Major Francis L. Dade and his command, consisting of detachments of the Fourth Infantry and the Second and Third Artillery of the United States Army, were attacked here while marching from Tampa Bay to Fort King by a superior force of Seminole Indians commanded by Mico Nopah, head chief of the Indians. After a spirited resistance by the troops, the entire command except three were killed. The first battle of the Seven Years War with the Florida Indians was fought here. This ground was dedicated by the state of Florida as a memorial to those who died here as American soldiers, by authority of Chapter 8503, Laws of Florida, 1921.