Christmas Day 1837 was a turning point in Florida History and a day that propelled Zachary Taylor towards the White House. In the battle Colonel Taylor’s forces strategically defeated the Billy Bowlegs led Seminole Indians. This battle proved the turning point in the Second Seminole War which finished in a Federal victory and chasing of the Seminoles to remote portions of southern Florida in the Everglades.
More on the battle from Southern History.
The Florida Squeeze 
This is a completely incorrect report. At Lake Okeechobee, 26 Americans were killed and 112 were wounded under the command of Colonel Zachary Taylor. Conversely, the Seminoles had 11 killed and 14 wounded. Taylor claimed a victory he never won. Every single one of the US military commanders and enlisted men could not understand why they could not defeat the Seminoles in any engagement in Florida, and most of them came to admire the Seminoles. I have published in the Southern Historian. You can view a preliminary version of my documentary Osceola on Vimeo. More Seminole voices, artifacts, and battle reenactments will be added to the documentary. The Seminole story is an amazing and little known story of patriotism.
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Give us a link the Vimeo documentary and we’ll post it! Thanks!!!!
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https://www.dropbox.com/s/fr0aceop9b5hj97/Osceola.ppt
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Kartik, tell me your name on Dropbox or get an account there and I would be happy to share the PowerPoint documentary on the Florida Indian Wars with your readers in its preliminary rough draft form.
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Thanks Reid…..Dropbox is kkfla737@yahoo.com
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