Triangular relations: JoeKnetsch, ‘The Army Vs. The Indians Vs. The Settlers: The South Florida Frontier Between the Seminole Wars’, Sunland Tribune, 26, 2018 | settler colonial studies blog

Triangular relations: JoeKnetsch, ‘The Army Vs. The Indians Vs. The Settlers: The South Florida Frontier Between the Seminole Wars’, Sunland Tribune, 26, 2018

28Mar18

Abstract: One of the constant themes of Florida frontier history is the continued threat of violence. Either real or imagined, the threat of a painful death at the hands of unknown assailants, normally alleged to be Indians, loomed in the background of every settlement on the frontier. The acts of providing settlers with ammunition, weapons and constant patrols put the U.S. Army in the middle of all potential outbreaks. Therefore, any act, or reported act, of violence by the remaining Indian population had to be investigated, thwarted or rebuffed, and the settlers reassured that the incident was either false or isolated. The Army’s predicament on the southern frontier of Florida between the Second and Third Seminole Wars becomes obvious with the study of many of the remaining documents. There was, to be sure, some violence caused by Indians straying outside of the 1842 boundary, however, some of the violence was not directly caused by this group but by whites hoping to manipulate the Army into a position of removing the remaining Indians, by force if necessary.

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