The pressure not only from the troops in the field but from outside sources was so great that General Gaines felt it his duty to enter the field. Besides, that was thought a propitious time to begin active operations, as the day before the arrival of the Louisiana troops the friendly Indians had engaged the hostiles in a battle about four miles from Fort Brooke. Although at this date, as before mentioned, General Scott in Washington had been ordered to assume command in Florida, General Gaines was entirely ignorant of such order.
Orders were accordingly issued assigning officers to their respective duties. Captain Ethan A. Hitchcock, First Infantry, was announced Assistant Inspector General of the Department, and Lieutenant James Farley Izard, of the Dragoons, to be Acting Brigade Major. The artillery and infantry of the United States army, together with the Louisiana volunteer forces under Adjutant-General Persifor F. Smith, were to constitute "the light brigade." (Here is an instance of a staff officer being assigned to command troops.) The whole force to be under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel David E. Twiggs, Fourth Infantry.
The Louisiana volunteers were divided into two battalions, the first composed of the companies of Captains Burt, Lee, Williams, Rogers, and Thistle, under Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Lawson, Surgeon. (Here is another case of a staff officer and surgeon ordered to the command of troops.) The second battalion was composed of the companies of Captains Samuel F. Marks, William H. Ker, Magee, Smith, Abadie, and Barr, under Major Marks, the regiment to be commanded by Colonel Persifor F. Smith. Orders for marching were issued on the 13th, the troops to be supplied with forty rounds of ammunition and ten days' rations, five of which were to be carried in haversacks. During the Florida campaign the only articles drawn by the private volunteer soldiers were bread or flour, pork or beef, while only a few drew salt, sugar, and coffee. Major Richard M. Sands, of the Fourth Infantry, and Captain Barr's company of volunteers, amounting in all to one hundred and sixty men, were detailed for the protection of the fort, under command of Major Sands.
The army marched in three columns, equidistant one hundred yards, with a strong advance and rear guard. The center column was composed of one company of volunteers as advance guard, under command of Brigade Major Izard. Seven companies of United States artillery and infantry, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel William Sewell Foster; the baggage train, led by Captain Samuel Shannon; six companies of Louisiana volunteers as rear guard, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Lawson. Right column: Four companies of artillery acting as light infantry, under command of Major Belton. Left column: Four companies of Louisiana volunteers, under command of Major Marks. The entire command consisted of nine hundred and eighty effective men, exclusive of the detachment under Major Sands, which, added to the force, would make it eleven hundred and forty men.
The Quartermaster's Department at the post was in a very bad condition, destitute of nearly everything that was necessary for the comfort of the troops. There was great scarcity of ordnance stores, but, happily, an abundant supply of subsistence stores.
CHAPTER VI.
Review of the army by General Gaines—Arrival of General Gaines at Fort King—Lieutenant Izard mortally wounded—Correspondence between General Gaines and Clinch—General Scott ordered to command in Florida—Disadvantages under which he labored—Preparations for movements—Commencement of hostilities against the Indians.
General Gaines reviewed the army on February 13th, and, accompanied by seventy-seven friendly Indians, took up line of march toward the Alafia River, to which point he learned that the hostile Indians had gone. The march was made under many difficulties, the horses of the baggage train breaking down and necessitating the loss of valuable articles of camp equipage. Near dark they encamped six miles from Fort Brooke. The next day they arrived at Warren, on the Alafia River, eighteen miles from the fort, and received two days' rations, which General Gaines had ordered sent around from Fort Brooke by water. Discovering no traces of Indians, he directed the march toward the grounds where Major Dade and his party were massacred. The boats having arrived at Fort Brooke with the sick and disabled and all superfluous baggage, the army moved in the direction of a deserted Indian village, passing the ruins of many fine plantations, and struck the military road near the Hillsboro River.
On the 17th they arrived at the river and halted. On the 18th, after burning two deserted Indian villages near the Big Ouithlacoochee River, the friendly Indians accompanying the expedition requested permission to return to Fort Brooke. General Gaines assured them that there was no danger to be apprehended; that he only required them to act as scouts and guides, and that they were not expected to go into battle.