Native American Conflicts In Florida

Colleen-Marie Thompson
Source Analysis
HIS–340

Native American conflicts in Florida between the Seminoles, Timucua, and the colonists played a very important role in Florida’s history as well as the history of the United States. Early conflicts between these parties were associated with the “Indian problem” of faceable removal and relocation. For Florida, this led up to three of the bloodiest wars the country had ever seen; the Seminole Wars. These wars have since been labeled by some historians as “America’s longest Indian conflict.” They lasted from 1817 until 1858 and played a principal part in Florida’s transition from a Spanish colony to a United States territory under the governance of Andrew Jackson. Unfortunately, while white non-native
The Seminole Indians of Florida, written by Clay MacCauley, was a report on the Seminole Indians for the Smithsonian Institution’s Bureau of Ethnology that describes their way of life, customs, traditions, and the environment in which they lived. To be able to answer the question mentioned above, one needs to understand the ways of the natives who lived in the area and their reasons for participating in the conflicts that arose. The second piece is a book written by John and Mary Lou Missall titled, The Seminole Wars: America’s Longest Indian Conflict. John and Mary Lou Missall make use of diaries, military reports, maps, and archival newspapers to provide a well-rounded examination the events of the Seminole Wars as well as earlier instances of confrontation and events that took places afterwards. This book discusses each war in depth, natives coming to terms with the American colonists, disagreements and defiance, aftershock, and remnants of the wars and events that had led to war between these three parties; Seminole, Timucua, and colonist. The third piece is a historiography titled, “From Savages to Sovereigns: A General Historiography of American Indian History,” written by Jeffrey P. Shepherd, Ph.D. It looks at the field of Native American History
Another reason for removal, the Missalls mention, was the rise of runaway slaves and how Southern white settlers feared a slave uprising with a Seminole attack. This was because the Seminoles took in these runaway slaves and made them a member of their tribe. These ideas propelled the growing demand for an army presence, one led by Andrew Jackson the Indian Fighter, in the Florida territory. This was to promote a forceful removal of the native populations and to reclaim lost slaves. One thing sticks out when looking at their book. As the Missalls’ eloquently wrote themselves: It is not enough to simply say what happened. We must attempt to discover