By the 19th century, American settlements along Florida's coasts had driven most Native peoples into the interior, and the Seminoles, Florida's largest tribe, fought a series of battles with the encroaching Americans. By 1837, the Second Seminole War was raging across the Florida peninsula, and except for a series of small fortresses, the East Coast of Florida from St. Augustine to Fort Capron, today's Fort Pierce, was abandoned by American settlers. Late in 1837, the United States Army began building a road along the Atlantic Coast Ridge, planned to be 16 feet wide and strong enough for wagons, cavalry, and cannon. By the spring of 1838, Brigadier General Hernandez and his men had built more than 200 miles of road through swamps and forests using only hand tools, sweat, and human effort. The remains of the Hernandez-Capron Trail, an ancient Florida highway for animals and humans, lie a short distance east.