Editing Seminole Wars (section)

==Background==
===Colonial Florida===
====Decline of indigenous cultures====
The original [[indigenous peoples of Florida]] declined significantly in number after the arrival of European explorers in the early 1500s, mainly because the Native Americans had little resistance to diseases newly introduced from Europe. [[Spain|Spanish]] suppression of native revolts further reduced the population in northern Florida until the early 1600s, at which time the establishment of a series of [[Spanish missions in Florida|Spanish missions]] improved relations and stabilized the population.<ref name="lord">{{cite book |last=Milanich |first=Jerald T. |title=Laboring in the Fields of the Lord: Spanish Missions and Southeastern Indians |year=2006 |publisher=University Press of Florida |location=Gainesville, Florida |isbn=0-8130-2966-X |pages=187–8, 191, 195 }}</ref><ref name="missions">{{cite book |last1=Mcewan |first1=Bonnie G. |title=The Spanish missions of La Florida |date=1993 |publisher=University Press of Florida |location=Gainesville |isbn=0813012325 }}</ref>

Beginning in the late-17th century, raids by British settlers from the [[Province of Carolina|colony of Carolina]] and their Indian allies began another steep decline in the indigenous population. By 1707, settlers based in Carolina and their [[Yamasee|Yamasee Indian]] allies had killed, carried off, or driven away most of the remaining native inhabitants during a series of raids across the Florida panhandle and down the full length of the peninsula. In the first decade of the 18th century. 10,000–12,000 Indians were taken as slaves according to the governor of La Florida and by 1710, observers noted that north Florida was virtually depopulated. The Spanish missions all closed, as without natives, there was nothing for them to do. The few remaining natives fled west to [[Pensacola, Florida|Pensacola]] and beyond or east to the vicinity of [[St. Augustine, Florida|St. Augustine]]. When Spain ceded Florida to [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] as part of the [[Treaty of Paris (1763)|Treaty of Paris]] in 1763, the majority of Florida's Indians travelled with the Spanish to [[Captaincy General of Cuba|Cuba]] or [[New Spain]].<ref name="lord"/><ref name="Timucua">{{Cite book |last=Milanich |first=Jerald T. |year=1999 |title=The Timucua |publisher=Blackwell Publishers |location=Oxford, UK |isbn=0-631-21864-5 |pages=209–213 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Horwitz |first=Tony |title=Apalachee Tribe, Missing for Centuries, Comes out of Hiding |url=http://www.weyanoke.org/doc/WSJ-ApalacheeTribe.doc |access-date=23 October 2011 |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |date=9 March 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161106175341/http://www.weyanoke.org/doc/WSJ-ApalacheeTribe.doc |archive-date=6 November 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

====Origin of the Seminoles====
During the mid-1700s, small bands from various Native American tribes from the [[southeastern United States]] began moving into the unoccupied lands of Florida. In 1715, the [[Yamasee]] moved into Florida as allies of the Spanish, after conflicts with colonists from the [[Province of Carolina]]. [[Creek people]], at first primarily the [[Lower Creek]] but later including [[Upper Creek]], also started moving into Florida from the area of Georgia. The [[Mikasuki]], ''[[Hitchiti]]''-speakers, settled around what is now [[Lake Miccosukee]] near [[Tallahassee, Florida|Tallahassee]]. (Descendants of this group have maintained a separate tribal identity as today's [[Miccosukee]].)

Another group of Hitchiti speakers, led by [[Cowkeeper]], settled in what is now [[Alachua County, Florida|Alachua County]], an area where the Spanish had maintained cattle ranches in the 17th century. Because one of the best-known ranches was called ''[[La Chua ranch|la Chua]]'', the region became known as the "[[Paynes Prairie|Alachua Prairie]]". The Spanish in Saint Augustine began calling the Alachua Creek ''Cimarrones'', which roughly meant "wild ones" or "runaways". This was the probable origin of the term "Seminole".<ref>The Alachua Seminoles retained a separate identity at least through the Third Seminole War. Cowkeeper was succeeded by his nephew [[King Payne|Payne]] in 1784. Payne was killed in an attack on the Seminole by the Georgia militia in 1812. His brother [[Bolek|Billy Bowlegs]] (the first of that name) took most of the band to the Suwannee River. Disturbed by Andrew Jackson's campaign in 1818, the Alachua Seminole moved into central Florida. After the death of Bowlegs in 1821, his nephew [[Micanopy]] succeeded him. After he was captured and sent west, his nephew [[Billy Bowlegs]] (''Holata Micco'') led the remnants of the Seminole until his surrender in 1858. Weisman. pp. 22–24. Covington. p. 143.</ref><ref>[[Maroon (people)|Maroon]], the name for fugitive slaves in a number of locations throughout the [[Americas]], is also probably derived from the Spanish ''Cimarrones''.</ref>  This name was eventually applied to the other groups in Florida, although the Indians still regarded themselves as members of different tribes. Other Native American groups in Florida during the Seminole Wars included the [[Choctaw]], [[Yuchi]], [[Spanish Indians]] (so called because it was believed that they were descended from [[Calusa]]s), and "rancho Indians", who lived at Spanish/Cuban [[Fishing ranchos|fishing camps (ranchos)]] on the Florida coast.<ref>Missall. pp. 4–7, 128.<br />Knetsch. p. 13.<br />Buker. pp. 9–10.</ref>

