Jesup's Battle

Jesup's Battle. January 24, 1838. , On January 24, 1838, Major General Thomas S Jesup, commanding 1,500 men, the largest army of Second Seminole War (1835-42), marched to the headwaters of the Loxahatchee River, where he defeated approximately 300 Red and Black Seminoles in the last standing battle of the war. The Seminoles attacked General Jesup's advanced guard of Dragoons, leading them into a cypress swamp while they hid and fired from a high, dense hammock. Outnumbered nearly seven to one, the Seminoles retreated to a watery stronghold on the opposite side of the river. They crossed to the east side of the river and waited for the troops to follow. Major William Lauderdale and his Tennessee Volunteers held a position on the west side of the river, putting them in direct line of withering musket fire that stopped their advance. After dismounting and drawing his pistol, General Jesup ordered the Tennesseans to follow him as he charged ahead. Instead, they held their position, and Jesup was shot in the face. The battle ended when Colonel William Harney's Dragoons outflanked the Seminoles, who fled into the Everglades. Seven soldiers were killed and thirty-one wounded. The Seminole casualties are unknown.