Second Seminole War The Second Seminole War , also known as the Florida War , was a conflict from 1835 to 1842 in Florida between various groups of Native Americans collectively known as Seminoles and the United States , part of a series of conflicts called the Seminole Wars . The Second Seminole War , often referred to as " the " Seminole War , was the most expensive Indian War fought by the United States . Background . Bands from various tribes in the southeastern United States had moved into the unoccupied lands in Florida in the 18th century . These included Alabamas , Choctaws , Yamasee s , Yuchi s and Creek people . The Creeks were the largest group , and included Lower Creeks and Upper Creeks , and both Hitchiti - and Muscogee - speakers . One group of Hitchiti - speakers , the Mikasuki , settled around what is now Lake Miccosukee near Tallahassee . Another group of Hitchiti - speakers settled around the Alachua Prairie in what is now Alachua County . The Spanish in St . Augustine began calling the Alachua Creeks " Cimarrones " , which roughly meant " wild ones " or " runaways " , and which is the probable origin of " Seminole " . This name was eventually also applied to the other groups in Florida , although the Native Americans still regarded themselves as members of different tribes . Other groups in Florida at the time of the Seminole Wars included " Spanish Indians " , so called because it was believed that they were descended from Calusa s , and " rancho Indians " , persons of Native American ancestry , possibly both Calusa and Creek , and mixed Native American / Spanish ancestry , living at Spanish / Cuban fishing camps on the Florida coast . The United States and Spain were at odds over Florida after the Treaty of Paris ended the American Revolutionary War and returned East and West Florida to Spanish control . The United States disputed the boundaries of West Florida ( which had been established while the territory was under British control ) . They accused the Spanish authorities of harboring fugitive slaves and of failing to restrain the Native Americans living in Florida from raiding into the United States . Starting in 1810 , the United States occupied and annexed parts of West Florida . In 1817 Andrew Jackson led an invasion of the Floridas , an incident known as the First Seminole War . The United States subsequently acquired Florida from Spain via the Adams - Onís Treaty and took possession in 1821 . Now that Florida belonged to the United States , the government was pressured by settlers to remove the Seminoles . In 1823 the government negotiated the Treaty of Moultrie Creek with the Seminoles , establishing a reservation for them in the middle of the state . Six chiefs , however , were allowed to keep their villages along the Apalachicola River . The Seminoles gave up their lands in the panhandle and slowly settled into the reservation , although they had isolated clashes with whites . Col . ( later Gen . ) Duncan Lamont Clinch was placed in charge of the Army units in Florida . Fort King was built near the reservation agency , at the site of present - day Ocala , Florida . By early 1827 the Army reported that the Seminoles were on the reservation and Florida was peaceful . This peace lasted for five years , during which time there were repeated calls for the Seminoles to be sent west of the Mississippi . The Seminoles were opposed to the move , and especially to the suggestion that they placed on the Creek reservation . Most whites regarded the Seminoles as simply Creeks who had recently moved to Florida , while the Seminoles claimed Florida as their home and denied that they had any connection with the Creeks . The status of runaway slaves was a continuing irritation between Seminoles and whites . Spain had given freedom to slaves who escaped to Florida under their rule , although the US did not recognize it . Over the years , those who became known as Black Seminoles established communities near Seminole villages , and the two peoples had close alliances although they maintained separate cultures . Slave catchers argued over the ownership of slaves . New plantations in Florida increased the pool of slaves who could escape to the Seminoles . Worried about the possibility of an Indian uprising and / or an armed slave rebellion , Governor DuVal requested additional Federal troops for Florida . Instead , Fort King was closed in 1828 . The Seminoles , short of food and finding the hunting becoming poorer on the reservation , were wandering off of it more often . Also 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 . They wanted to solve the problems with the Seminoles by moving them to west of the Mississippi River . 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 was found to be suitable . They were to be settled 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 , on March 28 , 1833 the seven chiefs signed a statement 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 . They said they did not have the power to decide for all the tribes and bands that resided on the reservation . Even some U . S . Army officers claimed that the chiefs had been " wheedled and bullied into signing . " Others noted " there is evidence of trickery by the whites in the way the treaty is phrased . " The members of the villages in the area of the Apalachicola River were more easily persuaded , however , as they suffered more encroachment from European Americans ; they 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 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 President 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 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 forbade the sale of guns and ammunition to them . 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 . A group of whites assaulted some Indians sitting around a campfire . Two more Indians came up during the assault and opened fire on the whites . Three whites were wounded , and one Indian was killed and one wounded . 