Hunted Like a Wolf

In this brief book, Marvin Meltzer describes how the Seminoles came to live in Florida, their lifestyle, and how they soon became an obstacle to white expansion into the state.  The book mostly details the Second Seminole War, which started at the end of 1835 and didn't conclude until August 1842.  After a series of clashes between Seminole Indians and whites, the US government foisted treaties on the Seminoles.  The Seminoles were mostly helpless observers where these treaties were concerned.  One of the big issues with the Seminoles was that they had become a haven for runaway slaves.  That nearly half of Seminole warriors were escaped slaves or free blacks was a closely guarded secret.  The war might look too much like a slave revolt than just another Indian war.  By 1835, Florida was a powder keg.  President Jackson had already arranged for moving the various tribes from the east and into Oklahoma.  The Seminole proved the most intransigent and attacked US forces in December 1835.  Francis Dade and his column of around 100 soldiers were almost complete wiped out; only one survivor to tell the tale.  The Seminole War was on!

President Jackson dispatched General Winfield Scott to bring the Seminoles to heel.  His plan for converging columns didn't work well in the trackless swamps of Florida.  He was soon replaced by General Call, the territorial governor.  His efforts proved no more effective than Scott's.  General Thomas Jesup was given the command and admitted it was tougher than he expected.  He resorted to treachery, asking chiefs to come discuss peace only to then toss these very chiefs into prison.  Osceola, one of the most effective Seminole leaders, was captured this way and died a few months later in a military prison.  Zachary Taylor was the next to take command and he fought the largest engagement of the war, the Battle of Lake Okeechobee.  However, Taylor was just as unable to tame the Seminole as his predecessors.  Next, General Armistead took his turn, providing the same mediocre results.  Colonel William Jenkins Worth was given the command and made it a policy to always be pursing the Seminoles.  Where other generals had taken the summers off, Worth kept the men in the field.  Though he had some success and managed to nab the last of the notable leaders, there were still Seminoles hiding in the Everglades.  Worth suggested leaving them there, which is what several of his predecessors had also advised.  President Tyler, the 4th president to preside over the war, agreed.

Drawing heavily on John Mahon's account of the war, this is a shorter treatment.  The tone is very harsh toward the Americans, which may be entirely justified.  Clearly, the Americans displaced the Seminoles from lands they had long inhabited and offered comparatively little compensation and bad justification.  Of course, 19th century attitudes were very different from 20th century attitudes.  Every culture took advantage of the weaker cultures.  Such goes back millennia.

Just okay.  Even so, I recommend reading Mahon's History of the Second Seminole War instead.