Battle of Ouithlacoochie

On December 31, 1835, forces clashed along the Withlacoochee River in what is now Citrus County, Florida, in an engagement that unfolded during the Second Seminole War.

Prelude

When the federal government pushed through the Indian Removal Act of 1830, it set the stage for years of bloodshed between the Army and the Seminole, Mikasuki, Creek, and other allied peoples across the Florida Territory. That struggle reached a turning point with the destruction of Dade's command, an event many point to as the true opening of the Second Seminole War. Word of Major Dade's fate had not yet reached federal forces when another expedition set out just days later, its goal being to strike a Seminole encampment situated in a region known as "the Cove," found along the southwestern bank of the Withlacoochee River.

The final day of 1835 found troops under Gen. Duncan L. Clinch, commanding regular Army soldiers, together with Richard K. Call at the head of militia forces, arriving at the banks of the Withlacoochee. Nearly all the volunteer militiamen had enlisted for a mere three weeks, since military leadership assumed that such a brief span would be sufficient to break Seminole resistance entirely.

Neither Clinch nor his men had yet learned of the catastrophe that had befallen Dade's column, a disaster that had unfolded only three days earlier.

Battle

The crossing began with regular troops, who had only one canoe at their disposal, which made for a sluggish and drawn-out process. Meanwhile, some militiamen opted to swim their horses through the water, stripping off their clothes and setting aside their weapons on the bank beforehand. Adding to the difficulty, the river ran higher than anyone had anticipated.

Once about 225 American soldiers had made it across, the Seminole, who had been waiting in concealment, unleashed their attack. At that moment General Call was busy shepherding his men over a makeshift log bridge, working to move them along as quickly as possible when the ambush struck. He ordered the remaining troops to hurry across on their own, then made his own way over by canoe even as the fighting reached its fiercest point. Enough volunteers managed to get across during the clash that the Indians were kept from wedging themselves between the regulars and the riverbank, which would have severed their escape route. Among those wounded in the fighting was officer Leigh Read, who later went on to become brigadier general of the Florida militia during the conflict.