today on the ancestral findings podcast
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the seminal wars played an important part in the american settlement of florida
these wars were three wars fought in florida between the seminal nation the name for a diverse
group of native americans and african americans who settled in florida in the early 1800s
and the united states the u.s army was primarily used to fight these wars though sometimes american
settlers got caught up in the conflicts while these wars didn't get much attention in history
books they are collectively the largest conflict in the united states between the war of 1812 and
the military and the most expensive in u.s history the first seminal war was fought from 1816 to 1819
it was a result of tensions between americans and the seminoles that grew out of andrew jackson's
military forays into spanish-owned northern florida britain and spain complained about the
american invasion into spanish territory but spain ultimately gave the land to the united states
in 1819 any seminoles in north florida were required to move further south into the state
as a result of this war the second seminal war started in 1835 and lasted to 1842 this
war began because of the united states attempt to make the seminoles leave florida all together
the seminoles had previously agreed to do this in a treaty they signed in 1832 but they later
claimed they were under duress when they signed and the treaty should be invalid
the seminoles did not have the superior numbers of weaponry in the us army so they used guerrilla
warfare tactics in this war this was the first seminal war in which civilians on both sides were
routinely massacred by the other side most of the seminoles in florida were killed during this war
or forced to move to a reservation in oklahoma a few hundred were allowed to remain on an
unofficial reservation down near the florida everglades in the southern part of the state
the third seminal war lasted from 1855 to 1858 this war came about because the
seminoles that remained in florida objected to american settlers moving into their land
this war had no major battles and was mostly made up of skirmishes on both sides
raids and reprisals were the most common battle tactic from both seminoles and americans
eventually most of the seminoles who were still in florida got tired of the wars
and since their villages and crops were mostly raised in the wars
agreed to go to oklahoma in exchange for safe passage and american money paid to their chiefs
about 100 seminoles refused to leave florida and moved deep into the everglades where
they knew they would be left alone as the american settlers did not want that land
if you have a relative who you believe fought in the seminal wars or who you know did and want
more information on them the national archives in washington dc has military records for u.s
army personnel who fought and you can often order pension or service records by doing a
little research on the archives website to get the catalog number of the record group you need
you can also sometimes find these military records online
on fold3.com if you have a paid subscription to the site thanks for listening to the ancestral
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