Scotts Massacre of 1817 - Part Two

This is a view of the site of Scott's Massacre from Chattahoochee Landing in Gadsden County.

The battle took place on November 30, 1817, and resulted in the deaths of 34 U.S. soldiers, 6 women and four children. Native American casualties are not know.

The following excerpt is from my new book, The Early History of Gadsden County:

(Begin Excerpt) At the time of the Fowltown raids, a small convoy of supply boats was slowly making its way up the Apalachicola River from the Gulf of Mexico. Filled with soldiers and supplies for Fort Scott, the vessels were having great difficulty because water was running high and the current was strong. Major Peter Muhlenburg of the 4th U.S. Infantry commanded the little flotilla and sent a messenger up to Fort Scott with news of his difficulties. General Gaines immediately ordered a detachment of 40 soldiers to head downstream under Lieutenant Richard W. Scott. Their orders were to do what they could to expedite Muhlenburg’s arrival at the fort.

Scott and his men made contact with Muhlenburg somewhere below present-day Bristol. While Gaines’ intention appears to have been for the entire force to remain together, he was not clear about this in his instructions to the flotilla commander. Major Muhlenburg instead took 20 of Scott’s able-bodied men to replace 20 of his own men that had fallen sick with fever. The sick soldiers were then loaded into the lieutenant’s boat, along with 7 women (the wives of soldiers) and 4 children and Scott was ordered to take them upriver to Fort Scott.

Following his orders, the lieutenant started back upstream. By November 28, 1817, just five days after the second attack on Fowltown, he had reached the Spanish Bluff near present-day Blountstown. Here was located the original “Blunt’s Town,” a Native American village led by the chief John Blunt. Blunt had opposed the Red Sticks during the Creek War and had been driven by them from his home in Alabama. He relocated to the Apalachicola River and settled on land adjacent to a large plantation operated by the traders Edmund Doyle and William Hambly.

Hambly and Doyle warned Scott that he was in danger. A large force of Native Americans was assembling higher up the river, they cautioned, evidently with the intention of intercepting the supply boats as they came upstream.

The news alarmed the lieutenant and he immediately sent a courier overland to Fort Scott with a request for help:

…Mr. Hambly informs me that Indians are assembling at the junction of the river, where they intend to make a stand against those vessels coming up the river; should this be the case, I am not able to make a stand against them. My command does not exceed forty men, and one half sick, and without arms. I leave this immediately.

Despite the warning and his own recognition that his force was insufficient to withstand an attack, Scott then cast off from Spanish Bluff and continued his journey up the Apalachicola. Why he did this is difficult to understand. He may have underestimated the time it would take for his written message to reach General Gaines or he may have questioned the validity of the intelligence provided to him by Hambly and Doyle. Whatever his reason, the decision to continue up the Apalachicola River proved disastrous. (End of Excerpt)

I will continue to post more of this story over coming days. If you are interested in purchasing a copy of The Early History of Gadsden County, it is available for order online by clicking here. It is also available for pick up in Gadsden County through the West Gadsden Historical Society (www.gadsdenhistory.com for phone and address information) and is carried by Chipola River Book and Tea in downtown Marianna (across Lafayette Street from the Battle of Marianna monument).

Scott's Massacre of 1817 - Part One

In my last post, I discussed the unusual life of Elizabeth Stewart Dill, the only female survivor of the 1817 "Scott's Massacre" in Gadsen County, Florida.

The old print at right is an artist's conception of Scott's Massacre prepared for use as an illustration in an early history of the United States. It is now housed in the collections of the New York Public Library.

A native of Virginia, Richard W. Scott had entered the military service during the War of 1812 when he was commissioned as an Ensign in the 35th U.S. Infantry Regiment.

Scott received his appointment on March 31, 1813, and was promoted to third lieutenant by the end of the year. He was promoted to second lieutenant the following October.

When the size of the army was dramatically reduced following the end of the war, Lieutenant Scott was reassigned to the 7th U.S. Infantry.

Sent to Fort Scott on the Flint River arm of today's Lake Seminole with the First Brigade (4th and 7th Infantry Regiments) in response to growing tensions between U.S. Army officers and Neamathla, chief of the nearby village of Fowltown, Scott was dispatched with 40 men in a flatboat to assist a supply flotilla slowly making its way up the Apalachicola River to the fort.

The series of events that followed rank among the most tragic in the history of Florida. Over coming days, I will post excerpts from the chapter on "Scott's Massacre" in my new book, The Early History of Gadsden County. Please check back later today for more of the story.

The Story of Elizabeth Stewart Dill

This beautiful old home in Fort Gaines, Georgia, was built during the 1820s by John and Elizabeth Stewart Dill.

Mrs. Dill was the sole civilian survivor of the bloodiest battle in Gadsden County history.

On November 30, 1817, she was aboard a U.S. Army flatboat making its way up the Apalachicola River under the command of 1st Lieutenant Richard W. Scott of the 7th U.S. Infantry. As the boat rounded the river bend at present-day Chattahoochee, it was attacked by hundreds of Creek and Seminole warriors.

Lieutenant Scott and most of his 20 able-bodied soldiers were killed in the first volley. The warriors then waded out into the river and stormed the boat, overwhelming the survivors with hatchets, knives and war clubs. By the time the smoke had cleared, 34 men, 6 women and 4 children were dead.

Only six soldiers survived by leaping overboard and swimming underwater to the Jackson County shore. Four of them were seriously wounded. The only other survivor was Elizabeth Stewart, the 26-year-old wife of a soldier who was on her way to Fort Scott (on the Flint River arm of today's Lake Seminole to join her husband). Taken captive by the warriors, she was carried away to a series of Native American villages and was kept in slavery for several months.

In April of 1818, Mrs. Stewart was freed by Andrew Jackson's army at the Battle of Econfina Natural Bridge, Florida. Reports from the time indicate that she was rescued by Timpoochee Barnard, a prominent Creek warrior who had sided with the United States in the First Seminole War.

There is some confusion over the fate of her husband. According to some writers, he was a sergeant killed during Scott's Massacre. The Native American leader General William McIntosh said, however, that her husband and father were present with Jackson's army at the Battle of Econfina Natural Bridge and that she was returned to their care. Available death records for the U.S. Army also do not show that a Sergeant Stewart was killed during the massacre.

Whatever the truth, he died at some point prior to the early 1820s. A widow, she settled in Fort Gaines, Georgia, where she married a local merchant named John Dill. They became one of the wealthiest couples in the region and two of their homes still stand in the community.

If you would like to learn more about Mrs. Dill's remarkable story, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/fortgaines4. The story of the massacre is one of the chapters in the new book, The Early History of Gadsden County. Please click here for more information on ordering the book.