Battle of Okeechobee (part ii) Traditional Cache
Battle of Okeechobee (part ii)
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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A cache to introduce you to a famous battle in our area. The original was taken by the hurricanes of 2004
In late 1837 Col. Zachary Taylor (later president) commanding a large force of US Army troops left Tampa and headed into the interior of Florida in pursuit of the Seminole Indians.
As they neared what is now Okeechobee county they established Fort Bassinger on the west side of the Kissimmee river. On Dec. 23 Taylor along with 1037 troops crossed the river and marched toward the north end of Lake Okeechobee. Several indians had been captured and told of a group of Seminoles camped there.
The indians under the leadership of Alligator, Coacootchee and Sam Jones, knew the army was coming and set up an ambush where the troops would be crossing a boggy sawgrass slough.
The Battle of Okeechobee was fought on Christmas day 1837 and ended with 26 killed and 112 wounded for the army against an estimated 11 losses for the Seminoles.
In the end the greatly outnumbered Seminoles fled the battlefield and the army claimed victory.
This proved to be the turning point of the war and the indians were driven further into the Everglades. An end of hostilities came about in 1842, but no treaty was ever signed. At the end of the second Seminole war the army had lost over 1500 troops and uncounted civilians, and had relocated or killed nearly 3000 indians. Only about 200 Seminoles remained in Florida, deep in the glades where they remain to this day. The Seminole never did sign a treaty and can say they were the only American Indians to never surrender to the United States.
The original cache was on the lake side of the dike and was taken by the hurricanes. This incarnation is a completely new cache and can be logged as such. It is placed in an area that is very much like what the army had to go through to reach the fight.
The cache is in a #1 soup base can and contains a log and a few small toys. Bring your own pen and small trade items. Terrain rating 2 due to elevation changes.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
ng gur onfr bs n gerr gra be svsgrra srrg sebz gur srapr