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 , Chief Charley Emathla , wanting no part of a war , led his people to Fort Brooke , where they were to board ships to go west . This was considered a betrayal by other Seminoles . Osceola met Charley Emathla on the trail and killed him . The Dade Massacre . As the realization that the Seminoles would resist relocation sank in , Florida began preparing for war . The St . Augustine Militia asked the War Department for the loan of 500 muskets . Five hundred volunteers were mobilized under Brig . Gen . Richard K . Call . Indian war parties raided farms and settlements , and families fled to forts , large towns , or out of the territory altogether . A war party led by Osceola captured a Florida militia supply train , killing eight of its guards and wounding six others . Most of the goods taken were recovered by the militia in another fight a few days later . Sugar plantations along the Atlantic coast south of St . Augustine were destroyed , with many of the slaves on the plantations joining the Seminoles . The U . S . Army had 11 companies , about 550 soldiers , stationed in Florida . Fort King had only one company of soldiers , and it was feared that they might be overrun by the Seminoles . There were three companies at Fort Brooke , with another two expected momentarily , so it was decided to send two companies to Fort King . On December 23 , 1835 the two companies , totaling 110 men , left Fort Brooke under the command of Maj . Francis L . Dade . Seminoles shadowed the marching soldiers for five days . On December 28 the Seminoles ambushed the soldiers , and killed all but three of the command , which became known as the Dade Massacre . Only three white men survived ; Edwin De Courcey , was hunted down and killed by a Seminole the next day . The two survivors , Ransome Clarke and Joseph Sprague , returned to Fort Brooke . Only Clarke , who died of his wounds a few years later , left any account of the battle from the Army ' s perspective . Joseph Sprague was unharmed and lived quite a while longer , but was not able to give an account of the battle as he had sought immediate refuge in a nearby pond . The Seminoles lost just three men , with five wounded . On the same day as the Dade Massacre , Osceola and his followers shot and killed Wiley Thompson and six others outside of Fort King . In February , Major Ethan Allen Hitchcock was among those who found the remains of the Dade party . In his journal he wrote about the discovery and vented his bitter discontent with the conflict : " 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 December 29 General Clinch left Fort Drane ( recently established on Clinch ' s plantation , about twenty miles ( 32 km ) northwest of Fort King ) with 750 soldiers , including 500 volunteers on an enlistment due to end January 1 , 1836 . They were going to a Seminole stronghold called the Cove of the Withlacoochee , an area of many lakes on the southwest side of the Withlacoochee River . When they reached the river , they could not find the ford , and Clinch had his regular troops ferried across the river in a single canoe they had found . Once they were across and had relaxed , the Seminoles attacked . The troops survived only by fixing bayonets and charging the Seminoles , at the cost of four dead and 59 wounded . The militia provided cover as the Army troops withdrew across the river . On January 6 , 1836 a band of Seminoles attacked the coontie plantation of William Cooley on the New River ( in present - day Fort Lauderdale , Florida ) , killing his wife and children and the children ' s tutor . The other residents of the New River area and of the Biscayne Bay country to the south fled to Key West . On January 17 , volunteers and Seminoles met south of St . Augustine at the Battle of Dunlawton . The volunteers lost four men , with thirteen wounded . On January 19 , 1836 the Navy sloop - of - war " Vandalia " was dispatched to Tampa Bay from Pensacola . On the same day 57 U . S . Marines were dispatched from Key West to help man Fort Brooke . General Gaines ' expedition . The regular American army was very small at the time , with less than 7 , 500 men manning a total of 53 posts . It was spread thin , with the Canadian border to guard , coastal fortifications to man , and especially , Indians to move west and then watch and keep separated from white settlers . Temporary needs for additional troops were filled by state and territory militias , and by self - organized volunteer units . As news and rumors of the fighting spread , action was taken on many levels . Maj . Gen . Winfield Scott was placed in charge of the war . Congress appropriated US $ 620 , 000 for the war . Volunteer companies began forming in Alabama , Georgia and South Carolina . General Gaines put together a force of 1 , 100 regulars and volunteers in New Orleans and sailed with them to Fort Brooke . When Gaines reached Fort Brooke , he found it low on supplies . Believing that General Scott had sent supplies to Fort King , Gaines led his men on to Fort King . Along the road they found the site of the Dade Massacre , and buried the bodies in three mass graves . The force reached Fort King after nine days , only to find it was very short on supplies . After receiving seven days worth of rations from General Clinch at Fort Drane , Gaines headed back for Fort Brooke . Hoping to accomplish something for his efforts , Gaines took his men on a different route back to Fort Brooke , intending to engage the Seminoles in their stronghold in the Cove of the Withlacoochee River . Due to a lack of knowledge of the country , the Gaines party reached the same point on the Withlacoochee where Clinch had met the Seminoles one - and - a - half months earlier , and it took another day to find the ford while the two sides exchanged gunfire across the river . When a crossing was attempted at the ford of the Withlacoochee , Lt . James Izard was wounded ( and later died ) . General Gaines was stuck . He could not cross the river , and if he returned to Fort King his men would be out of rations . Gaines had his men construct a fortification , called Camp Izard , and sent word to General Clinch . Gaines hoped that the Seminoles would concentrate around Camp Izard , and that Clinch ' s forces could then hit the Seminoles in their flank , crushing them between the two forces . Unfortunately , General Scott , who was in charge of the war , ordered Clinch to stay at Fort Drane . Gaines ' s men were soon reduced to eating their horses and mules , and an occasional dog , while a battle went on for eight days . Still at Fort Drane , Clinch requested that General Scott change his orders and allow him to go to Gaines ' aid . Clinch finally decided to disobey Scott and left to join Gaines just one day before Scott ' s permission to do so arrived at Fort Drane . Clinch and his men reached Camp Izard on March 6 , chasing away the Seminoles . General Scott ' s campaign . General Scott had begun assembling men and supplies for a grand campaign against the Seminoles . Three columns , totaling 5 , 000 men , were to converge on the Cove of the Withlacoochee , trapping the Seminoles with a force large enough