War of 1812 and Seminole War

The War of 1812 (1812-1815)
The War of 1812 began as an attempt to protect American ships at sea and prevent sailors from being seized and forced into service. France and Britian were fighting in Europe, and both were stopping and searching American ships. The war was also an effort to expand America south and westward (by gaining control of Florida and Canada) and to prevent the British from forming alliances with Native Americans. John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina, led a pro-war faction in Congress known as the War Hawks.

South Carolina raised 5000 men for national service and appropriated more than $500,000 for self-defense, upgrading coastal defenses and subsidizing volunteer militia. The British blockaded Saint Helena Sound and raided plantations on Saint Helena and Pinckney Islands. Although Charlestonians feared and invasion, none materialized, and this plundering marked this extent of British activity in South Carolina.

Detail of the SC Militia uniform coat worn by Major General William R. Butler in the War of 1812.

The Seminole War (1835-1842)
The second Seminole War started as a rebellion against the Trail of Tears, the route taken by Southern tribes being removed to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). The Seminole hid in the Everglades and waged a guerilla war, attacking American settlements and fighting the army and volunteer militia.

South Carolinians strongly supported settling Florida, which had temperate climate ideal for Southern agriculture. The SC volunteer militia enlisted to defend the new American settlements from Seminole attack. The Columbia Volunteers journeyed by steamship down the Congaree River.

Private Adley H. Gladden fought the Seminole with the Richland Volunteers in Florida, but was discharged for measles. Back in Columbia, he wrote this pensive poem for his sweetheart, Mary Gaddy whom he married within the year. In 1847, Major Gladden took command of the Palmetto Regiment when Colonel Pierce Mason Butler and Lieutenant Colonel James Polk Dickinson were slain during the Mexican-American War Battle of Churubusco. Confederate Brigadier General A. H. Gladden died of wounds sustained in the Civil War Battle of Shiloh on April 6, 1862, at that time, the bloodiest battle ever fought in North America.

1836 Poem from A. H. Gladden to Mary Gaddy, Courtesy Edie Purvis, Columbia SC

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