I would say the Seminole respected him because first he honored his partly Seminole or Creek side of his make-up even though he was partly Irish and Scottish, and became their chief and because he stood up for them and fought the Americans in the Second Seminole War against the agricultural eencroachment on their lands. The US had obtained Florida from the Spanish in 1821 and were starting to settle the land but came into contradiction with the Seminoles.
