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Treaty of Moultrie Creek
With the 1823 Treaty of Moultrie Creek, the U.S. Government granted 20 years of protection and care for the Indians who were then required to occupy certain reservation lands in what is now known as central Florida. The confrontation occurred when the promises outlined in this 1823 Treaty, the 1832 Paynes Landing, and 1833 Fort Gibson Treaties were broken.
December of 1835
In December of 1835 Florida’s Seminoles, smoldering with resentment, frustration, anger, and finally full-blown hatred because they felt that they had been deceived, manipulated and that treaties had been broken with them, resorted to warfare against the military forces of the U.S. Government.
December 28, 1836
Under the leadership of Chiefs Micanopy, Alligator, and Jumper, the Seminoles ambushed and massacred a detachment of U.S. Regulars commanded by Brevet Major Francis Dade as they were marching north from Fort Brooke (Tampa) to Fort King (Ocala). There were 108 men in the detachment, of which only 2 survived. On the same day, Osceola and his warriors attacked and killed U.S. Indian Agent Wiley Thompson at Fort King (Ocala).
January 1, 1836
Shocked at the Seminole’s successes, President Andrew Jackson put his most experienced officer, Major General Winfield Scott, in charge of the war. By the time Scott was ready to begin his campaign, he had over 5,000 men at his disposal. Scott had an ambitious plan to capture the Seminoles in a three-way vice grip and eliminate them from their stronghold known then and now as the Cove of the Withlacoochee. Over the course of the next few months, General Scott and others led a large number of troops in pursuits of the Seminoles, which soon proved futile. In the meantime, the Seminoles struck throughout the state.
Dade Massacre
Major General Winfield Scott
Cove of Withlacoochee
April 2, 1836
Major Mark Anthony Cooper commanded approximately 300-380 men. They included five companies of the First Georgia Volunteers, plus an artillery company of a few Regulars and a cannon. He was ordered to set up defenses, erect a block house and picketing, establish a post of observation and hold his position until relieved. The fortification was built on the west bluff of Lake Holathlikaha – an historic spring-fed lake used as a source of water and a site to camp dating back to the pre-Columbian era. Such relief was not forthcoming until April 18th. In the interim, under constant daily Indian attack, by Major Cooper’s order, alternate Companies “sallied forth” outside the picket “to detect and dispel Osceola and his warriors” who were attempting to get the battalion to fire its cannon and thereby expend its powder supply.
Continued
Major Cooper’s command held its position of defense and attack under heavy fire from the Indians during what turned out to be the longest single, continual battle of General Scott’s Second Seminole War Campaign. Due to Major Cooper’s vigilant leadership during the two week siege, the Georgia Battalion sustained about 20 men wounded with but one man lost, Coronet Zadoc Cook, of the Morgan Guards Company. In his report to the U.S. War Department concerning his Campaign, General Scott recorded that “Major Cooper’s command was the only command that sallied outside their breastworks to attack and drive the enemy”.