dispossessed, and together they began pool-
ing resources for defending against Apache
and Comanche raiders. However, he grew dis-
illusioned with reservation politics after 1849,
for he was passed over as head chief after the
death of Micanopy. Desiring a fresh start,
Wildcat in October 1849 led several hundred
dissatisfied Indians and African Americans
south to Mexico, where he offered his ser-
vices as an ally against Apache raiders. Mex-
ico, having suffered from two centuries of
frontier depredations, readily welcomed the
newcomers as freemen and established them
as a colony in exchange for military service.
Wildcat himself was commissioned a colonel
in the Mexican army and fought with his usual
tenacity for the next six years. In 1857, he
contracted smallpox and died in Coahuila,
Mexico, at the age of 47. Death undoubtedly
terminated what might have been an impor-
tant chapter in Seminole history. Neverthe-
less, for nearly two decades Wildcat demon-
strated considerable military and political
acumen on behalf of his people’s survival,
helping them readjust to life in a new land.
See also
Osceola
Bibliography
Britten, Thomas A. A Brief History of the Seminole-
Negro Indian Scouts.Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen
Press, 1999; Covington, James. The Seminoles of
Florida.Gainesville: University Press of Florida,
1993; Gassaway, Carolyn T. “Black Indians in the
Seminole Wars.” South Florida History 27
(1998–1999): 10–15, 17; Lancaster, Jane F. Removal
Aftershock: The Seminoles’ Struggle to Survive in
the West, 1836–1866.Knoxville, TN: University of
Tennessee Press, 1994; Largent, Floyd B. “The
Florida Quagmire.” American History34, no. 4
(1999): 40–46; Mahon, John K. The History of the
Second Seminole War.Gainesville: University Press
of Florida, 1967; Miller, Susan. “Wild Cat’s Bones:
Seminole Leadership in a Seminole Cosmos.” Un-
published Ph.D. dissertation, University of Ne-
braska, 1997; Mulroy, Kevin. Freedom on the Border:
The Seminole Maroons in Florida, the Indian
Country, Coahuila, and Texas.Lubbock, TX: Texas
Tech University Press, 1993; Porter, Kenneth W. The
Black Seminoles: History of a Freedom-Seeking
People. Gainesville: University Press of Florida,
1996; Twyman, Bruce E. The Black Seminole Legacy
and North American Politics, 1693–1845.Washing-
ton, DC: Harvard University Press, 1999; Weisman,
Brent R. Unconquered People: Florida’s Seminole
and Miccosukee Indians.Gainesville: University
Press of Florida, 1999.YAMAMOTO, ISOROKU
Yamamoto, Isoroku
(April 4, 1884–April 18, 1943)
Japanese Admiral
A
highly regarded strategist, Yamamoto
originated the successful Japanese at-
tack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in 1941.
However, he warned superiors of the futility
of a long-term conflict with the United States;
he was killed in the most daring aerial am-
bush of the Pacific War.
Isoroku Takano was born in Niigata, Japan,
on April 4, 1884, the son of an impoverished
samurai and schoolteacher. Orphaned as a
young man, he found favor with the influential
Yamamoto family and adopted their name. He
proved himself a bright student and gained ad-
mittance into the Imperial Japanese Naval
Academy in 1900, graduating four years later
seventh in his class. In 1904, Yamamoto served
aboard Japanese warships participating in the
war against Russia and accompanied Adm.