to defeat them . Scott would accompany one column , under the command of General Clinch , moving south from Fort Drane . A second column , under Brig . Gen . Abraham Eustis , would travel southwest from Volusia , a town on the St . Johns River . The third wing , under the command of Col . William Lindsay , would move north from Fort Brooke . The plan was for the three columns to arrive at the Cove simultaneously so as to prevent the Seminoles from escaping . Eustis and Lindsay were supposed to be in place on March 25 , so that Clinch ' s column could drive the Seminoles into them . On the way from St . Augustine to Volusia to take up his starting position , Gen . Eustis found Pilaklikaha , or Palatlakaha , also known as Abraham ' s Town . Abraham was a Black Seminole leader , and interpreter for the Seminoles . Eustis burned the town before moving on to Volusia . All three columns were delayed . Eustis was two days late departing Volusia because of an attack by the Seminoles . Clinch ' s and Lindsay ' s columns only reached their positions on March 28 . Because of problems crossing through uncharted territory , Eustis ' s column did not arrive until March 30 . Clinch crossed the Withlacoochee on March 29 to attack the Seminoles in the Cove , but found the villages deserted . Eustis ' s column did fight a skirmish with some Seminoles before reaching its assigned position , but the whole action had killed or captured only a few Seminoles . On March 31 all three commanders , running low on supplies , headed for Fort Brooke . The failure of the expedition to effectively engage the Seminoles was seen as a defeat , and was blamed on insufficient time for planning and an inhospitable climate . The Army retreats , Governor Call tries his hand . April 1836 did not go well for the Army . Seminoles attacked a number of forts , including Camp Cooper in the Cove , Fort Alabama on the Hillsborough River north of Fort Brooke , Fort Barnwell near Volusia , and Fort Drane itself . The Seminoles also burned the sugar works on Clinch ' s plantation . After that , Clinch resigned his commission and left the territory . Fort Alabama was abandoned in late April . In late May , Fort King was also abandoned . In June the soldiers in a blockhouse on the Withlacoochee were rescued after being besieged by the Seminoles for 48 days . On July 23 , 1836 , Seminoles attacked the Cape Florida lighthouse , severely wounding the assistant keeper in charge and killing his assistant , and burning the lighthouse . The lighthouse was not repaired until 1846 . Fort Drane was abandoned in July because of illness , with five out of seven officers and 140 men on the sick list . The Army was suffering terribly from illness ; at the time summer in Florida was called the " sickly season " . By the end of August , Fort Defiance , on the edge of the Alachua Prairie , was also abandoned . Seeing that the war promised to be long and expensive , Congress appropriated another US $ 1 . 5 million , and allowed volunteers to enlist for up to a year . Richard Keith Call , who had led the Florida volunteers as a Brig . Gen . when Clinch marched on the Cove of the Withlacoochee in December , had been appointed Governor of the Territory of Florida on March 16 , 1836 . Governor Call proposed a summer campaign using militias and volunteers instead of regular Army troops . The War Department agreed to this proposal , but delays in preparations meant the campaign did not start until the end of September . Call also intended to attack the Cove of the Withlacoochee . He sent most of his supplies down the west coast of the peninsula and up the Withlacoochee to set up a supply base . With the main body of his men he marched to the now abandoned Fort Drane , and then on to the Withlacoochee , which they reached on October 13 . The Withlacoochee was flooding and could not be forded . The army could not make rafts for a crossing because they had not brought any axes with them . In addition , Seminoles on the other side of the river were shooting at any soldier who showed himself along the river . Call then turned west along the north bank of the river to reach the supply depot . However , the steamer bringing the supplies had sunk in the lower part of the river , and the supply depot was far downstream from where Call was expecting it . Out of food , Call led his men back to Fort Drane , another failed expedition against the Cove . In mid - November Call tried again . His forces made it across the Withlacoochee this time , but found the Cove abandoned . Call divided his forces , and proceeded up the river ( south ) on both sides . On November 17 Seminoles were routed from a large camp . There was another battle the next day , and the Seminoles were assumed to be headed for the Wahoo Swamp . Call waited to bring the other column across the river , then entered the Wahoo Swamp on November 21 . The Seminoles resisted the advance in the Battle of Wahoo Swamp , as their families were close by , but had to retreat across a stream . Major David Moniac , a mix - blooded Creek who was the first Native American to graduate from West Point , tried to determine how deep the stream was , but was shot and killed by the Seminoles . Faced with trying to cross a stream of unknown depth under hostile fire , and with supplies again running short , Call withdrew and led his men to Volusia . On December 9 Call was relieved of command and replaced by Maj . Gen . Thomas Jesup , who took the troops back to Fort Brooke . The enlistments of the volunteers were up at the end of December and they went home . Jesup takes command . In 1836 the United States Army had just four Major Generals . Alexander Macomb , Jr . was the commanding general of the Army . Edmund Gaines and Winfield Scott had each taken to the field and failed to defeat the Seminoles . Thomas Jesup was the last Major General available . Jesup had just suppressed an uprising of the Creeks of western Georgia and eastern Alabama ( the Creek War of 1836 ) , upstaging Winfield Scott in the process . Jesup brought a new approach to the war . Instead of sending large columns out to try to force the Seminoles into a set - piece battle , he concentrated on wearing the Seminoles down . This required a large military presence in Florida , and Jesup eventually had a force of more than 9 , 000 men 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 . The Navy and the Revenue - Marine both worked with the Army from the beginning of the war . Navy ships and revenue cutters ferried men and supplies to Army posts . They patrolled the Florida coast to gather information