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Thursday, 24 July 2008 |
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The birth of Black Seminole warrior Abraham is celebrated on June 28 in 1787. He was an African-Native-American soldier and politician. Abraham was born in Georgia and for a time he lived in Pensacola, Florida where he worked as a servant for a physician, Doctor Sierra. Abraham joined the British army under Major Edward Nichols during the War of 1812, who promised freedom to any slave who joined him. Abraham had fled the army of Andrew Jackson and helped build the fort at Prospect Bluff (in Florida). When Nichols and and Upper Creek Chief Joseph Francis set sail for England in 1815 Abraham stayed behind in the Fort, which had become a haven for Africans who had escaped from slavery.
The fort was attacked and destroyed during the first Seminole War (1817-1818); Abraham was one of the few survivors. He made his way to a Suwannee River Town in Flroida. Abraham continued fighting during the first Seminole War and he became known as "Sauanaffe Tustunnagee" (Suwannee Warrior). He lived in an African town in Florida called Pilaklinkaha, or Many Ponds, and was adopted as a member of the Seminole Nation. He became the Prime Minister of the Cowkeeper Dynasty and a chief advisor to Micanopy, principle chief of the Alachua Seminole.
Photo of Seminoles - warrior Abraham and wife Hagan 
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Monday, 07 August 2006 |
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The Seminoles were formed from groups of other Indians. In the early 1700's a group of Creek Indians left their homes in Georgia and moved to north and central Florida. They were joined by other groups of Indians from Georgia, Alabama, and South Carolina. In the mid and late 1700's, still other Indians arrived who spoke a different language, Muskogee. |
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Wednesday, 28 June 2006 |
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Want to learn about the 'Seminoles Tribe of Florida' in today’s news? Read “The Seminole Tribune: Voice of the Unconquered”. See website: http://www.seminoletribe.com/tribune/index.shtml Photo of today’s Seminoles in the news 
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Wednesday, 28 June 2006 |
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"Billy Bowlegs" was O-lac-to-mi-co or "Holato Mico" (circa 1810-circa 1864), a Seminole chief who was part of a ruling Seminole family. Bowlegs met up with Andrew Jackson during the Indian uprisings of the early 1800's. In the 1850's, when the few remaining Florida Seminoles were living peacefully on their own lands in south Florida, 'the old Chieftain' was provoked into war by Colonel Harney's surveying corps. One night Harney's men slipped into Bowleg's thriving banana plantation and hacked the plants to bits. When confronted by the outraged chieftain, the surveyors brazenly admitted to ruining the plantation because they wanted "to see old Billy cut up". The incident led to the Third Seminole War (1855-1858), bringing federal troops and bloodhounds into South Florida. Chief Bowlegs and his war-weary band surrendered on May 7, 1858. Thirty-eight warriors and eighty-five women and children, including Billy's wife, boarded the steamer, Grey Cloud, at Egmont Key to begin their journey to Oklahoma. Bowlegs died soon after his arrival, on April 27, 1859. Photograph of Seminole Chief, Billy Bowlegs 
Excerpts taken from Biography prepared by Gail Clement, Florida International University. |
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Seminole Natives 
