The Exiles of Florida
by Joshua R. Giddings · English · Gutenberg #41316 · 725,308 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: The Exiles of Florida
Author: Joshua R. Giddings
Release date: November 7, 2012 [eBook #41316]
Most recently updated: November 27, 2024
Language: English
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[Illustration: Death of Waxe hadjo]
THE
EXILES OF FLORIDA:
OR,
THE CRIMES COMMITTED BY OUR GOVERNMENT AGAINST THE MAROONS,
WHO FLED FROM SOUTH CAROLINA AND OTHER SLAVE STATES,
SEEKING PROTECTION UNDER SPANISH LAWS.
BY
JOSHUA R. GIDDINGS.
"I, as commander of the army, pledged the national faith that they
should remain under the protection of the United States."
GENERAL JESSUP.
COLUMBUS, OHIO:
PUBLISHED BY FOLLETT, FOSTER AND COMPANY.
1858.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1858.
BY FOLLETT, FOSTER & CO.,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for
the Southern District of Ohio.
TO
MY CONSTITUENTS,
THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE SO LONG HONORED ME
WITH THEIR CONFIDENCE,
THIS WORK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED.
J. R. GIDDINGS.
INTRODUCTION.
Discarding that code of morals which teaches the suppression of truth,
for the purpose of upholding the honor, either of the Government, or of
the individuals who wield its administration, the Author of the
following work has endeavored to give a faithful record of those
interesting events which appear directly connected with the Exiles of
Florida.
Torn from their native land, their friends and homes, they were sold in
the markets of Carolina and Georgia. Feeling the hand of oppression
bearing heavily upon them, they fled to Florida, and, under Spanish
laws, became free. Holding lands of the Spanish Crown, they became
citizens of that Territory, entitled to protection. To regain possession
of their truant bondmen, Georgia made war upon Florida, but failed to
obtain her object.
At a time of profound peace, our army, acting under the direction of the
Executive, invaded Florida, murdered many of these free men, and brought
others to the United States and consigned them to slavery. An expensive
and bloody war followed; but failing to capture more of the Exiles, our
army was withdrawn.
This war was followed by diplomatic efforts. Florida was purchased;
treaties with the Florida Indians were made and violated; gross frauds
were perpetrated; dishonorable expedients were resorted to, and another
war provoked. During its protracted continuance of seven years, bribery
and treachery were practiced towards the Exiles and their allies, the
Seminole Indians; flags of truce were violated; the pledged faith of the
nation was disregarded. By these means the removal of the Exiles from
Florida was effected. After they had settled in the Western Country,
most of these iniquities were repeated, until they were driven from our
nation and compelled to seek an asylum in Mexico.
Men who wielded the influence of Government for the consummation of
these crimes, assiduously labored to suppress all knowledge of their
guilt; to keep facts from the popular mind; to falsify the history of
current events, and prevent an exposure of our national turpitude.
The object of this work is to meet that state of circumstances; to
expose fraud, falsehood, treachery, and other crimes of public men, who
have prostituted the powers of Government to the perpetration of
murders, at the contemplation of which our humanity revolts.
The Author has designed to place before the public a faithful record of
events appropriately falling within the purview of the proposed history;
he has endeavored, as far as possible, to do justice to all concerned.
Where the action of individuals is concerned, he has endeavored to make
them speak for themselves, through official reports, orders, letters, or
written evidences from their own hands; and he flatters himself that he
has done no injustice to any person.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
INTRODUCTION v
CHAPTER I.
Circumstances attending the Early History of Slavery in the Colonies.
Exiles: efforts to restore them 1
CHAPTER II.
Further efforts to restore Exiles 16
CHAPTER III.
Hostilities maintained by Georgia; First Seminole War commenced 28
CHAPTER IV.
General Hostilities 46
CHAPTER V.
Further efforts of the Government to restore Exiles to servitude 57
CHAPTER VI.
Further efforts to enslave the Exiles 69
CHAPTER VII.
Commencement of the Second Seminole War 97
CHAPTER VIII.
Hostilities continued 115
CHAPTER IX.
Hostilities continued 125
CHAPTER X.
The War continued--Peace declared--General Jessup assumes
command of the Army 135
CHAPTER XI.
General Jessup overthrows his own efforts in favor of Peace 142
CHAPTER XII.
The renewal and prosecution of the War 156
CHAPTER XIII.
Vigorous prosecution of the War 172
CHAPTER XIV.
Great difficulties interrupt the progress of the War 189
CHAPTER XV.
Difficulties in enslaving Exiles continued 214
CHAPTER XVI.
Further difficulties in the work of enslaving the Exiles 224
CHAPTER XVII.
