Seminole Native Americans
by Camille Thrall
At the beginning of United States history, European settlers had to work with and eventually compete with the native people of the Americas for land. During colonial times, this particular tribe called the Seminole were on friendly terms with the Spanish and British settlers alike. After the American Revolutionary War, they were easily able to push farther and farther into Florida because of the decline of the Spanish Empire in the Americas Eventually, as the Americans gained Florida as territory, the Seminole were pushed into Indian territory, in modern day Oklahoma.
This tribe did not go down willingly or quietly, managing to fight the Seminole wars (1818-1858). The first Seminole war was over territory as General Andrew Jackson ventures into Florida and Fought the Native Americans in hope of more territory, believing the territory to rightfully belong to the Americans and not to the Seminole. To end this, the Seminole signed a treaty. The Seminole were first stuck on an Indian Reservation in the middle of Florida because of the Treaty of Moultrie Creek (1823). This was upheld by the Americans by patrolling and building more and more forts. Later the tribe was forced from their homeland by the Treaty of Payne's Landing (1832), after the second Seminole war, which was a result of the attempt to remove the Seminole from Florida completely. Eventually, most Seminoles and Black Seminoles were forced to move to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River (Oklahoma), even after the third attempt for freedom and recognition by the Seminoles in the third and final Seminole war.
Another instance of the Seminole impacting the History of the United States is the American Civil war. During the Civil War, most of the Oklahoma Seminole allied with the Confederacy, who did lose the war as we know, and after which they had to sign another new treaty with the U.S., this time giving them freedom and tribal membership for the Black Seminole. Today, people of the reservation are enrolled in the federally recognized Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, while others belong to unorganized groups.
Author’s note: The Seminole native Americans have always been interesting to me, not because I knew who they were or what they stood for, but because I am related to them. This one of the few things I know about my Father’s birth parents, that they were part Seminole Native American. I am not sure how much I am related to them or if it is even true (I should really get one of those ancestry.com tests done) but I have always been curious about them. This assignment has given me an excuse to research more about them and cure my curiosity, and I am thankful for that.
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