He named it after General Edmund P. Gaines, an acquaintance of his noted for his service in the War of 1812, the Seminole Wars and the Black Hawk War.
In September 1854 he was made 2nd lieutenant and sent to Tampa, Florida, where he served in the Indian troubles for two years.
In 1836 Garretson joined the Tennessee Mounted Militia and served for six months in the Seminole Wars in Florida.
He served as an officer in the Seminole War, and was assistant instructor of tactics at West Point in 1843–44.
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Some of the more notable Indian wars were: the Northwest Indians, 1790–95 and 1811–13; Seminole Wars in Florida, 1817–18, 1835–42 and 1856; Black Hawk War, 1832; Sioux War, 1862–1867; War of the Plains Indians, 1863–69; Sioux and Cheyenne War of 1876-79; and Apache Wars, 1861-90.
His ancestors include Senator Charles A. Guernsey and Richard Gentry, a former Missouri state Senator killed while leading troops at the Battle of Lake Okeechobee during the Seminole Wars.
One of the earliest settlers was William Gainer, who was with Andrew Jackson's forces when they passed through the area on their way to Pensacola in 1818 (during the First Seminole War).
The sinkholes at Falling Waters State Park were used as a hideout by Indian warriors fighting against Andrew Jackson during the Seminole Wars.
Rains served in the Seminole Wars and was promoted to captain on December 25, 1837, and brevetted major on April 28, 1840, for his service against the Seminoles near Fort King, Florida, where he routed a superior force, and was twice severely wounded.
In recent years, Native Americans and other groups have protested the use of Andrew Jackson as a representative because of injustices to native Americans at the hands of Jackson and his soldiers during the Seminole Wars as well as Jackson's years as President.
He then served in Missouri and Louisiana, took part in the Seminole Wars of 1849-50, and served on frontier duty in Kansas, Native American Territory, Arkansas and Dakota until he marched with Albert Sidney Johnston to Utah to take part in the Utah War.