Total failure of all efforts to enslave the Exiles 233
CHAPTER XVIII.
Further difficulties in prosecuting the War 251
CHAPTER XIX.
Hostilities continued 274
CHAPTER XX.
Hostilities continued 284
CHAPTER XXI.
Close of the War 308
CHAPTER XXII.
History of Exiles continued 317
CHAPTER XXIII.
The re-union and final Exodus 323
THE EXILES OF FLORIDA.
CHAPTER I.
CIRCUMSTANCES ATTENDING THE EARLY HISTORY OF SLAVERY IN THE COLONIES.
Settlement of Florida--Boundaries of Carolina--Enslaving
Indians--They flee from their Masters--Africans follow the
example--Spanish policy in regard to Fugitive Slaves--Carolina
demands the surrender of Exiles--Florida refuses--Colony of Georgia
established--Its object--Exiles called Seminoles--Slavery
Introduced Into Georgia--Seminole Indians separate from
Creeks--Slaves escape from Georgia--Report of Committee of
Safety--Report of General Lee--Treaty of Augusta--Treaty of
Galphinton--Singular conduct of Georgia--War between Creeks and
Georgia--Resolution of Congress--Treaty of
Shoulderbone--Hostilities continue--Georgia calls on United States
for assistance--Commissioners sent to negotiate
Treaty--Failure--Col. Willett's mission--Chiefs, head men and
Warriors repair to New York--Treaty formed--Secret
article--Extraordinary covenants.
Florida was originally settled by Spaniards, in 1558. They were the
first people to engage in the African Slave trade, and sought to supply
other nations with servants from the coast of Guinea. The Colonists held
many slaves, expecting to accumulate wealth by the unrequited toil of
their fellow-man.
[Sidenote: 1630.]
[Sidenote: 1700.]
Carolina by her first and second charters claimed a vast extent of
country, embracing St. Augustine and most of Florida. This conflict of
jurisdiction soon involved the Colonists in hostilities. The Carolinians
also held many slaves. Profiting by the labor of her servants, the
people sought to increase their wealth by enslaving the Indians who
resided in their vicinity. Hence in the early slave codes of that
colony we find reference to "negro and _other_ slaves."
When the boundaries of Florida and South Carolina became established,
the Colonists found themselves separated by the territory now
constituting, the State of Georgia, at that time mostly occupied by the
Creek Indians.
The efforts of the Carolinians to enslave the Indians, brought with them
the natural and appropriate penalties. The Indians soon began to make
their escape from service to the Indian country. This example was soon
followed by the African slaves, who also fled to the Indian country,
and, in order to secure themselves from pursuit, continued their journey
into Florida.
We are unable to fix the precise time when the persons thus exiled
constituted a separate community. Their numbers had become so great in
1736, that they were formed into companies, and relied on by the
Floridians as allies to aid in the defense of that territory. They were
also permitted to occupy lands upon the same terms that were granted to
the citizens of Spain; indeed, they in all respects became free subjects
of the Spanish crown. Probably to this early and steady policy of the
Spanish Government, we may attribute the establishment and continuance
of this community of Exiles in that territory.[1]
[Sidenote: 1738.]
A messenger was sent by the Colonial Government of South Carolina to
demand the return of those fugitive slaves who had found an asylum in
Florida. The demand was made upon the Governor of St. Augustine, but was
promptly rejected. This was the commencement of a controversy which has
continued for more than a century, involving our nation in a vast
expenditure of blood and treasure, and it yet remains undetermined.
The constant escape of slaves, and the difficulties resulting therefrom,
constituted the principal object for establishing a free colony between
South Carolina and Florida, which was called Georgia.[2] It was thought
that this colony, being free, would afford the planters of Carolina
protection against the further escape of their slaves from service.
These Exiles were by the Creek Indians called "Seminoles," which in
their dialect signifies "runaways," and the term being frequently used
while conversing with the Indians, came into almost constant practice
among the whites; and although it has now come to be applied to a
certain tribe of Indians, yet it was originally used in reference to
these Exiles long before the Seminole Indians had separated from the
Creeks.
Some eight years after the Colony of Georgia was first established,
efforts were made to introduce Slavery among its people. The ordinary
argument, that it would extend the Christian religion, was brought to
bear upon Whitfield and Habersham, and the Saltzbergers and Moravians,
until they consented to try the experiment, and Georgia became
thenceforth a Slaveholding Colony, whose frontier bordered directly upon
Florida; bringing the slaves of her planters into the very neighborhood
of those Exiles who had long been free under Spanish laws.
[Sidenote: 1750.]
