THE ET CETERA CHRONICLES - THE SEMINOLES

For centuries, a tribe of Indians known as the Oconee or Oconi occupied the central region of the Oconee River Valley.  During the early 1700s, the Oconee became entangled in a war with the Yamassee Indians in the area of what would become Savannah.

The Oconee soon retreated southward to northern Florida to become the nucleus of a new tribe of native Americans, the Seminoles.   The word "Seminole" comes from the Creek or Muscogee Indian word, "simano-li," or possibly the Spanish word, "cimarron'" which means runaway or wild.