Scouts: the Black Seminoles, 1870-1914

Prior to the Civil War, members of the Five Southeastern Tribes, had owned black slaves.  Slaves, both from other tribes and from White masters, found a ready escape in Florida with the Seminoles.  While some Seminoles did own black slaves, for the most part they welcomed blacks to live among them and intermarry with Natives.  Mixed race Seminole leaders, such as John Horse, were trusted colleagues of Seminole leaders such as Osceola and Coacoochee, fighting for what they considered their homeland, too.  John Horse eventually agreed to lead his people to Oklahoma, under a promise that they would not be returned to slavery.  However, once in Oklahoma, White slave catchers began taking blacks and mixed race Natives back into slavery.  John Hors led his people from Oklahoma and down into Mexico to escape enslavement.  Many became scouts for the Mexican Army.

Following the Civil War, the U.S. government turned its attention to Texas, where tribes such as the Kiowa, Comanche and Kickapoo were fighting White encroachment on their homelands.  The trackless plains with their dust and heat were some of the most unforgiving country in North America.  In order to track bands of raiding warriors, the Army would have to turn to other Natives who, by now, had plenty of experience in the area doing just that for the Mexicans.  In 1870, the government invited John Horse and his people to return to the United States.  On July 4, 1870, 200 warriors with their families crossed the Rio Grande.  The men were mustered into the Army, while their families often settled near Army posts.

Because most of these people were either black or mixed race, they were often dispatched to work with the 9th and 10th Black Cavalry, the Buffalo Soldiers.  Like the cavalry, they were mounted and became proficient scouts and soldiers.  Four Seminole Scouts would receive citations for the Congressional Medal of Honor in skirmishes with the Comanche, Kickapoo and other Plains tribes, but it's unclear whether they actually received the medals to go with the citations.  In 1914, with the war in Europe claiming the government's attention, the Seminole Scouts were disbanded and they and their families forced to go to Indian Territory.  Most of them did.  However, some of their descendants still live in Texas and Mexico.