It will be remembered that the center, being under Colonel Lindsay,
took position at Camp Broadnax, near Chicuchatty, on March 28th. They
were fired on by the Indians, but succeeded in driving them off. As
his supplies had run short and the original plan of the campaign had
been defeated, Colonel Lindsay returned with his command to Fort
Brooke, arriving there April 4th. When Colonel Lindsay reached Fort
Alabama, near the Hillsboro River, he learned that the post had been
attacked on the morning of March 27th by three or four hundred
Indians, who surrounded the breastwork and continued the attack for
two hours, when they were repulsed with a loss of fifteen. The
garrison lost one man killed and two wounded. General Eustis, for the
same reasons which moved Colonel Lindsay, marched on April 2d from
Pilaklakaha and encamped about sixteen miles from Fort Brooke,
reporting to General Scott.
The whole army being now concentrated at or near Fort Brooke, the plan
for a new campaign was discussed. They had found but small parties of
the Indians in the cove or swamp region, and it was thought that they
had gone to the southern part of the Florida peninsula and concealed
themselves in the Everglades.
General Scott ordered Colonel Smith, of the Louisiana volunteers, to
proceed by water to Charlotte Harbor and move north, while Colonel
Goodwyn, with the South Carolina mounted men, was ordered to the lake
at the head of Pease's Creek for the purpose of driving the Indians
down. Having destroyed a large unoccupied Indian village on the left
bank of that stream, and finding no Indians, the command returned to
Hillsboro River and joined the left wing.
The Louisiana troops left Fort Brooke on April 10th and arrived at
Pease's Creek on the 17th. They moved forward at once, but the weather
was oppressive and the men were broken down by previous marches; many
of them being destitute of shoes and other clothing, it was found
necessary to return to camp. Out of over seven hundred Louisiana
troops who had volunteered in January and entered the field the
beginning of the next month, but one hundred and thirty were now left
fit for duty. With these, however, and a small detachment of marines
from the United States vessels in that vicinity, Colonel Smith
determined to proceed. He embarked with one half of his command in
canoes, the others proceeding by land. Meeting no Indians, he returned
to Fort Brooke on April 27th, when the Louisiana troops were ordered
to New Orleans to be mustered out of service. Colonel Smith proceeded
to St. Mark's and reported to General Scott.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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