Fascinating Facts
• An amusement park was built on land that
was once part of the Seminole reservation
created by the Treaty of Moultrie Creek.

• Many places in the United States were named
after Osceola, including Osceola, Nebraska;
Osceola, Arkansas; Osceola County, Michigan;
and Osceola National Forest in Florida.

• In 1970 the Indian Claims Commission
awarded the Seminole $12,347,500 for the
land that was taken from them.

Genre

Nonfiction

Comprehension Skill

Cause and Effect

Text Features

• Time Line
• Map
• Captions

Scott Foresman Social Studies

ISBN 0-328-14876-8

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by Ann Rossi


In this book you will read about Osceola
and the Second Seminole War. Osceola
was a leader of the Seminole. In the 1800s
the United States government wanted the
Seminole to leave Florida. Osceola led the
Seminole in a war to keep their lands. This
war is called the Second Seminole War.

Write to It!
Do you think the United States government
was right to say that all the Seminole must leave
Florida? What else could the government
have done? Write one paragraph to explain
by Ann Rossi
your position. Write a second paragraph to
describe other steps the government could
have taken.

Vocabulary
territory
treaty
reservation

Write your paragraphs on a separate sheet

of paper.

compromise

Maps
6 MapQuest, Inc.
Photographs
Every effort has been made to secure permission and provide appropriate credit for photographic material. The publisher deeply
regrets any omission and pledges to correct errors called to its attention in subsequent editions.
Unless otherwise acknowledged, all photographs are the property of Scott Foresman, a division of Pearson Education.
ISBN: 0-328-14876-8

Photo locators denoted as follows: Top (T), Center (C), Bottom (B), Left (L), Right (R) Background (Bkgd)

Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved. Printed in the United States of America. This publication is protected
by Copyright, and permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited
reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise. For information regarding
permission(s), write to: Permissions Department, Scott Foresman, 1900 East Lake Avenue,
Glenview, Illinois 60025.

Opener: ©The Granger Collection, NY
3 The Granger Collection, NY
4 ©Francis comte de Castelnau/Courtesy Florida State Archives
8 ©James A. Sugar/Corbis
Editorial Offices: Glenview, Illinois • Parsippany, New Jersey • New York, New York
9 ©Bettmann/Corbis
10 ©The Granger Collection,
NY Offices: Needham, Massachusetts • Duluth, Georgia • Glenview, Illinois

Sales
11 ©Courtesy Florida State
ArchivesTexas • Sacramento, California • Mesa, Arizona
Coppell,
12 ©North Wind Picture Archives
13 ©Courtesy Florida State Archives

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 V0G1 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05


Osceola’s Place in History
Conflicts over land were common between the
settlers and the Native Americans. Some Native
Americans in Florida agreed to give their lands to
settlers. The United States government tried to force
other Native Americans to move.
Osceola wanted the Seminole to keep their
lands in Florida. He led them in battles against the
United States army during the Second Seminole
War. Osceola’s courage and determination made
him famous during his lifetime. For many, Osceola
symbolizes the Seminole’s belief in never giving up.

Osceola of Florida. George Catlin painted this portrait
of Osceola in 1838.

2

3



This sketch from the early 1800s shows a Creek village.

Osceola’s Childhood
Osceola was born around 1804 in a Creek village
near present-day Tuskegee, Alabama. His mother was
a member of the Upper Muskogee Creek group. That
made Osceola an Upper Muskogee Creek too.
Osceola was called Billy Powell when he was
growing up. His father—or possibly his stepfather—
was a British trader named William Powell.

4

When Billy was around nine years old, the Creek
War began. Billy was too young to fight in the war.
When the fighting came too close to his home, he and
his mother fled to northern Florida. They lived with the
Seminole.
Billy developed his hunting, athletic, and warrior
skills. When he was about eighteen years old, he
gave up his English name and took the name Osceola.
This name comes from asi (AHS-ee), a special drink
that is served during a ceremony.

5


Conflicts in Florida
The Seminole and the Creek spoke the same

language. Many Creek had gone to live with the
Seminole. Many enslaved people who escaped from
slaveholders also were living with the Seminole.
Seminole Lands, 1800-1823

ALABAMA

GEORGIA

w a n ee
n

ATLANTIC
OCEAN

Moultrie
Creek

Su

Apalachicola
River

S t . J oh n s
R i ve r

R i ve
r

Tallahassee


Gulf of Mexico

Lake
Okeechobee
0
0

100
100

200 Miles

The runaways were safe in Florida because at that
time, Florida belonged to Spain. Many Americans
were angry that the Seminole would not return the
runaways to the slaveholders.
In 1817 the First Seminole War began. General
Andrew Jackson led American troops into the Seminole
villages to capture the runaways. The First Seminole
War ended in 1818 when Jackson’s forces defeated
the Seminole.
In 1822 Florida became a United States territory.
Thousands of American settlers came to Florida.
Government officials began meeting with Seminole
chiefs to convince them to move. The officials prepared
a treaty. The Seminole would be given land in
central Florida and would agree to live only on this
reservation. In return, the Seminole would give up
all their other lands in Florida. Several Seminole chiefs

agreed to this compromise and signed the Treaty of
Moultrie Creek in 1823.

200 Kilometers

N

Key
Seminole land, 1800
Seminole land, 1823

F l o ri d a

Territorial capital

Ke

ys

The signing of the Moultrie Creek Treaty in 1823
caused the Seminole to lose much of their land.

6

7


Life on the Reservation
Osceola and many other Seminole did not want to
move. They did not trust the United States government.

