The group took their chance to leave in November 1849. As it was customary for men to depart as far south as Texas for hunting trips in the fall, and many pro-slavery Creek factions had themselves already departed for such trips, they hoped their absence would not be quickly noticed. Wild Cat and his group departed on the same day. Joining both groups in the journey were other destitute Indians and other Black people seeking freedom and safety from the institutions of slavery.
The two groups frequently separated from each other, deployed diversionary tactics to protect themselves from Comanche raiders hunting for refugees of slavery to capture and sell. Word of their escape followed them through the region and they would be joined by some of those fleeing slavery. Exact numbers were not recorded, but survivors and descendants of survivors estimated at least 100 people were in both John Horse and Wild Cat's bands emigrating to Mexico and others joined them along the way.
Food was scarce throughout the journey and the two groups took every chance they reasonably could to make camp, plant a crop such as corn, and remain in the area until it could be harvested, whenever possible. Wild Cat also regularly splintered off from the group to attempt to trade with nearby Kickapoos and try to convince them to join his group. They hunted and fished wherever possible, but for the most part it was the sofkee and dried goat meat that sustained them through the journey.
Come spring, the group had made it across the Brazos River and into the hilly area of south-central Texas. They took advantage of the season and foraged for fruits, nuts, and honey as much as possible. They also "They gathered the spiked sotol, similar to the Florida palmetto root, buried it, covered it with rocks, and started a fire on top to steam it. Then they ground it into a flour-like meal. The sotol is still gathered and cooked in a similar way in Nacimiento. One present-day nacimiento woman informed me that the leaves, once cooked, taste like a boiled turnip."
The grueling journey continued on, as it was not safe to make camp in central Texas where Comanche bands roamed frequently. There was also illness to battle, and while the women of the group kept an eye out for medicinal herbs, it wasn't enough to help everyone who got sick. One old man became too sick to sit on his horse and told the group to go on ahead, that he'd catch up. They never saw him again.
Eventually, the group made camp again near the German settlement of Fredericksburg, about 150 miles West from the Rio Grande. Presumably, they felt safe enough to do this near the presences of German abolitionists. The group planted a crop of corn and while they waited for harvest, Wild Cat journeyed ahead to try to persuade more Indians to join their band and also to meet with military officials at Fort Sam Houston.
This small period of time was relatively stable. That changed when Wild Cat took his son and son's playmate, a Black Seminole girl names Kitty Johnson. Wild Cat began to drink heavily and when the bill came due, he attempted to sell Kitty to pay for it. It was not an isolated incident, Wild Cat had attempted to sell another Black Seminole girl, one Clara Dixon, for a barrel of whiskey.
The incident in Fredericksburg was a major splitting point between the two groups. Fearing the drunken attempt to sell the young girl would attract slavers to the area (which it soon did), John Horse urged his group to depart immediately for the Rio Grande and get there as quickly as they were able. Wild Cat's group followed suit and the two groups continued on as they had but the Black Seminoles were more wary of Wild Cat and his drinking from this point onward.
What happened during the last part of the journey to Mexico is more ambiguous according to descendant accounts than the rest. The most common threads are haste, extreme and constant fear of slavers and assistance from sympathetic U.S. military officials (and betrayal by others).
While agreed upon specifics of the tale are lost to time, the group of Black Seminoles crossed into Mexico during the summer of 1850. Curious spectators to the migration, not all of them friendly, spread word of the group's movement into Mexico.