[As-se-he-ho-lar, “Black Drink”]. Seminole chief, born in Georgia, in 1804. He was a son of an English trader named Powell and of a chief’s daughter. With her he removed to Florida while a child, and there attained great influence among the Indians. In 1835 his wife, the daughter of a runaway slave, was seized as a slave. The outraged husband threatened revenge, and for his threats was imprisoned six days in irons by General Thompson; six months afterward he killed the general and four others outside Fort King. This was the beginning of the second Seminole War. He then placed himself at the head of a band which had surprised and massacred Major Dade and a detachment of soldiers, and, taking to the almost impenetrable everglades with two or three hundred followers, fought for nearly two years with great energy and skill the superior numbers sent against him. He was taken prisoner at last, in October 1837, by General Jesup, while holding a conference under a flag of truce, and confined in Fort Moultrie until his death on the 30th of January 1838.
