress Swamp and Everglades . Thirty feet ( 9 m ) long , pointed at both ends , and drawing two to three feet ( 0 . 7 m ) of water , the boats could carry up to sixteen men into the swamps . These boat companies were able to capture many Indians , primarily women and children . The regulars did not do as well . Some officers , including Captain Abner Doubleday , observed that the Seminoles easily avoided the Army patrols . Doubleday attributed this to the fact that most of the enlisted men were recent immigrants who had no skills in woodcraft . In 1857 , ten companies of Florida militia were taken into federal service , totaling almost 800 men by September . In November these troops captured eighteen women and children from Billy Bowlegs ' band . The troops also found and destroyed several towns and fields of crops . The troops moved into the Big Cypress Swamp starting on New Year ' s Day 1858 , again destroying the towns and cultivated fields they found . Another delegation from the Indian Territory arrived in Florida in January and attempted to contact Bowlegs . The troops stood down while the attempt was made , and Bowlegs was contacted . The previous year the Seminoles had finally been given their own reservation in Indian Territory separate from the Creeks . Cash payments of US $ 500 to each warrior ( more to the chiefs ) and $ 100 to each woman were promised . On March 15 , Bowlegs ' and Assinwar ' s bands accepted the offer and agreed to go west . On May 4 , a total of 163 Seminoles ( including some captured earlier ) were shipped to New Orleans . On May 8 , 1858 , Colonel Loomis declared the war to be over . Aftermath . When Colonel Loomis declared an end to the Third Seminole War , the government believed that only about 100 Seminole were left in Florida . In December 1858 , the US recruited two bands totaling 75 people , who agreed to removal to the West ; they were shipped out on February 15 , 1859 . Seminoles remained in Florida , however . Sam Jones ' band was living in southeast Florida , inland from Miami and Fort Lauderdale . Chipco ' s band was living north of Lake Okeechobee , although the Army and militia had failed to locate it . Individual families were scattered across the wetlands of southern Florida . Since the war was officially over and the remaining Seminole stayed quiet , the government sent the militia home and reassigned the regular Army troops . All of the forts built for the Seminole wars were decommissioned and soon stripped by settlers of any usable material . In 1862 , the state contacted Sam Jones with promises of aid in an attempt to keep the Seminole neutral in the Civil War . Although the state did not follow through on its promises , the Seminole were not interested in fighting another war . The 1868 Florida Constitution , developed by the Republican - dominated Reconstruction legislature , gave the Seminole one seat in the house and one seat in the senate of the state legislature . The Seminole never filled the positions . In 1885 , after southern white Democrats had regained political power in the state , they passed a new constitution in 1885 . It removed the seats for Seminole and established barriers to voter registration and electoral practices that essentially disfranchised most blacks and minorities . This situation lasted until the passage of federal civil rights and voting legislation in the mid - 1960s , which provided for the enforcement of citizens ' constitutional rights .