Wild Cat ( Seminole ) Wild Cat , born Coacoochee or Cowacoochee ( c . 1807 / 1810 – 1857 ) , was a leading Seminole chieftain during the later stages of the Second Seminole War as well as the nephew of Micanopy . Wild Cat ' s exact place year and place of birth is not agreed opon . Many local scholars believe he was born in 1807 on an island in big Lake Tohopekaliga , south of Orlando . Some scholars say Wild Cat was born to King Philip ( or Ee - mat - la ) in Yulaka , a Seminole village along the St . Johns River in northern Florida around 1810 . Still others suggest that he was born near present day Apopka , Florida . Wild Cat may have had a twin sister who died at birth and , having been born a twin , he was regarded by the tribe as being particularly gifted . As tensions mounted between Seminoles and local settlers following the purchase of Florida by the United States in 1821 , Seminole tribes encouraged the escape of slaves in neighboring Georgia in reaction to encroaching settlers who began settling on the Florida coast previously occupied by Seminoles . At the start of the Second Seminole War , the nineteen - year - old Wild Cat gained prominence leading a band of Seminoles and Black Seminoles until his father ' s capture and imprisonment in Fort Marion in 1837 . Although some of the Black Seminoles had fled to Florida to escape slavery , most of the Black Seminoles were free descendants of Black Seminoles who had lived in Florida for more than a century . In October 1837 , Wild Cat appeared before American forces in a ceremonial peace headdress claiming to be an emissary of Osceola and , after negotiations with Colonel Thomas S . Jesup , American authorities agreed to peace talks . However , after the arrival of the Seminoles , Jesup ordered their arrest . While imprisoned at Fort Marion , Wild Cat would escape with nineteen other Seminoles , reportedly fasting for six days before they were able to slide through the bars of their jail cell and drop into the moat on the outside of the fort . With the imprisonment of Osceola , Wild Cat emerged as the leading commander of the war fighting with Alligator and Arpeika against Colonel Zachary Taylor at the inconclusive Battle of Lake Okeechobee on December 25 , 1837 before retreating to the Everglades . In 1841 , only two years after his father ' s death while being transported to Indian Territory , Wild Cat agreed to meet American authorities for peace negotiations . After negotiating with Lieutenant William T . Sherman at the Indian River post of Fort Pierce , Wild Cat agreed to be transported to Fort Gibson in Oklahoma ' s Indian Territory along with his remaining two hundred followers . Growing depressed over his forced surrender , he was said to have stated , " I was in hopes I would be killed in battle , but a bullet never reached me . " ' Traveling to Washington , D . C . with Alligator as part of a Seminole delegation in 1843 , Wild Cat failed to gain financial aid for the Seminoles as the tribe suffered a series of floods and raids by neighboring Creeks ( capturing free blacks and Indians and selling them to southern slave holders ) . This devastated the black and Indian Seminoles . Conditions continued to worsen until 1849 when Wild Cat left the reservation with about one hundred followers , consisting of Seminoles and black Seminoles , which included some former slaves , and escaped to Texas . Joined by about one thousand Kickapoos , Wild Cat ' s band eventually were able to establish a new community in Mexico where the government awarded the tribe an area of land in recognition for their service against Apache and Comanche raiders . Earning a commission of Colonel in the Mexican army , Wild Cat would live with the Seminoles until his death of smallpox in Alto , Mexico in 1857 . He was succeeded by his son Gato Chiquito or Young Wild Cat . On May 29 , 2012 an application was registered at the US Bureau of Geographic Names to name a stretch of unnamed barrier islands on the Florida East Coast for this chief .