History almost lost her. Florida didn’t. In 1858, as the final Seminoles were being forced out at the end of the Third Seminole War, a young woman named Emateloye — later known as Polly Parker — stepped off a military steamer under the pretense of gathering medicine and disappeared into the woods. She didn’t flee alone. With five other women, she led a grueling 350-mile journey on foot, navigating wilderness and danger to return to the swamps around Lake Okeechobee. It was an act of defiance, one that helped ensure the Seminole would survive in Florida.

History almost lost her. Florida didn’t. In 1858, as the final Seminoles were being forced out at the end of the Third Seminole War, a young woman named Emateloye — later known as Polly Parker — stepped off a military steamer under the pretense of gathering medicine and disappeared into the woods. She didn’t flee alone. With five other women, she led a grueling 350-mile journey on foot, navigating wilderness and danger to return to the swamps around Lake Okeechobee. It was an act of defiance, one that helped ensure the Seminole would survive in Florida.