Leigh Read

During the spring of that campaign, Read led his unit in a rescue of fifty-eight Jefferson County volunteers who were stranded at an outpost on the Withlacoochee River.

[2] Read was critical of General Winfield Scott's strategy in the Second Seminole War and said that he was employing "obsolete...European tactics where they could not possibly work".

[5] As Read's fame and notoriety as an outspoken Democrat and frequent duelist rose, he increasingly became the target of physical and verbal attacks from members of the opposing Whig Party.

During this period, anti-bank Democrats and pro-bank Whigs fought each other, both verbally and physically, over the future of Florida's banking system.

[6] Augustus Alston, a leading Whig politician and director of the Union Bank of Florida, was one of the most outspoken critics of Read.

The small isolated community had become a popular dueling site since an ongoing border dispute between Florida and Georgia over the land made prosecuting duelists more difficult.

[8] While still recovering from his wounds, Read was made commander of 1,500 volunteers who were ordered to protect settlers west of the Suwannee River from the Seminole.