Second Seminole War
In summer and fall 1835, General Clinch, who was in charge of removing the Seminole from Florida, became increasingly convinced that removal would require a large and active military force. A soldier who carried mail between Fort Brooke and Fort King was killed and mutilated by Seminoles and Charley Amathla, a Seminole leader who was in favor of emigration and who had sold his property in preparation for removal, was killed by Osceola. In response, Clinch ordered Major Francis L. Dade to leave Key West and bring his company of men to Fort Brooke.
Clinch saw service during the Second Seminole War including the Battle of the Withlacoochee before resigning from the Army in 1836.
I had been taught when living at St. Augustine to regard General Clinch as a strict unfeeling disciplinarian but I learned how good men are often maligned. To me he was the reverse, for his bearing was most fatherly, always available to others and beaming with kindness. Picture the image of an old gray-haired man of 5 ft. 10 inches, of muscular build, weighing over 250 pounds, sitting upon the dirt floor, giving counsel and comfort to a poor dying private soldier. That was the true General Duncan L. Clinch, called by his contemporary officers The Spartan General. His ways were plain and simple, living in a tent like all the other soldiers, excepting he had a bed and mattress to sleep upon. His food was plain and many times I saw him dining with his staff on pork and beans, occasionally getting a beef day like the rest of us. Now and then he would have an extra dish of Indian Corn. He only drank water and many times I fetched a pitcher for him from the large round pond or spring outside the Camp.
When we lived at the Driver's house, I lived with him, my medicine chest being close to his door. I was the first he saw on rising in the morning and the last at night and when we were in the field, my Hospital tent was immediately in front of the General's. So plain were his habits that he was no burden to the Army for even when on the move his only requisition was a campstool. Other Generals such as Scott required a band of music, with a company of professional cooks and servants in attendance. – Steward John Bemrose Second Seminole War 1865.
He lived on a plantation near St. Mary's, Georgia. In an 1844 special election he was elected to Congress as a Whig, filling the vacancy caused by the death of John Millen. He served in the 28th Congress, February 15, 1844 to March 3, 1845, and did not run for reelection to a full term in 1844.
Clinch died in Macon, Georgia on December 4, 1849, aged 62, after a long struggle with erysipelas. He was buried at Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia.
