Wiley Thompson

Wiley Thompson was born in Georgia in 1781, serving in the Georgia Senate from 1817 to 1819 and appointed Major General of the Fourth Division of the Georgia Militia from 1817 to 1824. He was elected as a Democrat-Republican to the 17th U.S. Congress, a Crawford Republican in the 18th Congress, and a Jacksonian Democrat to the 19th Congress. He was appointed to superintend the removal of the Seminoles from Florida in 1834.

In negotiations with Seminole and Geechee leaders at Fort King, Thompson was rude. He ignored concerns of the Seminole delegation, which had visited the Indian Territories to approve lands offered to the Seminoles, calling them children and renegades as he tried to inveigle them into conforming to the Treaty of Payne’s Landing. Angered by Thompson’s attitude, Asin Yahola slashed the treaty with a knife. In December 1835, Asin Yahola ambushed Thompson’s party and shot him dead.