Ar - pi - uck - i Ar - pi - uck - i , also known as Sam Jones , ( ca . 1760 , Georgia – ca . 1860 , Florida ) was a powerful spiritual " alektca " ( medicine chief ) and war chief of the Miccosukee , a Seminole - Muscogee Creek tribe of the Southeast United States . Ar - pi - uck - i successfully defied the U . S . government and refused to remove to the Indian Territory west of the Mississippi and his influential leadership in the Second Seminole War ( 1835 – 1842 ) resulted in the permanent Native American presence in Florida . Name . The phonetic spelling of his name varies to include : Aripeka , Aripeika , Opoica , Arpeika , Abiaka , Apiaka , Apeiaka , Appiaca , Appiacca , Apayaka Hadjo ( Crazy Rattlesnake ) . The name is derivative of the Muscogee word , " Abihka " , the name of an ancient Muscogee town near the upper Coosa River , meaning " pile at the base " or " heap at the root . " The name was conferred on the town because " in the contest for supremacy its warriors heaped up a pile of scalps , covering the base of the war - pole . " Treaties . The treaties with the U . S . to which Ar - pi - uck - i was a signatory were Treaty of Payne ’ s Landing ( Treaty with the Seminole , 1832 ) , May 9 , 1832 , and Treaty of Fort Gibson , On The Arkansas River With The Seminole ( Treaty with the Seminole , 1833 ) March 28 , 1833 signed by proxy through Tokose Mathla ( aka John Hicks ) , the representative of Ar - pi - uck - i , who traveled to view the proposed relocation lands in the Indian Territory . Signatures were coerced by force of threat . Ar - pi - uck - i was opposed to the relocation . Second Seminole War , 1835 – 1842 . Battle of Lake Okeechobee - Col . Zachary Taylor led 1032 troops against the Creek and Miccosukee , December 25 , 1837 , near the mouth of Taylor Creek and Lake Okeechobee and suffered a defeat . Taylor lost 26 killed and 112 wounded . Ar - pi - uck - i was the leading war chief for the Miccosukee and he carefully formulated and executed his battle plan wisely , entrenched on dry , treed ground , pressing the attack , and losing only 8 ( 11 ) and 14 wounded . Then he and his men retired into the swamp . Taylor chose to charge across open water . After the battle Col . Zachary Taylor and the U . S . claimed victory and then fell back a considerable distance towards Tampa . The Battle of Lake Okeechobee was Florida ’ s most significant and bloody battle of the Second Seminole war and a major victory for the Seminoles . The battlefield was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in the 1960s , later became a National Historic Landmark , and is recognized by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as one of the top endangered historical sites in the U . S . Battle of Jupiter Inlet – On January 15 , 1838 , Lt . Levin M . Powell of the U . S . Navy was sent by General Jesup to explore the southwest fork of the Loxahatchee River . Powell ' s force of fifty - five sailors and twenty - five soldiers engaged Ar - pi - uck - i and his band at Jupiter Inlet . Powell lost five men killed and twenty - two wounded . Battle of Pine Island Ridge – During the Second Seminole War ( 1835 – 1842 ) in the Battle of Pine Island Ridge , March 22 , 1838 , Ar - pi - uck - i led an unknown number of Seminoles against 223 Tennessee Volunteer Militia and 38 U . S . regular troops led by Major William Lauderdale . The Battle of Pine Island Ridge , in which the soldiers were forced to attack the Pine Island Ridge hammock through waist deep water while being fired upon from the cover of the island , was a victory for the Seminoles . This battle was U . S . retaliation for the Cooley Massacre of January 6 , 1836 , in which approximately twenty Seminoles attacked the home of William Cooley in the trading settlement on the New River , which was eight miles distant from the Pine Island Ridge hammock , and the killing Mrs . Cooley , the Cooley children , and another New River resident Joseph Flinton , the children ' s tutor . The Seminoles then looted and burned the Cooley farm , but did not attack other New River residents . In 1841 , the year before the close of the Seminole War , Aripeka occupied the region near the mouth of the Kissimee River and the eastern border of Lake Okeechobee . Personal life . Arpiucki moved into the area of Big Cypress Swamp after the Third Seminole War of 1855 - 1858 . His band included an estimated 17 warriors and a large number of women and children . He was less effective as a war leader in the Third Seminole War because of advanced age and possible senility . Ar - pi - uck - i and his wife , Itee ( half Choctaw , half Irish , born ca . 1790 ) , had at least one daughter , Rebecca Jones . Rebecca was born in Tennessee , on January 1 , 1817 and died on January 21 , 1893 in Shelby County , Texas .