Camp Monroe/Fort Mellon: Coacoochee's attack, and a marker that says "Seminoles and Blacks" (Lake Monroe, Sanford, Feb. 8, 1837)
Record: the document says itPattern: documents line upLens: our readingOpen: not yet proven
Year: 1837 · Places: Florida, Mexico
SUMMARYCamp Monroe/Fort Mellon: Coacoochee's attack, and a marker that says "Seminoles and Blacks" (Lake Monroe, Sanford, Feb. 8, 1837) [Connections: Tallahassee & Orlando, Nov 5, 2026]
RECORDCoacoochee, son of the Seminole leader King Philip, led the February 8, 1837, attack on Camp Monroe; it was renamed for Capt. Charles Mellon, the Army's only fatality, and the settlement Mellonville became an early Orange County seat (Jim Robison, Reflections, Winter 2013). The Sanford marker says "Camp Monroe was established as the East Florida headquarters for the US Army," and that Coacoochee later escaped into Mexico "with his following of Seminoles and Blacks." Coacoochee in 1841: "The white men are as thick as the leaves in the hammock; they come upon us thicker every year."
PATTERNThe Orlando region's first US posts were war camps against Seminoles whose following included Black people
LENS (WW9)Central Florida's first "settlement" was an army camp facing the people who were already there
OPENWhether Black Seminoles fought at Camp Monroe is not stated on these pages: needs deep research
SOURCESecond Seminole War marker, Sanford (HMdb); Jim Robison, Reflections (Orange County Regional History Center).