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The Black Seminoles: History of a Freedom-Seeking People
"A blockbuster . . . [and] a vibrant and exciting history of John Horse and his followers. From the swamps and savannas of Florida to the Indian territory, on to Mexico and finally Texas, these people stood tall in their fight for freedom and dignity. This is a story that has long needed to be told, written in a thought-provoking and sympathetic manner."--Edwin C. Bearss, Historian Emeritus, National Park Service
"Reveals, as fully as is likely possible, the meaningful history of the Black Seminole people. . . . A simple narrative, buttressed by solid analysis and innovative research. . . . Will appeal to buff and professional historians alike. . . . African Americans, in particular, will draw inspiration and use from it."--James Irving Fenton, historian, Lubbock, Texas
This story of a remarkable people, the Black Seminoles, and their charismatic leader, Chief John Horse, chronicles their heroic struggle for freedom.
Beginning with the early 1800s, small groups of fugitive slaves living in Florida joined the Seminole Indians (an association that thrived for decades on reciprocal respect and affection). Kenneth Porter traces their fortunes and exploits as they moved across the country and attempted to live first beyond the law, then as loyal servants of it.
He examines the Black Seminole role in the bloody Second Seminole War, when John Horse and his men distinguished themselves as fierce warriors, and their forced removal to the Oklahoma Indian Territory in the 1840s, where John's leadership ability emerged.
The account includes the Black Seminole exodus in the 1850s to Mexico, their service as border troops for the Mexican government, and their return to Texas in the 1870s, where many of the men scouted for the U.S. Army. Members of their combat-tested unit, never numbering more than 50 men at a time, were awarded four of the sixteen Medals of Honor received by the several thousand Indian scouts in the West.
Porter's interviews with John Horse's descendants and acquaintances in the 1940s and 1950s provide eyewitness accounts. When Alcione Amos and Thomas Senter took up the project in the 1980s, they incorporated new information that had since come to light about John Horse and his people.
A powerful and stirring story, The Black Seminoles will appeal especially to readers interested in black history, Indian history, Florida history, and U.S. military history. Kenneth W. Porter was professor of history at the University of Oregon. Alcione M. Amos is librarian at the World Bank in Washington, D.C. She has done extensive work on African-American military history and has published on the subject of the Black Seminoles in the Florida Historical Quarterly . Thomas P. Senter is a practicing physician in Anchorage, Alaska, who considers Brackettville, Texas, his second home.
"Reveals, as fully as is likely possible, the meaningful history of the Black Seminole people. . . . A simple narrative, buttressed by solid analysis and innovative research. . . . Will appeal to buff and professional historians alike. . . . African Americans, in particular, will draw inspiration and use from it."--James Irving Fenton, historian, Lubbock, Texas
This story of a remarkable people, the Black Seminoles, and their charismatic leader, Chief John Horse, chronicles their heroic struggle for freedom.
Beginning with the early 1800s, small groups of fugitive slaves living in Florida joined the Seminole Indians (an association that thrived for decades on reciprocal respect and affection). Kenneth Porter traces their fortunes and exploits as they moved across the country and attempted to live first beyond the law, then as loyal servants of it.
He examines the Black Seminole role in the bloody Second Seminole War, when John Horse and his men distinguished themselves as fierce warriors, and their forced removal to the Oklahoma Indian Territory in the 1840s, where John's leadership ability emerged.
The account includes the Black Seminole exodus in the 1850s to Mexico, their service as border troops for the Mexican government, and their return to Texas in the 1870s, where many of the men scouted for the U.S. Army. Members of their combat-tested unit, never numbering more than 50 men at a time, were awarded four of the sixteen Medals of Honor received by the several thousand Indian scouts in the West.
Porter's interviews with John Horse's descendants and acquaintances in the 1940s and 1950s provide eyewitness accounts. When Alcione Amos and Thomas Senter took up the project in the 1980s, they incorporated new information that had since come to light about John Horse and his people.
