The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1856-02-04
PRICE ONE CENT.
THE WARM FLORIDA.
LETTER FROM LIEUTENANT HARrst

LITTER FROM LrEuTESAST HARTsuFT.
we ind IN the Michigan papers . letter from
Lieutenant Hartsuf, addressed 70 his father, nm
uer aa1e OF Fert Myers December ogth, in which
We gives tne following account of the attack upon
himself and men by the Seminole Indians
.ne Maf was opened by the Indians attacking
my parry. which being reconnoiterinr nartv cor.
sisted OF only ten men, I had two WA cors ,xelya
mules and seven horses had re-. "sois, ~. sNefso ~
days. had finished my examination Of th s....ns
and was going to start for this post on The ,e.y,
was attacked: The attack was made shout d.,s. rs
light py between thirty and forty Indians snd ,h:
were not more than ten rods off when the frs .ney
was hred They were concealed behind nine re-
and palmetto bushes f'Ae aees
The first shot was fred while was getting mn
hastily dressed, and taking my pistol looked on,
ofmy tent. Every tree near me had an Indian hs'
hind il, and they were firing and whoopiug terri.
bly,. L shot two of them and then left NV tent ana
ran to the wagons about thirty yards off; here
found two of my men. The first fire had stretched
i've of my men on the ground, and three had most
shamefully run away. With my two men, both of
whom were wounded, made stand behind the
wagons and fired several times with q rifle and
musket had just fired at, and believe hit an
Indian. when i got shot myself. The ball went
through my left arm just above the elbow and into
my side just under the arm another ball hit me IN
the breast but struck my pistol which had thrust
INTO my coat and did not penetrate. This finished
the lighting. L could neither load nor fire. and the
two men who were with me, and who behaved
most galiantly, could hardly stand.
All the mules but one were shot, and two of
the horses killed. the were hitched so that II
was impossible to get at them told the men
they must make their escape the best way they
could and endeayored to do the same though /
confess had no hope of being able to do SO, as
could scarcely move. We were then 55 miles from
this post. ran first into little Hammock. and
having got through it with considerable difficulty
! came to little pond filed with grass pond.lilies
and alligators, into which l fell, exhausted from
loss OF blood and fatigue. 1 found the water near.
ly covered me, and remained here about two hours;
for the first ten minutes the balls few thckly about
me, but none Of them hit me- at the end of this
time two hours came out and seeing no Indians
crayyled to little bunch of palmetto bushes and
lay there the rest of the day At night 1 tried to
walk again, and managed to get about half mile
This was as far as could go; / lay here that
night the next day and night and the next day till
night all the time without food drink, and una
bic to walk. On the evening of the second day.
found by tying my handkerchief around my body
and twisting it very tightly could walk little -
about half a mile at time and then resting /
also found abundance OF water but nothing to eat,
but did not suffer from hunger. In the morning
had made about eleven miles, here lay in Lit.
tie hammock" during the day and towards night
commenced my difficult and painful march again
had gone about three miles, and was trying to
make 4 short cut to the Fort Myers road, when /
saw fire which from its size knew to be that of
friends.
l finally got to it and found two companies that
had been sent out to find me, accompanied by
doctor. This was on Sunday night, and was
wounded at daylight ON Thursday morning. My
wounds were found to be in as good condition as
possible, and within month I shall be entirely
well Four of my men were killed, therest all es.
capped; but three are wounded, none of them as
severely, however, as myself.
The affair has created the greatest excitement;
volunteers are being raised and the whole frontier
ia alarmed. Very Little, if anything, can be done
by the troops this winter for want of numbers and
also preparations for active hostilities.