Support for the Seminole War is eroding…

Support for the Seminole War is eroding in Washington and around the country.

Florida’s winter season had been quiet.

While incidents and skirmishes continue, there have been no major actions.

Many people are beginning to think that the Seminoles have earned a right to stay in Florida.

The war is far from over and has become very costly.

President Martin Van Buren sends the Commanding General of the Army, Alexander Macomb, to negotiate a new treaty with the Seminoles.

On May 19, 1839, Macomb announced that an agreement had been reached with the Seminoles.

The Seminoles are to stop fighting in exchange for a reservation in southern Florida.

As the summer passes, the agreement seems to be holding.

On July 23, some one hundred and fifty Indians attack a trading post on the Caloosahatchee River that is guarded by a detachment of twenty-three soldiers, under the command of Colonel William S. Harney.

Some of the soldiers, including Colonel Harney, are able to reach the river and find boats to escape in, but most of the soldiers, as well as several civilians in the trading post, are killed.

Many blame the "Spanish" Indians, led by Chakaika, for the attack, but others suspect Sam Jones, whose band of Mikasukis had been the ones to actually reach agreement with Macomb.

Sam Jones promises to turn the men responsible for the attack over to Harney in thirty-three days.

Before that time is up, two soldiers visiting Sam Jones' camp are killed.