Fort Basinger (Seminole War Fort)

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Fort Basinger
Approximately 35 miles west of Fort Pierce along U. S. Highway 98 in Highlands County, Florida. in United States
Fort Basinger - Artist Depiction.jpg
Fort Basinger - Second and Third Seminole War Fort (artist's depiction).
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Fort Basinger
Location of Fort Basinger
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Fort Basinger
Fort Basinger (the United States)
Coordinates 27°21′46″N81°03′10″W / 27.36278°N 81.05278°W / 27.36278; -81.05278
Site information
ConditionCompletely destroyed.
Site history
Built1837
Built by United States Army
In use1837-1858
MaterialsPine logs (stockade and two blockhouses).
FateAbandoned after the Third Seminole War (1855–1858) and eroded away.
Battles/wars Battle of Lake Okeechobee
EventsFort Basinger was built as a supply garrison and for prisoner detention, and aided wounded troops after the Battle of Lake Okeechobee.
Garrison information
Past
commanders
Colonel Zachary Taylor
GarrisonRegular army troops and Militia.

Fort Basinger's original site is located approximately 35 miles (56 km) west of Fort Pierce, Florida, along U. S. Highway 98 in Highlands County, Florida. It was a stockaded fortification with two blockhouses that was built in 1837 by the United States Army. It was one of the military outposts created during the Second Seminole War to assist Colonel Zachary Taylor's troops to confront and capture Seminole Indians and their allies in the central part of the Florida Territory in the Lake Okeechobee region. The Seminole Indians and their allies were resisting forced removal to federal territory west of the Mississippi River as directed by the Indian Removal Act. [1]

Contents

Brief History

On December 2, 1837, Colonel Zachary Taylor ordered the construction of Fort Gardiner during his Second Seminole War campaign as he marched his troops into the Lake Okeechobee region. Colonel Taylor determined that another fortification was required further south, so on December 21, 1837, he ordered another fortification constructed to support his plans. This particular fortification was named Fort Basinger after Lieutenant William E. Basinger who was killed during the Dade battle. Colonel Taylor assigned Captain Monroe of the 4th Artillery in command of Fort Basinger and stationed one company of troops and approximately 85 sick men and some Indians at the fortification. Captain Monroe was also charged with finishing the construction of the blockhouses and stockades around Fort Basinger. The remaining troops marched south from Fort Basinger and on December 25, 1837, they engaged in the Battle of Lake Okeechobee. Colonel Taylor’s detachment suffered 26 killed and 112 wounded and had to retreat back to Fort Basinger. After a short stay at Fort Basinger Colonel Taylor’s detachment made their way to Fort Gardiner, where they set up a makeshift hospital. A military escort accompanied many of the wounded soldiers to Fort Brooke for additional medical attention. [2] [3]

Fort Basinger survived the Second Seminole War and was used by U.S. Army troops and militiamen during the Third Seminole War (1855–1858). It was eventually abandoned at the end of the Third Seminole War and most likely eroded away. [4]

Fort Basinger’s Namesake: William Elon Basinger

William Elon Basinger was born on September 27, 1806, in Savannah, Georgia. He was the great-grandson of Peter Tondee (c.1723 – 1775), who owned and operated Tondee’s Tavern in Savannah, where the first meetings of revolutionary sentiment were held in the Georgia Colony in 1770. Tondee’s Tavern became a hub for opposition to the British Empire’s control of the Thirteen American Colonies. [5] [6]

Basinger obtained an appointment as a U.S. Army cadet at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York. He entered the United States Military Academy on July 1, 1826. While at the academy his roommate was Joseph E. Johnston and he was cadet sergeant-major under Cadet Adjutant Robert E. Lee. He graduated second in his class on July 1, 1830 without a single demerit. He was promoted to second lieutenant, 2nd Artillery on July 1, 1830. [5]

In 1831, he served at the garrison at Fort Moultrie, and at the Augusta Arsenal. He returned to the United States Military Academy as an assistant instructor of infantry tactic from November 24, 1831 to December 19, 1833. From 1834 to 1835, he served at the garrison at Fort Jackson, Louisiana, and at Covington, Louisiana. In 1835, he was transferred to Tampa Bay to prepare for defenses against the uprising Seminole Indians and their allies. On December 23, 1835, Brevet Major Francis Langhorne Dade led a detachment of eight officers, including Lt. Basinger, and 100 troops from Tampa to Fort King. On December 28, 1835, this detachment was ambushed by a group of Seminole Indians led by Chief Micanopy and Chief John Jumper and their allies. Lt. Basinger was the last officer killed, and only two soldiers and a Negro guide survived. This battle became known as Dade's Massacre, and it launched the Second Seminole War. [7] [6]

William Elon Basinger is buried in the St. Augustine National Cemetery in St. Augustine, Florida. [6] During his burial ceremony Zachary Taylor said, “this day I bury an officer as dear to me as a son and by reason of his untimely death the United States has lost a soldier who would have become one of our great generals." [5]

Site of Fort Basinger

Today, no remnants of Fort Basinger exist, but its site is marked with a Florida Board of Parks and Historic Memorials sign in Highlands County, Florida. The sign reads, “Col. Zachary Taylor had Fort Basinger built in 1837, during the Seminole Wars, on the Kissimmee River 17 miles above its mouth. It was a small stockade which served as a temporary fort and supply station on the line of forts extending from Tampa to Lake Okeechobee. Named for Lt. William E. Basinger of the 2nd Artillery, who was killed in Dade’s Massacre. The fort was abandoned at the end of the Indian Wars.”

