Useppa Island is an island located near the northern end of Pine Island Sound in Lee County , Florida , United States. It has been known for luxury resorts since the late 19th century, and it is currently the home of the private Useppa Island Club. On May 21, 1996, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places , due to its archaeological significance.
156-434: In the early 1830s the island was variously called Caldez's Island, Toampe, and Joseffa. Records indicate that José Caldez, who had operated a fishing rancho on the island, called it Josepha's when he sold it in 1833. The name Useppa first appeared on a hydrological chart of the area in 1855. Like the nearby islands of Gasparilla , Sanibel , and Captiva , a folk etymology has developed connecting Useppa Island's name to
312-533: A flexed position . Steatite stone vessels and fiber- tempered pottery came into use on the island after 2000 BCE. Sand-tempered pottery appeared after 1200 BCE. Seasonal occupation of the island continued through the end of the Archaic period (c. 500 BCE) and into the Caloosahatchee culture period, until about 1200. While the island may have been used occasionally as a fishing camp after that date, there
468-600: 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
624-575: A Cuban is reputed to have operated in southern Pinellas County from 1843 until 1848, when it was destroyed in the 1848 Tampa Bay hurricane . Antonio Máximo Hernández is reported to have supplied fish to Havana, to have worked as a fishing and turtle egg guide for soldiers at Fort Brooke, and to have aided the US Army during the Second Seminole War. It is also reported that he received a land grant in 1842. Spanish Indians disappeared from
780-590: 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
936-406: 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
1092-468: 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 had begun assembling men and supplies for
1248-816: A cargo at Useppa that Whitehead had cleared in Key West. Crews contended that the cargo in question included liquor meant for the Indians. Crews was killed by Seminoles in April 1836, four months after the Dade battle marked the beginning of the Second Seminole War , and just before his replacement arrived in Charlotte Harbor. In 1833, John Winslett, a white attorney working for the Muscogee nation,
1404-479: A church in Regla include 20 children born to Spanish fathers and their Indian wives, 5 born to Indian women with no recorded father, and 3 with Indian parents. An 1838 petition by Spanish fishermen and sailors claimed that Indian and part-Indian wives and children had been "unjustly" removed from the ranchos, that they were an entirely separate group that had intermarried with Spaniards for decades, and were not part of
1560-478: A few hundred native peoples remained in Florida. Although no peace treaty was ever signed, the war was declared over on August 14, 1842 by Colonel William Jenkins Worth . Bands from various tribes in the southeastern United States had moved into the unoccupied lands in Florida in the 18th century. These included Alabamas , Choctaw , Yamasees , Yuchis and Muscogees (then called "Creeks"). The Muscogees were
1716-431: 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. General Scott, however, 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
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#17327833472761872-535: 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
2028-533: 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
2184-530: A member of the Corps of Colonial Marines and was present at, and taken into custody, at the Battle of Negro Fort In custody only a short time, he was a Black Seminole leader, and interpreter for the Seminoles, who played a critical role during the Second Seminole War. 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
2340-407: A narrow window. The escapees included Coacoochee and John Horse , a Black Seminole leader. "Undoubtedly the general violated the rules of civilized warfare...[and] he was still writing justifications of it twenty-one years later" for an act that "hardly seems worthwhile to try to grace the capture with any other label than treachery ." A delegation of Cherokee was sent to Florida to try to talk
2496-474: A party of 25 Seminoles led by Wyhokee raided the Useppa Island fishing rancho. Approximately 200 residents of fishing ranchos in the Charlotte Harbor area then fled to William Bunce's rancho on Tampa Bay. Later that year, the "old" ranchos in the vicinity of Sanibel Island were reported to be deserted and mostly destroyed. Other Spanish Indians still remained on the mainland. An 1837 Army excursion from
2652-484: A resort. Gar Beckstead bought the island in 1976 and his company, Useppa Inn and Dock Company, has operated it as a private resort since then. Hurricane Charley heavily damaged the island in 2004. The rebuilt Collier Inn was re-opened one year later. The Useppa Island Historical Society operates the Barbara Sumwalt Museum on the island. While some archaeologists passed by or visited Useppa Island in
2808-417: 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. In 1836, the U.S. Army had just four Major Generals. Alexander Macomb, Jr.
