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A History of Columbia County Florida (1996) Edward F. Keuchel 57/340

A History of Columbia County, Florida

ment areas in the general region from Fort White to Newnans-
ville.64
Resettlement of the area between Fort White and Newnans-
ville triggered a resumption of Indian raids in 1842. Indeed, in this
last year of fighting, Columbia County was to witness some of the
worst atrocities of the war. The army for its part vigorously
pursued the Indians when troops were available, but the area was
not always regularly garrisoned. On January 5, 1842, David Levy,
who later became one of Florida’s first United States Senators,
wrote to Secretary of War John C. Spencer criticizing the with­
drawal of the two mounted companies from Fort White and
Thigpens (Thigpens Station was near New River in the south­
eastern portion of present Union County). Levy stated that the
withdrawal had left “Nassau, Columbia and Duval counties ex­
posed to constant and imminent danger.”65
As though taking a cue from Levy’s letter, a band of Creeks
under the leadership of Chief Halpatter Tustenuggee terrorized
the area in and around Columbia County in February and March
1842. This Creek war leader was not Chief Alligator. Halpatter
Tustenuggee, called Chief Alligator by the whites, had surren­
dered to United States officials at Tampa on October 18,1841, and
was instrumental in convincing Tiger Tail and his brother Neth-
lochemathla to do the same. The Creek raids of 1842 were thought
to be in retaliation for army and militia raids into the upper
regions of the Ochlockonee River which had destroyed Creek
crops.66
On February 24, 1842, the Tillis family was attacked. An
army officer stationed at Fort White described the incident which

64 Mahon, History of the Second Seminole War, p. 301.
65David Levy to John C. Spencer, January 5,1842, in Carter, Territorial Papers,
Vol. LXXVI, pp. 415-16.
66Sprague, Florida War, p. 407; Niles Register, Vol. LXI, October 30, 1841, p.
144, Vol. LXII, April 9, 1842, p. 87.
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