THE TRIBE OF REUBEN Seminole, Calusa,Muskogee,Creek Indian descent are part of the 12 tribes Part 6
In the so-named Treaty of Payne's Landing, outside Silver Springs, THE CHIEFS AGREED TO SEND SIX SEMINOLE INSPECTORS TO ***OKLAHOMA*** TO CHECK OUT THE PROPOSED SEMINOLE TRIBAL GROUNDS.THE SECOND SEMINOLE WAR
THE INSPECTORS WOULD SIGN THE TREATY OF FORT GIBSON (OKLAHOMA) AFTER THEIR VISIT TO OKLAHOMA. IT IS DOUBTFUL IF THE SEMINOLES FULLY UNDERSTOOD THE FULL EXTENT OF THE TREATY.
IT IS BELIEVED TO THE BRIBING OF INTERPRETERS BY GOVERNMENT AGENTS. THE SEMINOLES WERE GIVEN A TOURIST TOUR OF ONLY THE MOST DESIRABLE AREAS OF THE RESERVATION.
THEY WERE NOT TOLD THEY WOULD SHARE THEIR RESERVATION WITH OTHER TRIBES. NEITHER WERE THE SEMINOLE INSPECTORS INFORMED ABOUT THE SUITABILITY OF THE LAND FOR THEIR CROPS
The older chiefs led by Micanopy accepted the Treaty of Fort Gibson, BUT THE YOUNGER INDIANS BECAME INFURIATED WHEN DETAILS OF THE AGREEMENT BECAME INTERPRETED.
A YOUNG INDIAN NAMED OSCEOLA, RECENTLY ARRIVED FROM THE PANHANDLE AND VOWED TO ORGANIZE THE YOUNGER INDIANS AGAINST THE PLAN.
Although wed to a Seminole, Osceola's mother was Choctaw and HIS FATHER WAS BELIEVED TO BE A WHITE TRADER FROM MOBILE. TRIBAL WEBSITES NOTE THIS FACT.
OSCEOLA KNEW WHITE SOCIETY AND HE KNEW THAT THE TREATY DID NOT EVEN GUARANTEE THAT THE SEMINOLES WOULD NOT HAVE TO SHARE LAND WITH OTHER TRIBES.
OSCEOLA WAS PARTICULARLY INCENSED WHEN HE DISCOVERED THE TREATY INDICATED THAT RUNAWAY SLAVES WHO LIVED WITH THE SEMINOLES, MANY OF THEM INTERMARRIED INTO THE VILLAGES, WOULD BE RETURNED TO SLAVERY EVEN IF IT WERE IMPOSSIBLE TO LOCATE THEIR PREVIOUS OWNERS.
While the older chiefs prepared for travel to Fort Brooke (TAMPA) established for the debarkation by boat to Oklahoma via the Mississippi-Arkansas River systems, OSCEOLA QUICKLY THRUST HIS KNIFE INTO A COPY OF THE TREATY, SHOUTING:
"Am I a Negro slave? My skin is dark, but not black! I am an Indian, a Seminole. The white man shall not make me black. I will make the white man red with blood, and then blacken him in the sun and rain, where the wolf shall gnaw his bones and the buzzard shall live on his flesh."
THE DADE MASSACRE
IN DECEMBER OF 1835 OSCEOLA BEGAN HIS WAR IN DRAMATIC FASHION WHEN HIS MEN AMBUSHED THE NEW INDIAN AGENT GENERAL WILEY THOMPSON, by his office just outside the gates of Fort King (Ocala).
THE SEMINOLES NEXT KILLED CHIEF EMATHIA, WHO WAS HELPING THOMPSON RECRUIT INDIANS TO GO TO FORT BROOKE (TAMPA). The reaction by the United States Government was to send reinforcements even though there were few trained foot soldiers in Florida.
An even more stunning event would occur THE WORST DEFEAT OF U.S. TROOPS TO THE AMERICAN INDIAN OUTSIDE OF THE STUPIDITY OF GEORGE ARMSTRONG CUSTER. MAJOR FRANCIS L. ***DADE*** AND 110 SOLDIERS, many of them untrained artillery soldiers, was ordered from Fort Brooke (Tampa) to bolster forces at Fort King (Ocala).
HALFWAY TO THEIR DESTINATION THEY WERE AMBUSHED BY A LARGE BAND OF SEMINOLES AND THEIR SLAVE ALLIES, at a site where many of the Indians hide in the unlikely spot of a lake bank. Only a few soldiers escaped the attack.
Unfortunately for the Seminoles, the Dade Massacre pressured Northerners in Congress to accept Southern proposals for more troops and equipment. Since the Florida militia could not assure protection to farmers and planters, homesteaders south of Gainesville fled to the safety of the coast.