A Bit of History
Seminole Discontent
1836
In March of 1836 a letter posted in The Floridan said that some suggested the Indian ranks had swelled to as many as three thousand, but the author said that this was overstated and the number was more like six hundred. It seems no one really knew how many there were. He went on to say that General Gaines departure from Tampa Bay in February of 1836 was premature and he only got as far as the Withlacoochee river where the Indians prevented him from crossing and, “attacked him with such spirit as to force him to entrench.” After four days of fighting he was, ”reduced to the last extremity for the want of ammunition and provisions.” General Gaines was wounded by a bullet through his lower lip, although painful, did not put him out of action. “It was mean of the redskins to knock out my teeth, when I have so few,” he later said.
The
government took the cattle belonging to the Indians and sold them making
them even more desperate.
Things were looking pretty bleak in April of 1836 when the Jacksonville Courier reported on The War saying, “Should the Indians separate into straggling parties, it will be impossible to remove them this spring, and we shall be the prey of a roving enemy, driven to desperation by the prospect before them, by hunger and starvation, or death. Total ruin must await the citizens of Alachua unless [the] Government come to their relief.” The Seminoles were using what would later be called guerrilla warfare in which small groups used hit-and-run tactics.
There was a problem with recruiting enough volunteers for the militia as the volunteers usually “offered their services” for only one month. An article in the Jacksonville Courier reported in January that General Call intended to raise fifteen hundred men by draft. The Indians pretty much controlled the area west of the St. John’s River and east of the Suwannee River. The article went on to say, “We must not only abandon our property to destruction, but, stripped of all our hard earnings, must fight for our lives, our women and our children.” It didn’t say anything about how the white men were doing the same thing to the Indians.