Jacksonian Guard to bring history to life in Chattahoochee, Florida!

Noted Pensacola unit to represent U.S. troops at Scott 1817 event!

by Dale Cox

Soldiers of the Jacksonian Guard fire a salute during a Colors
Ceremony at Plaza Ferdinand in Pensacola. The celebrated
unit is coming to this year's Scott 1817 Seminole War event.

Pensacola's acclaimed Jacksonian Guard will be on hand as history comes to life at Chattahoochee's River Landing Park on December 6-8, 2019!

As promised in the wake of Hurricane Michael, the annual Scott 1817 Seminole War Battle reenactment and living history event is coming back to River Landing Park this year. Activities begin on Friday with education day for students from schools and home school organizations across the region Saturday and Sunday feature a wide range of activities for the whole family.

The Jacksonian Guard was established in 2016 to reenact soldiers of the United States and Spain during Florida's last days as a Spanish colony. This was the time of the First Seminole War (1817-1818) when the Scott Battle of 1817 was fought at the site of today's River Landing Park in Chattahoochee.

Drummers and fifers of the Jacksonian Guard portray the
youthful composition of the U.S. Army in 1817-1821.

Sponsored by Visit Pensacola and the University of West Florida Historic Trust, the Jacksonian Guard includes soldiers, fifers, and drummers who perform a Colors Ceremony on the third Saturday of every month in Plaza Ferdinand in Downtown Pensacola. That is where the actual change of flags took place on July 17, 1821, marking the official transfer of West Florida from Spain to the United States.

The Jacksonian Guard will be at River Landing Park on Saturday, December 7, and Sunday, December 8, this year, to provide a variety of demonstrations including military salutes, the manual of arms, fife and drum music, musket firing demonstrations. The soldiers will even introduce visitors to dance styles of the early 1800s! They will also take part in a unique memorial service for the soldiers and civilians, Native Americans, and Maroons (Black Seminoles) who lost their lives in the Scott battle on Saturday night, December 7, at 6:30 p.m. Eastern/5:30 p.m. Central.

Soldiers of the Jacksonian Guards demonstrate arms and
uniforms of the U.S. Army in 1817-1821.

The soldiers of the Jacksonian Guard will board the authentic 19th-century replica keelboat Aux Arc ("Ozark") on Saturday and Sunday for the reenactments of the Scott battle. They will represent the soldiers of the 4th and 7th U.S. Infantry Regiments who fought under Lt. Richard W. Scott on November 30, 1817, in the first U.S. defeat of the Seminole Wars. The battle ultimately led to Spain's surrender of Florida to the United States.

The Jacksonian Guard's appearance is made possible by a travel grant from Two Egg TV.

This year's battle reenactments will take place at 12 noon Eastern/11 a.m. Central on Saturday and 2 p.m. Eastern/1 p.m. Central on Sunday (December 7 & 8). 

The Scott 1817 event will take place daily from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. Eastern (8 a.m. until 2 p.m. Central) on Friday through Sunday, December 6, 7, and 8, 2019.

Friday is education day, with hundreds of school students from throughout the area scheduled to attend. Saturday and Sunday are the main public days, and families from throughout the region are encouraged to attend. All events are family-friendly. This is an alcohol-free event. There will be food concessions, vendors, exhibits, and much more for families to enjoy.

The Scott 1817 event is free to attend. Donations are welcome and encouraged!

This year's event is sponsored in part by the Focus Foundation and Two Egg TV with support from Chattahoochee Main Street and the City of Chattahoochee.

For more information, please visit scott1817.com or www.facebook.com/scott1817.

Jackson County Soldiers Accused of Seminole War Attrocity

This image from the Library of Congress shows a Native American town in Florida at the time of the Second Seminole War.

The war attracted widespread criticism in the United States, largely because of alleged attrocities and growing national sympathy with the plight of tribes such as the Seminoles and Creeks.

It was in this environment that a unit of militia soldiers (equivalent of today's National Guard) from Jackson County became involved in a bloody incident remembered today as the Alaqua Massacre.

