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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 disastrous 1835 attack on the Seminoles in pre-statehood Florida, and the two men—a Black American and a renowned indigenous warrior—who fought back for their homes and freedom, 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 conflicts known as the Seminole Wars took place between the United States and the tribes of Florida as they battled for the land.
Within this unconquered territory, formerly enslaved mothers and fathers and Seminole families had lived side by side for generations, building communities in the interior, beyond the reach of the growing United States. But in 1835, the young country took up arms against them, seeking to forcibly remove all Indigenous people and return their allies to slavery. 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 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 families and Indigenous tribes, The Free and the Dead is a timeless work of history that sits alongside Empire of the Summer Moon and The Demon of Unrest.
From 1817 to 1858, a series of conflicts known as the Seminole Wars took place between the United States and the tribes of Florida as they battled for the land.
Within this unconquered territory, formerly enslaved mothers and fathers and Seminole families had lived side by side for generations, building communities in the interior, beyond the reach of the growing United States. But in 1835, the young country took up arms against them, seeking to forcibly remove all Indigenous people and return their allies to slavery. 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 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 families and Indigenous tribes, The Free and the Dead is a timeless work of history that sits alongside Empire of the Summer Moon and The Demon of Unrest.
320 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 3, 2026
About the author
Jamie Holmes
18 books37 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 - 22 of 22 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.
April 8, 2026
Revisiting one of the many areas impacted by Andrew Jackson's Indian Treaties and Removal Act of 1830, Historian Jamie Holmes focuses on Florida for The Free and the Dead: The Untold Story of the Black Seminole Chief, the Indigenous Rebel, and America’s Forgotten War.
Holmes begins by establishing the colonial history and background of Florida, its possession by Spain and its appeal as an escape destination for enslaved Africans. An already tense border conflict became much sharper when in 1821 it became a US territory. This opened the land to white settlers wanting to establish a new slave state. But Florida was more a lawless zone, full of the desperate, drunk or just plain outlaw. Civilization was in the Seminole (Spanish for 'runaway') communities that blended African and Indigenous cultures to create their own unique way of life.
The bulk of the book focuses on the 2nd Seminole War (1835-1842) where the United States army fought against a confederation ("fellowhood") led by Chief Micanopy. The 'rebels' operated through guerilla tactics, taking great advantage of the swamps, leaving the US soldiers to shelter in seasonal fortresses and hope their roads and bridges remained usable. To counter this, Major General Thomas Jesup built up the US forces that worked to target and destroy the villages of black Seminoles. His rational was to prevent their rebellion from inspiring any sympathy from within the Slave population of the south.
The narrative is overall fast paced, drawing from some harrowing primary sources, and also noting the archival absences, we know some of the surviving rebels were sent West or in to slavery, but not how they ended their days.
A welcome addition to the scholarship of American empire, colonialism and indigenous resistance.
I received a free digital version of this book via NetGalley thanks to the publisher.
Holmes begins by establishing the colonial history and background of Florida, its possession by Spain and its appeal as an escape destination for enslaved Africans. An already tense border conflict became much sharper when in 1821 it became a US territory. This opened the land to white settlers wanting to establish a new slave state. But Florida was more a lawless zone, full of the desperate, drunk or just plain outlaw. Civilization was in the Seminole (Spanish for 'runaway') communities that blended African and Indigenous cultures to create their own unique way of life.
The bulk of the book focuses on the 2nd Seminole War (1835-1842) where the United States army fought against a confederation ("fellowhood") led by Chief Micanopy. The 'rebels' operated through guerilla tactics, taking great advantage of the swamps, leaving the US soldiers to shelter in seasonal fortresses and hope their roads and bridges remained usable. To counter this, Major General Thomas Jesup built up the US forces that worked to target and destroy the villages of black Seminoles. His rational was to prevent their rebellion from inspiring any sympathy from within the Slave population of the south.
The narrative is overall fast paced, drawing from some harrowing primary sources, and also noting the archival absences, we know some of the surviving rebels were sent West or in to slavery, but not how they ended their days.
