Osceola was a magnificent Indian chief whose greatest ambition was to keep the white man from coming to Florida and taking the Seminole's lands. He became the strongest force in the Florida tribe's bitter struggle to preserve its homelands.

The conflict between the United States government and the Indians stemmed from two things: the black people who lived with the Indians and the land the Indians occupied which the government wanted. The First Seminole War—which the Indians lost—had little effect on the Indian settlement of East Florida. The beginning of the Seminole downfall in Florida came when Spain signed a treaty with the United States giving the American government possession of that state.

The Moultrie Creek meeting of 1823, in which the government decided to move all the Seminoles into one part of Florida, was to have a profound influence on the Indians' future. The whites were determined to eventually move the Indians completely out of the state; but Osceola refused to move. With Osceola as their leader, the Seminoles were ready to fight for what was theirs.

The Second Seminole War pitted Osceola's leadership, courage, craft and superior knowledge of fighting in the swamps against the tremendous might, equipment and supplies of the United States forces. There were constant fighting and treacheries and broken promises as commander after commander tried to capture the elusive Osceola. The Seminole leader was a formidable foe who baffled the white men for years. But the Seminoles—driven almost to starvation—eventually surrendered, and Osceola, too, was finally captured and imprisoned.

The great Indian chief died in 1838. He was a man both feared and admired by the white man. Above all else, however, he was a courageous, determined leader who fought until his death to keep his people on the land that was rightfully theirs.

From the dust jacket