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A History of Columbia County Florida (1996) Edward F. Keuchel 44/340

The Second Seminole War

many ways it again looked as though the Florida war was coming
to an end, but for the people of Columbia County and adjacent
areas it was only another phase.
The failure of either a decisive battle or a peace movement to
end the fighting ushered in guerilla warfare on the part of the
Indians and an increased desire to exterminate the Seminoles
rather than remove them on the part of the whites. The year 1838
proved to be bloody for East and Middle Florida, and especially for
Columbia County. This was not the type of fighting characterized
by Indian assaults against a fixed position as reflected in the siege
of Newnansville during the summer of 1836. The war, now, was
characterized by small raiding parties attacking frontier farms
throughout the area.
In March 1837, while General Jesup was still trying to round
up the Indians in the Tampa Bay area for the trip west, a man and
a boy were attacked by Indians in the area east of Mineral Springs
on the Suwannee. The attackers escaped successfully. Not so
fortunate was the family of Doctor Hickman who resided at
Sulphur Springs on the Santa Fe River. The entire family was
killed by a raiding party. During the summer of 1837 the army
tried to strengthen their forces along the Suwannee and adjacent
areas. A brigade of Georgia troops was given the task of scouring
the country between the Withlachoochee and Suwannee rivers.28

Christmas of 1837 must have looked bleak to the citizens of
Columbia County when on December 20, area companies of the
Florida militia were called into service.29 Armed contingents of
regular army soldiers and militia, however, could not adequately
cope with the guerilla warfare operations of the Seminoles who
attacked frontier farms and melted into the wilderness before

28Niles Register, Vol. LII, April 8, 1837, p. 63, July 15, 1837, p. 305.
29 Xeroxed copy of the petition of Captain William Cason and Companies,
November 10, 1839, Columbia County Historical Society Collection.

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