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The Free and the Dead: The Untold Story of the Black Seminole Chief, the Indigenous Rebel, and America's Forgotten War
The page-turning and revelatory true story of America's vicious 1835 attack on the Seminoles in pre-statehood Florida, and the two men--a Black American and a renowned indigenous warrior--who fought back and brokered the resistance, from the author of "eye-opening marvel of a book" (Alexander Rose, New York Times bestselling author) 12 Seconds of Silence.
From 1817 to 1858, a series of military conflicts known as the Seminole Wars took place between the United States and the Seminole Tribe of Florida as they battled for ownership of the land.
Within this unconquered territory, former slaves and Seminole tribe members had lived side by side for generations, intermarrying and building communities in the interior, beyond the reach of the growing United States. But in 1835, the young country brought fire upon them, seeking to forcibly remove the Seminoles and reclaim any slaves in their path. In the face of this terror, tribes and bands came together across racial lines to preserve their freedom from federal interference. As the fight waged on, two men--Abraham, a free Black American, and the esteemed Creek warrior Osceola--worked together among many to save their lands and their people, against overwhelming odds, from America's formidable army of the South.
A powerful and vivid exploration of an overlooked revolt and historical alliances between Afro-descendant men and women and their indigenous brothers and sisters, The Free and the Dead is a timeless and revelatory work of history that sits alongside Empire of the Summer Moon and The Demon of Unrest.
From 1817 to 1858, a series of military conflicts known as the Seminole Wars took place between the United States and the Seminole Tribe of Florida as they battled for ownership of the land.
Within this unconquered territory, former slaves and Seminole tribe members had lived side by side for generations, intermarrying and building communities in the interior, beyond the reach of the growing United States. But in 1835, the young country brought fire upon them, seeking to forcibly remove the Seminoles and reclaim any slaves in their path. In the face of this terror, tribes and bands came together across racial lines to preserve their freedom from federal interference. As the fight waged on, two men--Abraham, a free Black American, and the esteemed Creek warrior Osceola--worked together among many to save their lands and their people, against overwhelming odds, from America's formidable army of the South.
A powerful and vivid exploration of an overlooked revolt and historical alliances between Afro-descendant men and women and their indigenous brothers and sisters, The Free and the Dead is a timeless and revelatory work of history that sits alongside Empire of the Summer Moon and The Demon of Unrest.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published February 3, 2026
14 people are currently reading
3160 people want to read
About the author
Jamie Holmes
7 books36 followersJamie Holmes is a writer and the author of the books The Free and the Dead, Nonsense, and 12 Seconds of Silence. His work has appeared in print or online in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Slate, WIRED, The Atlantic, and USA TODAY, among other publications. He holds an MIA from Columbia University’s School of International Affairs. Previously, he worked at New America as a policy analyst in international development and served as a Future Tense Fellow. Prior to that he was a research coordinator at Harvard’s Department of Economics, where he focused on behavioral economics.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
February 5, 2026
Pre-Read Notes:
I like reading nonfiction books about things I know nothing about. Since I never learned anything about the Seminole Wars, I grabbed this one.
"Jesup further promised Black Seminole leadership that he U.S. government would guarantee that all of their people who emigrated would live in independent villages, as “slaves” in name only, never to be sold or separated. Historians have described the general’s vow as an early “Emancipation Proclamation,” but in reality Jesup pledged freedoms they had already won: the status quo." p174
Final Review
(thoughts & recs) Organization and clarity were both persistent issues here. I was really interested in this history, but I did not come away with a good understanding of what I had just read.