on and intercept Seminoles , and to block smuggling of arms and supplies to the Seminoles . Sailors and Marines helped man Army forts that were short of manpower . Sailors , Marines and revenue - Marines participated in expeditions into the interior of Florida , both by boat and on land . Against those numbers the Seminoles had started the war with between 900 and 1 , 400 warriors , and with no means of replacing their losses . Truce and reversal . January 1837 saw a change in the war . In various actions a number of Seminoles and Black Seminoles were killed or captured . At the Battle of Hatchee - Lustee , the Marine brigade captured between thirty and forty Seminoles and blacks , mainly women and children , along with 100 pack ponies and 1 , 400 head of cattle . At the end of January some Seminole chiefs sent messengers to Jesup , and a truce was arranged . Fighting did not stop right away , and a meeting between Jesup and the chiefs did not occur until near the end of February . In March a ' Capitulation ' was signed by a number of chiefs , including Micanopy , stipulating that the Seminoles could be accompanied by their allies and " their negroes , their ' bona fide ' property " in their relocation to the West . Even as Seminoles began to come into the Army camps to await transportation west , slave catchers were claiming blacks living with the Seminoles . As the Seminoles had no written records of ownership , they generally lost in disputes over ownership . Other whites were trying to have Seminoles arrested for alleged crimes or debts . All of this made the Seminoles suspicious of promises made by Jesup . On the other hand , it was noted that many of the warriors coming into the transportation camps had not brought their families , and seemed mainly to be interested in collecting supplies . By the end of May , many chiefs , including Micanopy , had surrendered . Two important leaders , Osceola and Sam Jones , 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 there who had surrendered . The war was on again , and Jesup would never again trust the word of an Indian . The war did not immediately resume on a large scale . General Jesup had thought that the surrender of so many Seminoles meant the war was ending , and had not planned a long campaign . Many of the soldiers had been assigned elsewhere , or , in the case of militias and volunteers , released from duty . It was also getting into summer , the ' sickly season ' , and the Army did not fight aggressively in Florida during the summer . The Panic of 1837 was reducing government revenues , but Congress appropriated another US $ 1 . 6 million for the war . In August the Army stopped supplying rations to civilians who had taken refuge at its forts . Captures and false flags . Jesup did keep pressure on the Seminoles by sending small units into the field . Many of the blacks with the Seminoles began turning themselves in . After a couple of swings in policy on dealing with fugitive slaves , Jesup ended up sending most of them west to join the Seminoles that were already in Indian territory . On September 10 , 1837 the Army and militias captured a band of Mikasukis including King Phillip , one of the most important chiefs in Florida . The next night the same command captured a band of Yuchis , including their leader , Uchee Billy . General Jesup had King Phillip send a message to his son Coacoochee ( Wild Cat ) to arrange a meeting with Jesup . When Coacoochee arrived under a flag of truce , Jesup arrested him . In October Osceola and Coa Hadjo , another chief , requested a parley with Jesup . A meeting was arranged south of St . Augustine . When Osceola and Coa Hadjo arrived for the meeting , also under a white flag , they were arrested . Osceola was dead within three months of his capture , in prison at Fort Moultrie in Charleston , South Carolina . Not all of the Seminoles captured by the Army stayed captured . While Osceola was still held at Fort Marion ( Castillo de San Marcos ) in St . Augustine , twenty Seminoles held in the same cell with him and King Phillip escaped through a narrow window . The escapees included Coacoochee and John Horse , a Black Seminole leader . A delegation of Cherokees was sent to Florida to try to talk the Seminoles into moving west . When Micanopy and others came in to meet the Cherokees , General Jesup had the Seminoles held . John Ross , the head of the Cherokee delegation , protested , but to no avail . Jesup replied that he had told the Cherokees that no Seminole who came in would be allowed to return home . Zachary Taylor and the Battle of Lake Okeechobee . Jesup now had a large army assembled , including volunteers from as far away as Missouri and Pennsylvania — so many men , in fact , that he had trouble feeding all of them . Jesup ' s plan was to sweep down the peninsula with multiple columns , pushing the Seminoles further south . General Joseph Marion Hernández led a column down the east coast . General Eustis took his column up the St . Johns River ( southward ) . Colonel Zachary Taylor led a column from Fort Brooke into the middle of the state , and then southward between the Kissimmee River and the Peace River . Other commands cleared out the areas between the St . Johns and the Oklawaha River , between the Oklawaha and the Withlacoochee River , and along the Caloosahatchee River . A joint Army - Navy unit patrolled the lower east coast of Florida . Other troops patrolled the northern part of the territory to protect against Seminole raids . Colonel Taylor saw the first major action of the campaign . Leaving Fort Gardiner on the upper Kissimmee with 1 , 000 men on December 19 , Taylor headed towards Lake Okeechobee . In the first two days out ninety Seminoles surrendered . On the third day Taylor stopped to build Fort Basinger , where he left his sick and enough men to guard the Seminoles that had surrendered . Three days later , on Christmas Day , 1837 , Taylor ' s column caught up with the main body of the Seminoles on the north shore of Lake Okeechobee . The Seminoles led by Alligator , Sam Jones , and the recently escaped Coacoochee , were well positioned in a hammock surrounded by sawgrass . The ground was thick mud , and sawgrass easily cuts and burns the skin . Taylor had about 800 men , while the Seminoles numbered less than 400 . Taylor sent the Missouri volunteers in first . Colonel Richard Gentry , three other officers and more than twenty enlisted men were killed before the volunteers retreated . Next in were 200 soldiers of the 6th Infantry , who lost four officers and suffered nearly 40 % casualties