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December 28
The Second Seminole War breaks out.
Incensed over their pending relocation to Indian
Territory, a Seminole war party sets upon 108
troops led by Major Francis L. Dade near Tampa,
Florida. In the surprise attack, the Seminole
kill all but two of the soldiers. Nearby, the war
leader Osceola fights and kills Indian agent Wiley
Thompson.
The conflicts spark the Second Seminole War.
The war will last for seven years and cost the United
States more than $20 million, making it the most
expensive U.S. military campaign ever waged on
an Indian tribe. (See also entries for OCTOBER 23,
1837, and for AUGUST 14, 1842.)
December 29
The United States negotiates the Treaty of
New Echota.
Impatient with the Cherokee’s efforts to prevent
their removal to Indian Territory, President Andrew
Jackson authorizes John F. Schermerhorn to nego-
tiate a Removal treaty with the small number of
tribal leaders willing to move west. These leaders,
most of whom are of mixed white-Indian ancestry,
believe that Removal is inevitable and that further
resistance is self-defeating. Led by the Cherokee
leader Major Ridge, the signers of the resulting doc-
ument, the Treaty of New Echota, include his son
John and nephews Elias Boudinot and Stand Watie.
The treaty cedes all of the Cherokee’s lands in the
Southeast for a large tract in Indian Territory and a
one-time payment of $5 million.
Vehemently opposed to leaving their south-
eastern homeland, the majority of the Cherokee are
outraged by the treaty. As the New Echota signers
set off for Indian Territory, most tribespeople vow
to stay and continue to defy the government’s ef-
forts to displace them. Their fury over the betrayal
of Major Ridge and his followers will lead to a near
civil war within the tribe during the late 1830s and
1840s. (See also entry for JUNE 22, 1839.)
“The Georgians have shown a
grasping spirit lately; they have
extended their laws, to which
we are unaccustomed, which
harass our braves and make
the children suffer and cry;
but I can do them justice in
my heart.... They are willing
to buy these lands on which
to build houses and clear
fields. I know the Indians have
an older title than theirs. We
obtained the land from the liv-
ing God above. They got their
title from the British. Yet they
are strong and we are weak.
They are many. We cannot
remain here in safety and
comfort.”
—Cherokee leader Major Ridge
at the negotiation of the
Treaty of New Echota1836William Apess delivers his “Eulogy on
King Philip.”
In his last known public appearance, William
Apess, an influential Pequot minister and writer
(see entries for 1829 and 1834), delivers a pas-
sionate sermon about the death of Metacom (see
entry for AUGUST 12, 1679), the Wampanoag re-
bellion leader of the 17th century who was known
to non-Indians as King Philip. Claiming to be a
direct descendant of Metacom, Apess questions
the Christianity of the Puritans because of their
brutal treatment of the Indians they encountered.
The controversial sermon will become Apess’s last
published work.