The period in review here is pre-Civil War, when by all accounts, Africans are referred to as “slaves.” I, however, will not follow that trend. The definition of a slave is one that is completely subservient to a dominating influence, a person held in servitude as the chattel of another. Regardless of this mild description, the term “slave” in America is meant to dehumanize those labeled as such. Slaves were thought of as “things” and “property,” not “persons,” and that is quite clear throughout history. The conditioning and damaging effects of using that term are insidious, and I choose to challenge it. I place high importance on reconditioning the mind away from the constant teaching that our foundational lineage comes from “slaves” versus inhumanely classed persons. Perhaps a mouthful, but that is because we have always been more than “slaves.” The starting point for our reconditioning is to reject the labels of our oppressors. Digging deeper, we must also go further than merely identifying the ancestral blood of Africans and combat the oppressor’s label with a more accurate description. Our ancestors were not, nor are we descendants of “slaves/things/chattel/nonhumans,” we are peoples who colonizers have inhumanely classed.
Along with “inhumanely classed persons,” our ancestors were not “fugitive slaves” or “runaway slaves” they were “self-liberators.”
I will refer to them as such.
The beginning of North American slavery is routinely calendared as 1619 when “20 and odd Negroes” were brought to Jamestown, Virginia. Depending on the audience, the debate will often follow about those negroes being inhumanely classed persons or indentured servants. Another smokescreen used to ease “white guilt” is the reminder that one of the Africans earned his freedom and eventually owned his own plantation. Regardless of this, however, we are conditioned to believe that from 1619 until 1865, inhumanely classed Africans lingered passively in their societal position. In our conditioning, we are taught of Abraham Lincoln’s emancipation; a few revolts, which were ultimately futile; several Underground Railroad escapees, who “undoubtedly” had the help of white abolitionists; and we are also taught our ancestors’ most common resistance to their societal positioning was work sabotage by either “laziness,” or equipment ignorance and destruction. However, what has never been considered is the Black Seminole Wars and the most expensive and bloodiest war mark they left on America. It’s time we take a look at this portion of history.
To understand this legacy of the Black Seminoles, we must first paint a picture of who they were. The “Seminole” identity is routinely thought of as “red-skinned Indians.” Images such as the mascot for Florida State University might come to mind, but that is because of a lack of knowledge. Self-liberated Africans first claimed the Seminole identity in 1765, once in Florida. Before this Floridian identity made its way into the history books, the Edict of 1693 from King Charles II of Spain enticed self-liberators to break from Britain’s deplorable colonies and head to Spanish Florida with their African identities intact. While the Underground Railroad would eventually lead some self-liberators north, nearly 200 years earlier, our ancestors began going south to take up arms. The Edict of 1693 promised liberty to self-liberators who became Catholic and fought for Spain in defense of Florida.
Let’s dive into a few examples of these self-liberators fighting to defend Spanish Florida.
In 1724 Francisco Menéndez, a Mandingo from Sierra Leone, rejected his chains in South Carolina and became one of many who made their way to Florida. In St. Augustine, FL, Menéndez began to show his military value when in 1728, he helped the Spanish win a battle against Britain before the two countries quieted their conflicts in the New World for just a bit. In Florida, Menéndez eventually rose in rank to become Captain, and he leveraged this to petition Spain to enforce the Edict of 1693 fully. Of course, with the mentality of a white colonizer, holding true to promises of freedom was near impossible, and many self-liberators found themselves in some form of servitude before Menéndez’s petition in 1737. His petition, “The Runaway Negroes from English Plantations to the Crown,” convinced Spain to honor the edict and negotiated for Menéndez to become governor of Fort Mose. Fort Mose was just above St. Augustine, and it was a town that quickly became the “center of Black Freedom.” It was also here that Menéndez and the men he led would further establish themselves.
