Ar-pi-uck-i (Sam Jones)

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Ar-pi-uck-i (a.k.a Sam Jones) [1], generally believed to have been born 1760 in Georgia[2], died c. 1860 in Florida[3], was a powerful spiritual/alektca (medicine chief)/war chief of the Miccosukee[4] (a Seminole Muskogee Creek tribe of the Southeast U.S.). The phonetic spelling of his name varies to include: Aripeka[5][6][7], Aripeika[8], Opoica[9], Arpeika[10],Abiaka[11], Apiaka[12], Apeiaka[13], Appiaca[14],Appiacca[15], Apayaka Hadjo (Crazy Rattlesnake)[16]. The name is derivative of the Muskogee[17] "abihka"[18]. Ar-pi-uck-i was the only Creek, Seminole, or Miccosukee leader to successfully defy the U.S. government and refuse to remove to the Indian Territory west of the Mississippi and his influential leadership in the Second Seminole War (1835-1842) resulted in the permanent Native American presence in Florida. His determined hatred of white treachery is legendary.

Contents

[edit] Treaties

The treaties with the U.S. to which Ar-pi-uck-i was a signatory were Treaty of Payne’s Landing (Treaty with the Seminole, 1832), May 9, 1832[19], and Treaty of Fort Gibson, On The Arkansas River With The Seminole (Treaty with the Seminole, 1833) March 28, 1833[20] signed by proxy through Tokose Mathla (aka John Hicks), the representative of Ar-pi-uck-i, who traveled to view the proposed relocation lands in the Indian Territory[21]. Signatures were coerced by force of threat. Ar-pi-uck-i was opposed to the relocation.

[edit] Second Seminole War 1835-1842

Battle of Lake Okeechobee - Col. Zachary Taylor led 1032 troops against the Creek and Miccosukee, December 25, 1837, near the mouth of Taylor Creek and Lake Okeechobee and suffered a defeat. Taylor lost 26 killed and 112 wounded. Ar-pi-uck-i was the leading war chief for the Miccosukee[22] and he carefully formulated and executed his battle plan wisely, entrenched on dry, treed ground, pressing the attack, and losing only 8 (11) and 14 wounded. Then he and his men retired into the swamp. Taylor chose to charge across open water. After the battle Col. Zachary Taylor and the U.S. claimed victory and then fell back a considerable distance towards Tampa[23]. The Battle of Lake Okeechobee was Florida’s most significant and bloody battle of the Second Seminole war and a major victory for the Seminoles.

The battlefield was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in the 1960s, later became a National Historic Landmark[24], and is recognized by the National Trust for Historic Preservation[25] as one of the top endangered historical sites in the U.S.

Powell's Battle - On January 15, 1838, Lt. Levin M. Powell of the U. S. Navy was sent by General Jesup to explore the southwest fork of the Loxahatchee River. Powell's force of fifty-five sailors and twenty-five soldiers engaged Ar-pi-uck-i and his band. Powell lost five men killed and twenty-two wounded.

Battle of Pine Island Ridge - During the Second Seminole War (1835-1842) in the Battle of Pine Island Ridge, March 22, 1838, Ar-pi-uck-i led an unknown number of Seminoles against 223 Tennessee Volunteer Militia and 38 U.S. regular troops led by Major William Lauderdale. The Battle of Pine Island Ridge, in which the soldiers were forced to attack the Pine Island Ridge hammock through waist deep water while being fired upon from the cover of the island[26], was a victory for the Seminoles. This battle was U.S. retaliation for the Cooley Massacre of January 6, 1836, in which approximately twenty Seminoles attacked the home of William Cooley in the trading settlement on the New River, which was eight miles distant from the Pine Island Ridge hammock[27], and the killing Mrs. Cooley, the Cooley children, and another New River resident Joseph Flinton, the children's tutor. The Seminoles then looted and burned the Cooley farm, but did not attack other New River residents[28].

In 1841, the year before the close of the Seminole War, Aripeka occupied the region near the mouth of the Kissimee River and the eastern border of Lake Okechobee.

[edit] Domestic

He moved into the area of Big Cypress Swamp after the Third Seminole War of 1855-1858. He is said to have had seventeen warriors and a large number of women and children in his band. He was less effective as a war leader in the Third Seminole War because of advanced age and possible senility.

Ar-pi-uck-i and his wife, Itee (half Choctaw, half Irish, born ca. 1790), had at least one daughter, Rebecca Jones, born in Tennessee, 1 Jan 1817 and died 21 Jan 1893 in Shelby Co., Texas.[29]

[edit] Statues, Memorials, and Placenames

  • A sculpture depicting Ar-pi-uck-i leading the women and children to safety and an exhibit dedicated to Ar-pi-uck-i (Sam Jones, “Abiaka”), on Pine Island Ridge, Tree Tops Park. A copy of this sculpture is also at the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum at Big Cypress Reservation
  • Aripeka, Pasco County, Florida[30] – City named in honor of Ar-pi-uck-i (Sam Jones)
  • In a poem published in 1859 he is referred to as Arpeik[31]
  • The Ah-Tha-Thi-Ki ("to learn") Museum on the Seminole Big Cypress Reservation is located near to where Abiaca is believed to be buried.
  • A bronze Sam Jones group statue which includes Sam Jones, a bear (Bear Clan), panther (Panther Clan), eagle (Bird Clan), rattlesnake (Snake Clan), otter (Otter Clan), toad (Toad Clan), deer (Deer Clan), and Wind Clan is located at the Seminole Big Cypress Reservation. This group statue monument, 1.5 lifesize, is one of the largest bronze in the southeastern U.S.
  • A rock outcrop area on Mars called "Seminole". The two targets on this outcrop named "Abiaka" and "Osceola" were probed and studied during the Thanksgiving weekend, 2005, by the Mars Exploration Rover, Spirit[32][33]

