Silver Springs & the Silver River - Ocala, Florida

One of the most beautiful places in the South, Silver Springs is a massive natural spring on the outskirts of Ocala, Florida.

Along with 24 other springs, the main or Mammoth Spring at Silver Springs feed the crystal clear Silver River, which is beautifully preserved in its natural condition thanks to the opening in 1987 of Silver River State Park. Silver Springs is also now owned by the State of Florida, but is operated as a theme park by an entertainment company which leases it from the state.

The main spring has been featured in 20 movies over the years, including such famous ones as Rebel Without a Cause and the popular James Bond film Moonraker. Pouring out an estimated 550 million gallons of water a day, Silver Springs has long been one of Florida's most famous tourist attractions. Untold hundreds of thousands have peered into its depths from glass-bottomed boats since they became a fixture there in the 1870s.

The water from the spring is joined by water from 24 other springs to form the Silver River, a major tributary of Florida's Ocklawaha and St. Johns Rivers. Virtually the entire length of the stream is now preserved in Silver River State Park, which provides the general public with affordable access to the beautiful river and the unique ecosystems that surround it.

This area was a key point of ignition for the Second Seminole War, in which the warriors of Florida's Seminole Nation waged desperate resistance against the U.S. Army in an effort to avoid removal west to what is now Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears. The war started in 1835 at Fort King (now Ocala) when the famed Seminole warrior Osceola led an attack on U.S. Indian Agent Wiley Thompson. It would last for seven years and and considering the budget of the Federal government at the time, was one of the costliest wars ever waged by the United States.

To learn more about Silver Springs and the Silver River, as well as other places of interest in the vicinity, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/silversprings.

Osceola - Part Three

This is a view of the paved trail leading from the Visitor Center to the prairie overlook at Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park just south of Gainesville, Florida.

It was in country like this, this very country in fact, that the Alachua band of the Seminoles lived during the years leading up to the outbreak of the Second Seminole War in 1835.

Osceola became a young warrior hunting in these woods and surged to prominence at the Payne's Landing treaty negotiations in 1832. The Treaty of Moultrie Creek, signed with the United States a decade earlier, had established a large reservation for the Seminole in the heart of present-day Central Florida. By the Treaty of Payne's Landing, however, the government attempted to negotiate the removal of the entire nation to new lands west of the Mississippi.

Osceola, although he did not have the standing of a chief, vehemently opposed the proposal. At the signing, according to legend, he suddenly stabbed a knife into the treaty document with an announcement that it was the only signing the United States would obtain from him.

Osceola was thrown into irons following the incident and there is strong reason to believe that the legend of the treaty "knifing" is true. The surviving copy of the document does include an unusual slit about the size of a knife blade.

Following his imprisonment and outburst, there was little doubt that Osceola would fight any attempts to force the Seminole from Florida. The stage was set for the coming war.

Our series on Osceola will continue.

Osceola - Part Two

Continuing our series on the great Seminole leader Osceola, this vast and beautiful grassland just south of Gainesville, Florida, is Paynes Prairie.

Now a large state park, the prairie was a centerpiece of Seminole country during the years between the First and Second Seminole Wars (1819-1834). Believed to have been named for King Payne, a famed Seminole leader during the War of 1812, the prairie was surrounded by Seminole towns and settlements.

Following the destruction of the North Florida Seminole towns by Andrew Jackson in 1818, the survivors of McQueen's band fled south into this region of Florida. Osceola and his mother were among the refugees and he soon became associated with the groups living around Paynes Prairie.

It was in this area that the warrior grew to manhood, learning from the older members of his band how to hunt, fight and follow the traditional laws of the Creeks and Seminoles. Perhaps because he had spent much of his life as a refugee, he also developed a fierce attachment to the land and a determination to hold it for his people at all costs.

Osceola was not a chief, although he is often given this designation by modern writers. Instead he was a warrior, but because the Creeks and Seminoles recognized individual accomplishments as well as hereditary leadership, he grew to hold great influence among the people that had adopted his band. As such he became a powerful representative and leader for the Seminoles, although he was part of Micanopy's band.

Our series on Osceola will continue.

Osceola - Part One

This is a view of a casting prepared from the actual face of the Seminole war leader Osceola at the time of his death in 1838. It is located in the display area of the visitor center at Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park near Gainesville, Florida.

It is a haunting view of the man that emerged as one of the most noted Native American figures of the 19th century.

Osceola was born in the Creek Nation of present-day Alabama in around 1804. Different claims have been made as to his actual place of birth. Some sources hold that he was born among the Lower Creeks on the Chattahoochee River, while others state that his birth took place among the Upper Creeks on the Tallapoosa River.

