What do you think?
Rate this book
The Seminoles (The Civilization of the American Indian Series)
This is the history of a remarkable nation, the only Indian tribe that never officially made peace with the United States. General Thomas Sidney Jesup admired the Seminoles as "We have, at no former period in our history, had to contend with so formidable an enemy. No Seminole proves false to his country, nor has a single instance occurred of a first rate warrior having surrendered." Jesup made those comments in 1837, and they proved true throughout the Seminole-white confrontations of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Portions of the Seminoles’ story-particularly their wars-have been told, but until this book no extensive history of the tribe had been written. Here is the record of those dauntless people, who were tricked, robbed, defrauded, and abused. The origins of the tribe, the complex problems concerning their rights in Florida, the military operations against them, their forced removal to Indian Territory, their role in the Civil War, and their adjustment to life in the West are important elements of the book.
426 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1957
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 6, 2016
Each chapter starts with a quote and chapter 8 begins with something Chief John Hicks said: "There are bad men among all people, the white as well as the red." Except that there are way more white people so just in terms of raw numbers there are way more bad men who are "white." Another thing about this quote is that it doesn't mention the "black" men. And, yeah, of course, what about the women?
I am especially interested in the Seminoles because there were so many runaway slaves, freedmen, and then the Seminoles themselves owned slaves but their slavery was very different from the chattel slavery around them. Apparently by the time everything settles down and slavery is finally abolished and they are trying to make a go of it in Oklahoma with the Civilized Tribes, the Seminoles are one third African-American.
The book is from the 1950s, when the Indian policy of the US was called "Termination" and the Civil Rights Movement was only beginning to go from simmer to boil and McReynolds is trying to produce a thorough and exacting history, one that will leave no doubt that the Seminoles had and continue to have every right to be hostile, a history that will give fair and even treatment to the white side of the story so that it cannot be accused of being biased. The effect however when I read it in 2016 is more like -- what the heck? People trying to recapture runaway slaves are just the bad guys pure and simple... they don't deserve sympathetic treatment. People who are OK with slavery but do side with the Seminoles in legalistic nonsense are not seeing things clearly... slavery is a crime against humanity... what the what with all this slavery stuff?!!? Yeah, so I got that off my chest.
Most of the action takes place in Florida and Louisiana before the Trail of Tears of course and while reading it I couldn't help thinking that people in the future reading about this history will be reading about something that happened on land that is now underwater. In 2016, most of the year, it is still above water, but in fifty years, most of it will be inhabitable for most the year. That is weird, huh? All that blood spilled back then over it, and it isn't even going to exist in the near future. Another weird thing about the Florida setting is just the regular Florida weird, you know, the land that gave us Carl Hiaasen and Marilyn Manson. It's like the wild west, except all swampy.
Whenever I read a history of a North American native people like this one, it's like every sentence opens up universes of contra-factual thinking. If only there had been more unity among the people, or among the different native nations, or if only Andrew Jackson hadn't been such a monster... with the Seminoles though it is even crazier than normal. Apparently there was a faction in the USA that thought a Seminole buffer state between the US and Spain (remember when Florida was a part of Spain?) was a good idea. The big beef against the Seminoles was more or less that their very existence inspired slaves to run away. In hindsight we know that the Seminole wars cost way too much in lives and money and were totally not worth it. Hooray... you now have the Everglades which you basically have to be a Seminole to even begin to know how to live there. That was totally worth all that war! Not! So imagine if the buffer state argument had won that round and the Seminoles and Spanish Florida just get to go on like that and Andrew Jackson has to have his stupid adventures somewhere else. It just literally blows my mind thinking about it. I mean, not just an "Indian" buffer state, but one where slavery is fading rapidly out as they all intermarry and whatever. How cool would that have been? And the Spanish part, too... like if that had gained its independence in the 1890s with Cuba and Puerto Rico and all that without US help because after all, it's all on the other side of the buffer state... I know this is all really a stretch... but picture Cuba style tourism in Florida instead of Disney World and Sea World and Scientology... instead of that, basically acres of Celia Cruz style night life... wow. That would also be really cool. What is over there now? Some Trump-owned golf courses that are under water for months every year and senators like Rubio. If only if only if only if only... you know?
I am especially interested in the Seminoles because there were so many runaway slaves, freedmen, and then the Seminoles themselves owned slaves but their slavery was very different from the chattel slavery around them. Apparently by the time everything settles down and slavery is finally abolished and they are trying to make a go of it in Oklahoma with the Civilized Tribes, the Seminoles are one third African-American.
The book is from the 1950s, when the Indian policy of the US was called "Termination" and the Civil Rights Movement was only beginning to go from simmer to boil and McReynolds is trying to produce a thorough and exacting history, one that will leave no doubt that the Seminoles had and continue to have every right to be hostile, a history that will give fair and even treatment to the white side of the story so that it cannot be accused of being biased. The effect however when I read it in 2016 is more like -- what the heck? People trying to recapture runaway slaves are just the bad guys pure and simple... they don't deserve sympathetic treatment. People who are OK with slavery but do side with the Seminoles in legalistic nonsense are not seeing things clearly... slavery is a crime against humanity... what the what with all this slavery stuff?!!? Yeah, so I got that off my chest.
Most of the action takes place in Florida and Louisiana before the Trail of Tears of course and while reading it I couldn't help thinking that people in the future reading about this history will be reading about something that happened on land that is now underwater. In 2016, most of the year, it is still above water, but in fifty years, most of it will be inhabitable for most the year. That is weird, huh? All that blood spilled back then over it, and it isn't even going to exist in the near future. Another weird thing about the Florida setting is just the regular Florida weird, you know, the land that gave us Carl Hiaasen and Marilyn Manson. It's like the wild west, except all swampy.
Whenever I read a history of a North American native people like this one, it's like every sentence opens up universes of contra-factual thinking. If only there had been more unity among the people, or among the different native nations, or if only Andrew Jackson hadn't been such a monster... with the Seminoles though it is even crazier than normal. Apparently there was a faction in the USA that thought a Seminole buffer state between the US and Spain (remember when Florida was a part of Spain?) was a good idea. The big beef against the Seminoles was more or less that their very existence inspired slaves to run away. In hindsight we know that the Seminole wars cost way too much in lives and money and were totally not worth it. Hooray... you now have the Everglades which you basically have to be a Seminole to even begin to know how to live there. That was totally worth all that war! Not! So imagine if the buffer state argument had won that round and the Seminoles and Spanish Florida just get to go on like that and Andrew Jackson has to have his stupid adventures somewhere else. It just literally blows my mind thinking about it. I mean, not just an "Indian" buffer state, but one where slavery is fading rapidly out as they all intermarry and whatever. How cool would that have been? And the Spanish part, too... like if that had gained its independence in the 1890s with Cuba and Puerto Rico and all that without US help because after all, it's all on the other side of the buffer state... I know this is all really a stretch... but picture Cuba style tourism in Florida instead of Disney World and Sea World and Scientology... instead of that, basically acres of Celia Cruz style night life... wow. That would also be really cool. What is over there now? Some Trump-owned golf courses that are under water for months every year and senators like Rubio. If only if only if only if only... you know?
Displaying 1 of 1 review