the command of General Andrew Jackson, a future president. In constant and long hardships the regiment marched through swamps, building cantonments and raking roads to open what now is the state of Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. A letter of Gen. Lorenzo Thomas stated: "Each company built its own double block of logs and a house of one story for the officers quarters. The troops also saved the boards for flooring, and rived the pine shingles for roofs. In truth, the troops did the entire work, the quartermaster department only furnishing the few tools to work with, such as nails and other hardware. Scarcely a nail was used to secure the shingles, they being hung on the rafters with wooden pegs. The spaces between the logs were chinked with moss and clay and afterward the whole was whitewashed. All completed with scarcely any expense to the government." In December 1835, Osceola's Seminoles cut the line of communication and supply to one of the border stations, Fort King. One hundred artillerymen from Fort Brooke under Major Gardner were ordered to re-establish the contact. At the last moment, Major Gardner's bride of a few weeks fell ill. Captain and Brevet-Major Francis L. Dade of the Fourth Infantry took command for Major Gardner. Dade joined the expedition with eleven men of B Company, Fourth Infantry. The march was begun on 20 December; on 28 December, forty miles short of Fort King, Major Dade's column was ambushed by Osceola. The only survivors of the attack were three badly wounded privates who reported the command had fought stubbornly from eight in the morning until five at night when, their ammunition exhausted, they were killed. Those who died or were wounded were: Francis L. Dade, Brevet Maj., Pvt. John Barnes, Pvt. Donald Campbell, Pvt. Marvin Cunningham, Pvt. John Doughty, Pvt. Cornel Donovan, Pvt. William Downes, Pvt. Enoch Yates, Pvt. Samuel Hall, Pvt. Wiley Jones, Pvt. John Massacre, suffering some casualties: Pvt. David Hill was killed at Fort Call on 21 August 1836, Pvt. David Mclaughlin and Pvt. William Walker were killed at Thonotosassa on 26 August 1836, Sgt. Levi Clendening was killed at Chrystal River on 9 February 1837, Pvt. Othiel Lutz, Pvt. John Stewart, and Pvt. Bathol Shumard were killed at Okeechobee on 25 December 1837, and Pvt. William Foster was killed at Big Cypress on 20 December 1841. By 1842, the Fourth Infantry had caught