In the meantime General Gaines was re-enforced by Georgia troops, under command of Captains Edward B. Robinson and Bones, the Florida mounted militia, under command of Captain McLemore, and some regulars, under Captains Charles Myron Thruston and Graham, the whole under the command of General Clinch.  They also brought beef cattle and other much-needed supplies.  The Indians appeared again with a white flag and asked to confer with General Gaines, but were told that they must bring their governor, Miconopy, with whom General Gaines would confer.

General Gaines now turned over the command of the army to General Clinch, and on Thursday, the 10th, the army moved in the direction of Fort Drane.  General Gaines left for Tallahassee and Mobile, and was the recipient of great attention by the citizens of those places.

Such was the situation when, on January 20, 1836, General Scott was ordered to take command of the army in Florida, which had been increased to twelve hundred regulars, besides volunteers, by the time he arrived there.  He left Washington the day after receiving his orders and arrived at Picolata, on the St. John’s River, and on February 22d issued orders forming the army into three divisions.  The troops on the west bank of the St. John’s River were placed under command of General Clinch, and constituted the right wing of the army.  Those on the east bank of the St. John’s River, under Brigadier-General Abram Eustis, constituted the left wing, and those at Tampa Bay, under Colonel William Lindsay, constituted the center.  General Scott had been authorized to ask for volunteers from the States of Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, and the Territory of Florida.  Among other instructions given the general was the following:  In consequence of representations from Florida that measures would probably be taken to transmit the slaves captured by the Indians to the Havana, orders were given the navy to prevent such proceedings, and General Scott was directed “to allow no pacification with the Indians while a slave belonging to a white man remained in their possession.”  There were a great many negroes among the Indians.  In the band that massacred Major Dade and his command there were sixty-three of them mounted in one company.  The negroes and Indians of mixed African and Indian blood were the most cruel members of the tribe.

Re-enforcements of militia were soon added to the army.  The great disadvantages under which Scott labored necessarily delayed his movements until a late period.  He found the quartermaster’s department very deficient, and had the greatest difficulty in transporting supplies to Fort Drane.  His supplies of ordnance were very limited, and the greater part of those on hand were unfit for use.  To penetrate a country like Florida, filled with swamps, morasses, and almost impenetrable hammocks, required much preparation and labor.  There was no chain of posts or settlements through the country, and the army was compelled to carry a heavy load of provisions and ordnance.  To increase the difficulties, heavy rains had fallen which made the roads almost impassable.  General Scott arrived at Fort Drane on March 13, 1836, with a very small force.  Believing the enemy to be concentrated at or near the forks of Ouithlacoochee River, he adopted the following plan of operations: