The Battle of Ocheesee in Calhoun & Liberty Counties, Florida

The longest sustained fight of the Seminole Wars

by Dale Cox

Red Stick Creek warriors attack from the bank of the
Apalachicola River during the annual Scott 1817 Seminole
War Battle Reenactment. The attack at Ocheesee Bluff
looked similar to this.

The Native American army of the Prophet Josiah Francis launched a massive attack against three U.S. ships on the Apalachicola River on December 15, 1817 – 202 years ago today.

The morning of December 15 found 800-1,200 Red Stick Creek, Seminole, Lower Creek, Miccosukee, Yuchi, and Black Seminole warriors positioned on both sides of Florida’s Apalachicola River. Their location was a twisting section between Ocheesee Bluff in what is now Calhoun County and today’s Torreya State Park across the river in Liberty County. Provisioned with corn and other supplies captured at William Hambly’s plantation at present-day Blountstown, they were prepared for a battle that would prove to be the longest of the Seminole Wars.

The sloop Phoebe Ann and the schooners Little Sally and General Pike were ocean-going vessels with captains and crews accustomed to long voyages at sea. The latter of these was one of the supply vessels involved in the American attack on the Fort at Prospect Bluff or Negro Fort seventeen months before.

The Battle of Ocheesee was fought on the Apalachicola River
in Calhoun and Liberty Counties, Florida. The battlefield is
seen here from Ocheesee Bluff.

The ships were slowly making their way up the Apalachicola River with cargoes of ammunition, regimental clothing, and other supplies for the 4th and 7th Regiments of U.S. Infantry. The men of these units comprised the bulk of the garrison at Fort Scott on today's Lake Seminole. They had marched overland from Fort Montgomery and Camp Montpelier in Alabama, but the majority of their heavy supplies was sent by ship. The Prophet Francis was determined to stop the necessities from getting through.

The Prophet's strategy reflected lessons learned from the Creek War of 1813-1814. Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson penetrated the heart of the Creek Nation and defeated the Red Stick forces at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, thanks to a long and tenuous supply line. Francis recognized that U.S. troops were helpless without their supplies and moved to cut off the main fighting force at Fort Scott from resupply. He planned to starve out the garrison and force its retreat.

Warriors rained down fire on the U.S. vessels from the top of
Ocheesee Bluff. The large tree at the top was toppled by
Hurricane Michael in October 2018.

The site for the main attack on the Apalachicola River was carefully chosen. The river flows around two sharp bends between Ocheesee Bluff and today's Torreya State Park. The high bluffs in the park offered sweeping views of the entire scene, while the surface of Ocheesee Bluff on the west bank was just high enough for warriors to fire down into the ships as they attempted to pass. The alignment of the bends allowed warriors to fire from all four directions.

The vessels were moving upstream by warping. This means that they sailed in a zigzag course so their sails could catch just enough wind to keep moving. The alignment of the river bends, however, allowed rifles and muskets to be aimed at the decks and rigging from all four directions. If the sailors could not work the sails, the ships would be dead in the water.

In addition to their crews, the Little Sally and Phoebe Ann carried a 110 man escort under Maj. Peter Muhlenberg. A son of Gen. Peter He was a seasoned veteran of heavy fighting on the Canadian border during the War of 1812 and was the son of Gen. Peter Muhlenberg, the famed "fighting parson" of the American Revolution. His soldiers were primarily drawn from the 4th Regiment, although 40 men from the 7th had come down on a keelboat with Lt. Richard W. Scott in late November. 

The keelboat Aux Arc ("Ozark") fires her swivel gun during
this year's reenactment of the Scott Battle of 1817. A similar
boat took part in the Battle of Ocheesee.

Scott was dead now, along with 34 men, 6 women, and 4 children. (Please see The Scott Battle of 1817).

The 40 men of his original command were still with Muhlenberg. Another 40 men were ordered from Fort Scott to assist the unfortunate lieutenant but passed the scene of his defeat in the darkness without seeing anything. They informed the men on the ships of the outbreak of war and of their failure to find Scott's command. Maj. Muhlenberg kept them and their keelboat to strengthen his force, which now numbered around 190 men.

The three vessels reached William Hambly's store at Spanish Bluff (today's Neal Landing at Blountstown, Florida) late on December 13, 1817. They arrived just hours after a Red Stick Creek and Seminole force under the Fowltown war chief Chenubby attacked the settlement, capturing Hambly and his guest Edmund Doyle, and killing the U.S.-allied chief William Perryman. (Please see A Battle of Blountstown, Florida).

The signs were ominous, but Muhlenberg knew that the supplies onboard the ships - especially the ammunition - were desperately needed at Fort Scott. He continued slowly upriver, reaching the spot selected by the Prophet Francis for his attack on the morning of December 15, 1817:

Warriors firing from Ocheesee Bluff and other points around
a double bend of the Apalachicola River were able to pin
down the supply ships trying to sail upstream to Fort Scott.

On Monday morning the transports were attacked by Indians from both sides of the river with a heavy fire of small arms. We returned their fire, the firing has continued ever since. We have lost two men killed and thirteen wounded, most of them severely. Whether we have injured them any I am not able to say. We are now compelled to remain here, as it is impossible for us to carry out a warp, as a man cannot shew himself above the bulwarks without being fired on. [i]

One of the severely wounded men died within the next few days.

The three vessels could not move forward or backward. Warriors were firing from all directions, and the sailors could not work the rigging and sails. The anchors were dropped, and the soldiers fired back as best they could.

The Phoebe Ann and Little Sally often sailed in pirate-infested waters and were undoubtedly armed with at least swivel cannon for their protection. A few small cannonballs have been found in the battlefield area, so the guns were undoubtedly used when possible. 

This massive old live oak atop Ocheesee Bluff likely survived
the Battle of Ocheesee. It later stood in the yard of the historic
Gregory House which can be visited today on the opposite
side of the river in Torreya State Park.

It was a chaotic scene. War cries and shouts from the warriors filled the air as the rattle of musket and rifle fire was punctuated by the occasional boom of a cannon. The sound of lead balls striking the bulwarks and masts of the ships was constant, as were the groans and cries of the wounded soldiers: 

…I can assure you that our present situation is not the most Pleasant not knowing how soon or whether we are to receive succor from above, the wounded are but in a bad situation owing to the vessels being much crowded, and it is impossible to make them any ways comfortable on board. Not having other means to communicate to you, I am compelled to dispatch the keel boat with instructions to make the best of his way to Fort Scott. I hope to hear from you soon with instructions how I am to proceed in my present situation. [ii] 

The keelboat was fitted with a protective cover before it left Fort Scott. This allowed Capt. J.J. Clinch and his men to break through the ring of fire and escape upriver by using their oars. The two larger ships had no such protection and were destined to remain engaged in the most prolonged continuous battle of the Seminole Wars.

The Battle of Ocheesee continued for two weeks to come.

The best places to see the battlefield are from Ocheesee Landing in Calhoun County and Torreya State Park across the river in Liberty County. The landing is at the east end of Ocheesee Landing Road off FL-69 between Blountstown and Grand Ridge, Florida. The state park is at 2767 NW Torreya Park Road in Bristol, Florida.

There are no interpretive signs to tell the story, but the fighting took place between the clearly visible bends of the river (see the map below). Ocheesee Bluff is also the site of a noted "ghost town" and was the county seat for one of Florida's lost counties! Click play to learn more:

  Editor's Note: Please consider these books by historian Dale Cox to learn more about the Battle of Ocheesee and the Seminole War in 1817-1818:

References:

[i] Maj. P. Muhlenburg to Lt. Col. Matthew Arbuckle, December 17, 1817, Adjutant General, Letters Received, National Archives.

[ii] Ibid.

A mystery of murder & missing gold on the Ocheesee Road!

This rare 1849 $20 gold piece is at the National Museum of
American History. Could a treasure of similar coins worth
millions of dollars be hidden south of Grand Ridge, Florida?
National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History

The end of the War Between the States (or Civil War) brought with it a time of hunger and starvation for people of all races in the rural counties of the Florida Panhandle. It was also a time when ruthless outlaws, many of them deserters from either the Union or Confederate army, stalked the roads and byways in search of plunder.

It was a time when anyone thought to possess gold or other valuables could quickly become the victim of a robbery or worse. 

