The Seminole Wars played an important part in the American settlement of Florida. These wars were three wars fought in Florida between the Seminole Nation (the name for a diverse group of Native Americans and African Americans who settled in Florida in the early 1800’s) and the United States. The U.S. Army was primarily used to fight these wars, though sometimes American settlers got caught up in the conflicts. While these wars don’t get much attention in history books, they are collectively the largest conflict in the United States between the War of 1812 and the military, and the most expensive in U.S. history.
The first Seminole War was fought from 1816 to 1819. It was a result of tensions between Americans and the Seminoles that grew out of Andrew Jackson’s military forays into Spanish-owned Northern Florida. Britain and Spain complained about the American invasion into Spanish territory, but Spain ultimately gave the land to the United States in 1819. Any Seminoles in North Florida were required to move further south into the state as a result of this war....