SW005 Second Seminole War as a Florida Negro War

Historians generally accept that the Second Seminole War, from 1835 to 1842 was foremost a war of Indian removal, one to expel Seminole from Florida and relocate them to the Arkansas/Oklahoma Territory west of the Mississippi River. Whether intended explicitly or not, the Second Seminole War also served to enslave Black Seminole captured in the removal process, regardless of objections by the U.S. Army, which at times considered them to be prisoners of war.

A Florida historian contends that the Second Seminole War was driven by American plantation society’s relentless efforts to return (or force into) slavery as many Black Seminoles, if not all, as could be seized. He states he has found evidence that shows shipping African Americans -- Seminole, escaped, or free -- into bondage was not only a major underlying theme throughout the war, but at various points, the primary goal. He states that the Second Seminole War was the largest slave uprising in U.S. history.

Calling in to us to discuss his insights is Dr. Anthony E. Dixon. He is the author of Florida’s Negro War. He is the Founder and President of AHRA, Archival and Historical Research Associates. He has been a Field Director for the Florida African American Heritage Preservation Network, and is an Adjunct Professor of History at Florida A&M University. Learn more at http://www.profaedixon.com/

Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida.