The Seminole Tribe of Florida is Federally Recognized, But Never Signed A Peace Treaty

© 2011. Patty Inglish MS; researcher in Native American Nations, North/South/Central American Natives and global Indigenous Peoples 1970 - 2011, ongoing.

While some readers of Native American histories state that Seminole Nation or the Seminole Tribe is not an official tribe or nation with a real name, they are both incorrect and guilty of repeating false and hurtful information.

Since early in our nation's history, the USA has been home to not only one, but two separate and related Seminole Nations, They both officially Federally Recognized as tribes by US government definition and are receiving federal funding and aide accordingly. One Seminole group is located in Florida, where it began, while the second lives in Oklahoma, to where it was driven from its larger group in Florida by three full branches of the US military. This is an exciting story, discussed below.

The fact is irrelevant to today's official statuses that the Florida Seminoles were originally independent individuals or "outcasts" from other tribal groups, even incorporating Black Africans. All this is very interesting and important to history, but the Seminoles are indeed actual tribes in two real locations. In fact, all of the Native peoples in North America were here long before anyone officially recognized them as nations, tribes, bands, and other smaller groups.

Native North Americans define themselves and their societal groups without any help from outsiders. Additional groups define and name themselves and seek Federal and State Recognition every year in the USA. The argument about whether Seminole Nation and Tribe is a real group with a real name is a moot point.

Denying the facts above, which are substantiated by tribal websites, individual Native interviews, and US Federal Indian Bureau records is akin to denying the Holocaust. Further, Native Americans are not interested in the non-native argument about where the name "Seminole" originated.

The Muskoki Tribe of Alabama was called, erroneously, "Creeks" by white settlers in the late 1700s and a Creek War was fought by Americans from 1813 - 1814. Simultaneously, the War of 1812 - 1814 was fought on the Great Lakes. Many Native Americans were killed in the first war and many Americans were killed in the second war. Certain of my Native-blood relatives were involved in the War of 1812 - 1814. From all this I learned that the Muskoki Nation was forced southward by the US President, finally reaching Florida and joining with another group of Natives.

For centuries, Native Peoples lived in Florida, but joined together as a large group or nation in the early 1800s, including many Muskoki.

They called themselves yat'siminoli or The Free People, since they had resisted both the Spanish and the Americans and anyone else that interfered with them. Their name in English is Seminole, from the Native word yat'siminoli.

War for the Seminoles after 1812 - 1814 continued - The First Seminole War occurred in 1814 - 1818. A second "Indian" war occurred in 1835 in Florida, requiring the US Army, US Navy, and US Marine Corps against the Seminoles. A few thousand of these Natives were forced west, where they landed in Oklahoma to form their own nation.

The third war against Seminoles occurred from 1856 - 1858 and was an absolute failure in removing the Seminole Tribe from Florida. There they flourish with their own businesses today. The USA military fought with guerrilla warfare three times in two centuries: 1) in the American Revolution under General Francis Marion, The Swamp Fox; 2) against the Seminioles as they learned it from their Seminole opponents in three wars: and 3) again in Vietnam. This warfare style is effective, respected, and feared.

The Free People were not to be destroyed. They never signed a peace treaty with Spain or the USA and never gave up their sovereignty in either of two US States thus far. They are to be admired for this. Their motto is In God We Trust.