In 1739 Britain ignited the tension between Spain again because of Fort Mose's success in drawing self-liberators. The system Britain was attempting to set up in the Carolinas was collapsing because self-liberators refused to submit passively. By 1740 the British decided to go after Spain because of the growing desertions, making St. Augustine their target. This threat caused Spain to move the men of Fort Mose to St. Augustine, and this maneuver allowed the British to invade Fort Mose. It would take a month from June 15, 1740, but the Black men of Fort Mose defeated the British and forced them out of the once captive fort. This victory further persuaded Spain to honor the Edict of 1693, and land for self-liberators around Fort Mose increased as their numbers grew. St. Augustine also saw an influx of self-liberated African settlers ready to defend their freedoms, which meant defending Spain. Spain saw the benefit of arming this Black militia to protect their territory. These Africans traveled from the Carolinas and Georgia and were known as the Gullah-Geechee and soon took on the identifier as Black Seminoles.
However, for complete reference, it must be mentioned that it wouldn’t be until 1750 that Creek Indian chief, Cowkeeper, led a band of his people from Georgia to Florida. A bit before this, about four other tribes had remnants of their people flee to Florida after their wars: Yamasee, Yuchi, and Hitchiti. A few of these people ended up under the command of Menéndez as they quickly allied themselves against Britain. These are the groups of Indians that would form the Indian Seminoles.
SIDE NOTE FOR THOUGHT: Now, one could believe this information about Francisco Menéndez is not in our history books because it isn’t “American” history. It’s more of Britain’s and Spain’s history. However, it is still part of Black history…and Black people are American, correct? This bit of history should still be taught just the same as we are taught about the Thirteen Colonies. In our history books, the foundation of our people should not be “slaves” waiting for freedom, people unsuccessfully revolting against bondage or people who used laziness and breaking equipment to escape work. This manicured foundation sets up our conditioning, and this narrative of our foundation still haunts us today. |
These two nations of people shared the name of Seminole, but the two nations were still separate people. (Here, I speak of two nations between the Black Seminoles and the Indian Seminoles though it must be kept in mind that the Gullah-Geechee were also Africans from multiple African nations themselves.). While there were a few towns where the two nations lived together, there were even more autonomous Black Seminole towns. After the American Revolution, the two nations did develop a mutually beneficial relationship that started with the Gullah-Geechee sharing their agricultural knowledge, which is traced back to Senegambia and Sierra Leone. The Gullah-Geechee were also more familiar with the tropical environment, so the Indian Seminoles relied on African-based agriculture and teachings on how to acclimate to living in Florida. The relationship soon grew into the Black Seminoles finding the strategic benefit of some of them identifying as an Indian Seminole’s “slave” after the First Seminole War. The term, however, did not hold the same weight as it did with the white colonizers. We’ve established what “slave” meant/means to the colonizer, so using this term created a system under which the two nations would operate because they understood the colonizers felt no Black person should be free, even if that meant Black people would also be in servitude to Indians. As stated before, though, inhumanely classed persons regulated to Indians dealt with nothing like what was dealt with by white colonizers.
“The Blacks of the Seminole Indians are wholly independent…And are slaves in name, they work only when it suits their inclination.”
Colonel G. Humphreys Anthony Dixon 2007 Dissertation on the Black Seminole war pg:38
However, Inhumanely classed persons regulated to Indians did pay a tax to the Indians because of the classification, which some historians routinely misclassify as “protection payment.” I could understand the desire to label this relationship as the Black Seminoles finding protection because the white colonizers couldn’t claim them as property if they were regulated to the Indian Seminoles. However, Gullah-Geechee settlements were around long before the Seminole nation was formed, and the Spaniards didn’t require the Gullah-Geechee to be regulated to the “Indians.” Once revolting British colonies held the territory, the Black Seminoles did not suddenly become “slaves” or charges of the Indian Seminoles. The two nations merely found the benefit of a service that used “colonizer language” that was paid for with a small yearly tribute of crop. As we will see further in this essay, the Black Seminoles were a force that did not need protection and held heavy influence over the Indian Seminoles. Black Seminoles used many strategies and their own warrior mentality to defend and protect themselves. This was routinely proven in The Seminole Wars.
We will shortly get to The Seminole Wars, but there is a bit more to discuss while focusing on Black History and our ancestors’ Freedom War. By 1740, British Georgia colonists sent petitions to the king in complaints of the rate of self-liberators striking for their freedom and sometimes not sneaking quietly into the night.
