OSCEOLA

The word “Osceola” is an Indian name meaning “Black Drink,” but one authority pointed out that it may reasonably be translated “Rising Sun”. Osceola was an Indian brave belonging to the Seminole tribe living in the Everglades of Florida in the early eighteen hundreds. Although Osceola was never chosen chief, he gained fame and rose to authentic leadership among the Seminoles in their fight against removal from Florida. Osceola was captured by General Thomas Jesup in 1837, while attending a peace meeting at Fort Peyton under a flag of truce.

Following Osceola’s unjust treatment at the hands of the white man, many pioneer settlers chose to pay tribute to his memory by naming counties and towns after him. So it was that Dickinson Webster, one of the first settlers of Clarke County, strongly condemned the treatment of the heroic Osceola, and suggested naming the seat of government in Clarke County, Iowa after the Indian. It was so named in 1851.