First War

The Suwannee engagement was the largest and most decisive battle of the war, and the principal fighters were black. Despite the prominence of the black warriors, however, politicians and historians united in writing them out of the record books, classifying the First Seminole War as an Indian conflict. Jackson's enemies, most notably Henry Clay, sharply criticized the general's treatment of the Indians, but legislators did not protest the devastation wrought upon the blacks, if they were even aware of it. And yet Jackson's primary goal in Florida appears to have been the destruction of the black settlements on the Suwannee. The Hero himself did not shy away from describing the danger of the African rebels, as in this 1817 letter to the Pensacola governor:

"[N]egroes who have fled from their masters, citizens of the United States … and the Seminole Indians … all uniting, have raised the tomahawk, and, in the character of savage warfare, have neither regarded sex nor age. Helpless women have been massacred, and the cradle crimsoned with the blood of innocence." [Longer excerpt]

Longer excerpt from Jackson's letter of May 23, 1818 to the Spanish Governor Mazot at Pensacola:

"The southern frontier of the United States has, for more than twelve months, been exposed to all the horrors of a cruel and savage war. A party of outlaws and refugees from the Creek nation; negroes who have fled from their masters, citizens of the United States, and sought an asylum in Florida; and the Seminole Indians inhabiting the territory of Spain, all uniting, have raised the tomahawk, and, in the character of savage warfare, have neither regarded sex nor age. Helpless women have been massacred, and the cradle crimsoned with the blood of innocence."