Brevet Col. George Mercer Brooke

I represent Brevet Colonel George Mercer Brooke. I commanded the U.S. Troops in Pensacola. I was born in 1785 in Virginia. I started as a lieutenant in the Army in 1808 and fought with distinction in the War of 1812. I was the Major of the 4th Regiment of Infantry during the Seminole Wars of 1817-18. Reportedly I was on good terms with Spanish governor Jose Callava, which put me at odds with General Andrew Jackson during the transition. While my wife remained in Pensacola off and on due to ill health, I went east to lead the American effort to subdue the Creek and Seminole peoples. In 1824 I was sent to command the fort that was later named after me, Ft. Brooke, at what is now the city of Tampa. In 1828, after an illness claimed the lives of two of my children and nearly killed my wife, I was transferred steadily northward and eventually becaome a brevet Major General and commanded the Department of Texas. My wife died in 1839; I died in 1851 in San Antonio, Texas.