#seminole

The Seminoles occupied good farmlands coveted by the settlers, so they were maneuvered into one treaty after another to restrict them to unwanted land, and to force them ultimately out of the state. There were less than 4,000 of them, including no more than 1,400 warriors, but they refused to move. The seven-year conflicted that resulted was the most costly Indian war ever fought by the United States. Such chiefs such as Osceola, Coacoochie, and Billy Bowlegs won the admiration, if not the mercy, of their foes. After the army withdrew in 1842, the Government, still trying to get the Indians out, harried them into the third Seminole war in 1855. This ended in 1858, leaving only about 150 Indians in Florida, stripped of everything except their independence. They hid in inaccessible, unpopulated areas.