A difficulty arose among the Creek Indians, which eventually becoming
irreconcilable, a chief named Seacoffee, with a large number of
followers, left that tribe--at that time residing within the present
limits of Georgia and Alabama--and continuing their journey south
entered the Territory of Florida, and, under the Spanish colonial
policy, were incorporated with the Spanish population, entitled to lands
wherever they could find them unoccupied, and to the protection of
Spanish laws.[3]
From the year 1750, Seacoffee and his followers rejected all Creek
authority, refused to be represented in Creek councils, held themselves
independent of Creek laws, elected their own chiefs, and in all respects
became a separate Tribe, embracing the Mickasukies, with whom they
united. They settled in the vicinity of the Exiles, associated with
them, and a mutual sympathy and respect existing, some of their people
intermarried, thereby strengthening the ties of friendship, and the
Indians having fled from oppression and taken refuge under Spanish laws,
were also called Seminoles, or "runaways."
After Georgia became a Slaveholding Colony, we are led to believe the
practice of slaves leaving their masters, which existed in South
Carolina, became frequent in Georgia. But we have no definite
information on this subject until about the commencement of the
Revolutionary War (1775), when the Council of Safety for that colony
sent to Congress a communication setting forth, that a large force of
Continental troops was necessary to _prevent their slaves from deserting
their masters_.[4] It was about the first communication sent to Congress
after it met, in 1776, and shows that her people then sought to make the
nation bear the burthens of their slavery, by furnishing a military
force sufficient to hold her bondmen in fear; and if she adheres to that
policy now, it merely illustrates the consistency of her people in
relying upon the freemen of the North to uphold her system of
oppression.
[Sidenote: 1776.]
General Lee, commanding the military forces in that colony, called the
particular attention of Congress to the fact, that slaves belonging to
the planters, fled from servitude and sought freedom among the "_Exiles
of Florida_."
There also yet remained in Georgia many descendants of those who, at the
establishment of that colony and since that time, had opposed the
institution of Slavery. These people desired to testify their abhorrence
of human servitude. They assembled in large numbers, in the district of
Darien, and publicly resolved as follows: "To show the world that we are
not influenced by any contracted or interested motives, but by a general
philanthropy for all mankind, of whatever climate, language or
_complexion_, we hereby declare our disapprobation and abhorrence of
slavery in America." The public avowal of these doctrines, naturally
encouraged slaves to seek their freedom by such means as they possessed.
One day's travel would place some of them among friends, and in the
enjoyment of liberty; and they were sure to be kindly received and
respectfully treated, soon as they could reach their brethren in
Florida. Of course many availed themselves of this opportunity to escape
from service.
The Exiles remained in the undisturbed enjoyment of liberty during the
war of the Revolution. The Creeks were a powerful and warlike people,
whose friendship was courted during the sanguinary struggle that secured
our National Independence. During those turbulent times it would not
have been prudent for a master to pursue his slave through the Creek
country, or to have brought him back to Georgia if once arrested.
The Exiles being thus free from annoyance, cultivated the friendship of
their savage neighbors; rendered themselves useful to the Indians, both
as laborers and in council. They also manifested much judgment in the
selection of their lands for cultivation--locating their principal
settlements on the rich bottoms lying along the Appalachicola and the
Suwanee Rivers. Here they opened plantations, and many of them became
wealthy in flocks and herds.
[Sidenote: 1783.]
Immediately after the close of the war, the authorities of Georgia are
said to have entered into a treaty with the Creek Indians, at Augusta,
in which it is alleged that the Creeks agreed to grant to that State a
large tract of land, and to restore such slaves as were then resident
among the Creeks. But we find no copy of this treaty in print, or in
manuscript. As early as 1789, only six years after it was said to have
been negotiated, Hugh Knox, Secretary of War, in a communication to
Congress, declared that no copy of this treaty was then in the
possession of Congress; and it has not been since reprinted. Indeed, it
is believed never to have been printed.
[Sidenote: 1785.]
The difficulty between Georgia and the Creeks becoming more serious, the
aid of the Continental Congress was invoked, for the purpose of securing
that State in the enjoyment of what her people declared to be their
rights. Congress appointed three commissioners to examine the existing
causes of difficulty, and if possible to negotiate a treaty with the
Creeks that should secure justice to all the people of the United
States.
Communities, like individuals, often exhibit in early life those
characteristics which distinguish their mature age, and become ruling
passions when senility marks the downhill of life. Thus Georgia, in her
very infancy, exhibited that desire for controlling our National
Government which subsequently marked her manhood. Possessing no power
under the Constitution to enter into any treaty except by consent of
Congress, her Executive appointed three Commissioners to attend and
supervise the action of those appointed by the Federal Legislature. The
time and place for holding the treaty had been arranged with the Indians
by the Governor of Georgia. At Galphinton,[5] the place appointed, the
Commissioners of the United States met those of Georgia, who presented
them with the form of a treaty fully drawn out and ready for signatures,
and demanded of the Commissioners of the United States its adoption.
