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.
Fugitive slaves in the United States
Prior to the establishment of the United States, and extending until Florida became a territory of the United States in 1821, the destination of many fugitive slaves was Spanish Florida. In a policy formalized in 1693, Spain offered escaped British slaves safe refuge and freedom, provided they converted to Catholicism and served a period in the militia. The first free settlement of former slaves in the Americas was Santa Teresa de Mosé, near St. Augustine, Florida. This community disbanded when Florida became a British possession in 1763, most of the slaves withdrawing to Cuba with the Spanish troops defending the San Marcos fort in Saint Augustine.