Osceola

Osceola (As-se-hc-ho-lar, 'Black Drink'), a Seminole chief, was born in Georgia in 1804, the son of an English trader, named Powell, and of a chief's daughter. With her he removed to Florida while a child, and there attained great influence among the Indians. In 1835 his wife, the daughter of a runaway slave, was seized as a slave. The outraged husband threatened revenge, and for his threats was imprisoned six days in irons by General Thompson: six months afterwards he killed the general and four others outside Fort King. This was the beginning of the second Seminole war. He then placed himself at the head of a band which had surprised and massacred Major Dade and a detachment of soldiers, and taking to the almost impenetrable Everglades, with two or three hundred followers, he fought for nearly two years with great energy and skill the superior numbers sent against him. He was taken prisoner at last, in October 1837, by General Jesup, while holding a conference under a flag of truce—an act of inexcusable treachery, though represented as one of retaliation—and confined in Fort Moultrie until his death, 30th January 1838. Mayne Reid, in Occola, has woven the story into a romance.