2964-431: A treaty with the chiefs' signatures. 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
3120-464: 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
3276-503: A young warrior beginning to be noticed by the European Americans, 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
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#17327833472763432-434: Is 1 mile (1.6 kilometres) long north to south, and up to 1 ⁄ 2 mile (0.80 kilometres) wide. A ridge, up to 18 feet (5.5 metres) high, runs along much of the eastern edge of the island. A ridge up to 40 feet (12 m) high is in the middle of the island along the western side. A 9-metre-tall (30-foot) conical shell midden with ramps is located on the west side of the island towards the southern end. The southern end of
3588-455: Is believed to be stabilized sand dunes formed during a high sea level episode prior to the last glacial episode. During the period from 4500 BCE to 3000 BCE barrier islands formed to the west of Useppa Island, creating Pine Island Sound and protecting Useppa Island from the open Gulf of Mexico . Before Useppa Island separated from the mainland, the area was visited by Paleo-Indians , who were present in Florida by at least 8,000 BCE. Soon after
3744-538: 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
3900-599: Is no known sustained occupation of the island until after 1700. Shortly after 1700, the Calusa people (the people of the Caloosahatchee culture region during the historic period) were killed, carried away to slavery, or driven out of the area by Creek and Yamasee people (who later coalesced into the Seminole . Later in the 18th century and as late as 1835 Muspa Indians, possibly descendants of people who lived in
4056-758: The Adams-Onís Treaty gave equal protection to Spanish and American vessels for 12 years. Americans in Florida were anxious that the Spanish and Indians in southwest Florida be removed in order that clear title to the land would be available for settlers. In 1832, the Legislative Council of the Territory of Florida passed a law requiring licensing of all fishing vessels in Florida, with licensing fees and bonds for foreign vessels set so high that William Whitehead felt they were intended to drive
4212-844: The American Revolutionary War against Britain. By the last quarter of the 18th century, the Muscogee-speaking towns in northern Florida and down the west coast of Florida, which were affiliated with the Lower Towns of the Muscogee Confederacy, and the Hitchiti-speaking towns of the interior of Florida, commonly called "Seminole", were diverging. Traffic between the west coast of Florida and Cuba grew until hundreds of Indians were visiting Cuba every year, transported in fishing boats from
4368-410: The Battle of Jupiter Inlet , led eighty men towards a Seminole camp only to find themselves outnumbered by the 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
4524-695: The Caloosahatchee River to Cape Sable captured 243 prisoners. In 1837, a US Navy party burned part of William Bunce's rancho on the Manatee River. Bunce then moved most of his operations to Passage Key , at the entrance to Tampa Bay. However, the Army seized all persons with any Indian ancestry that they found at the ranchos. General Thomas Jesup , Army commander in Florida, stated that if he let any Spanish Indians stay in Florida, other Seminoles would refuse to go to Indian Territory. In 1838,
4680-612: The Florida Keys between 1704 and 1711. By the 1740s, Cuban fishermen were employing guides and fishermen from the remaining Indigenous people then living in the Florida Keys. Continued raiding by Muscogees and their allies pushed the last Calusas out of Florida to Cuba. The Cuban fishing fleet consisted of ten or twelve sailing vessels originally based in Regla , across Havana Bay from downtown Havana. The fishing season along
4836-711: The Florida War , was a conflict from 1835 to 1842 in Florida between the United States and groups of people collectively known as Seminoles , consisting of Creek and Black Seminoles as well as other allied tribes (see below). It was part of a series of conflicts called the Seminole Wars . The Second Seminole War, often referred to as the Seminole War, is regarded as "the longest and most costly of
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4992-614: The Indian conflicts of the United States". After the Treaty of Payne's Landing in 1832 that called for the Seminoles' removal from Florida, tensions rose until fierce hostilities occurred in Dade's massacre in 1835. This engagement officially started the war although there were a series of incidents leading up to the Dade battle. The Seminoles and the U.S. forces engaged in mostly small engagements for more than six years. By 1842, only
5148-503: The Second Seminole War at the end of 1835 brought trouble to southwest Florida. Rumors spread that Seminoles were planning to attack establishments around Tampa Bay. The Navy and the Louisiana Volunteer Regiment were ordered to search for Seminoles south of Tampa Bay, without success. Spaniards from the fishing ranchos served as guides for the expedition. In April, Henry Crews was murdered at Charlotte Harbor, and
5304-704: The Territory of East Florida , reported to the US secretary of state that the Spaniards were suspected of maintaining close ties to the Seminoles. In 1825, Seminole Indians at Charlotte Harbor were reported to be either leaving for or returning from Havana, and trading with the Cubans. In the early 1830s there were four known fishing ranchos in southwest Florida, likely at Bokeelia at the northern end of Pine Island , Caldez Island (now Useppa Island ), Punta Rassa , and at
