Native Coalition Forces vs. U.S. Army : The Scott Massacre | The Seminole Wars Documentary

History at The OK Corral
History at The OK Corral
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Published 2024-08-09
The history of the American South is marred with blood, struggle and chaos. The 19th century is home to the American Civil War, but the roots of conflict in the region harken back to times far preceding it. The turn of the 19th Century in the south saw clashes between American, British, French, Spanish settlers, expeditionaries, inquisitions, and the native population of Creek, Red Stick, Choctaw, Seminole, African Maroon and a host of other indigenous contingents. These innumerable factions engaged in a series of territorial and geopolitical disputes with, and against one another for decades.

Just as the United States was attempting to find her footing within the world stage, the War of 1812 threw the young nation into further disarray. The complications of the landscape; with multitudes of loyalists, natives, ex-slaves, and empirical interest scattered throughout the southern region, presented the most perilous circumstance to the nation since its victory in the Revolutionary War.

Born from the reshaped landscape of the American victories in the War of 1812 as well as the Red Stick War, a new and decidedly different conflict came into the fold. The First Seminole War came to be when the United States took umbrage with the Seminole people to the south of Georgia in the territory of Spanish Florida.

While the war would ultimately set the stage for Spain to cede the territory to the United States, the clash between the US and the Lower Creek and Seminole peoples was a violent, and yet deeply human one.

Neamathla, the leader of Fowltown, and his people stood against the American request for his surrender. This led to the 7th Infantry under Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Arbuckle to lead his men into the nativist settlement, engaging in a brief skirmish that left one native woman dead, as well as a handful of warriors.

The real antagonizing action would occur days later, when the Americans returned and began loading the now abandoned Fowltown’s corn supply into wagons. Losing these reserves would be catastrophic, and Neamathla felt he had no choice but to launch an attack upon the Americans that was certain to fail given the disparity in arms and numbers.

The Americans would take many native lives in the fighting before falling back. The clash was reported throughout the native communities of the south, and a coalition of warriors from various tribes had converged on the Apalachicola River in support of Neamathla and his struggles.

With their hearts set on retribution, Lieutenant Colonel Richard Scott was going to find himself, his men, and the American boat he navigated through the Apalachicola’s water in the wrong place, at the wrong time…

Don't miss this all-too-often overlooked, incredibly bloody chapter in American history, brought to you only by History At The OK Corral : Home Of History's Greatest Shootouts & Showdowns!

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