 On December 17, 1835, Gen. Joseph Hernández ordered troops to protect the plantations in the vicinity of the Matanzas, Tomoka, and Mosquito Rivers.Major Benjamin A. Putnam, a St. Augustine lawyer, led a detachment of the local militia, Company A of the St. Augustine Guards, to Dunlawton, where "the Anderson brothers were endeavoring to place the estate in a condition for defense by erecting a stockade.These efforts were terminated by the impressment of the brothers into service with the detachment."