5460-601: The Uchise people), traveled by fishing boat to Havana as early as 1766. In 1769 the British withdrew from the old Spanish fort at St. Marks , which was then seized by Tunape, chief of the Tallahassa Taloofa, a Muscogee -speaking town of the Muscogee Confederacy located at San Luis Talimali (in today's Tallahassee ). Tunape proposed an arrangement with the Spanish, in which his tribe would hold St. Marks and all of
5616-644: The War of 1812 and the Creek War leading to the First Seminole War . The United States acquired Florida from Spain through the Adams–Onís Treaty in 1819 and took possession of the territory in 1821. Now that Florida belonged to the United States, settlers pressured the government to remove the Seminole and their allies altogether. In 1823 the government negotiated the Treaty of Moultrie Creek with
5772-707: The rancho operated by William Bunce on Passage Island in Tampa Bay . In late 1836 the ranchos around Charlotte Harbor, including the Caldez rancho on Useppa, were reported to be abandoned and "largely destroyed." Rancho Indians, including those who were married to Cubans or were half-Cuban, were gathered up by the Army and sent west to Indian Territory . The area around Charlotte Harbor and Pine Island, including Josefa Island, remained sparsely inhabited for several decades. The U.S. Army established Fort Casey on, renamed, Useppa Island early in 1850, but abandoned it before
5928-498: The 19th century, the first scientific excavation on the island was by John Griffin and Hale Smith, who collected ceramics from a disturbed midden in 1947. Jerald Milanich and Jefferson Chapman conducted more extensive excavations on Collier Mound and adjacent middens in 1979 and 1980, using a backhoe to dig trenches in mound and middens. William Marquardt and Michael Hansinger conducted an excavation on Collier Ridge in 1985. Marquardt and Corbett Torrence excavated several locations on
6084-832: The Alachua Muscogees 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 Calusas , and "rancho Indians", persons of Native American ancestry, possibly both Calusa and Muscogee, and mixed Native American/Spanish ancestry, living at Spanish/Cuban fishing ranchos on
6240-537: The American Revolution. Spanish records show Caldez as the captain of vessels carrying Indians to Cuba starting in 1805. Some of the heads of fishing ranchos applied for land grants in 1828 based on their occupation of their ranchos since before the transfer of Florida to the US. Spanish fishing along the Florida coast continued through the British period in Florida, from 1763 until 1783. The British government
6396-404: 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
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6552-477: 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
6708-574: 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
6864-423: 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
7020-590: The Calusa town of Muspa (on or near Marco Island ) were reported to be living in the Charlotte Harbor and Pine Island area. Around 1784, Jose Caldez of Cuba began using Useppa Island as the base for his seasonal fishing operations. Caldez employed both Cubans and local Native Americans at this fishing rancho . By 1833 the rancho consisted of close to 20 palmetto-thatched houses and about 60 people. The Second Seminole War began in late 1835. Henry Crews,
7176-501: 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 militia 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
7332-506: 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
7488-459: 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 south along the river. 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
7644-462: The Everglades". By 1835, American officials had become concerned about the number of Indians living at or near the fishing ranchos instead of on the reservation that was established by the Treaty of Moultrie Creek . The military put pressure on William Bunce, who had a fishing rancho on Tampa Bay, to send away the Indians at his rancho. Augustus Steele wrote to Wiley Thompson in 1835 concerning
7800-628: The Florida coast between St. Augustine and Pensacola against the British in exchange for trade with Cuba, including guns and powder. Tunape also told the Spanish that another faction of the Muscogee Confederacy in Florida, the Cimarrones (the Alachua Seminoles , who were primarily Hitchiti -speaking), were allied with the British. The Spanish began supplying arms to the Muscogee Tallahassee in 1779, after Spain entered
7956-447: The Florida coast was late fall and winter, October or November until February or March. The primary fishing area was the "Coast of Tampa", including the "Port of Tampa" ( Tampa Bay ) and the "Port of Sanibel" ( Charlotte Harbor ). Fishing also occurred in the Florida Keys and along the lower Atlantic coast of Florida. Mullet , drum , sea bass , pompano , sea trout , and other fish were preserved by drying or salting . Shark liver oil
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#17327833472768112-431: The Florida coast. For a brief period after the start of the war, these rancho Indians, particularly those residing along Tampa Bay, were offered protection. However, they were also eventually forced onto reservations. 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
8268-622: The Indian Territory from Florida. Seven Spaniards were allowed to stay in New Orleans when they promised not to return to Florida. A newspaper in Arkansas reported that one group of captives being taken to the Indian Territory included 150 Spanish Indians and Spaniards who had married Seminoles. Bunce was accused of trafficking with the Seminoles in 1840, and the Army destroyed his rancho. Thomas Lawson , then Surgeon General of