A powerful and stirring story, The Black Seminoles will appeal especially to readers interested in black history, Indian history, Florida history, and U.S. military history. Kenneth W. Porter was professor of history at the University of Oregon. Alcione M. Amos is librarian at the World Bank in Washington, D.C. She has done extensive work on African-American military history and has published on the subject of the Black Seminoles in the Florida Historical Quarterly . Thomas P. Senter is a practicing physician in Anchorage, Alaska, who considers Brackettville, Texas, his second home.
328 pages, Hardcover
First published September 14, 1996
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 26, 2020
I read this approximately 15-18 years ago after I met with Cynthia White Wolf Parker. Who was a well known speaker on the Native American experience in the early 20th Century. She had been born of White parentage only to be kidnapped by a Native American tribe in TX where her family had lived. She was located and returned by the gov't. to her parents but if I recall correctly she was kidnapped again and remained. She married a man within that tribe.
I being fascinated by the people's who were once residents of FL. Though I graduated and was a "Florida Seminole", I learned next to nothing in High School and zilch in College. I started digging. Most of the tribes that once resided in Florida were either decimated in the various wars when Florida was a Spanish and later American colony, those who remained merged to preserve their way of life and survival. Little material has been published in the last forty or so years, this one is one that I was able to locate. I had no idea what I would learn.
My memory isn't to hot, after a traumatic brain injury but I do remember a few highlights. As the slaves of the planters and landowners fled slavery's cruelty, some came south. The native people's were willing to allow them to participate in the community with some limitations. They were never considered equal. They were allowed to marry Seminole women particularly if there was a shortage of men from battle losses and participated in many ways, they were never fully assimilated. Many of these black Seminoles moved to Central Texas after slavery was ended. Years later when U.S. government awarded monies to tribe members compensation in a suit brought against the government for failure to honor a treatie(s?). Those who were part of the black Seminole group were denied the funds received by the tribe! To say that animosity and hostility grew among these members who were never fully equal is an understatement. I was deeply troubled by this arrangement and wonder who those involved sleep at night.
I being fascinated by the people's who were once residents of FL. Though I graduated and was a "Florida Seminole", I learned next to nothing in High School and zilch in College. I started digging. Most of the tribes that once resided in Florida were either decimated in the various wars when Florida was a Spanish and later American colony, those who remained merged to preserve their way of life and survival. Little material has been published in the last forty or so years, this one is one that I was able to locate. I had no idea what I would learn.
My memory isn't to hot, after a traumatic brain injury but I do remember a few highlights. As the slaves of the planters and landowners fled slavery's cruelty, some came south. The native people's were willing to allow them to participate in the community with some limitations. They were never considered equal. They were allowed to marry Seminole women particularly if there was a shortage of men from battle losses and participated in many ways, they were never fully assimilated. Many of these black Seminoles moved to Central Texas after slavery was ended. Years later when U.S. government awarded monies to tribe members compensation in a suit brought against the government for failure to honor a treatie(s?). Those who were part of the black Seminole group were denied the funds received by the tribe! To say that animosity and hostility grew among these members who were never fully equal is an understatement. I was deeply troubled by this arrangement and wonder who those involved sleep at night.
December 1, 2010
Loved it. From the birth of John Horse in Florida until 56 years after his death in Mexico, this is the little-known story of the African people who resisted the brutal slavery of the American Sout. People who fought along side, and sometimes on their own against the American army and their Indian allies for their freedom and land they could call their own, for themselves and their descendants. Their story caries them through the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Seminole Wars (the longest guerilla war in American history, sporadically from 1817 until 1858) and the Indian wars on the Texas frontier. They fought against the American army in Florida, escaped reenslavement in Indian Territory (what is now Oklahoma)and Texas to Mexico where they fought for the Mexican government against the Apaches and Commanches. Their reputation as trackers and fighters was so admired they were later recruited by the American army to return to the United States and enlist as scouts for the army units stationed along the Mexican border. Although they won numerous awards, including several Medals of Honor, they were mistreated by the American government, denied the land they were promised, brutalized by the locals Texans, and eventually lived in extreme poverty at starvation level. Some of them went back to Mexico where they were finally given a land grant to some land in Mexico just west of Del Rio, Texas. John Horse died in Mexico after pleading with the government in Mexico City for the land that was promised them. Some of their descendants still remain there to this day. Still other descendants live in and around Brackettville, Texas, where there is a Seminole Negro Scout cemetery. The graves of three Medal of Honor winners are there in the desert. Spoiler Alert: this story does not have a happy ending. It is not for those who have difficulty facing some of the true incidents from the bad side of America.
