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         The Official Fort King Heritage Foundation Web Page is: http://ftking.org/

Fort King: Statement of Importance:

  • Long before the Magic Kingdom and Harry Potter there was Fort King.
  • Constructed by the U.S. Army in 1827 with native long leaf pines, it was America’s first attempt to establish a presence in the interior of unmapped, wilderness Florida.
  • On this hilltop outside the fort, occurred some of the most historic and dramatic scenes in American history.
  • Here, government agents told the Seminoles they must leave Florida or they would be removed by force.
  • Here the Seminole War Chief Osceola first became known to the world.
  • Here - You can stand in his footsteps as he slams his knife into the Enforcement Order and challenges the Government to use their force!
  • "This is our land! You have guns! So have we. Your men will fight! So will ours, till the last drop of our blood moistens the sand."
  • Here was garrisoned every regiment of the U.S. Army during the seven year Second Seminole War (1835-42).
  • Here stood the West Point Officers many of whom 25 years later would command the massive Armies of the North and South during the American Civil War (1861-65).
  • Here on this hilltop in the wilderness stood a future President of the United States (Zachary Taylor).
  • Here stood an Army Colonel whose name would be immortalized in American folklore (Icabod Crane).
  • Here stood thousands of rank and file enlisted men of the U.S. Army many being emigrants from England and Scotland seeking a better life in the West.
  • Here stood trappers, traders, pioneers, bounty hunters, and black American slaves.
  • Here were the beginnings of Ocala and Marion County.  
  • After his death in captivity, Osceola was buried with full military honors outside the walls of Fort Moultrie, S.C. Inscribed on his headstone by the U.S. Army are the words 'Osceola, Patriot and Warrior died January 31, 1838.’
  • Here At Fort King, we can study Patriotism.
  • At Fort King we can become one with our past, learn from it, and become a better people.
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The Historical Significance of Fort King as presented at the Fort King National Historic Landmark

 

 

HON. CLIFF STEARNS of Florida in the House of Representatives.

Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, on Monday, May 10, 2004 Fort King of Ocala, Florida was designated as a national historic landmark in front of 200 guests at the downtown square in Ocala, Florida. Many speakers were present and told of the underlying significance of Fort King, where Osceola fought against the United States, as a key fort in a chapter of American history, the Second Seminole War from 1835-1842. Henry Sheldon, an engineer of Gainesville, Florida, who is a member of the Seminole Wars Historic Foundation, was one of the speakers that evening. Below is his brief account of the historical significance of Fort King.

Ceremony, May 10, 2004 (By Henry A. Sheldon):

Imagine standing at this spot in Florida two hundred years ago. Before you would be an immense forest, unbroken except by rivers, prairies, and lakes. It was said that if a squirrel could leap the rivers, it could walk on the tree tops from St. Augustine to Texas. The sounds were those of the forest--the wind in the pines, the dying crash of a 500 year old mammoth oak, the cry of a hawk in the clouds, or the scream of a panther at the edge of the hammock. For thousands of years Native Americans passed by this spot in pursuit of deer and buffalo. Maybe a hunter sat right where you stand catching his breath as the pursuit continued. Maybe a town stood here. Maybe there were cook fires and children playing over there. The people were dressed in deerskins. Then one day a different sound was heard in the forest. It was the sound of wagons, and horses and men shouting orders. ``Pull up, veer to the left of that big pine, keep the wagons moving.'' They were soldiers, heading that way--East, toward the giant Silver Spring. They were dressed in blue and white and carried flintlock muskets similar to those used in the French and Indian War, the American Revolution, and the War of 1812. They had orders to build a fort. They were looking for a hilltop, near water. They found such a spot 3 miles east of here on the first high ground west of the Silver Spring. Now the sound was of axes and the great pines on the hill began to fall to be used for the walls and blockhouses of the fort. The year was 1827.The fort was similar to wilderness forts constructed by the French and the English during the 1600's and 1700's. It was the same type of picket fort constructed by George Washington at Fort Necessity in 1754. It was similar to the British Fort William Henry captured by the Marquis De Montcalm in the siege of 1757 and memorialized in James Fennimore Cooper's Last of the Mohicans. Like Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, Fort Sill in Oklahoma, and Fort Laramie, in Wyoming, Fort King advanced the frontier. Many of these frontier forts became our cities. Fort Pontchartrain, became Detroit, Fort Dearborn became Chicago, Fort Pitt became Pittsburgh, Fort Brooke became Tampa, and Fort King became Ocala.

