| Show z i iy y ya a 1 lete Dade af l 1 U- U U- U tVS r W r Ch of fhe Sew no t By ELMO SCOTT WATSON ss S la 13 the I of one lIue of the nw moI mul t tIn D J In Inspiring deeds lu In the his his- history history tr tory of th the American army It if you yuu gu go to tu the United States Stales Military academy nt f i West Point you will eee see ee i there opposite the library r a tall till white shaft cupped t PITre rby hy by y the curved likeness I ii i III iE r nil un ca and with these 6 words en engraved ed upon Urn one ODe face of the lie base hase To Ill corn com the tile battle haUle of the of of December 13 t i between a o deta r of United States Stales troops and the Seminoles of Florida In skit which all oil of the detachment save SIl three tell fell without an attempt to retreat On another r side sl e of the monument the Inscription reads Dude and his command Ma Ma- Major Major Io jor Dade Fourth infantry r Captain Gardiner Second artillery Lieutenant Bassinger Second artillery Lieuten- Lieuten Lieutenant ent ant Mudge Third artillery Lieuten- Lieuten Lieutenant ont lint ant Keals Third artillery Lieutenant Se Second a artillery Iry Dot Doctor r Gatlin medical staff The third side tells that the monument was Erected by the three regiments and the Hie medi- medi medical medical Cill cal staff ShifT whose comrades fell on the of December 1835 serving their country and promoting their profession Ion t sion flon and the fourth records that thaI The remains of the dead repose near St SL Au Augustine 1 Fla 1 a Such Is the simple record of heroIsm In a now V forgotten almost battle hattle of one oue of the lie costliest wars ever Er waged by the United States Slates The war orl thea In th the determination of the a United States to remove the S Seminole Indians firm flOm their ancestral home borne lu Florida to beyond the Mississippi rh- rh riv river er The result was WOg protracted warfare extendIng over o seven years during which time Osceola a young oung Seminole war chief and his warriors some two or three thou thousand In lu number had tak taken en the lives of more than 1500 regu regu- regular lar army soldiers and at least that number of ot settlers and volunteers ant aurl the war hall had cost the United tJ States Stales twenty millions of dollars Early In December of 1815 1535 two ot of the ten teu companies of the rc regular army urmy stationed tJ In Florida were vere ordered from Brooks Brooke on 11 bay lJay nea near r tile this present sent Tampa to meet n a force orce train from Fort King In 10 the center of the State stale near the forks of the cooch coochee e rh river er fur for a 0 punitive against the Seminoles At Fort flou enough h men mm were drafted from L L Dades Dade's Fourth Infantry de do detachment lIt to complete two full compa compu companies nies of ot GO fA 0 men each of the tiM Second ur up HP Ullery and the Third infantry com by hy Captains Gardiner nod zer Fr Fri Fri- pr respectively l ly Lieutenants Ker I-er I Mudge and Keats Keuls eul amid Assistant Surgeon Gatlin were the Gardiner was to command tb the expedition but hul when It WUI ready lo to start It ll was that his Ills wife was seriously sly III Major Made thereupon volunteered to lend the party so could r remain re remain main malu with his wife Oil On th the morning of December 21 I tile the expedition cow posed of lW officers and men Hlen carry carryIng tag log ten days provisions and y 77 e J x- x p pa's I as a's tr i lt e ski Y t AC ACy y rii T 1 t k n P T An r on a al l l 1 cried nied by n a six drawn uy oy four oxen and one light horse wagon set setout setout setout out with a 8 Spanish nero negro to guide It rendezvous ous the Withla- Withla Withla-coochee Withla to the on Soon after they left Captain ncr GardI-ncr ner found that he tie could send his Ills wife to her family on a transport which was ju Just t ready to sail fur for Key West and having done that be he hO hastened aft aft- after oCt aft after er Dades Dade's party In the lie meantime the ox team had broken down and Dade had sent back bock for horses to pull the cannon Because of ot this delay Gardiner Gar Gar- Gardiner Gar diner diner was OS able aLle to catch up with the detachment that evening little In lag that what he regarded as a fortu fortunate nate note circumstance ii In reality meant his doom The progress of the expedition was slow v It taking Dade four days to tomake tomake make 65 miles During Unit that time no SeminolEs SeminolE's had made their appear appear- appearances faces ances althou although h unknown to him tile the negro guide was a traitor who hall had betrayed the route of the expedition to the Indians and ond Chief Osceola had resolved to ambush the oncomIng soldiers The Seminole leader had bad intended to direct the attack In person but on that day he had Imd been heen busy husy elsewhere making a swift raid rold near Fort King where be shot down General Thomp Thump Thompson Thompson son the Indian a agent tv who ho bo had once put him In Irons and four others So It was the head chief of the Seminoles who abo was In la charge chorge that day On the morning rooming of ot December 28 Dade and his men had crossed