Dade's Massacre

In December 1835, General Clinch ordered that 100 men be sent from Fort Brooke(Tampa Bay) to Fort King.
This command was led by Brevet Major Francis Langhorne Dade. The force consisted of Company C and a
detachment from Company B of the Fourth Regiment of Infantry, detachments from Companies B and H of
the Second Regiment of Artillery, and Company B of the Third Regiment of Artillery. After crossing the
Withlacoochie river, the command was attacked and destroyed by Seminole Indians led by Chiefs Micanopy,
Alligator, and Jumper.The initial volley by the Indians (numbering about 180) killed or wounded nearly half the
command, including Major Dade and Captain Upton S. Fraser (both killed). Three of six remaining officers were
wounded. The Indians withdrew allowing the force to build a small breastwork from nearby trees. The Indians
second attack ended about two p.m. – at the end, most of the command had been killed. Only three privates,
Edwin DeCourcey, Joseph Sprague, and Ransom Clark, all badly wounded, made it back to Fort Brooke.

The Seminole’s had less than 10 killed or wounded making this one of the worse disasters ever suffered by the
United States Army.