{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/2/context.json","@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/items/presentation/3304/manifest","@type":"sc:Manifest","label":"David E. Hale to Sarah Josepha Hale","description":"&#8220;David E. Hale to Sarah Josepha Hale,&#8221; <em>Athenaeum of Philadelphia Featured Collections</em>, accessed May 11, 2026, <span class=\"citation-url\">http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/items/show/3304</span>.","thumbnail":{"@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/image/1830/full/317%2C400/0/default.jpg","service":{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/context.json","@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/image/1830","profile":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/level2.json"}},"attribution":"The Athenaeum of Philadelphia","within":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/collections/presentation/10/manifest","metadata":[{"label":"Title","value":"David E. Hale to Sarah Josepha Hale"},{"label":"Date","value":["1830/1839-04-26","April 26, [1830s]"]},{"label":"Subject","value":"Hale, Sarah Josepha Buell, 1788-1879"},{"label":"Medium","value":"Manuscripts"},{"label":"Language","value":"eng"},{"label":"Type","value":"text"},{"label":"Is Part Of","value":"Sarah Josepha Hale Collection, The Athenaeum of Philadelphia"},{"label":"Identifier","value":"46-M-174"},{"label":"Rights","value":"http://www.philaathenaeum.org/rights.html"},{"label":"Text","value":"Fort Doane April 26th\r\n\r\nMy dear Mother - \r\n\r\nWe reached this place last night\r\nhaving marched from Fort King in the morning, a\r\ndistance of 22 miles with about 800 men under\r\nthe command of Gen. Clinch. The Campaign is\r\nfinished for this spring and we shall not commence\r\noperations till next November owing to the difficulty\r\nof acting during the sickly and rainy season which\r\ncommences about the 1[st] or 10[th] of May. We have done nothing\r\nor worse than nothing for I think that our want of\r\nsuccess must embolden the Indians to continue the war\r\nand to attack the settlements here during the summer.\r\nI wrote to you from Fort Brooke, Tampa Bay, by the way\r\nof New Orleans: As this letter may reach you first I\r\nwill give you a short account of what we have done since\r\nwe left this place a month since. We marched with a force\r\nof horse, foot, & two six pounders of about 2000 [men?]. We\r\nhad 1800 [bayonets?] as the Adjutant informed me. Gen. [?] - Gen. Clinch\r\nwere both with us. We crossed the Withlacochee after marching\r\nabout 30 miles. Our rear guard was fired on at 10 o'clock at night\r\nby about 50 Indians. We struck their trail next day, left our\r\nbaggage train under a guard of 300 men & made a forced march\r\nthrough swamps & thickets (called [hummocks?]) till we came up with the\r\nIndians at sunset. They were seen on the other side of an open\r\n\r\nprairie. We camped that night within a mile of them and\r\nmarched against them next morning. The fired first a volley\r\nof about 100 or 150 rifles. We pursued them till they swam the\r\nriver late in the afternoon. We lost 4 killed -11 wounded.\r\nMuch blood was found & two dead Indians, we must have\r\nkilled a number, but as their invariable practice is to carry off\r\ntheir dead at any risk we could not tell how many they\r\nlost. we then marched 20 miles on the sand to Tampa Bay &\r\nleft a force of 300 volunteers under Maj. Cooper with orders to\r\nbuild a stockage and fight the Indians. He had 15 days\r\nprovisions. We reached Tampa after [8?] day's; march [?] which is 120 miles\r\nfrom Fort Doane. We found Cool. Lindsay there with 900 men\r\nwho had been operating within about 40 miles around Tampa.\r\nHe had 4 killed & 16 wounded - had killed 20 Indians & a chief.\r\nGen. Eustis was also there with 700 horse - [900?] foot - he had\r\nmarch from [St. Augustine?] through the Country without [DE: ?]\r\nmeeting but a small part of [30?] Indians - had lost about the same\r\nnumber as we had (i.e. 4.k & 7.w.) and had done nothing but burn\r\na village & take some cattle & kill a chief and a few Indians. The whole army of more than\r\n4000 [?] at Tampa was re-organganised & sent off on the 14 April.\r\nSix hundred La. Volunteers south to Charlott's [Charlotte's] harbour, did nothing\r\n[DE: ?] as [their?] Time was out went back to N. [Carolina?]. - Gen. Eustis will\r\n[DE: ?] went south with Gen. [?] [DE: ?] [?] returned without\r\nmeeting the enemy to St. Augustine & Col. Lindsay went\r\non the road to Fort King reached the W. river & was met there\r\nby [6th?] Army under Gen. Clinch six days since which had returned back on the road\r\n\r\nwe came & had relieved Maj. Cooper, who had been [stunned?] and \r\nfought to his heart's content. He ha [had] 14 days fighting with about\r\n200 Indians he had sallied out twice killed 6 for certain &\r\nI have no doubt the the six pounder commanded by Lt Brooks\r\n(a Boston boy) did great execution. After leaving Col. Lindsay\r\nat the Withch. we went the same road passed over by Maj. Dade\r\n& afterwards by Gen. [Gerines?] who buried those [DE: ?] who were massacred.\r\nWe saw their graves, the dead horses & [exam.?] the broken\r\ncarriage of the six pounder - but the gun itself which\r\nwas put at the head of the Officers' grave, had bee [been?] [carried] off\r\nby the Indians. We picked up many caps shot through,\r\nbullets, catridge [cartridge] boxes [etc?] relics of the bloody action. I saw\r\nthe [DE: spot] places where the different officers were found as they fell [ED: page torn]\r\nwas at the head of the column, was shot through the breast -\r\nand was found alive & sitting against a tree at the end of\r\nthe first action by a sergeant who spoke to him. I have\r\nbeen informed of many interesting particulars of the fight which\r\nI have not room to mention. All the Officers & most of the men were\r\nscalped & three men alone escaped whom I have seen.