Osceola's Death

From Osceola's death onward, the popularity of the war plummeted. Editorials lambasted President Martin Van Buren, who had followed Jackson into office. The Whigs constantly questioned the war's escalating costs. The Army's alleged incompetence became a subject of popular ridicule, as would their pursuit of slave property, once abolitionists seized on the issue in 1842. Popular opinion had turned against the conflict, which citizens now described as a "dirty little war of aggression."