8424-522: The Indian agent at Fort King , wrote to Florida governor William Pope Duval at the beginning of 1834 about a settlement of "negroes, Indians, and Spaniards" southeast of Charlotte Harbor, "a lawless, motley crew". Thompson wrote again in 1835 of unauthorized settlements of Blacks, Indians, and Spaniards in peninsular Florida, and stated that the Indians were descended from Seminoles. He also stated that there were "roving bands of Seminole Indians on and about
8580-524: The Indian- Negros ." General Taylor would not, being a slave holder himself, deny "the Seminoles of their Negros", and "in practice", handed his captives over to Lt. J. G. Reynolds, U.S. Marine Corps , "in charge of immigration." Spain had given freedom to slaves who escaped to Florida under their rule, although the U.S. did not recognize it. Over the years, those who became known as Black or Negro Seminoles established communities separate from
8736-441: The Indians through the fishing ranchos. He also reported that runaway slaves were being taken to Cuba by the Spanish fishermen. Acting Florida governor George Walton, Jr. regarded Humphrey's claims as exaggerated. Colonel Brooke proposed sending Army patrols to stop the traffic in alcohol, but there is no record of any action taken. Rumors that smuggling was common around Tampa Bay and Charlotte Harbor reached customs officials by
8892-464: 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
9048-548: 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
9204-485: The Seminole nation. John Worth has stated that the Spanish Indians of the ranchos were neither Seminole nor Calusas, but a creole community that emerged in the 18th and early 19th centuries, consisting of Spanish Cuban fishermen and people predominantly descended from Muskogean-speaking people who were present in southwest Florida decades before the Seminoles. There is also some evidence of an African presence at
9360-610: The Seminole out of northern Florida, so that settlers could return to their homes. The Seminoles 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 Seminoles concentrated on growing their crops and gathering supplies for fall and winter. Taylor's plan
9516-455: The Seminole villages, and the two peoples had close alliances although they maintained separate cultures. "Negroes among the Seminoles constituted a threat to the institution of slavery north of the Spanish border. Slave holders in Mississippi and other border areas were aware of this and "constantly accused the Indians of stealing their Negroes. However, this "accusation" was often reversed; whites were raiding Florida and forcibly stealing
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#17327833472769672-514: The Seminoles for 48 days. On July 23, 1836, Seminoles attacked the Cape Florida lighthouse , severely wounding the assistant keeper in charge, 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
9828-399: 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 United States Revenue Cutter Service (AKA: Revenue Marine) personnel patrolling
9984-611: 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. 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
10140-597: 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
10296-420: The Seminoles, establishing a reservation for them in the middle of the territory. Six chiefs, however, were allowed to keep their villages along the Apalachicola River (see Neamathla ). The Seminoles gave up their lands in the panhandle and slowly settled into the reservation, although they occasionally had clashes with European Americans. Colonel (later General) Duncan Lamont Clinch was placed in charge of
10452-407: 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
10608-412: The Seminoles. Sailors and Marines helped man Army forts that were short of manpower. Sailors, Marines, and the Cuttermen of the Revenue Marine 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. The total population of the Seminoles in 1836
10764-538: The Spanish Indian wives and children at Bunce's rancho, and even some of the Spaniards, were force to emigrate to Indian Territory with the Seminoles. That year, 21 men who had been rounded up from Charlotte Harbor ranchos to be shipped to Indian Territory petitioned to be released on the grounds that they were Spanish, not Indians. Two of the men complained that their wives had been claimed by Holata Emathla as part of his band being sent to Indian Territory. In 1838, 80 Spaniards were reported to be among captives being sent to
10920-438: The Spanish Indians had been born at the rancho, spoke Spanish, and "had never been in the country ten miles in their lives". He said that they worked for the Cuban fishermen from August until March, cultivated small plots and fished in the off-season, but did not hunt. He also said that many of the Spaniards working for him had Indian wives, and several had children and grand-children. Baptismal records from between 1807 and 1827 at
11076-464: The Spanish Indians may have been descended from Calusas, historians have now concluded that, at least in the 19th century, most of those people were descendants of Muscogean people, who elsewhere in Florida became known as Seminoles. The rancho fishermen hired Spanish Indians to help catch and cure fish for the Havana market. In 1831, by one account, four ranchos in the vicinity of Charlotte Harbor had as many as 300 residents total. Another account gave
11232-404: The Spanish fishermen out of Florida. George Willis, already customs collector for Charlotte Harbor, was appointed as protector of the Charlotte Harbor fisheries. Willis, unhappy with the low pay for a hardship position, resigned, and Henry Crews was appointed as customs collector for Charlotte Harbor in 1833. Whitehead sought to dismiss Crews in 1835 after Crews refused to allow Jose Caldez to unload
