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A History of Columbia County Florida (1996) Edward F. Keuchel 59/340

A History of Columbia County, Florida
Octahachee struck Alligator and the surrounding area, and was
responsible for four more civilian deaths in Columbia County.
William and Bryan Vansant [Vinzant], and Mrs. M. Cason and
child were killed. Mr. Cason and a Mr. Stafford were wounded.
After the attack on Alligator, the Indian force crossed into Alachua
County where they were pursued by a mounted platoon under
Lieutenant Baker and some infantry and militia units. Two of the
mounted soldiers were killed and one was wounded, but the
Indians were successful in making their escape.70
The attack on Alligator in May, 1842, was the last major
disturbance in the county during the war. John K. Mahon the
leading scholar of the Second Seminole War notes that the war did
not come to an abrupt end, but rather dragged itself out. Some
3,824 Seminoles were shipped west to Indian Territory in 1843,
while an unknown, but much smaller number, moved into the
Everglades. It is not known how many Indians perished in the war,
but of those shipped west only 3,136 were alive in 1844.71
The war was a tragedy for the territory and the nation.
Destruction of Indian life and culture was enormous. It was costly
to the Americans as well. Military deaths alone totaled 1,466 of
which 328 were killed in action. Many settlers lost their lives and
saw their plantations, homes, slaves, and livestock destroyed or
stolen. The cost to the federal government and to the territory was
estimated at forty million dollars. There is no way to calculate the
loss the territory incurred by the retarding effect the war had on
its development. For Columbia County the period of Indian danger
was over, but problems of developing the country in this frontier
period remained.

™ Niles Register, Vol. LXII, May 28, 1842, p. 208.
71 Mahon, History of the Second Seminole War, p. 320.

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