"Jouney into Wilderness"- The Second Seminole War

[LPBrennan]

I recently had the pleasure of reading this book: "Journey into Wilderness - An Army Surgeon's Account of Life in Camp and Field During the Creek and Seminole Wars - 1836-1838" By Jacob Rhett Motte; edited by James F. Sunderman; University of Florida Press 1963.

Originally published by UofF Press in 1953, reissued in 1963, the current edition was reprinted by Richard J. Perry of Macclenny in 1989.

Jacon Rhett Motte, born in 1811, was a Charlestonian, educated at Harvard, attaining his A.M. and M.D. He applied to the Army Medical Board after failing to receive  an appointment to West Point, and in June 1836 he was placed on active duty with the rank of assistant surgeon. He left Charleston and, until May 1838, was involved in the Second Seminole War, across Georgia into Alabama, and then most of that time chasing about the territory of Florida. He was present at a number of battles and saw the capture of Osceola, King Philip, and a number of other chiefs. He covered the area from the Georgia border as far south as Key Largo. He liked St. Augustine, but didn't think much of Jacksonville. He was here briefly on June 20, 1837, as the steamboat taking him from Fort Mellon on lake Monroe to St. Augustine stopped here to get wood. As he wrote: "I had the time to walk through this miserable little place with a brother officer... but saw nothing worthy of commemoration in its dozen scattered houses and sandy streets."

It's a fascinating tale. Just think of the heat, the insects, the lack of clean water; the difficulty of getting through the scrub and swamps. If you had access to a river and steamboat, that was good, but otherwise it took days of hard labor to get around with the men, horses and supply wagons. They fought battles in the Everglades, where the Indians had the advantage of knowing the countryside, and occupying hammocks that the Army had to approach through deep water and muck, exposed to enemy fire. Motte even thought that the Indians might as well be allowed to have the whole south end of the state, as he saw little chance that it could ever be made habitable for whites. (Let us all light a candle next Sunday to the advent of air-conditioning.) But President Jackson was adamant: They must be removed.

There are a number of names that we know: Jesup, Lauderdale, Dade, Eustis, Moniac, Pierce and others were officers in the Army; Zachary Taylor was here, too. It is also instructive to note the number of Indians who aided the Army, and the men of mixed background, too. The role of the slaves is interesting; many fought with the Creek, Seminole and Mikasuki, some rising to prominence; even though many were also enslaved by the Indians, they felt the treatment was better than the harshness of plantation life. Most of Florida was a bountiful paradise in comparison. Edible plants grew everywhere, and game was abundant. Motte's stories of the plentiful fish he saw would bring a tear to the eye of many an angler.

It's quite a picture of Florida before statehood, before the railroads, before the Civil War, before anyone elsewhere though there was much value to be had in this sub-tropical wilderness.