A man named S.D. Thom learned this deadly lesson on the night of September 2-3, 1865, when he set off from Ocheesee Landing in Calhoun County to meet up with a man named Luke Lott:

Thom came ashore at Ocheesee Bluff in Calhoun County,
Florida. He traveled west from here to meet with Luke Lott.

From a private letter, written from Chattahoochee on the 6th, we learn that Mr. S.D. Thom, a well-known citizen of Columbus, was found dead, on Sunday, Sept. 3d, on the road between Luke Lott's house and Gregory's saw-mill, in Jackson county, Fla., about fifteen miles from Ocheesee, with nine buckshot in his body. He was buried on the 4th. - Columbus Daily Enquirer, September 19, 1865.

Thom, as the above excerpt notes, was a prominent businessman in Columbus, Georgia. He had gone down the Chattahoochee River from that city in a small boat and stayed with a friend named A.D. Bull on the night of August 26th:

...[H]e showed a bag which he said contained $800 in gold, and told his host that he was going to see Mr. Luke Lott, whom he knew, and whom he had promised a visit, if he ever came to Florida, to buy bacon. He left the next morning in a bateaux, a negro being with him, for Lott's place. - Columbus Daily Enquirer, September 19, 1865.

Calhoun County as it appeared in 1860
when it still extended all the way to the
Gulf of Mexico. Ocheesee is at the top left.

The mention that Thom had gone to Florida to "buy bacon" means that he was planning to purchase a large supply of pork. He was engaged in business in Columbus and the amount would have been considerable.

Luke Lott, said by the article to have been an acquaintance of the murdered man, was a fascinating - and deadly - character. 

He lived in northern Calhoun County between the Apalachicola and Chipola Rivers, but owned a large plantation that extended well into Jackson County. He had been successful and highly-regarded before and during the war, although there were also rumors that he had murdered one of his slaves. Lott was the captain of the Calhoun County Home Guard unit and military records indicate that he was a friend of Governor John Milton. 

He was a pro-secession "fire eater" - to use the terminology of the day - and became a bitter enemy of the "Carpetbaggers" (Northerners who moved South) and "Scalawags" (Southern political allies of the Carpetbaggers) who controlled Florida during the Reconstruction era. He was, in fact, later accused of becoming an armed assassin.

...The report is that he went to Lott's deposited his money with him, remained a day or two, and was last seen with Lott, going towards Marianna to buy bacon. Report further says that Thom had deposited some $8,000 and $4,000 with Lott, but the writer is confident that he had not exceeding $400. Some friend should examine into the affair. - Columbus Daily Enquirer, September 19, 1865.

The reports of the time do not mention the exact location where Thom's body was found other than to note it was on the road between Luke Lott's home, in Calhoun County, and Gregory's Mill, in Jackson County.

The beautiful old Gregory House at Torreya State Park was
the home of Jason Gregory, the builder of the mill mentioned
in the accounts of S.D. Thom's murder.

Gregory's Mill had been built in around 1850 by Jason Gregory, a well-known resident of Ocheesee, It stood on the headwaters of Carpenter Sink Creek about 1.5 miles west of State Road 69 and about the same distance north of the Calhoun County line. Gregory is primarily remembered today as the builder of the beautiful old Gregory House that once stood at Ocheesee but now can be toured at Torreya State Park.

Lott lived almost due south of the mill in northern Calhoun County, although he had extensive land holdings throughout the area.

Civil law had broken down in the region by the end of the War Between the States, largely due to the capture or killing of so many local authorities during the Battle of Marianna. The U.S. military responded to the reports of the murder and an investigation of sorts followed:

We learn that Mr. LUKE LOTT, a citizen of Calhoun county, well known here, is under arrest in this city charged with the murder of Mr. THOM, of Columbus, Ga. Since his arrest a negro has been taken into custody for the same offence under suspicious circumstances. The case will be tried before a Military Commission. Mr. D.P. Holland is council for the accused. The case of Mr. Lott, we understand, is one of mere suspicion only. - Tallahassee Semi-Weekly Floridian, October 25, 1865.

Jackson County as it appeared in 1888 (more or less!). The murder took
place south of Grand Ridge on the Calhoun County line.

D.P. Holland, who served as Lott's attorney during his trial before the military tribunal in Tallahassee, had been a lieutenant colonel and later a colonel in the Confederate service. His legal expertise proved worthwhile and Lott was acquitted of the charges against him. 

The fate of the African American man also charged with the crime is unknown. It is interesting to speculate whether he might have been the same man who accompanied S.D. Thom on his trip down the Chattahoochee River from Columbus, but this is not known with certainty.

The value of the stolen money is difficult to assess because so many different amounts were given by writers at the time. Gold was worth $30 per ounce in 1865 so a rough estimate, based on the range of values given for Thom's bag of coins, would be $16,738.05 to $503,400 at today's gold price of $1,258.50 per ounce.

This estimate is based strictly on the value of the gold itself and does not consider the value of 19th century gold coins to collectors! A single $20 Double Eagle gold piece from 1865 in excellent condition can be worth thousands of dollars today.

In other words, S.D. Thom's lost bag of gold could be worth millions. 

The money was not recovered at the time of his murder and may still be out there today, buried somewhere near the line that divides Jackson and Calhoun Counties.

How Ocheesee almost replaced Tallahassee as capital of Florida

The wooden frame capitol building in Tallahassee as it
appeared in 1831 when Ocheesee almost became state capital.
State Archives of Florida

Tallahassee had been capital of Florida for fewer than ten years when it almost lost the title to the Apalachicola River valley.

Pensacola and St. Augustine had never been thrilled that the new town being carved from the wilderness had taken their ancient titles as the twin capital cities of Florida. The population boom taking place in in Tallahassee, however, was rapidly solidifying its status.

The 1830 census revealed that Leon County, of which Tallahassee was the county seat, had become Florida's most populous county with 6,494 residents. Gadsden County was next with 4,895 while Jackson County was third with 3,907. 

Pensacola and St. Augustine had had lost their centuries old positions as the population centers of Florida in just nine years.

Florida as it appeared in 1832.
(Click to enlarge)

Anti-Tallahassee delegates to the Florida Territorial Legislative Council knew that 1831 might be their last chance to wrest the title of capital away from the growing town in the hills of Middle Florida. When the Council members convened that year, they took their best shot.

The delegates met at the tiny frame capitol building in Tallahassee in 1831 and voted for the appointment of a commission to review other potential sites for the establishment of a permanent capital city. 

The members of this commission began their work and three places quickly emerged as the leading candidates to replace Tallahassee. They were Ocheesee Bluff in Calhoun County, Mt. Vernon (Chattahoochee) in Gadsden County and an unidentified point on the Suwannee River. 

Mt. Vernon, which was soon renamed Chattahoochee due to mail confusion with the Alabama community of the same name, was the only one of these places that had become an actual town by 1831. It had been picked to become the site for Florida's new U.S. Arsenal and the arrival of steamboat traffic on the Apalachicola River spurred its growing development as an important river port.

The red clay of Ocheesee Bluff in Calhoun County, Florida.

Ocheesee Bluff, until recently the site of the Creek Indian village of Ocheesee Talofa, was also located on the Apalachicola River. The Federal Road crossed the river at Ocheesee, which was soon to be named the seat of government for short-lived Fayette County. 

Interests from the East Coast of Florida favored a location somewhere on the Suwannee River. A city there would have to be built from scratch, but unlike Tallahassee would be closer to St. Augustine, Jacksonville and Fernandina while also offering the advantage of river transportation.

It was a close decision:

SEAT OF GOVERNMENT. - The Commissioners appointed under the Resolution of the last Council have made separate reports - one infavor of Mount Vernon - two infavor of Ocheesee and one infavor of a point on the Suwanee as the seat of Government. - (Tallahassee Floridian, January 10, 1832).

This historic live oak tree at Ocheesee Bluff survives from
the days of the town of Ocheesee, Florida.

Three of the four commissioners favored a location on the Apalachicola River, but split between Mt. Vernon and Ocheesee. The latter place received a plurality of the total vote, but since the commission included four members it ended in a tie with Mt. Vernon and a site on the Suwanee.

Unable to break this deadlock, the Council delegates themselves decided to wait another year or two and see what might happen:

...The public buildings at Tallahassee will answer, until the progressive improvement of the Country shall show what point is likely to continue central, as regards the population of the Territory. - There are immense bodies of unexplored land of good quality in East Florida, and the Suwanee will probably be the center of population within ten years. - (Tallahassee Floridian, January 10, 1832).