This extraordinary proceeding was treated by the Federal Commissioners
in a dignified and appropriate manner, in their report to Congress. One
important provision of this inchoate treaty stipulated for the return to
the people of Georgia of such fugitive negroes as were then in the
Indian country, and of such as might thereafter flee from bondage.
The Commissioners appointed by Congress waited at Galphinton several
days, and finding only _two_ of the one hundred towns composing the
Creek tribe represented in the council about to be held, they refused to
regard them as authorized to act for the Creek nation, and would not
consent to enter upon any negotiation with them as representatives of
that tribe. This course was not in accordance with the ideas of the
Commissioners appointed by Georgia. After those of the United States had
left, they proceeded to enter into a treaty with the representatives
from the two towns, who professed to act for the whole Creek nation.
This pretended treaty gave the State of Georgia a large territory; and
the eighth article provided, that "the Indians shall restore all the
negroes, horses and other property, that are or may hereafter be among
them, belonging to the citizens of this State, or to any other person
whatever, to such person as the governor shall appoint."[6]
This attempt to make a treaty by the State of Georgia, in direct
violation of the articles of Confederation, and to bind the Creek nation
by an act of the representatives of only two of their towns, constitutes
the first official transaction of which we have documentary evidence, in
that long train of events which has for seventy years involved our
nation in difficulty, and the Exiles of Florida in persecutions and
cruelties unequaled under Republican governments.
The Commissioners of the United States made report of their proceedings
to Congress; and those of Georgia reported to the governor of that
State.[7] Their report was transmitted to the Legislature, and that
body, with an arrogance that commands our admiration, passed strong
resolutions denouncing the action of the Federal Commissioners,
commending the action of those of Georgia, and asserting her State
sovereignty in language somewhat bombastic.
[Sidenote: 1786.]
[Sidenote: 1787.]
Soon after the making of this pretended treaty, the Creeks commenced
hostilities, murdering the people on the frontiers of Georgia, and
burning their dwellings. The Spanish authorities of Florida were charged
with fomenting these difficulties, and the Congress of the United States
felt constrained to interfere.[8] The Commissioners previously appointed
to form a treaty with the Creeks, were, by a resolution of the
Continental Congress, adopted Oct. 26, instructed to obtain a treaty
with the Indians which would secure a return of all prisoners, of
whatever age, sex or complexion, and to _restore all fugitive slaves
belonging to citizens of the United States_.[9]
This resolution was the first act on the part of the Continental
Congress in favor of restoring fugitive slaves. It was adopted under the
articles of Confederation, before the adoption of our present
constitution, and of course constitutes no precedent under our present
government; yet it introduced a practice that has long agitated the
nation, and may yet lead to important and even sanguinary results.
[Sidenote: 1788.]
Without awaiting the action of Congress, the authorities of Georgia, by
her agents, entered into another treaty, at a place called
"Shoulderbone," by which the Creeks appear to have acknowledged the
violation of the Treaty of Galphinton, and again stipulated to observe
its covenants.[10]
We have no reliable information as to the number of the Creek towns
represented at the making of this third treaty by Georgia. The whole
transaction was by the State, in her own name, by her own authority,
without consent of Congress, and all papers relating to it, if any
exist, would of course be among the manuscript files of that State. It
is believed that Georgia never printed any of these treaties; and we can
only state their contents from recitals which we find among the State
papers of the Federal Government. It is however certain, that the Creeks
denied that any such treaty had been entered into; and they continued
hostilities, as though no such treaty had been thought of by them. This
pretended Treaty of Shoulderbone exerted no more moral influence among
the Creeks than did that of Galphinton. The war continued between the
people of Georgia and the Creeks. The savages appeared to be aroused to
indignation by what they regarded as palpable frauds. Excited at such
efforts to impose upon them stipulations degrading to their character,
they prosecuted the war with increased bitterness.
[Sidenote: 1788.]
The natural results of such turpitude, induced Georgia to be one of the
first in the sisterhood of States to adopt the Federal Constitution
(Aug. 28). Her statesmen expected it to relieve their State from the
burthens of the war which then devastated her border.
[Sidenote: 1789.]
Soon as the Federal Government was organized under the constitution, the
authorities of Georgia invoked its aid, to protect her people from the
indignation of the Creek Indians.
