The Black Hawk and Seminole Wars
Digital History ID 688

Author:   Introduction
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Annotation: The removal policy led to violence in the Old Northwest and in Florida. In 1829, the Fox and Sauk were removed to Iowa from their farms in northern Illinois. When a number of these people returned in 1832 to harvest their crops, the Black Hawk war erupted, named after a Sauk leader. The four month long conflict resulted in the deaths of some 70 white settlers and soldiers and between 400 and 500 Indians.

When the Seminoles were informed in 1835 that they must move from Florida to lands west of the Mississippi, or be forcibly removed, a faction led by Osceola (1800?-1838) refused to emigrate. A war erupted, which would last until 1842, and cost the United States approximately $30 million and 3,000 casualties. The conflict pitted a 10,000 man American force against about 1,000 Seminole warriors. The war's key event took place in the summer of 1837, when the Seminole leader was captured while attending a conference under a flag of truce. He died a prisoner in 1838.