The 3rd U. S. Artillery, Company B, made up nearly half the men (one infantry detachment and two artillery companies) that made up Brevet Major and Captain Francis L. Dade's doomed column of December 28, 1835. Under the command of Captain Upton S. Fraser this company was one of the first artillery companies sent to Fort Brooke, now Tampa, Fla., to aid in the upcoming removal of the Seminole tribes in accordance to the Treaty of Paynes Landing of 1832.
On December 23, 1835 Dade's column of 108 men started the march that would become thier last. In the week prior to their departure, the Florida Territory was in a state of panic. The deadline for removal was just around the bend and the Seminoles were not showing any interest in leaving quietly. The commander of the Department of Florida, Gen. Duncan L. Clinch, recently had sent a dispatch to Fort Brooke stating that he needed reinforcements at Fort King, now Ocala, Fla., a fortification within the Seminole reservation. Along with several recent incidents of violence all along the reservation boundraries the conditions were not favorable, for 108 men to march through the heart of the reservation. Only a few days previous, Bvt. Major Dade was said to be heard boasting that he could do this task with a Corporals Guard. It was now time for him to prove his theory.
Captain Fraser, commanding company B, was the only non-West Point officer in the column. He was the most senior officer in the artillery detachment, but the command fell to Captain George Washington Gardiner, a West-Pointer. This column and its officers would march into the annals of history which is now known as Dade's Massacre. Other officers and men killed at the ambush of Wahoo Swamp who were in Company B are 2nd Lieut. R. R. Mudge, Brevet 2nd Lieut. John L Keais, and thirty-one enlisted men.
Company B was reorganized in Massachusetts and rejoined the regiment in January of 1837. The year of 1837 was a busy year for the entire 3rd Reg't. They marched all over the Florida District in search of the always elusive Seminoles. General Jessup commanded the campaign season of that year. Campaigns were only employed during the fall and winter months in Florida, in the spring - summer months disease, heat, and the animals were more dangerous than the Seminoles. The company was engaged in a skirmish with the enemy at Camp Munroe, Fla. on Februaury 8th. On December 31, 1837 they eventually mustered at Fort Christmas, present day Christmas, Fla. east of Orlando. This was the first time the entire 3rd Reg't had ever been at one place since its organization.
The entire regiment, Lt. Col. Gates commanding, marched with Brevet Brig. Gen. Eustis' brigade to the Locheehatchie River where they met a Seminole war party and defeated them on January 24th, 1838. This defeat sent a large number of the Seminole to turn themselves over to the authorities for relocation. The Cherokees, of Northern Georgia were now being relocated west of the Mississippi River and the regiment was needed there. Company B was the last company of the regiment to head for Georgia.
The regiment would return company by company until November 19, 1838 when the entire regiment was back in Florida. During the years 1839, '40, '41, '42 the regiment was primarily used for building roads, bridges, and military posts. Under General Zachary Taylor the regiment would see action at: New River Inlet, July 26, 1839; Picolata Road, November 1; Everglades, December 3-24, 1839 and throughout the year, including summer, of 1840. The war ended officially in August of 1842. The 3rd Reg't during its Florida service lost eleven officers (3 in action, 1 died of wounds, and 7 from non-battlefield injuries,) 158 enlisted men (45 in action and 113 of non- battlefield injuries.) Nearly every officer of the 3rd Reg't Artillery served in the field during its service in Florida, ten were brevetted for gallantry.