sidering the manner in which he had been
captured, and his corpse underwent the fur-
ther indignity of being beheaded by a doctor,
who shipped his head to a medical college in
New York. It remained on public display until
the museum housing it burned to the ground
in 1866. Osceola’s passing, however, had no
impact on Seminole resolve, and they grimly
resisted for five more years. In 1842, having
deported some 3,000 Native Americans to
Arkansas, the government finally ended the
struggle by allowing some 300 Seminoles to
remain in their swampy abode. Their descen-
dants reside there to this day. Osceola’s guer-
rilla tactics, and the resistance they inspired,
cost the United States nearly 1,500 soldiers,
roughly one life for every two Indians de-
ported, which makes the Second Seminole
War one of the costliest and least productive
frontier conflicts in U.S. history. Nonetheless,
Osceola remains a popular figure, a fact at-
tested to by the 20 towns, three counties, two
lakes, two mountains, one state park, and one
national forest that bear his name.Bibliography
Covington, James. The Seminoles of Florida.Gainesville:
University of Florida Press, 1993; Hartley, William,
and Ellen Hartley. Osceola: The Unconquered Indian.
New York: Hawthorne Books, 1973; Josephy, Alvin M.
The Patriot Chiefs: A Chronicle of American Indian
Resistance.New York: Viking Press, 1961; Mahon,
John K. The History of the Second Seminole War.
Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1967; Rogers,
George C. “A Description of Osceola.” South Carolina
Historical Magazine65, no. 2 (1964): 85–86; Walton,
George. Fearless and Free: The Seminole Indian
War, 1835–1842.Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1977;
Wickman, Patricia R. Osceola’s Legacy.Tuscaloosa:
University of Alabama Press, 1991; Wright, J. Leitch.
Creeks and Seminoles: The Destruction and Regener-
ation of the Muscogulge People.Lincoln: University of
Nebraska, 1986.PAKENHAM, EDWARD
Pakenham, Edward
(April 19, 1778–January 8, 1815)
English General
J
aunty Pakenham was one of the Duke of
Wellington’s most trusted subordinates
during the Peninsula campaign against
Napoleonic France and the victor of many
hard-fought battles. However, this handsome,
gifted aristocrat met his match in the rough-
hewn frontiersman Gen. Andrew Jackson and
came to grief at the Battle of New Orleans.
Edward Michael Pakenham was born in
County Westmeath, Ireland, the second son of
Baron Longford. Like many youths possessing
the advantage of gentle birth, he was admitted
into the army at an early age and used family
connections and wealth to secure rank and
rapid promotion. Pakenham commenced his
military career by becoming a lieutenant in
the 94th Regiment of Foot in May 1794, but
soon after he purchased a captaincy with the
33rd Light Dragoons. In this capacity he
served capably during the Irish insurrection
of 1798, rising to lieutenant colonel. Paken-
ham subsequently commanded the 64th Foot
during the West Indian expedition of 1801 and
distinguished himself in the capture of St.
Lucia. The captured Dutch population of St.
Croix was so favorably impressed by their
young conqueror that they presented him
with an elaborate series of silver cups. How-
ever, having sustained two severe wounds, he
returned to England in 1803 to recuperate and
became brevet colonel of the Seventh Regi-
ment, the famous Royal Fusiliers. In 1806,