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What Were the Results of the Second Seminole War

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[[File: Zachary_Taylor_by_Joseph_Henry_Bush.jpg|300px|thumbnail|left|Zachary Taylor (1784-1850) (President of the United States March 9, 1849 – July 9, 1850) ]]
Fresh off his campaign in the Black Hawk War, Zachary Taylor was promoted to Brigadier General and given command of Florida. Taylor immediately set to work rectifying what he believed were mistakes made by Jessup by dividing the territory north of the Withlacoochee River in northwestern Florida into twenty miles square sectors and placed twenty men garrisons in each. He also organized incursions deeper into the Everglades using bloodhounds to track Seminole warriors. <ref> Adams, p. 370</ref> The results of Taylor’s tactics were negligible at best and even he began to see that leaving the Seminoles in the swampy Everglades was probably the best course of action.
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Removal was postponed in March 1839 and a <i>de facto</i> cease fire followed with peace negotiations at Fort King on May 18, 1839. The talks involved Taylor, General Alexander Macomb, and Colonel Harney for the army, while chiefs Chitto Tustenuggee and Halleck Tustenuggee represented the Seminoles. The Americans agreed to quit pursuing the Seminoles if they stayed south of the Pease Creek, which is located just south of the modern Tampa Bay metropolitan area. It looked like peace would return to Florida, but just as with the early treaties, four of the major bands did not participate. <ref> Adams, p. 372</ref>
With no consensus among the Seminole people, hostilities quickly resumed and the U.S. government was forced once more to find a solution to the expensive, never ending mess. Taylor parlayed his command of Florida into a better command in the west, so what was becoming an unenviable position was given to Brigadier General Walker K. Armistead in April 1840. Under Armistead’s command, military actions against the Seminoles were greatly reduced. The army primarily served by removing the Seminoles who were tired of fighting to Indian Territory, while the holdouts were allowed to stay in the Everglades. <ref> Adams, p. 380</ref>
===Conclusion===

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