The Black Seminole Slave Rebellion
From 1835-1838 in Florida, the Black Seminoles, African allies of Seminole Indians, led the largest slave rebellion in U.S. history.
The uprising peaked in 1836 when hundreds of enslaved Africans fled their plantations to join the rebel forces in the Second Seminole War. At the height of the revolt, at least 385 enslaved Africans fought alongside the Indian Seminole allies to destroy more than twenty-one sugar plantations in central Florida from December 25, 1835 through to the summer of 1836.
At the time, sugar was the most valuable crop and Florida was the most highly developed agricultural region in North America. The destruction of Florida plantations was reported to have cost the U.S. untold millions. In 1838, the U.S. Army allowed 500 Blacks to move west with Seminole Indians. Half received promises of freedom, the only emancipation of revolutionary Blacks in the U.S. before the Civil War.
