In the early 1830s, pressure to remove Florida's Indians grew intense, and Seminole leaders signed treaties in 1832 and 1833 calling for relocation within three years, but by the end of 1835 the Seminole declared they had no intention of leaving. Rising tensions brought violence as white settlers assaulted unsuspecting Indians and Seminole warriors attacked travelers and isolated homesteads, and the Second Seminole War began in December 1835 with the annihilation of Major Francis Dade's force near present-day Bushnell. For the war's first year, the Seminole and their black allies skillfully defended their homes, but in December 1836 General Thomas Jesup took command, increased pressure, sent captured Indians west, returned escaped slaves to bondage, drove the remaining Seminole into southern Florida, and imprisoned leaders during negotiations under a flag of truce. The Old Military Road carried cannon, ammunition, food, and medicine to troops fighting in the Cove, and thousands of soldiers and Seminole warriors traveled it. By mid-1838 most Seminole had been pushed from central Florida to areas south of Lake Okeechobee, and after four more years of conflict the U.S. government declared the war over in August 1842, though Seminole people and their descendants lived in fear of removal until federal recognition in the 1950s. Chief Micanopy led Seminole warriors in the early years, was captured by Jesup in 1838, and was sent to Indian Territory; Osceola opposed forced emigration, supported the war, helped plan strategy, was seized during truce negotiations, and died at Fort Moultrie in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1838; and Chief Abiaka, also known as Sam Jones, led warriors and families to safety and was the only major Seminole leader to avoid relocation to the west. Major events included Dade's Battle on December 28, 1835, when only two of 108 soldiers survived a Seminole ambush; Clinch's Battle on December 31, 1835, when General Duncan Clinch's 750 men retreated after crossing the Withlacoochee to attack villages in the Cove; Gaines' Battle on February 27, 1836, when the Seminole blocked General Edmund Gaines and 1000 men from crossing the Withlacoochee and besieged them at Camp Izard for a week; Scott's Campaign in March and April 1836, when General Winfield Scott's three-pronged attack with 5000 men failed; the April 1836 siege of Fort Cooper, where Major Mark Anthony Cooper and 380 men were held for 16 days; and the Battle of Wahoo Swamp on November 21, 1836, when the Seminole held off 2,500 men led by Governor Richard K. Call.