Battle of Pine Island Ridge

On March 22, 1838, forces of the United States clashed with Seminole defenders at Pine Island Ridge in South Florida during what became known as the Second Seminole War. Lieutenant Colonel James Bankhead and Major William Lauderdale led the assault, targeting a sizable settlement perched atop the ridge, which at that time formed an island within the Everglades. Abiaka, who had only recently risen to become the Seminoles' principal chief, presided over this community.

When the soldiers moved toward the settlement, Seminole fighters stationed in the surrounding trees opened fire on them. This resistance bought enough time for Abiaka and the rest of the village's inhabitants to flee to safety. Despite their efforts, the American forces came away empty handed, neither killing nor capturing a single Seminole. The village's residents managed a complete escape without suffering any losses. Notably, this engagement marked the nearest the United States ever came to capturing Abiaka throughout the course of the Seminole Wars.

Prelude

After fending off Zachary Taylor's forces at Lake Okeechobee, Chief Abiaka and his Seminole followers withdrew southward into what is now Broward County. There they established a sizable settlement atop Pine Island Ridge, a rise standing 29 feet above sea level and the tallest point anywhere in the county. Their whereabouts did not remain secret for long, as a Seminole informant known as Billy Benefactor disclosed the village's location to American forces, adding that it sheltered as many as 100 warriors. Acting on this intelligence, General Thomas Jesup set in motion a plan to strike the ridge. He handed command of the mission to two forces: federal troops from the 3rd Artillery Regiment led by James Bankhead, alongside Tennessee Militia volunteers under William Lauderdale.

Battle

The operation set out from Fort Lauderdale, where some 500 American troops climbed into boats and pushed off up the New River. The farther they went into the Everglades, the harder the going became, and eventually the men had to load their gear and ammunition into the boats and climb out themselves, wading and shoving the vessels along through the shallows. They kept slogging through water that reached their waists until they caught sight of smoke curling up from a Seminole settlement on Pine Island Ridge. Bankhead responded by sending a handful of his men forward under a white flag, hoping to determine whether the village might be approached without bloodshed. A Seminole fighter answered by shooting the soldier who carried the flag, striking him in the hand. From their perch in the treetops on the island, Seminole warriors then unleashed both gunfire and shouts down upon the boats below.

Writing about the moment afterward, Bankhead recorded his belief that every Indian in the area, along with their women and children, was gathered on that island, and that he had rushed to arrange his attack in expectation of total success. Rather than pushing his men straight at the village, an approach that had failed in earlier clashes with the Seminoles, Bankhead chose instead to try surrounding the enemy from both flanks of Pine Island Ridge. He held part of his force in the middle while sending the rest, among them the Tennessee Militiamen serving under Lauderdale, to swing around and close in from either side. Getting into position meant more wading through waist-high water and sawgrass, all while Seminole marksmen fired down on them from a distance. Once the troops drew nearer to the island, a four-pounder cannon aboard one of the boats opened fire and drove the warriors down out of the trees. Gunfire from the Seminoles continued as the soldiers pressed forward, but once the defenders recognized that they were being outflanked, they began pulling back. By then Abiaka and the rest of the villagers had already been moved to safety, and the warriors soon followed them in retreat.

The Seminoles fled farther west into the Everglades as Bankhead and Lauderdale's men arrived at the now empty village atop Pine Island Ridge. There the troops seized stores of ammunition, canoes, clothing, and tools left behind, yet despite Bankhead's original hopes, not a single Seminole was killed or taken prisoner in the engagement.

Aftermath

When the Seminoles slipped away to the west, Bankhead and Lauderdale judged that chasing them further made no sense, given the darkness and the sheer fatigue of their men. By March 24, 1838, the American forces had made their way back to Fort Lauderdale. Not long afterward, William Lauderdale set out for his plantation in Tennessee, only to fall ill and die in Baton Rouge, Louisiana before completing the journey home. Convinced that the Seminoles had vacated the region for good, the military chose to give up Fort Lauderdale entirely. This assumption proved false, as Abiaka and his warriors came back and burned the fort down completely. As 1838 wore on, Seminoles in the area turned to plundering wrecked ships along Florida's southeastern shore, killing sailors who washed up stranded. Once the Seminole Wars finally came to a close, the Seminoles reestablished their settlement on Pine Island Ridge, remaining there well into the 20th century.