Chief Thlocklo Tustenuggee | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Nickname(s) | Tiger Tail |
| Died | NearMiami River inFlorida,United States of America |
| Allegiance | Seminole Tribe of Florida |
| Battles / wars | |
Thlocklo Tustenuggee (also known asThlocko,Thlocco, andTiger Tail) was one of the most prominentSeminole leaders in theSecond Seminole War. He spokeEnglish fluently,[1] and also spokeMuscogee.[2] Tustenuggee was one of the three leaders of the 300 Seminoles who fought in the battle that became known as theDade Massacre.[3] During the war, he andHalleck Tustenuggee, another prominent Seminole leader in the war, met with GeneralWalker Keith Armistead tonegotiate, but negotiations broke down and the war resumed.[4] As the war waned, Armistead used money tobribe several Seminole leaders to surrender, but Tustenuggee refused to be bribed and he continued to lead his band in fighting.[5][self-published source] When the war ended, his Seminole band was one of the few that remained inFlorida.[6]
Tustenuggee's final years and death are debated by historians. By November 1842, it seemed that the Seminole Chief was willing to gave in and accept forced emigration. A contemporary, John Sprague, wrote that Tustenuggee died immediately after arriving in New Orleans on his way west. Alternatively, others claim that rather than leave Florida, Tustenuggee committed suicide in Fort Myers by swallowing powdered glass.[7] Another author stated that Tustenuggee never left Florida and evaded capture because U.S. troops found a body that resembled the chief but was not him (the body was reportedly disfigured from a drunken brawl, thus making identification difficult).[8] The last report was an obituary from the Tallahassee Floridian, published in October 1881, which stated that Tiger Tail died at about the age of 90 somewhere near Miami the previous month.[9]