In 1738, the Spanish governor of Florida, Manuel de Montiano, had [[Fort Mose]] built and established as a free Black settlement. [[Fugitive slaves in the United States|Fugitive African and African American slaves]] who could reach the fort were essentially free. Many were from Pensacola; some were free citizens, though others had escaped from United States territory. The Spanish offered the slaves freedom and land in Florida. They recruited former slaves as militia to help defend Pensacola and Fort Mose. Other fugitive slaves joined Seminole bands as free members of the tribe.

Most of the former slaves at Fort Mose went to Cuba with the Spanish when they left Florida in 1763, while others lived with or near various bands of Indians. Fugitive slaves from the Carolinas and Georgia continued to make their way to Florida, as the [[Underground Railroad]] ran south. The Blacks who stayed with or later joined the Seminoles became integrated into the tribes, learning the languages, adopting the dress, and inter-marrying. The blacks knew how to farm and served as interpreters between the Seminole and the whites. Some of the [[Black Seminoles]], as they were called, became important tribal leaders.<ref>Missall. pp. 10–12.</ref>

===Early conflict===

During the [[American Revolutionary War]], the British, who controlled Florida, recruited Seminoles to raid Patriot-aligned settlements on the Georgia frontier. The confusion of war allowed American slaves to escape to Florida, where local British authorities promised them their freedom for in exchange for military service. These events made the new United States enemies of the Seminoles. In 1783, as part of the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)|treaty]] ending the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]], Florida, was returned to Spain. Spain's grip on Florida was light, as it maintained only small [[garrison]]s at St. Augustine, [[St. Marks, Florida|St. Marks]] and [[Pensacola, Florida|Pensacola]]. They did not control the border between Florida and the United States and were unable to act against the [[State of Muskogee]] established in 1799, envisioned as a single nation of American Indians independent of both Spain and the United States, until 1803 when both nations conspired to entrap its founder. Mikasukis and other Seminole groups still occupied towns on the United States side of the border, while American [[squatter]]s moved into Spanish Florida.<ref>Missall. pp. 12–13, 18</ref>

The British had divided Florida into [[East Florida]] and [[West Florida]] in 1763, a division retained by the Spanish when they regained Florida in 1783. West Florida extended from the [[Apalachicola River]] to the [[Mississippi River]]. Together with their possession of [[Louisiana (New France)|Louisiana]], the Spanish controlled the lower reaches of all of the rivers draining the United States west of the [[Appalachian Mountains]]. It prohibited the US from transport and trade on the lower Mississippi. In addition to its desire to expand west of the mountains, the United States wanted to acquire Florida. It wanted to gain free commerce on western rivers, and to prevent Florida from being used a base for possible invasion of the U.S. by a European country.<ref>Missall. pp. 13, 15–18.</ref>

===The Louisiana Purchase===
In order to obtain a port on the Gulf of Mexico with secure access for Americans, United States diplomats in Europe were instructed to try to purchase the Isle of Orleans and West Florida from whichever country owned them. When [[Robert R. Livingston (chancellor)|Robert Livingston]] approached France in 1803 about buying the Isle of Orleans, the French government offered to sell it and all of Louisiana as well. While the purchase of Louisiana exceeded their authorization, Livingston and [[James Monroe]] (who had been sent to help him negotiate the sale) in the deliberations with France pursued a claim that the area east of the Mississippi to the [[Perdido River]] was part of Louisiana.  As part of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase treaty, France repeated verbatim Article 3 of its 1800 treaty with Spain, thus expressly subrogating the United States to the rights of France and Spain.<ref name="Curry">{{cite journal |journal=Magazine of American History |title=The Acquisition of Florida |first=J. L. M. |last=Curry |pages=286–301 |volume=XIX |date=April 1888 }}</ref><sup>p.&nbsp;288–291</sup>

The ambiguity in this third article lent itself to the purpose of U.S. envoy James Monroe, although he had to adopt an interpretation that France had not asserted, nor Spain allowed.<ref name="Cox"/><sup>p 83</sup> Monroe examined each clause of the third article and interpreted the first clause as if Spain since 1783 had considered West Florida as part of Louisiana. The second clause only served to render the first clause clearer. The third clause referred to the treaties of 1783 and 1795 and was designed to safeguard the rights of the United States. This clause then simply gave effect to the others.<ref name="Cox"/><sup>p 84–85</sup>  According to Monroe, France never dismembered Louisiana while it was in her possession. (He regarded 3 November 1762, as the termination date of French possession, rather than 1769, when France formally delivered Louisiana to Spain).

