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A History of Columbia County Florida (1996) Edward F. Keuchel 38/340

The Second Seminole War

insulting Thompson. Upon his release Osceola offered repentance
and promised to emigrate. Preparations were made for trans­
portation from Tampa Bay to commence early in 1836, but
tensions were felt throughout the territory during the summer of
1835.
In mid-June, 1835 seven white men encountered an Indian
hunting party of five braves near Hog Town (Gainesville). They
overpowered the braves and beat them with rawhide whips for
hunting outside their reservation. During the beating two other
braves appeared and fired on the white men wounding three of
them. When the fracas ended one Indian had been killed and
another wounded. Early in August Private Kinsley H. Dalton was
murdered while carrying mail from Fort Brooke located on
Tampa Bay to Fort King. The killing was said to be in revenge for
the Hog Town incident. On November 26, 1835, Chief Charley
Emathla sold his cattle and made plans to go west. A band led by
Osceola surrounded the chief and he was shot dead. His body was
left for the vultures while Osceola contemptuously scattered the
money he had obtained from the sale of his cattle.12 13 The territory
was in near panic, but still the Secretary of War in his annual
report of 1835 expected the Seminoles to emigrate peaceably.14
Governor John H. Eaton called for five hundred horsemen to
enlist for a period of four weeks under the command of General
Richard Keith Call. No appropriations were made to provide for
these volunteers in federal service, but General Clinch needed
immediate help and accepted them. President Jackson later sanc­
tioned the $3,000 payment for their services. In early December

’’Jacksonville Courier, cited in Niles Register, Vol XLVII, January 31,1835, p.
374.
12Martin, Florida During the Territorial Days, pp. 232-33.
13Mahon, History of the Second Seminole War, pp. 98-101; M. M. Cohen, Notices
of Florida and the Campaigns, facsimile reproduction of the 1836 edition
(Gainesville, 1964), pp. 65-69.
14Niles Register, Vol. XLIX, December 19, 1835, p. 272.

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