The restored gunpowder magazine of the U.S. Arsenal at
Chattahoochee is now the Apalachicola Arsenal Museum.

It was not to be. The next ten years saw Leon County's dramatic growth continue while neighboring Jefferson County surged past Jackson to become the third most populous of Florida's counties. The St. Joseph Convention approved a proposed constitution for Florida and the territory was admitted to the Union as a state in 1845.

Ocheesee lost its chance to become capital of Florida by a single vote. Had the Apalachicola River supports on the commission unified their votes, the state capitol building would likely be there today. Instead, it is a ghost town. An old oak tree at Ocheesee Landing and the historic Gregory House across the river in Torreya State Park are virtually all that remain to prove it ever existed. 

Columbus, the town that soon grew on the Suwannee River, is also a ghost town today. Its cemetery and a few other traces can be seen at Suwannee River State Park.

Chattahoochee still survives as a small but charming city of just under 4,000 people. Its trail system has been named one of the finest of any small town in America and the Apalachicola River is both a Florida Blueway and a National Scenic Trail.

Tallahassee remains the state capital of Florida.

You can learn more about the ghost town of Ocheesee and Chattahoochee's historic River Landing Park in these videos from TwoEgg.TV:

Andrew Jackson's 250th Birthday: His march through Jackson, Calhoun & Holmes Counties in Florida

Andrew Jackson as he appeared late in life.
(Matthew Brady photo, Courtesy Library of Congress)

Andrew Jackson, the 7th President of the United States, would have turned 250 years old today. In the Florida county that bears his name, however, the anniversary will pass quietly.

Jackson County has no events planned to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Jackson's birth.

The only part of Florida to touch two other states - Alabama and Georgia - Jackson County was established just three years after Old Hickory made his only visit to the area. He came through in 1818 during the closing phase of the First Seminole War.

Florida was still a Spanish colony in 1818, but the borderlands had been the scene of open warfare since U.S. troops attacked the Creek Indian village of Fowltown in Decatur County, Georgia. The Battle of Fowltown was really two separate events that took place on November 21 and 23, 1817. The action was the first battle of the Seminole Wars.

Creek, Seminole and maroon (Black Seminole) warriors retaliated on November 30, 1817, by attacking a U.S. Army supply boat on the Apalachicola River at Chattahoochee, Florida. The first U.S. defeat of the Seminole Wars, the action is remembered today as the Scott Massacre of 1817 and ended with the deaths of around 34 men, 6 women and 4 children.

Outraged over the Scott attack but unconcerned over the U.S. raids on Fowltown, President James Monroe had Secretary of War John C. Calhoun order Major General Andrew Jackson to the frontier. Jackson was authorized to invade Spanish Florida to "punish" those responsible for the attack on Lt. Richard W. Scott's command.

The site of Fort Scott as it appears today.

The commander of all U.S. troops in the South, Jackson was at the zenith of his military career in 1818. He had defeated Red Stick Creek forces at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend and the British at the Battle of New Orleans in 1814-1815. He reached Fort Scott at today's Lake Seminole on the evening of March 9, 1818, and assumed command of the troops there on the next morning.

The first phase of Jackson's Florida campaign saw him march into Spanish Florida and battle the Native American alliance at the Battles of Miccosukee, Econfina and Old Town while also capturing the Spanish fort of San Marcos de Apalache. He executed the Creek Indian leaders Josiah Francis and Homathlemico while also capturing and ordering the executions of two British subjects, Alexander Arbuthnot and Robert C. Ambrister.

The general was at Fort Gadsden, the fort he had built on the site of the earlier "Negro Fort" or Fort at Prospect Bluff, when he decided to march into West Florida. Reports had reached him that Creek refugees were being fed and supplied by the Spanish at Pensacola.

Click here to see a great first person interpretation of Andrew Jackson by Billy Bailey of Florida Caverns State Park.

Jackson left Fort Gadsden with an army of 1,092 men and two cannon and marched back up the Apalachicola River to what is now Torreya State Park. Boats had been prepositioned there by soldiers from Fort Scott and the general crossed his army over to Ocheesee Bluff in today's Calhoun County on May 9, 1818. The crossing of so many men was dangerous and took all day to complete.

