Editing Seminole Wars (section)

==Second Interbellum==
[[File:Billy bowlegs harpers.jpg|thumb|[[Billy Bowlegs]], 1858]]

Peace had come to Florida. The Indians were mostly staying on the reservation. Groups of ten or so men would visit Tampa to trade. Squatters were moving closer to the reservation, however, and in 1845 President [[James Polk]] established a {{convert|20|mi|km|adj=on}} wide buffer zone around the reservation. No land could be claimed within the buffer zone, no title would be issued for land there, and the [[United States Marshals Service|U.S. Marshal]] would remove squatters from the buffer zone upon request. In 1845, Thomas P. Kennedy, who operated a store at Fort Brooke, converted his fishing station on [[Pine Island (Lee County, Florida)|Pine Island]] into a trading post for the Indians. The post did not do well, however, because whites who sold whiskey to the Indians told them that they would be seized and sent west if they went to Kennedy's store.<ref>Covington. pp. 110–1.</ref>

The Florida authorities continued to press for removal of all Indians from Florida. The Indians for their part tried to limit their contacts with whites as much as possible. In 1846, Captain John T. Sprague was placed in charge of Indian affairs in Florida. He had great difficulty in getting the chiefs to meet with him. They were very distrustful of the Army since it had often seized chiefs while under a flag of truce. He did manage to meet with all of the chiefs in 1847, while investigating a report of a raid on a farm. He reported that the Indians in Florida then consisted of 120 warriors, including seventy Seminoles in [[Billy Bowlegs]]' band, thirty Mikasukis in Sam Jones' band, twelve Creeks (Muscogee speakers) in Chipco's band, 4 Yuchis and 4 Choctaws. He also estimated that there were 100 women and 140 children.<ref>Covington. pp. 112–4.</ref>

===Indian attacks===
Thomas Kennedy, who had been the [[sutler]] at [[Fort Brooke]] during the Second Seminole War, opened a trading post for Seminoles at his fishing station (formerly the [[Fishing ranchos|fishing rancho]] of José María Caldez) on [[Pine Island (Lee County, Florida)|Pine Island]] in September 1845. That trading post was not successful, and when it burned in 1848, Kennedy and his new partner, John Darling, received permission from the Army to open a new trading post on what is now [[Paynes Creek Historic State Park|Paynes Creek]], a tributary of the [[Peace River (Florida)|Peace River]].{{sfn|Covington|1993|pp=111, 114}} At first, Seminoles coming in to trade there were given a quart of whiskey. (Florida law forbade selling whiskey to Indians, and the trading post was their only reliable source of whiskey). George Payne, who been working at the trading post, became the manager with full control in June, and stopped issuing whiskey to the Seminoles.{{sfn|Brown|1991|pp=80–83}} 

One band of Indians was living outside the reservation at this time. Called "outsiders", it consisted of twenty warriors from several different bands, including Muscogees, Mikasukis, Seminoles, and others, led by [[Chipco]]. On 12 July 1849, four members of these outsiders, Holthe Mathla Hadjo, Yahola Hadjo, Panukee, and Kota Eleo Kee (or Cotsa Elee Hadjo),{{refn|group=Note|''Hadjo'' was a Muscogee war title that may be translated as "fearless person".{{Sfn|Fixico|2025|p=73}}}} visited a small community on the [[Indian River (Florida)|Indian River]] just north of [[Fort Pierce, Florida|Fort Pierce]], where they were given food at James Russell's house. After leaving Russell's house, the Seminoles shot and wounded Russell and killed the inspector of customs, William Barker. The town residents fled to a boat in the Indian River, and the Seminoles burned one house and looted two others. The news of this raid caused much of the population of the east coast of Florida to flee to St. Augustine.{{sfn|Covington|1993|pp=114–115}}

Three of the Seminoles who had attacked the settlement on Indian River on July 12, joined by Sahataiyee, showed up at the trading post on the Peace River late in the day on July 17. The Seminoles said that they had a pack of skins on the other side of the river, and asked Payne to help them bring them over. Payne said he would do so after supper. They also asked for the whiskey that they knew had previously been given visiting Seminoles, but Payne refused to give them any. The Seminoles asked to sleep in the store that night, but Payne also refused that request. The Seminoles left the building but remained on the porch, where they again demanded whiskey, and were refused by Payne.{{sfn|Covington|1993|pp=115–116}}{{sfn|Knetsch|Missall|Missall|2019|pp=32–33}}

Payne and his assistant, Dempsey Whidden, went into the store to eat dinner with their clerk, William McCullough, and McCullough's wife Nancy, who was Dempsey Whidden's sister and the cook for the trading post. While they were eating, the Seminoles appeared in the doorway and fired at them. Payne and Whidden were killed, and William McCullough was wounded. Rather than immediately rushing in to kill the McCulloughs, the Seminoles stopped to reload their [[muzzle-loading rifle]]s, which gave the McColloughs time to pick up their infant daughter and escape out the back door of the store. The Seminoles pursued them, and William and Nancy were each wounded in a leg when the Seminoles fired at them, but they found a hiding place and were not discovered by the Seminoles.{{sfn|Brown|1991|pp=83–84}} The Seminoles then looted and burned the trading post. Two days later, the Seminoles attacked the farm house of James Whidden, Dempsey and Nancy's father, wounding another of his children.{{sfn|Knetsch|Missall|Missall|2019|p=34}}