\r\nWhen we arrived here we learnt that Gen. Clinch's plantation,\r\n(or Fort Doane) had been attacked by the Indians - cattle & horses\r\n& negroes carried off last night - McIntosh's plantation six\r\nmiles from here was burned & [?] bales of cotton $5000 dollars\r\nworth of property. And this in the face of [?]00 men whom\r\n\r\nThey knew we were within a day's march. It shows their\r\nboldness & discourages me completly [completely]; for I know that\r\nit will cause a large force to be stationed in the [Interior?]\r\nwhere it is sickly during the summer. Our regiment will\r\nbe stationed on the Sea. Coast at St. Augustine - Smyrna (healthy\r\nstations).\r\n\r\n\r\nMr. D.E. Hale\r\nin Florida\r\n\r\n[ED: postmark]\r\n\r\nCITY OF WASHINGTON\r\nMAY\r\n10\r\n\r\nMrs. S.J. Hale\r\nBoston\r\nMass.\r\n\r\n[Politeness?] of\r\nLt. Blair\r\n\r\n\r\nI intend to serve my time in Florida till next Spring unless\r\nI am put at a sickly post for I consider it my duty - &\r\ncould not get away if I wanted. No furloughs are to be granted.\r\nResignation are pouring in. Things may alter. I will write soon\r\nThe volunteers will be discharged in a short time, the regulars left\r\nin Florida.\r\nI will send $50 at the first safe opportunity if you wish it\r\nD E Hale\r\n\r\n"}],"sequences":[{"@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/items/presentation/3304/sequence/normal","@type":"sc:Sequence","label":"Current Page Order","viewingDirection":"left-to-right","viewingHint":"non-paged","canvases":[{"@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/items/presentation/3304/canvas/p1","@type":"sc:Canvas","label":"[1]","thumbnail":{"@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/image/1829/full/319%2C400/0/default.jpg","service":{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/context.json","@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/image/1829","profile":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/level2.json"}},"width":2495,"height":3128,"images":[{"@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/items/presentation/3304/annotation/p0001-image","@type":"oa:Annotation","motivation":"sc:painting","resource":{"@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/files/original/39f2c56366d18656a77161835e9e58c9.jpg","@type":"dctypes:Image","format":"image/jpeg","width":2495,"height":3128,"service":{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/context.json","@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/image/1829","profile":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/level2.json"}},"on":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/items/presentation/3304/canvas/p1"}]},{"@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/items/presentation/3304/canvas/p2","@type":"sc:Canvas","label":"[2]","thumbnail":{"@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/image/1830/full/317%2C400/0/default.jpg","service":{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/context.json","@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/image/1830","profile":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/level2.json"}},"width":2468,"height":3119,"images":[{"@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/items/presentation/3304/annotation/p0002-image","@type":"oa:Annotation","motivation":"sc:painting","resource":{"@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/files/original/07dfdabd6f3204799f818e61ba4e843d.jpg","@type":"dctypes:Image","format":"image/jpeg","width":2468,"height":3119,"service":{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/context.json","@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/image/1830","profile":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/level2.json"}},"on":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/items/presentation/3304/canvas/p2"}]},{"@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/items/presentation/3304/canvas/p3","@type":"sc:Canvas","label":"[3]","thumbnail":{"@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/image/1831/full/315%2C400/0/default.jpg","service":{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/context.json","@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/image/1831","profile":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/level2.json"}},"width":2427,"height":3079,"images":[{"@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/items/presentation/3304/annotation/p0003-image","@type":"oa:Annotation","motivation":"sc:painting","resource":{"@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/files/original/b16aa64f92b804dd699ec2c0c325abba.jpg","@type":"dctypes:Image","format":"image/jpeg","width":2427,"height":3079,"service":{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/context.json","@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/image/1831","profile":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/level2.json"}},"on":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/items/presentation/3304/canvas/p3"}]},{"@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/items/presentation/3304/canvas/p4","@type":"sc:Canvas","label":"[4]","thumbnail":{"@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/image/1832/full/320%2C400/0/default.jpg","service":{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/context.json","@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/image/1832","profile":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/level2.json"}},"width":2472,"height":3091,"images":[{"@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/items/presentation/3304/annotation/p0004-image","@type":"oa:Annotation","motivation":"sc:painting","resource":{"@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/files/original/940a73f67133d197c7ffae22de0a20e4.jpg","@type":"dctypes:Image","format":"image/jpeg","width":2472,"height":3091,"service":{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/context.json","@id":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/image/1832","profile":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/level2.json"}},"on":"http://omeka.philaathenaeum.org/collections/items/presentation/3304/canvas/p4"}]}]}]}