and several African Americans apparently
rose to become chief. This would become one
of the undercurrents of war with the United
States.
It is not precisely known when Micanopy
himself became head chief, but it was appar-
ently a hereditary position. He was a descen-
dant of King Payne, a leading figure of the late
seventeenth century who united elements of
the Seminole nation into a single people. Mi-
canopy was resourceful, for during his life in
Florida he accumulated great wealth in the
form of slaves, cattle, and horses. Whites who
encountered the short, somewhat pudgy
leader walked away regarding him as slothful
and indolent. One army officer regarded him
as possessing “low, stout, and gross stature,
and what is called loggy in his movements—
his face was bloated and carbuncled, his eyes
heavy and dull, and with a mind like his per-
son.” But looks were deceiving, and Micanopy
was not head chief by accident. The Ameri-
cans were unaware of his ability to mobilize
unruly Seminoles into a concerted course of
action.
Up until 1813, the United States had little
regard and almost no formal contact with the
Seminoles, as they resided deep in the forests
and swamps of central Florida, then a Spanish
province. However, the onset of the Creek
War in 1813 brought several punitive expedi-
tions into their midst, as the Americans ea-
gerly punished fleeing bands of Upper Creek
warriors seeking refuge there. In 1818, well
within Micanopy’s adult experience, the ques-
tion of runaway slaves triggered the First
Seminole War of 1818, in which Gen. Andrew
Jackson burned several African American and
Seminole villages in retaliation for raids and
ambushes. Spain’s sale of Florida to the
United States the following year accelerated
the trend toward violence. Over the next two
decades, increasing numbers of white settlers
arrived to displace the Seminoles and their
African consorts, who moved deeper and
deeper into the swampy interior to escape.
When there was nowhere else to settle,
whites demanded that the Seminoles evacu-
ate their swampy abode as well. They also
began pressing for the return of escaped
African Americans, many of whom had since
been assimilated into the tribe. This demand
struck at the very core of what it meant to be
a Seminole.
Events climaxed in 1832 when the Ameri-
can government convinced many Seminole
chiefs to sign the Treaty of Payne’s Landing.
This stipulated the removal of Seminoles
from ancestral lands and their immediate de-
portation to new homes in the distant Okla-
homa Territory. Micanopy was one of a hand-
ful of Seminole chiefs to resist such coercion,
for he refused to sign. Moreover, his defiance
was abetted by militant stances of Alligator,
Billy Bowlegs, Osceola, and Wildcat, his
nephew. However, unlike these warrior con-
sorts, Micanopy carefully couched his resis-
tance in nonviolent terms. On April 23, 1835,
subsequent negotiations at Fort King resulted
in another treaty that reaffirmed terms of the
first, but again Micanopy refused to cooper-
ate. On the second day of discussions, he sim-
ply refused to attend. Agent Wiley Thompson
then inquired of Jumper, a leading Seminole,
if his chief intended to cooperate or not.
Jumper simply shook his head. At that point,
Thompson declared that the United States no
longer recognized Micanopy as head chief
and issued an ultimatum for the Seminoles to
move. This action induced militants like Osce-
ola and others to arm and prepare for war.
Thompson himself was among the first whites
slated to be massacred.
The first conflict of the Second Seminole
War occurred on December 28, 1835, when a
group of Indians, led by Alligator and Mi-
canopy, ambushed and slaughtered a detach-
ment of 110 soldiers under Maj. Francis L.
Dade. Apparently, Micanopy killed Major
Dade by his own hand. Several days later he
was closely engaged in the Battle of Withla-
coochee River against Gen. Duncan L. Clinch,
a veteran of the First Seminole War. There-
after, the conflict degenerated into a series of
raids by small parties of Indians, with retalia-
tory columns of soldiers marching off in pur-MICANOPY