Seminole Warrior Versus US Soldier by Ron Field & Adam Hook

Author:Ron Field & Adam Hook
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Published: 2021-09-06T00:00:00+00:00

Jesup decided to nullify the powerful force of opposition that Osceola represented. On numerous occasions in the past, Seminole chiefs had approached forts under flag of truce to be “fed and gifted” in return for a vague promise of emigrating. They then withdrew to “contemplate removal” with no intention of complying with any agreement, only to return at a later date expecting the same treatment. On October 21, 1837, Osceola was camped about 9 miles from Fort Brooke under flag of truce for the same purpose; but when he refused an outright demand to be removed west, he was surrounded and taken into custody along with about 80 lesser chiefs and warriors. Imprisoned in Fort Moultrie, opposite Charleston, South Carolina with 120 other warriors, plus 82 women and children, he died on January 30, 1838, from complications resulting from the effects of malaria and tonsillitis, which caused an abscess resulting in quinsy. His capture, along with that of Ee-mat-lá, or King Phillip, and his son Coacoochee, or Wild Cat, at Dunlawton Plantation earlier in the year, was a great loss to Abiaka, who now became the leader of Seminole resistance and was determined “to fight it out to the last” (NNR, February 10, 1838: 369:3).

During November 1837 Jesup began his main campaign with four columns, each of which entered the southern end of the peninsula from a different route, driving the Seminoles into the center of the Everglades and isolating them from any chance of outside assistance. Through constant campaigning and pressure on the food supply, Jesup hoped to end the war by March or April 1838. One column commanded by Brigadier General Joseph M. Hernández marched down the east coast from Mosquito South Lagoon and along the Indian River. A second column under Jesup moved south from Fort Mellon on Lake Munroe toward Lake Tohopkaliga and the Big Cypress Swamp. A third column led by Colonel Zachary Taylor proceeded east from Tampa Bay to Fort Gardiner near Cypress Lake, in preparation to proceed south along the Kissimmee River toward Lake Okeechobee. The fourth column under Colonel Persimor F. Smith marched up the Caloosahatchee River from the west coast toward Lake Okeechobee. Altogether a total of about 9,000 troops, the largest force used during the Second Seminole War, closed in on Abiaka and the remaining Seminole warriors gathered near Lake Okeechobee.

Before resorting to battle, Jesup sent four Cherokee mediators to parley with Abiaka in an attempt to persuade him to surrender and immigrate peacefully. At this time, the Seminole leader was injured after a fall from a horse and one of the mediators suggested he was weakening in his resolve to fight; but then, on the night of 29/30 November, Coacoochee and several others escaped from imprisonment in Fort Marion at St. Augustine and joined Abiaka’s ranks, which lifted his spirits, and the mediators reported to Jesup that Coacoochee’s escape had wrecked the plans for peace (Franke 1977: 46).

As a result, Jesup determined to do battle. On December 19, 1837,

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