In 1821 the United States acquired Florida from Spain and it became a US territory. By the 1830's significant conflict had happened between the new white settlers and the Seminole indians. The Seminoles were told that they had to move to a new reservation in Oklahoma. When told to move, 3/4 of the Seminoles moved without a fight. The other 1/4 signed a treaty saying they would move if given one year to prepare. They had no intentions on leaving. They were delaying for one year when they would have to fight. In December 1835 108 US troops and officers were marching from Ft Brook in Tampa to reenforce Fort King in Ocala for the event of the Seminoles surrendering. 100 miles from Tampa they were attacked by 180 Seminole warriors. All but 3 of the soldiers were dead and only three Seminoles were killed. This lead to the declaration of war between the United States and the Seminole Nation. In January 1905 Congressman Stephen Sparkman asked that copies of the files related to "Dade's Massacre" be sent to him. He proposed a bill to save the site but it did not pass. Senator Duncan Fletcher later continued to gather documents with the encouragement of the Superintendent of West Point, General Douglas MacArthur. In 1921 the state legislature appropriated funds for the preservation of the battle site as a memorial. Through the succeeding years the park has been carefully developed to rescue the site from obscurity and exploitation. Today visitors can visit the site where there is a museum, a replica of the breastworks on it's original site and a section of the original Ft King road.