Seminole Indian Tribe
Location
Seminole. Meaning "one who has camped out from the regular
towns," and hence sometimes given as "runaway," but there is too
much onus in this rendering. Prof. H. E. Bolton believes it was
adopted from Spanish cimarron meaning "wild."
Ikanafáskalgi, "people of the point," a Creek name.
Ikaniúksalgi, i'peninsula people," own name.
Isti seminole, "Seminole people."
Lower Creeks, so called by Bartram (1792).
Ungiayó-rono, "peninsula people," Huron name.
Connections
As implied above, the Seminole
removed from the Creek towns and constituted just before the last Seminole War a
fair representation of the population of those towns: perhaps two-thirds Creek
proper or Muskogee, and the remaining third Indians of the Hitchiti-speaking
towns, Alabama, Yamasee, and besides a band of Yuchi, latterly a few of the
original Indian inhabitants of southern Florida.
Location
The Seminole towns were first
planted about Apalachicola River, in and near the old Apalachee country and in
the Alachua country in the central part of the State, although a few were
scattered about Tampa Bay and even well down the east coast as far south as
Miami. They did not enter the Everglade section of the State until toward the
end of the last Seminole War. As a result of that war, the greater part were
removed to the territory now constituting Seminole County, Okla. A few remained
in their old territory and their descendants are there today.
Villages
Ahapopka, near the head of Ocklawaha River.
Ahosulga, 5 miles south of New Mikasuki, perhaps in Jefferson County.
Alachua, near Ledwiths Lake.
Alafiers, probably a synonym for some other town name, perhaps McQueen's
Village, near Alafia River.
Alapaha, probably on the west side of the Suwannee just above its junction
with
the Allapaha.
Alligator, said to be a settlement in Suwannee County.
Alouko, on the east side of St. Marks River 20 miles north of St. Marks.
Apukasasoche, 20 miles west of the head of St. Johns River.
Attapulgas: first location, west of Apalachicola River in Jackson or
Calhoun
Counties; second location inland in Gadsden County.
Beech Creek, exact location unknown.
Big Cypress Swamp, in the "Devil's Garden" on the northern edge of Big
Cypress
Swamp, 15 to 20 miles southwest of Lake Okeechobee.
Big Hammock, north of Tampa Bay.
Bowlegs' Town, chief's name, on Suwannee River and probably known usually
under another name.
Bucker Woman's Town, on Long Swamp east of Big Hammock.
Burges' Town, probably on or near Flint or St. Marys River, southwestern
Georgia.
Calusahatchee, on the river of the same name and probably occupied by
Calusa
Indians.
Capola, east of St. Marks River.
Catfish Lake, on a small lake in Polk County nearly midway between Lake
Pierce and Lake Rosalie, toward the headwaters of Kissimmee River.
Chefixico's Old Town, on the south side of Old Tallahassee Lake, 5 miles
east of
Tallahassee.
Chetuckota, on the west bank of Pease Creek, below Pease Lake, west
central
Florida.
Choconikla, on the west side of Apalachicola River, probably in Jackson County.
Chohalaboohulka, probably identical with Alapaha.
Chukochati, near the hammock of the same name.
Cohowofooche, 23 miles northwest of St. Marks.
Cow Creek, on a stream about 15 miles northeast of the entrance of
Kissimmee
River.
Cuscowilla (see Alachua).
Etanie, west of St. Johns River and east of Black Creek.
Etotulga, 10 miles east of Old Mikasuki.
Fish-eating Creek, 5 miles from a creek emptying into Lake Okeechobee.
Fulemmy's Town, perhaps identical with Beech Creek, Suwannee River.
Hatchcalamocha, near Drum Swamp, 18 miles west of New Mikasuki. Hiamonee,
on the east bank of Ocklocknee River, probably on Lake Iamonia.
Hitchapuksassi, about 20 miles from the head of Tampa Bay and 20 miles
southeast of Chukochati.
Homosassa, probably on Homosassa River.
Iolee, 60 miles above the mouth of Apalachicola River on the west bank at
or near Blountstown.
John Hicks' Town, west of Payne's Savannah.
King Heijah's Town, or Koe Hadjo's Town, consisted of Negro slaves,
probably in
Alachua County.
Lochchiocha, 60 miles east of Apalachicola River and near Ocklocknee
River. Loksachumpa, at the head of St. Johns River.
Lowwalta (probably for
Liwahali), location unknown.
McQueen's Village, on the east side of Tampa Bay, perhaps identical with
Alafiers.
Miami River, about 10 miles north of the site of Fort Dallas, not far from
Biscayne Bay, on Little Miami River.
Mulatto Girl's Town, south of Tuscawilla Lake.
Negro Town, near Withlacoochee River, probably occupied largely by runaway
slaves.
New Mikasuki, 30 miles west of Suwannee River, probably in Madison County.
Notasulgar, location unknown.
Ochisi, at a bluff so called on the east side of Apalachicola River.
Ochupocrassa, near Miami.
Ocilla, at the mouth of Aucilla River on the east side.
Oclackonayahe,
above Tampa Bay.
Oclawaha, on Ocklawaha River, probably in Putnam County.
Oithlakutci, on Little River 40 miles east of Apalachicola River.
Okehumpkee, 60 miles southwest from Volusia.
Oktahatki, 7 miles northeast
of Sampala.
Old Mikasuki, near Miccosukee in Leon County.
Oponays, "back of Tampa Bay," probably in Hillsboro or Polk Counties.
Owassissas, on an eastern branch of St. Marks River and probably near its
head.
Payne's Town, near Koe Hadjo's Town, occupied by Negroes. Picolata,
on the east bank of St. Johns River west of St. Augustine.
Pilaklikaha,
about 120 miles south of Alachua.