“…also a Proclamation published at St. Augustine in his Catholick Majestys Ifeme, promising freedom and other Encouragement to all Slaves that should desert from your Majestys Subjects of this Province and join them. In Conseq_uence of which Proclamation many have already deserted, and others encouraged daily to do the Same; and even those who have Committed the most Inhuman Murders, ere there harbour’d, entertained and caressed;” The Egmont Papers Vol. 14205 pg: 39
“…particularly those in St. Augustine Who no doubt hy our own disappoint¬ment now hid defiance to the Power and Force of this Province, And from whence we have Sustained so many losses and injuries hy the Reception from time to time of our deserted Slaves and even of those who have Conmitted the most harbarous and Cruel Murders of their Masters.” The Egmont Papers Vol. 14205 pg: 43-44
The colonizer’s issue of self-liberators persisted even after the end of the American Revolutionary War in 1783, and the issue became America’s burden. Americans would never learn to curb their entitled attitudes for land, and from “politics as usual,” a group called the Patriots would form. This militia group was secretly given the go-ahead to encroach on land while President James Madison openly denounced attacks on Spanish Florida. Madison knew another war with Britain was on the horizon, the War of 1812, and he opted not to make obvious enemies with both Britain and Spain simultaneously. However, the fight the Patriots would soon have on their hands wouldn’t be with Spain regardless of the encroachment because Spain had been taxed and spread thin by the Napoleonic Wars with France. When the Patriots entered Spanish Florida, they would face the Gullah-Geechee, not merely for territory but to stave off the success of self-liberators and uprisings from inhumanely classed persons.
The Haitian Revolution had been from August 14, 1791, to January 1, 1804, and the thought of such a Black revolution in America terrified the colonizers. The Patriots and the governor of Georgia, David Mitchell, had set their hearts on destroying St. Augustine, which was still an active destination for self-liberators, to keep a Black revolution from happening in America. Mitchell was so cautious of this happening he openly challenged Florida's governor, Sebastián Kindelán, decision to have Black troops in the Spanish armed forces.
The horror of Saint Domingue's race war was, however, clearly the more powerful image to the invaders. Governor Mitchell even had the gall to reprimand Kindelan for using black troops. "Your certain knowledge of the peculiar situation of the southern section of the union in regard to that description of people would have induced you to abstain from introducing them into province, or from organizing such as were already in it.”
Georgia Governor David Mitchell to Spanish Governor Sebastián Kindelán because of Kindelán’s decision to use a Black militia Black Society in Spanish Florida pg: 222
“Our slaves are excited to rebel, and we have an army of negroes ranked up in this country, and brought from Cuba to be contented with. Let us ask, if we are abandoned, what will be the situation of the Southern States, with this body of black men in the neighborhood of St. Augustine, the whole Province will be the refuge of fugitive slaves; and from thence emissaries can, and no doubt will be detached, to bring about a revolt of the black population of the United States. A nation that can stir up the savages round your western frontiers to murder will hesitate but little to introduce the horrors of St. Domingo into your Southern country.”
John McIntosh director of the Patriots to Secretary of State Monroe Black Society in Spanish Florida pg: 222 / The Invisible War pg: 32-33
This ongoing concern moved America to the offensive, and the Patriots encroached on more land and temporarily blocked the supply chain linked to St. Augustine. The Gullah-Geechee retaliated by striking and destroying the nearby plantations, swelling their numbers, and sending plantation owners and Georgia militiamen further back to seek refuge. In July of 1812, US Col. Thomas Smith complained about the Gullah-Geechee, who he correctly predicted would influence more self-liberators. Still, America was hellbent on striking a blow to St. Augustine. Prince Witten, a lieutenant in the Spanish forces, led 50+ Black troops in an attack on the encroaching Patriot’s supply chain. This attack caused the Patriots to fall back from their location near St. Augustine, but the colonizers would not admit defeat, even when most of their tours would end within a week. Feeling "patriotic," a few men did extend their service, and twelve days later, the Patriots and a few militiamen, led by Col. Newman, headed south to find hostile towns to destroy. As they traveled, they encountered a company of Gullah-Geechee and Indian Seminoles, and over the days of the battle, Newman would learn and go on to declare, “Negroes…were their best soldiers.” As Newman’s men attempted to retreat, they were again attacked and lost more men. Newman’s expedition was ultimately unsuccessful as Newman also said the last of his men barely survived after feeding on gophers and alligators. Still, this failure would not deter the self-entitled Americans who had been on the attack since 1724.