President Thomas Jefferson had initially believed that the [[Louisiana Purchase]] included West Florida and gave the United States a strong claim to Texas.<ref>Stagg. p 40–41</ref>  President Jefferson asked U.S. officials in the border area for advice on the limits of Louisiana, the best informed of whom did not believe it included West Florida.<ref name="Cox">{{cite book |title=The West Florida Controversy, 1798–1813 – a Study in American Diplomacy |author=[[Isaac Joslin Cox|Cox, Isaac Joslin]] |publisher=The Johns Hopkins Press |location=Baltimore, Maryland |date=1918 |url=https://archive.org/details/westfloridacont01coxgoog |quote=isaac cox west florida. }}</ref><sup>p 87-88</sup> Later, in an 1809 letter, Jefferson virtually admitted that West Florida was not a possession of the United States.<ref name="Chambers"/><sup>p 46–47</sup>

During his negotiations with France, U.S. envoy [[Robert R. Livingston (chancellor)|Robert Livingston]] wrote nine reports to Madison in which he stated that West Florida was not in the possession of France.<ref name=" Chambers">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/westfloridaitsre00cham |title=West Florida and its relation to the historical cartography of the United States |first=Henry E. |last=Chambers |publisher=The Johns Hopkins Press |location=Baltimore, Maryland |date=May 1898 }}</ref><sup>p 43–44</sup> In November 1804, in response to Livingston, France declared the American claim to West Florida absolutely unfounded.<ref name="Cox"/><sup>p 113–116</sup> Upon the failure of Monroe's later 1804–1805 mission, Madison was ready to abandon the American claim to West Florida altogether.<ref name="Cox"/><sup>p 118</sup> In 1805, Monroe's last proposition to Spain to obtain West Florida was absolutely rejected, and American plans to establish a customs house at Mobile Bay in 1804 were dropped in the face of Spanish protests.<ref name="Curry"/><sup>p 293</sup>

The United States also hoped to acquire all of the Gulf coast east of Louisiana, and plans were made to offer to buy the remainder of West Florida (between the Perdido and Apalachicola rivers) and all of East Florida. It was soon decided, however, that rather than paying for the colonies, the United States would offer to assume Spanish debts to American citizens{{refn|group=Note|American claims against Spain arose from the use of Spanish ports by French warships and privateers that had attacked American vessels during the [[Quasi-War]] of 1798–1800<ref>Stagg. p 43</ref>}} in return for Spain ceding the Floridas. The American position was that it was placing a lien on East Florida in lieu of seizing the colony to settle the debts.<ref>Stagg. p. 42–43</ref>

In 1808, Napoleon invaded Spain, forced [[Ferdinand VII of Spain|Ferdinand VII]], King of Spain, to abdicate, and installed his brother [[Joseph Bonaparte]] as King. Resistance to the French invasion coalesced in a national government, the [[Cortes of Cádiz]]. This government then entered into an alliance with Britain against France. This alliance raised fears in the United States that the British would establish military bases in Spanish colonies, including the Floridas, and as such potentially compromise the security of the southern frontiers of the U.S.<ref>Cusick. p. 14</ref>

===West Florida===
{{main|Republic of West Florida}}
[[File:Westfloridaitsre00cham 0010.jpg|thumb|A 1903 map showing the territorial changes of "West Florida"]]

By 1810, during the [[Peninsular War]], Spain was largely overrun by the French army. Rebellions against the Spanish authorities broke out in many of its American colonies. Settlers in West Florida and in the adjacent [[Mississippi Territory]] started organizing in the summer of 1810 to seize Mobile and [[Pensacola, Florida|Pensacola]], the last of which was outside the part of West Florida claimed by the United States.

Residents of westernmost West Florida (between the Mississippi and [[Pearl River (Mississippi–Louisiana)|Pearl]] rivers) organized a convention at [[Baton Rouge, Louisiana|Baton Rouge]] in the summer of 1810. The convention was concerned about maintaining public order and preventing control of the district from falling into French hands; at first it tried to establish a government under local control that was nominally loyal to Ferdinand VII. After discovering that the Spanish governor of the district had appealed for military aid to put down an "insurrection", residents of the Baton Rouge District overthrew the local Spanish authorities on 23 September by seizing the Spanish fort in Baton Rouge. On 26 September, the convention declared West Florida to be independent.<ref>Stagg. pp. 58–67</ref>