The U.S. Army was not prepared to engage the Indians. It had few men stationed in Florida and no means to move them quickly to where they could protect the white settlers and capture the Indians. The War Department began a new buildup in Florida, placing Major General [[David E. Twiggs]] in command, and the state called up two companies of mounted volunteers to guard settlements. Captain John Casey, who was in charge of the effort to move the Indians west, was able to arrange a meeting between General Twiggs and several of the Indian leaders at [[Charlotte Harbor (estuary)|Charlotte Harbor]]. At that meeting, [[Billy Bowlegs]] promised, with the approval of other leaders, to deliver the five men responsible for the attacks to the Army within thirty days.{{Sfn|Covington|1993|pp=116–8}} On October 18, 1849, Bowlegs delivered three men, Yahola Hadjo, Cotsa Elee Hadjo, and Pahay Hadjo, to Twiggs, along with the severed hand of Hoithle-Machta-Hajo, who had been killed while trying to escape. Sahataiyee had eluded capture. Panukee was not surrendered, but Pahay Hadjo was substituted in his place. The Army tried to turn the three Seminoles over to civilian authorities, but were refused, and they were sent west to [[Indian Territory]] with other Seminoles who had surrendered to the Army.{{sfn|Knetsch|Missall|Missall|2019|p=44}} 

After Bowlegs had delivered the three murderers, General Twiggs told the Indians, much to their dismay, that he had been ordered to remove them from Florida. The government would apply three tactics to carry out the removal. The Army in Florida was increased to 1,500 men. One hundred thousand dollars was appropriated for bribing Indians to move. Finally, a delegation of Seminole chiefs was brought from the Indian Territory to negotiate with their counterparts in Florida. Eventually a Mikasuki sub-chief, Kapiktoosootse, agreed to lead his people west. In February 1850, 74 Indians boarded ship for [[New Orleans]]. They were paid a total of US$15,953 in bribes and compensation for property left behind in Florida. There were a couple of incidents that soured relations after that. A Muskogee and a Mikasuki who had gone in to trade at the same time as Kapiktoosootse and his band were surrendering were involuntarily shipped off to New Orleans with them. Then, in March a mounted detachment of the Seventh Infantry penetrated far in the reservation. As a result, the other Indians broke off contact with the negotiators. By April, Twiggs was reporting to Washington that there was no hope of convincing any more Indians to move.<ref>Covington. pp. 118–21.</ref>

In August 1850, an orphan boy living on a farm in north central Florida was apparently killed by Indians. Eventually enough complaints about the incident had reached Washington to cause the secretary of war to order the surrender of the Indians responsible, or the president would hold the whole tribe responsible. Captain Casey was able to get word to Bowlegs and arrange a meeting in April. Bowlegs promised to deliver the men responsible, although they apparently were members of Chipco's band, over whom Bowlegs had no authority. Chipco decided to surrender three men as the possible killers, and they were arrested when they showed up to trade in Fort Myers. Once in custody, the three protested their innocence, saying that Chipco did not like them and that other men in Chipco's band were the actual killers, and Captain Casey believed them. The three men tried to escape from the jail in Tampa but were caught and chained up in their cell. They were later found hanging from the bars in their cell. One was still alive when found but was not cut down until the next day, after he had died. It was noted in the community that the constable who had chained the three men in their cell was the father-in-law of a brother of one of the men killed at the Kennedy and Darling store in 1849 (the Paynes Creek Massacre).<ref>Covington. pp. 122-3.</ref>

===Further Indian removal===
In 1851, General [[Luther Blake]] was appointed by the Secretary of the Interior [[Thomas McKean Thompson McKennan]] to move the Indians west. Blake had successfully removed the [[Cherokee]] from Georgia and was presumed capable of the task of removing the Seminole. He had funding to pay every adult male $800 and every woman and child $450. He went to the Indian Territory to find interpreters and returned to Florida in March 1852. Traveling into the field to meet with all of the Indian leaders, by July he had found sixteen Seminole to send west. Finding [[Billy Bowlegs]] insistent on staying in Florida, Blake took Bowlegs and several other chiefs to Washington. President [[Millard Fillmore]] presented Bowlegs with a medal, and he and three other chiefs were persuaded to sign an agreement promising to leave Florida. The chiefs were taken on a tour that included [[Baltimore]], [[Philadelphia]] and New York City. Upon returning to Florida, the chiefs repudiated the agreement they had signed in Washington. Blake was fired in 1853, and Captain Casey was put back in charge of Indian removal.<ref>Covington. pp. 123–6.</ref>

In January 1851, the Florida Legislature created the position of commander of the Florida Militia, and Governor [[Thomas Brown (Florida politician)|Thomas Brown]] appointed General Benjamin Hopkins to it in January 1853 after the Seminole refused to appear for a meeting in Washington.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=New-York Daily Times |title=The Seminoles: Action of the Legislature of Florida |date=26 January 1853 |page=6 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1853/01/26/75351987.html?pageNumber=6 |access-date=12 November 2022 |url-access=subscription |archive-date=13 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230213100533/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1853/01/26/75351987.html?pageNumber=6 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Florida Militia pursued Seminole who were outside the reservation boundaries. In the period prior to the Third Seminole War, the militia captured one man and a few women, and 140 hogs. One Seminole woman elder committed suicide while being held by the militia, after the rest of her family had escaped. The whole operation cost the state US$40,000.<ref>Covington. p. 126.</ref>

Pressure from Florida officials pushed the federal government to take action. Captain Casey continued to try to persuade the Seminole to move west without success. He sent Billy Bowlegs and others to Washington again, but the chiefs refused to agree to move. In August 1854, Secretary of War [[Jefferson Davis]] initiated a program to force the Seminole into a final conflict. The plan included a trade embargo against them, the survey and sale of land in southern Florida to European-American settlers, and a stronger Army presence to protect the new settlers. Davis said that if the Seminole did not agree to leave, the Army would use force.<ref>Covington. pp. 126–7.</ref>