Part I: Fort Gatlin Marching Orders

Count Down to Pine Castle Pioneer Days

Part I: Marching Orders

Soldiers Creek on the Fort Mellon to Fort Gatlin Trail

The long-anticipated dispatch many had no doubt dreaded finally arrived. For twenty (20) long months after their encampment had been raided by the Seminole Indians, a raid which claimed the life of Capt. Charles Mellon, soldiers at Fort Mellon had been awaiting orders to march. That order came down in late October 1838, instructions to “occupy the position at Fort Mellon, and to establish a post 25 miles beyond, in the direction of Lake Tohokaliga (sic).”

South was the unstated direction of Lake Tohopekaliga, and the distance of twenty-five miles, that meant the soldiers would be heading deep into Indian territory. A sandy trail leading south was to be their only guide, a sand-rutted trail laden with obstacles that soon after became known as the Fort Mellon to Fort Gatlin Road.

January Blogs Observed Fort Mellon Month

What does Sarasota and Lake Monroe have in common?

March 2023 is Sarasota Month

Lake Tohopekaliga was where the Seminoles were believed to be holed up, and the order to advance south from Fort Mellon was one of a three-prong approach to reaching the lake. Fort Christmas, established east of Lake Monroe in December of 1837, was the eastern flank, with Fort Mason, at Lake Eustis west of Lake Monroe, was the western “prong.”

Marching southwest through a thick forest of pine trees, scrub oaks, and palmettos, each and every sound heard represented a potential threat. Alligators, bears, and panthers, if not Indians, might be awaiting at every bend. Twenty-five miles does not seem all that great a distance today, but back in the 1840s, it was a long tedious dangerous journey lasting two days. And the maiden journey for troops in 1838 likely took even longer.

The actual route taken by the troops as they headed south from Fort Mellon was documented in the 1840s by government surveyors. And this very military trail was then used for nearly four decades by the earliest of Central Florida settlers.

Soldiers Creek Park in Seminole County today was the first treacherous crossing in 1838 for the soldiers on their trek southward. Six miles south of Fort Mellon, crossing this deep ravine was the furthest thing from a walk in the park at that time.

Present-day Soldiers Creek Crossing

At sixteen miles south of Lake Monroe the Army settled down for their first night. A lakeside camp was chosen for the night and this location was also selected as the site for a supply fortress to be named Fort Maitland. Captain William Seton Maitland was a fallen comrade who had died August 19, 1837, of wounds received at the Battle of Wahoo Swamp. (Established in November of 1838, soldiers stationed at Fort Maitland would “be immediately withdrawn” in July 1839 following an Indian attack in South Florida which resulted in the loss of “the greater part of Lt. Col. Harney’s regiment.”

What does Sarasota and Maitland have in common?

March 2023 is Sarasota Month

But back to November of 1838, soldiers continued southbound from Fort Maitland, crossing over the second major obstacle, called the Maitland Branch, before passing by an uninhabited landmass at twenty-two miles south of Lake Monroe, land that in twenty years would become the village of Orlando. Continuing a push southward, yet another encampment was established about five miles beyond, “on a knoll, between two beautiful lakes and projecting into a third.” The fortress, named in honor of Dr. John Slade Gatlin, killed at the Dade Massacre of December 1835, was established on 9 November 1838.

Fort Maitland Historical Marker at Lake Maitland

One mile west of the 1838 Fortress Gatlin, at 290 Holden Avenue, is Cypress Grove Park, where on February 25 and 26, the 50^th anniversary of Pine Castle Pioneers Days will be celebrated. Make plans to attend Pioneer Days, and set aside time to visit The History Tent for one of a dozen speakers over the two-day event. A tribute to Professor Paul Wehr and Fort Gatlin will begin the History Tent scheduled talks at 10:15 AM on Saturday morning.

What does Sarasota and Pine Castle have in common?

March is Sarasota Month

UCF Retired Professor Paul W. Wehr (left) with Rick Cronin 

The Entire History Tent Speakers Schedule will be posted in my next blog 

Want to more about central Florida history?

Visit my Cronin Books Tent adjacent to the History Tent at Pioneer Days