The next morning, guided by the Creek chief John Blunt for whom present-day Blountstown is named, the army turned northwest and entered the county that now bears his name. The following is excerpted from my book, The History of Jackson County, Florida: The Early Years:

Jackson Blue Spring, where Gen. Jackson's army camped on
May 10, 1818 while marching through West Florida.

The army turned to the northwest on the morning of May 10th and crossed into Jackson County. Their route led them across the approximate site of Grand Ridge to Blue Spring where they camped for the night. Captain Hugh Young, Jackson’s topographer, called the spot “Big Spring,” a name that it held for a number of years. He described it as being “forty yards in diameter and of considerable depth with a rock bottom and a clean rapid current.” 

The soldiers in Jackson’s army marveled at the beauty and richness of the surrounding countryside. Young himself kept careful records of the quality of the lands through which they marched. 

The army continued forward on the morning of May 11, 1818. Crossing the hills between Blue Spring and the Chipola River, they reached the Natural Bridge of the Chipola River in today's Florida Caverns State Park by noon. It was here that a supposed incident involving Andrew Jackson took place. 

The Natural Bridge of the Chipola River is seen at left. The
sink into which the river descends to begin its underground
journey is at the center of the photo.

According to the oft-recited legend, Jackson’s army was moving forward in two columns. One column, led by the general himself and guided by John Blunt, crossed the river at the natural bridge. The second column, maching more to the north, was forced to halt and build rafts so the men and artillery could get across the river. Jackson’s column reached the planned rendezvous point west of the river and the general, known for his temper, supposedly became irate when the second column failed to appear on schedule.

When the bedraggled men of the flanking column finally trudged into camp, legend holds that Jackson berated their officers, demanding to know the reason for the delay. His temper soared even higher when they explained the reason for their lateness. The general had seen no river. The legend holds that it was not until John Blunt explained the phenomenon of the natural bridge that Old Hickory could be placated.

It is a fascinating little story and one of the few about Andrew Jackson that survive in the county today. Mrs. Janie Smith Rhyne, a Jackson County writer and historian of the 20th century, even memorialized the event in poem:

“About first candle-light he spied

His draggled cavalcade

Emerging from the northward swamp –

No sooner seen than sprayed

With oaths as hot as shrapnel shells.

They pled, ‘We built a raft

To cross the river;’ Jackson yapped

‘No river there, you’re daft!’

‘I crossed no stream.’ ‘Then come;’ they led

Him to Chipola’s bank.

He saw, and spat another oath;

Then all his mind seemed blank.” 

The "River Rise" where the Chipola River resurfaces after
flowing beneath the Natural Bridge. It is also part of Florida
Caverns State Park in Marianna, Florida.

There seems to be more legend than truth about the story. Captain Young, Jackson's topographer, did not record it in his journal. He wrote instead that the men were well aware that they were crossing a natural bridge and even offered his own opinion as to how it had been formed:

The Natural Bridge is in the center of a large swamp and appears to be a deposit of earth on a raft or some similar obstruction. The passage is narrow and the creek, with a rapid current, is visible both above and below. 

Young, of course, was mistaken about the formation of the bridge. It is really formed by the sudden disappearance of the Chipola River down a sink and into a series of limestone passages. It flows underground for a short distance before rising back to the surface. Nineteenth century loggers cut a canal across the top of the feature to allow them to float timber across to downstream mill. The logging run takes away a bit of the original appearance of the bridge, but it is still quite visible today.

The absence of any mention of the legendary natural bridge incident in Young’s account is curious. A careful examination of his memoir, however, shows that the legend probably grew from an incident at the Natural Bridge of the Econfina River near present-day Perry, Florida. Jackson and the main body of his army crossed over that bridge but had to wait for a second column to catch up. When the soldiers arrived, they explained that it had been necessary for them to build rafts to cross a river.  

The real incident at the Econfina Natural Bridge was somehow claimed by the early settlers of Jackson County and relocated to the Natural Bridge of the Chipola. A number of the soldiers in Jackson’s army came back to settle Jackson County and it is possible that their descendants remembered their story about and natural bridge incident and assumed they were talking about the one at Florida Caverns.

Kelly Banta of Florida Caverns State Park (L) discusses the
history of the remarkable caves with historian Dale Cox (R)
in a scene from a coming documentary.

