Osceola's Legacy

Front Cover
University of Alabama Press, Aug 27, 2006 - Biography & Autobiography - 377 pages
A bestselling, re-evaluation of a major Native American resistance leader. Named an Outstanding Book by the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Human Rights

Born in Alabama to a Muscogee/Creek Indian mother and an English father, Osceola, born Billy Powell, came to prominence in the 1830s for resisting the U. S. government's sweep into Florida. He protested the government's Florida Indian removal, killed a pro-emigration Indian leader and then made war on the US government.

Osceola's Legacy draws on a wealth of sources, including letters, diaries, and artifacts to bring this fascinating figure and the central role he played in the Second Seminole War into vivid focus. Of particular interest is a chapter on the forensic report on Osceola's grave as well as descriptions and the illustrations of his personal property at the time of his death.

Osceola's Legacy is significant for its genealogy and archaeological study of this Native American and his interaction with the federal government during the 1800s. The catalog of photographs of Osceola portraits and his personal possessions makes this a worthwhile reference book as well.
 

Contents

Introduction
1
1 A Short Life
5
2 Family Matters
30
Setting the Record Straight
67
4 Through the Eyes of Those Who Saw Him
107
5 A Lonely Grave
134
6 The Forensic Report
153
7 The Search for Osceolas Head
163
11 Descendents East and West
229
12 Pitcairn Morrisons Mementos
257
13 A FarFlung Legacy
265
Two Very Expensive Alleged Osceola Artifacts
282
Summary of Osceola Artifacts
291
Graphic Representations of Osceola
297
Notes
305
Bibliography
343

8 The Weedon Family
200
9 The Weedon Artifacts
211
10 Osceolas Hair
223

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About the author (2006)

Patricia Riles Wickman is a former senior historian for the State of Florida, Director of the Department of Anthropology & Genealogy for the Seminole Tribe of Florida, and author of The Tree that Bends: Discourse, Power, and the Survival of the Maskoki People.