Throughout the colonial period and until 1819, freedom seekers emerged rom the lower South into East and West Florida. While the famous "Negro Fort," once the British Fort Gadsden, was taken by American troops in 1816, it was not until 1819 that the United States attempted to take all of east Florida, then claimed by the Spanish.

In that year, Congress attempted to end freedom seeker travel to that area and Indian raids across the Florida border by sending General Andrew Jackson to attack encampments of African Americans and Native Americans. Jackson was successful, destroying many settlements and claiming all of Florida for the United States. Many freedom seekers moved on to Cuba or retreated further into Florida bayous.

The Black Seminoles

The Great Dismal Swamp, Okefenokee, and other sites were also briefly home to bands of freedom seekers, some of whom left after a period and others who planned to stay on and out of sight by moving south, away from white settlements. Florida’s Seminole Indian Tribe is an amalgamation of different Muskogen Indian bands -- including Creeks, Apalachees, Choctaws -- who were decimated by early European settlement in the Carolina’s and Georgia and who sought refuge in Spanish Florida. They were joined in Florida by groups of African American freedom seekers who became known as the Black Seminole. These two groups built a strong union based on their opposition to expanded white settlement and fear of persecution.

The conflict between the United States Army and Seminole bands began in 1814 when the First Seminole War exploded. General Andrew Jackson illegally led troops into Spanish Florida to burn towns and capture freedom seekers. Jackson later withdrew to U.S. soil after months of inconclusive skirmishing with the Seminole and Black Seminole. In 1821 Spanish Florida became U.S. territory and the Seminole, intent on protecting Indian rights, entered into a series of agreements with the United States Government.

However, with the passage of the 1830 Indian Removal Act, President Andrew Jackson sought to move all Native American groups east of the Mississippi River into Oklahoma and Arkansas. The Seminole refused to leave Florida and by 1835 the Second Seminole War had erupted. This conflict, skillfully waged by the Seminole groups, dragged on until 1842, when much of the Seminole Nation, including 500 Black Seminole were forcibly relocated to Indian Territory. The remaining Seminole melted deeper into Florida lowlands, only to face the United States Army once again in 1855. This Third Seminole War lasted for three years until the Americans withdrew without result.

In 1849 the United States Attorney General ruled that the Black Seminole were legally enslaved, and demanded that the band surrender their arms. Under the leadership of John Horse and Wild Cat, the Black Seminole departed Florida for Mexico. After the Civil War, many Black Seminole left Mexico for new lives in Texas. Unfortunately, this group encountered virulent prejudice and disputes over land ownership in this former Confederate State, and many returned to Mexico in 1914.

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