General Washington, President of the United States, at once appointed
Commissioners to repair to the Indian country, ascertain the real
difficulty, and if able, they were directed to negotiate a suitable
treaty, in the name of the United States. The State of Georgia claimed
title to the territory ceded by the treaties of Galphinton and
Shoulderbone; while the Creeks entirely repudiated them, declaring them
fraudulent, denying their validity, and refusing to abide by their
stipulations. The governor of Georgia placed in the hands of the
Commissioners of the United States, a list of property which had been
lost since the close of the Revolution by the people of Georgia, for
which they demanded indemnity of the Creeks. This list contained the
names of one hundred and ten negroes, who were said to have left their
masters _during the Revolution_, and found an asylum among the Creeks.
The Treaty of Galphinton contained a stipulation on the part of the
Creeks, to return all prisoners, of whatever age, sex or color, and all
negroes belonging to the citizens of Georgia, "_then residing with the
Creeks_."
Arrangements had already been made with the chiefs, warriors and
principal men of the Creek nation, to meet the Commissioners of the
United States at Rock Landing, on the Oconee River. The Commissioners
were received by the Indians with great respect and formality; but soon
as they learned that the Commissioners were not authorized to restore
their lands, they broke off all negotiation, promising to remain in
peace, however, until an opportunity should be presented for further
negotiations.
The failure of this mission was followed by the appointment of Col.
Willett, an intrepid officer of the Revolution, who was authorized to
proceed to the Creek nation, and, if possible, to induce its chiefs and
headmen to repair to New York, where they could negotiate a new treaty,
without the interference of the authorities or people of Georgia.
Col. Willett was successful. He induced the principal chief,
McGillivray, the son of a distinguished Indian trader, together with
twenty-eight other chiefs and warriors, to come on to New York, for the
purpose of forming a treaty with the United States, and settling all
difficulties previously existing between Georgia and their nation. On
their way to New York, they were received at Philadelphia, by the
authorities of that city, with great ceremony and respect. Their vanity
was flattered, and every effort made to induce them to believe peace
with the United States would be important to both parties.
At New York they found Congress in session. Here they mingled with the
great men of our nation. The "Columbian Order," or "Tammany Society,"
was active in its attentions. They escorted the delegation to the city,
and entertained them with a public dinner; and made McGillivray, the
principal chief, a member of their society. In this way, the minds of
the Indians were prepared for entering into the treaty which followed.
[Sidenote: 1790.]
There was, among the people of the entire nation, an intense anxiety to
render every part of the Union satisfied and pleased with the Federal
Government, then just formed, as they felt that their only hope of
prosperity depended upon a continuance of the federal union. There was
also a general sympathy throughout the nation with the slaveholders of
the South, who were supposed to have suffered much, by the loss of their
servants, during the war of the Revolution; few people at that time
realizing the moral guilt of holding their fellow-men in bondage.
While the revolutionary contest was going on, many slaves in the
Southern States escaped from the service of their masters, and, under
the proclamations of various British commanders, enlisted into the
service of his Britannic Majesty; and having taken the oath of
allegiance to the crown of England, were regarded as British subjects.
Others escaped with their families, and getting on board British
vessels, sailed to the West Indies, where they settled as "_free
persons_." Thus, while one class of masters had sustained great losses
by the enlistment of their slaves, another class had suffered by the
escape of their bondmen, through the aid of British vessels; while a
third sustained an equal loss by the escape of their servants to the
Seminoles in Florida. These three different interests united in claiming
the aid of government to regain possession of their slaves, or to obtain
indemnity for their loss.
The timely arrival of Mr. Pinckney, secured the insertion of a clause in
the Treaty of Paris, providing that his Britannic Majesty should
withdraw his troops from all American forts, arsenals, shipyards, etc.,
without destroying ordnance or military stores, or "carrying away any
negroes or other property of the inhabitants." This provision was
regarded by the slaveholders of the South as securing a compensation to
all those whose slaves had enlisted in the British army, as well as to
those whose slaves had escaped to the British West India Islands by aid
of English vessels; while those whose servants were quietly living with
the Seminoles, had not been provided for by the treaty of peace.[11]
These circumstances rendered the owners of the Exiles more clamorous for
the interposition of the State Government, inasmuch as the federal
authority had entirely omitted to notice their interests, while it was
supposed to have secured a compensation to the other two classes of
claimants.
It was under these circumstances, that General Washington proceeded to
the negotiation of the first treaty, entered into under our present form
of government. The chiefs, headmen and warriors of the Creek nation were
present at New York: Georgia was also there by her senators and
representatives, who carefully watched over her interests; and General
Knox, the Secretary of War, was appointed commissioner to negotiate a
treaty, thus to be formed, under the personal supervision of the
President.