A Couple Things:
✔️ Details can anchor the reader in the narrative but it can also drown the reader if the breadth of detail is too great. Take this passage about conscripted men in Florida: "Glory could be won in the Florida Territory. If it couldn’t, at least they would have an adventure. If that turned out to be a lie, at least it was a fresh start. Patriots seemed eager to put down the Native “war of extermination .” In New Orleans, word spread that “Clinch and 400 men had been butchered,” Tallahassee had fallen, Fort Brooke was under siege , and that among the hostiles were “1,000 able-bodied negroes.” The American flag was unfurled by the customs house , the governor spoke, and by January 29, 1836, some four hundred volunteers had enlisted. In the Gulf of Mexico, a few days later , choppy waters churned their stomachs and stole color from their faces." p95 It starts out with the kind of detail readers want, that connect the story to the real, lived world. But it starts to sag in the middle and then drag at the end as more and more and less relevant details pile on.
✔️ "Pomp and circumstance disappeared over a low ridge, bonded by flag and fabric." This is a common issue in the book, where a sentence or two or whole passages are overwritten, which affects clarity. Can anyone tell me what this sentence means, in or out of context?
Thank you to Jamie Holmes, Atria, and NetGalley for an advance digital arc of THE FREE AND THE DEAD. All views are mine.
I like reading nonfiction books about things I know nothing about. Since I never learned anything about the Seminole Wars, I grabbed this one.
"Jesup further promised Black Seminole leadership that he U.S. government would guarantee that all of their people who emigrated would live in independent villages, as “slaves” in name only, never to be sold or separated. Historians have described the general’s vow as an early “Emancipation Proclamation,” but in reality Jesup pledged freedoms they had already won: the status quo." p174
Final Review
(thoughts & recs) Organization and clarity were both persistent issues here. I was really interested in this history, but I did not come away with a good understanding of what I had just read.
A Couple Things:
✔️ Details can anchor the reader in the narrative but it can also drown the reader if the breadth of detail is too great. Take this passage about conscripted men in Florida: "Glory could be won in the Florida Territory. If it couldn’t, at least they would have an adventure. If that turned out to be a lie, at least it was a fresh start. Patriots seemed eager to put down the Native “war of extermination .” In New Orleans, word spread that “Clinch and 400 men had been butchered,” Tallahassee had fallen, Fort Brooke was under siege , and that among the hostiles were “1,000 able-bodied negroes.” The American flag was unfurled by the customs house , the governor spoke, and by January 29, 1836, some four hundred volunteers had enlisted. In the Gulf of Mexico, a few days later , choppy waters churned their stomachs and stole color from their faces." p95 It starts out with the kind of detail readers want, that connect the story to the real, lived world. But it starts to sag in the middle and then drag at the end as more and more and less relevant details pile on.
✔️ "Pomp and circumstance disappeared over a low ridge, bonded by flag and fabric." This is a common issue in the book, where a sentence or two or whole passages are overwritten, which affects clarity. Can anyone tell me what this sentence means, in or out of context?
Thank you to Jamie Holmes, Atria, and NetGalley for an advance digital arc of THE FREE AND THE DEAD. All views are mine.
October 1, 2025
I love history books that deal with an area of history that is often passed over and generally not widely known about. This book is a great example. The Seminole Wars of Florida were very interesting in the ways people from different ethnic backgrounds came together to fight off a common foe. The two men at the center of the conflict (Abraham and Osceola) lived incredible lives and were a lot of fun to read about. I also enjoyed some of the stuff in the beginning about crazy Andrew Jackson and how he'd ruined his health through engaging in duels and getting bullets stuck in his body for decades, among other things. All the things that led to the war were crazy and made me even more surprised that this area of history isn't more well known, at least on the West Coast. This is the kind of stuff that really needs to be taught in schools to get kids interested in History. It's all so fascinating. One thing of note: if this book looks long to you, keep in mind that about half of it is notes, bibliography, etc. The actual meat of the book is much shorter than it seems.
I received this book through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
I received this book through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
Review of advance copy received from Goodreads Giveaways
I won this in a giveaway. There's a lot of important history.
February 3, 2026
The subtitle of this book makes reference to “America’s Forgotten War”, by which they mean America’s attempt, beginning in 1835, to remove the Seminoles from the land they occupied in Florida to what was then called the Indian Territory, present-day Oklahoma. The war with the Seminoles is often seen as three separate wars, each of which happened for three different reasons.
