Note p. 289 n. 1 — INDEX.

[165] This war, which originated in the attempt of the general government to transfer the Florida Indians beyond the Mississippi River, lasted seven years (1835–1842), and cost many lives and millions of dollars. It was easy to disperse the savages in open fight, but when they took to the swamps, soldiers were almost useless, and the best generals tried their skill in vain. Finally, after much damage had been done by the banditti, so that immigration into Florida was greatly checked, the policy of giving lands to settlers who would carry arms to defend themselves was tried successfully. The leading spirit of the Seminoles was Osceola, an able warrior, who was finally captured while he was holding a conference under a flag of truce. It was asserted that he did not respect his own engagements, and that this was the only way to take him, but one does not like to dwell upon the occurrence. Shortly before, an Indian war, known as the Black Hawk War, from the name of the chief of the Sac and Fox tribes who conducted it, had been brought to a conclusion after a considerable amount of fighting. This war, like that with the Seminoles, was due to the efforts of the government to remove across the Mississippi the tribes lingering in Illinois and Wisconsin. Some of the Indians went peaceably, but Black Hawk, who had previously come under the influence of Tecumseh, induced many warriors to resist. Finally, in the summer of 1832, the regular troops of the United States defeated them on the Wisconsin and the Bad Axe rivers, and Black Hawk and his two sons, with a few warriors, were taken to Fortress Monroe and there confined for a short period.