Battle of the Caloosahatchee

The U.S. Army encampment on the north shore of the Caloosahatchee was fifteen miles from the mouth of river and constructed about 400 yards from the trading post which was left unguarded at the time of the battle. Shortly before the native attack, Harney traveled to Sanibel Island to hunt for wild hogs. During Harney's absence, the man in charge of the camp was Sergeant John Bigelow, who neglected his duty to post guards around the camp. Sergeant Bigelow also neglected to hand out ammunition for the soldiers' new Colt rifles.^[1] When Harney returned to the camp, he was very exhausted from his hunting trip, and he immediately went to bed without posting any guards either.

The native attack began at dawn on July 23, 1839. The raiders divided into two groups, one of which attacked the trading post and the other attacked the U.S. Army camp. The U.S. soldiers were taken completely by surprise, as they were still in their beds and had no ammunition for their rifles. The natives quickly managed to kill most of the soldiers (including Sergeant Bigelow) and all of the civilian employees of the trading post. Harney, who was only wearing his underwear, escaped by immediately getting out of his bed and diving into the Caloosahatchee River.^[5] Some other soldiers also escaped by fleeing into the river, and they managed to reunite with Harney later. While hiding from the native attackers, Harney and the remainder of his men were then rescued by a sloop that had come from Tampa Bay.^[1] The allied natives looted a large amount of silver coins, alcohol, gunpowder, and other goods from the trading post.^[5] The Seminole allies also captured 30 Colt ring lever rifles from Harney's soldiers, which were the most advanced rifles the U.S. Army had at the time.^[6]

The battle nullified the Macomb Treaty and it led to the continuation of the Second Seminole War.^[1] The Macomb Treaty was the greatest attempt made at a peace treaty during the war, but it ultimately failed. The war would end three years later without a formal peace treaty, when Colonel William Worth ordered all U.S. troops in Florida to end military operations in 1842. Harney would continue fighting in the war, and he later succeeded in finding and killing Chekaika, one of the allied native leaders at Caloosahatchee.^[7] However, Harney was unsuccessful in finding Abiaka during his searches for him in the Everglades.^[8]

Two prisoners the Seminoles took from the Battle of the Caloosahatchee were two Black Seminole men named Sampson Forrester and Sandy Perryman, who were both taken into the Big Cypress Swamp. Forrester and Perryman were initially loyal to the Seminole tribe at the start of the war, but they later defected to the United States in exchange for getting to live as Free Blacks.^[9] Due to the fact that they had lived among the Seminole, Forrester and Perryman were both employed by the U.S. Army as scouts and interpreters. Sandy Perryman himself was Harney's personal interpreter, and he had also been the main interpreter for the Macomb Treaty negotiations at Fort King.^[4] The native tribes blamed Sandy Perryman for convincing them to agree to the fraudulent Macomb Treaty, and Abiaka ordered Perryman to be executed.^[4] The natives executed Sandy Perryman by tying him to a pine tree, sticking splinters of fatwood into his body, and lighting them on fire, which killed Perryman after several hours of agonizing pain. Sampson Forrester was also going to be executed, but Holata Micco (Billy Bowlegs) interceded on Forrester's behalf, saying Forrester should not be executed as he had been a friend of Osceola.^[10] The allied native leaders decided to spare Sampson Forrester, but they continued to hold him captive for two years until he escaped back to the U.S. Army in 1841. After escaping from captivity, Sampson Forrester revealed that it was Chief Abiaka who ordered the allied native attack at Caloosahatchee.^[4]