What kinds of weapons did they use to defend themselves against the Spaniards?
In the 1500s, the Spaniards brought with them to Florida an early form of smooth-bore long arm called the Arquebus, as well as cannon, with which they tried to conquer the Maskókî tribes of the Southeast. The Seminoles’ ancestors had spears with flint or bone or cane tips, war clubs studded with sharks’ teeth, and bows and arrows. The Spaniards learned very quickly that their “superior” weaponry was not really a match for the bravery and firepower of the Indians and their weapons. Fire-hardened, cane arrows could pierce Spanish armor. The Spaniards soon began to discard their European armor in favor of Indian-style quilted textile coverings. The horse, which the Mikisúki speakers called ichî chobî or “big deer,” was fearsome to the ancestors of the Seminoles. But these Maskókî warriors were the fiercest that the Spaniards had encountered anywhere in the Americas and they were not frightened by the Spaniards’ weapons.
