Seminole Wars

Conflicts between US forces and American Indian tribes over land use. The Seminoles (‘runaways’) were Creek Indians who took refuge in Florida. In 1818, two years of sporadic fighting were ended when General Andrew Jackson cleared Seminole Indians from the Georgia–Alabama border and eastern Florida and, without explicit orders, occupied Spanish territory in Florida. The occupation strengthened the government's hand in negotiations with Spain, who ceded Florida to the USA in 1819.

In 1835 the second Seminole War began when Seminoles refused evacuation from Florida to the Great Plains, in line with the 1830 Indian Removal Act. Guerrilla war in the Everglades continued until 1842, although the Seminole cause was seriously damaged when their leader Osceola was taken prisoner under a flag of truce in 1837.