Pro-Spanish, pro-American, and pro-independence factions quickly formed in the newly proclaimed republic. The pro-American faction appealed to the United States to annex the area and to provide financial aid. On 27 October 1810, U.S. President [[James Madison]] proclaimed that the United States should take possession of West Florida between the Mississippi and Perdido Rivers, based on the tenuous claim that it was part of the Louisiana Purchase.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=65912 |title="Proclamation 16 – Taking Possession of Part of Louisiana (Annexation of West Florida)" |access-date=2018-10-29 |archive-date=2018-04-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180418225359/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=65912 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Madison authorized [[William C. C. Claiborne]], governor of the [[Territory of Orleans]], to take possession of the territory. He entered the capital of St. Francisville with his forces on 6 December 1810, and [[Baton Rouge, Louisiana|Baton Rouge]] on 10 December 1810. The West Florida government opposed annexation, preferring to negotiate terms to join the Union. Governor [[Fulwar Skipwith]] proclaimed that he and his men would "surround the Flag-Staff and die in its defense".<ref name="Cox1912">{{cite journal |title=The American Intervention in West Florida |first=Isaac Joslin |last=Cox |journal=The American Historical Review |volume=17 |number=2 |date=Jan 1912 |pages=290–311 |publisher=Oxford University Press on behalf of American Historical Association |jstor=1833000 |doi=10.1086/ahr/17.2.290 }}</ref>{{rp|308}}  Claiborne refused to recognize the legitimacy of the West Florida government, however, and Skipwith and the legislature eventually agreed to accept Madison's proclamation. Claiborne only occupied the area west of the [[Pearl River (Mississippi-Louisiana)|Pearl River]] (the current eastern boundary of Louisiana).<ref name=foabroad>Collier.</ref><ref>Patrick. p 11-12</ref><ref group=Note>The area has since been known as the [[Florida Parishes]].</ref>

[[Vicente Folch|Juan Vicente Folch y Juan]], governor of West Florida, hoping to avoid fighting, abolished customs duties on American goods at Mobile, and offered to surrender all of West Florida to the United States if he had not received help or instructions from Havana or [[Veracruz (city)|Veracruz]] by the end of the year.<ref>Stagg. pp. 89–91 80–86</ref>

Fearing that France would overrun all of Spain, with the presumed result being that Spanish colonies would either fall under French control or be seized by the British, in January 1811, Madison requested the U.S. Congress pass legislation authorizing the United States to take "temporary possession" of any territory adjacent to the United States east of the Perdido River, i.e., the balance of West Florida and all of East Florida. The United States would be authorized to either accept transfer of territory from "local authorities" or occupy territory to prevent it falling into the hands of a foreign power other than Spain. Congress debated and passed, on 15 January 1811, the requested resolution in closed session, and provided that the resolution could be kept secret until as late as March 1812.<ref>Stagg. pp. 89-91</ref>

American forces occupied most of the Spanish territory between the Pearl and Perdido rivers (today's coastal [[Mississippi]] and [[Alabama]]), with the exception of the area around Mobile, in 1811.<ref>Patrick. p 12.</ref> Mobile was occupied by United States forces in 1813.<ref>Higgs.</ref>

Madison sent [[George Mathews (Georgia)|George Mathews]] to deal with the disputes over West Florida. When Vicente Folch rescinded his offer to turn the remainder of West Florida over to the U.S., Mathews traveled to East Florida to engage the Spanish authorities there. When that effort failed, Mathews, in an extreme interpretation of his orders, schemed to incite a rebellion similar to that in the Baton Rouge District.<ref>Patrick. pp. 34–35, 40–54</ref>

===Patriot War of East Florida (1812)===
{{main|Patriot War (Florida)}}
In 1812, General [[George Mathews (Georgia)|George Mathews]] was commissioned by President [[James Madison]] to approach the Spanish governor of East Florida in an attempt to acquire the territory. His instructions were to take possession of any part of the territory of the Floridas upon making "arrangement" with the "local authority" to deliver possession to the U.S. Barring that or invasion by another foreign power, they were not to take possession of any part of Florida.<ref name="Williams1837"/><ref name="senate"/><ref name="Cusick2007">{{cite book |author=James G. Cusick |title=The Other War of 1812: The Patriot War and the American Invasion of Spanish East Florida |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BxHE3OsgU9EC&pg=PA288 |date=1 April 2007 |publisher=University of Georgia Press |isbn=978-0-8203-2921-5 |pages=103, 261, 288–291 }}</ref> Most of the residents of East Florida were happy with the status quo, so Mathews raised a force of [[Military volunteer|volunteers]] in [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] with a promise of arms and continued defense. On 16 March 1812, this force of "Patriots", with the aid of nine [[U.S. Navy]] [[gunboat]]s, seized the [[Original Town of Fernandina Historic Site#Patriots' War|town of Fernandina]] on [[Amelia Island]], just south of the border with Georgia, approximately 50 miles north of St. Augustine.<ref>Patrick. pp. 83–98.</ref>

