A 3-foot monument that marks the actual spot where the famed Osceola was captured is surrounded by palmettos and is not visible from the nearest road. It was here, about 10 miles south of St. Augustine, that Osceola and 60 other Indians were captured in October 1837 by Gen. Joseph Hernandez on orders from Gen. Thomas S. Jesup, under a white flag of truce. About a mile away, another coquina monument and a metal sign mark the location of Fort Peyton, one of the forts established during the Second Seminole War and where the soldiers who captured Osceola were housed. The Seminole Tribe of Florida, St. Johns County, and the St. Augustine Historical Society want to upgrade the monuments.
Exact plans are still in the discussion stages.
Oct. 24, 1837. Now, the sign is missing and the monument has been nicked by bullets. There are two markers at the Fort Peyton site - a bare coquina marker and a metal historical marker erected in 1966. Someone has scrawled obscene words on the metal marker, which also has a gaping hole from a large caliber bullet. Wickham, who has written a book on Osceola, said the tribe wants to help improve the monument sites.