By Bob Davidsson
The early histories of the Town of Jupiter and the City of Fort Lauderdale are forever linked by a "Military Trail" cleared across the future Palm Beach and Broward counties during the 1838 expedition of Major William Lauderdale and his Tennessee Mounted Infantry.
The accomplishments of Major Lauderdale and the Tennessee Volunteers are memorialized by two historical markers placed near Jupiter. A statue of the military officer, sculpted and bronzed by a West Palm Beach artist, also was unveiled in 1988 to mark the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Pine Island, and a military outpost called "Fort Lauderdale," in Broward County.
The "Tennessee Volunteers and Militia Camp" memorial was placed in 1991 along Winding Lake Drive in Jupiter. The historical marker reads, "During the Second Seminole War, after the Battle of Loxahatchee, Jan. 24, 1838, Tennessee Volunteers and Militia camped at this site. They camped one mile east of U.S. Army regulars established at Fort Jupiter."
The "Military Trail Historic Marker" is located near Perry Avenue and West Indiantown Road in Jupiter. It was dedicated as a Florida Heritage Site in 2008, and is sponsored by both the Jupiter Town Council and the Florida Department of State.
The memorial includes the following passage: "Because Major Lauderdale blazed a trail covering 63 miles through overgrown terrain in only four days, the route was designated as 'Lauderdale's Trail.' It was used for military operations through the end of the Third Seminole War in 1858, and became known as 'Military Trail'. Today, it remains a major highway in Palm Beach County."
The equestrian statue of Major Lauderdale stands near the entrance to the Forest Ridge community, located off Pine Island Road in the Town of Davie. It was commissioned by Forest Ridge developer Charles Palmer. After the statue was unveiled, he said, "A statue of a historical figure kind of adds a sense of history, timelessness."
Major Lauderdale's Life Journey to Florida
William Lauderdale was a descendent of the ancient Maitland-Lauderdale family, related by marriage to both Scottish King Robert I (the Bruce), and Sir William Wallace, whom together liberated Scotland from English occupation in the early 14th century.
His grandfather, James Maitland Lauderdale Sr., was the younger son of the Scottish Earl of Lauderdale (i.e. Lauder's Valley). As a younger son, he received neither a title nor land inheritance and immigrated to England's American colonies in 1714 to improve his opportunities in life.
William's father, James Lauderdale Jr., served in George Washington's Continental Army during the American Revolution. Like many army veterans, he received land grants in lieu of cash payments for their service during the war. His land grant was in the frontier territory of Tennessee.
William was born c.1782 in Virginia, and moved with his parents to the new land grant in Sumner County. He was the third son of James and Sarah Lauderdale. He married twice, raised five children, and lived most of his adult life at his Goose Creek plantation west of Hartsville, TN.
As fate would have it, a neighbor was none other than the future military hero and U.S. President Andrew Jackson. The two planters became friends, and more than once he responded to calls for "volunteers" to serve in Jackson's military campaigns.
General Jackson commissioned Lauderdale as a first lieutenant in 1812. In the campaign of 1812-13, Lauderdale's militia regiment served under Jackson in the "Red Sticks War" against the Creek Indians. He received a field promotion to captain from Jackson, and earned a reputation as a "no quarter" Indian fighter.
During his 1814-15 southern expedition against the British in the final year of "War of 1812", Jackson assigned Lauderdale as "Chief Quartermaster of the Tennessee Volunteer Infantry." William's older brother, Colonel James Lauderdale, later died at the Battle of New Orleans.
When the war ended, Lauderdale mustered out of the militia and operated a successful plantation for two decades. While recovering from a chronic respiratory illness in the Smokey Mountains, he once again responded to a "call to service" from his old military mentor, Andrew Jackson, in 1837.
After two years of inconclusive fighting between the United States and the Seminole tribe in Florida, Major General Thomas Jesup, commander of the U.S. Army of the South, sought the advice of former President Jackson as to the best way to win the Indian war.
The old war hero replied by letter, "I know of but one man that I think can raise a battalion, and who can and will beat the whole Indian force in Florida."
Given the rank of U.S. Army major, Lauderdale raised five companies of "Tennessee Volunteers" for the Florida campaign. General Jesup enlisted a battalion of 500 "Tennessee Mounted Infantry," under the command of Major Lauderdale, for the advance to Jupiter Inlet in the winter of 1838.
In the ensuing Battle of the Loxahatchee, fought Jan. 24, 1838, the U.S. Army of the South drove the band of Seminoles under medicine chief Sam Jones (Abaika) from their refuge west of the Jupiter Inlet. Major Lauderdale's Tennessee Volunteers formed the left flank of Jesup's battle line during the attack.
