at about half past noon, the sun shining directly overhead and the air still and quiet, taylor moved his troops squarely into the center of the swamp. his plan was to make a direct attack rather than encircle the indians. all his men were on foot. in the first line were the 132 missouri volunteers. as soon as they came within range, the indians opened with heavy fire. the volunteers broke, and their commander, colonel richard gentry, fatally wounded, was unable to rally them. the indians then mounted a counterattack on the remaining soldiers. in the deadly assault some of the soldiers were scalped by the indians. gentry had suggested to taylor before the battle an encirclement strategy which taylor rejected, charging that gentry was afraid of a direct confrontation. this could have motivated gentry to keep charging the seminole positions even though the original battle plan had the militia retreating at the first sign of enemy fire to re-form behind the regular army lines.