The object of the President was effected, a treaty was formed, and bears
date August 1, 1790. It constitutes the title-page of our diplomatic
history. This first exercise of our treaty-making power under the
constitution, was put forth for the benefit of the Slave interests of
Georgia. It surrendered up to the Creeks certain lands, which the
authorities of Georgia claimed to hold under the treaty of Galphinton,
but retained substantially the stipulation for the surrender of negroes,
which had been inserted in that extraordinary compact.
By the third article of this new treaty, it was stipulated as follows:
"The Creek nation shall deliver, as soon as practicable, to the
commanding officer of the troops of the United States stationed at
Rock Landing, on the Oconee River, all citizens of the United
States, white inhabitants or negroes, who are now prisoners in any
part of the said nation. And if any such prisoners or negroes
should not be so delivered, on or before the first day of June
ensuing, the governor of Georgia may empower three persons to
repair to the said nation, in order to claim and receive such
prisoners and negroes."
Historians have referred to this clause as containing merely a
stipulation for the surrender of _prisoners_;[12] but the manner in
which the term "_negroes_" stands connected in the disjunctive form with
that of "_prisoners_," would appear to justify, at least to some extent,
the subsequent construction put upon it, so far as regarded negroes then
resident with the Creeks; but it certainly makes no allusion to those
who were residing with the Seminoles in Florida.
It is a remarkable feature of this treaty, that the Creek chiefs,
principal men and warriors should, in its first article, profess to act,
not only for the Upper and Lower Creek Towns, but for the Seminoles who
were in Florida, protected by Spanish laws. They had not been invited to
attend the negotiation, had sent no delegate, were wholly unrepresented
in the Council; indeed, so far as we are informed, were wholly ignorant
of the objects which had called such a council, and of the fact even
that a council was held, or a treaty negotiated.
Our fathers had just passed through seven years of war and bloodshed,
rather than submit to "_taxation without representation_;" but this
attempt to bind the Seminole Indians to surrender up the Exiles, who
were their friends and neighbors, and who now stood connected with them
by marriage, and in all the relations of domestic life, without their
consent or knowledge, constitutes an inconsistency which can only be
accounted for by the desire then prevalent, to gratify and please those
who wielded the slaveholding influence of our nation.
Another extraordinary feature of this treaty may be found in the secret
article, by which the United States stipulated to pay the Creeks fifteen
hundred dollars annually, in all coming time. The reason for making this
stipulation secret is not to be learned from any documentary authority
before the public, and cannot now be accounted for, except from the
delicacy which the authorities of our nation then felt in taxing the
people of the free States, to pay southern Indians for the return of
those Exiles. And it is interesting at this day to look back and
reflect, that for nearly seventy years the people of the nation have
contributed their funds to sustain the authority of those slaveholders
of Georgia over their bondmen, while Northern statesmen have constantly
assured their constituents, they have nothing to do with that
institution.
It would be uncharitable to believe, that General Washington was at that
time conscious that he was thus precipitating our nation upon a policy
destined to involve its government in difficulties, whose termination
would be uncertain.
After the treaty had been agreed to by the parties making it, General
Washington met the chiefs, headmen and warriors, assembled in the Hall
of Representatives, in the presence of members of Congress and a large
concourse of spectators. The treaty was publicly read, and to each
article the Indians expressed their assent, and signed it in the
presence of the people, each receiving from the President a string of
wampum. The President then shook hands with each, which concluded the
ceremonies of the day.
The treaty was transmitted on the following day to the Senate,
accompanied by a Message from the President, saying: "I flatter myself
that this treaty will be productive of present peace and prosperity to
our Southern frontier. It is to be expected, also, that it will be the
means of firmly attaching the Creeks and neighboring tribes to the
interests of the United States." The President also alluded in his
message to the treaty of Galphinton, as containing a stipulation to cede
to Georgia certain other lands, which it was believed would be
detrimental to the interests of the Indians, and, therefore, that
covenant had been disregarded in the "treaty of New York." In another
Message to the Senate, on the eleventh of August, the President says:
"This treaty may be regarded as the main foundation of the future peace
and prosperity of the Southwestern frontier of the United States."
On the ninth of August, a motion was made in the Senate to refer the
treaty to a select committee, which was rejected by a vote of ten nays
to eight yeas; and on the twelfth, it was approved by a vote of fifteen
yeas to four nays; but we have no report of any discussion upon the
subject, nor do we know at this day the objections which dictated the
votes given against its ratification.[13]
CHAPTER II.
FURTHER EFFORTS TO RESTORE EXILES.