On 17 March, the Patriots and the town's Spanish authorities signed articles of capitulation.<ref name="Williams1837">{{cite book |author=John Lee Williams |title=The Territory of Florida: Or Sketches of the Topography, Civil and Natural History, of the Country, the Climate, and the Indian Tribes, from the First Discovery to the Present Time |url=https://archive.org/details/territoryflorid01willgoog |year=1837 |publisher=A. T. Goodrich |pages=[https://archive.org/details/territoryflorid01willgoog/page/n201 193]–195 }}</ref> The next day, a detachment of 250 regular United States troops were brought over from Point Peter, Georgia, and the Patriots surrendered the town to Gen. George Mathews, who had the U.S. flag raised immediately.<ref name="senate">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-HFHAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA43 |title=In the Senate of The United States. Report of the Court of Claims in the case of Robert Harrison vs. The United States |work=Miscellaneous Documents of the Senate of the United States for the First Session of the Thirty-fifth Congress |year=1858 |location=Washington DC |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |pages=12–13, 43–49 }}</ref> As agreed, the Patriots held Fernandina for only one day before turning authority over to the U.S. military, an event that soon gave the U.S. control of the coast to St. Augustine. Within several days the Patriots, along with a regiment of regular Army troops and Georgian volunteers, moved toward St. Augustine. On this march the Patriots were slightly in advance of the American troops. The Patriots would proclaim possession of some ground, raise the Patriot flag, and as the "local authority" surrender the territory to the United States troops, who would then substitute the American flag for the Patriot flag. The Patriots faced no opposition as they marched, usually with Gen. Mathews.<ref name="senate"/> Accounts of witnesses state that the Patriots could have made no progress but for the protection of the U.S. forces and could not have maintained their position in the country without the aid of the U.S. troops. The American troops and Patriots acted in close concert, marching, camping, foraging and fighting together. In this way, the American troops sustained the Patriots,<ref name="senate"/> who, however, were unable to take the [[Castillo de San Marcos]] in [[St. Augustine, Florida|St. Augustine]].

As soon as the U.S. government was notified of these events, Congress became alarmed at the possibility of being drawn into war with Spain, and the effort fell apart. Secretary of State [[James Monroe]] promptly disavowed the actions and relieved Gen. Mathews of his commission on 9 May, on the grounds that neither of the instructed contingencies had occurred.<ref name="Williams1837"/> However, peace negotiations with the Spanish authorities were protracted and slow. Through the summer and autumn, the U.S. and Patriot troops foraged and plundered almost every plantation and farm, most of them having been abandoned by their owners. The troops helped themselves to everything they could find. Stored food was used up, growing crops destroyed or fed to horses, all types of movable property plundered or destroyed, buildings and fences burned, cattle and hogs killed or stolen for butchering, and slaves often dispersed or abducted. This continued until May 1813 and left the formerly inhabited parts in a state of desolation.<ref name="senate"/>

In June 1812, George Mathews met with [[King Payne]] and other [[Seminole]] leaders. After the meeting, Mathews believed that the Seminoles would remain neutral in the conflict. [[Sebastián Kindelán y O'Regan]], the governor of East Florida, tried to induce the Seminoles to fight on the Spanish side. Some of the Seminoles wanted to fight the Georgians in the Patriot Army, but King Payne and others held out for peace. The Seminoles were not happy with Spanish rule, comparing their treatment under the Spanish unfavorably with that received from the British when they held Florida. [[Ahaya]], or Cowkeeper, King Payne's predecessor, had sworn to kill 100 Spaniards, and on his deathbed lamented having killed only 84. At a second conference with the Patriot Army leaders, the Seminoles again promised to remain neutral.<ref>Patrick. pp. 174, 176, 179–81.</ref>

The blacks living in Florida outside of St. Augustine, many of whom were former slaves from Georgia and South Carolina, were not disposed to be neutral. Often slaves in name only to Seminoles, they lived in freedom and feared loss of that freedom if the United States took Florida away from Spain. Many blacks enlisted in the defense of St. Augustine, while others urged the Seminoles to fight the Patriot Army. In a third meeting with Seminole leaders, the Patriot Army leaders threatened the Seminoles with destruction if they fought on the side of the Spanish. This threat gave the Seminoles favoring war, led by King Payne's brother [[Bolek]] (also known as Bowlegs) the upper hand. Joined by warriors from Alligator (near present-day [[Lake City, Florida|Lake City]]) and other towns, the Seminoles sent 200 Indians and 40 blacks to attack the Patriots.<ref>Patrick. pp. 183–85.</ref>

