The first U.S. defeat of the Seminole Wars took place here on November 30, 1817. Several hundred Seminole, Creek and maroon (Black Seminole) warriors came to this site following raids by U.S. troops on the Creek Indian village of Fowltown near today's Bainbridge, Georgia. A U.S. Army boat commanded by Lt. Richard W. Scott of the 7th U.S. Infantry Regiment approached on November 30, 1816, carrying 40 men, 7 women and 4 children. Twenty of the men were sick with fever and carried no arms. Warriors opened fire on Scott's boat from along the bank and most of his armed men were killed or wounded in this volley. The attack ended with the deaths of 34 U.S. soldiers, 6 children and 4 children. Native American and maroon casualties are unknown. Six men escaped by swimming to the opposite shore. One woman, Elizabeth Stewart (or Stuart), was captured. She was freed the following year. This attack led President James Monroe to order Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson's invasion of Spanish Florida and was the key factor in forcing the 1821 transfer of Florida to United States.
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