Pilatka, on or near the site of Palatka, probably the site of a Seminole
town and
of an earlier town as well. Red Town, at Tampa Bay.
Sampala, 26 miles above the forks of the Apalachicola on the west bank, in
Jackson County, or in Houston County, Ala.
Santa Fe, on the river of the same name, perhaps identical with Washitokha.
Sarasota, at or near Sarasota. Seleuxa, at the head of Aucilla River.
Sitarky, evidently named after a chief, between Camp Izard and Fort King,
West Florida.
Spanawalka, 2 miles below Iolee and on the west bank of Apalachicola
River.
Suwannee, on the west bank of Suwannee River in Lafayette County.
Talakhacha, on the west side of Cape Florida on the seacoast.
Tallahassee,
on the site of present Tallahassee.
Tallahassee or Spring Gardens, 10 miles from Volusia, occupied by Yuchi.
Talofa Okhase, about 30 miles west southwest from the
upper part of Lake George.
Taluachapkoapopka, a short distance west of
upper St. Johns River, probably at the present Apopka.
Tocktoethla, 10 miles above the junction of Chattahoochee and Flint
Rivers.
Tohopki lagi, probably near Miami.
Topananaulka, 3 miles west of New Mikasuki.
Topkegalga, on the east side of Ocklocknee River near Tallahassee.
Totstalahoeetska, on the west side of Tampa Bay.
Tuckagulga, on the east side of Ocklocknee River between it and Hiamonee.
Tuslalahockaka, 10 miles west of Walalecooche.
Wacahoota, location unknown.
Wachitokha, on the east side of Suwannee River between Suwannee and Santa
Fe Rivers.
Wakasassa, on the coast east of the mouth of Suwannee River.
Wasupa, 2 miles from St. Marks River and 18 miles from St. Marks itself.
Wechotookme, location unknown.
Welika, 4 miles east of the Tallahassee town.
Wewoka, at Wewoka, Okla.
Willanoucha, at the head of St. Marks River, perhaps identical with
Alouko.
Withlacoochee, on Withlacoochee River, probably in Citrus or
Sumter County.
Withlako, 4 miles from Clinch's battle ground.
Yalacasooche, at the mouth of Ocklawaha River.
Yulaka, on the west side of St. Johns River, 35 miles from Volusia or
Dexter.
Yumersee, at the head of St. Marks River, 2 miles north of St.
Marks, a settlement of Yamasee. (See
Georgia.)
History
The nucleus of the nation was constituted by a part of
the Oconee, who moved into Florida about 1750 and were gradually followed
by other tribes, principally of the Hitchiti connection. The first true
Muskogee to enter the peninsula were some of the Indians of Lower Eufaula,
who came in 17671 but these were mixed with Hitchiti and others. There was
a second Muskogee immigration in 1778, but after the Creek-American War of
1813-14 a much greater immigration occurred from the Creek Nation, mainly
from the Upper Towns, and as the great majority of the newcomers were
Muskogee, the Seminole became prevailingly a Muskogee people, what is now
called the Seminole language being almost pure Muskogee. Later there were
two wars with the Whites; the first from 1817-18, in which Andrew Jackson
lead the American forces; and the second, from 1835 to 1842, a long and
bitter contest in which the Indians demonstrated to its fullest capacity
the possibilities of guerrilla warfare in a semitropical, swampy country.
Toward the end of the struggle the Indians were forced from northern and
central Florida into the Everglade section of the State. This contest is
particularly noteworthy on account of the personality of Osceola, the
brains of Seminole resistance, whose capture by treachery is an
ineffaceable blot upon all who were connected with it and incidentally
upon the record of the American Army. Diplomacy finally accomplished what
force had failed to effect-the policy put in practice by Worth at the
suggestion of General E. A. Hitchcock. The greater part of the hostile
Indians surrendered and were sent to Oklahoma, where they were later
granted a reservation of their own in the western part of the Creek Nation.
Both the emigrants, who have now been allotted, and the small number who stayed behind in Florida have since had an uneventful history, except for their gradual absorption into the mass of the population, an absorption long delayed in the case of the Florida Seminole
but nonetheless certain.
Population
Before the Creek-American war the
number of Seminole was probably about 2,000; after that date the best estimates
give about 5,000. Exclusive of one census which seems clearly too high, figures
taken after the Seminole war indicate a gradual reduction of Seminole in
Oklahoma from considerably under 4,000 to 2,500 in 1851. A new census, in 1857,
gave 1,907, and after that time little change is indicated though actually the
amount of Indian blood was probably declining steadily. In Florida the figures
were: 370 in 1847, 348 in 1850, 450 in 1893, 565 in 1895, 358 in 1901, 446 in
1911, 600 in 1913, 562 in 1914, 573 in 1919, 586 in 1937. In 1930 there were
1,789 in Oklahoma, 227 in Florida, and 32 scattered in other States.
Connection in which they have become noted
The chief claim of this tribal
confederation to distinction will always be the remarkable war which they
sustained against the American Nation, the losses in men and money which they
occasioned having been out of all proportion to the number of Indians concerned.
The county in Oklahoma where most of the Seminole were sent at the end of the
great war bears their name, as does a county in Florida, and it will always be
associated with the Everglade country, where they made their last stand. Towns
or post villages of the name are in Baldwin County, Ala.; Seminole County,
Okla.; Armstrong County, Pa.; and Gaines County, Tex.
Notes About the Book:
Source: The Indian Tribes of North America, by John R. Swanton, 1953, Bureau of
American Ethnology, Bulletin 145, US Government Printing Office, Washington DC.
Online Publication: The manuscript was scanned and then ocr'd. Minimal editing
has been done, and readers can and should expect some errors in the textual
output.
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