Osceola

(c. 1804–38)

Seminole leader

Osceola was the most influential Seminole leader during the Second Seminole War (1835–42). His relentless endeavors to keep his people in Florida captured the interest, imagination, and sympathy of Americans, and inspired many Seminoles in their efforts to attain a common goal. Though not a Seminole by birth, Osceola became the tribe's most gifted and recognized leader.

Osceola's mother was a Creek Indian who lived near the Tallapoosa River in Alabama. Some accounts insist his father was an Indian while others claim that his mother was married to William Powell, an English trader. As a youth, Osceola was called Billy Powell. Most accounts from the Seminole War period refer to him as “Osceola, or Powell.” His proper Indian name, in the Muskogee tongue, was Asi Yaholo, meaning Black Drink Singer, a reference to a strong, ceremonial black tea. It was this name that would eventually be corrupted to Osceola. He was later given the [Page 608]title “Talcy,” or Tallassee Tustennuggee, in acknowledgement of his leadership capabilities.

Along with his mother and other members of the Red Stick faction of the Upper Creeks, Osceola was driven to Florida following the tribe's defeat in the Creek Civil War (1813–14). In April 1818, Andrew Jackson attacked their village on Econfina Creek in north Florida as part of the First Seminole War (1817). During the fight, the youth was captured but later released. Spain soon ceded Florida to the United States, and with the Treaty of Moultrie Creek (1823) the Seminoles and refugee Creeks living among them were relocated to a reservation in central Florida.

During 1832 and 1833, the Seminoles and the United States engaged in negotiations that led to the signing of treaties at Payne's Landing and Fort Gibson. These documents, obtained either by fraud or coercion, stipulated that the Seminoles would remove to designated lands west of the Mississippi River. The government's efforts to enforce the treaties were thwarted by the majority of Seminoles, who opposed removal. Osceola's bold defiance attracted public attention and compelled other Seminoles to oppose the government policy. Osceola was further outraged when captured and imprisoned briefly by Indian agent Wiley Thompson in the summer of 1835. Once freed, Osceola led the war party that assassinated Thompson on December 28, 1835, an act that signaled the commencement of the Second Seminole War.

The ascendancy of Osceola within the Seminole community was remarkable because of his position as an outsider among the tribal leadership. As a Creek, he was not a true Seminole, nor was he related to the traditional hered itary line of chiefs. Indeed, many Seminole leaders resented his popularity among their people. Osceola rose to prominence because he was not afraid to speak his mind and to voice his frustrations, the same frustrations felt by many of his fellow tribesmen. His being an outsider did not hinder his rise to prominence: the Seminoles were of Creek origin and were in fact a nation made up of various groups, including runaway slaves. It was an open society where a man could rise on the strength of his words and his actions.

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