Seminole Wars - Aftermath

Aftermath

When Colonel Loomis declared an end to the Third Seminole War, the government believed that only about 100 Seminole were left in Florida. In December 1858, the US recruited two bands totaling 75 people, who agreed to removal to the West; they were shipped out on February 15, 1859.

Seminoles remained in Florida, however. Sam Jones' band was living in southeast Florida, inland from Miami and Fort Lauderdale. Chipco's band was living north of Lake Okeechobee, although the Army and militia had failed to locate it. Individual families were scattered across the wetlands of southern Florida. Since the war was officially over and the remaining Seminole stayed quiet, the government sent the militia home and reassigned the regular Army troops.

All of the forts built for the Seminole wars were decommissioned and soon stripped by settlers of any usable material. In 1862, the state contacted Sam Jones with promises of aid in an attempt to keep the Seminole neutral in the Civil War. Although the state did not follow through on its promises, the Seminole were not interested in fighting another war.

The 1868 Florida Constitution, developed by the Republican-dominated Reconstruction legislature, gave the Seminole one seat in the house and one seat in the senate of the state legislature. The Seminole never filled the positions. In 1885, after southern white Democrats had regained political power in the state, they passed a new constitution in 1885. It removed the seats for Seminole and established barriers to voter registration and electoral practices that essentially disfranchised most blacks and minorities. This situation lasted until the passage of federal civil rights and voting legislation in the mid-1960s, which provided for the enforcement of citizens' constitutional rights.