Editing Muscogee (section)

===Seminole War===
The Red Stick refugees who arrived in Florida after the [[Creek War]] tripled the Seminole population, and strengthened the tribe's Muscogee characteristics.<ref>Merwyn Garbarino, ''The Seminole'' p. 40</ref> In 1814, British forces landed in [[West Florida]] and began arming the Seminoles. The British had built a strong fort on the [[Apalachicola River]] at [[Prospect Bluff Historic Sites|Prospect Bluff]], and in 1815, after the end of the [[War of 1812]], offered it, with all its ordnance ([[musket]]s, cannons, powder, shot, cannonballs) to the locals: Seminoles and [[Maroon (people)|maroon]]s (escaped slaves). A few hundred maroons constituted a uniformed [[Corps of Colonial Marines]], who had had military training, however rudimentary, and discipline (but whose English officers had departed). The Seminole only wanted to return to their villages, so the maroons became owners of the Fort. It soon came to be called the '[[Negro Fort]]' by Southern planters, and it was widely known among enslaved blacks by word of mouth – a place nearby where blacks were free and had guns, as in [[Haiti]]. The white pro-slave holding planters correctly felt its simple existence inspired escape or rebellion by the oppressed African-Americans, and they complained to the US government. The maroons had not received training in how to aim the Fort's cannons. After notifying the Spanish governor, who had very limited resources, and who said he had no orders to take action, U.S. General [[Andrew Jackson]] quickly destroyed the Fort, in a famous and picturesque, though tragic, incident in 1816 that has been called "the deadliest cannon shot in American history"<ref name="ESH2018">{{cite web|author1=Administrative staff|title=The Deadliest Cannon Shot in American History (July 27, 1816)|url=http://exploresouthernhistory.com/mobile/2016/07/27/destruction/|website=Explore Southern History|publisher=Old Kitchen Media|access-date=May 15, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170914045854/http://exploresouthernhistory.com/mobile/2016/07/27/destruction/|archive-date=September 14, 2017|date=July 27, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> (see [[Battle of Negro Fort]]).

The Seminole continued to welcome fugitive black slaves and raid American settlers, leading the U.S. to declare war in 1817. The following year, General [[Andrew Jackson]] invaded Florida with an army that included more than 1,000 Lower Creek warriors; they destroyed Seminole towns and captured [[Pensacola]]. Jackson's victory forced Spain to sign the [[Adams–Onís Treaty]] in 1819, ceding Florida to the U.S. In 1823, a delegation of Seminole chiefs met with the new U.S. governor of Florida, expressing their opposition to proposals that would reunite them with the Upper and Lower Creek, partly because the latter tribes intended to enslave the [[Black Seminole]]s. Instead, the Seminoles agreed to move onto a reservation in inland central Florida.