Ask someone to name a famous Native American from history, and the answer is likely to be Geronimo, Crazy Horse or Sitting Bull--all known for challenging the might of the United States army. Osceola, the early 19th-century leader of the Seminoles, is rarely recalled, yet his struggles to maintain his people's homeland in Florida, his bold strikes against forces consistently larger than his own and his dignity and composure even when captured mark him as a Native hero worth remembering.
Thom Hatch's Osceola and the Great Seminole War tells the story of how Osceola rose from the role of a tribal warrior to become the leader of his people as they fought against the injustices of the U.S. government. Despite years of guerrilla attacks on American forces, the Seminoles were not a warrior culture; Osceola was at heart a pacifist, wanting little more than to be left alone to live with his people as they chose, where they chose. Stories of his battles--especially the treachery of being taken prisoner while under the protection of a white flag--captured the minds of contemporary Americans, but this fascinating figure of Native American history has sadly faded from our modern consciousness--a wrong hopefully righted by Hatch's detailed account. --Kerry McHugh, blogger at Entomology of a Bookworm