Because many Blacks had experience living as slaves under the Spanish, the British or the Americans, they came to play important roles as advisors, interpreters and aides to Seminole Indians.

Ben Bruno is reported to have been a Black Seminole whose father had escaped slavery by seeking refuge with the Seminoles. He served as both a counselor to Chief Billy Bowlegs during the Second Seminole War and later as an employed U.S. interpreter to the Seminoles in Indian territories in the west.

Ben Bruno, Advisor to Seminole Chief Billy Bowlegs.
Published in Harper’s Weekly, June 12, 1858.
Courtesy of the Florida State Archives.

Chief Billy Bowlegs.
ca. 1858.
Historical Museum of Southern Florida.
1976-163-1.