Seminole History

The people who would become the Seminole Tribe have lived in Florida for thousands of years, descended from the first people to walk the land. Their ancestors were connected by family, culture, and trade with people from the Mississippi river to the Appalachian Mountains, and into the Caribbean. Through the early 19th century the Seminole would spend five decades at war with the United States for the right to remain within their homeland. This war would bring all of the native people of Florida together, joined by the Muscogee who had resisted American influence. Throughout the war, many of the Tribe were killed or forced west on the Trail of Tears to Oklahoma. The Miccosukee leader Abiaki (known to the Americans as Sam Jones) led the remainder of the Seminole people deep into the Everglades and Big Cypress swamps, harsh lands they had learned to live within. Here, they survived the end of the war, remained in Florida, and eventually thrived, finally recognized as the Seminole Tribe of Florida and the Miccosukee Tribe of Florida Indians.

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Coacoochee (Wild Cat)

Renowned for his strategic ability and combat prowess, Coacoochee (known to Americans as Wild Cat), was a frontline leader during the Seminole War and was responsible for many Seminole victories. American officers described him as “the most dangerous chieftain in the field.” Coacochee often worked with Abiaka, and with his childhood friend Osceola. The American leadership resorted to capturing Coacoochee and Osceola under a flag of truce, yet Coacoochee led the captives in an escape from the prison at Fort Marion, but he was forced to leave behind Osceola, who was too sick to travel. Eventually forced to Oklahoma, Coacoochee worked to better conditions on the reservation, journeying to Washington DC to negotiate with congress. With no aid in site, he led roughly two hundred followers south to Mexico, where he negotiated a place for his people along the border, receiving the rank of Colonel in the Mexican army.

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John Horse (John Caballo, Gopher John)

John Horse was the leader of the free African town of Oklawaha. It was one of many towns made up of both people who been enslaved in the United States but escaped to Florida, or those who had been born free within the state. Called “Black Seminoles” or “Maroons” by Americans, these towns allied with the Seminole during the Seminole War. John Horse led troops in battle and was with Coacoochee during the escape from Fort Marion. At the end of the war he kept his people from being enslaved again, and negotiated for the free African people to be sent to Oklahoma with the Seminole as part of the Tribe. Still facing harassment and threats of slavery, he and many of his followers made the journey with Coacoochee to a new home in Mexico, ensuring their freedom.