“One of the Most Outrageous Acts Civilized Men Could Be Guilty Of”
Jackson County Soldiers Accused of Seminole War Atrocity

By Dale Cox

Marianna – During the spring of 1837 brutal warfare spilled over into Northwest Florida from Alabama as militia forces from that state drove a large party of Creek warriors and their families down the valley of the Choctawhatchee River. Fighting soon broke out between the warriors and the early settlers of Walton County and appeals for help went out to other area counties. Jackson County responded by sending a force of local militia (the equivalent of today’s National Guard) to join the fight.

Commanded by Colonel Levin Brown, the force of 73 drafted men left Marianna on the morning of May 6, 1837, and marched to Campbellton where supply wagons were waiting. Supplies to put in the wagons were difficult to obtain, however, and it was not until the morning of May 11th that the little army marched west for the Choctawhatchee River.

Two days later the soldiers crossed the river at Pittman’s Ferry in what is now Holmes County and then turned south for the community of Eucheeanna, the original county seat of Walton County. They did a lot of marching back and forth, but encountered no Creeks until the 23rd of May when Brown and his men succeeded in capturing a party of four warriors and thirteen hungry women and children near Alaqua Creek.

Colonel Brown tried to force one of the warriors to lead the soldiers on to where the main party of Creeks was hiding, but instead he intentionally led them astray. After spending a day hacking their way through dense forests and wading in waist-deep mud, the Jackson County soldiers let their frustrations get the best of them.

As Colonel Brown reported in a letter to Florida’s governor, things turned violent when the men of Captain Stephen Daniel’s company suddenly opened fire on their unfortunate guide:

Captain Daniels’ company having charge of the prisoners in the rear, when Capt. D. and nearly all his company fired on the Indian prisoner who had led us through so many difficulties during the night. The women and children, taking fright at this, started to run, when they were all shot down, and left on the ground.

The massacre of the unfortunate women and children was one of the great tragedies of the conflict remembered today as the Second Seminole War and undoubtedly was one of the darkest days in the history of Jackson County.

Lieutenant J.G. Reynolds of the regular U.S. Army investigated the incident and made clear in his report that the attack was even more brutal than described in Colonel Brown’s account:

The shrieks of the poor children were distinctly heard at the house, distant, I should think, one-quarter of a mile. Several were scalped and all who had earrings had their ears slit with knives in order to possess themselves of the silver. I do think this is one of the most outrageous acts civilized men could be guilty of.

Despite the severity of Reynolds’ report, no action was ever taken against the Jackson County soldiers for their role in the Alaqua Massacre.

Note: This article is based on a chapter in the new book, The History of Jackson County, Florida: Volume One. The book can be purchased from Chipola River Book and Tea in downtown Marianna or online at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/dalecox.

An Indian Attack in Jackson County - 1841

From 1835 until 1842 (even later in some areas), Florida was the scene of a bloodbath remembered today as the Second Seminole War. The following article relates one incident of the war that took place in Jackson County about 12 miles south of Marianna. It appeared in the Augusta Chronicle on August 4, 1841.

Keep in mind as you read this, that neither side (white or Native American) fighting in this war particularly liked each other. The Jackson County Militia had been accused just a couple of years earlier of massacring a group of unarmed Indians in Walton County. Acts such as this were perpetrated by individuals on both sides:

We learn by a letter received by the last mail from Marianna, that a few days since, a part of Indians, supposed to number about 30 visited the settlement of Mr. Morris Simms, in Jackson county, about 12 miles below Mariana, near the Chipola river, murdered his two daughters, the one seven and the other two years of age, plundered his smoke house of a quantity of bacon, a barrel of flour, and what other provisioins they could find, killed several hogs and crippled two horses with spears or spiked arrows. The little girls were found in the cowpen, pierced with spiked arrows, and their brains dashed out with lightwood knots.

As soon as the news of the murder reached Mariana, a company of volunteers under the command of Maj. W.C. Bryant started off in pursuit of the skulking assassins. But they had made good their retreat, and their trail could be traced no further than a hammock some three or four miles from the scene of the outrage.