Florida Territory
Beginning in late 1835, Osceola and the Seminole allies began a guerrilla war against the U.S. forces. Numerous generals fought and failed, succumbing to the heat and disease as well as lack of knowledge of the land. It was not until General Thomas Jesup captured many of the key Seminole chiefs, including Osceola who died in captivity of illness, that the battles began to die down. The Seminoles were eventually forced to migrate. Florida joined the Union as the 27th state on March 3, 1845. By this time, almost all of the Seminoles were gone, except for a small group living in the Everglades.
History of Bartow, Florida
Meanwhile, European powers were struggling to establish themselves on the Florida peninsula. The Spanish, French and British all gained and lost control over Florida before the United States finally gained permanent control of the peninsula in 1819. By this time, the Seminoles had established themselves on the peninsula and proved to be an impediment to white settlement of Florida. At first, the United States attempted to force the Seminoles onto a large reservation covering much of Central Florida, which included the land now part of present-day Bartow. At the conclusion of the First Seminole War, the United States passed the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which attempted to remove most of the Seminoles to Oklahoma.