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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060
The Indian Wars 1835-1842
The boggy maze of the Everglades long provided a fortress
of refuge for the resourceful Seminole Indians. In 1835 the massacre
of an Army detachment by the Indians dictated use of naval and
Marine forces in the watery environment.
Landing parties from the West India Squadron commanded by
Commodore Alexander Dallas relieved Army garrisons enabling them
to serve in the interior. In 1836, involvement of the Creek Indians
extended the war to southern Alabama and Georgia. Lines of communications
were kept secure, and Army troops, reinforced by practically the
entire Marine Corps, were supplied by small Navy steamers plying
the Chattahoochee and other rivers.
Manned by sailors, soldiers, and Marines, a brown water "mosquito
fleet" composed of small sailors, flat bottomed barges and
shallow dugouts under Lieutenant J. T. McLaughlin, actively seconded
by Lieutenant John Rodgers, penetrated hundreds of miles into
swamps and twisting tributaries to find and help defeat the elusive
enemy.
3 September 1999