The first war was an attempt by the US Army to recapture escaped slaves living among the Seminoles. While largely unsuccessful in capturing slaves this war did result in Spain ceding the territory of Florida to the US.
The second Seminole war focused on removal of the Seminoles in total - including their Black neighbors. The effort lasted seven years and cost the US government between 40 and $60 million (between $1.5 and $2 billion of today’s dollars). This war resulted in the negotiated removal of a significant number of Seminoles (over 3,500), but a band of mostly Miccosukee people did not agree and eluded US forces by hiding in the swamps of the Everglades.
The third Seminole war was a set of skirmishes between the US Army forces and the remnants of the Seminoles. It was the final attempt by the US to force those who remained to move west. In the end, all but about 200 indigenous people agreed to relocate.
Holmes’ book The Free and the Dead focuses mainly on the second Seminole War and the role of Abraham, a free Black American whose importance in the conflict has been overlooked by history, while the warrior Osceola’s role in the conflict was widely heralded at the time and has overshadowed Abraham.
Abraham was an interpreter and Sense Bearer (akin to prime minister) for Micanopy, the overall leader of the Seminoles. Abraham himself was also considered the chief of the Black Seminoles.
While the Black Seminoles were nominally slaves, especially to the outside world, the indigenous Seminoles treated them better than white Americans treated indentured servants. They were recognized as friends and neighbors. Children of Black Seminoles were not considered enslaved at birth but were recognized as free among their Seminole neighbors.
After months of fighting, in March of 1836, Micanopy and Abraham agreed that the Seminoles should lay down arms and go west. Others, including Osceola and the wily Miccosukee chief Abiaka were not so sure. While Abraham and Micanopy led the negotiations with the Army, Abiaka and his rebels, including Osceola, continued the fight as they hid deeper and deeper in the swamplands to thwart the attempts of the Army to take them.
Osceola was eventually captured and later died while imprisoned, but Abiaka continued to hold out. Skirmishes with the remaining Seminoles continued until 1842.
Holmes has clearly done a lot of research and gives a pretty thorough account of events on the ground in the second Seminole War. You get a strong sense of the frustration of the US Army, which lost 1,500 men, and the spirit of the Seminoles.
Frustratingly, I found the book lacking in context. Holmes doesn’t take those events and draw any larger meaning from them. It’s easy to get lost in the “this happened, then this happened” events. I would hazard a guess that the author got too close to the story and to his research materials and perhaps didn’t realize most of his readers would not be so in tune.
I do have to say though that he does clearly articulate, and document his case, that Osceola’s role was much less than it was portrayed in the press of the time, when many American civilians considered him a heroic Indian warrior. Abraham’s role on the other hand was larger and less appreciated at the time, at least outside of the Army people he dealt with, largely due to racism.
In the end I found this an interesting look at a chapter of American history that does not get much talked about today. It would be an excellent book for those with an interest in Florida or in the Indian Removal Act and how it was implemented by President Andrew Jackson. It is most interesting for its portrayal of the difference in treatment of Blacks by the US South and by the Seminoles, whose notions of slavery were very different.
The first war was an attempt by the US Army to recapture escaped slaves living among the Seminoles. While largely unsuccessful in capturing slaves this war did result in Spain ceding the territory of Florida to the US.
The second Seminole war focused on removal of the Seminoles in total - including their Black neighbors. The effort lasted seven years and cost the US government between 40 and $60 million (between $1.5 and $2 billion of today’s dollars). This war resulted in the negotiated removal of a significant number of Seminoles (over 3,500), but a band of mostly Miccosukee people did not agree and eluded US forces by hiding in the swamps of the Everglades.
The third Seminole war was a set of skirmishes between the US Army forces and the remnants of the Seminoles. It was the final attempt by the US to force those who remained to move west. In the end, all but about 200 indigenous people agreed to relocate.