before they withdrew . Then it was the turn of the 4th Infantry , 160 men augmented by remnants of the 6th Infantry and the Missouri volunteers . This time the troops were able to drive the Seminoles from the hammock and towards the lake . Taylor then attacked their flank with his reserves , but the Seminoles were able to escape across the lake . Only about a dozen Seminoles had been killed in the battle . Nevertheless , the Battle of Lake Okeechobee was hailed as a great victory for Taylor and the Army . The Battle of Loxahatchee . Taylor now joined the other columns sweeping down the peninsula to pass on the east side of Lake Okeechobee , under the overall command of General Jesup . The troops along the Caloosahatche River blocked any passage north on the west side of the lake . Still patrolling the east coast of Florida was the combined Army - Navy force under Navy Lt . Levin Powell . On January 15 Powell was leading eighty men towards a Seminole camp when they found themselves almost completely surrounded by a larger number of Seminoles . A charge against the Seminoles was unsuccessful , but the troops made it back to their boats after losing four dead and twenty - two wounded . ( The party ' s retreat was covered by Army Lt . Joseph E . Johnston . ) At the end of January Jesup ' s troops caught up with a large body of Seminoles to the east of Lake Okeechobee . The Seminoles were originally positioned in a hammock , but cannon and rocket fire drove them back across a wide stream ( the Loxahatchee River ) , where they made another stand . The Seminoles eventually just faded away , having caused more casualties than they received , and the Battle of Loxahatchee was over . The fighting now died down . In February 1838 Seminole chiefs Tuskegee and Halleck Hadjo approached Jesup with the proposition that they would stop fighting if they were allowed to stay south of Lake Okeechobee . Jesup favored the idea , foreseeing a long struggle to capture the remaining Seminoles in the Everglades , and calculating that the Seminoles would be easier to round up later when the land was actually needed by white settlers . However , Jesup had to write to Washington for approval . The chiefs and their followers camped near the Army while awaiting the reply , and there was considerable fraternizing between the two camps . Secretary of War Joel Roberts Poinsett rejected the arrangement , however , and instructed Jesup to continue his campaign . Upon receiving Poinsett ' s response , Jesup summoned the chiefs to his camp , but they refused his invitation . Unwilling to let 500 Seminoles return to the swamps , Jesup sent a force to detain them . The Seminoles offered very little resistance , perhaps seeing little reason to continue fighting . Loxahatchee River Battlefield Park preserves an area of the fighting . Memorials are also located in Jonathan Dickinson State Park . Jesup steps down ; Zachary Taylor takes command . Jesup now asked to be relieved of his command . As summer approached in 1838 the number of troops in Florida dwindled to about 2 , 300 . In April Jesup was informed that he should return to his position as Quartermaster General of the Army . In May Zachary Taylor , now a General , assumed command of the Army forces in Florida . With reduced forces in Florida , Taylor concentrated on keeping the Seminole out of northern Florida , so that settlers could return to their homes . The Seminole were still capable of reaching far north . In July they were thought responsible for the deaths of a family on the Santa Fe River , another near Tallahassee , as well as two families in Georgia . The fighting died down during the summer , as the soldiers were pulled back to the coasts . The Seminole concentrated on growing their crops and gathering supplies for fall and winter . Taylor ' s plan was to build small posts at frequent intervals across northern Florida , connected by wagon roads , and to use larger units to search designated areas . This was expensive , but Congress continued to appropriate the necessary funds . In October 1838 , Taylor relocated the last of the Seminole living along the Apalachicola River to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River . Killings in the Tallahassee area caused Taylor to pull troops out of southern Florida to provide more protection in the north . The winter season was fairly quiet . The Army killed only a few Seminole and transported fewer than 200 to the West . Nine U . S . troops were killed by the Seminole . Taylor reported in the Spring of 1839 that his men had constructed 53 new posts and cut of wagon roads . Macomb ' s peace and the Harney Massacre . In Washington and around the country in 1839 , support for the war was eroding . The size of the Army had been increased because of the demands for manpower in the Florida war . Many people were beginning to think that the Seminole had earned a right to stay in Florida . The cost and time required to get all the Seminole out of Florida were looming larger . Congress appropriated US $ 5 , 000 to negotiate a settlement with the Seminole people in order to end the outlay of resources . President Martin Van Buren sent the Commanding General of the Army , Alexander Macomb , to negotiate a new treaty with the Seminole . Remembering the broken treaties and promises of the past , they were slow to respond to the new overtures . Finally , Sam Jones sent his chosen successor , Chitto Tustenuggee , to meet with Macomb . On May 19 , 1839 , Macomb announced reaching agreement with the Seminole . They would stop fighting in exchange for a reservation in southern Florida . As the summer passed , the agreement seemed to be holding . There were few killings . A trading post was established on the north shore of the Caloosahatchee River , and the Seminole who came to the trading post seemed to be friendly . A detachment of 23 soldiers was stationed at the Calooshatchee trading post under the command of Colonel William S . Harney . On July 23 , 1839 some 150 Indians attacked the trading post and guard . Some of the soldiers , including Colonel Harney , were able to reach the river and find boats to escape in , but most of the soldiers , as well as a number of civilians in the trading post , were killed . The war was on again . The Americans did not know which band of Indians had attacked the trading post . Many blamed the ' Spanish ' Indians , led by Chakaika . Some suspected Sam Jones , whose band of Mikasuki had come to agreement with Macomb . Jones promised to turn the men responsible for the attack over to Harney in 33 days . In the meantime , the Mikasuki in Sam Jones ' camp near Fort Lauderdale remained on friendly terms with the local soldiers . On July 27 they invited the officers at the fort to a dance at the Mikasuki camp . The officers declined but sent two soldiers and a Black Seminole interpreter with a keg of whiskey . The Mikasuki killed the soldiers , but the Black Seminole escaped . He reported at the fort that Sam Jones and Chitto Tustenuggee were involved in the attack . In August 1839 , Seminole raiding parties operated as far north as Fort White . New tactics . The Army decided to use bloodhound s to track the Seminole . ( Although General Taylor had requested and received permission to buy bloodhounds in 1838 , he had not done so . ) In early 1840 , the Florida territorial government purchased bloodhounds from Cuba and hired Cuban handlers . Initial trials of the hounds had mixed results , and a public outcry arose against the use of the dogs , based on fears that they would be set on the Seminole in physical attacks , including against women and children . The Secretary of War ordered the dogs to be muzzled and kept on leashes while tracking . As bloodhounds cannot track through water , the Seminole easily evaded the dogs . In the north of Florida , Taylor ' s blockhouse and patrol system kept the Seminole on the move , but the Army could not clear them from the area . Ambushes of travelers were common . On February 13 , 1840 the mail stage between St . Augustine and Jacksonville was ambushed . In May Seminole attacked a theatrical troupe near St . Augustine , killing a total of six people . In the same month , a group of four soldiers traveling between forts in Alachua County was attacked , with one killed and two others never seen again . A party of eighteen men pursued the Indians , but six were killed . In May 1840 Zachary Taylor , having served longer than any preceding commander in the Florida war , was granted his request for a transfer . He was replaced by Brig . Gen . Walker Keith Armistead , who had earlier served in Florida as second in command to General Jesup . Armistead began an offensive , sending out 100 soldiers at a time to search for the Seminole and their camps . For the first time , the Army campaigned in Florida during the summer , taking captives and destroying crops and buildings . The Seminole also were active in warfare , killing fourteen soldiers during July . The Army worked to find the Seminole camps , burn their fields and stores of food , and drive off their livestock , including their horses . Armistead planned to turn over the defense of Florida north of Fort King to the militia and volunteers . He wanted to use Army regulars to confine the Seminole to south of Fort King , and pursue them within that territory . The Army destroyed camps and fields across central Florida , a total of of Seminole crops by the middle of the summer . General Armistead became estranged from the territorial government , although he needed 1 , 500 militiamen from the Territory to defend the area north of Fort King . To bolster the effort south of Fort King , the Army sent the Eighth Infantry Regiment to Florida . The Army in Florida now included ten companies of the Second Dragoon , nine companies of the Third Artillery , and the First , Second , Third , Sixth , Seventh and Eighth Infantry Regiments . Changes were also being made in southern Florida . At Fort Bankhead on Key Biscayne , Col . Harney instituted an intensive training program in swamp and jungle warfare for his men . The Navy took a larger role in the war , sending manned boats with sailors and marines up rivers and streams , and into the Everglades . The " Mosquito Fleet " . In the early years of the war Navy Lt . Levin Powell had commanded a joint Army - Navy force of some 200 men that operated along the coast . In late 1839 Navy Lt . John T . McLaughlin was given command of a joint Army - Navy amphibious force to operate in Florida . This included schooner s off shore and barges close to the mainland to intercept Cuban and Bahamian traders bringing arms and other supplies to the Seminoles , and smaller boats , down to canoes , for patrolling up rivers and into the Everglades . McLaughlin established his base at Tea Table Key in the upper Florida Keys . An attempt to cross the Everglades from west to east was launched in April 1840 , but the sailors and marines were engaged by Seminoles at the rendezvous point on Cape Sable . Although there were no known fatalities ( the Seminoles carried off their dead and wounded ) , many of the naval personnel became ill , and the expedition was called off and the sick were taken to Pensacola . For the next few months the men of Lt . McLaughlin ' s force explored the inlets and rivers of southern Florida . McLaughlin did lead a force across the Everglades later . 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 groups of whites to complete a crossing . Indian Key . Indian Key is a small island in the upper Florida Keys which had developed into a base for wreckers . In 1836 it became the county seat of the newly created Dade County and a port of entry . Despite fears of attack and sightings of Indians in the area , the inhabitants of Indian Key stayed to protect their property , and to be close to any wrecks in the upper Keys . The islanders had six cannons and their own small militia company for their defense , and the Navy had established a base on nearby Tea Table Key . 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 grant on the mainland that Congress had awarded to him . The naval base on Tea Table Key had been stripped of personnel for an operation on the southwest coast of the mainland , leaving only a physician , his patients , and five sailors under a midshipman to look after them . This small contingent mounted a couple of cannons on barges and tried to attack the Indians on Indian Key . The Indians fired back at the sailors with musket balls loaded in one of the cannons on shore . The recoil of the cannons on the barges broke them loose , sending them into the water , and the sailors had to retreat . The Indians burned the buildings on Indian Key after thoroughly looting it . Revenge and negotiations . In December , 1840 Col . Harney finally got revenge for his humiliation on the Caloosahatchee River . He led ninety men into the Everglades from Fort Dallas on the Miami River , traveling in canoes borrowed from the Marines . They were guided by a black man named John who had been in Seminole captivity for a while . The column encountered some Indians in canoes and gave chase , catching some of them and promptly