Flight

For reasons not entirely clear, the Seminoles bolted from Comanche country sometime in May or June, again leaving crops in the ground. One reason for the hasty exit may have been tensions with the Comanches. Understandably, the Lords of the Southern Plains were not pleased when they learned that the Seminoles had agreed to defend Mexico from los indios barbaros -- a class of outlaws that prominently included the Comanches themselves. The first recorded conflict between the groups did not take place for another month, in July of 1850, but it is possible that tensions developed earlier.

Black Seminole oral tradition offers a more colorful explanation for the sudden exit. According to the tradition, the allies fled because of an incident in a bar in Fredericksburg. A drunken Coacoochee decided to sell some of his black allies to the patrons of the establishment. Later that night he was caught stealing the allies back, which forced a sudden mass exodus from the plains.