After repulsing Zachary Taylor's army at the Battle of Lake Okeechobee, the Seminoles under the leadership of Chief Abiaka relocated south to Broward County.

Abiaka and his people then built a large village on top of Pine Island Ridge, which is 29 feet above sea-level and the highest point in Broward County.

Jesup assigned the operation to Federal soldiers of the 3rd Artillery Regiment under James Bankhead, and volunteers of the Tennessee Militia under William Lauderdale.

Bankhead wrote in his report after the battle that at this point: "Believing that all the Indians who had been in this vicinity were on this Island, with their women and children, I anticipated a complete victory, and made with all haste my arrangements to attack them".

Bankhead kept some of his soldiers in the center while ordering his other troops, which included the Tennessee Militiamen under William Lauderdale, to move and flank the left and right sides of the island.

[8] The Seminoles escaped westward deeper into the Everglades, while Bankhead and Lauderdale's troops then reached the abandoned village on Pine Island Ridge.