Who knew about the Black Seminoles in the 1800s?
They were not widely known, but they were well known to many prominent Americans, especially government and military leaders. Southern Americans had been dealing with free blacks and fugitive slaves in Florida since the early 1700s, and so their existence was no mystery to slaveholding political leaders of the time. Ten of the first twelve presidents argued or made crucial policy decisions on the status of the Black Seminoles.[10] Many of the country’s military leaders became acquainted with the Black Seminoles either in Florida during the Second Seminole War (1835-1842) or in the Indian Territory, after 1838. Famous generals who dealt with them included Winfield Scott, Thomas Sydney Jesup, Zachary Taylor, and the civil war heroes William Tecumseh Sherman and William Belknap. Out west in particular, many officers had positive experiences with the maroons and came to see the maintenance of their liberty as a matter of national honor.[11] It is quite likely that the experiences of the wh
