National Mood

Throughout the war's first stages, the U.S. failed to win a single engagement. President Jackson was apoplectic, especially on the failure to capture the Seminole women: "Why it is that their deposit for women have not been found I cannot conjecture." If Scott had only followed his strategy recommendations, said the President, he would have put an end to the war in thirty days. The conflict, he wrote, was "humiliating to our military character."

The war tarnished the reputations of all its commanders, including five generals in the first year alone. After a second catastrophe on the Withlacoochee, Scott and Gaines were called before a court of inquiry in Washington. Though the generals were cleared of wrongdoing, Scott was relieved of the Florida command.