Tribe: Leader of the Seminole
Mixed Parentage: Creek and English. He was raised in the Creek tribe
Alternate names: As-sa-he-ola meaning black water. He was also known as Little Owl
Language: Muskogean and English
Lifespan of Osceola: 1804 - 1838
Place of Birth: Tallassee, Alabama
Date of Birth: 1804
Date of Death: January 1838
Place of Death: Fort Moultrie, South Carolina
Name of Father: William Powell
Nickname: Billy Powell
Name of Mother: Polly Copinger, a Red Stick Creek woman
Wars: First and Second Seminole Wars
1804: Osceola was born in 1804 to a Creek woman named Polly Copinger and an English trader called William Powell in the Creek village of Talisi Tallassee, Alabama where he spent his early years
1814: The Red Stick Creeks were defeated at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in Alabama by General Andrew Jackson and the US troops started to burn all the Red Stick villages. The surviving Red Stick Creek Indians, including Osceola and his mother, fled Alabama and headed towards Florida
1815: Osceola and his mother found sanctuary with the Seminoles of Florida, which was under Spanish rule. Florida had became a refuge for runaway slaves, fugitive Native American Indians, smugglers, and criminals of all kinds. Tensions between the United States and Spanish Florida had begun to escalate
General Andrew Jackson invades Florida in pursuit of Seminole Indians which sparks the start of the First Seminole War
1817-1818: General Andrew Jackson comes into conflict with all habitants in Florida and burns native villages
1819: The United States acquired Florida from Spain via the Adams Onis Treaty (aka the Florida Treaty)
1823: The 1823 Treaty of Moultrie Creek is signed by which the US seized the northern Seminole lands. Osceola and his family moved with the Seminole tribe deeper into central and southern Florida
1830: The 1830 Indian Removal Act was passed that started of the forced removal of Native American Indians from their lands to reservations
1832: The Treaty of Payne's Landing required all Seminole Native Indians to leave Florida within three years for Indian Territory (now Oklahoma)
1832: Osceola was living near present-day Ocala and was the leader of a Seminole resistance movement against their forced re-location
1833: A few Seminole chiefs endorsed the Treaty of Fort Gibson, by which the Seminoles relinquished all claims to land in the Florida Territory in return for a reservation in the center of Florida
1833: Osceola and many other Seminoles disagreed with the treaties than had been made and Oscelo seized the opportunity to unite the dissenting young Seminoles under his leadership
1834: Osceola vowed to the U.S. Indian agent, General Wiley Thompson, that any Seminole chief who prepared to relocate would be killed
1835: On December 23, 1835 Seminole Indians ambushed and a column of US Army troops in what was called the Dade Massacre when two U.S. companies of 110 troops, under Major Francis Langhorne Dade, were killed
1835: On December 28, 1835, Osceola and his followers ambushed and killed General Wiley Thompson and 6 others outside Fort King
1835: The Battle of Ouithlacoochie was fought on December 31, 1835 and claimed as a victory for Osceola and the Seminole Indians
1835: The Second Seminole War. The two attacks and the battle under the leadership of Osceola, began the Second Seminole War
The Battle of Wahoo Swamp, fought on November 21, 1836, under the Seminole leadership of Billy Bowlegs resulted in the retreat of US troops and a victory for the Seminoles
1836: Many large plantations were burned and settlers killed. By the end of 1836, all but one house in what is now Miami-Dade and Broward counties had been burned by the Seminole Indians
1837: General Thomas Jesup arranged for peace talks with Osceola near St. Augustine, Florida. It was a trap and Osceola was captured. He was first imprisoned at Fort Marion in St. Augustine before being transferred to Fort Moultrie on Sullivans Island, outside Charleston, South Carolina
1838: Osceola died on January 31, 1838. Osceola is said to have committed suicide or died from an attack of quinsy or was poisoned