A Bit of History
Indian Removal
1838
After Osceola’s Death in January of 1838, Chief Micanopy and the other Seminoles held at Fort Moultrie were transported to the western reservation. By April of 1838 over 1,500 Indians and associated Negroes, half of them sick, had been transported to New Orleans as the first stop before their transfer to the reservation in Arkansas by the way of the Mississippi River. By June an additional 1,600 had been transported. There was some question about the status of some of the Negros, which persons in Georgia claimed were theirs and demanded their return. Some were allowed to stay with the Seminoles and others were returned to their “owners”, some as late as 1854. It was not an easy trip for the Seminoles, in June a group of 1,127 had started up the Mississippi in two boats and 57 died on the journey including King Philip.
The removal of the Indians westward was big and corrupt business that was handled by, “unprincipled and wicked contractors,”38p216 which resulted in one “swindle” that resulted in a $500,000 gain on a single Indian contract. And there was the question what had become of the money from the sale of the Indian’s cattle and horses that they left behind in Florida, the money seemed to have gone missing, money that was supposed to go to the Seminoles that were relocated.