The U.S. Army, trying new tactics in Florida, turns to bloodhounds to track the Indians, with poor results.
Taylor's blockhouse and patrol system in northern Florida keeps the Seminoles on the move but cannot clear them from the area.
In May 1839, Zachary Taylor, having served longer than any preceding commander in the Florida war, had been granted his request for a transfer and replaced by Brig.
Gen. Walker Keith Armistead, who had immediately gone on the offensive, actively campaigning during the summer.
The Army, seeking the hidden camps of the Seminoles, burning fields and driving off horses, cattle, and pigs, had destroyed five hundred acres (two square kilometers) of Seminole crops by the middle of the summer.
The Navy is taking a larger role in the war, with sailors and marines pushing up rivers and streams, and into the Everglades.
In late 1839, Navy Lt. John T. McLaughlin is given command of a joint Army-Navy amphibious force to operate in Florida; he establishes his base at Tea Table Key, about a mile east of Indian Key, in the upper Florida Keys.
