Austin Knaplund
Description of your research.
The Seminole Tribe of
Florida congealed relatively late in Native American history, growing out of a
massive migration of Indians from the southern United States, and a heavy
influx of runaway slaves. The
Seminoles fought in three extensive wars with the United States, spanning
nearly half a century and costing the United States millions of dollars. Yet the Seminole were never officially
conquered, and factions of the tribe remain in Florida today. What led the Seminole Indians to
success where other tribes had met with failure and resettlement? It would appear that the Seminoles
fought so aggressively and extensively because of the “last straw”
philosophy. Because the Seminoles
were comprised of almost entirely a) Native Americans who had previously fled
white aggression and settlement, and b) escaped slaves resisting recapture, the
Seminoles as a whole had already fought whites, and the Seminole Wars were a
last stand, as it were, to defend what had been lost by individual members of
the Seminoles, but not by the Seminoles as a whole.
Primary Sources
Adj, Gen. S. Cooper. “Letter Concerning the Outbreak of Hostilities in the Third
Seminole War, 1856.” January 20,
1856. http://www.floridamemory.com/FloridaHighlights/Seminole_War/Seminole_War_text.cfm
(accessed April 20, 2010).
[An example of the
desperation of the U.S. army to subdue the Seminole attacks. This letter illustrates that the army
as a whole was growing concerned with the determination of the natives.]
Condition of
the Florida Seminoles. House Committee on Investigation of
Indian Service. 64th Congress, 2nd sess. (March
12-14, 1917), LexisNexis Congressional Hearings Digital Collection: http://www.lexisnexis.com.ezproxy.lib.utexas.edu/congcomp/getdoc?HEARING-ID=HRG-1917-IIS-0001
(accessed April 20, 2010).
[A Congressional hearing regarding the condition of Seminoles
in Florida. This hearing took
place almost fifty years after the end of the Third Seminole War, and
illustrates the external hardships the Seminoles faced because of white
aggression.]
Potter, Woodburne. The War in Florida:
Being an Exposition of Its Causes, and an Accurate History of the Campaigns of
Generals Clinch, Gaines and Scott. By a Late Staff Officer. Baltimore: Lewis & Coleman,
1836. http://books.google.com/books?id=dV31uzw0-qAC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0
- v=onepage&q&f=false(accessed April 16, 2010).
[Although cited only once in my essay, this first-hand
account of the Second Seminole War illustrates the U.S. perspective throughout
the struggle with the Seminoles.
Potter also clearly illustrates the frustration the army was feeling.]
Secondary Sources
Today in History: August
9. Library of Congress: American
Memory. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/aug09.html(accessed
April 22, 2010).
[Facts pertaining to the
Treaty of Fort Jackson, illustrating the vast number of Creeks displaced due to
the enormous amount of land ceded.]
Mahon, John K. History of the Second Seminole War,
1835-1842. Gainesville: University
of Florida Press, 1985.
[A surprisingly detailed
origin of the Seminole Wars, this book also gives a detailed background of the
Seminole tribe, and the natives in Florida during Spanish occupation.]
Murray, Dru. “The Unconquered Seminoles.” Florida History: Native Peoples. http://www.abfla.com/1tocf/seminole/semhistory.html(accessed
April 19, 2010).
[A very brief historical
account of the wars, this page gives a perspective on the struggles through a
pro-Seminole lens.]
Saunt, Claudio, Hoxie,
Frederick, and Salisbury, Neal. A
New Order of Things : Property, Power, and the Transformation of the Creek
Indians, 1733-1816: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
[This essay shows the
connection between the Creek struggle during the Redstick Rebellion, and how
this affected the Seminoles. Also
shows how the two tribes share a background in hardship.]
Steele, W. S. “Last Command: The Dade Massacre.” Tequesta: The Journal of the Historical
Association of Southern Florida 46 (1986): 5-19.
[The Dade
Massacre was the second most costly conflict between the U.S. and Indians. This article has three first-hand
accounts of the event, through a U.S. soldiers’, a Seminole warrior, and a
black refugee’s eyes.]