Play to learn more about the Fort Armstrong Historic Monument
In 1836, a force of 2,500 soldiers, including the detachment that would later build Ft. Armstrong, launched an attack on a Seminole force of between 500 and 600 warriors holed up in Wahoo Swamp. The American commander, Brigadier General Richard Keith Call, mishandled the attack, resulting in an embarrassing defeat and General Call’s relief of command and subsequent replacement by General Thomas Sidney Jesup.
The US Army subsequently built Fort Armstrong to guard this section of the Ft. King Trail. A detachment of men, mostly volunteers from Tennessee, under the command of Major Robert Armstrong, built the fort about a half mile from the site of the Dade Massacre, which had occurred the year before (see the Dade Battlefield Historical Park, link).
This marker, along with the Dade Battlefield Historical Park and the marker commemorating the Battle of Wahoo Swamp, is an important stop for anyone interested the history of Central Florida or the Second Seminole War.