the fork tork of the and were marching along a trail which ran across an nn open barren Jarren On one side ot of the trail was a stretch of overgrow o with lIh grass five Ive feet flet high and In this tills grass gruss MIcanopy had hid hidden den warriors with strict orders to hold their fire until he gave ga the sig sl- sl nal Unmindful of the hidden danger Dades Dade's force marched along the truth trull with Captain Frazer and Lieutenant lending leading the tie advance ad Mudge Not a sound came from the Indiana untIl the whole column was under their guns Juns Then taking careful aim W canopy shot Major nude Dade killing him Instantly At that signal the tall toll grass with flume was ablaze Captain ruT Fraz er was killed at the first fire Ire and Lieu Lieu- Lieutenant LIeu tenant Mudge mortally wounded tenants and were wre se- se severely s se severely verely wounded and Caplain Gardiner Lieutenant Bassinger and Doctor Gut Gat GutIn Gat tin In were the only officers who were WE're Un- Un Unhurt un hurt Under the the circumstances circumstances the surprise of the attack and nud the appalling appal appalling ln ling lines lines-It III losses Jt es-Jt It would not have been heen If lr the whole le column had been thrown U Into luto a 8 punic panic Such a n thins thing thin had happened more than when wl while white once before troops were ambushed by their red enemies nut But tt II Is s to the everlasting glory of ot these thebO River Riser 7 Del Detroit to E GJ 4 G re regulars that there was WIlli no stampede on this tills occasion The soldiers left leff the road Instantly took to the tre which stood on the other oilier side of ot the tho road sod and poured a heavy y Ore fire upon their Then for tor forty nun nun- min minutes nt tiles utes S they stood firm there lighting fighting n 11 coolly as though there had been no surprise and holding their fire Ore until they caught sight of an on Indian and knew that they could make their shots effective e As All a result the Seminoles withdrew their forces and the fighting ceased But Captain Gardiner who had as- as assumed as assumed command after Dades Dade's death knew that this was not the end of ot the tho Hastily collecting the wound wound- wounded ed he moved back a short distance and Immediately set his Ills men now less les than fifty In number at work felling trees and throwing up a triangular breastwork But before this had rIsen three e small tree trunks high the In- In In Indians deans heavily reinforced returned to the attack In a 0 few moments a tu- tu fu furious Anus rious battle was In pro progress ress Sur Sur- Sur- Sur Surrounded Surrounded rounded on all sides shIes by the Indians who poured their fire Ore Into the depres depression skin sion In which the little fort had bad been built the lute result was Inevitable Cap Cap- Captain Captain tain Gardiner Oai Oal diner mortally wounded cried out I can give you no more orders lad lads Do your our best l 1 I Outside the tbt breastwork Lieutenant and a small smail detail of artil artillerymen continued to fire their six six until every ery man except the lieutenant was killed Then serious seriously ly Iy wounded be drugged dragged himself InsIde the logs and fired a musket until a bullet cut him down Vu In spite of a 8 broken arm Lieutenant Henderson did the same By two o'clock the fire tIre of ofHie the defenders had been silenced the Indians hl swarmed Into the little fort and began hegan scalping the dead Then fearing that the troops troop from Fort King would arrive e any ony minute the Semi Semi- Seminoles Semi Semi-nolos Doles noles fled led A After Her they left the battlefield a party of som some fifty renegade negroes appeared to plunder the dead They found Lieutenant Bassinger still olive alive and despite his appeal for mercy cut him down with their hatchets Three ot of the privates who oho ho were severely wounded feigned death and nod the no- no ne-groes ne groes roes left Idt without molesting them Two others although wounded had managed to get et away during the con con- confusion confusion fusion of the tight ht and although one was killed ll by hy an on Indian who discovered lov eyed ered thorn them during their lIght flight toward Fort Brooke the other oilier finally reached the fort fort-a r fort u a tragic messenger of the tha th defeat It 11 was not until the following Feb Feb- February February that thul an un expedition from Fort King wa was able allie to visit the scene of the O Dade Dide lIle di disaster a ler and In tile the report ot of Copt Capt K g A AA of ot the First In Infantry fantry on what he found In the little log fort flirt one rends reads this statement Within he he triangle were about thirty bodies budles mostly mere skeletons lying l cr every one o of them In precisely the same position they must have occupied during the theO O fight ht their heads Ix next to the logs 1011 over which they thy had delivered their fire und and their bodies 51 stretched wIth striking regularity parallel to each euch other They had evidently been shot dead at their posta posts Shot dead at nt their what posts what better epitaph tor for an un American r than that 1 |