It wouldn’t take much longer before the colonizers upped the ante with a very damaging blow, which was also their luckiest. What would follow is what we are taught to believe are The Seminole Wars, which are wars routinely taught to have been Indian Seminoles battling Americans over land. However, nothing is said of Francisco Menéndez and Fort Mose, whose military prowess preserved Black freedom. Prince Witten is also ignored, who led an attack that would end yet another colonizer siege on St. Augustine and the Gullah-Geechee people, who were then labeled the “best soldiers" while they continued to preserve Black freedom. There is also no mention of the American’s attack on Negro Fort, which some Black historians say started the First Seminole War. However, this attack, I presume, was an attack that only continued the colonizers’ quest to disarm the Gullah-Geechee and protect their plantation lifestyle. The attack on Negro Fort would be the third of the more recognizable attacks from the colonizers in our ancestors’ Freedom War.
In May of 1814, 7 months before the end of The War of 1812, British Lt. George Woodbine and Brevet Maj. Edward Nicolls established a fort in Spanish Florida. The tension between Britain and Spain had finally eased as rivals for Britain and Spain both shifted to the newly growing empire, America. In 1763 Spain decided to trade Florida to Britain in exchange for Cuba, but after the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783 to end the American Revolutionary War, the Florida territory returned to Spain. The British fort established in 1814 soon became known as Negro Fort after the British abandoned the territory in 1815 and Commander Garcon stepped into leadership. As was the custom since the Edict of 1693, self-liberators continued to journey south.
Though Fort Mose had been vacated and Menéndez and most of his people were relocated to Cuba when the first territory trade happened, the now labeled “Black Seminole” towns were still thriving. It must be said that the 20 years under the British did stifle the Black military and introduce plantations. However, the self-liberating Gullah-Geechee still ventured to “Black Seminole” towns and mixed Seminole towns, especially during the American Revolutionary War. Once the territory returned to Spain, the new “center of Black Freedom” had become Negro Fort under the direction of Garcon. For more than a year, the people of Negro Fort had success and liberty, and they defended it well with the arms and ammunition left by the British.
By April of 1816, however, Andrew Jackson had well-developed his thirst for blood and war against those he deemed inferior. Though Negro Fort was in Spanish territory, Jackson schemed to justify conflict to absolve himself and America from accusations of acting against a power with which America was “at peace.” (The façade of “American morality” must stay in place at all cost as the conditioned history lessons continue to teach a manicured history.) “Honor” and the approval of Congress be damned, Jackson surmised that something had to be done about Negro Fort, as it was routinely causing self-liberators to strike for freedom.
“…if the fort harbors the Negroes of our citizens…or holds out inducements to the slaves of our citizens to desert from their owners’ service, this fort must be destroyed…if they are stealing and enticing away our Negroes, they ought to be viewed as a band of out-laws, land pirates, and ought to be destroyed. Notify the governor of Pensacola of your advance into his territory and for the express purpose of destroying these lawless banditti…destroy it and restore the stolen Negroes and property to their rightful owners.”
Maj. General Andrew Jackson to Gen. Edmund Gaines April 8, 1816 Congressional Serial Set pg: 10 - [122]
Gaines’s warning to the governor of Pensacola, Mauricio de Zuniga, that America would have to “defend” itself against the possible threat of armed Black people so close to their borders did not persuade Spain to disband Negro Fort. At the time, Spain had no intentions of expelling their militia which they used to protect what they considered to be their buffer territory. So Jackson instructed his general to destroy the fort.
