NOTES ON THE ORIGIN OF THE SEMINOLE INDIANS OF FLORIDA
by
Frank Drew

p.21

The settlement of the Seminole Indians in Florida has been entirely within the historical period.  They were renegade Creeks (Muskokis) from Georgia, who invaded Florida following the raids made by the English under Governor Moore, of South Carolina, beginning in 1702.  Moore drove the Timuquanas who inhabited the northern part of Florida (extending far southward) to the protection of the forts at St. Augustine.

The Creeks, who were his allies, came in as Seminoles - following these English raids.  The word Seminole is from Sua (Sun God), ma (literally mother, but in such connection a most emphatic negative) - ol (people, as derived synthetically from oc, spirit and atl great the generative force of life, as well as the regenerative, being attributed to water - specifically the ocean as the origin of life).  The name Seminole is, therefore, "people whom the Sun God does not love" (i.e. accursed).

The Indians found here by the early explorers (de Narvaez and de Soto) were evidently descendants of Maya immigrants from Yucatan.  Some of them, as for example, the Apalaches, can be traced by name to the headwaters of the Guarani stem of the Orinocco River in South America.

The original Indians living between the Aucilla and Apalachicola rivers took the name of Miccosukee following de Soto's expedition, - that is, all except a remnant that retained the name of Apalaches and lived near the mouth of the Apalachicola river, a band of some fourteen being all that were left when the forced migration to the West was made by the

p.22

U.S. government following the early Indian War (1835-1842).

The Miccosukees assumed that name as meaning "Chiefs of the Hog Clan".  Primitive people generally adopt a tribal name of some esteemed wild animal of their residential location.  This was the case in instance.  Vasco Porcallo, an officer in the expedition of de Soto, contributed to it thirteen hogs from his estate in Cuba.  These were landed at, or near, St. Marks and were carried with the army until it disintegrated after leaving what are the present confines of Florida "razorbacks".  The name, as of a phratery, Miccosukee, denotes Micco (chiefs) and sukaw (hog).  Micco itself is from ma (mother, through whom those Indians traced descent)  oc (spirit) and kah or ku (the heart coordinating with breath as the life force - polysynthetically, the principle, as also the principal of chief, element of creation).  Sukaw is from sua (sun) and kaw (that is the life and mind as likened to the flight of a bird, in this case applied to the exhalation of the breath in calling, and so understood as the supplication to the sun by the animal, specifically in the lowing of the buffalo or domestic cattle, and extended in application to hogs).

The Miccosukees were too intrepid to permit the migration of the Seminoles through their territory; so the course of invasion was to the eastward along the upland that has ever since been called "Trail Ridge" (running southward between Jacksonville and McClenny, about one and one-half miles east of the latter town, there crossing State Highway No.1).

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The Seminoles, following their invasion, became dominant in all territory to the east and southward of the Miccosukees.  In the Indian War of 1835 the Miccosukees were forced into an alliance with the Seminoles and were consequently driven with them into South Florida.  However, the Miccosukees held themselves superior to the Seminoles.  This distinction has been maintained to a degree in separate tribal settlement of the Seminoles now in South Florida.

The Muskokis, from whom the Seminoles broke away, were probably distant relations of the Mayas.  They settled to the westward, and in time broke across the settlement of the Mayas (who were undoubtedly the mound-builders_ taking possession of middle Georgia to the Atlantic coast.

In the Gulf there are ocean currents that probably made the course of respective settlement from its south-west coast.  The Mayas likely came with the current that sets from the coast of Mexico to within a few miles of the Florida coast, where it either joins the outflowing Gulf stream or at times joins a current flowing northward and west of north to the entrance of Mobile Bay.  The Mayas evidently crossed this counter-current and made a landing about the mouth of the Suwannee River.  On the other hand, the Muscayas (ancestors of the Muskokis) probably followed the counter-current to the coast of Alabama and westward.  The original Indian town of Ocala was near the mouth of the Suwannee River, and its meaning is "House (settlement) of the Spirit-fathers"  (ancestors now become spirits).

The most prominent of the Seminole chiefs of early days was Secofee, who lived at Alachua sinks, on Payne's Prairie, at the time of Bartram's visit to Florida (1774).  His name has been understood to mean "Cow Keeper" confused with sukaw; but, in reality it means "Sun Spirit of the High (crescent) Moon" (The Eclipse).
 
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The Seminoles were inferior in culture to the Indians they supplanted.  They were only in degree (imitatively) agriculturists, while the Mayas and Timuqanas were good primitive farmers.  The Seminoles made no imprint except by waging war against the whites, and by transferring some of the geographical names from other localities.  FOr instance, the Amasura River was changed to Withlacoochee as taken from a stream of that name that is a tributary of the Suwannee and made one of the boundaries of the Muskokis (Creeks).
                                                                                                    FRANK DREW.
 

See also: September 21, 1958 - The Miami Herald, Section F,   U.S. GETS ULTIMATUM FROM INDIANS: 'Settle All Our Land Claims NOW!' 60 Days Or Else
Story by Bob Reno, U.S. Attorney General, Janet Reno's brother.

The Hell With Politics, The Life and Writings of Jane Wood Reno,
          Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno's Mother, p. 108.                              

There are some distinctions, aren't there, between Muskogee Seminoles and Miccosukee?

     That's kind of fascinating.  There are remnants of two Indian tribes here now, Miccosukee and Muskogee, and they speak two different languages.  But not too long ago Howard Osceola said to me, "Jane, you know, there are still some Spanish Indians in the Everglades."

     And I said, "Really?"  You know, the Spanish Indians, the ones we read about in history, are Calusa.

     And Howard said:

"They say there are some still out there.........that don't speak any language we know.  I've never seen one but my mother and daddy did.  And there are supposed to be some living out there on the hammock."S

Relationship to the Aztecs, according to Minnie Moore-Willson, in her book, The Seminoles of Florida,
A Heritage Classic, (Copyright, 1896, 1920 By Minnie Moore-Willson; Copyright, 2003 By Heritage Books, Inc.) pp. 118 - 125

RELATIONSHIP TO THE AZTECS AND EASTERN TRIBES

1833 Map of Florida detailing territory of Mosquito Indians and Lagoona Maya

Stay Tuned for more references regarding the Origins of the Seminole...