Page 13 - history-of-military-units-in-columbia-county-fl-(1970)-robert-gary-shields

History of Military Units in Columbia County, FL (1970) Robert Gary Shields

The following are extracts from various sources which

describe hostilities with the indians:

Mr. L. L. Kinney of Watertown, writes is a letter to
Mrs. May Vinzant Perkins - "The only Indian foray against
white settlers or property I have found in this county dates

back to about 1836 when out about or very near where the
Nickens-Manners-Williams cluster of houses is, southeast of
here about 2 miles, the Indians came in one night, butchered

a cow and took away a horse. A garrison of troops was at
Fort White and they being notified, traced the raiders down
into the sinkhole country and quit there, being afraid of an

ambush."

Mrs. May Vinzant Perkins writes in an article for the
local paper, January 30, 1948 - - "It might be of interest to
add that two of the writer's great uncles, William and Berrien

Vinzant, were slain by Indians in hiding near where Camp O'Leno
now is, on the Santa Fe River. The exact date of the massacre

has not been ascertained but according to information at hand,
occurred sometime prior to 1847. The youths were natives of
Georgia and were on a hunting trip while visiting or living in
the home of their sister, Mrs. Shadroch (Shade) Handcock (latter

Mrs. Randall Roberts), who lived in that neighborhood. Their
brothers, John and Henry Vinzant, moved from Georgia and settled

in that vicinity, eighteen miles south of Alligator, in 1847."
Mrs. Perkins is descendent from John Vinzant.

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