February 23, 2025
I've known about this book for awhile, but finally got around to reading it for work-related reasons. As far as I can tell, after three decades it is still considered the best overall work on the subject of Black Seminoles. The term refers to the African-American allies and vassals of the Seminoles, many of whom at least partly adopted Seminole culture and clothing.
The Preface explains how the book came to be. Porter spend over three decades researching, writing, and revising a draft than ended up about 700 pages long, but never published it before his death. The two editors cut Porter's final draft down to less than 300 pages, with some small revisions.
The book loosely follows the life of John Horse aka John Cavallo aka Gopher John, a Black Seminole leader during the Second Seminole War and afterwards. As a result, it takes a surprising narrative route. The first half covers evens in Florida, with the rest following Indian Territory then the surprising twist of going to Mexico and the Texas borderlands. Several chapters cover the activities of a unit of Black Seminole scouts in the U.S. Army. Certainly an unexpected course of events, at least for me!
The half in Florida includes coverage of not only Prospect Bluff (Negro Fort) but also the Patriot War, acknowledging the Seminole Wars origins in 1812 rather than 1817 - something I am a proponent of, and which was an idea ahead of its time when this book was written. The coverage of the Second Seminole War is largely familiar and - occasionally questionable, in light of better modern scholarship - but with an appropriate emphasis on the actions of African-Americans.
The latter half of the book uses not only governmental records, but also makes good use of the author's interviews with Black Seminoles while acknowledging what information is oral history.
The decision to closely follow John Horse's band and subsequently the Black Seminole Scouts makes for a focused second half, but leaves the book far narrower than the title suggests. The Red Bays community gets only a passing mention (the more recent Black Seminoles in the Bahamas covered this topic), and the focused narrative abandons any Black Seminoles who remained in Florida after 1842 and those who remained in Oklahoma after 1850 and were later recorded on the Dawes Rolls.
This book was groundbreaking and earnest study of an often overlooked subject, with decent writing.
The Preface explains how the book came to be. Porter spend over three decades researching, writing, and revising a draft than ended up about 700 pages long, but never published it before his death. The two editors cut Porter's final draft down to less than 300 pages, with some small revisions.
The book loosely follows the life of John Horse aka John Cavallo aka Gopher John, a Black Seminole leader during the Second Seminole War and afterwards. As a result, it takes a surprising narrative route. The first half covers evens in Florida, with the rest following Indian Territory then the surprising twist of going to Mexico and the Texas borderlands. Several chapters cover the activities of a unit of Black Seminole scouts in the U.S. Army. Certainly an unexpected course of events, at least for me!
The half in Florida includes coverage of not only Prospect Bluff (Negro Fort) but also the Patriot War, acknowledging the Seminole Wars origins in 1812 rather than 1817 - something I am a proponent of, and which was an idea ahead of its time when this book was written. The coverage of the Second Seminole War is largely familiar and - occasionally questionable, in light of better modern scholarship - but with an appropriate emphasis on the actions of African-Americans.
The latter half of the book uses not only governmental records, but also makes good use of the author's interviews with Black Seminoles while acknowledging what information is oral history.
The decision to closely follow John Horse's band and subsequently the Black Seminole Scouts makes for a focused second half, but leaves the book far narrower than the title suggests. The Red Bays community gets only a passing mention (the more recent Black Seminoles in the Bahamas covered this topic), and the focused narrative abandons any Black Seminoles who remained in Florida after 1842 and those who remained in Oklahoma after 1850 and were later recorded on the Dawes Rolls.
This book was groundbreaking and earnest study of an often overlooked subject, with decent writing.