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ Treaty With The Seminole, May 9, 1832. | 7 Stat., 368. |Proclamation, April 12, 1834.Indian Affairs: Laws And Treaties Vol. II, Treaties, compiled and edited by Charles J. Kappler. Washington : Government Printing Office, 1904. page images: 344, 345
  2. ^ American Indian Biographies, Revised Edition, Edited by Carole Barrett, University of Mary, and Harvey Markowitz, Washington and Lee University, Project Editor R. Kent Rasmussen, SALEM PRESS, INC., Pasadena, California, and Hackensack, New Jersey, 2005, pdf/Acrobat Adobe format, page 16
  3. ^ Barrett and Markowitz, pdf/Acrobat Adobe format, page 16
  4. ^ archaic: Mikasuki, Mickasooke
  5. ^ The Exiles of Florida by Joshua R. Giddings, 1858
  6. ^ Florida Place-Names of Indian Origin and Seminole Personal Names by William A. Read, Louisiana State University Press, 1934
  7. ^ The Story of Florida's Seminole Indians by Wilfred T. Neill, Seaside Press, 1956
  8. ^ Florida Facts, Cultural & Historical Programs, Florida Department of State, website
  9. ^ Chronicles of Oklahoma, Volume 9, No. 4, December, 1931, REPORT OF CHEROKEE DEPUTATION INTO FLORIDA, Grant Foreman, Page 423
  10. ^ The Seminole Indians of the State of Florida, Paintiff, v The United States of America, Defendant, Docket No. 73-A, 25 Ind. C1. Comm 25, Before the Indians Claims Commission, Decided March 24, 1971, pdf/Adobe Acrobat format
  11. ^ as recognized by the Seminole Tribe of Florida, History, Where We Came From, Osceola and Abiaka, The Seminole Tribe of Florida website
  12. ^ Read, 1934
  13. ^ Read, 1934
  14. ^ Read, 1934
  15. ^ 25th CONGRESS, 2d Session. (SENATE.) (507) MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, TRANSMITTING A report from Major General Jesup of his operations whilst commanding the army in Florida, in compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 6th instant. JULY 7, 1838, Digital Library of Georgia at the University of Georgia Libraries
  16. ^ Barrett and Markowitz, pdf/Acrobat Adobe format, page 16
  17. ^ or Muscogee. Mvskokee is the traditional spelling
  18. ^ Creek town of Abihka, Abhika: "pile at the base", "heap at the root", an ancient Creek town near the upper Coosa River. The name was conferred on the town because "in the contest for supremacy its warriors heaped up a pile of scalps, covering the base of the war-pole. Read, 1934
  19. ^ Kappler, page images 344, 345
  20. ^ Treaty With The Seminole, 1833. Mar. 28, 1833. | 7 Stat., 423. |Proclamation, Apr. 12, 1834, Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties, Vol. II, Treaties, Compiled and edited by Charles J. Kappler. Washington : Government Printing Office, 1904, page images: 394, 395
  21. ^ Florida Historical Quarterly, July, 1951-April, 1952, Volume XXX, Number 1, Published by the Florida Historical Society, pdg/Adobe Acrobat format, page 46
  22. ^ FLORIDA. From the Augusta (Ga.) Constitutionalist, Jan.12., The New Yorker, editor Horace Greeley January 13, 1838
  23. ^ Picolata, Jan. 9, 1838, The New Yorker, editor Horace Greeley January 13, 1838
  24. ^ Okeechobee Battlefield, National Historic Landmark website
  25. ^ Okeechobee Battlefield, National Trust for Historic Preservation website
  26. ^ elevation 29 feet above sea. Pine Island Ridge is the highest natural elevation in Broward County, Florida.
  27. ^ a primary village of the Miccosukee
  28. ^ A Jewel in the Wilderness, Fort Lauderdale From Early Times to 1911. Broward County, Comprehensive Survey Phase VIII, by George, Paul S. Historic Broward County Preservation Board. 1988
  29. ^ (I will search for this reference and document.)
  30. ^ The United States Post-Office Guide for 1904, p. 366, spells the name of this town Arbeka
  31. ^ History of Pasco County, Origins of Place Names, website
  32. ^ Mars Exploration Rover - Spirit - Update Thread - Pt. 2, Missions and Launches, Discussion Boards, Uplink, Imaginova website
  33. ^ Mars Exploration Rovers Update, Spirit Descends Husband Hill as Opportunity Works at a Standstill on Olympia, By A.J.S. Rayl, December 30, 2005, Planetary News: Mars (2005), The Planetary Society website

[edit] External links