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seminole Wars</span> Conflicts in Florida between the US govt. and Seminole Nation (1816–58)

The Seminole Wars were a series of three military conflicts between the United States and the Seminoles that took place in Florida between about 1816 and 1858. The Seminoles are a Native American nation which coalesced in northern Florida during the early 1700s, when the territory was still a Spanish colonial possession. Tensions grew between the Seminoles and settlers in the newly independent United States in the early 1800s, mainly because enslaved people regularly fled from Georgia into Spanish Florida, prompting slaveowners to conduct slave raids across the border. A series of cross-border skirmishes escalated into the First Seminole War in 1817, when General Andrew Jackson led an incursion into the territory over Spanish objections. Jackson's forces destroyed several Seminole and Black Seminole towns and briefly occupied Pensacola before withdrawing in 1818. The U.S. and Spain soon negotiated the transfer of the territory with the Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Osceola</span> Seminole leader

Osceola, named Billy Powell at birth in Alabama, became an influential leader of the Seminole people in Florida. His mother was Muscogee, and his great-grandfather was a Scotsman, James McQueen. He was reared by his mother in the Creek (Muscogee) tradition. When he was a child, they migrated to Florida with other Red Stick refugees, led by a relative, Peter McQueen, after their group's defeat in 1814 in the Creek Wars. There they became part of what was known as the Seminole people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second Seminole War</span> 1835–42 war in Florida

The Second Seminole War, also known as the Florida War, was a conflict from 1835 to 1842 in Florida between the United States and groups of people collectively known as Seminoles, consisting of Native Americans and Black Indians. It was part of a series of conflicts called the Seminole Wars. The Second Seminole War, often referred to as the Seminole War, is regarded as "the longest and most costly of the Indian conflicts of the United States". After the Treaty of Payne's Landing in 1832 that called for the Seminole's removal from Florida, tensions rose until fierce hostilities occurred in the Dade battle in 1835. This conflict started the war. The Seminoles and the U.S. forces engaged in mostly small engagements for more than six years. By 1842, only a few hundred native peoples remained in Florida. Although no peace treaty was ever signed, the war was declared over on August 14, 1842.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francis L. Dade</span> US Army officer

Francis Langhorne Dade was a Brevet Major in the U.S. 4th Infantry Regiment, United States Army, during the Second Seminole War. Dade was killed in a battle with Seminole Indians that came to be known as the "Dade Massacre".

The Battle of Lake Okeechobee was one of the major battles of the Second Seminole War. It was fought between 800 troops of the 1st, 4th, and 6th Infantry Regiments and 132 Missouri Volunteers, and between 380 and 480 Seminoles led by Billy Bowlegs, Abiaca, and Halpatter Tustenuggee (Alligator) on 25 December 1837. Halpatter Tustenuggee had played a major role in the Dade Battle two years earlier. The Seminole warriors were resisting forced relocation to a reservation in Oklahoma. Though both the Seminoles and Taylor's troops emerged from the battle claiming victory, Taylor was promoted to the rank of brigadier general as a result, and his nickname of "Old Rough and Ready" came mostly due to this battle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dade Battlefield Historic State Park</span> United States historic place

Dade Battlefield Historic State Park is a state park located on County Road 603 between Interstate 75 and U.S. Route 301 in Sumter County, Florida. The 80-acre (32 ha) park includes 40 acres (160,000 m2) of pine flatwoods and a live oak hammock. Also called the Dade Massacre site, it preserves the Second Seminole War battlefield where tribal Seminole warriors fought soldiers under the command of Major Francis L. Dade on December 28, 1835. Each year, on the weekend after Christmas, the Dade Battlefield Society sponsors a reenactment of the battle that started the Second Seminole War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Micanopy</span>

Micanopy, also known as Micco-Nuppe, Michenopah, Miccanopa, and Mico-an-opa, and Sint-chakkee, was the leading chief of the Seminole during the Second Seminole War.

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Wild Cat, also known as Coacoochee or Cowacoochee (from Creek Kowakkuce "bobcat, wildcat") (c. 1807/1810–1857) was a leading Seminole chieftain during the later stages of the Second Seminole War and the nephew of Micanopy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Foster</span> Defensive fort in Florida, US

Fort Foster is a Second Seminole War era fort in central Florida, located 9 miles (14 km) south of current-day Zephyrhills in Pasco County.

