ABSTRACT

The second Seminole war lasted from December 1835 to August 1842 and cost over $40,000,000 and the lives of approximately 1,500 members of the armed forces of the United States, in addition to those of white settlers and militiamen. A system of relationships between the Seminole Indians and their Negroes developed which was the admiration or horror of all beholders. The Seminole Negroes' prestige and influence among the Indians were what impressed observers most forcibly. The Negroes speedily acquired the Muskogee or Hitchiti tongue of their protectors without forgetting the English or Spanish they had learned among the whites, which made them valuable interpreters. Sentiment for the removal of the Seminole Negroes preceded that for Indian removal. The Seminole, insisting that the delegation was without power to bind the Nation, strongly objected to removal in general and in particular to the prospect that they would become a despised minority in the powerful half-breed-dominated Creek confederacy.