Description:

President Madison commissions Richard W. Scott to a rank that within a few years would make him leader of over 40 men, women, and children who, aboard an Army boat on Florida's Apalachicola River, were massacred by Creek and Seminole Indian warriors. The aptly named "Scott Massacre" would directly lead to General Andrew Jackson's invasion of Florida. Contemporary docketing documents Scott and company's fate

JAMES MADISON (1751-1836) Partly Printed Document Signed "James Madison" as President and "A.J. Dallas" as Acting Secretary of War, 1 page, 16" x 10". On vellum. Minor flaws. 2" diameter blind embossed Department of War seal affixed with red wax at lower left. Washington, [no month] 20, 1815. Secretary of the Treasury Dallas acted as Secretary of War from March 14, 1815 to August 8, 1815. Contemporary docket on verso relating to the Scott Massacre of 1817. Very Good condition.

In part, "Know ye that reposing special trust and confidence in the patriotism, valor, fidelity, and abilities of Richard W. Scott, I have nominated and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, do appoint him a second lieutenant in the thirty fifth regiment of Infantry in the service of the United States: to rank as such from the first day of October, eighteen hundred and fourteen..."

Docket on verso: "Killed on the Apalachicola river 30th Novr 1817 then a 1 Lieut in the 7th Regt Infantry. One Sergt one Corp & Twelve Privates of Comp A 7th Regt U. States Infantry Killed the same day..."

On November 30, 1817, a U.S. Army boat led by Lieutenant Richard W. Scott of the 7th U.S. Infantry on the Apalachicola River, near what is today Chattahoochee, Florida, were attacked by a combined force of Creek and Seminole Indian warriors. According to John and Mary Lou Missall in The Seminole Wars: America's Longest Indian Conflict, (Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida, 2004) there were 40 to 50 people on the boat, including 20 sick soldiers, seven wives of soldiers, and possibly some children. There was no mention of children in initial reports of the massacre, and their presence has not been confirmed. Most of the boat's passengers were killed by the Indians. One woman was taken prisoner, and six survivors made it to the fort.

General Edmund P. Gaines had been under orders not to invade Florida, later amended to allow short intrusions into Florida. When news of the Scott Massacre on the Apalachicola reached Washington, Gaines was ordered to invade Florida and pursue the Indians, but not to attack any Spanish installations. However, Gaines had left for East Florida to deal with pirates who had occupied Fernandina. Secretary of War John C. Calhoun then ordered Andrew Jackson to lead the invasion of Florida. Not known at the time, the Scott Massacre was a retaliatory strike for the U.S. attack on the Creek village of Fowltown in Southwest Georgia just one week earlier.

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