Ar-pi-uck-i, also known as Abiaka or Sam Jones, was a powerful spiritual alektca and war chief of the Miccosukee, a Seminole–Muscogee Creek tribe of the Southeast United States. Ar-pi-uck-i successfully defied the U.S. government and refused to remove to the Indian Territory west of the Mississippi and his influential leadership in the Second Seminole War (1835–1842) resulted in the permanent Native American presence in Florida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Cooley</span> American settler (1783–1863)

William Cooley (1783–1863) was one of the first American settlers, and a regional leader, in what is now known as Broward County in the state of Florida. His family was killed by Seminoles in 1836, during the Second Seminole War. The attack, known as the "New River Massacre", caused immediate abandonment of the area by whites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dade battle</span> Second Seminole War battle

The Dade battle was an 1835 military defeat for the United States Army. The U.S. was attempting to force the Seminoles to move away from their land in Florida and relocate to Indian Territory. Amidst a war between the Government of the United States and the Seminole two U.S. Army companies numbering 103 men under the command of Major Francis L. Dade were ambushed by approximately 180 Seminole warriors as they marched from Fort Brooke on Tampa Bay to reinforce Fort King in Ocala. Only three U.S. soldiers survived the attack, and one died of his wounds the following day.

Uchee Billy or Yuchi Billy was a chief of a Yuchi band in Florida during the first half of the 19th century. Uchee Billy's band was living near Lake Miccosukee when Andrew Jackson invaded Spanish Florida during the First Seminole War and attacked the villages in the area. Yuchi Billy and his band then moved to the St. Johns River. During the Second Seminole War, Uchee Billy was an ally of the Seminoles, and was one of the principal war chiefs who fought the U.S. Army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Peyton</span>

Fort Peyton was a stockaded fort built in August 1837 by the United States Army, one of a chain of military outposts created during the Second Seminole War for the protection of the St. Augustine area in Florida Territory. Established by Maj. Gen. Thomas Jesup, it was garrisoned by regular army troops.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Hanson</span>

Fort Hanson was a blockhouse fortification built in 1838 by the United States Army as one of a chain of military outposts created during the Second Seminole War. These fortifications were located near vital road and waterway routes, or were built within a day’s journey of one another. Fort Hanson was primarily built for the protection of the St. Augustine area in the Florida Territory. St. Augustine had become refuge for many white settlers and their slaves that had fled from nearby settlements and plantations for safety in the city. In addition to St. Augustine being an important shipping port and supply center for the war effort the additional civilians made the city a key stronghold requiring a substantial military presence for its defense. The fort originally stood about thirteen miles southwest of St. Augustine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Gardiner</span>

Fort Gardiner was a stockaded fortification with two blockhouses that was built in 1837 by the United States Army. It was one of the military outposts created during the Second Seminole War to assist Colonel Zachary Taylor's troops to capture Seminole Indians and their allies in the central part of the Florida Territory that were resisting forced removal to federal territory west of the Mississippi River per the Indian Removal Act.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Shannon</span>

The Indian Removal Act provoked many Seminole Indians and their allies to revolt against being forcibly relocated from their lands and homes in the Florida Territory to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River. After the Dade Massacre on December 28, 1835, the Second Seminole War was escalated with armed skirmishes and guerilla warfare. Early in the Second Seminole War, the strategically located town of Palatka, Florida Territory was attacked and burned by a group of Seminole Indians and their allies. Most surviving white settlers and black slaves fled to St. Augustine for safety, and the area was mostly abandoned except for free roaming groups of Seminole Indians and their allies. Realizing the importance of a militarily protected and efficient supply line along the St. Johns River General Walker Keith Armistead ordered the main depot moved from Garey's Ferry on Black Creek to Palatka where the U.S. Army built Fort Shannon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas J. Leib</span>

Thomas Jefferson Leib was an American naval officer of the early 19th-century sailing ship era, active in Florida's Second Seminole War as well as anti-piracy and smuggling suppression patrols throughout the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, and West Indies.

Fort Drane, also known as Fort Auld Lang Syne was a fort built during the Second Seminole War in 1835. While the exact location of the fort is debated, generally speaking, it was located in what is now Marion County, Florida, possibly some 10 miles south of Micanopy. It was one of many fortifications built in Florida as a part of a strategy by the U.S. military to defeat the Seminole Indians.

References

  1. Roberts, Robert B. Encyclopedia of Historic Forts: The Military, Pioneer, and Trading Posts of the United States. New York: Macmillan. 1988, p. 169.
  2. Mahon, John K. History of the Second Seminole War (1967). Gainesville, FL: University of Florida Press. pp. 219-230.
  3. Andrews, Mark. Forts Played Role in Florida History. Orlando Sentinel. August 11, 1991. pp. K1, K4.
  4. Rolland, Dean. Time and the River. The Orlando Sentinel. October 15, 1967, pp. 6-F, 7-F.
  5. 1 2 3 Lawton, Edward P. William Elon Basinger: A Georgian Who Died for Florida. The Georgia Historical Quarterly. Vol. 45, No. 2 (June, 1961), pp. 105-119.
  6. 1 2 3 Cullum, George W. Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the United States Military Academy. Class of 1830, Vol. 1., p. 448, #588.
  7. Robison, Jim. Dashing Officer (Lt. William Elon Basinger) Among Fallen at Dade Ambush. Orlando Sentinel. December 31, 2000, p. 8.