Holmes’ book The Free and the Dead focuses mainly on the second Seminole War and the role of Abraham, a free Black American whose importance in the conflict has been overlooked by history, while the warrior Osceola’s role in the conflict was widely heralded at the time and has overshadowed Abraham.
Abraham was an interpreter and Sense Bearer (akin to prime minister) for Micanopy, the overall leader of the Seminoles. Abraham himself was also considered the chief of the Black Seminoles.
While the Black Seminoles were nominally slaves, especially to the outside world, the indigenous Seminoles treated them better than white Americans treated indentured servants. They were recognized as friends and neighbors. Children of Black Seminoles were not considered enslaved at birth but were recognized as free among their Seminole neighbors.
After months of fighting, in March of 1836, Micanopy and Abraham agreed that the Seminoles should lay down arms and go west. Others, including Osceola and the wily Miccosukee chief Abiaka were not so sure. While Abraham and Micanopy led the negotiations with the Army, Abiaka and his rebels, including Osceola, continued the fight as they hid deeper and deeper in the swamplands to thwart the attempts of the Army to take them.
Osceola was eventually captured and later died while imprisoned, but Abiaka continued to hold out. Skirmishes with the remaining Seminoles continued until 1842.
Holmes has clearly done a lot of research and gives a pretty thorough account of events on the ground in the second Seminole War. You get a strong sense of the frustration of the US Army, which lost 1,500 men, and the spirit of the Seminoles.
Frustratingly, I found the book lacking in context. Holmes doesn’t take those events and draw any larger meaning from them. It’s easy to get lost in the “this happened, then this happened” events. I would hazard a guess that the author got too close to the story and to his research materials and perhaps didn’t realize most of his readers would not be so in tune.
I do have to say though that he does clearly articulate, and document his case, that Osceola’s role was much less than it was portrayed in the press of the time, when many American civilians considered him a heroic Indian warrior. Abraham’s role on the other hand was larger and less appreciated at the time, at least outside of the Army people he dealt with, largely due to racism.
In the end I found this an interesting look at a chapter of American history that does not get much talked about today. It would be an excellent book for those with an interest in Florida or in the Indian Removal Act and how it was implemented by President Andrew Jackson. It is most interesting for its portrayal of the difference in treatment of Blacks by the US South and by the Seminoles, whose notions of slavery were very different.
February 19, 2026
The Free and the Dead: The Untold Story of the Black Seminole Chief, the Indigenous Rebel, and America's Forgotten War. Jamie Holmes. Atria/One Signal Publishers, 2026. 320 pages.
When Florida became a state in 1845, it was probably the most dangerous, least populated, and least explored state in the Union. White settlers were deterred by heat, hurricane, insects, swamps, bears, wolves, panthers, venomous snakes, and disease. The interior of the state was largely terra incognita - unknown and frightening for white pioneers. Meanwhile, the Seminoles and the Miccosukees survived and struggled to maintain their independence and their culture, The federal government policy of removing eastern Indians to Oklahoma Territory threatened that. In 1835, that threat boiled over into the Second Seminole War which continued until 1842, making it America's longest war until Vietnam. It also ranks as the most expensive, and one of the deadliest and most destructive of the Indian Wars. When it was over, much of the white development in the territory had been destroyed and most of the Seminoles had been forcibly removed to Oklahoma, but a few Seminoles and Miccosukees survived and remain to this day. Jamie Holmes has written a new history of the war, focusing on Osceola the famous warrior leader, and the lesser known Abraham, the Black Seminole leader and interpreter who played very prominent role. It's a solid history of the war, although I wouldn't call it revolutionary, but it does a really good job of telling the story of the Black Seminoles. However, I am deducting a star from my rating for the ridiculous use of the phrase "forced labor camps" instead of plantations.