For 15 years (1827-42) Fort King was to be a main stage in the heroic and tragic saga of the advance of the American Frontier in Florida. It was constructed to administrate the Treaty of Moultrie Creek which relocated the Seminoles to central Florida. Fort King was to promote law and order in the wilderness by protecting the Seminoles from trespassing settlers and adventurers. Initially, Fort King and the Indian Agency were viewed positively by the Seminoles. As Coahajo said to Gad Humphreys, the Indian Agent in Jan 1829, ``This house was built for us, so that when we had any difficulty, we might come here and settle it.'' It represented the `Great Father's' (i.e., the US President's) commitment to them for their safety and well being. Chief John Hicks said to Gad Humphreys ``We know that the Great Father's power is great, and he can do with us as he chooses; but we hope that his justice is as great as his power.'' They trusted the Great Father and his Indian Agents. To the Seminoles, Fort King was a symbol of hope.

But the Great Father could not stop the overwhelming advance of the white settlers, the whisky peddlers, and the slave hunters. Two years after being constructed, Fort King was abandoned due to budget cuts from the recession of 1829. The Seminoles were left without the soldiers to protect them from marauding whites. Justice lapsed. The government reduced their annuity. The Seminoles could not buy corn. They began to starve. Captain John Sprague wrote: ``The Indian, exasperated by repeated wrongs, was reckless of the future--indeed, cared but little of results. Revenge, ever sweet to him, whatever may be the consequences, was all he sought.''

Fort King stood empty for 3 years (1829-32), but the Seminoles did not disturb it. The Seminoles waited for the return of the soldiers to protect them under the terms of the Treaty of Moultrie Creek. However, in May 1832, the Great Father (Andrew Jackson) made them sign a new treaty at Paynes Landing on the Ocklawaha River.

In June 1832, one month after the signing of the Treaty of Paynes Landing, the soldiers returned. Fort King was re-garrisoned. But now the Seminoles were told that they must leave Florida entirely and forever. Instead of a symbol of freedom, hope and justice, Fort King and its soldiers became a symbol of hate and oppression. On to the stage came a new Seminole--His name was Osceola. His first appearance to the world was at Fort King in October 1834. Here, the defiant young war chief rejected the US orders to leave Florida and threatened war unless the Seminoles were left alone. There was no trust left. Then came the fateful day of Dec 28, 1835. That morning 40 miles to the south along the Fort King Road, the Seminoles ambushed and annihilated two companies of US Army regulars in route to Fort King. That afternoon, Osceola shot and killed the Indian Agent Wiley Thompson outside the walls of Fort King. The Second Seminole War had begun.

During the seven year guerilla war that followed, every major general and every regiment of the US Army was stationed at or passed through Fort King. Here stood the Generals: Gaines, Scott, Clinch, Jesup, Taylor, and Armistead. Here stood the junior officers Worth, Johnson, Prince, Bragg, Meade, and Pemberton--men who would gain fame in the Mexican and Civil Wars. And here stood the enlisted men: Bemrose, Clarke, and hundreds of others who served in the Florida War. Following the initial series of engagements, most of which the Seminoles won, US forces withdrew from the interior of Florida abandoning Fort King in May 1836. The Seminoles stood victorious. At this zenith of their success and hopes, the Seminoles burned the hated Fort King to the ground.

But it would be a short lived victory. The Army returned a year later and rebuilt Fort King. It would be garrisoned throughout the remaining 5 years of the war and from here the Army of the South would direct dragoon and infantry units in unrelenting search and destroy missions against the Seminoles.

When it ended in 1842, most of the Seminoles had been killed or captured and relocated to Indian Territory in Oklahoma. These Native Americans constitute the Seminole Nation of today. An unconquered and defiant few withdrew to the vastness of the Florida Everglades and survived to the present as the Seminole Tribe of Florida.

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Those interested in the Fort King History and the Seminole Wars and visit the Fort King - Visitors Center and do research in our library.  Some of our Books:

 

Downtown Ocala with the Mayor and Congressmen Cliff Stearns during the acceptance of the National Historic Landmark plaque. (2004)

 

 

 

 

 

We have rebuilt the Fort walls!!

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Webmaster:  Robin Corsiglia    352-236-2635    steameng1@cox.net

   

 

 

 

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