Seminole Warrior vs US Soldier: Second Seminole War 1835-42

by Ron Field, Adam Hook (Illustrator)

Overview

This engrossing study investigates the tactics, weapons, and combat record of the Seminole warriors and US soldiers who fought three key battles during the epic struggle for control of Florida.

During the 19th century, US forces confronted the Seminole people in a series of bitter wars over the fate of Florida. After the refusal of the Seminoles to move west to the Creek Reservation in Mississippi, the US government sent troops to bring Florida under federal control, marking the beginning of the Second Seminole War. On December 28, 1835, troops led by Major Francis Langhorne Dade were ambushed and massacred en route to Fort King. Two years of guerrilla warfare ensued, as the Seminoles evaded the US forces sent to defeat them. Ordered to hunt down the Seminoles, a US force led by Colonel Zachary Taylor incurred heavy losses at the battle of Lake Okeechobee (December 25, 1837), but the Seminoles were forced to withdraw. At the battle of the Loxahatchee River (January 24, 1838), forces led by Major General Thomas S. Jesup encountered a large group of Seminoles and met them with overwhelming numbers and greater firepower. Despite their stubborn efforts to resist the US military, the Seminoles were defeated and Florida became a state of the Union in 1845. This fully illustrated study assesses the forces fighting on both sides, casting light on the tactics, weaponry, and combat record of the Seminole warriors and their US opponents during the Second Seminole War.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781472846884
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	01/18/2022
Series:	Combat , #61
Pages:	80
Sales rank:	410,373
Product dimensions:	7.30(w) x 9.75(h) x 0.20(d)

About the Author

Ron Field is an internationally acknowledged expert on US military history. Awarded a Fulbright Scholarship in 1982, he taught History at Piedmont High School in California from 1982 to 1983, and was then Head of History at the Cotswold School in Bourton-on-the-Water, UK, until his retirement in 2007. In 2005 he was elected a Fellow of the Company of Military Historians, based in Washington, DC, and was awarded its Emerson Writing Award in 2013.

Adam Hook studied graphic design, and began his work as an illustrator in 1983. He specializes in detailed historical reconstructions, and has illustrated Osprey titles on subjects as diverse as the Aztecs, the Ancient Greeks, Roman battle tactics, 19th-century American subjects, the modern Chinese Army, and the history of fortification. His work features in exhibitions and publications throughout the world.

Table of Contents

Introduction

The Opposing Sides

Dade's Massacre, December 28, 1835

Lake Okeechobee, or Big Water, December 25, 1837

The Loxahatchee River, or Turtle River, January 24, 1838

Analysis

Aftermath

Orders of Battle

Select Bibliography

Index