Post-Script

To the American officers, the surrender of the Black Seminoles was one of the most positive developments of the war -- perhaps the only positive development. Fighting with the Indians would persist for four more years, but mainly in isolated skirmishes, and never with the intensity of the previous battles. None of the major battles of the Second Seminole War took place after the blacks surrendered.

In 1838, had the Van Buren administration accepted Jesup's proposal to set aside a small reservation in the Everglades, the war probably would have ended. As it was, the government eventually agreed to set aside just such a reservation -- but only after four more years of bloodshed and expense.