Brass Bowl

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War Years: the Indians

U.S warfare, based on the European model, required confrontation:  two armies must oppose each other on open land.  But the Indians fought in small, flexible units, under individual war leaders chosen for the occasion by the war council.  When the council decided upon a series of preemptive strikes against the U.S., late in 1835, they believed that the U.S. would see their power & resolve, & leave them alone.  They did not realize that, in the eyes of the white government, they had issued a challenge that would bring down upon them the entire military might of the U.S.  The opening gambit was the destruction of a column of 108 men, marching from Fort Brooke to Fort King, under the command of Maj. Francis Dade, on Dec. 28, 1835.  For the next seven years, at least one sixth of every graduating class from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point would be posted directly to Florida to fight the Indians.  Over 10,000 regular soldiers, sailors, & Marines, plus 30,000 citizen soldiers, would pass through the Territory & (from 1845) the State.  Twice, in 1842 & 1858, the U.S. would simply withdraw from the conflict, without benefit of treaty.  The terrain & the will favored the Indians.  Manpower &, sometimes, arms, favored the U.S.  Ultimately, only slightly over 3,000 Indian men, women, & children, plus their ex-slave and Freedman dependents, were removed from Florida.  The U.S. believed that the remaining few hundred Indians never would be able to survive.  Once again, they were mistaken.