On December 28, 1835, Major Francis L. Dade commanded a detachment of eight officers and 100 enlisted men enroute from Ft. Brooke, (Tampa) to Ft. King, (Ocala). The detachment was ambushed by 180 Seminole warriors in an open pine woods (today Sumter county) southeast of the Wahoo Swamp. All soldiers were killed except for three wounded. After the battle these three wounded started back to Ft. Brooke, but only one lived to describe the details of the massacre.
