 The final blame for the military stalemate was determined to lie not in military preparation , supplies , leadership , or superior tactics by the Seminoles , but in Florida 's impenetrable terrain . An army surgeon wrote : " It is in fact a most hideous region to live in , a perfect <unk> for Indians , alligators , serpents , frogs , and every other kind of <unk> reptile . " The land seemed to inspire extreme reactions of wonder or hatred . In 1870 , an author described the mangrove forests as a " waste of nature 's grandest exhibition to have these carnivals of splendid vegetation occurring in isolated places where it is but seldom they are seen . " A band of hunters , naturalists , and collectors ventured through in 1885 , taking along with them the 17 @-@ year @-@ old grandson of an early resident of Miami . The landscape <unk> the young man shortly after he entered the Shark River : " The place looked wild and lonely . About three o <unk> it seemed to get on Henry 's nerves and we saw him crying , he would not tell us why , he was just plain scared . " 