When they reached the reservation, they saw that
they had given up good farmland in exchange for
swampland. The reservation was far from the Atlantic
Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico so the Seminole were
cut off from their fishing grounds.
Osceola worked hard and gained the respect of both
Native Americans and white settlers. People thought
Osceola was determined. They also admired his
athletic and hunting skills.

Andrew Jackson was elected President of the United
States in 1828.

Life on the reservation was hard, but many settlers
wanted the Seminole’s new land. American voters
elected Andrew Jackson President in 1828. Many
people voted for him because they thought he would
force all Native Americans to move west of the
Mississippi River.
Swamps were unusable as farmland.

8

9


Pressured to Leave Florida
The Indian Removal Act became law in 1830. The
act allowed the President to give Native Americans
unsettled land west of the Mississippi River in

exchange for their lands. Government representatives
met with Seminole leaders to urge them to move.
The Treaty of Payne’s Landing said that the chiefs
could look at the land being offered to them before they
agreed to move.
After the chiefs saw the land, the government asked
them to sign the Treaty of Fort Gibson. The treaty said
that the Seminole would give up their land in Florida and
move west. Only seven chiefs
signed the treaty. Even so, the
government said the Seminole
must leave Florida.

One story tells how Osceola pierced a treaty with his hunting
knife.

Many Seminole, including Osceola, felt cheated.
These Seminole agreed that they would fight to keep
their lands. They chose Osceola to be their leader
even though he was not a chief.

This drawing of Osceola was
made around 1833.

10

11


The Second Seminole War

Army troops came to Florida to move the Seminole
west. On December 28, 1835, the Second Seminole
War began. Seminole warriors ambushed Major
Francis Dade and his troops. Nearly all the soldiers
died. Seminole warriors defeated army troops in
another surprise attack a few days later.

Osceola led an attack on
Fort King in 1835.
Today a monument stands where the United
States military arrested Osceola.

Small groups of Seminole were winning battles
against larger groups of soldiers. General Thomas
Jesup hoped the war would end quickly if Osceola
were captured. At a peace talk with Osceola in 1837,
Jesup ordered his men to arrest Osceola.
Osceola died in prison in 1838. The Second
Seminole War continued for four more years and
finally ended in 1842.

13


Osceola impressed many people. One of them was
the artist George Catlin. Catlin went to Fort Moultrie,
South Carolina, to paint a portrait of Osceola. The
Seminole leader was imprisoned there.
In one of his letters, Catlin wrote, “I am fully
convinced from all that I have seen, and learned

from the lips of Osceola, and from the chiefs who are
around him, that he is a most extraordinary man, and
one entitled to [who earned] a better fate.”

After the War
Fewer than three thousand Seminole warriors had
fought more than thirty thousand United States troops.
More than one thousand soldiers and hundreds of
Seminole had died during the long war.
After the war, the government moved most of the
surviving Seminole to land west of the Mississippi.
Hundreds of Seminole escaped into the Everglades.
Thirteen years later, a third Seminole war would
take place.

The Fight for Florida
1830
The Indian Removal Act becomes law.

1819
Spain hands over Florida
to the United States.

1832
The Treaty of Payne’s
Landing is signed.

1804
Billy Powell is born
near present-day

Tuskegee, Alabama.

1800

1823

1817
The First Seminole War begins.

1805

1810

1815

1820

1825

1842

1835

The Treaty of
Moultrie Creek
is signed.

The Second
Seminole War
begins.


1830

1835

1840

The Second
Seminole War
ends.

1845

1838
1818

1828

1833

The First Seminole War ends.

Andrew
Jackson
is elected
President.

The Treaty
of Fort
Gibson is

signed.

1822
Billy Powell takes the name Osceola.
Florida becomes a United States territory.

14

Osceola dies at Fort
Moultrie, South Carolina.

1837
Osceola is arrested and imprisoned.

15


In this book you will read about Osceola
and the Second Seminole War. Osceola
was a leader of the Seminole. In the 1800s
Glossary
the United States government wanted the
compromise an agreement in which each
Seminole to leave Florida. Osceola led the
side gives up something it wants
Seminole in a war to keep their lands. This
reservation
set aside,
or reserved,
war is called land

the Second
Seminole
War. for
Native Americans to live on
territory a region
with some self-rule but
Vocabulary
ranking below a state
territory
treaty an agreement between nations
treaty
reservation

Write to It!
Do you think the United States government
was right to say that all the Seminole must leave
Florida? What else could the government
have done? Write one paragraph to explain
your position. Write a second paragraph to
describe other steps the government could
have taken.

Write your paragraphs on a separate sheet
of paper.

compromise

Maps
6 MapQuest, Inc.
Photographs

Every effort has been made to secure permission and provide appropriate credit for photographic material. The publisher deeply
regrets any omission and pledges to correct errors called to its attention in subsequent editions.
Unless otherwise acknowledged, all photographs are the property of Scott Foresman, a division of Pearson Education.
ISBN: 0-328-14876-8

Photo locators denoted as follows: Top (T), Center (C), Bottom (B), Left (L), Right (R) Background (Bkgd)

Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved. Printed in the United States of America. This publication is protected
by Copyright, and permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited
reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise. For information regarding
permission(s), write to: Permissions Department, Scott Foresman, 1900 East Lake Avenue,
Glenview, Illinois 60025.

Opener: ©The Granger Collection, NY
3 The Granger Collection, NY
4 ©Francis comte de Castelnau/Courtesy Florida State Archives
8 ©James A. Sugar/Corbis
9 ©Bettmann/Corbis
10 ©The Granger Collection, NY
11 ©Courtesy Florida State Archives
12 ©North Wind Picture Archives
13 ©Courtesy Florida State Archives

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 V0G1 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 0516