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Chief Coacoochee Known as Wild Cat, he and John Horse became friends in Florida where they were captured, imprisoned and escaped from a U.S. Army fort. They were warriors together in the Battle of Okeechobee in 1837. Later, Wild Cat became the leader of his band and a spokesman for those Seminoles most vehemently opposed to unification with the Creeks. A charismatic and headstrong leader, his scheme for a confederation of southwestern Indian tribes never materialized. He died in 1856 in Mexico of small pox. Chief Coacoochee. Engraving reproduced from The Exiles of Florida by Joshua R. Giddings (Follet, Foster & Co., 1858). |