Billy Bowlegs, Sam Jones, and the Crisis of 1849

One of the most unusual events that took place during the removal of some 4,000 Indians and blacks from Florida to Indian Territory during the 1836-1859 period, occurred during the so-called Outbreak of 1849 when the Seminoles delivered three alleged murderers to the whites for trial and possible execution. This outbreak blazed forth in July 1849 when a group of young Seminoles went on a rampage along both coasts of Florida. In the first attack, the Seminoles killed one man and vandalized a small settlement along the Indian River. Then they crossed the peninsula, killed two other persons, and burned the Kennedy and Darling store located on a tributary of the Peace River. Since the majority of the Seminoles did not want to endure another war, they arranged meetings with the whites at Charlotte Harbor and delivered three of the alleged culprits and the severed hand of a fourth to Major General David E. Twiggs and white justice. Both whites and Indians considered the three to be murderers, and there should have been a trial, but none took place. Then in February 1850, they were placed on a boat with other Indians and shipped west