Portal:Indigenous peoples of North America/Selected biography/1

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Osceola (1804 – January 20, 1838) was a leader of the Seminole Indians in Florida. Osceola led the vastly outnumbered Seminole resistance during the Second Seminole War when the United States tried to remove the Seminoles from their lands.

Osceola was born in 1804 in the village of Tallassee, Alabama around current Macon County. His mother was a Creek Indian, and his father might have been white trader William Powell with whom his mother was involved for a time; consequently, some persisted in calling the young man Billy Powell. However, Osceola claimed to be a full-blood.

In 1814 Osceola and his mother moved to Florida alongside other Creek Indians. In adulthood he received his name; the name Osceola is an anglicised form of Asiyahola; assi, from a ceremonial yaupon holly tea or "black drink" and yaholi, the name of a Creek god intoned when the drink was served.

In 1832, a few Seminole chiefs signed the Treaty of Payne's Landing, where they agreed to give up their Florida lands in exchange for lands west of the Mississippi River. Osceola and many other Seminole were outraged by this treaty; Osceola reportedly stabbed the treaty with a dagger and said, "This is the only treaty I will make with the white man!" (more...)