General Gaines’s first move was to provoke the first strike from the men of Negro Fort with encroaching troops, and as he wished, the men of Negro Fort fired and swiftly eliminated Gaines’s pawns. However, a second group pressed on and eventually brought in gunboats for a siege lasting over ten days. A few volleys of cannon fire were exchanged until finally, the gunboat could land a lucky and heated shell into the fort’s munitions area. The fiery explosion killed hundreds of brave men, but their stand and sacrifice allowed others to safely relocate further east to the Suwannee River.
Nevertheless, this blatant act of war is not given as the start of the First Seminole War. Instead, credit goes to Jackson due to his raids in retaliation to Chief Neamathla of Fowl Town, located in the southwestern part of what is now Georgia.
By August 1817, Gaines had moved on to attempting to convince Indian Seminoles to “return” self-liberators who had made homes for themselves amongst the Indian Seminoles. Chief Kenhadjo was the first to deny the claim of “harboring negros,” and promised “force” against any armed American passing through his land. Gaines’s attention would then land on Chief Neamathla. As Gaines wanted to set up shop near Fowl Town, he ordered his men into Neamathla’s territory for timber. Neamathla would not allow this, so Gaines called Neamathla for a talk. Multiple times Neamathla refused, causing repeated gunfights when Gaines’s men showed up to “escort” Neamathla to the meeting. Gaines eventually resorted to burning Fowl Town. Neamathla then led an attack on a US military boat, which killed all but two troops, and then the Seminoles trapped five US vessels for four days and killed two soldiers while wounding 13.
Black Seminoles took part in both attacks as they held a great stake in quelling American expeditions. The Black Seminoles also had a vendetta for Negro Fort. Despite this and Gaines’s motives, the Black Seminoles remain the conditioned afterthought of the Seminole Wars. There is evidence of Jackson and Gaines wanting Negro Fort destroyed to prevent self-liberators from the Rights of men, yet the destruction of Fowl Town still marks the First Seminole War. The affliction done to the “known Indian” is said to have started the war, regardless that it was because Gaines wanted timber to continue his quest against Black Seminoles.
After Neamathla’s retaliation, Jackson would sack his way through Florida, burning more Black settlements. Jackson’s horde would descend on Black towns, and Black men continued to hold the line until families were safely evacuated, such as in the Battle at Suwanee in 1818. Jackson did not defeat the heavily outnumbered Black Seminoles and took revenge on women and children nearby. The Black Seminoles who were safely evacuated would be pushed further south. Jackson then continued his rampage across Florida, where his victories came from burning or controlling evacuated settlements. Though President James Monroe feigned disapproval of Jackson’s actions and returned the seized territory, there was no attempt to guarantee Jackson would refrain from more unsanctioned encroachment. At this point, Spain realized it could not hope to defend the buffer territory against the whole United States. This realization led to the Adams-Onis Treaty in February of 1819, which gave the Florida territory to the US three years after the explosion at Negro Fort. In return, Spain received $5 million and all claims to Texas.
This treaty is said to have ended the First Seminole War, a treaty with Spain that had no army, economy, or genuine stake in the “buffer colony” of Florida. The first offenses of the war are marked between Fowl Town and Chief Neamathla’s retaliation, but Spain’s “I’m not in this. Give me five mill, and I’m out” marks the end. Jackson knew whose war this was, and he announced it after killing two white allies of his enemies, “tried…by a special court of selected officers, legally convicted as exciters of this savage and negro war; legally condemned, and most justly punished.” This war was not the Spanish nor the “Indian Seminole’s” war to end as the colonizer’s goal had yet to be accomplished. Black Seminoles were far from disarmed and submissive to the gun of the colonizers. The Freedom War was still on.
The Americans began laying more grown work to place a chokehold on the Black Seminoles. In 1823, the Indian Seminoles signed the Treaty of Moultrie Creek, ceding their claim to all land in Florida except the reservation picked out by the US of A. In return, the Indian Seminoles would get money and food as needed, all provided they return any self-liberators who attempted to live among them. The US also began to give “king’s gifts,” which were inhumanely classed persons, and the US also promoted participation in their form of slavery practices. The land received, however, was not prime land for cultivation and survival, and the need for provisions led Indian Seminoles to barter several of the Black Seminoles classed as persons regulated to them.