11388-410: The Spanish government", and "incapable of supporting themselves by ordinary Indian means". Thompson replied to Steele, stating that the Spanish Indians were bound by communication and family relationships to the Seminoles, and had to join the Seminoles on the reservation. However, it was agreed that the Indians working for Bunce could remain at his rancho. An 1837 report stated that Indians living on
11544-406: The Spanish, believing that the Spanish were supplying the Native Americans with firearms and powder. Americans also suspected the fishing ranchos of harboring slaves that had escaped from American owners. The 1823 Treaty of Moultrie Creek required all Native Americans in peninsular Florida to move onto a reservation that had boundaries well inland from the coasts. The Native Americans associated with
11700-529: 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
11856-427: The U.S. Customs officer on Josefa Island (Useppa), was killed in late March 1836, possibly by Seminoles or by Indians working at the rancho . Crews had been at odds with the Spaniards at the fishing rancho , believing that they were using fishing as a cover for large scale smuggling. After the death of Crews, the "Americans" living around Charlotte Harbor, which probably included Spaniards and rancho Indians, fled to
12012-478: The United States Army , led an expedition along the southwest coast of Florida in 1838, looking for Indian settlements. He found cleared fields and abandoned village sites, but no Indians. He reported that, aside from islands along the coast, the inland country was uninhabitable. He reached Cape Sable, where he established Fort Poinsett. The remaining Spanish Indians in Florida, under Chakaika , entered
12168-635: The age of 28, left any account of the battle from the Army's perspective. Entitled "The Surprising Adventures of Ransom Clark, Among the Indians in Florida" , it was published in 1839 by J. Orlando Orton and "printed by Johnson and Marble in Binghamton, New York ." Joseph Sprague suffered a " shattered arm ", served in the army until March 1843, and lived out his days near White Springs, Florida , until possibly 1848. No written material from Sprague's personal military experience 's has ever surfaced. The Seminoles lost three men killed, with five wounded. On
12324-723: 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
12480-412: 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
12636-558: The boundaries of West Florida. They accused the Spanish authorities of harboring fugitive slaves (see the Negro Fort ) and of failing to restrain the Native Americans living in Florida from raiding the United States. Starting in 1810, the United States occupied and annexed parts of West Florida . Also, the Patriot War of 1812 was part of these ongoing conflicts. In 1818, Andrew Jackson led an invasion of Spanish Florida , during
12792-510: 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 ,
12948-489: The coast and inland rivers and streams. In all the Revenue Marine committed 8 Cutters to operations in Florida during the war. The U.S. 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
13104-463: The coast as bases during the fishing season. The Native American workers lived year-round at the ranchos, or moved to the nearby mainland during the off-season to hunt and raise crops. Many of the Spanish fishermen eventually started living at their ranchos year-round. They married or formed relationships with Native American women, and their children grew up at the ranchos, so that many of the workers were of mixed ancestry, Spanish and Native American. All
13260-463: The coast south of Charlotte Harbor had never gone to the reservation agency, but traded produce, skins, and small live animals at the Spanish ranchos for guns, ammunition, and clothing. They may have also sometimes worked at the ranchos. They had not been represented at the Moultrie Creek and Payne's Landing treaty conferences with the US, and had never agreed to leave Florida. The start of
13416-506: 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 ( Palatka, Florida ), also known as Abraham's Town. Abraham had been
13572-533: 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
13728-571: 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
13884-443: The end of the 1820s. One report claimed that the Spanish fishermen were engaged in smuggling much more than in fishing. Jesse Willis, customs collector at St. Marks, visited the area in 1830 and found between 400 and 600 Spaniards and Indians living at the ranchos. Although told that all cargos from Cuba to the ranchos were passing through customs control at Key West, Willis believed that the fishermen had paid duties on less than half of
14040-517: The end of the year. Union troops and refugee Union sympathizers occupied the island in December 1863, and mounted a small raid into Charlotte Harbor and up the Myakka River , which resulted in some skirmishes with Confederate troops and irregulars. The troops on Useppa Island moved to Fort Myers after it was established in January, 1864. The Census of 1870 found two residents on the island. It
14196-585: 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 Edmund P. Gaines put together a force of 1,100 regulars and volunteers in New Orleans and sailed with them to Fort Brooke. A lack of arms was also an issue, with only two arsenals located in Florida, one at Fort Brooke and
14352-544: The fighting. Memorials are also located in Jonathan Dickinson State Park . Jesup 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
14508-445: 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
