Duncan Lamont Clinch

Who was Duncan Lamont Clinch?

Duncan Lamont Clinch was an American army officer and served as a commander during the First and Second Seminole Wars. He also served in the United States House of Representatives, representing Georgia.

Born in North Carolina, Clinch was a career soldier serving primarily on frontier posts when the First Seminole War broke out in 1816. While commanding forces in southern Georgia, Colonel Clinch was ordered by General Andrew Jackson to attack Seminole positions at Negro Fort, an abandoned British fort along the Apalachicola River which had become a safe haven for escaped slaves, and recover runaway slaves in hiding at the fort.

Supported by gunboats, Clinch's attack on the outpost caused a major incident when an explosion, resulting from naval artillery hitting the fort's powder magazine, resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Seminoles and slaves, contributing to the beginning of the First Seminole War. Clinch would also see service during the Second Seminole War serving with Major Francis L. Dade before his death in 1849 in Macon, Georgia.