A welcome addition to the scholarship of American empire, colonialism and indigenous resistance.
I received a free digital version of this book via NetGalley thanks to the publisher.
February 18, 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.
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.
April 30, 2026
I have read a lot of books about Florida history and even written one. I thought I knew the story of the Seminoles Wars in Florida. I was wrong, and this book proved it.
Jamie Holmes does a terrific job of bringing to life the Florida of the 1830s. This was a time when Andrew Jackson, our first governor, had become president. Jackson ordered the removal of every single Native American in the South, and 45,000 of them were uprooted from their ancestral homelands and shipped off to reservations in the West.
But the Seminoles didn't want to go. Their resistance, and that of their allies, drew the Army into a conflict so long and bloody and expensive, it's as if it were a preview of the Vietnam War. Crucial to this resistance movement were the so-called "Black Seminoles," free Black men and women who had escaped the chains of slavery and lived free among the Native American tribe.
One in particular, known as Abraham, or "the Sense Bearer," had risen to become a chief, interpreter and trusted advisor to the presiding chief of the tribe. He often winds up walking a tightrope between the protection of his family, the desires of the Native Americans whom he was allied with, the military commanders who were demanding he make impossible choices and the slave-holding men trying to put himself and his friends and family back in chains.
Abraham is the clear hero of this book. There are many villains -- not just the racist Jackson but the greedy Indian agents and clueless commanders leading troops hither and yon over the Florida peninsula. However, as Holmes makes clear, the Army's most powerful opponent, and the one that helped the indigenous resistance the most, was Florida itself. This swampy, bug-infested peninsula repeatedly thwarted military plans, even to the point of stripping the uniforms and boots off the soldiers and leaving them naked.
As usual, the whites are completely ignorant about their opponents, to the point of completely misunderstanding the role that Osceola plays in the rebellion. He suffers the oddest fate of anyone in the book: Captured by troops while he was supposed to be protected by a white flag, he winds up becoming an odd sort of celebrity, almost like a K-pop boy band. Then he falls ill. When Osceola dies, his white doctor cuts off his head and takes it home as a souvenir, where he uses it to scare his misbehaving children. The doctor also reneges on his promise to take the body back to Florida.
There is plenty of drama and violence in this story, including the real story of what happened to the officer named Dade for whom Dade County is named (and probably shouldn't be). The story culminates in the Native Americans and Black Seminoles coming to opposite conclusions about whether they should agree to removal, which ends up splitting the Native Americans. There is now an Oklahoma branch of the Seminoles and the Florida branch (which is now incredibly wealthy, thanks to gambling, which Holmes doesn't mention).
There is also a certain amount of humor, too. I particularly liked a scene from one of the last chapters, in which Abraham joins several other chiefs in a trip to Washington and New York. They wind up posing for a daguerreotype, with four chiefs crammed together on a too-small couch and Abraham standing behind them, a slight smile on his face at how awkward they look. The picture is turned into a newspaper lithograph, with the couch made longer, the chiefs portrayed as more dignified and Abraham as glum, not amused. That's an apt metaphor for how whites viewed them as opposed to reality.
One last thing: Holmes does a terrific job of giving us far more than mere military history. He's found sources to talk about the lives and habits of the average people who were affected by this story, and I think that's a big reason why it's so interesting. However, I docked him one star because he has an odd habit of using a lot of partial quotes. You can't read five sentences without stumbling over 10 partial quotes, which could have been handled using either a paraphrase or deleting the quotation marks entirely. That's such a minor quibble, but it's the sole flaw I found in the book.
Jamie Holmes does a terrific job of bringing to life the Florida of the 1830s. This was a time when Andrew Jackson, our first governor, had become president. Jackson ordered the removal of every single Native American in the South, and 45,000 of them were uprooted from their ancestral homelands and shipped off to reservations in the West.
