Remembering the Native Americans of This Country

November is Native American Heritage month. It is important for us to remember that we too are strangers to this land that we call home. Long before the Europeans "discovered" and settled what is now North America there lived a proud people. We should all take the time to look back at who they were and how they helped to shape our history. In the next couple of pages I will be highlighting some of the more well known Native Americans. This is by no means a complete listing only a glimpse at a once great people.

The Seminole Indian was not the typical native that the US had experience with. To start the terrain in which they lived varied greatly from the Western states and most importantly they possessed a will far stronger than anything they had ever seen. The Seminole Nation never conceded to the US Government on lands or rights. Even today they are one of the most outspoken Native American groups in the US. Here I will discuss two of the most well known Seminole Chiefs.

Chief Osceola a Seminole Indian leader was born on Tallapoosa River, in the Creek country in 1803. His paternal grandfather was a Scotchman, and it is said the Caucasian strain was noticeable in his features and complexion. He was not a chief by descent, nor, so far as is known, by formal election, but took his place as leader and acknowledged chieftain by reason of his abilities as a warrior and commander during the memorable struggle of his people with the United States in the Seminole War of 1835. Secreting the women, children, and old men of his tribe in the depths of a great swamp, where the white troops were for a long time unable to find them, Osceola turned his energy to the work of harassing the Government forces. Maj. Dade and his detachment, the first to attack him, were cut off, only two or three wounded men escaping. Beginning with Gen. Gaines, one after another officer was placed in charge of the army sent against this intrepid warrior and his followers. These were successively baffled, owing largely to the physical difficulties to be overcome on account of the nature of the Seminole country, until Gen. Jesup, maddened by the public cry for more energetic action, seized Osceola and his attendants while holding a conference under a flag of truce, an act condemned as inexcusable treachery by the same public that had urged him on. The loss of freedom, and brooding over the manner in which he had been betrayed, broke the spirit of the youthful chief, who died a prisoner in Ft Moultrie, Fla., in Jan. 1838.

Billy Bowlegs also known as, (Holata Mico, Halpatter-Micco, and Halpuda Mikko, all meaning "Alligator Chief") was born in 1810. He was a hereditary war chief and headed one of the last bands of Seminoles to stay in Florida and fight U.S. authorities. He was born in the Alchua Savannah (present-day Cuscowilla, Florida) of full-blooded Seminole parents; his father was called Secoffee. It is said that his nickname stemmed from Boleg or Bowleck, the surname of a prominent trader. The common assumption that he was bowlegged from horseback riding cannot be substantiated. Although he signed the Treaty of Payne's Landing in 1832, Bowlegs subsequently avoided the removal of his band to Indian Territory for over twenty years. He was known as a skilled warrior; to be sure, he eluded the U.S. Army long after Wild Cat's, Osceola's, and other Seminole bands had been apprehended. Through an excellent knowledge of the Everglades, Bowlegs and his band maintained an independent existence unhindered by U.S. authorities until the eve of the Civil War. From 1835 to 1842, Billy Bowlegs was a significant leader in the Second Seminole War along with Arpeika, Osceola, Micanopy, Jumper, Wild Cat, and Alligator. Even after the death of Osceola and the surrender of Micanopy, head chief of the Seminoles, in 1837, Bowlegs and his two hundred warriors continued to resist removal to Indian Territory. On July 22, 1839, his name is mentioned in government reports relating to an attack on a Camp Harney. This raid was one of a series of successful forays against the army and settlers by Bowlegs, the new Chief of the Florida Seminoles. His guerilla tactics enabled him to secure, on August 14, 1842, a peace treaty that ended over seven years of hostilities. This eight-year war cost the U.S. government $30 million and fifteen hundred dead. To secure an enduring peace and impress Bowlegs and other Seminole chiefs with American might, a group of Seminole chiefs were brought to Washington, D.C., to see the power of the U.S. capital. As a result, from 1842 to 1855 a period of relative peace prevailed in Florida. However, a small group of army engineers and surveyors in 1855 invaded Bowleg's homeland in the Great Cypress Swamp, stealing crops, cutting down banana trees, and destroying property only two miles from Bowleg's main village just to see how he would react. This created what some have called the Third Seminole War. When the engineers and surveyors were confronted about their depredations, they proffered the Seminoles neither restitution nor remorse. Consequently, the Seminoles in southern Florida under Bowlegs launched two years of sporadic raids against Anglo trappers, settlers, and traders in the area. Settlers demanded that the U.S. Army mount a campaign to remove all remaining Seminoles. Containing the ravages of the Seminole militants once again proved difficult for the U.S. military. In 1858, a group of Western Seminoles that were under the leadership of Wild Cat and that had been removed to Indian Territory were brought back to convince Bowlegs and his followers of the wisdom of moving west. Bowlegs, upon hearing that Wild Cat was coming, stated, "Tell him not to come out to our country until I send for him." Bowlegs was offered $10,000 and each of his followers $1,000 if they agreed to go to Indian Territory, but they initially refused, fearing harsh treatment in the West. Under enormous pressure, Bowlegs and 123 of his followers, plus 41 captives, finally agreed to removal in 1858. After his arrival in the West, Bowlegs became an important Seminole village chief in Indian Territory. At the start of the Civil War, he became a leader of the pro-Union Seminole forces (the Loyal Seminoles); his unit fought on the Union side in Kansas. As captain of the First Regiment, Indian Home Guard, Bowlegs served with distinction until he succumbed to smallpox in 1864.