14664-408: The fishing ranchos, and others who lived in southwest Florida, called Muspas or Spanish Indians , did not move to the reservation. During the Second Seminole War (1835–1842), the United States Army rounded up all of the residents of fishing ranchos, and sent almost all of them west with the Seminoles, including people who claimed to be Spanish. Spanish fishing vessels from Cuba began fishing along
14820-482: The fishing season and left during the off-season. William Whitehead , customs inspector in Key West, wrote in 1831 that the women at the fishing ranchos were all Indians, and that the color of their children's skins indicated that many were fathered by the Spaniards. William Bunce, who owned a fishing rancho in Tampa Bay, stated in 1838 that he had 10 Spaniards and 20 Spanish Indians working for him, and that most of
14976-466: The historical record after 1840. Some Seminole families in Oklahoma claimed Spanish ancestry in 1932, but it is unclear whether they derived from Chakaika's band or from rancho Indians. Fishing stations on the southwest coast of Florida were still called "ranches" or "ranchos" in the mid-20th century. Second Seminole War Second Seminole War The Second Seminole War , also known as
15132-661: The island in 1989. Marquardt excavated a burial on a lot scheduled for construction in 1994. Volunteers associated with the Rendell Research Society, the University of California Los Angeles, and the Useppa Island Historical Society excavated a shell axe workshop on the island in 2006. Fishing ranchos Fishing ranchos were fishing stations located along the coast of Southwest Florida used by Spanish Cuban fishermen in
15288-428: The island may have grown by as much as 500 metres (1,600 feet) during the 20th century, possibly when a golf course was developed there. The island was part of the Florida mainland during the last glacial period , when the sea level around Florida was 100 metres (330 feet) or more lower than today. Useppa Island is high ground that became separated from the mainland by a rising sea level around 4500 BCE . This high ground
15444-617: The largest group, and included people from the Lower Towns and Upper Towns of the Muscogee Confederacy , 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 (see Ahaya ). The Spanish in St. Augustine began calling
15600-460: The late 18th and early 19th centuries. The Spanish fished the waters along the coast of Florida in the late fall and winter of each year, salting the fish, and then carrying the cured fish to Havana by the beginning of Lent . The Spanish fishermen hired Native Americans who lived along the coast as guides and to help with catching and curing the fish, and with sailing to Havana. The Spanish established fishing stations, called "ranchos", on islands along
15756-617: The legal status of the Indians attached to fishing ranchos. Steele declared that while the Indians and mixed race persons at the ranchos were descended from Seminoles, they did not claim affiliation with the Seminoles, and were not claimed by the Seminoles because the Seminoles did not want to share the annuities paid to them by the American government. He also stated that the Indians at the ranchos spoke Spanish, and that some had been baptised in Havana, and described them as "Spanish fishermen under
15912-603: The legendary pirate captain José Gaspar , also known as Gasparilla. A local folk story, extant in at least two versions, tells of Gaspar kidnapping a Spanish princess, with whom he becomes enamored. When she spurns his advances he kills her, but is overtaken by remorse and buries her himself on the beach. One version identifies the princess as Josefa, daughter of Martín de Mayorga , Viceroy of New Spain from 1779 to 1782, and indicates that her burial place of Useppa Island still bears her name in an altered form. Useppa Island
16068-463: 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
16224-464: 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
16380-468: The mouth of the Caloosahatchee River . William Bunce, originally from Maryland, began operating a fifth fishing rancho at the mouth of the Manatee River on Tampa Bay sometime in the early 1830s. Colonel George Mercer Brooke was ordered to stop illegal logging in the Tampa Bay and Charlotte Harbor areas in 1822. He established Fort Brooke , but was unable to stop the logging. After Fort Brooke
16536-489: 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 Seminoles. Taylor reported in the Spring of 1839 that his men had constructed 53 new posts and cut 848 miles (1,365 km) of wagon roads. In Washington and around the country in 1839, support for the war was eroding. The size of the Army had been increased because of
16692-476: The other at Fort Marion, with a third under construction in what is now Chattahoochee . 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
16848-417: 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
17004-406: The poorly guarded holding camp at Fort Brooke and led away the 700 Seminoles there who had surrendered. 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
17160-412: The population of ranchos between Tampa Bay and Charlotte Harbor in that year as 65 Spanish men, 65 Indian men, 30 Indian women, and 50 to 100 children. Many Spanish Indians were reported to be working at Spanish fishing stations from Jupiter Inlet south on the east coast and from Tampa Bay south on the west coast, and some had intermarried with Spaniards. Other Seminoles also worked at the ranchos during
17316-486: 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
17472-454: The ranchos. Spanish records include lists of names of Florida Indians that visited Cuba for most years between 1771 and 1823. The names can often be identified as Muscogee in origin. Various peoples living in southwest Florida in the early 19th century were called Spanish Indians or Muspas. They lived in palmetto-thatched huts, raised food in mainland farms, traded with Havana, and were in communication with other Seminole bands. While some of