Once Spain forfeited the territory, the fight in both nations waivered. The northern colonizers perhaps seemed too big a foe to take on without another “superpower” behind them. From 1819-1823 Black Seminoles stayed reserved as more and more colonizers began to settle in Florida. But after the Treaty of Moultrie Creek, it became evident that they must take a more active role in the treaties. The colonizers would speak only with the Indian Seminoles initially, wanting to sow dissension between the two nations. The colonizers figured they’d kill two birds with one stone and take land from all Seminoles while taking freedom from the Gullah-Geechee. The treaty did work against some Black Seminoles classed under the Indian Seminoles, who found themselves turned over for provisions by broken Indian Seminoles, for money by greedy Indian Seminoles, or simply “claimed” by self-entitled colonizers. Regardless, the Gullah-Geechee had not given up their “Underground Railroad” to the south. Besides the mixed Seminole towns, there were still Black Seminoles with towns without “taxed services” obligations to Indian Seminoles. So, the colonizers’ efforts were most likely annoying but generally ineffective in the hopes of killing Black liberty in Florida. It wouldn’t be until Andrew Jackson, the colonizer who ordered Negro Fort destroyed, had become the 7th president and signed the Indian Removal Act in 1930 that Black Seminoles would again assert themselves.
Historians routinely label the roles the Black Seminole leaders played as mere interpreters. I question that because the Indian Seminoles who signed the Treaty of Moultrie Creek didn’t have any of these particular Black Seminole interpreters. I argue that once the Black Seminoles—the Gullah-Geechee people—realized their fates and negotiations needed to be in their own hands, they made sure of it. The Black towns were autonomous and had their own leaders, and those leaders would go on to speak for their people.
By 1832 another treaty had been signed, the Treaty of Payne’s Landing. This treaty was a promise of
Abraham, leader of the Black Seminoles
money and land in the Creek Nation if the Seminoles left Florida. The signing is said to have seven Indian chiefs and the Black Seminole, Abraham, as the interpreter. Abraham, however, was known as the leader of the Black Seminoles. It was said of him,
“…dedicated to those of his own color, who to a degree controlled their [ Seminole ] masters. They were a most cruel and malignant enemy. For them to surrender would be servitude to the whites; but to retain an open warfare, secured to them plunder, liberty, and importance.”
US Army Officer 1837 Slavery In America pg: 242
Micanopy, who historians proclaim Abraham was inhumanely classed by, is also historically said to never do anything against “his interpreter’s” advice and was even “controlled” by the Black Seminole. Abraham and the Black Seminoles were routinely spoken about as being more than the “help of,” “charges of,” and “slaves of” the Indian Seminoles.
“These negroes appeared to me far more intelligent than those who are in absolute slavery; and they have a great influence over the minds of the Indians…They fear being again made slaves under the American Government, and will omit nothing to increase or keep alive mistrust among the Indians, whom they, in fact, govern.”
Mr. Peniers Sub-agent for Indian Affairs in Florida to Gen. Jackson American State Paper: Indian Affiar 2 pg412
“The Negroes dwell in towns apart from the Indians, and are the finest looking people I have ever seen. They dress and live pretty much like the Indians, each having a gun, and hunting a portion of his time. Like the Indians, they plant in common, and form an Indian field apart, which they attend together. They are, however, much more intelligent than their owners, most of them speaking the Spanish, English, and Indian languages.”
Notices of East Florida 1822 pg 76
With the Treaty of Payne’s Landing, the Seminoles opted to survey the land before agreeing to relocate, not wanting to repeat the Treaty of Moultrie Creek. On this mission, Abraham is again titled as the interpreter of 7 Indian Seminole chiefs, and with him is a Black interpreter for the US named Cudjo. Under duress, a second treaty was signed that agreed to the relocation, and some of the nations refused to relocate. The treaty gave the Seminoles three years before relocation, but for the ones who initially agreed to leave, they met a swift end at the hands of other Seminoles. While many Black Seminoles were willing and ready to fight, including Abraham, Abraham kept open negotiations and diplomatic lines. He knew that even if every Seminole took up arms, the US would always outnumber them, which meant slaughter for his people. A bloody territorial victory wasn’t the goal for Abraham; it was continued freedom for his people. At that moment, it was either resistance to American might in Florida or in the Creek Nation Indian Territory located in the west and attempting to cash in on the American slavery system at his people’s expense.
