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Chief Osceola
(1804-1838)
Warriors Citation
BORN: 1804 DIED: JANUARY 20th, 1838 at 34 years of age. The leader of the Seminole Indians in their second war against the
United States was Chief Osceola. He was born in 1804 along the Tallapoosa River in Georgia. When he was 4 years old his family
moved to Florida. As a boy he may have fought against Andrew Jackson in the First Seminole War, although this has never been
proven. In 1832 some Seminole chiefs signed a treaty that called for them to move to Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma.
Oscola and other young Seminoles opposed the move.
In 1835 the Indian agent Wiley Thompson called a council at Fort Gibson. Some of the chiefs agreed to move. But Osceola rose
and plunged his dagger through the new treaty. He said, "This is the only treaty I will make with the whites!" He was then
imprisoned. Later he pretended to favor the move and was released. In December the conflict began. Osceola knew that the Indians
were no match for the white soldiers in open battle, so he led the Seminoles deep into the Everglades. From there he led the
Seminole braves in fierce raids on the white soldiers and settlers. The American public criticized the conduct of the war,
and finally General T.S. Jesup was given 8,000 men to end it. Some of the Seminole chiefs had given many braves as hostages
for the move to Indian Territory. In June 1837 Osceola, with 200 warriors, liberated them and other Native Americans held
by the Army. In October Osceola came under a flag of truce to confer with a subordinate of Jesup's. Jesup had ordered him
seized. Oscola was imprisoned first at St. Augustine, and later in Fort Moultrie in Charleston, South Carolina. He died on
January 20, 1838, and was buried with full military honors. The war dragged on until 1858 when most of the Seminole tribe
were either killed, surrendered, or were moved to the West. From: historical accounts & records
LINK TO BRAVEHORSE WARRIORS VOLUME TWO
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