Black Seminoles

Black Seminoles, a group of free blacks and runaway slaves (maroons) that joined forces with the Seminole Indians in Florida from approximately 1700 through the 1850s. The Black Seminoles were celebrated for their bravery and tenacity during the three Seminole Wars.

The Native American Seminoles living in Florida were not one tribe but many. They spoke a variety of Muskogean languages and had formed an alliance to prevent European settlers from expanding into their homelands. The word they used to describe themselves—Seminole—is derived from a Creek word meaning “separatist” or “runaway.” Because slavery had been abolished in 1693 in Spanish Florida, that territory became a safe haven for runaway slaves. Throughout the 18th century, many free blacks and runaway slaves went to Florida and lived in harmony with the Seminoles. Their proximity to and resulting collaboration with the Seminoles led students of the group to refer to them as Black Indians, Black Seminoles, and eventually—especially among scholars—Seminole Maroons, or Seminole Freedmen.

Most Black Seminoles lived separately from the Indians in their own villages, although the two groups intermarried to some extent, and some Black Seminoles adopted Indian customs. Both groups wore similar dress, ate similar foods, and lived in similar houses. Both groups worked the land communally and shared the harvest. The Black Seminoles, however, practiced a religion that was a blend of African and Christian rituals, to which traditional Seminole Indian dances were added, and their language was an English Creole similar to Gullah and sometimes called Afro-Seminole Creole. Some of their leaders who were fluent speakers of Creek were readily admitted to Seminole society, but most remained separate.

There are a number of references, beginning in the late 18th century, to Seminole “slaves.” However, slavery among the Seminole Indians was quite different from what was practiced in the slave states to the north of Florida. It had nothing to do with ownership or free labour. The only real consequence of the status of Black Seminoles as “slaves” was that they paid an annual tribute to the Seminole Indians in the form of a percentage of their harvest.

The Black Seminoles were relatively prosperous and content. They farmed, hunted wild game, and amassed significant wealth. Many black men joined the Seminole Indians as warriors when their land or freedom was threatened. Others served as translators, helping the Seminoles understand not only the language but also the culture of Euro-Americans.

That cooperation endured only through the Seminole Wars of the first half of the 19th century. Euro-American settlers wanted the rich land occupied by the Seminoles, and Southern slaveholders were unnerved by free blacks who were armed and ready to fight and living just over the border from slave states. Between 1812 and 1858, U.S. forces fought several skirmishes and three wars against the Seminoles and the maroon communities.

The Black Seminoles were recognized for their aggressive military prowess during the First Seminole War (1817–18). That conflict began when General Andrew Jackson and U.S. troops invaded Florida, destroying African American and Indian towns and villages. Jackson ultimately captured the Spanish settlement of Pensacola, and the Spanish ceded Florida to the United States in 1821. About that time, some Black Seminoles chose to leave Florida for Andros Island, in the Bahamas, where a remnant of the Black Seminoles still remains, although they no longer identify themselves as such.

In 1830 the federal government enacted the Indian Removal Act, which stated the government’s intent to move the Seminoles from the southeast portion of the United States to Indian Territory in what is now Oklahoma. That event led to renewed conflict.

In the Second Seminole War (1835–42), Black Seminoles took the lead in stirring up resistance. Although some bands of Seminoles had signed a treaty agreeing to the move, they did not represent the whole body of Seminoles. When the time came to leave, they resisted and fought an impassioned guerrilla war against the U.S. Army. Once again, during that conflict, Black Seminoles proved to be both leaders and courageous fighters. Often cited as the fiercest conflict ever fought between the United States and Indians, the Second Seminole War dragged on for seven years and cost the U.S. government more than $20 million. By 1845, however, most Seminoles and Black Seminoles had been resettled in Oklahoma, where they came under the rule of the Creek Indians.

Although both groups were subjugated by the Creeks, life was much worse for the Black Seminoles, and many left the reservation for Coahuila, Mexico, in 1849, led by John Horse, also known as Juan Caballo. In Mexico the Black Seminoles (known there as Mascogos) worked as border guards protecting their adopted country from attacks by slave raiders. The Third Seminole War erupted in Florida in 1855 as a result of land disputes between whites and the few remaining Seminoles there. At the end of that war, in 1858, fewer than 200 Seminoles remained in Florida.

When slavery finally ended in the United States, Black Seminoles were tempted to leave Mexico. In 1870 the U.S. government offered them money and land to return to the United States and work as scouts for the army. Many did return and serve as scouts, but the government never made good on its promise of land. Small communities of descendants of the Black Seminoles continue to live in Texas, Oklahoma, and Mexico.