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1st Regiment, Missouri Volunteers, Second Seminole War

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Surnames/tags: fllorda Indian_Wars
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The 1st Regiment, Missouri Volunteer was a mounted infantry regiment raised by Missouri Militia Major General Richard Gentry, including two companies of Delaware and Osage native Americans. The regiment was requisitioned by the Secretary of War to Missouri Governor Boggs. The unit was placed under the command of Major General Richard Gentry, who also commanded the Missouri volunteers during the Black Hawk War. The regiment left St. Louis, Missouri on 15 Oct 1837, sailed down the Mississippi to New Orleans, and crossed the Gulf of Mexico to Tampa Bay, Florida Territory. The regiment was placed under the command of Colonel Zachary Taylor when they arrived in the Florida Territory and Richard Gentry was commissioned as a colonel.

The regiment played a central role in the Battle of Lake Okeechobee on Christmas Day, 1837. Taylor ordered the regiment to make an initial frontal assault against the entrenched Seminoles. Colonel Gentry’s suggested that they should attack the enemy’s flanks, but Taylor disregarded the idea and ordered the frontal assault. Gentry took his place in the front line with his son Sergeant Major Richard Harrison Gentry and led his men into battle. When the Seminoles engaged, Colonel Gentry was killed in the first volley and the regiment did not retreat at first contact to re-form behind the lines of the regular army.

The regiment returned to Missouri in 1838 and was disbanded. Controversy followed when Colonel Jackson's after action report of the Battle of Okeechobee went public. It was critical of the Missouri Volunteers, and of volunteer citizen soldiers in general. The Missouri Legislature formed an special committee to investigate the events in Florida.

The 1st Regiment was assigned to: Zachary Taylor

Primary subordinate units were: Six companies, two battalions

Missouri Volunteers at the Battle of Okeechobee: Christmas Day 1837
Battle of Lake Okeechobee
History of St. Charles, Montgomery, and Warren Counties, Missouri
Richard Gentry



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