Years before the first shots of the Civil War were fired, Florida witnessed a clash of wills and ways that prompted three wars unlike any others in America's history. Among the most well-known of Florida's native peoples, the Seminole Indians frustrated troops of militia and volunteer soldiers for decades during the first half of the nineteenth century in the ongoing struggle to keep hold of their ancestral lands. While careers and reputations of American military and political leaders were made and destroyed in the mosquito-infested swamps of Florida's interior, the Seminoles and their allies, including the Miccosukee tribe and many escaped slaves, managed to wage war on their own terms. The study of guerrilla warfare tactics employed by the Seminoles may have aided modern American forces fighting in Viet Nam, Cambodia, and other regions.

"When he died in 1838, Seminole warrior Osceola was the most famous Native American in the world. Born a Creek, Osceola was driven from his home to Florida by General Andrew Jackson where he joined the Seminole tribe. Their paths would cross again when President Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act that would relocate the Seminoles to hostile lands and lead to the return of the slaves who had joined their tribe. Outraged Osceola declared war. This vivid history recounts how Osceola led the longest, most expensive, and deadliest war between the U.S. Army and Native Americans and how he captured the imagination of the country with his quest for justice and freedom. Insightful, meticulously researched, and thrillingly told, Thom Hatch's account of the Great Seminole War is an accomplished work that finally does justice to this great leader"--Provided by publisher.

Furnishes a comprehensive overview of the Seminole Wars and their place in American history as the longest, bloodiest, and most costly of all Indian wars fought by America and sheds new light on the repercussions of the wars in terms of attitudes toward Native Americans, the issue of slavery, and government policy.

Owner and Science Director of R & D for Florida Research & Development Laboratory. Has been in business for forty years. His business works within the Aquaculture Industry to develop medications and water conditioners for both the marine and freshwater fish hobby as well as the Aquaculture of farmed food fish. The companies expertise thrives on the cutting edge technology and is a strong contributor to the Fish Industry. [email protected]

Owner and Science Director of R & D for Florida Research & Development Laboratory. Has been in business for thirty five years. His business works within the Aquaculture Industry to develop medications and water conditioners for both the marine and freshwater fish hobby as well as the Aquaculture of farmed food fish. The companies expertise thrives on the cutting edge technology and is a strong contributor to the Fish Industry.

The First Seminole War shaped how the United States demarcated its spatial and legal boundaries. Rooted in exceptionalism, manifest destiny, and racism, the legal framework that emerged from Andrew Jackson’s invasion of Florida laid the groundwork for the Monroe Doctrine, the Dred Scott decision, and westward expansion, as Deborah Rosen shows.

This definitive account of the final war between the US government and Florida’s Seminole tribe “brings to life a conflict that is largely ignored” (San Francisco Book Review). Spanning a period of over forty years (1817–1858), the three Seminole Wars were America’s longest, costliest, and deadliest Indian wars, surpassing the more famous ones fought in the West. After an uneasy peace following the conclusion of the second Seminole War in 1842, a series of hostile events, followed by a string of murders in 1849 and 1850, made confrontation inevitable. The war was also known as the “Billy Bowlegs War” because Billy Bowlegs, Holata Micco, was the central Seminole leader in this the last Indian war to be fought east of the Mississippi River. Pushed by increasing encroachment into their territory, he led a raid near Fort Myers. A series of violent skirmishes ensued. The vastness of the Floridian wilderness and the difficulties of the terrain and climate caused problems for the army, but they had learned lessons from the second war, and, amongst other new tactics, employed greater use of boats, eventually securing victory by cutting off food supplies. History of the Third Seminole War is a detailed narrative of the war and its causes, containing numerous firsthand accounts from participants in the conflict, derived from virtually all the available primary sources, collected over many years. “Any reader interested in learning more about Indian wars, Army history, or Florida history will profit from reading this book,” as well as Civil War enthusiasts, since many of the officers earned their stripes in the earlier conflict (The Journal of America’s Military Past).

"Buker's research and narrative of the Navy's offensive operations in the Everglades in cooperation with the Army, Marines, and Revenue Service are excellent. . . . Required reading for all American military and naval historians."--Florida Historical Quarterly "Read about the beginnings [of riverine warfare] here . . . in Swamp Sailors. It is excellent."-- Valor and Arms The Indian Removal Act of 1830 led to the Second Seminole War, fought by the United States to evict the Seminoles from the Florida Territory. When the last surviving Seminoles sought refuge in the Everglades and resorted to guerrilla-style tactics, however, the U.S. Navy found its standard strategies of guerre de course and gunboat coastal defense useless. For the first time in its history, the American Navy was forced to operate in a nonmaritime environment. In Swamp Sailors, George Buker describes how Navy junior officers outshone their commanders, proving themselves less resistant to change and more ready to implement novel strategies, including joint combat operations and maneuvers designed specifically for a riverine environment. By 1842, when the Second Seminole War was halted, Lt. John McLaughlin's "Mosquito Fleet" exemplified the Navy's new expertise by making use of canoes and flat-bottomed boats and by putting together small, specially trained joint combat teams of Army and Navy personnel for sustained land-sea operations. Originally published in 1975 and now in paperback for the first time, Buker's Swamp Sailors is the story of the U.S. Navy's coming of age, sure to be of interest to military history enthusiasts, to students of Florida history, and to armchair sailors everywhere. George E. Buker, formerly a commissioned naval aviation commander, is professor emeritus of history at Jacksonville University and author of Sun, Sand, and Water: A History of the Jacksonville District U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; Jacksonville: Riverport-Seaport; and Blockaders, Refugees, and Contrabands: Civil War on Florida's Gulf Coast.