Seminoles repudiate Treaty of New York--Attempts to induce Spanish
authorities to deliver up the Exiles--Their refusal--Lower Creeks
hostile to Treaty--McGillivray--His parentage and
character--Georgia hostile to Treaty--Makes war upon
Creeks--General Washington announces failure to maintain
Peace--General Knox's recommendation--Decision of United States
Court--Exertions--Combination of various classes of
Claimants--Washington finds his influence powerless--Appoints Judge
Jay--Failure of claims on England--Condition and habits of
Exiles--Effect on Slaves of Georgia--Treaty of
Colerain--Commissioners of Georgia leave Council in
disgust--Election of the elder Adams--His Administration--Election
of Jefferson--His Administration.
The long pending difficulties between Georgia and the neighboring tribes
of Indians were now (1791) believed to be permanently settled, and it
was thought the new government would proceed in the discharge of its
duties without further perplexity. But it was soon found impossible for
the Creeks to comply with their stipulations. The Seminoles refused to
recognize the treaty, insisting that they were not bound by any compact,
arrangement or agreement, made by the United States and the Creeks, to
which they were not a party, and of which they had no notice; that they
were a separate, independent tribe; that this fact was well known to
both Creeks and the United States; and that the attempt of those parties
to declare what the Seminoles should do, or should not do, was insulting
to their dignity, to their self-respect, and only worthy of their
contempt. They therefore wholly discarded the treaty, and repudiated all
its provisions. They resided in Florida, under the jurisdiction of
Spanish laws, subject only to the crown of Spain. There they enjoyed
that liberty so congenial to savages, as well as civilized men. The
Creeks dared not attempt to bring back the Exiles by force, and the
Government of the United States was unwilling to invade a Spanish colony
for the purpose of recapturing those who had escaped from the bonds of
oppression, and had become legally _free_.
[Sidenote: 1792.]
In this state of affairs, an agent by the name of Seagrove was sent to
Florida for the purpose of negotiating with the Spanish authorities for
the return of the Exiles. He had been agent to the Creek Indians, and
well understood their views in regard to the treaty. When he reached
Florida, he found the authorities of that Province entirely opposed to
the surrender of any subjects of the Spanish crown to slavery. The
Exiles were regarded as holding the same rights which the white citizens
held; and it was evident, that the representatives of the King of Spain
encouraged both the Seminole Indians and Exiles, to refuse compliance
with the treaty of New York.[14]
Nor was the Creek nation united upon this subject. The "lower Creeks,"
or those who resided on the southern frontier of Georgia, were not
zealous in their support of the treaty; and it was said that
McGillivray, the principal chief of the Creeks, was himself becoming
unfriendly to the United States, and rather disposed to unite with the
Spanish authorities. This man exerted great influence with the Indians.
He was the son of an Indian trader, a Scotchman, by a Creek woman, the
daughter of a distinguished chief. He had received a good English
education; but his father had joined the English during the Revolution,
and he, having been offended by some leading men of Georgia, had taken
up his residence with the Indians and become their principal chief, in
whom they reposed implicit confidence.
Amid these difficulties, the people of Georgia manifested an equal
hostility to the treaty, inasmuch as it surrendered a large territory
to that State, which the authorities of Georgia pretended to have
obtained by the treaty of Galphinton. The general feeling in that State
was far from being satisfied with the action of the Federal Government.
Seagrove, writing to the Secretary of War on this subject, declared,
that "to such lengths have matters gone, that they (the Georgians) now
consider the troops and servants of the United States who are placed
among them, nearly as great enemies as they do the Indians."[15]
Under these circumstances, the Governor of Georgia was addressed, by
order of the President; but he evidently participated in the popular
feeling of his State. While the Spanish authorities and Seminoles, both
Indians and Exiles, repudiated the treaty of New York, Governor
Tellfair, of Georgia, declared that the people of his State "_would
recognize no treaty in which her commissioners were not consulted_."
Instead of observing its stipulations of peace, he proceeded to raise an
army; invaded the Creek country, attacked one of their towns said to be
friendly to Georgia, killed some of their people, took others prisoners,
burned their dwellings, and destroyed their crops.
[Sidenote: 1794.]
