Prologue

By late 1837, the leader of the Black Seminoles is John Horse. Already this "recklessly brave" warrior of mixed African and Indian descent has escaped from Florida's strongest prison, defied American treachery, and reenergized the black resistance. But on this Christmas day in 1837, John Horse and his Indian allies are outnumbered almost three-to-one. What can he possibly hope to win? Surely not freedom for his followers, a marginal group of black rebels fighting the agents of the slaveholding South.