#BlackHistoryMonth Spotlight of #BlackSeminole John Horse (Juan Cavallo/Caballo). John Horse is best known for bravely escaping an “impenetrable” and “inescapable” St. Augustine fort, and for uniting Seminoles in the Second Seminole War. He and other Seminoles beat the US army.

Black and non-Black Seminoles were decimating the US Army, so the US Army presented a false flag of truce to Seminole Chief Osceola, and under this false truce, the US Army kidnapped Osceola and some of his closest confidants, including Juan Cavallo (John Horse), his translator.

They locked them into Fort Marion (Castillo de San Marcos) in St Augustine, FL. This fort was considered impenetrable and unbreachable. However, John Horse and Wildcat, the son of a Seminole Chief, united and escaped from the inescapable fort. John Horse and Wildcat then united

the remaining Seminole bands and continued fighting against American forces that were attempting to enslave Black Seminoles and remove non-Black Seminoles to Indian Territory. In Spring of 1838, after being promised emancipation for all Black Seminoles who fought in the Second

Seminole War (Jesup’s Proclamation), John Horse surrendered to US troops. Jesup’s Proclamation promised that all escaped slaves who had fought with the Seminoles and their children would be freed from slavery due to them fighting for their freedom. Horse was also granted

secondary freedom from General William J. Worth due to working as a translator and scout for the US Army in the Second Seminole War after surrendering. Black Natives’ abilities to be multilingual in their Native languages and English proved very useful in this case.

His second wife (he was polygamous, but his first wife died in the Second Seminole War) and his children were only freed by Jesup’s Proclamation, and not the official order by Worth. However, he and his family, as well as other Black Seminoles were removed west of the Mississippi

River as FREED people based on them fighting for their own freedom (Jesup’s Proclamation). With other Seminole, Horse was shipped across the Gulf of Mexico from Tampa Bay to New Orleans and north from there by way of the Mississippi to Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma.

However, slave catchers in Indian Territory were relentless, so he and his family were always at risk of reenslavement. Further, he was enslaved by his own Seminole father, and because the Seminole Nation is its own sovereign nation, declarations of freedom in the United States

had no legal bearing on his or his family’s freedom in the Seminole Nation. In 1843, the main chief of the Seminole Nation, Micanopy had nominal ownership over him. Micanopy and his council finally granted the John Horse his freedom from any claims of enslavement against him in

the Seminole Nation. John Horse had thus been freed from enslavement three times in two jurisdictions, while his wife Susan and their children were only freed by Jesup’s Proclamation in the United States. John Horse and his family lived in territory that was under the dominion of

the Muscogee Creek Nation in Indian Territory and as a tribe intrenched in chattel slave ownership based on African ancestry, factions of the Muscogee Creek Nation began raising free Black Seminole townships and reenslaving free Black Seminoles. These slave catchers reenslaved

and kidnapped veterans of the Second Seminole War like a man named Factor. John Horse stood against this raiding of free Black Seminoles who fought for their own freedom. John Horse then traveled twice to Washington, DC to advocate for Seminoles (including free Black Seminoles)

First, he argued that Seminoles should have a separate land grant from Muscogee Creeks, arguing that Seminoles gs been a separate people for at least 100 years, however this plea did not work. He then lobbied General Jesup (who had made the proclamation of emancipation) asking

him to uphold his promises made in the Proclamation. Jesup then arranged for the construction of facilities at Fort Gibson and arranged for US Army protections for Black Seminoles who had surrendered and were thus freed. Tensions continued to rise, however, and there was even

an assassination attempt against John Horse thought to have been conducted by a pro-Creek faction of the Seminole Nation. Under President James K. Polk, Jesup’s Proclamation was suddenly revoked, as the Attorney General argues that it illegally deprived Seminole slave owners of

their human property. This out 280 Black Seminoles at risk of re-enslavement, including John Horse’s own family. US agents and Seminole leaders directed John Horse to bring these freed Black Seminoles from Fort Gibson to a site to be reenslaved. However, John Horse led this

Black Seminole group on an exodus to Wewoka (named by Horse) and he and fellow Black Seminoles set up their defenses against the Creek, Seminole, and Cherokee enslavers who were attempting to reenslave them. John Horse made a plan w/ his old friend Wildcat (non-Black Seminole)

and they made a mass escape with fellow Black and non-Black Seminoles across the Red River into Texas in the dead of night. Among the escapees were women and children. They migrated south through Texas for about a year, fighting off Texas Rangers, bounty hunters, and enslavers.

They eventually joined forces with a band of Kickapoo and had a battle against some Comanches. Eventually, they ferried across the Rio Grande River as they were being followed by Texas Rangers and bounty hunters, but they finally made it to Mexico.

There, in return for a pledge to fight all invaders and raiding parties from Texas, they were given land for their people and captaincies in the Mexican army on or about July 12, 1850. Mexico’s Black President Guerrero had abolished slavery in 1829, so they were all finally free.

Thank you to @ProenzaColes for pointing us to this website. It includes many sources, including interactive maps and photos about John Horse and the Black Seminoles. http://www.JohnHorse.com 

#BlackNativeSpotlight