hanging the men . When John was having trouble finding the way , Harney tried to force the captured Seminole women to lead the way to the camp , reportedly by threatening to hang their children . However , John got his bearings again and the Harney party found the camp of Chakaika and the ' Spanish Indians ' . Dressed as Indians , the soldiers approached the camp early in the morning , achieving surprise . Chakaika was outside the camp when the attack started . He started to run and then stopped and turned to face the soldiers , offering his hand , but one of the soldiers shot and killed him . There was a brief fight during which some of the Indians escaped . Harney had two of the captured warriors hanged , and had Chakaika ' s body hung beside them . Harney and his men returned to Fort Dallas after twelve days in the Everglades . Harney had lost one soldier killed . His command had killed four Indians in action and hanged five more . The Legislative Council of Florida presented Harney with a commendation and a sword , and Harney was soon given command of the Second Dragoons . Armistead had US $ 55 , 000 to use for bribing chiefs to surrender . In November 1840 Gen . Armistead had met at Fort King with Tiger Tail ( Thlocklo Tustenuggee ) , a Muskogee speaker , and Halleck Tustenuggee , a Mikasuki speaker . Armistead was authorized by Washington to offer each leader $ 5 , 000 to bring their followers in for transportation west , and to concede land in the south of Florida to those remaining . However , Colonel Ethan A . Hitchcock recorded in his diary , with considerable frustration , that the General instead pocketed these proposals and insisted the chiefs agree to the terms of the Payne ' s Landing treaty . Moreover , while talking peace , he secretly sent a force threatening Halleck ' s people at his home . After several days as guests of the Army both chiefs fled in the middle of the night on November 14 , 1840 . Echo Emathla , a Tallahassee chief , surrendered , but most of the Tallahassee , under Tiger Tail , did not . The Mikasukis , led by Coosa Tustenuggee and Halleck Tustenuggee , continued to operate in the northern part of the Florida peninsula . Coosa Tustenuggee finally accepted US $ 5 , 000 for bringing in his sixty people . Lesser chiefs received US $ 200 , and every warrior got US $ 30 and a rifle . Coacoochee took advantage of Armistead ' s willingness to negotiate . In March 1841 he agreed to bring in his followers in two or three months . During that time he appeared at several forts , presenting the pass given to him by Armistead , and demanding food and liquor . On one visit to Fort Pierce , Coacoochee demanded a horse to ride to Fort Brooke . The fort commander gave him one , along with five and one - half gallons of whiskey . 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 there were no more than 300 warriors left in Florida . In May 1841 Halleck Tustenuggee sent word that he would be bringing his band in to surrender . Colonel Worth takes charge . In May 1841 Armistead was replaced by Col . William Jenkins Worth as commander of Army forces in Florida . Due to the unpopularity of the war in the nation and in Congress , Worth had to cut back . The war was costing US $ 93 , 300 per month in addition to the pay of the regular soldiers . John T . Sprague , Worth ' s aide , believed that some civilians were trying to deliberately prolong the war in order to stay on the government payroll . Nearly 1 , 000 civilian employees of the Army were released , and smaller commands were consolidated . Worth then ordered his men out on what would now be called ' search and destroy ' missions during the summer . These efforts effectively drove the Seminoles out of their old stronghold in the Cove of the Withlacoochee . Much of the rest of northern Florida was also cleared by these methods . On May 1 , 1841 Lieutenant William Tecumseh Sherman was assigned to escort Coacoochee to a meeting at Fort Pierce . After washing and dressing in his best ( which included a vest with a bullet hole and blood on it ) , Coacoochee asked Sherman to give him silver in exchange for a one - dollar bill from the Bank of Tallahassee . At the meeting Major Thomas Childs agreed to give Coacoochee thirty days to bring in his people for transportation west . Coacoochee ' s people came and went freely at the fort for the rest of the month , while Childs became convinced that Coachoochee would renege on his agreement . Childs asked for and received permission to seize Coacoochee . On June 4 he arrested Coachoochee and fifteen of his followers . Lieutenant Colonel William Gates ordered that Coacoochee and his men be shipped immediately to New Orleans . When Colonel Worth learned of this , he ordered the ship to return to Tampa Bay , as he intended to use Coacoochee to persuade the rest of the Seminoles to surrender . Colonel Worth offered bribes worth about US $ 8 , 000 to Coacoochee . As Coacoochee had no real hope of escaping , he agreed to send out messengers urging the Seminoles to move west . The chiefs still active in the northern part of the Florida peninsula , Halleck Tustenuggee , Tiger Tail , Nethlockemathla , and Octiarche , met in council and agreed to kill any messengers from the whites . The southern chiefs seemed to have learned of this decision , and supported it . However , when one messenger appeared at a council of Holata Mico , Sam Jones , Otulkethlocko , Hospetarke , Fuse Hadjo and Passacka , he was made prisoner , but not killed . A total of 211 Seminoles surrendered as a result of Coacoochee ' s messages , including most of his own band . Hospetarke was drawn into a meeting at Camp Ogden ( near the mouth of the Peace River ) in August and he and 127 of his band were captured . As the number of Seminoles in Florida decreased , it became easier for those left to stay hidden . In November the Third Artillery moved into the Big Cypress Swamp and burned a few villages . Some of the Seminoles in southern Florida gave up after that , and turned themselves in for transportation west . Seminoles were still scattered throughout most of Florida . One band that had been reduced to starvation surrendered in northern Florida near the Apalachicola River in 1842 . Further east , however , bands led by Halpatter Tustenuggee , Halleck Tustenuggee and Chitto Harjo raided Mandarin and other settlements along the lower ( i . e . , northern ) St . Johns River . On April 19 , 1842 , a column of 200 soldiers led by First Lieutenant George A . McCall found a group of Seminole warriors in the Pelchikaha Swamp , about thirty miles south of Fort