After losing nearly one-third (23 million acres) of their territory in the Treaty of Ft. Jackson, a significant number of Creek relocated to Florida, where they joined with the Seminole Nation. This relocation was more of a reunion between two distant relatives. The Seminole were once a part of the vast Creek Nation, having originated in Georgia and Alabama before moving into Florida in the late 1700s. It was in the years following their exodus to the south that the Seminole developed into their own unique identity. However, they continued to maintain cultural similarities to their distant cousins throughout their development. By the 1800s, the Seminole had become a safe haven for runaway slaves. As they were located in Spanish controlled Florida, the Seminole were free to offer these fugitives sanctuary. This, as well as isolated border skirmishes with the U.S. and their smooth relationship with the British (with whose agents they traded freely), gave American leaders pause. When joined by their Creek relatives, the Seminole became a threat on the borderlands of the United States.
In 1816, an American military detachment destroyed a Spanish fort while pursuing several runaway slaves. This prompted a terse response from the Spanish government and nearly precipitated a war between the U.S. and Spain. Diplomacy prevailed and both sides entered into a series of negotiations to determine the fate of Florida. Tensions with the Seminole returned to their pre-invasion status, but this would not last long. In 1817, another American detachment drove into Seminole territory with the objective of putting an end to the threat of an Indian uprising. The justification of President James Monroe and the War Department in sending the army was that the Seminole represented a threat to the security of the southern states. In reality, even with their Creek allies, the Seminole represented no such threat. Given what had already occurred during the previous Red Stick Rebellion, however, the American government was not willing to risk being taken off guard. Naturally, they sent Andrew “Sharp Knife” Jackson to quell any potential uprising.
Jackson set out in March of 1818 with 800 regulars, 900 Georgia militiamen, and a force of White Sticks of the Creek Nation. Seminole scouts had learned of the American invasion and warned their compatriots in the surrounding villages. When Jackson’s army approached a Seminole village near St. Marks, they found it abandoned. Marching onward, the American force discovered that the Seminole had withdrawn deep into their own domain, drawing the Americans into unfamiliar territory. Though Secretary of War John C. Calhoun ordered Jackson not to risk provoking a war with Spain, Jackson felt it necessary to augment his orders and strike deep into Spanish Florida to extricate his opponent. This did nothing assist Secretary of the State John Quincy Adams in his efforts to negotiate the purchase of Florida from the Spanish government. Nonetheless, the general was firm in his resolve. In his march through Florida, Jackson did not encounter a single Seminole war party. He did, however, capture two aged chiefs, two British officers who had lived among the Seminole, and Scottish trader—Jackson subsequently had the two chiefs and the British officers executed for collaboration. Sharp Knife pressed on and with his next move revealed his hidden agenda—the conquest of Florida for the United States. After capturing the Spanish fort at Pensacola, Jackson declared western Florida a possession of the United States. The governments of Spain and Great Britain registered official protests with the United States, but Monroe backed the general’s actions and Adams subsequently demanded that the Spanish reign in the Seminole. A new war had begun in the south.
Mark C Carnes, Ed, U.S. History. (New York: MacMillan Library Reference, 1996).
Nelson Klose and Robert F. Jones, United States History: To 1877. (Hauppauge: Barron’s Educational Services, Inc., 1994).
Gilbert Legay, Atlas of Indians. (Hauppage: Barron’s Educational Services, Inc., 1995)
James M. McPherson, Ed., “To the Best of My Ability”: The American Presidents. (London: Dorling-Kidersley, 2000).
Carl Waldman, Atlas of the North American Indian. (New York: Checkmark Books, 2000).
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