Lt. Thomas in the Second Seminole War

Thomas joined Major Richard D. A. Wade’s command in his campaign against the Seminoles in time to take an active part in the capture of seventy Indians on November 6, 1841. This was his first battle service, and so well was it performed that he received the warm thanks of Major Wade, who commanded in the action, and of Colonel (afterward General) Worth, who was in command of all the troops in Florida at that time. The mention that he received in the dispatches of these officers gained for him the brevet rank of first lieutenant in the army “for gallantry and good conduct against the Florida Indians”.  Few persons realize the dangers and hardships of Indian warfare.  It is indeed an inglorious service. Death by an arrow is ignoble in comparison of that in “the imminent deadly breach” amid “the pomp and circumstance of glorious war”.  The savages are treacherous and cruel. They lie in ambush, they tear off the scalp, they torture the prisoners; add to this the character of the Indian country in Florida, the reeking miasmas of the Everglades, and we shall see that few men have received adequate rewards for such service. Fortunately for Thomas, he did not remain long in that region.  First he was ordered on temporary duty to New Orleans Barracks in 1842, and very soon after to Fort Moultrie, South Carolina, opposite Fort Sumter, a locality before long to be famous.

Reference:  Henry Coppée: General Thomas, New York, D. Appleton & Company, 1893, P10.