HISTORY

Reports Vary

War data was collected poorly, at best, with limited desire for the reporter to be accurate. The following excerpt was published in the Raleigh Register and North Carolina Gazette on March 26 1813

Yesterday, and to day, several small parties of the East Tennessee Troop of Volunteers commanded by Col. John Williams, have passed through this place homeward, on their return from E. Florida . . . in an expedition made against their towns, calculate that they have killed from 30 to 40 . . . taken 8 or 10 prisoners, burnt between 3 and 400 huts, destroyed all their corn and other provisions, and brought off a large number of horses, with the loss of one man killed and 7 wounded.

Two things about this report are interesting:

1. Forays in Florida much earlier than officially supported by the U.S. Government of April 15, 1813 (and East Florida at that.
2. The ridiculously wide discrepancy of the report. As there is a big difference between 3 and 400 huts.