In 1832, the fort was activated as a base for the United States removal of the Seminole to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River, as part of the Treaty of Payne's Landing. The Second Seminole War, beginning in late 1835 in central Florida, heightened the importance of the fort. It was a center of United States military activity during the next seven years, due to its strategic location. The Seminole burned the original Fort King down in 1835, a second Fort King was reconstructed in the same spot in 1836 (this is the replica that is now built on site).