Draft:Tom Tiger

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This page is about the turn of the century Seminole. For 'Tiger Tail' the leader during the Second Seminole War see Thlocklo Tustenuggee.

Thlocklo Tustenuggee[a] known as Captain Tom Tiger was one of the most well known leaders of the Florida Seminole.[2] In particular, he led the Cow Creek band, who would eventually settle on the Brighton Seminole Indian Reservation.[1]

Early Accounts[edit]

As contacts with the Seminole living in the Kissimmee valley were made following the Seminole Wars, Tom Tiger appeared in the accounts of government officials, travelers, and settlers. Frederick A. Ober a naturalist and writer stated that Tom's father went by old Tiger[3] and described "Tommy" Tiger as "over six feet in height, large and muscular. His eyes were black and fierce; his mouth, firm but not cruel was shaded by a small black mustache. We soon made friends with him, and found him gentle and pleasant voiced."[4]

Richard Henry Pratt, surveying the few remaining Seminole in 1879 on behalf of the Office of Indian Affairs, negotiated with "Tom" at the Cat Fish Lake camp of Chief Chipoco east of Lake Okeechobee. This was probably Tom Tiger[5] one of the few Seminole whom Pratt heard speak English. He preformed feats of strength and demonstrated skill with bow and arrow.[6] The Reverend Clay MacCauley surveying the Seminole for the Smithsonian Institution in 1880[7] met Tom Tiger as did Special Indian Agent A. M. Wilson who, in 1888, called him "a very prominent and influential Indian." He further stated that Tom Tiger had "expressed a desire for a homestead and had also pledged us his influence in the matter."[8][5]

According to the Seminole Tribe of Florida, Tom Tiger lent a settler his horse and when the man stole it, Tom Tiger took the man to an American court, becoming the first Seminole to do so.[1]

In the 1880s, President Chester A. Arthur visited Florida and met with Tom Tiger and gifted him a cigar and a jackknife and also gave 25 cents to one of Tom Tiger's children.[9]

Wilson, along with Francis A. Hendry and other prominent civic and business leaders, formed the "Friends of the Florida Seminoles" organization, which lobbied in the legislature, provided legal aid, and generally supported the Seminoles at the end of the 1800s and beginning of the 1900s. Tom Tiger often visited the headquarters of the organization in Kissimmee.[10]

In March 1904, Tom Tiger opened the first Seminole tourist camp on the South Fork of the Miami River. According to an article advertising the camp, visitors could witness traditional Seminole canoe making, crafts, and dancing.[11]

Tom Tiger was the grandfather of Betty Mae Tiger Jumper.[12]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Minnie Moore-Willson gives the name Micco Tustenug-ge and some sources follow her lead. In the Muscogee language these are appellations applied to the chief or leader of a settlement (micco) and a war chief (tustenuggee). The Seminole Tribe of Florida gives the name as Thlocklo Tustenuggee[1]

Citations[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "Historic Seminole". www.semtribe.com. Seminole Tribe of Florida. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  2. ^ Kersey 1974, p. 51.
  3. ^ Ober 1875a.
  4. ^ Ober 1875b.
  5. ^ a b Kersey 1974, p. 52.
  6. ^ Sturtevant 1956, p. 7-9.
  7. ^ MacCauley 1887, p. 518.
  8. ^ Wilson 1888, p. 8.
  9. ^ Jumper, Betty Mae; West, Patsy (2001). A Seminole Legend: the life of Betty Mae Tiger Jumper. Gainesville (Fla.): University Press of Florida. p. 18. ISBN 0813022851.
  10. ^ Kersey 1975b, pp. 24–25.
  11. ^ Butler 2022.
  12. ^ Jumper & West 2001, p. 79.

References[edit]

News accounts[edit]

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