er the guns of Fort
Micanopy, a party of mounted infantry which was escorting the young
and beautiful wife of an officer of the 7th Infantry to a neighboring
post. This party, with the exception of two or three persons, was
destroyed. It became evident that no operations could lead to a good
result unless the Indians were pursued to their own retreats, and
treated as they had themselves conducted the war. Col. Harney, who was
in command of one of the departments of Florida, immediately organized
an expedition for the purpose of entering the great everglade south
of the Lake Okeechobee, in which the Seminoles were supposed to be in
much strength. The country in which he was about to act seemed to be
the realization of the poetic chaos. It was overgrown with trees of
immense size, of kinds almost unknown in other portions of the
peninsula, and grass of great highth and strength rose two or three
feet above the surface of the water, which not unfrequently had a
depth of several feet. Notwithstanding, however, that this was the
general character of the country there were often _portages_, or shoal
and dry places, over which it was necessary to carry their boats by
main force. In this kind of country the Indians had the manifest
advantage, being acquainted with sinuous pathways, which, it is said,
enabled them to thread all the intricacies of the hamac almost without
wetting the moccason. The party of Col. Harney, however, were picked
men, inured to all the hardships of Indian warfare, and after several
days of hide and seek, surprised a party of Indians, among whom was a
chief of distinction. As this identical party had more than once
surrendered and broken truce, Colonel Harney ordered all the men to be
hung summarily, and took the women with him to the nearest post as
prisoners. So important was this service that the names of all the
party were mentioned in general orders, and the enlisted men advanced
in grade. The effect on the Indians was great; large parties came in
and surrendered, and they remained almost quiet until their last
attempt was crushed by Gen. Worth in the brilliant affair of
Pilaklakaha, April 17, 1842.

Previous to this time, young Walker had been discharged from the
service, by reason of the expiration of his enlistment, and with some
funds he had amassed while in the army, proceeded at once to Texas,
then embroiled with the abrasions of the great Camanche race and the
minor tribes strewn along her n