February 22, 2019
A further homage to Black History Month
Review of The Black Seminoles:
Authored by Kenneth W. Porter
Reviewed by James Victor Jordan
A history of a freedom seeking people
In the late 1700s and early 1800s African slaves in Georgia often escaped, making their way to Florida where they taken in by Seminole tribes, becoming ostensibly Seminole slaves. It was not a master-slave relationship as the Africans had endured in the United States. The relationship was more symbiotic: the slaves and the Seminoles lived cooperatively and harmoniously and had mixed-race offspring.
Eventually the black Seminoles fought beside their kinsmen, defeating the United States Army in the first (1817-1818), second (1835-1842), and third (1855-1858) Seminole wars. The Seminoles were never defeated and to this day, technically and even though Seminoles fought for the United States in the First and Second World Wars, a state of war exists between the United States and the Seminole people.
Some of the black Seminoles, led by Chief John Horse, left with other Seminoles, transported by the U.S. army to Oklahoma. From there many migrated to Mexico and eventually many of those returned to fight on the side of the Union during the Civil War. It should not be surprising to learn that these black Seminole soldiers were not paid for their Civil War service and were denied pensions, despite promise of this recompense by the United States.
I highly recommend this book; its extensive research is well documented. It’s clearly written. It tells a very important part of the black history of the United States, and in particular a history of Florida, a history of Oklahoma, a history of the Civil War, a history of a resilient, proud, strong, intelligent people.
Those of you who’ve read The Speed of Life, an Illustrated Novel know about the principal characters who are part black, part Seminole. My preparatory research for The Speed of Life included reading a lot of history as well as a lot of travel and personal investigation. Wanting my characters to have verisimilitude, I had to know their history. The Black Seminoles was one of the more interesting books I read as part of that research.
Review of The Black Seminoles:
Authored by Kenneth W. Porter
Reviewed by James Victor Jordan
A history of a freedom seeking people
In the late 1700s and early 1800s African slaves in Georgia often escaped, making their way to Florida where they taken in by Seminole tribes, becoming ostensibly Seminole slaves. It was not a master-slave relationship as the Africans had endured in the United States. The relationship was more symbiotic: the slaves and the Seminoles lived cooperatively and harmoniously and had mixed-race offspring.
Eventually the black Seminoles fought beside their kinsmen, defeating the United States Army in the first (1817-1818), second (1835-1842), and third (1855-1858) Seminole wars. The Seminoles were never defeated and to this day, technically and even though Seminoles fought for the United States in the First and Second World Wars, a state of war exists between the United States and the Seminole people.
Some of the black Seminoles, led by Chief John Horse, left with other Seminoles, transported by the U.S. army to Oklahoma. From there many migrated to Mexico and eventually many of those returned to fight on the side of the Union during the Civil War. It should not be surprising to learn that these black Seminole soldiers were not paid for their Civil War service and were denied pensions, despite promise of this recompense by the United States.
I highly recommend this book; its extensive research is well documented. It’s clearly written. It tells a very important part of the black history of the United States, and in particular a history of Florida, a history of Oklahoma, a history of the Civil War, a history of a resilient, proud, strong, intelligent people.
Those of you who’ve read The Speed of Life, an Illustrated Novel know about the principal characters who are part black, part Seminole. My preparatory research for The Speed of Life included reading a lot of history as well as a lot of travel and personal investigation. Wanting my characters to have verisimilitude, I had to know their history. The Black Seminoles was one of the more interesting books I read as part of that research.
December 13, 2021
This was fascinating history! And it was a treat to have the history in Beverly Jenkins’ Blessings series come together a bit more, especially some of the familiar last names. This is more of an academic work, and it was published in the 90s, so some of the terminology is dated. However, I cannot wait to learn more! Worth reading! 3.5 stars
January 21, 2016
An incredible history told via the story if one man: John Horse. The history is pieced together from military records do most of the book, especially the early part is good through the lens of the military. Nevertheless, this has to be one of the most incredible stories in US history and deserves to be more well known.
July 30, 2011
A rather dry academic history of a remarkable peoples' origins and migrations throughout the 19th century. Occassionally reads like a list of various skirmishes as the Black Seminoles fought against and then with the US army
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews