Everyone deals With adversity in their lives at one time or another. Overcoming adversity is a difficult task. but can be rewarding if overcome. Thus. is the case with the Seminole Indians. US armed forces tried to capture or kill the tribe for the purpose of trying to exterminate the Indians from their newly found homeland in Florida. Through numerous battles the tribe dwmdled to nearly 300 members, but still continued to fight. The 300-strong Indians endured and persisted through the battles and have set the stage for the 2,000 or so Seminole Indians that now live in Florida. The struggles the Seminoles went through led them to refer to themselves as the “Unconquered People.“ The conflicts and trials endured by the Seminole Indians are some of the most dramatic and spectacular stories in Florida’s history. The name Seminole actually comes from the Spanish word “cimarron,” meaning “wild men.”
The name was given to the Seminoles not because they were wild and rambunctious. but rather because they were runaways from the South Georgian Creek Tribe who fled to Florida. The purpose behind this move was the belief that in Florida they would be free from the dominance of the Creek Indians and have rich new fields to plant their crops. On their trip to Florida the population of the tribe grew as they accumulated numerous new members on the trek. BeSIdes Creeks the tribe now included Yuchis and Yamasses Indians and also runaway slaves who found refuge among the Indians. With the growth and maturation of the Indians they soon became part of the “Five Civilized Tribes.” “The name was coined because these tribes in particular adopted many ways of white civilization. They lived in cabins or houses, wore clothes similar to the white man, and often became Christians.” ( Murray)
For the majority of the 1700’s the Seminole Indians lived relatively peacefully and were prosperous, but around the turn of the century, the Seminoles started to encounter trouble. Since Florida was were relatively undeveloped more and more white settlers came to Florida in search of more land. The surge of settlers caused many conflicts between the Seminoles and settlers. “Settlers wanted the Indian’s land and their former slaves which had found refuge among the Indians back.” ( Harris ) This and many other conflicts finally, in 1817, led to the first of three Seminole wars. Andrew Jackson led American troops into the north Florida settlements of the Seminoles and burned the Villages and captured the Spanish towns of St. Marks and Pensacola. “ Unfonunately for the Seminoles Spain ceded Florida to the US in 1819 and gave Americans waiting to settle the lush state an opportunity,”( behere )
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With this onslaught of settlers and the military barrage from the US the Seminoles were pressured to move to a reservation in the state’s centers Even after the first Seminole war many white settlers were still UHSaIISerd, They believed the Indians were still occupying too much land and wanted them completely removed from Florida. Finally in 1830 settlers got what they had wanted in the Indian removal act. The act stated that all of the ” Five Civilized Tribes” east of the Mississippi were to be moved to either Arkansas or Oklahoma. “While the bill specified that the consent of the Indians must be obtained for the move, the reality of the situation was those tribes who did not go peacefully Will be forced away.” ( Murray) Of all the “Five Ciwlized Tribes” only one remained Willing to fight the US, the Seminoles. Their resistance to being removed is what brought about The Second Seminole War.
The war lasted over seven years with the US losing over fifteen hundred men and spending over twenty million dollars, but even worse was the Seminoles devastation. Their population had fallen dramatically to approximately five hundred members, The rest of the Seminoles were either killed or relocated to the Indian reservations out west. Most people would have given up at this point and accepted the move but the Seminoles still kept fighting. In 1855 the Seminoles engaged in their third war versus the US. This war was not quite as large or catastrophic as the second but still important to the Seminoles future. mrThe Seminoles lost almost half of their remaining five hundred members in this war leaVing them vrrtually no tribe in Florida at all. The Indians who remained found safety in the everglades. “The everglade Indian [the Seminole] must love this inaccessible, inhospitable Wilderness that awes neither wholly land nor water. He was alone there. No white man could follow him.” ( O‘Sullivan and Lane 200)
“For the next two decades little was seen of the Florida Seminole. At least not until trading posts were opened in the late nineteenth century at Fort Lauderdale, Chokoloskee and other places, that’s when some Seminoles began venturing out to trade.” (Harris) Life Virtually stayed the same for the Seminole Indians from then until the 1920’s and 1930’s when two separate acts, the Snyder act during World War I and the Wheelerr Howard Act or Indian Reorganization act, were passed making the Seminole Indians official citizens of the US and made life better for the Seminoles by encouraged revival of the Indians. These two acts marked Just the beginning of the turn around for the Seminoles. In the 1950‘s many of the state‘s tribes organized and began to draft their own charter. This came as a result of the federal legislative changes which now allowed the Indian reservations in the state of Florida to act as their own entities separate from the state government in which they were Living.
In addition to the Seminoles new charter the Seminoles saw that organizing a constitutional form of government would be a beneficial step for themselves. So on July 21, 1957 the Seminoles tribal members voted in favor of new Seminole constitution which in turn established the federally recognized Seminole Tribe of Florida. Finally, in 1857 the reorganization of the tribe took a major leap forward when the Indian Claims Commission awarded the Seminoles (of both Oklahoma and Florida. collectively) $12,347,500 for the land seized from them by the US military. Today over 2,000 Seminoles are living on 6 reservation in the state. In a quest to become more economically independent the Seminoles branched off into a number of different industries. “Tourism and bingo profits pay for the infrastructure and schools on their reservations while citrus groves and cattle have replaced early twentieth century trade in animal hides and crafts as the tribes primary revenue source.” (Seminoles of Florida History)
These industries have helped the Seminoles to begin to share more fully in the state‘s prosperity and to strive toward receiving the same level of services afforded to other citizens. “Self -reliance and successful adjustments to changing conditions are hallmarks of Florida’s Indians,” ( Milanich 186) Along with making money the Seminoles have also sought after some nonrprofit endeavors, The Seminoles tour schools to educate children of the rich Seminole Indian past while stressing the importance of the preservation of nature, especially the once homeland of the Seminoles, the everglades. Overall the Seminoles have gone through much adversity and are definitely deserving of the name “The Unconquered People.” Overcoming as many obstacles as the Seminoles is not something any person, or group for that matter, could do. As stated by Jerald Milanich , “the Seminoles‘ indomitable spirit, that of the Unconquered will carry them far.” they are a unique people to be admired and respected.
