The Scott Battle of 1817: First U.S. Defeat of the Seminole Wars

The Scott Battle of 1817 was the first U.S. defeat of the Seminole Wars. Seminole, Red Stick Creek, Miccosukee, Yuchi, and Maroon (Black Seminole) warriors delivered a stunning blow to the United States Army on November 30, 1817, overwhelming a military boat on the Apalachicola River at what I now Chattahoochee, Florida. The engagement was a retaliatory strike for U.S. raids on the Native American community of Fowltown. American troops went to the village under orders from the Monroe Administration to kidnap the principal chief, Neamathla. The soldiers were to hold the charismatic leader as a hostage to force the evacuation of lands seized by the United States under the Treaty of Fort Jackson to which Neamathla was not a party. Instead, they fired on fleeing non-combatants, killing warriors and women alike.Reinforced by fighters from through today's North Florida, Southwest Georgia, and Southeast Alabama, the warriors struck back at the Scott Battle. Their victory prompted leaders in Washington to order Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson's 1818 invasion of Spanish Florida and ultimately proved instrumental in negotiations that forced Spain to transfer Florida to the United States.