In retaliation for Seminole raids, in September 1812, Colonel [[Daniel Newnan]] led 117 Georgia militiamen in an attempt to seize the Alachua Seminole lands around [[Payne's Prairie]]. Newnan's force never reached the Seminole towns, losing eight men dead, eight missing, and nine wounded after battling Seminoles for more than a week.<ref name=":2" /> A contingent of about 165 expansionist Tennesseans led by Colonel [[John Williams (Tennessee politician)|John Williams]] of Knoxville marched south beginning in December 1812, headed for the Georgia–Florida border of [[St. Marys River (Florida–Georgia)|St. Mary's River]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kanon |first=Tom |title=East Florida Campaign (December 1812 - March 1813) - Brief History of Tennessee in the War of 1812 |url=https://sharetngov.tnsosfiles.com/tsla/history/military/tn1812.htm |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=Tennessee Department of State: Tennessee State Library and Archives}}</ref> Four months later Lt. Colonel [[Thomas Adams Smith]] led 220 U.S. Army regulars and the Tennessee volunteers in a raid on Payne's Town, the chief town of the Alachua Seminoles. Smith's force found a few Indians, but the Alachua Seminoles had abandoned Payne's Town and moved southward. After burning Payne's Town, Smith's force returned to American held territory.<ref name=":2">Patrick. pp. 184–212, 230–234.</ref> <!-- Much of this paragraph was copied from my blog. As I own the copyright I can also use it here. -->

Negotiations concluded for the withdrawal of U.S. troops in 1813. On 6 May 1813, the army lowered the flag at Fernandina and crossed the [[St. Marys River (Florida–Georgia)|St. Marys River]] to Georgia with the remaining troops.<ref name="Davis1930">{{cite book |author=T. Frederick Davis |title=United States Troops in Spanish East Florida, 1812-1813 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QAIfHAAACAAJ |access-date=25 April 2013 |series=Part 5 |year=1930 |publisher=Florida Historical Society |page=34 }}</ref><ref>Missall. pp. 16–20.</ref>

===District of Elotchaway===
<!-- The material in this section is taken primarily from my blog. I continue to hold the copyright on this material, and release it here under whatever license Wikipedia is, or may in the future, use. Donald Albury -->
After the United States government disavowed support of the [[Territory of East Florida]] and withdrew American troops and ships from Spanish territory, most of the Patriots in East Florida either withdrew to Georgia or accepted the offer of amnesty from the Spanish government.<ref>Patrick. p. 268.</ref> Some of the Patriots still dreamed of claiming land in Florida. One of them, [[Buckner F. Harris|Buckner Harris]], had been involved in recruiting men for the Patriot Army<ref>Patrick. p. 113.</ref> and was the President of the Legislative Council of the Territory of East Florida.<ref>Patrick. p. 259.</ref> Harris became the leader of a small band of Patriots who roamed the countryside threatening residents who had accepted pardons from the Spanish government.<ref>Patrick. pp. 268–69.</ref>

Buckner Harris developed a plan to establish a settlement in the Alachua Country{{refn|group=Note|The Alachua Country was the interior of Florida west of the [[St. Johns River]], which the Spanish called ''Tierras de la Chua''.<ref>Monaco. pp. 2, 4.</ref>}} with financial support from the State of Georgia, the cession of land by treaty from the Seminoles, and a land grant from Spain. Harris petitioned the governor of Georgia for money, stating that a settlement of Americans in the Alachua Country would help keep the Seminoles away from the Georgia border, and would be able to intercept runaway slaves from Georgia before they could reach the Seminoles. Unfortunately for Harris, Georgia did not have funds available. Harris also hoped to acquire the land around the Alachua Prairie ([[Paynes Prairie]]) by treaty from the Seminoles but could not persuade the Seminoles to meet with him. The Spanish were also not interested in dealing with Harris.<ref>Patrick. pp. 269–71, 277.</ref>

In January 1814, 70 men led by Buckner Harris crossed from Georgia into East Florida, headed for the Alachua Country. More men joined them as they traveled through East Florida, with more than 90 in the group when they reached the site of Payne's Town, which had been burned in 1812. The men built a 25-foot square, two-story blockhouse, which they named [[Fort Mitchell, Florida|Fort Mitchell]], after [[David Brydie Mitchell|David Mitchell]], former governor of Georgia and a supporter of the Patriot invasion of East Florida.{{refn|group=Note|The location of the settlement at Fort Mitchell is disputed. Frederick Davis, based on its reported latitude, placed it east of present-day Ocala.<ref>Davis (January 1930). p. 145.</ref> Chris Monaco argues that the reported latitude was in error, and that other evidence supports a location on the south side of Paynes Prairie. The settlement was described as being next to a prairie "7 or 8 miles wide and 20 long," which corresponds to the size of Payne's Prairie. Buckner Harris reported that the block house was "on the Pirara, near Payne's former residence." Payne's Town, which had been the residence of King Payne until 1812, has been identified with an archaeological site about 1/2 mile from [[Micanopy, Florida|Micanopy]].<ref>Monaco. pp. 3–5.</ref>}} By the time the blockhouse was completed, there were reported to be more than 160 men present in Elotchaway. On 25 January 1814, the settlers established a government, titled "The District of Elotchaway of the Republic of East Florida", with Buckner Harris as Director. The Legislative Council then petitioned the United States Congress to accept the District of Elotchaway as a territory of the United States.<ref>Patrick, Pp. 279-80.</ref><ref>Monaco. pp. 11–12.</ref> The petition was signed by 106 "citizens of Elotchaway." The Elotchaway settlers laid out farm plots and started planting crops.<ref>Patrick. p. 279.</ref><ref>Davis (January 1930). p. 155.</ref> Some of the men apparently had brought families with them, as a child was born in Elotchaway on 15 March 1814.<ref>Monaco. p. 12.</ref>

