Hornotlimed: A Seminole chief who came into notice chiefly through a single incident of the Seminole war of 1817-18. He resided at the Fowl Town, in northwest Florida, at the beginning of hostilities, but was forced to flee to Mikasuki. On Nov. 30, 1817, three vessels arrived at the mouth of Apalachicola River with supplies for the garrison farther up the stream, but on account of contrary winds were unable to ascend. Lieutenant Scott was sent to their assistance with a boat and 40 men, who, on their return from the vessels, were ambushed by Hornotlimed and a band of warriors, all being killed except 6 soldiers, who jumped overboard and swam to the opposite shore. Twenty soldiers who had been left to aid the vessels, and an equal number of women and sick who were with them, fell into the hands of Hornotlimed and his warriors and were slain and scalped. The scalps were carried to Mikasuki and displayed on red sticks as tokens of the victory. Mikasuki was soon afterward visited by American troops and, although most of the Indians escaped, Hornotlimed was captured and immediately hanged. Gen. Jackson called him “Homattlemico, the old Red-stick,” the latter name being applied because he was a chief of the Mikasuki band, known also as Red sticks, because they erected red-painted poles in their village.