17628-455: The ranchos. There are records of baptisms of two children of enlaved Africans owned by Caldez, and the baptism and manumission of the son of a free part-black and a part-black slave of Caldez, the latter described as a native of Useppa Island. The United States took possession of Florida from Spain in 1821. Americans suspected the fishing ranchos in Florida of harboring escaped slaves. A large Maroon settlement on Tampa Bay known as " Angola "
17784-400: The red men's slaves. 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,
17940-413: The residents of the ranchos spoke Spanish. One author has suggested that a Spanish-Native American creole society was forming in the ranchos by the second quarter of the 19th century. The fishermen also carried Native Americans from Florida to Havana and back on a regular basis. The United States acquired Florida from Spain in 1821. Americans were suspicious of Seminole and Spanish Indian connections with
18096-463: The resort was closed during World War II . Hurricanes in 1944 and 1946 damaged the hotel, and it was torn down. The island opened again as a resort in 1946, continuing until 1960. In 1960, Useppa briefly served as a CIA training base for Cuban exiles in preparation for the Bay of Pigs Invasion . Useppa Island changed hands four times in the 1960s and 1970s, with two short-lived attempts to operate it as
18252-416: 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, who was part Creek and possibly 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
18408-464: The salt as they had earned carrying the salt from the salt pans to Havana. By late in the 18th century, year-round fishing stations, known as ranchos , were established along the Florida coast between Tampa Bay and Estero Bay , and much of the fishing community eventually resided there year-round. José María Caldez claimed in 1833 that he had lived at his rancho on Useppa Island for 45 years. Caldez also claimed to have visited Useppa Island since before
18564-424: 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
18720-463: 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), and General Gaines was stuck by a bullet. Unable to ford the river, and not having enough ration to return to Fort King, Gaines and his men constructed
18876-514: The sea level had risen enough to separate the island from the mainland, around 4500 BCE, Indians of the Archaic period began living on the island for part of the year, primarily during the spring and summer. Oyster shells were deposited in middens from this time. Tools made from seashells during the period from 4500 BCE to 3000 BCE show a cultural affinity with Horr's Island to the south. After about 3000 BCE bodies were buried on Useppa Island in
19032-522: The soldiers, and killed all but three of the command, which became known as the Dade Massacre . Only three white men survived the battle. Pvt Edwin DeCourcey was hunted down and killed by a Seminole the next day. The other two survivors, Pvt Ransom Clarke and Pvt Joseph Sprague, returned to Fort Brooke. Only Clarke, who ultimately succumbed to his wounds 5 years later, dying on November 18, 1840 at
19188-450: 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. The regular American army
19344-496: The southwest coast of Florida by the 1680s with permission from the dominant people of that region, the Calusa. After the destruction of the Spanish mission system in northern Florida at the beginning of the 18th century, Yamassees and Muscogees raided far into the Florida peninsula, killing many of the Florida natives, and capturing others for sale as slaves. Most of the surviving Calusas and other Indigenous people evacuated to
19500-539: The suggestion that they should be placed on the Creek reservation. Most European Americans 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 European Americans. "The major problem was not with them [Seminoles] but with
19656-581: 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, near present day Cape Coral , and the Seminoles who came to the trading post seemed to be friendly. A detachment of 23 soldiers was stationed at the Caloosahatchee trading post under the command of Colonel William S. Harney . On July 23, 1839, some 150 Indians, including Billy Bowlegs and two other leaders named Chakaika and Hospertarke, attacked
19812-552: The supplies reaching Florida, and recommended that a customs inspector be stationed at Charlotte Harbor. Deputy customs collectors were appointed in 1830; Augustus Steele for Tampa Bay, and George Willis for Charlotte Harbor. William Whitehead said that the Cuban fishermen paid import duties and tonnage fees at the port of entry in Key West and that some of them had considered becoming American citizens, but held back because they did not speak English. He also noted that article 15 of
19968-569: 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
20124-467: 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
20280-496: 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
20436-465: The trail to Fort King and killed him. 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
20592-641: The war against the United States in 1839. Chakaika had apparently been a member of a fishing rancho community. John Worth reports that Chakaika had been baptized as Antonio, and that his entry into the war was a response to the destruction of the Spanish rancho system by the US Army in 1836–1839. The United States Army found Chakaika's settlement in the Everglades in 1840, and Chakaika and several of his men were killed. Some surviving men from Chakaika's band may have joined other Seminole bands. Twenty-four surviving women and children from Chakaika's band had been sent to Indian Territory by 1841. A fishing rancho owned by
