Seminole

Seminole (properly Simanoli, " renegade," "runaway," in allusion to their secession from the Creek confederacy), a tribe of North American Indians of Muskhogean stock. They originally formed part of the Creek 'confederacy, but separated from it early in the 18th century, and occupied the greater part of Florida. In1817-1818their attacks on the Georgian and Alabama settlements resulted in the invasion of their territory by General Andrew Jackson, who defeated them and hanged two British traders, named Arbuthnot and Ambrister, who were alleged to be the instigators of the raids. The long Seminole War of 183 5-42, the hardest-fought of all the Indian wars, was due to the tribe's refusal to cede their lands and remove to Arkansas in accordance with the treaty (see OscEOLA) of Payne's Landing (1832). At the close of this struggle, costing thousands of lives and millions of dollars, the Seminoles were removed to Arkansas. They were recognized as "the Seminole Nation," and as one of the "Five Civilized Tribes," and granted autonomy upon the scale permitted the other four, the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw and Creek. They live now mainly in Oklahoma, and a few in Florida.