Micanopy
1780-1849
Chief of the Seminole Nation
Born near St. Augustine, Micanopy succeeded as hereditary leader of the Seminoles in 1819, the year that the U.S. aquired Florida. He owned land and cattle estates and employed runaway slaves to work them. He encouraged intermarriage between the Seminoles and the runaways, and opposed American settlement of North Florida. Slaveholders in FL and neighboring states became angry that the Seminoles would not return their "property," and pressed the federal government to remove the Seminoles from Florida. At the Treaty of Payne's Landing (May 9, 1832), Seminole chiefs ceded their land to the U.S. in exchange for reservations in the Oklahoma territory. Micanopy refused to sign the treaty, instead joining with Osceola, Wild Cat, Alligator, and other chiefs to resist the removal. He led the tribe during the ensuing Second Seminole War (1835-42), but eventually realized the futility of war with the U.S. and started moving his tribe to the territory. He was captured and imprisoned at Charleston, S.C., and sent to Oklahoma, where he died Jan. 2, 1849. Micanopy, FL, founded 1821, was his capital village, and is today the home of Pearl's Country Store, where you can get the best barbecued ribs ever sold in a gas station.
Pearl Country Store
106 NE Highway 441 # A
Micanopy, FL 32667
352.466.4025