The Tennessee Volunteers camped one mile east of the U.S. Army regulars as they built a new outpost called Fort Jupiter. Major Lauderdale was ordered to blaze a military road connecting the new Jupiter Inlet stockade with Fort Dallas, an encampment on the Miami River.
A Military Trail to 'Fort Lauderdale'
The "Military Trail" memorial reads; "After the second Battle of Loxahatchee, Major General Thomas S. Jesup directed Major William Lauderdale, commander of the Tennessee Battalion of Volunteers, to cut a trail south from Fort Jupiter to Fort Dallas (Miami). Lauderdale's mission was to capture Seminoles who escaped the Loxahatchee battle."
As the Army completed Fort Jupiter at Pennock Point, scouts discovered an Indian trail leading south from the field of battle. Major Lauderdale received his orders on March 2, and led 233 Tennessee Volunteers and a unit of "construction pioneers," consisting of the U.S. Army Third Artillery Regiment, Company D, under the command of Lt. Robert Anderson.
The "Military Trail" memorial continues, "The U.S. Third Artillery Regiment moved south, following the Seminoles. To avoid swamps and lagoons, they kept to the higher coastal palm ridge that extended from Fort Jupiter to the New River, where Lauderdale built a fort (Fort Lauderdale), and moved on to Fort Dallas."
The 63-mile supply trail wisely followed a natural ridge of high ground, averaging five miles in width, extending from the Indian River south to Dade County. Army typographer Frederick Searles is credited with first naming the road "Lauderdale's Trail". After 20 years of use by the U.S. Army during the Second and Third Seminole Wars, it was commonly called the "Military Trail".
Major Lauderdale arrived at the shore of "The New River" on March 5, and built a military post at a site that today is Southwest 9th Avenue in Fort Lauderdale. The outpost was a two-tiered, 30-foot log stockade, built among a cluster of oak trees, at the forks of the New River.
Impressed by the rapid four-day completion of the military road and encampment on the New River, General Jesup issued his Special Order No. 74, naming the stockade "Fort Lauderdale" in honor of its commander.
After the Battle of Loxahatchee, medicine chief Sam Jones led his followers to the long-established Seminole village on Pine Island, located in southwestern Broward County. Army scouts located the village. On March 22, Major Lauderdale ordered the 600 soldiers under his command to attack the village.
Between 50 and 100 Seminole warriors traded shots with the Army, as women and children fled the village. Once they safely disappeared into the Everglades, the elusive Sam Jones and his warriors escaped the pursing soldiers and joined them in the swamps.
There has been much debate as to whether Major Lauderdale was present at the Battle of Pine Island. By the end of March 1838, he was suffering from the final stage of a pulmonary disease which restricted his breathing.
After an eventful 100-day tour of duty in South Florida, Lauderdale requested medical leave and left Florida in failing health, just 13 days after the skirmish at Pine Island.
Death Followed by Bronzed Immortality
Major Lauderdale's Tennessee Volunteers enlisted for a six-month campaign. After fighting two battles in less than two months, they were eager to return to their families in Tennessee. The battalion was sent to Tampa Bay, where they boarded a ship bound for Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Major Lauderdale joined his volunteer regiment for their final salute. He died May 10, 1838, on the very day set aside for the honorable discharge of the Tennessee Mounted Infantry battalion. The event became a funeral for their commanding officer.
One of his soldiers later wrote his death was the result of "over-fatigue from long marches." The official cause of death was a pulmonary disorder. He was age 56 at his time of death.
At his funeral, one witness reported, "In the presence of a riderless horse, the band played, colors were presented, and a barrage of artillery and muskets fired a salute."
However, there is more to the story. The Battle of Pine Island was fought on a 2.5-mile ridge of limestone and sand which today is the highest natural site in Broward County. It was there, 150 years after Major Lauderdale's final battle, that an unusual statue honoring the fallen warrior was unveiled in the Town of Davie.
The nine-foot tall equestrian statue portrays a weary soldier at ease, astride an equally war-worn horse with its head sagging almost to the ground. By the foot of the horse a native bobwhite quail is cast in bronze - a symbol of peace, not war.
The 2,000-pound statue was sculpted and bronzed by West Palm Beach artist Luis Montoya of the Montoya Art Studio. The statue rests on a pedestal that raises it 16 feet above the ground. He used 1,600 pound of clay, cast into a plaster mold, and covered by two tons of bronze.
At the time of its unveiling, the artist reflected, "I created a person coming out of the woods, tired and greeting somebody. That's the kind of image they wanted, to create a peaceful type of situation."
There were no paintings or photographs taken of Major Lauderdale during his lifetime. The artist used his great-grandson as the model for the sculpture. In this way, the legacy of Major Lauderdale and his family continues to this day.
(c.) Davidsson. 2016.
