Originally part of the Creek, the Seminole fled their homeland in present-day Georgia and Alabama when settlers began overtaking their lands in the 1700s.
Along with Indians from other tribes, such as the Yamasee, and some escaped African American slaves, the Seminole formed a new tribe in what is now Florida.
The Seminole strongly opposed the U.S. government’s plan to make them leave the Southeast. Led by the great warrior Osceola, they went to war with the United States to stop their removal. The Seminole battled U.S. troops from 1835 to 1842.
During the years of fighting, the United States succeeded in forcing about 3,000 Seminoles to move west to Indian Territory. But about 500 tribe members, hiding in the Florida swamps, were so resistant that the army finally gave up the fight.
Today, there are two branches of the tribe: one in Oklahoma (formerly Indian Territory) and one in the Seminole’s Florida homeland.
