Abstract
The Christmas Day 1837 battle at Lake Okeechobee was a crucial turning point of the Second Seminole War. Almost 30 percent of the American casualties in that engagement were volunteers from Missouri, forty men out of an effective volunteer force of 132. Among the dead was the volunteers’ commanding officer, Colonel Richard Gentry. While the battle’s American commander, Colonel Zachary Taylor, claimed a great victory, the clash was a disaster for the Missourians and, at that, was only the last in a series of difficult trials faced by the luckless regiment.
Recommended Citation
Tucker, Phillip Thomas
(1991)
"A Forgotten Sacrifice: Richard Gentry, Missouri Volunteers, and the Battle of Okeechobee,"
Florida Historical Quarterly: Vol. 70:
No.
2, Article 4.
Available at:
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/fhq/vol70/iss2/4