Understanding the numbers, Abraham knew a strategy to help his people fight in Florida for as long as possible. He routinely began frequenting nearby plantations encouraging self-liberators to join the cause. Another Black Seminole with this understanding was John Caesar, a Black Seminole leader and “interpreter” for Chief Emanthla. However, Caesar would not leave things at merely encouraging self-liberators to leave the plantations. Caesar would be among the first to strike against the colonizers before the “official” start of the Second Seminole War. In late December of 1835, Caesar and his men destroyed five plantations in two days. Hundreds of self-liberators then joined John Caesar’s cause. In January 1837, Caesar would lead attacks that destroyed 16 large plantations and recruited hundreds of self-liberators.
From December 27, 1835, starting with the Dade Massacre—marked as the beginning of the Second Seminole War—until March 5, 1836, with the siege on Camp Izard, the Seminoles developed a key strategy to combat the numbers of the US. With Abraham’s leadership and 15 years of experience fighting the US in Florida—including Negro Fort 1816 and the Battle of Suwanee 1818, the Seminoles followed his strategy “to fly before the army and avoid battle” then take cover “in the dense swamps and hummocks.”
“The prisoners whom I have taken inform me that it is the purpose of Micanopy, Jumper, and Abraham, to fly before the army and avoid a battle. They will hide themselves in the dense swamps and hummocks of the Everglades.”
General Thomas Jesup – December 18, 1836 American State Papers: Military Affairs pg 822
In the above quote, I would like to point out that Abraham is mentioned in planning war tactics. Mere “interpreters” would not be noted in war tactic decisions, and only Black Seminoles of importance would ever be mentioned by name. True to the times, however, no matter how important, a colonizer would always mention a Black Seminole last, even if he was historically tagged as the “influencer” and “controller” of the first-mentioned Indian Seminole chief.
Guerilla warfare and a constant target on high-ranking officers during battle was the Seminoles’ tactic of success. It wore down the regiments, took the fight out of the enlisted, and prompted the US to routinely replace their generals due to failures.
Forms of success finally began to appear under the leadership of General Thomas Jesup, who quickly identified the war for what it was. In the best way a colonizer could sum it up, Jesup explained,
“This, you may be assured, is a negro war and not an Indian war; and if it not be speedy put down, the south will feel the effects of it on their slave population before the end of the next season.”
General Jesup – December 9th 1836 American State Papers: Military Affair 7 pg 821
As Jesup took control, he began attacking the women and children as the guerilla fighters made capture and defeat impossible. Abraham would eventually begin to lean further towards relocation to keep his people safe. One of the Black Seminoles to be captured was a man named Ben, who would not leave his family. Ben, however, was also an influential Black Seminole, and Jesup thought to use him to broker another treaty. Holding Ben’s family as ransom, Jesup sent him to find Indian Seminole leader Jumper. Instead, Ben took the message directly to Abraham as Abraham was the leader of the Black Seminoles. Abraham, in turn, went to Jesup to affirm that he would consider convincing his people of peace talks as long as his people were given assurances.
Jesup took the olive branch, and Abraham began to do his all to bring the Indian Seminoles to the table for peace talks. It was difficult to persuade the chiefs to agree to meet, and one eventually sent the rising Black Seminole leader, John Horse, in his stead. Nevertheless, Abraham had successfully convinced the territory fighting Indian Seminoles to agree to move west while convincing Jesup to include Article 5 to the Capitulation of Seminole Nation of Indians. The two Black interpreters, Abraham for the Seminoles and Cudjo for US, were the only ones who spoke both languages as Abraham lobbied for his people to remain free, be damned the location.
ARTICLE 5. Major General Jesup, in behalf of the United States, agrees that the Seminoles and their allies who come in and emigrate to the west, shall be secure in their lives and property; that their negroes, the bona fide property, shall accompany them to the west; and that their cattle and ponies shall be paid for by the United States, at a fair valuation.
