In The Hammock

Scene In Florida (Not Okeechobee)

Diary entry of Captain Electus Backus regarding the battle of Okeechobee from The Historical Magazine  (the entry for January 30, 1838, merits verbatim quoting, as it refers to the Okeechobee battle December 25, 1837.)  Here it is as Captain Backus wrote it:

"Rode to the battleground (Okeechobee) one and a half miles, with Captain Baker and Miller...The Indians had selected a strong position.  On the north shore of Lake Okeechobee is a cypress hammock about 30 yards in width.  On the north of the hammock is a wet prairie--grass five to six feet high.  The prairie is about half mile wide from north to south.  Then comes on open hard country, pine wood, etc.  "The Indians were in the hammock at the point where the trail on which the troops were marching entered it.  They had cut down all the small bushes and the grass wide enough for a company to enter in line.  The two companies which entered at this point were nearly annihilated."

Lake Okeechobee On A Florida Map