20748-403: 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
20904-399: 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
21060-417: 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. April 1836 did not go well for the Army. Seminoles attacked a number of forts, including Camp Cooper in
21216-416: 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. Jesup kept pressure on the Seminoles by sending small units into the field. Many of
21372-529: Was attacked in 1821 by 200 Muscogee warriors sent by Andrew Jackson and led by William McIntosh . The Muscogee captured several hundred escaped slaves and destroyed the settlement. The Muscogees then proceeded down the coast as far as Punta Rassa , searching for more escaped slaves. They did not find any at the fishing ranchos, but sacked them anyway. Indians in south Florida were also believed to be buying guns and powder from Spanish fishermen. William Grafton Delaney Worthington , secretary and acting governor of
21528-458: 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 European Americans assaulted some Indians sitting around a campfire. Two more Indians came up during the assault and opened fire on the European Americans. Three European Americans were wounded, and one Indian
21684-505: Was collected, and mullet and drum roe was smoked . Vessels would return to Cuba in time for the Lenten season, when fish was in particular demand. In the off-season, the fishing vessels would carry salt from the salt pans at Cay Sal and Punta de Hicacos to Havana. The Spanish government required the fishermen to buy all the salt they used for preserving fish from the government warehouse in Havana, where they paid four times as much for
21840-533: Was concerned that the Spanish fishing operations were a threat to British control of Florida. Governor James Grant was ordered to stop them, but he did not enforce the order. A review of the fishing operations in 1767–1768 concluded that these operations were not a threat to the British. Emisaries from the Lower Towns of the Muscogee Confederacy (which the Spanish called the Province of Coweta, or referred to
21996-604: 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 . 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
22152-519: Was established, the rancho fishermen sold Cuban cigars, fresh fruit, and an occasional sea turtle to the soldiers at the fort. Brooke requested that the US Navy patrol the coast where the fishing ranchos were located. American fishing boats from Connecticut were fishing in Florida waters and selling their catch in Cuba. The Americans sold fresh fish, while the ranchos sold salted and dried fish, so that there
22308-493: Was estimated at around 6,000 up to 10,000 people. 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, "succeeded in capturing the horses and baggage of the enemy, with twenty-five Indians and negroes , principally women and children." At the end of January some Seminole chiefs sent messengers to Jesup, and
22464-407: Was feared that they might be overrun by the Seminoles. There were three companies at Fort Brooke, with another two expected on the way, 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
22620-400: 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 the chiefs had toured the area for several months and had conferred with the Creeks who had already been settled there, on March 28, 1833, the federal government produced
22776-492: Was hailed as a great victory for Taylor and the Army. 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 Caloosahatchee 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, in
22932-400: Was in Florida tracking slaves who had escaped from Muscogee owners. He stated in an affidavit that he had been advised that it was unsafe to travel south of Tampa Bay in pursuit of runaway slaves because there were bands of "desperadoes, runaways, murderers, and thieves" between there and Charlotte Harbor, composed of Indians and Blacks, most of the latter being runaway slaves. Wiley Thompson ,
23088-406: 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
23244-438: Was no direct competition, but the American fishermen wanted Congress to tax foreign fishing boats. During the 1820s, there was growing concern about the Spanish fishermen smuggling and engaging in commerce with Indians. In 1824, Gad Humphreys , the Indian agent for southwest Florida, reported that many Indians were travelling to Cuba, where they were welcomed and provided gifts, and that alcoholic beverages were being supplied to
23400-419: Was reported to be uninhabited in 1885, and to have one family in residence in 1895. Chicago businessman John Roach built a hotel on Useppa Island in 1896. Barron Collier bought the island in 1911, and developed the resort, enlarging the hotel and adding tennis courts and a 9-hole golf course. Collier made the island his official residence, from which he directed his real estate empire. Collier died in 1939, and
23556-442: 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 by 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
23712-417: 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
23868-618: 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
24024-533: 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
24180-415: 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
24336-459: Was very small at the time, with fewer than 7,500 men manning a total of 53 posts. It was spread thin, with the Canada–U.S. 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
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