Gopher John

The same year that Abraham was emerging as the current leader of the Black Seminoles, their future leader made his first entrance into recorded history. The event took place at Fort Brooke, near present-day Tampa. John Horse and his family had been living near the fort on Lake Thonotosassa. They became familiar with the Americans over the previous year, when Colonel George Brooke distributed rations to the Seminoles during a devastating drought. As Porter speculates in his description of the ensuing incident, the fourteen-year-old John Horse must have found the fort interesting. Using the English that he had learned from his mother, he began selling game and running errands for the soldiers.