Abstract
In late February 1836, 2d Lt. Andrew A. Humphreys (1810-1883) reported for duty at Fort Drane in the remote interior of the Florida peninsula. Green and untried, the young West Pointer chronicled his first experiences at war in a leather bound journal tucked away among his personal possessions. "I delight in extremes," he wrote in its opening pages, "and certainly my profession leads to them - from the center of civilization to the wildest forests, I am transferred in a few days. In January luxuriating in the delights of our capital, in February suffering from hunger, thirst and fatigue in the hammocks of Florida."1 Given his previous deployments with the Second Artillery Regiment at Fort Marion near St. Augustine (1833-34) and the topographical engineers in West Florida (1834-35), Humphreys anticipated better than most the physical hardships associated with active service in the region. Still, the summer of 1836 was uncommonly sickly, and, coupled with marauding Indians and searing subtropical heat, the war nearly broke Humphreys, shattering his health as well as any illusions of battlefield glory.2
Recommended Citation
Pearcy, Matthew T.
(2006)
"The Ruthless Hand of War: Andrew A. Humphreys in the Second Seminole War,"
Florida Historical Quarterly: Vol. 85:
No.
2, Article 3.
Available at:
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/fhq/vol85/iss2/3