But the Seminoles didn't want to go. Their resistance, and that of their allies, drew the Army into a conflict so long and bloody and expensive, it's as if it were a preview of the Vietnam War. Crucial to this resistance movement were the so-called "Black Seminoles," free Black men and women who had escaped the chains of slavery and lived free among the Native American tribe.
One in particular, known as Abraham, or "the Sense Bearer," had risen to become a chief, interpreter and trusted advisor to the presiding chief of the tribe. He often winds up walking a tightrope between the protection of his family, the desires of the Native Americans whom he was allied with, the military commanders who were demanding he make impossible choices and the slave-holding men trying to put himself and his friends and family back in chains.
Abraham is the clear hero of this book. There are many villains -- not just the racist Jackson but the greedy Indian agents and clueless commanders leading troops hither and yon over the Florida peninsula. However, as Holmes makes clear, the Army's most powerful opponent, and the one that helped the indigenous resistance the most, was Florida itself. This swampy, bug-infested peninsula repeatedly thwarted military plans, even to the point of stripping the uniforms and boots off the soldiers and leaving them naked.
As usual, the whites are completely ignorant about their opponents, to the point of completely misunderstanding the role that Osceola plays in the rebellion. He suffers the oddest fate of anyone in the book: Captured by troops while he was supposed to be protected by a white flag, he winds up becoming an odd sort of celebrity, almost like a K-pop boy band. Then he falls ill. When Osceola dies, his white doctor cuts off his head and takes it home as a souvenir, where he uses it to scare his misbehaving children. The doctor also reneges on his promise to take the body back to Florida.
There is plenty of drama and violence in this story, including the real story of what happened to the officer named Dade for whom Dade County is named (and probably shouldn't be). The story culminates in the Native Americans and Black Seminoles coming to opposite conclusions about whether they should agree to removal, which ends up splitting the Native Americans. There is now an Oklahoma branch of the Seminoles and the Florida branch (which is now incredibly wealthy, thanks to gambling, which Holmes doesn't mention).
There is also a certain amount of humor, too. I particularly liked a scene from one of the last chapters, in which Abraham joins several other chiefs in a trip to Washington and New York. They wind up posing for a daguerreotype, with four chiefs crammed together on a too-small couch and Abraham standing behind them, a slight smile on his face at how awkward they look. The picture is turned into a newspaper lithograph, with the couch made longer, the chiefs portrayed as more dignified and Abraham as glum, not amused. That's an apt metaphor for how whites viewed them as opposed to reality.
One last thing: Holmes does a terrific job of giving us far more than mere military history. He's found sources to talk about the lives and habits of the average people who were affected by this story, and I think that's a big reason why it's so interesting. However, I docked him one star because he has an odd habit of using a lot of partial quotes. You can't read five sentences without stumbling over 10 partial quotes, which could have been handled using either a paraphrase or deleting the quotation marks entirely. That's such a minor quibble, but it's the sole flaw I found in the book.
July 31, 2026
I was invited to read this by the publisher [Atria Books/One Signal Publishers] and I thank them, Jamie Holmes, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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.
April 1, 2026
The Free and the Dead: The Untold Story of the Black Seminole Chief, the Indigenous Rebel, and America's Forgotten War (Hardcover)
by Jamie Holmes
The story of escaped slaves and native tribes standing up to the encroaching American forces into Spanish held Florida. Escape to the south to Florida was a life line for many African enforced slaves. Their resistance to malaria making them the ideal labor force, in Georgia, and South Carolina. With political changes in Europe as Spain lost control of trade, to English privateers, or slave trade, marked the end of Spanish control of Florida colony. The Fledgling American government needed more land, more trade goods, and cotton plantations, began a push for Florida. This brought a century of peace, and cooperation between escaped slaves and native tribes to direct conflict. Generals, like Andrew Jackson saw an increase in their finances by capturing the escaped slaves, the land, and gold that was reported in the area. This brought the two sides of this colony together to face the united northern excursions into their area. This book brings this story to the modern understanding, showing how small colonies of resistance brought together by circumstance has influenced the original Florida spirit.
