The history of trouble between European and Native Americans in Florida had been long and bloody. From the time that Ponce De Leon had first landed in 1620 there had been conflict and uneasy truces. When the Spanish left Florida for the first time in 1764 most of the original Native Americans who remained sailed with them to Havana. They were quickly replaced be a new Nation who had left the tribes of Georgia, primarily Creeks, Muskogee, Micosukee who joined the few remaining "Spanish Indians" and became the Seminoles. While the United States fought the War of 1812 the Seminoles, in what was again Spanish Florida, supported the British and crossed the border in numerous raiding parties. After the treaty with Britain Andrew Jackson was sent to Georgia to help resettle the Creeks to the Indian Territory across the Mississippi. While on this mission Jackson swept into north Florida where he attacked the Seminoles and hanged two British agents who he accused of providing arms to the Seminoles. This was the first Seminole War. When the United States acquired the Territory of Florida in 1821 she also acquired the problems and hostility of the Native populace. The first attempt at settlement was the Treaty of Moultree Creek which gave the Seminoles the interior of the state forbidding them from an area within 15 miles of to Gulf of Mexico and 20 miles from the Atlantic. In return the Seminoles would receive farming implements, food, hunting weapons and support for a period of twenty years. They were also required to allow free passage to any White man across their territory. A large number of escaped Slaves had joined the Seminoles over the years and many had for generations become a part of the community. It was the White Slave catcher and the whiskey salesmen who first took advantage of this clause and trouble quickly followed.
By 1833 the Government in Washington had concluded that there was no choice but to remove the Seminoles to the Indian Territory in Oklahoma. They sent a delegation to meet the Seminole Chiefs at Payne's Landing to make a treaty that would cede all Seminole land to the Whites and giving them a specific area in the new territory. The Chiefs refused to trade the land they knew so well without even seeing the new lands and so the Government sent a delegation of Seminoles to Fort Gibson to see that the land was good. After seeing their new land the Seminole leaders found out that their neighbors were to be the Creeks of Georgia who had become their bitter enemies. When the Agents heard this they told them that they were to inspect the land, not its inhabitants and if they refused to sign another treaty that said the land was good the Government would not allow them to return to their families in Florida. They signed the Treaty of Fort Gibson and it looked like the removal would be peaceful.
January 1st 1836 was set as they day the Seminoles would begin their voyage to the new land and a few families duly reported to Fort Brooke awaiting their departure. North at Fort King however it was clear that the Seminoles would not all go peaceably and General Clinch began preparing for war building Fort Drane at his sugar plantation North of Ocala which was then Fort King. He ordered reinforcements from Fort Brooke be marched north to Fort King "as soon as practicable" and the seeds of war were planted.
As the need for troops in the field increased it was determined to man the forts with sailors from the Navy. In early January a force of 50 sailors under the command Lt. Thomas Leib marched north and garrisoned Fort Foster. As the weeks slowly passed there were scattered attacks by the Seminoles who would fire random shots at the walls and twice tried unsuccessfully to burn the bridge. During this time convoys arrived from time to time filling the stockade with arms, ammunition and rations. Rumors began to circulate that the war would soon be over and by April 12th the Seminoles had promised to move south of the Hillsborough River and be ready to emigrate from Fort Brooke on May 10th. As the outpost on the new border of the Seminoles it became the duty of Fort Foster to enforce the line of demarcation.
The troops in the field began to withdraw from the disease ridden swamps and return to the forts. Lt. Lieb and his Sailors were replaced by Maj. Zantzinger with his company of the 2nd U.S. Artillery. At this time the garrison of the fort was to be 305 men, however it appears from the records that there were usually only 180 men at the post itself at any given times, the others being on detached service, furlough or deserted from service. Most of these men slept in tents outside the picket wall due to the number of stores within and as time progressed palmetto sheds were built over the army tents to provide more protection from sun and rain. As summer approached the mosquitoes, flies and disease made life almost unbearable at the fort and the post physician, Dr. J.H. Baldwin recommended that the post be abandoned. By May 15th all but 50 of the troops had been moved south to a camp at Lake Thonotosassa and by June the post was completely abandoned for the summer months.
On the night of June 7th 1837 almost all of the 700 Seminoles gathered at Fort Brooke who had been awaiting removal suddenly disappeared, it is not known what it was that made them return to war, but the war would continue. Fort Foster was again manned in October of 1837, but by then the bulk of the fighting had moved south of the bay area and most of the conflict at the fort was caused by the troops fondness for bootleg whiskey. As summer once more approached Fort Foster was again abandoned and it would remain so for the balance of the war. On August 14, 1841 after some 3,824 Seminoles had been relocated to Oklahoma by choice or force peace was declared even though a few hudred Seminoles remained in the Everglades, where their descendants still live.
In 1849 Fort Foster was briefly reactivated when it seemed that the Seminoles might once again go to war, but it was abandoned quickly when the threat failed to materialize. From 1855 to 1858 the Seminoles fought a third war, Billy Bowlegs' War, but the hostilities did not affect the Hillsborough and Fort Foster fell in disrepair and ruin.
The Fort today has been rebuilt by Florida's Department of Natural Resources and is a part of Hillsborough River State Park on U.S. Hwy. 301 just south of Zephyrhills, Florida.
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