A second legend about Jackson’s passage through Jackson County appears to have more of a basis in truth. 

Local tradition holds that Creek and Seminole families watched his crossing of the natural bridge from hiding places in the caves and rock shelters of Florida Caverns State Park. Native American families still living in both Jackson County and Oklahoma preserve strong oral tradition about the incident. A representative of one family described in 2007 how older members of the family would take children to the area of the natural bridge and point out caves in which their ancestors said they had hidden while the soldiers marched past.  

One such cave is today's Old Indian Cave. This cave was once called the Natural Bridge Cave and is located in a commanding outcrop of limestone from which the natural bridge is clearly visible. The multiple entrances to the large cavern would have provided hidden places from which Creek and Seminole families could have seen the troops marching past.

Click here to watch a video exploration of Old Indian Cave at Florida Caverns State Park.

Beautiful formations at Florida Caverns State Park.

After crossing the natural bridge, Jackson’s army continued on past Blue Hole Spring and Rock Arch Cave before turning to the northwest again and marching out of what is now Jackson County near present-day Graceville. The trail they followed took them through some of the fine farmlands between the Chipola River and Holmes Creek. The country was impressive and they knew that once the Seminole War was over, the area would be wide open for settlement. Men from the Williams and other families returned to the Chipola River country even before Florida was transferred from Spain to the United States. 

Jackson’s topographer, Captain Hugh Young, clearly had the future settlement of the area in mind as he recorded his observations of the country through which the army passed. Describing the area below and around present-day Grand Ridge, for example, he noted that it was “good pine land with reddish soil.” With regard to the land west of the Chipola River through which the army marched, he wrote that it was “excellent land” with a “mixed growth of oak, pine and hickory with several sinks affording abundance of excellent water.” 

Curry Ferry, where Jackson's army crossed the
Choctawhatchee River, remains a Holmes County landmark.

The U.S. Army crossed Holmes Creek near present-day Graceville and then marched along the old Pensacola - St. Augustine Road through what is now Holmes County. Jackson crossed the Choctawhatchee River at Curry Ferry Landing and then continued on westward to Pensacola and eventually the Presidency.

Click here to watch a video on the history of Curry Ferry in Holmes County, Florida.

Although he spent only a few days passing through Jackson, Calhoun and Holmes Counties, Andrew Jackson played a pivotal role in the settlement of the area. His march gave rank and file military men a chance to scout the countryside. Many came back within two years to clear fields and build homes, ignoring the fact that the land in question still belonged to the Creek Nation and that Florida was still a Spanish colony. 

It was not until 1823 - one year after Jackson County was established by the Florida Territory's Legislative Council - that Native American leaders signed the Treaty of Moultrie Creek and gave up their rights to most of the lands that form the county today.

To learn more about the First Seminole War, please enjoy this video and be sure to check out the books at the bottom of the page:

Please click here to learn more about Florida Caverns State Park:  https://www.floridastateparks.org/park/Florida-Caverns.

Battle of Ocheesee, Florida

This week marks the 192nd anniversary of the Battle of Ocheesee, an important Seminole War engagement fought on the Apalachicola River at the southeast corner of Jackson County.

The battle began on December 15, 1817, when hundreds (if not thousands) of Seminole and Creek warriors attacked a small flotilla of U.S. Army supply boats as it rounded the bend in the river between Ocheesee Bluff and Rock Bluff. These former location is in Calhoun County and the latter is now part of Torreya State Park in Liberty County.

Over the next four or five days, the warriors pinned down the soldiers on their boats in midstream, killing at least two and wounding another thirteen. The fire from both banks of the river was so bad that the soldiers aboard the boats could not even raise their heads above the bulwarks to fire back without being shot themselves.

The stalemate continued until December 19th, when General Edmund Gaines commanding at Fort Scott, Georgia (on today's Lake Seminole), sent a covered boat down with materials to be used in better fortifying the supply boats. The relief boat was also equipped with a special anchor that could be rowed ahead of the other boats and dropped. The soliders could then pull on the anchor rope to slowly move the boats forward. Eventually they managed to get moving again and the attack ended as the boats slowly gained headway.

I've launched a new webpage on the Battle of Ocheesee that you might enjoy checking out. Just follow this link to take a look: www.exploresouthernhistory.com/ocheese1.