Ocala Marion Florida United States
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The seven Seminole chiefs, after touring the area for several months and conferring with the Creeks who had already been settled in Indian Territory, had signed a statement on March 28, 1833, that the new land was acceptable.
Upon their return to Florida, however, most of the chiefs had renounced the statement, claiming that they had not signed it, or that they had been forced to sign it, and in any case, that they do not have the power to decide for all the tribes and bands that resided on the reservation.
The villages in the area of the Apalachicola River are more easily persuaded, however, and go west in 1834.
Five of the most important of the Seminole chiefs, including Micanopy of the Alachua Seminoles, have not agreed to the move.
In retaliation, Thompson declares that those chiefs are removed from their positions.
As relations with the Seminoles deteriorate, Thompson forbids the sale of guns and ammunition to the Seminoles.
Osceola, a young warrior beginning to be noticed by the whites, is particularly upset by the ban, feeling that it equates Seminoles with slaves and says,
"The white man shall not make me black. I will make the white man red with blood; and then blacken him in the sun and rain ... and the buzzard live upon his flesh."
In spite of this, Thompson considers Osceola to be a friend and gives him a rifle.
Later, though, when Osceola is causing trouble, Thompson has him locked up at Fort King for a night.
The next day, in order to secure his release, Osceola agrees to abide by the Treaty of Payne's Landing and to bring his followers in.
The situation grows worse.
A group of whites searching for lost cattle finds a group of Indians sitting around a campfire on June 19, 1835, cooking the remains of what they claim is one of their herd.
The whites disarm and proceed to whip the Indians, when two more arrive and open fire on the whites.
Three whites are wounded, one Indian is killed, and one wounded, at what becomes known as the skirmish at Hickory Sink.
The Seminoles complain to Indian Agent Thompson.
Receiving no satisfactory response, they become further convinced that they will not receive fair compensations for their complaints of hostile treatment by the settlers.
Private Kinsley Dalton is killed in August 1835 by Seminoles as he is carrying the mail from Fort Brooke to Fort King; his murder is believed to be in response for the incident at Hickory Sink.
Chief Charley Emathla, wanting no part of a war, agrees to removal in November 1835, and sells his cattle at Fort King in preparation for moving his people to Fort Brooke to emigrate to the west.
Other Seminoles, who, months earlier, had declared in council that any Seminole chief who sold his cattle would be sentenced to death, consider this act a betrayal.
Osceola meets Emathla on the trail back to his village and kills him, scattering the money from the cattle purchase across his body.
Florida has begun preparing for war as the realization sinks in that the Seminoles will resist relocation.
Settlers flee to safety as Seminoles attack plantations and a militia wagon train.
Two companies, totaling one hundred and eight men under the command of Major Francis L. Dade, are sent from Fort Brooke to reinforce Fort King.
On December 28, 1835, Seminoles ambush the soldiers and wipe out the command.
Only two soldiers make it back to Fort Brooke, and one dies of his wounds a few days later.
It is the oldest of the University of Florida's four predecessor institutions.
Judah P. Benjamin and Jefferson Davis, in the immediate aftermath of the end of the Civil War, are rumored to have masterminded the assassination of Abraham Lincoln through the Confederate intelligence apparatus.
Fearing that he will not receive a fair trial, Benjamin had burned his papers and is reported to have stayed in Ocala, Florida, with Solomon Benjamin, a relative, before continuing south to...