Brass Bowl

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War’s End

“They are taking us beyond Miami,

They are taking us beyond the Caloosa River,

They are taking us to the end of our Tribe,

They are taking us to Palm Beach,

Coming back beside Lake Okeechobee,

They are taking us to an old town in the West.”

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“We are going with Washington [government].

What boat do we get in?”

Seminole laments

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The years following 1858, the end of the 3^rd, & last, of the Seminole Ware were time of sad reorganization for Florida’s Indians. Their families had been torn apart, their ceremonial cycles had been disrupted, & their agricultural base had been destroyed. In their main objective, however, they had been successful. Those few hundred of the people who had fought so valiantly to remain had found refuge in the wild & harsh Everglades, where no others dared venture. They were profoundly weary, but they were alive, & still in their homeland. By the 1880’s they would once again return to Tampa, to the Cotanchobee of their ancestors. They would meet white settlers in peace asking, once again, only to be left alone to live their lives. This time, they would find understanding.

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Note:  The bronze plaques are no longer there.  The raised wall is no longer there.  It was bulldozed shortly after I took the pictures, and now construction trailers sit on the spot.  I can only hope that the plaques are installed in the new History Museum being built.

In the near future I hope to be able to move the series of posts to a separate page for easier viewing in its entirety.  There will be a few more items I will add to the story, and hopefully I can report good news on these plaques.

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The Fort & Town of Tampa

Above Whiting St. & the military reservation, the town of Tampa was taking shape even as the wars continued.  First came those who provided skills useful to the military; cobblers, harness makers, laundresses, blacksmiths, among others.  Sometimes their families came as well.  Among the officers & men who appreciated the intensity of Florida’s climate & landscape, some stayed on after their service, as merchants or government agents.  Throughout the wars, & years of intermittent raids & skirmishes, the Indians continued to visit Fort Brooke & Tampa also, to trade or fish, or conduct other business.  The Indians had made it clear all along that their fight was not with individuals but, rather with a government that would go so far as to kill them in order to take away their homes.  But the withdrawal of troops in 1842 angered & frightened many Floridians, & tensions mounted again, until their erupted in a short series of skirmishes that constituted the 3^rd Seminole War (1856-58).  U.S. Soldiers destroyed a camp & garden belonging to Billy Bowlegs, & the Indians fought back.  For the second time, however, the U.S. made a unilateral decision to pull its troops out.  The cost of removing the few hundred remaining Seminoles would far outweigh the benefits.  They would finally be left alone in their homeland.  The tiny community of Tampa would remain also, until the coming of Henry Plant’s railroad, in the late 19^th century, would provide a distinct economic base for municipal growth.

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War Years: the Indians

U.S warfare, based on the European model, required confrontation:  two armies must oppose each other on open land.  But the Indians fought in small, flexible units, under individual war leaders chosen for the occasion by the war council.  When the council decided upon a series of preemptive strikes against the U.S., late in 1835, they believed that the U.S. would see their power & resolve, & leave them alone.  They did not realize that, in the eyes of the white government, they had issued a challenge that would bring down upon them the entire military might of the U.S.  The opening gambit was the destruction of a column of 108 men, marching from Fort Brooke to Fort King, under the command of Maj. Francis Dade, on Dec. 28, 1835.  For the next seven years, at least one sixth of every graduating class from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point would be posted directly to Florida to fight the Indians.  Over 10,000 regular soldiers, sailors, & Marines, plus 30,000 citizen soldiers, would pass through the Territory & (from 1845) the State.  Twice, in 1842 & 1858, the U.S. would simply withdraw from the conflict, without benefit of treaty.  The terrain & the will favored the Indians.  Manpower &, sometimes, arms, favored the U.S.  Ultimately, only slightly over 3,000 Indian men, women, & children, plus their ex-slave and Freedman dependents, were removed from Florida.  The U.S. believed that the remaining few hundred Indians never would be able to survive.  Once again, they were mistaken.

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War Years: the U.S.

The Wars of Indian Removal in Florida were national, rather than merely regional events.  Americans who early in the war supported forcing the Indians out of the path of white settlement, lost interest as fighting dragged on with no clear victories or defeats.  The cost of the war mounted steadily, with only relatively few prisoners to show for the efforts.  Reports to families from husbands, brothers, & uncles in the field were very mixed.  Some saw the hills, hammocks, & richness of the foliage and thought Florida an Eden.  Most could barely stand it.  One soldier wrote home, “If the Devil owned both Hell and Florida, he would rent out Florida and live in Hell.”  Even the scenic beauty of Fort Brooke could not compensate for the heat, mosquitoes, snakes, & the maddening humidity.  Enlisted men earned only $5 per month.  Desertion was a constant problem.  Besides the Indians & the climate, the terrain was the enemy as well.  Much Florida coastal land was still swamp & dense undergrowth.  Marching quietly & easily was impossible.  Fighting was suspended during the summer “sickly season”, but malaria & dysentery shadowed the soldiers nonetheless.  This situation was only worsened by the fact that the Indians had the distinct advantage of fighting on their own territory.  European linear tactics were of little use against a enemy that appeared & disappeared at will, fighting hit & run style  & melting into the trees and swamps.  U.S. soldiers at Fort Brook were fighting America’s first guerilla war.

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Years of Removal

 The entire U.S. watched the Florida struggle, & the names of the war leaders became household words.  Today, towns, cities, & landmarks across the nation, for example, as well as numerous individuals, are named for Osceola (Asse yahóla) one of the young firebrands of the resistance.  But Micanopy (Mikkó anópí”, Philip, (Emáthla), Billy Bowlegs (Holata mikko), and Sam Jones (Abiáka), were among the more powerful official leaders of the wars.  Micanopy & Philip were captured & sent West in 1838, along with the family of Osceola, who had died in a prison at Fort Moultrie, SC.  Bowlegs, the last to give up, left Tampa bay on the steamer Grey Cloud, bound for New Orleans & on to Indian Territory in 1858.  Old Jumper (Oti emáthla), & the younger warrior Wildcat (Cowacochi) were sent West also.  Jumper died en route, at New Orleans Barracks, but Wildcat lived to increase his fame as a warrior.  Sam Jones, a powerful medicine man & the backbone of the resistance, told the U.S. that he would never give up, as long as he had “A single ball and charge of power.”  When he could no longer shoot, he declared, he would “live on fish” & when his lines were worn out, he would “make others of horse hair” & when his hooks were worn out, he would “cut up his old tin pans & make others.”  Sam Jones & his followers found safety in the Everglades & he died there, true to his word never to give up his fight.  To this day, the Florida Seminoles pass these names down among the warriors’ descendents, & name children with words from the old war-medicine songs.