The County in Kentucky History (Kentucky Bicentennial Bookshelf) Book

This was apparently only the second complete history of the Second Seminole War when it was originally published in 1967. (The Origin, Progress, and Conclusion of the Florida War being the first.) I read the 1985 "revised edition" but the Preface explains the original contained "no errors of fact" so only minor changes have been made as, plus the addition of an Appendix with relevant sources that became available since the first edition. The Preface admits this means some typographical errors remained unchanged (thus "Levin Powell" is still mistakenly called "Levi Powell").

The main text is 327 pages long. Roughly the first 100 pages cover the origins of the Seminoles through the First Seminole War and the various events of the 1820s and early 1830s that led to the Second Seminole War. The war chapters are generally divided up based on who was overall command of US forces. That position changed repeatedly and each commander pursued different strategies. There are extensive endnotes. More than a dozen illustrations of key figures are scattered throughout the book, but there are only two maps and neither of them are very good. There is also no Glossary of the many place names mentioned throughout the state (especially forts) nor the many, sometimes very similarly named, Seminole leaders. This will make things challenging for some readers.

This is a fairly comprehensive history of the war. There are some omissions. For example, Egmont Key (an island in Tampa Bay where Seminoles were held awaiting shipment west) isn't mentioned. However, the war was such a vast conflict dominated by small raids and skirmishes that this is inevitable. The book does read like a 1960s university press publication, but it's still a decent read (I have read much drier history from UF Press). African-Americans are presented as important in the war: fighters, interpreters, advisors, guides, and a major source of white-Seminole friction because of slavery. Mahon keeps pretty neutral - a rarity for a subject that has spawned a great many agenda-driven works. The narrative does occasionally abruptly shift gears, and would have been well-served by some section breaks.

Mahon's History of the Second Seminole War has aged remarkably well. Those brand new to the subject should probably start with Florida's Seminole Wars 1817-1858, but for those interested in the Seminole Wars this book remains a must-read.