Home |  PublicationsEncyclopedia |  Micanopy

The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture

MICANOPY (ca. 1780–1848).

Hereditary Seminole leader Micanopy (Micco-nuppe, Michenopah) probably was born circa 1780 near St. Augustine, Florida. "Chief of Chiefs," "Head Chief," "Pond Governor," or "The Governor" are translations of his name. When his predecessor, Bolek, died circa 1819, Micanopy became chief. He employed some one hundred escaped African American slaves to manage his livestock and cultivate the soil. His chieftainship included the period when, in 1819, the United States purchased Florida from Spain. As Euroamericans settled in northern Florida, the Seminoles withdrew into Florida's interior.

Pressure for Seminole removal led to the May 9, 1832, signing of the Treaty of Payne's Landing, which ceded the Seminoles' Florida homeland for lands in Indian Territory. Micanopy backed leaders such as Osceola, who opposed removal. After Osceola killed the Seminole agent, Gen. Wiley Thompson, in December 1835, Micanopy's warriors annihilated the troops of Maj. Francis L. Dade, initiating the Seminole wars.

During June 1837 a war-weary Micanopy prepared to move to Indian Territory. Later that year he was deceived and captured by Gen. Thomas S. Jesup. Micanopy was incarcerated at Charleston, South Carolina, and then removed to Indian Territory in 1838, and his authority declined. He died at Fort Gibson in December 1848.

Bruce E. Johansen

Learn More

Carolyn Thomas Foreman, "The Jumper Family of the Seminole Nation," The Chronicles of Oklahoma 34 (Autumn 1956).

Bruce E. Johansen and Donald A. Grinde, Jr., The Encyclopedia of Native American Biography: Six Hundred Life Stories of Important People, From Powhatan to Wilma Mankiller (New York: Henry Holt, 1997).

Edwin C. McReynolds, The Seminoles (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1957).

Citation

The following (as per The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition) is the preferred citation for articles:
Bruce E. Johansen, “Micanopy,” The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=MI014.

Published January 15, 2010

Copyright and Terms of Use

No part of this site may be construed as in the public domain.

Copyright to all articles and other content in the online and print versions of The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History is held by the Oklahoma Historical Society (OHS). This includes individual articles (copyright to OHS by author assignment) and corporately (as a complete body of work), including web design, graphics, searching functions, and listing/browsing methods. Copyright to all of these materials is protected under United States and International law.

Users agree not to download, copy, modify, sell, lease, rent, reprint, or otherwise distribute these materials, or to link to these materials on another web site, without authorization of the Oklahoma Historical Society. Individual users must determine if their use of the Materials falls under United States copyright law's "Fair Use" guidelines and does not infringe on the proprietary rights of the Oklahoma Historical Society as the legal copyright holder of The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and part or in whole.