The Seminole war continued for eight years.
Eight years of bloodshed and horror, in which the white man and the
Indian struggled for the supremacy.
The whites fought for conquest, the Indians to retain possession of
their own.
On both sides were acts of cruelty--terrible episodes illustrating the
_lex talionis_.
As in all such contests, the pale-faces were the victors, and the red
men were in time subdued.
Such of the Seminoles as survived the war were allotted lands beyond the
Mississippi; and, far distant from their native home, were commanded to
be content and happy.
They had no alternative but to submit to their adverse fate, and in
several detachments they were transported to their new homes.
In one of the migrating bands, who passed through New Orleans, bound
west of the Mississippi river, was a young chief who attracted great
notice by his commanding presence no less than by a companion seen
constantly by his side--a white woman!
She was of great beauty, and those who saw her naturally made enquiry
about her name, parentage, and station, as also the name of the young
chief.
The Indians who were asked simply made answer that the chief was Wacora,
and that she by his side was his wife, known among them as--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The White Squaw."