When Florida became a state in 1845, it was probably the most dangerous, least populated, and least explored state in the Union. White settlers were deterred by heat, hurricane, insects, swamps, bears, wolves, panthers, venomous snakes, and disease. The interior of the state was largely terra incognita - unknown and frightening for white pioneers. Meanwhile, the Seminoles and the Miccosukees survived and struggled to maintain their independence and their culture, The federal government policy of removing eastern Indians to Oklahoma Territory threatened that. In 1835, that threat boiled over into the Second Seminole War which continued until 1842, making it America's longest war until Vietnam. It also ranks as the most expensive, and one of the deadliest and most destructive of the Indian Wars. When it was over, much of the white development in the territory had been destroyed and most of the Seminoles had been forcibly removed to Oklahoma, but a few Seminoles and Miccosukees survived and remain to this day. Jamie Holmes has written a new history of the war, focusing on Osceola the famous warrior leader, and the lesser known Abraham, the Black Seminole leader and interpreter who played very prominent role. It's a solid history of the war, although I wouldn't call it revolutionary, but it does a really good job of telling the story of the Black Seminoles. However, I am deducting a star from my rating for the ridiculous use of the phrase "forced labor camps" instead of plantations.
January 27, 2026
I reviewed an uncorrected proof of this book that I won on Goodreads. With that said, I think a big “Thank you!”to Goodreads in order, I’m always excited to win a book, but I thought this one would be very interesting and was very happy to find out I was a winner.
The reason that I was interested in this book specifically is that I was vaguely aware of the Seminoles in Florida but knew next to nothing about their history. As a person that is interested in almost all aspects of early American history I was happy to learn more about the subject. Having read the book I think that the history in it is fascinating and way more important than it gets credit for. The amount of research that must have gone into this book is incredible. This story is definitely one that needs to be told.
The only reason that I did not give it a higher rating is that I felt like the book didn’t flow as well as I would have liked. Fascinating information and incredible research aside, I thought it felt a little disjointed at times. One of the reasons was the over use (in my opinion) of quotes, often just a few words, that were mixed into the body of the text regularly throughout the book. However, in spite of this, I am glad that I have read this book and am happy to have it as an addition to my library.
The reason that I was interested in this book specifically is that I was vaguely aware of the Seminoles in Florida but knew next to nothing about their history. As a person that is interested in almost all aspects of early American history I was happy to learn more about the subject. Having read the book I think that the history in it is fascinating and way more important than it gets credit for. The amount of research that must have gone into this book is incredible. This story is definitely one that needs to be told.
The only reason that I did not give it a higher rating is that I felt like the book didn’t flow as well as I would have liked. Fascinating information and incredible research aside, I thought it felt a little disjointed at times. One of the reasons was the over use (in my opinion) of quotes, often just a few words, that were mixed into the body of the text regularly throughout the book. However, in spite of this, I am glad that I have read this book and am happy to have it as an addition to my library.
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February 1, 2026Jamie Holmes’s "The Free and the Dead" is a gripping work of history that tells the story of the Seminole resistance in 1830s Florida, focusing on the alliance between Abraham, a free Black leader, and Osceola, a Seminole warrior, as they fought forced removal and a return to slavery. Holmes explains the stakes without glossing over the violence or the cruelty of U.S. policy, and keeps the focus on the people who chose to resist. This book sheds light on an often forgotten chapter of American history, showing how freedom was defended through cooperation across racial lines, even when the odds were stacked heavily against it.
February 7, 2026
I received an ARC through a giveaway. The book could definitely use a proofreader. There are many details and the author loves using direct quotes. The details that were included make it difficult to read and follow along. One example is the author refers to Abraham using his various nicknames at random points in the book. They would use one nickname in one sentence and in the following sentence use a different nickname to refer to Abraham. Then would just refer to him by his actual name for several chapters. The organization could also use some help as well. The book shares lots of important history and was an insightful read.
December 7, 2025
The copy of this title being reviewed is an uncorrected proof. That being established, it is a very interesting time in American history being written about. The subjects involved are covered with great research. However, the narrative was a bit disjointed with a resulting lack of flow. The book would really be enhanced with some contemporary maps and photos. Overall, a solid entry about a little known and controversial time in our history.
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