Editing Seminole Wars (section)

===Treaty of Payne's Landing===
{{main|Treaty of Payne's Landing}}
In the spring of 1832, the Seminoles on the reservation were called to a meeting at Payne's Landing on the [[Oklawaha River]]. The treaty negotiated there called for the Seminoles to move west, if the land were found to be suitable. They were to settle on the Creek reservation and become part of the Creek tribe. The delegation of seven chiefs who were to inspect the new reservation did not leave Florida until October 1832. After touring the area for several months and conferring with the Creeks who had already been settled there, the seven chiefs signed a statement on 28 March 1833, that the new land was acceptable. Upon their return to Florida, however, most of the chiefs 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 did not have the power to decide for all the tribes and bands that resided on the reservation.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.seminolenationmuseum.org/history/seminole-nation/the-seminole-wars/ |title=The Seminole Wars – Seminole Nation Museum |website=www.seminolenationmuseum.org |language=en |access-date=3 August 2017 |archive-date=23 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211123203445/https://www.seminolenationmuseum.org/history/seminole-nation/the-seminole-wars/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> The villages in the area of the Apalachicola River were more easily persuaded, however, and went west in 1834.<ref>Missall. pp. 83–85.</ref>

[[File:Osceola.jpg|thumb|left|[[Osceola]], Seminole leader]]

The [[United States Senate]] finally ratified the [[Treaty of Payne's Landing]] in April 1834. The treaty had given the Seminoles three years to move west of the Mississippi. The government interpreted the three years as starting 1832 and expected the Seminoles to move in 1835. Fort King was reopened in 1834. A new Seminole agent, Wiley Thompson, had been appointed in 1834, and the task of persuading the Seminoles to move fell to him. He called the chiefs together at Fort King in October 1834 to talk to them about the removal to the west. The Seminoles informed Thompson that they had no intention of moving and that they did not feel bound by the Treaty of Payne's Landing. Thompson then requested reinforcements for Fort King and Fort Brooke, reporting that, "the Indians after they had received the Annuity, purchased an unusually large quantity of Powder & Lead." General Clinch also warned Washington that the Seminoles did not intend to move and that more troops would be needed to force them to move. In March 1835, Thompson called the chiefs together to read a letter from Andrew Jackson to them. In his letter, Jackson said, "Should you ... refuse to move, I have then directed the Commanding officer to remove you by force." The chiefs asked for thirty days to respond. A month later, the Seminole chiefs told Thompson that they would not move west. Thompson and the chiefs began arguing, and General Clinch had to intervene to prevent bloodshed. Eventually, eight of the chiefs agreed to move west but asked to delay the move until the end of the year, and Thompson and Clinch agreed.<ref>Missall. pp. 86–90.</ref>

Five of the most important of the Seminole chiefs, including [[Micanopy]] of the Alachua Seminoles, had not agreed to the move. In retaliation, Thompson declared that those chiefs were removed from their positions. As relations with the Seminoles deteriorated, Thompson forbade the sale of guns and ammunition to the Seminoles. [[Osceola]], a young warrior beginning to be noticed particularly by the [[White Americans|white]] [[settler]]s, was particularly upset by the ban, feeling that it equated Seminoles with slaves and said, "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 considered Osceola to be a friend and gave him a rifle. Later, though, when Osceola was causing trouble, Thompson had him locked up at Fort King for a night. The next day, in order to secure his release, Osceola agreed to abide by the Treaty of Payne's Landing and to bring his followers in.<ref>Missall. pp. 90–91.</ref>

The situation grew worse. On 19 June 1835, a group of whites searching for lost cattle found a group of Indians sitting around a campfire cooking the remains of what they claimed was one of their herd. The whites disarmed and proceeded to whip the Indians, when two more arrived and opened fire on the whites. Three whites were wounded, and one Indian was killed and one wounded, at what became known as the skirmish at Hickory Sink. After complaining to Indian Agent Thompson and not receiving a satisfactory response, the Seminoles became further convinced that they would not receive fair compensations for their complaints of hostile treatment by the settlers. Believed to be in response for the incident at Hickory Sink, in August 1835, Private Kinsley Dalton (for whom [[Dalton, Georgia]], is named) was killed by Seminoles as he was carrying the mail from Fort Brooke to Fort King.<ref>Tebeau. p. 158</ref>

Throughout the summer of 1835, the Seminole who had agreed to leave Florida were gathered at Fort King, as well as other military posts. From these gathering places, they would be sent to Tampa Bay where transports would then take them to New Orleans, destined eventually for reservations out west. However, the Seminole ran into issues getting fair prices for the property they needed to sell (chiefly livestock and slaves). Furthermore, there were issues with furnishing the Seminole with proper clothing. These issues led many Seminoles to think twice about leaving Florida.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Patrick |first1=Rembert W. |title=Aristocrat in Uniform |date=1963 |publisher=University of Florida Press |location=Gainesville, FL |page=87 }}</ref>

In November 1835 Chief Charley Emathla, wanting no part of a war, agreed to removal and sold his cattle at Fort King in preparation for moving his people to Fort Brooke to emigrate to the west. This act was considered a betrayal by other Seminoles who months earlier declared in council that any Seminole chief who sold his cattle would be sentenced to death. Osceola met Charley Emathla on the trail back to his village and killed him, scattering the money from the cattle purchase across his body.<ref>Missall. pp. 91–92.</ref>