Seminole Wars
The Seminole Wars were one of the most important series of conflicts in American military history. Lasting from 1818 to 1858, they redefined relations between Native Americans and European Americans in Florida.
Materials are generally available through interlibrary loan from the circulating collection of the State Library.
Links within the bibliographies take you to information in our State Library catalog or to more information on external sites.
Primary sources
National Archives records
The State Library has an extensive collection of primary sources about the Seminole Wars from the National Archives. While the originals are in Washington, D.C., researchers can consult our microfilm copies.
Topics include troop movements, land surveys and more. Please contact the State Library for more information, or visit the National Archives’ website for details about specific collections.
Below are selected examples:
- United States Adjutant-General’s Office. Letters Received by the Office of the Adjutant General (Main Series), 1822-1860. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 1964.
- United States Adjutant-General’s Office. Letters Sent by the Office of the Adjutant General (Main Series), 1818-1824. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Service, 1965.
- United States Department of the Navy. Letters Received by the Secretary of the Navy From Captains (“Captains’ Letters”), 1805-1861, 1866-1885. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 1978.
- United States Department of War. Letters Received by the Topographical Bureau of the War Department, 1824-1865. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 1963.
- United States Department of War. Letters Sent, Registers of Letters Received, and Letters Received by Headquarters, Troops in Florida, and Headquarters, Department of Florida, 1850-1858. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 1979.
Other primary sources
In addition to National Archives materials, the State Library has a wide range of other primary sources. These materials include militia muster rolls, historical newspapers and more.
Below are selected examples:
- Carter, Clarence Edwin, ed. The Territorial Papers of the United States. New York, NY: AMS Press, 1956.
- Carter, Clarence Edwin, ed. The Territory of Florida. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1956.
- Cohen, M. M. Notices of Florida and the Campaigns. Charleston, SC: Burges & Honour, 1836.
- Florida Department of Military Affairs. Florida Militia Muster Rolls, Seminole Indian Wars. Saint Augustine, FL: Florida State Arsenal, 1980.
- Giddings, Joshua. The Exiles of Florida. Columbus, OH: Follett, Foster & Co., 1858.
- Homans, Benjamin. Army and Navy Chronicle. Washington, DC: Benjamin Homans, 1835.
- Niles, Hezekiah et al. Niles’ National Register. Philadelphia, PA, 1811-1849.
- State Archives of Florida. “Richard Keith Call Papers.” Florida Memory. Florida Division of Library and Information Services.
- State Archives of Florida. “Thomas Sidney Jesup Diary.” Florida Memory. Florida Division of Library and Information Services.
- United States House of Representatives. Debate on the Seminole War, January and February 1819. Washington, DC: National Intelligencer, 1819.
Secondary sources
- Belko, Stephen. America’s Hundred Years’ War: U.S. Expansion to the Gulf Coast and the Fate of the Seminole, 1763-1858. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2011.
- Bland, Celia. Osceola: Seminole Rebel. New York, NY: Chelsea House, 1994.
- Florida Division of Historical Resources. Florida Native American Heritage Trail. Tallahassee, FL: Florida Department of State, 2007.
- Florida Division of Historical Resources. Florida Seminole Wars Heritage Trail. Tallahassee, FL: Florida Department of State, 2015.
- Florida Historical Quarterly. Tallahassee, FL: Florida Historical Society, 1928-present.
- Hatch, Thom. Osceola and the Great Seminole War: A Struggle for Justice and Freedom. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press, 2012.
- Kimball, Christopher Delano. Seminole & Creek War Chronology. Charleston, SC, 2013.
- Knetsch, Joe. Fear and Anxiety on the Florida Frontier: Articles on the Second Seminole War. Dade City, FL: Seminole Wars Foundation Press, 2008.
- Knetsch, Joe. Florida’s Seminole Wars, 1817-1858. Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2003.
- Laumer, Frank. Dade’s Last Command. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 1995.
- Linnard, T. B., Frank Laumer, and Joe Knetsch. Memoir to Accompany Map of Military Operations in Florida. Dade City, FL: Seminole Wars Historic Foundation, 2007.
- Miller, David W. The Taking of American Indian Lands in the Southeast: A History of Territorial Cessions and Forced Relocations, 1607-1840. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2011.
- Missall, John, and Mary Missall. The Seminole Wars: America’s Longest Indian Conflict. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2004.
- Missall, John, and Mary Lou Missall. Index of Seminole War Articles in the Florida Historical Quarterly, 1908-2008. Dade City, FL: Seminole Wars Historic Foundation, 2008.
- Missall, Mary Lou. A War of Wills: The Social, Political, and Economic Forces That Caused and Prolonged the Second Seminole War. Diss. California State University, Dominguez Hills, 1999.
- Rosen, Deborah A. Border Law: The First Seminole War and American Nationhood. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2015.
- Van Blarcom, Ralph. Seminole War Artifacts and a History of the Forts of Florida. Bloomington, IN: Xlibris, 2011.
- Wickman, Patricia Riles. Osceola’s Legacy. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press, 1991.
