"Welcome to the Fourth Seminole War, which kicked off this week when the Florida Legislature asked for federal help in stopping casino games on the tribe's reservations.

There's some sorry history here in Florida's efforts to thwart the Seminoles.

President Andrew Jackson, whose likeness on the $20 bill is collected in bulk in the Seminoles' lucrative Florida casinos, made his bones killing Indians during the First Seminole War in the early 1800s.

But he couldn't run them all out of Florida or keep them contained to their allotted reservations, and so the Second Seminole War erupted in the 1830s. This was the war that featured the capture of Osceola, the feared Seminole warrior, during what was supposed to be a truce meeting.

Federal troops were able to chase the Seminoles out of northern Florida, but not the southwestern part of the state, where the tribe sought refuge and was eventually granted a new reservation.

Despite a treaty, the government remained committed to removing the Seminoles from Florida in the same way it removed the Cherokees from Georgia. But unlike the Cherokees, the Seminoles dug in for a fight, which eventually led to the Third Seminole War in 1854. The plan was to round up as many Seminoles as possible for relocation and force those who evaded capture into the Big Cypress Swamp and the Everglades, which were thought to be uninhabitable.

But the Seminoles left to die in the swamp survived. And over time, their wetland home became a new reservation, which by the dual magic of sovereignty and casino gambling turned into a haven for palefaces to surrender their Andrew Jacksons to the tribe.

Yes, there's some cosmic comeuppance here as we stand on the threshold of the Fourth Seminole War. Because this time, it's the Indians who have the palefaces on the run."

Get the Story:
Frank Cerabino: In this round, Seminoles hold all the cards (The Palm Beach Post 10/22)