Fort Gibson
Upon arrival, many assumed they’d be able to lay foundations for generations to come, not realizing just how far-reaching the institutions of slavery were or just how many hands fed it. Once in Indian Territory, the Seminoles were given land adjacent to the Creeks. This became a big problem for the darker skinned among them, as the Creeks had a strict slave code and were in the habit of kidnapping and selling people to white slavers. In the mid 1840s, two children of a Black Seminole woman named Wannah were kidnapped and sold. Having three other children as well as themselves to protect, Wannah and her husband made the decision most other Black Seminole families would end up making and moved into Fort Gibson.
Hearing of Wannah's living arrangements in the fort, her former slaver demanded she be returned to him so frequently and vehemently that military authorities issued a proclamation that he desist. The man in charge of Fort Gibson, Lieutenant Colonel Gustavus Loomis, was said to have made efforts to find Wannah's two kidnapped children who were reportedly being treated badly and had been resold, but he was unsuccessful and the children were never seen by their family again.
The U.S. Army offered them more protection than their Seminole allies could (or would) and many Black Seminoles chose to live as squatters within and outside the walls of Fort Gibson rather than risk losing more loved ones. This assumption turned out to be more or less true--risks of Creek and even some Seminole kidnappers continued even while at the fort, particularly while the men were away for the long hunting season and women and children were left at the fort to fend for themselves. At least two children from a Black Seminole family were kidnapped and sold as slaves while living at Fort Gibson. Even with Lt. Col. Loomis in command, a man notably sympathetic to the plight of Black Seminoles despite having fought them in Florida, the risk of capture and enslavement did not disappear entirely.
A History of Scouting
Some Black Seminoles such as John Horse agreed to fight, scout, and interpret for the U.S. Army in exchange for their protection. John Horse also hoped being on the U.S. government's good graces long enough was his people's best chance at earning their own land away from pro-slavery Indians and whites. The good intentions of the few men like Lt. Col. Loomis were not enough to make this a reality, however, and dangers grew more intense as the issue of the legality of slavery became ever more contentious within the U.S.
Caving to the pressure of slavers in 1846, the promise of General Jesup made to the Seminoles and their Black allies in Florida was declared null and void when President Polk ordered all formerly enslaved people be captured and returned to slavers. The U.S. Army ordered the some 260 Black people within Indian Territory be returned to slavery if former owners could be determined. All the Black Seminoles living around Fort Gibson were rounded up and sent back to their Seminole owners to await good weather for transportation back to plantations. By this point, many of the more benevolent Seminoles who embraced the role of protector rather than enslaver, most notably Micanopy who was replaced by a pro-Creek descendant, had died.