The Wild Wild West in the Deep South ― The Second Seminole War

From 1835 to 1842 the United States was engaged in the longest and costliest of all American Indian Wars in history – the Second Seminole War. The Second Seminole War pitted one of the bravest and most valiant of all Native American Tribes – the Seminoles – against the United States government, which was rapidly expanding into Florida. At the time, Florida was a long way from being the retirement and vacation hotspot that it is today, but was instead more like the “wild west” of the late nineteenth century as American settlers and Seminoles fought each other over prime farmland. Florida’s history goes back well before the American Revolutionary War; the Spanish built the city of Saint Augustine on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean in the sixteenth century, which makes it the oldest city in the United States. After the United States acquired Florida from Spain in the early nineteenth century, the territory was inundated a by an influx of American settlers who clashed with the Seminoles, which eventually led to one of the greatest Indian wars in American history. Open the pages of this book and you will quickly find yourself in the middle of an epic war that was carried out by some incredible personalities. Ride with General Zachary Taylor as he chases the Seminoles into the Everglades and sit with Chief Osceola as he tells his people great Native American tales in order to inspire them in battle. Upon reading this book you will find that the Second Seminole War was not only an example of an epic Native American war, as it spanned the entire territory and took place for nearly seven years, but it was also a national tragedy. Truly the Second Seminole War played in integral role in Native American History in early nineteenth century America in terms of Indian removal, but has since become an important part of every American’s history.