 The military penetration of southern Florida offered the opportunity to map a poorly understood part of the country . As late as 1823 , official reports doubted the existence of a large inland lake , until the military met the Seminoles at the Battle of Lake Okeechobee in 1837 . To avenge repeated surprise attacks on himself and ammunition stores , Colonel William Harney led an expedition into the Everglades in 1840 , to hunt for a chief named <unk> . With Harney were 90 soldiers in 16 canoes . One soldier 's account of the trip in the St. Augustine News was the first printed description of the Everglades available to the general public . The anonymous writer described the hunt for <unk> and the terrain they were crossing : " No country that I have ever heard of bears any resemblance to it ; it seems like a vast sea filled with grass and green trees , and <unk> intended as a retreat for the <unk> Indian , from which the white man would never seek to drive them " . 