Buckner Harris hoped to expand American settlement in the Alachua Country and rode out alone to explore the area. On 5 May 1814, he was ambushed and killed by Seminoles. Without Harris, the District of Elotchaway collapsed. Fort Mitchell was abandoned, with all the settlers gone within two weeks.<ref>Monaco. p. 17.</ref> Some of the men at Fort Mitchell who signed the petition to Congress settled again in the Alachua Country after Florida was transferred to the United States in 1821.<ref>Monaco. pp. 14, 18, 21–22.</ref>

===The Creek War, the War of 1812 and the Negro Fort===
{{main|Prospect Bluff Historic Sites}}

[[File:Andrew Jackson by Ralph E. W. Earl 1837.jpg|thumb|[[Andrew Jackson]] led an invasion of Florida during the First Seminole War.]]

During the [[Creek War]] (1813–1814), Colonel [[Andrew Jackson]] became a national hero with his victory over the Creek [[Red Sticks]] at the [[Battle of Horseshoe Bend (1814)|Battle of Horseshoe Bend]]. After this victory, Jackson forced the [[Treaty of Fort Jackson]] on the Creek, resulting in the loss of much Creek territory in what is today southern Georgia and central and southern Alabama. As a result, many Creek left Alabama and Georgia, and moved to Spanish West Florida. The Creek refugees joined the Seminole of Florida.<ref>Missall. pp. 21–22.</ref>

In 1814, Britain was still at [[War of 1812|war with the United States]], and in May, a British force entered the mouth of the [[Apalachicola River]], and moved upriver to begin building a fort at [[Fort Gadsden|Prospect Bluff]].<ref>Sugden, p.281</ref> This British Post at Prospect Bluff harbored Native American refugees from the Creek War following their demise at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.  A company of [[Royal Marines]], commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel [[Edward Nicolls]], was to subsequently arrive, but was invited to relocate to Pensacola in late August 1814.<ref>Sugden, p.287</ref> It was estimated, by [[Captain (Royal Navy)|Captain]] Nicholas Lockyer of {{HMS|Sophie|1809|6}}, that in August 1814 there were 1,000 Indians at Pensacola, of whom 700 were warriors.<ref>Sugden, p. 291</ref> Two months after the British and their Indian allies were beaten back from an attack on [[Fort Bowyer]] near [[Mobile, Alabama|Mobile]], a U.S. force led by General Jackson drove the British and Spanish [[Battle of Pensacola (1814)|out of Pensacola]], and back to the Apalachicola River. They managed to continue work on the fort at Prospect Bluff.

When the War of 1812 ended, all British forces left the Gulf of Mexico except for Nicolls and his forces in Spanish West Florida. He directed the provisioning of the fort at Prospect Bluff with cannon, muskets, and ammunition. He told his Native American allies that the [[Treaty of Ghent]] guaranteed the return of all Indian lands lost to the United States during the War of 1812, including the Creek lands in Georgia and Alabama.<ref>Sugden, p. 306</ref> Before Nicolls left in the spring of 1815, he turned the fort over to the [[maroons]] and Native American allies whom he had originally recruited for possible incursions into U.S. territory during the war. (see [[Corps of Colonial Marines]]).  As word spread in the [[American Southeast]] about the fort, white Americans called it the "[[Negro Fort]]." Americans worried that it would inspire their slaves to escape to Florida or revolt.<ref>Missall. pp. 24–27.</ref>

[[File:EP Gaines.jpg|thumb|[[Edmund P. Gaines|Edmund Pendleton Gaines]] commanded Federal troops at the [[Battle of Negro Fort]].]]

