The Dade Massacre: Florida Memory

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Treaties associated with Payne’s Landing and Fort Gibson in 1832, under the Andrew Jackson administration were written, to remove Seminole Indians out of Florida to the Westside of the Mississippi River. The Seminole Indians were to be made part of the Muscogee Creek Nation and would be given a piece of the countryside, and re-admitted to all privileges as members of the same. After years of no progression to the end state, a show of military presence was necessary and was placed into order. On 21, December 1835, six companies throughout the Florida peninsula, were ordered to go to Fort Brooke in Tampa Bay to aid in the eviction of the Seminole Indians.

Brevet Major Francis L. Dade, a veteran of the War of 1812 arrived at Fort Brooke from Key West with thirty-nine soldiers. Now in command of four companies, Major Dade marched north towards Fort King near Ocala to fortify a defense posture. Due to complacency, the number of soldiers, terrain, weather, and the element of surprise, Major Dade and his detachment never arrived at Fort King.

On May 9th, 1832, an agreement was signed between the United States (U.S) government and several chiefs of the Seminole Indian tribe, called The Treaty of Payne’s Landing. The treaty outlined that Seminole Indians had to relinquish all ties to their lands in Florida and travel west of the Mississippi River. The United States government wanted Seminole Indians to become part of the Creek Nation Muscogee Indians. While the Seminole Indians traveled westward they would return all runaway slaves to their original masters, and intermarry with the Muscogee Indians. Some Indians made the journey to the west, but a large fraction led by Osceola did not. Osceola, a young warrior, vowed n...

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Works Cited

Cubberly, F., (1936). The Dade Massacre in Florida Dec. 28 1835.

Extracts from Senate DocumentNo.33. Retrieved from http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nalakota/wotw/military/dademassacre1835

Kappler, C., (1904). Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties. Government Printing Office

Retrieved from http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/vol2/treaties/sem0344.htm

Laumer, F., (1995). Dade’s last Command. Wood-Brownlee Printing Compnay

Olson, D. (2011). The Dade Massacre. Moultrie Journal: Florida Memory, States Archive of Florida. Retrieved from http://moultriecreek.us/journal/the-dade-massacre/

Raymond, C. L., (2013). Seminole Indians of Florida, 1875-1879. Heritage Books

Vernon, D., Theodore, W. (1941). The Indian Wars. United States: Essanay Film Manufacturing

Williams, C., (1993). The Seminole of Florida. University Press of Florida

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