The Road to the Loneliest Outpost Fort Cooper State Park

In 1823, the Cove of the Withlacoochee was once give to the Seminole Indians in the Treaty of Moultrie Creek. The agreement required that they give up farms and cattle ranches that they had worked and move.

The Seminole Indians were partly, Native American that had lived in Florida and partly runaway slaves which had joined the Native Americans.

Five years later, President Andrew Jackson sent troops to move them to Oklahoma. The Seminole and their Africa Americans friends fought the attacks off and refused to move except when captured. If a slave was captured, they were returned to their owners. If a Native American, they where sent to reservations.

In 1836, General Winfield Scott with 5,000 men took the road to surround the Seminoles. During the march, General Scott stop here and left Major Mark Anthony Cooper with the wounded and sick.

Major Cooper and his men built a fort as quickly as he could to ensure that he and his men were not sitting targets for the Seminole force. The Seminole only took a few days to surround the Fort and trapped the Major and his men for 16 days before reinforcements arrived.

The view from the fort is down to Lake Holathlikaha. Fort Cooper would be used for reconnaissance and dispatching post until the war’s end.

There would be three Seminoles War and only about 200 Seminoles warriors and their families who stayed hidden in the Everglades. Today, many of those descendants still live in the Florida Everglades.

Visiting Fort Cooper State Park is a wonderful way to spend a day. The road that runs through the park, once was used to connect several forts to each other but was also used throughout the years by other residents.

Books

The Seminole Wars: American’s Longest Indian Conflict goes from 1817 to 1858 and the events that lead up to them. This is one of the first competitive books.