by Jamie Holmes
The story of escaped slaves and native tribes standing up to the encroaching American forces into Spanish held Florida. Escape to the south to Florida was a life line for many African enforced slaves. Their resistance to malaria making them the ideal labor force, in Georgia, and South Carolina. With political changes in Europe as Spain lost control of trade, to English privateers, or slave trade, marked the end of Spanish control of Florida colony. The Fledgling American government needed more land, more trade goods, and cotton plantations, began a push for Florida. This brought a century of peace, and cooperation between escaped slaves and native tribes to direct conflict. Generals, like Andrew Jackson saw an increase in their finances by capturing the escaped slaves, the land, and gold that was reported in the area. This brought the two sides of this colony together to face the united northern excursions into their area. This book brings this story to the modern understanding, showing how small colonies of resistance brought together by circumstance has influenced the original Florida spirit.
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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.
March 9, 2026
The Free and the Dead by Jamie Holmes is an engaging and informative history book that tells the story of the Seminole Wars in Florida. The author focuses on the alliance between a free Black leader, Abraham, and the Indigenous warrior Osceola, who fought to protect their land and freedom against the United States army. Holmes writes in a clear and dramatic style that makes the historical events feel vivid and important. The book highlights a forgotten part of American history and shows the strong cooperation between Black and Indigenous communities during a difficult time. It is an interesting and eye-opening read for anyone interested in history.
March 20, 2026
This is the story of the Seminole War in Florida prior to statehood. It details the Seminoles fight against the American Army and their dealings with General Jessup who previously was a quartermaster and came to Florida to end the war. The author clearly did a lot of research for this book. I really enjoyed reading this book because this was not really covered in my history classes when I was in High School. Did not really know much about the Seminole War except that it happened. Very enlightening book and learned so much by reading this book. Highly recommend this book. I got this book from my local library.
March 6, 2026
The book has the potential to cover a unique and interesting historical topic involving the Seminole and Miccosukee tribes of Florida. However, the beginning is difficult to get into, and the author’s writing style makes the early chapters somewhat hard to follow. As the book progresses, the narrative becomes clearer, and the middle portion begins to come together. The back half of the book is much stronger and more engaging. Overall, it is not a bad book, but the beginning would have benefited from being as clear and compelling as the middle and end.
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.
July 26, 2026
A very clear and well-paced narrative of the Seminole war with the US in the early 19th century. Having lived there, and knowing how far-flung the areas mentioned in the book actually are from one another, I'm particularly impressed with the Seminoles' mobility - they cover dozens of miles seemingly without effort, in terrain that at the time had to be almost completely wild. Really readable text, this author gripped me from jump.
March 8, 2026
Interesting but felt like I didn’t retain all the information because all of the detail would need to reread
March 23, 2026
Thoroughly enjoyed. American troops taking hostages and not honoring white flags. Unforgiveable. A must read for all Floridians.
June 5, 2026
Story of the fighting against Indians and slaves in early Florida
April 26, 2026
Author Jamie Holmes has written a history of the Seminole Wars, and since I had long intended to read a bit more about the Seminole tribe, I dove in. My thanks go to NetGalley and Atria Books for the review copy; this book is for sale now.
Generally speaking, reading about the depredations of the U.S. and local governments upon Native tribes is demoralizing, depressing, and on occasion, guilt-inducing. After a certain amount of it, I turned ostrich and decided I wouldn’t do it anymore. But I was aware that of all the tribes in what is now the U.S.A., the Seminoles were the only ones that had never been entirely dislodged from their original homes. This is what made me want to read this particular history, the knowledge that in the end, the Seminoles would not be completely vanquished.
The operative word there is “completely.” Yikes! There’s still plenty of gore, death, and heartbreak, as I would have recognized from the title had I been more attentive. Here’s one of the more searing samples, which deals with the death of a Seminole leader named Osceola following the conclusion of the war:
“Before he passed, he asked the physician a favor. He wished to be buried in the Florida Territory, at a site where his bones would not be disturbed. The surgeon, finding himself alone with the body, cut off Osceola’s head as a personal keepsake, took it home, and embalmed it. Later, the doctor would hang the head on his children’s bedstead, as punishment for misbehaving.”
