Seminole Scout Camp on Fort Clark

Seminole Scout Camp on Fort Clark

Under Spanish rule, Florida was a haven for freed or escaped slaves in the 1700s. Once there, many integrated into the Seminole tribe, intermarrying and adapting to the culture. Florida became a U.S. territory in 1821, and after approximately 30 years of warfare, the majority of the Seminoles were forced to relocate to the Indian Territory (Oklahoma).

Tribal leaders Coacoochee (Wild Cat) and John Horse gathered a group of Seminoles in 1850 and left the Indian Territory for Mexico. There, under an agreement with the Mexican government, they

Settled and fought against raiding tribes along the Rio Grande.

In 1870, the U.S. Army offered the group pay and rations to move to Fort Clark, established in 1852 to protect settlers along the border. The black Seminoles became scouts for the Army, serving under Lt. John L. Bullis and other noted officers during Texas' Indian wars. The Seminole-Negro Indian scouts, as they were known, lived on the fort in a settlement referred to as "the camp." They built homes in the Mexican jacal style, using wattle and daub construction and thatched roofs. The scouts and their families also built dams and irrigation systems along Las Moras Creek for farming.

The Seminoles lived on the fort until 1914, when the scouts were disbanded. Some returned to Mexico, many stayed in the Brackettville area and some moved to Oklahoma, where the

Seminole nation was granted sovereignty. Still others remained, buried in the scouts' cemetery (1.5 mi. Sw), which was established in 1872. Among those buried there are four scouts who earned Congressional medals of honor: Adam Payne (Paine), Isaac Payne, John Ward and Pompey Factor.

(2002)