King . There was a brief fire - fight and then the Seminoles disappeared into a hammock . Halleck Tustenuggee was held prisoner when he showed up at Fort King for a talk . Part of his band was caught when they visited the fort , and Lieutenant McCall captured the rest of Halleck ' s band in their camp . The war winds down . Colonel Worth recommended early in 1842 that the remaining Seminoles be left in peace if they would stay in southern Florida . Worth eventually received authorization to leave the remaining Seminoles on an informal reservation in southwestern Florida , and to declare an end to the war on a date of his choosing . At this time there were still several diverse bands of Indians in Florida . Billy Bowlegs was the head of a large band of Seminoles living near Charlotte Harbor . Sam Jones led a band of Mikasukis that lived in the Everglades near Fort Lauderdale . North of Lake Okeechobee was a band of Muskogees led by Chipco . Another Muskogee band , led by Tiger Tail , lived near Tallahassee . Finally , in northern Florida there was a band of Creeks led by Octiarche which had fled from Georgia in 1836 . In August 1842 Congress passed the Armed Occupation Act , which provided free land to settlers who improved the land and were prepared to defend themselves from Indians . In many ways this act prefigured the Homestead Act of 1862 . Heads of households could claim of land south of a line running across the northern part of the peninsula . They had to ' prove ' their claim by living on the land for five years and clearing . However , they could not claim land within two miles ( 3 km ) of a military post . A total of 1 , 317 grants totaling were registered in 1842 and 1843 . 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 pioneers , 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 . Also in August 1842 Worth met with the chiefs still in Florida . Each warrior was offered a rifle , money and one year ' s worth of rations if they moved west . Some accepted the offer , but most hoped to eventually move to the reservation in southwest Florida . Believing that the remaining Indians in Florida would either go west or move to the reservation , Worth declared the war to be at an end on August 14 , 1842 . Worth then went on ninety - days leave , leaving command to Colonel Josiah Vose . The Army in Florida consisted at this point of parts of three regiments , totaling 1 , 890 men . Attacks on white settlers continued even as far north as the area around Tallahassee . Otiarche and Tiger Tail had not indicated what they would do . Complaints from Florida caused the War Department to order Vose to take action against the bands still off the reservation , but Vose argued that breaking the pledges made to the Indians would have bad results , and the War Department accepted his arguments . In early October a major hurricane struck Cedar Key , where the Army headquarters had been located , and the Indians would no longer visit it . Worth returned to Florida at the beginning of November 1842 . He soon decided that Tiger Tail and Otiarche had taken too long to make up their minds on what to do , and ordered that they be brought in . Tiger Tail was so ill that he had to be carried on a litter , and he died in New Orleans waiting for transportation to the Indian territory . The other Indians in northern Florida were also captured and sent west . By April 1843 only one regiment , the Eighth Infantry , was still in Florida . In November 1843 Worth reported that the only Indians left in Florida were 42 Seminole warriors , 33 Mikasukis , 10 Creeks and 10 Tallahassees , with women and children bringing the total to about 300 . Worth also stated that these Indians were all living on the reservation and were no longer a threat to the white population of Florida . Costs . Mahon cites estimates of US $ 30 , 000 , 000 to $ 40 , 000 , 000 as the cost of the Second Seminole War , but knew of no analysis of the actual cost . Congress appropriated funds for the ' suppression of Indian hostilities ' , but the costs of the Creek War of 1836 are included in that . An inquiry in extravagance in naval operations found that the Navy had spent about US $ 511 , 000 on the war . The investigation did find questionable expenditures . Among other things , while the Army had bought dugout canoes for $ 10 to $ 15 apiece , the Navy spent an average of $ 226 per canoe . The number of Army , Navy and Marine regulars who served in Florida is given as 10 , 169 . About 30 , 000 militiamen and volunteers also served in the war . Sources agree that the U . S . Army officially recorded 1 , 466 deaths in the Second Seminole War , mostly from disease . The number killed in action is less clear . Mahon reports 328 regular Army killed in action , while Missall reports that Seminoles killed 269 officers and men . Almost half of those deaths occurred in the Dade Massacre , Battle of Lake Okeechobee and Harney Massacre . Similarly , Mahon reports 69 deaths for the Navy while Missal reports 41 for the U . S . Navy and Marine Corps , but adds others may have died after being sent out of Florida as " incurable " . Mahon and the Florida Board of State Institutions agree that 55 volunteer officers and men were killed by the Seminoles , while Missall says the number is unknown . There is no figure for how many militiamen and volunteers died of disease or accident , however . The number of white civilians , Seminoles and Black Seminoles killed is uncertain . A northern newspaper carried a report that more than 80 civilians were killed by Indians in Florida in 1839 . Nobody was keeping a cumulative account of the number of Indians and Black Seminoles killed , or the number who died of starvation or other privations caused by the war . The people shipped west did not fare well , either . By the end of 1843 3 , 824 Indians ( including 800 Black Seminoles ) had been shipped from Florida to what became the Indian Territory . They were initially settled on the Creek Reservation , which created tensions . The next year , the Florida people numbered 3 , 136 . As of 1862 , their numbers had dropped to 2 , 343 Seminoles in the Indian Territory . After the war . Peace had come to Florida for a while . The Indians were mostly staying on the reservation , but there were minor clashes . 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 . As time went on there were more serious incidents . The government resolved once more to remove all Indians from Florida , and applied increasing pressure on the Seminoles until they struck back , starting the Third Seminole War of 1855 - 1858 .