When Major Francis Dade marched his troops from Fort Brooke in Tampa to Fort King in Ocala - in the winter of 1835 - they had no idea it would ignite the longest Indian war in American history.

At about the halfway into their 100 mile trek, near Bushnell, FL, the soldiers were surprised by a well-planned and coordinated ambush by Seminole warriors armed with rifles.

When the smell of black powder dissipated, only three of the 100 soldiers from the column managed to survive what became known as “Dade’s Massacre.”

Considered by many historians to be the opening battle of the Second Seminole War, the site of Dade’s Massacre is now one of Florida’s Battlefield Historic State Parks.

Today a replica of the log barricade the soldiers quickly threw together for defense stands near the park visitor’s center. In 1964, excavations inside the barricade turned up evidence of the carnage that occurred on that fateful day- including skeletal fragments and a number of buttons from the fallen soldier’s uniforms.

Written, narrated, and produced by the University of West Florida, the Florida Public Archaeology Network, and WUWF Public Media.