Holmes does find ways to break up the horror occasionally with irony and humor, usually at the expense of the tribe’s would-be conquerors, but at the same time, he’s writing nonfiction, and he can’t make this thing any prettier than the truth. A whole lot of Seminoles died, either from battle, disease—so much disease! —or while imprisoned. The consolation, if there can be any, is in knowing that they took a whole lot of U.S. fighters with them. The U.S. government, led by President Andrew Jackson, whom I believe is remembered far more positively than is deserved, spent a wildly disproportionate amount of its funds while attempting to dislodge the tribes, but the Seminoles had a way of vanishing into the Everglades, a place they knew infinitely better than the invaders. And this is one more thing I appreciate about Holmes’s narrative: he tells the stories of individual Seminole leaders, and includes as much information about Natives as he does about the Caucasian interlopers.
This work was published last winter, so I am terribly late with my review; I had to take it in small amounts in order to get through it. However, it is very well researched and its documentation is excellent, and Holmes is a writer of formidable ability. To those with the fortitude and interest, this book is highly recommended.
Generally speaking, reading about the depredations of the U.S. and local governments upon Native tribes is demoralizing, depressing, and on occasion, guilt-inducing. After a certain amount of it, I turned ostrich and decided I wouldn’t do it anymore. But I was aware that of all the tribes in what is now the U.S.A., the Seminoles were the only ones that had never been entirely dislodged from their original homes. This is what made me want to read this particular history, the knowledge that in the end, the Seminoles would not be completely vanquished.
The operative word there is “completely.” Yikes! There’s still plenty of gore, death, and heartbreak, as I would have recognized from the title had I been more attentive. Here’s one of the more searing samples, which deals with the death of a Seminole leader named Osceola following the conclusion of the war:
“Before he passed, he asked the physician a favor. He wished to be buried in the Florida Territory, at a site where his bones would not be disturbed. The surgeon, finding himself alone with the body, cut off Osceola’s head as a personal keepsake, took it home, and embalmed it. Later, the doctor would hang the head on his children’s bedstead, as punishment for misbehaving.”
Holmes does find ways to break up the horror occasionally with irony and humor, usually at the expense of the tribe’s would-be conquerors, but at the same time, he’s writing nonfiction, and he can’t make this thing any prettier than the truth. A whole lot of Seminoles died, either from battle, disease—so much disease! —or while imprisoned. The consolation, if there can be any, is in knowing that they took a whole lot of U.S. fighters with them. The U.S. government, led by President Andrew Jackson, whom I believe is remembered far more positively than is deserved, spent a wildly disproportionate amount of its funds while attempting to dislodge the tribes, but the Seminoles had a way of vanishing into the Everglades, a place they knew infinitely better than the invaders. And this is one more thing I appreciate about Holmes’s narrative: he tells the stories of individual Seminole leaders, and includes as much information about Natives as he does about the Caucasian interlopers.
This work was published last winter, so I am terribly late with my review; I had to take it in small amounts in order to get through it. However, it is very well researched and its documentation is excellent, and Holmes is a writer of formidable ability. To those with the fortitude and interest, this book is highly recommended.
December 11, 2025
This book exceeded my expectations. It is filled with footnoted facts, but is a compelling readable narrative. I thought I would get bogged down in facts, but Holmes keeps the text interesting by creating pictures of the hot, sultry Florida wilderness of that era. A couple of things that could improve this book would be small inset maps of some of the skirmishes described on those specific pages, and using consistent naming of people throughout the text, (start out with all the titles Abraham uses, but settling on calling him Abraham in subsequent use). I received this book as an ARC from One Signal publishers, I enjoyed it and recommend it to history bluffs, students of native American history, and people interested in the stories of escaped slaves and their interactions with native American tribes.
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