Acknowledging that it was in Spanish territory, in April 1816, Jackson informed Governor [[José Masot]] of West Florida that if the Spanish did not eliminate the fort, he would. The governor replied that he did not have the forces to take the fort.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}}

Jackson assigned Brigadier General [[Edmund P. Gaines|Edmund Pendleton Gaines]] to take control of the fort. Gaines directed Colonel [[Duncan Lamont Clinch]] to build [[Fort Scott (Flint River, Georgia)|Fort Scott]] on the [[Flint River (Georgia)|Flint River]] just north of the Florida border. Gaines said he intended to supply Fort Scott from New Orleans via the Apalachicola River. As this would mean passing through Spanish territory and past the Negro Fort, it would allow the U.S. Army to keep an eye on the Seminole and the Negro Fort. If the fort fired on the supply boats, the Americans would have an excuse to destroy it.<ref>Missall. pp. 27–28.</ref>

In July 1816, a supply fleet for Fort Scott reached the Apalachicola River. Clinch took a force of more than 100 American soldiers and about 150 Lower Creek warriors, including the chief [[William McIntosh|Tustunnugee Hutkee]] (White Warrior), to protect their passage. The supply fleet met Clinch at the [[Negro Fort]], and its two gunboats took positions across the river from the fort. The inhabitants of the fort fired their cannon at the invading U.S. soldiers and the Creek but had no training in aiming the weapon. The American military fired back, and the gunboats' ninth shot, a "[[Heated shot|hot shot]]" (a cannonball heated to a red glow), landed in the fort's powder [[Magazine (artillery)|magazine]]. The explosion leveled the fort and {{citation needed span|date=April 2017|text=was heard more than {{convert|100|mi|km}} away in Pensacola.}} It has been called "the single deadliest cannon shot in American history."<ref>{{cite web |title=Prospect Bluff Historic Sites |url=http://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/fortgadsden.html |first=Dale |last=Cox |publisher=exploresouthernhistory.com |access-date=25 December 2017 |year=2017 |archive-date=26 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180626003925/http://exploresouthernhistory.com/fortgadsden.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Of the 320 people known to be in the fort, including women and children, more than 250 died instantly, and many more died from their injuries soon after. Once the US Army destroyed the fort, it withdrew from Spanish Florida.

American squatters and outlaws raided the Seminole, killing villagers and stealing their cattle. Seminole resentment grew and they retaliated by stealing back the cattle.{{citation needed|date=March 2018}} On 24 February 1817, a raiding party killed Mrs. Garrett, a woman living in [[Camden County, Georgia]], and her two young children.<ref>Missall. pp. 28–32.</ref><ref>Vocelle. p. 75.</ref>

{{anchor|Fowltown}}
===Fowltown and the Scott Massacre===
[[Battle of Fowltown|Fowltown]] was a [[Miccosukee|Mikasuki]] (Creek) village in southwestern Georgia, about {{convert|15|mi|km}} east of [[Fort Scott (Flint River, Georgia)|Fort Scott]]. Chief [[Neamathla]] of Fowltown got into a dispute with the commander of Fort Scott over the use of land on the eastern side of the Flint River, essentially claiming Mikasuki sovereignty over the area. The land in southern Georgia had been ceded by the Creeks in the Treaty of Fort Jackson, but the Mikasukis did not consider themselves Creek, did not feel bound by the treaty which they had not signed, and did not accept that the Creeks had any right to cede Mikasuki land. On 21 November 1817, General Gaines sent a force of 250 men to seize Fowltown. The first attempt was beaten off by the Mikasukis. The next day, 22 November 1817, the Mikasukis were driven from their village. Some historians date the start of the war to this attack on Fowltown. [[David Brydie Mitchell]], former governor of Georgia and Creek [[Indian agent]] at the time, stated in a report to [[United States Congress|Congress]] that the attack on Fowltown was the start of the First Seminole War.<ref>Missall. Pp. 33-37.</ref>

A week later a boat carrying supplies for Fort Scott, under the command of Lieutenant Richard W. Scott, was attacked on the [[Apalachicola River]]. There were forty to fifty people on the boat, including twenty sick soldiers, seven wives of soldiers, and possibly some children. (While there are reports of four children being killed by the Seminoles, they were not mentioned in early reports of the massacre, and their presence has not been confirmed.) Most of the boat's passengers were killed by the Indians. One woman was taken prisoner, and six survivors made it to the fort.<ref>Missall. Pp. 36-37.<br />Knetsch. Pp. 26-27.</ref>

While General Gaines had been under orders not to invade Florida, he later decided to allow short intrusions into Florida. When news of the [[Scott Massacre]] on the Apalachicola reached [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]], Gaines was ordered to invade Florida and pursue the Indians but not to attack any Spanish installations. However, Gaines had left for East Florida to deal with pirates who had occupied [[Original Town of Fernandina Historic Site|Fernandina]]. [[United States Secretary of War|Secretary of War]] [[John C. Calhoun]] then ordered Andrew Jackson to lead the invasion of Florida.<ref>Missall. P. 38.</ref>