Lake Panasoffkee

Lake Panasoffkee is a census-designated place (CDP) in Sumter County, Florida, United States. The population was 3,551 at the 2010 census.HistoryEarly inhabitantsBoggy Island was an autonomous black Seminole village that was settled by Central African slaves from Kongo. Black Seminoles settled near the Boggy Island area of Lake Panasoffkee around 1813 and named it Sitarkey's Village after Sitarkey, an Alachua Seminole who had settled in the area. Nearby laid the areas of Gum Slough and Indian Mound Springs. The Seminoles used the Lake Panasoffkee area to hold councils and Green Corn Dances.The black Seminoles raised corn, rice, and sugar cane which Dexter gave them in 1822. In addition, residents in Sitarkey's Village raised livestock, including cattle, horses, and hogs. They also possibly planted one of the oldest orange groves in Florida.Second Seminole WarGenerally, the Sitakey's Village area was untouched during the Second Seminole War, allowing black Seminole families used the area as a refuge from the war. The United States Army, however, did search the village twice. Looking for Seminole warriors, the Second and Eighth Infantry divisions, led by Colonel Bennet Riley and Colonel W. J. Worth, traveled from Fort McClure to the Lake Panasoffkee area on June 10, 1840. On the morning of June 11, the troops found an empty village. After the battle of Wahoo Swamp, Osceola, possibly suffering from the effects of malaria that he contracted during the Seminole occupation of Fort Drane moved to the Panasoffkee Swamp to live with the black Seminoles who regarded him with devotion. On January 10, 1837, General Thomas Sidney Jesup, looking for Osceola, raided the village. Osceola and three warriors fled. Jesup captured 16 black Seminoles while the rest of the village escaped. In all, Osceola, 50 warriors, and their families left for the headwaters of the Ocklawaha River. Twelve days later, Jesup led his troops from Fort Armstrong to the Ocklawaha River.