Neamathla and Fowltown: the attack that opened the First Seminole War (Fowltown, Nov. 21–22, 1817; Tallahassee, 1823–24)
Record: the document says itPattern: documents line upLens: our readingOpen: not yet proven
Year: 1817 · Places: Florida, Oklahoma & the Five Tribes, Europe
SUMMARYNeamathla and Fowltown: the attack that opened the First Seminole War (Fowltown, Nov. 21–22, 1817; Tallahassee, 1823–24) [Connections: Tallahassee & Orlando, Nov 5, 2026]
RECORDNeamathla, a Mikasuki (Hitchiti-speaking) leader, warned Gen. Edmund Gaines not to cross the Flint River, which he held to be the Spanish Florida line. On November 21, 1817, Gaines sent 250 men to seize Fowltown; they were beaten off, then drove the Mikasukis out the next day, and "some historians date the start of the war to this attack." In October 1823 Neamathla gave grudging consent to a capital at Tallahassee; a year later he threatened that its streets would "run red with blood" unless settlers left. Governor William DuVal, backed by troops, "illegally removed him as head of the Seminoles" (Wikipedia's wording). He later walked the Trail of Tears and died in Indian Territory in 1841
PATTERNThe war that ended with Florida in US hands began with an Army attack on a Native town near Tallahassee, and the capital's chief host was later pushed west
LENS (WW9)The first shot was fired at the hosts, not by them
OPENNeamathla's exact words to Gaines are not on the page; DuVal's and Gaines's letters (American State Papers, Indian Affairs) need reading
SOURCENeamathla (Wikipedia), citing Cox and Conrad, Fowltown (2017); First Seminole War (Wikipedia).