It should be noted that he would not have been called by his later name at this time. What his childhood name was is not known, although he was often called Billy Powell by the whites.

There also has been debate as to whether his father was a white trader or a Native American warrior. The use of the Powell name by whites to refer to Osceola prompted speculation that he descended from a trader of that name operating in the Creek Nation at the time of his birth.

Because his mother by 1818 was known to have been part of the band of Peter McQueen, a refugee chief from Tallassee on the Tallapoosa River, it appears likely that Osceola was born among the Upper Creeks.

As to the heritage of his father, Osceola himself stated during his lifetime that his father was Creek, not white. Testing of an alleged sample of his hair revealed that the great Seminole may have had mixed ancestry, but this does not necessarily mean he descended from a white father. His mother was a member of the McQueen family. The McQueens, including the chief Peter McQueen, were descended from the Scottish trader James McQueen that had lived among the Creeks for many decades and had married a Creek woman.

By 1813, Peter McQueen and many of his followers from Tallassee had joined the Red Stick movement of the Creek Prophet, Josiah Francis (Hillis Hadjo). When the Red Sticks concentrated at the Holy Ground town on the Alabama River between the modern towns of Montgomery and Selma, it is likely that Osceola and his mother were among them. This was believed to be a place of security where women and children would be protected while the Prophet's warriors engaged American armies in the Creek War of 1813-1814.

Holy Ground was attacked and destroyed by Mississippi Territorial Militia late in 1813, although most of the Red Stick warriors and noncombatants escaped across the Alabama River.

By the summer of 1814, Peter McQueen and his followers had fled south into Spanish Florida in search of food and arms. They were supplied there by British forces then engaged in fighting the United States in the War of 1812. McQueen was reported in several locations in 1814-1815, including Pensacola and then a British fort on the Apalachicola River. By the end of 1815, he and his followers had settled among the Seminoles then living in the area around present-day Tallahassee.

Assuming that Osceola and his mother stayed with the rest of Peter McQueen's followers through this time period, then their movements can be traced by following McQueen's. This means they would have followed him south to Pensacola and eventually into the Tallahassee area. It is known they were there by the time of the First Seminole War in 1817-1818.

Our series on the life of the Seminole leader Osceola will continue.

The Life of Osceola - Seminole Warrior

I've become interested recently in the story of the great Seminole warrior Osceola.

Osceola, of course, was a major leader of Native American forces during the Second Seminole War (1835-1842). He is portrayed before hundreds of thousands of people each year by a mounted rider at Florida State University football games. Although he was not a hereditary chief, he rose to prominence through his ability and intellect.

I've always been curious about this charismatic Native American leader, but my renewed interest was sparked earlier this month while on a visit to Shands Medical Center at the University of Florida in Gainesville. To pass the time while waiting for appointments, I stopped by the visitor center at Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park to check out the museum exhibits there. Among the displays in the park's excellent little museum was a bronze cast prepared using Osceola's "death mask."

For me it was a moving experience to look at the real face of the man that had such an impact on the history of Florida, the South and the United States. I had only known his appearance before from the famed portrait of Osceola (seen here) painted just a few days before his death by 19th century artist George Catlin.

The painting presents Osceola as he was best known, a brave and talented Seminole warrior that helped his people successfully defy the military might of the United States. The bronze cast, however, was a much more sober reminder of the tragic fate of this remarkable person (I'll show you a photo of it tomorrow).

Over the next few days, I will share the true story of Osceola with you along with some little known facts about his life and death. Be sure to check back!

St. Augustine, Florida - Part Eight

This is a view of the interior of the Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine.

One of the most noted figures in Florida history was held prisoner here for a time.

On October 21, 1837, the great Seminole leader Osceola was seized by the U.S. Army when he appeared under a white flag for a previously arranged negotiation near St. Augustine. The action remains one of the more deplorable episodes in the history of the U.S. military.

Osceola and several other Seminole leaders were brought here to the Castillo, then called Fort Marion by the U.S. Army, and imprisoned in some of the rooms in the interior of the old fort. Two of the other leaders managed to escape, but Osceola was seriously ill and could not.

Following the escape, he and his family were placed aboard a ship in Matanzas Bay and sent to Fort Moultrie near Charleston, South Carolina. There he died from sickness on January 20, 1838, just three months after he was seized while under the protection of a white flag.

He is buried at Fort Moultrie, far from his Florida home, but his figure remains larger than life in Florida today. Revered by the state's Native American community, Osceola is also the symbol of Florida State University.

Our series on historic St. Augustine, Florida will continue. Until the next post, you can read more by visiting www.exploresouthernhistory.com and looking for the St. Augustine heading.