Show V y all 4 ZI 4 A ag rl to TOM az f 1 r a 0 a 2 1 N 15 46 2 51 r ift fal 1 y LAP alii u Z V IL N N 0 F af vix rp dinv inv osceolo Osce ati ef of the sew anole j by ELMO SCOTT WATSON ECE yi IM S Is the anni anal v versa e ary ry of one of 0 the must D i inspiring n r p irhie deeds in ID the history of the american almy aimy it you no go to the united states military academy dm at UL west point you will tee bee there opposite the library a tall white shaft capped by the carved likeness of nt nn an eagle and with these ya words engraved upon one fe f fact face of the hats to com le the battle of 0 the of ec ember ISIS between a detachment 1 united states troops and the I 1 emi noles of florida in ID all of e detachment save three fell without ft 2 attempt to retreat on another de of the monument the inscription aads cads ads dade and his command mair ir dade fourth infantry captain jardner ter second artillery lieutenant osin bissinger second d armillei ar artillery tillei y lieutenant I 1 blud e third artillery lieuten it t keats keais third artillery lieutenant er ender iderson soD second artillery doctor atlin medical staff the third side ilia that the monument was erected athe athe three thre e regiments and the il staff whose comrades fell on the ath th of december 1835 serving their antry auntry and promoting their probes w and the fourth records that ahe ahe remains of the dead repose near K augustine fla ach Is the simple record of heroism pa a now almost forgotten I 1 battle 0 ye ftc the costliest cost liest wars ever waged tie the united states the war eted ted in the determination of the doted ted states to remove the seminole I 1 inns from their home lu in j arlda rids to beyond the mississippi riv the result was protracted warfare ending over seven years during 0 ich time osceola Oa ceola a young seminole r chief and ills his warriors some two 1 I three thousand in number bud bail tak f the lles of mure more than 1500 regu f army soldiers und and at le least ast that enaber of settlers and volunteers and baar 0 r E anvar had cost the united states stales nty millions of dollars y barly la in december of 1835 two 0 of re t ten en compan companies I 1 es of the re regular guiar a tiny army if 0 tied 1 in florida were ordered from t brooke on hillsboro Hlll bay near present tanapa to tn meet et a force f m fort king in tile the center of the e near dear the forks of the wathla withla bee ice river for a punitive expedition ast the seminoles Semi noles at fort brooke 11 ugh gh men were dratted drafted from alaj acla als it L dados dades fourth infantry de f ment to complete two full compa ika i of 50 men each of the second u y y and the third infantry corn com ded by captains gardiner nud and fw y respectively Llou lieutenants tenants bassin 11 henderson mudge and keats keals and go A distant surgeon gatlin were tile the 4 ordinates captain gardiner was 4 command the expedit expedition lon hm but when r as ready reads to start it was discovered t his wife was seriously major t i e thereupon volunteered to lead j party so that hint gardiner could re 11 i with his wife on the morning 3 j december ec ember 24 the expedition coin I 1 d of to 10 officers and men curry I 1 ten en days provisions and I 1 av 17 ja died by a six bravi draws la uy four oxen and one light horse wagon set out with a spanish degro to guide it to the rendezvous on the cithia co soon after they left captain gardiner found that he be could send his wife to her family on a transport which was juht ready dosall tor for key west and having done that lie he hastened arter after dades party in the meantime the ox team had broken down and dade had sent back tor for horses to pull the cannon because of tills this delay gardiner diner wits was able to catch up the detachment that evening little e really ing that what he regarded as a fortunate circumstance in reality meant ills doom the progress of the expedition was slow it taking dade four days to make 65 piles during that time no an Semi seminoles noles had bad made their appearances although unknown to him the negro guide was a traitor who hall hail betrayed the route of at the expedition to the indians and chief osceola had resolved to ambush the oncoming sold soldiers leis the seminole leader had intended to direct the attack in person but on that day he had been busy elsewhere making a swift raid near fort king where he shot down general thompson the indian agent ho had once put him in irons and four others so it was micanopy Ml Mi canopy the head chief of the who was in charge that day on the morning of december 28 oade dade and his men had crossed the fork of the alie and were marchl marching ng along a trall trail which ran across an open barren on one side of the trall trail was a stretch of overgrown with grass five feet high and in inthis tills grass Ml canopy had hidden warriors with strict orders to hold their fire until he be gave the signal n al unmindful of the hidden danger dades dadas force marched along the trall trail with captain frazer and lieutenant mudge leading the advance not a sound came from the indians until the whole column was under their guns then taking careful aim i NII MI canopy shot major dade P ide killing him instantly at that signal the tall grass wits ablaze with hanie flame captain frazer was killed at the lieutenant mudge mortally wounded lieutenants ter ianis li enderson arid and keals were at severely wounded and captain gardiser lieutenant bissinger Mis sInger and doctor gat larf were the only officers who were hurt under the the surprise of 0 the attack and the hie appalling losses it ft would not have been surprising if the whole column had been thrown into a panic immediately such a thing had happened more than once before when white troops were ambushed by their red enemies but it Is to the everlasting glory of these re regulars ulars that there was no stampede on this occasion the sold soldiers lers left tile hie road instantly took to the trees treca which stood on the other side of the road and poured a heavy fire upon their assailants then tor for forty minutes they stood firm finn there fighting a aa coolly as though there had been no surprise and holding their tire fire until they caught sight of an indian and knew that they could make th their air shots effective As a result the Semi seminoles noles withdrew their forces and the fighting ceased but captain gardiner who had assumed command after dades death knew that tills this was wag not the end of the affair hastily collecting the wounded he moved back a short distance and immediately set his men now less than fifty in number at work felling fell ilig trees and throwing up a triangular breastwork but before tills this had risen three small tree trunks high the indians heavily reinforced returned to the attack in a few moments a furious battle was in progress surrounded on all sides by the indians who poured their fire into the depression in which the little fort had been built the result was inevitable captain gardiner mortally wounded cried out 1 I can give you no more orders lads do your best I 1 outside the breastwork lieutenant Bas bassinder siner and a small detail of 0 artil continued to fire their six until every man except the lieutenant was killed then seriously voun bounded ded he dragged himself inside the logs and tired fired a musket until a bullet cut him film down in spite of a broken arm lieutenant henderson did the same by two the fire of ahe defenders had been silenced tile indians swarmed into the little fort and d began scalping the dead then fearing that the troops from fort king w would arrive any minute the deml notes fled after they left the battlefield a party of 0 some fifty renegade negroes appeared to plunder the dead they found lieutenant bassinger still alive and despite his appeal for mercy cut him film down with their hatchets three of the privates ho were severely wounded feigned death and the negroes left without molesting them two others although wounded had managed to get away during the contusion confusion or of the light fight and although one was killed billed by an indian who discovered them during their night flight toward fort brooke rooke II the other finally reached the fort a tragic messenger of the tha defeat it wits not until the following february that lin an expedition from fort for king was wag alile able to visit the scene of the adiole disaster and in the report of capt 0 A hitchcock of the first infantry on what lie he found in the little tog log fort ont one reads this statement within the triangle were about thirty bodies mostly mere skeletons lying every one of them in precisely the same position they must have occupied during the light fight their heads next to the logs oler 01 er which aich they tid had delivered their nrc fire and their bodies stretched ith striking regularity parallel to each other they had evidently been shot dead at their posts shot dead tit at their posts what bertei ep epitaph it aph tor for an american Amerl w I 1 than hax that |