American State Papers: Military Affairs pg: 834
The Black Seminole leaders and their people are summed up as allies as Jesup uses Abraham’s position to further his mission of emigration. Still, he shows respect of rank to only the Indian Seminoles. His genuine respect for Black Seminoles is further established as he quickly strips Article 5 once the local plantation colonizers hear that possible free labor will slip out of their hands. The signed capitulation had promised hostages until the Seminoles met in Tampa Bay to relocate. Predictably, Article 5 brought the colonizers in droves to “claim” as many Black people as they could before the relocation, regardless of legitimacy. This rush caused Jesup to devise a scheme to separate the self-liberators, who John Caesar had assisted, and force them back into servitude to appease the plantation colonizers.
I feel it important to mention Jesup’s distinguishing between Black Seminoles as “allies” that shall be secure in their lives and property, other Blacks as the bona fide property that shall accompany them west, and the newly self-liberators who Jesup secretly wanted to apprehend in Tampa Bay. Jesup well knew the consequences of attempting to force the Black nation into servitude.
“The war is no doubt ended if a firm and prudent course be pursued; but a trifling impropriety on the part of the white population of the frontier might light it up again. The negroes rule the Indians, and it is important that they feel themselves secure; if they should become alarmed and hold out, the war will be renewed.”
General Jesup – March 26, 1837 American State Papers: Military Affairs pg: 835
Unfortunately, Jesup did not take his own advice, and by June, Black Seminole, John Horse, would help organize and execute a raid on the Tampa Bay relocation center. Famed Seminole Osceola has gone down as the attack leader, but Jesup still identified Horse as one of the organizers.
Jesup would continue his schemes and capture warriors’ families, and in one such scheme, he was able to capture Horse, Osceola, and another Indian Seminole named Coacoochee (Wild Cat). Coacoochee had attempted to surrender himself for peace talks to free his brother. Horse and Osceola had accompanied him to the assumed peace talks, but instead of talking, Jesup apprehended them. Here is where famed Osceola gave up and died, and Horse and Coacoochee plotted and led an escape that freed 20 people.
There would be one last stand where Horse would be a principle leader with his Black Seminole warriors, but Horse would soon come to align his thoughts with Abraham. By February 1838, a committee of Jesup’s senior officers had instructed him to end the conflict by declaring a truce. Jesup knew peace would not come with talks of “capturing” the Black Seminoles, so he opted to persuade a split in the nations. The Indian Seminoles would stay in reservations in Florida, and the Black Seminoles would be “emancipated” and relocated west, not to encourage any more self-liberators. Jesup promoted this plan, and many Seminoles surrendered themselves, believing the war ended with this promise. Jesup, however, would once again violate trust. The secretary of war rejected his plan, so Jesup thought the best move was to hold captive all of the Seminoles who’d turned themselves in.
Horse and Coacoochee were not in any of the groups that Jesup then began to go after. Still, Abraham would play his role, again in convincing Alligator, an Indian Seminole, to convince his people to come to Tampa Bay for relocation. Horse and Coacoochee, both part of Alligator’s people, soon were persuaded to lead their people to Tampa Bay. By April 1838, Abraham wrote that “All the Black people are contented.”
Though some may see the Second Seminole War as a failure for the Seminoles because they lost their land, which had been toiled by their hands for generations, what’s most important is the Black Seminoles didn’t lose their freedom. The war would not cease until the US acknowledged their right to live in this country without chains and servitude.
I won’t end this by pretending the Black Seminoles went on to have easy living after this. In fact, John Horse has a whole story to tell about the Black Seminoles’ trials and triumphs in Texas and Mexico.
From 1739-1838 our ancestors traveled to Florida to fight for freedom. That’s Black history that ought to be remembered correctly and celebrated. Though there were losses along the way, from Francisco Menéndez in 1724 to John Horse in 1838, we have a list in American history of people who fought and preserved our warrior spirit in this country. There was a war that lasted over one hundred years and resisted slavery, and our ancestors won that Freedom War.
