Seminole Wars

The Seminole Wars, also known as the Florida Wars, were three wars or conflicts in Florida between the Seminole Native American tribe and the United States. The First Seminole War was from 1817 to 1818; the Second Seminole War from 1835 to 1842; and the Third Seminole War from 1855 to 1858. The second clash is often referred to as the Seminole War.

First Seminole War

The First Seminole War was started with the invasion of eastern Florida by U.S. Army forces under the command of General Andrew Jackson. White settlers had previously attacked the Seminole and the Seminole had retaliated. The presence of runaway slaves and maroons living among the Seminoles, a community known to historians today as the Black Seminoles, was another sore point. Some historians date the commencement of the war to an attack on the Black Seminoles at Apalachicola, at the so-called Negro Fort, which was razed in July 1816. More conventionally, the war is dated from the arrival of Jackson in December, 1817. Jackson's forces captured St. Mark's on April 7 and Pensacola on May 24, 1818. The largest battle of the war, an engagement on the Suwannee river, was primarily between U.S. and black warriors. Jackson's overall campaign scattered but did not destroy the Black Seminole maroon settlements of Florida, led to the confinement of the Seminole Indians within a constricted area of the interior, and secured American control of eastern Florida, still nominally claimed by Spain.

Related Topics:
U.S. Army - Andrew Jackson - Maroons - Black Seminoles - Apalachicola - Negro Fort - 1816 - 1817 - St. Mark's - April 7 - Pensacola - May 24 - 1818 - Suwannee - Black Seminole

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In 1818, James Monroe's Secretary of State John Quincy Adams defined the American position on this issue. Adams accused Spain of breaking the Pinckney treaty by failing to control the Seminoles, and refused to apologize for Jackson's actions.

Related Topics:
James Monroe - John Quincy Adams - Pinckney treaty

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