The Creeks declared their inability to return the Exiles,[16] and, on
the thirtieth of January, General Washington, in a Special Message to
Congress, announced the failure of all efforts to maintain tranquillity
between the people of Georgia and the Creek Indians. Such were the
difficulties surrounding the subject of regaining the Exiles, that
General Knox, Secretary of War, in a written communication addressed to
the President, recommended that Congress should make an appropriation to
their owners, from the public treasury, as the only practicable manner
in which that matter could be settled.[17] This communication was
transmitted to Congress by the President, accompanied by a special
message, recommending it to the consideration of that body; but the
members appeared unwilling to adopt the policy thus suggested. They
seem to have entertained doubts as to the propriety of appropriating the
money of the people to pay for fugitive slaves. They respectfully laid
the Message, and the recommendation of the Secretary of War, upon the
table, and ordered them to be printed.[18]
The claimants of the Exiles were again encouraged and strengthened in
their expectations by the excitement prevailing in the southern portion
of the Union, arising from a decision of the Circuit Court of the United
States, held at Richmond, Virginia. At the commencement of the war, the
States prohibited the collection of debts due British subjects from
citizens of the Colonies. These debts had remained unpaid for some
sixteen years; and although the debtors entertained an expectation of
paying them at some future period, many intended meeting those demands
by the funds which they supposed would be awarded them as indemnity for
slaves carried away in British vessels during the Revolution, and for
those enlisted into the British army.
These laws, enacted at the commencement of the Revolution, were declared
by the Court to have been superseded by the treaty of peace, in 1783;
and the debtors in the several States thus became liable to the payment
of those debts, while their demands of indemnity for slaves were
pending, and the British Government had thus far refused to acknowledge
their validity. These claimants became impatient of delay, and demanded
that another treaty be formed with England, by which they could obtain
indemnity for the loss of their slaves. These uniting with those who
claimed a return of the Exiles in Florida, constituted an influential
portion of the people of the Southern States, whose joint influence was
exerted to involve the Government in the support of slavery.
Notwithstanding these clamors, the Government was powerless as to
obtaining relief for either class. The British Ministry refused
indemnity, and the Seminoles, supported and encouraged by the Spanish
authorities, were inexorable in their refusal to surrender the Exiles.
At that early period of our history, the subject of slavery greatly
perplexed the Federal Administration; nor was the genius, or the
influence of Washington, sufficiently powerful to silence the
malcontents. He was fortunate in selecting Judge Jay, of New York, as a
Minister Plenipotentiary, for negotiating a treaty with Great Britain.
This illustrious patriot possessed great purity of character; had long
been distinguished for his devotion to the welfare of the nation; and,
although a Northern man, Southern slave claimants could raise no
objection to him.
But every step towards the adjustment of the claims arising for slaves
carried away by the English ships, or enlisted into the British army,
had the effect to render the owners of Exiles more importunate. There
was only one recourse, however, left for the Administration; they could
do no more than to call on the Creeks for a new treaty, in order to
adjust these claims.
[Sidenote: 1795]
As the President was about to take measures for obtaining another treaty
with the Creeks, news arrived from England that Judge Jay, in forming a
new treaty with the British Crown, had been constrained to surrender all
claims of our citizens for slaves carried from the United States in
British vessels during the war, or for those who had enlisted into the
British service. This news created much excitement among the
slaveholders of the Southern States. The treaty was denounced by the
public Press, and a strong effort was made to defeat its approval by the
Senate. But failing in that, the slave power was rallied in opposition
to making any appropriation, by the House of Representatives, for
carrying the treaty into effect, and perhaps at no time since the Union
was formed, has it been in greater danger of disruption; but the friends
of the treaty prevailed in both Houses of Congress, and it became a
paramount law of the nation.
While those incidents were transpiring, the Exiles were engaged in
cultivating their lands, extending their plantations and increasing
their flocks and herds, and consolidating their friendships with the
Indians around them. Of all these facts the bondmen of Georgia had full
knowledge. It were impossible for them to contemplate their friends, in
the enjoyment of these rights and privileges, without a strong desire to
share in those blessings of freedom. The example of the Exiles was thus
constantly exerting an influence upon those who remained in bondage.
Many of them sought opportunities to flee into Florida, where they, in
like manner, became free subjects of Spain.
[Sidenote: 1796.]
This condition of things induced General Washington to make another
effort to remedy existing evils, and prevent their recurrence in future.
He took measures to obtain the attendance of the Chiefs, head men and
warriors of the Creek nation, at a place called Colerain, for the
purpose of forming another treaty. He again appointed Benjamin Hawkins,
George Clymer and Andrew Pickens, Commissioners, to meet the Indians in
Council, and agree upon the proper adjustment of pending difficulties.
These men were interested in the institution of Slavery, and were
supposed to be perfectly acceptable to the claimants, as well as to the
authorities of Georgia.
The parties met at the place appointed, and proceeded to the
consideration of the proposed treaty. The Creeks were not disposed to
make further grants of territory; nor were they able to give any better
assurance for the return of the Exiles than had been given at New York.
They insisted that, by the treaty of New York, they were only bound to
return those negroes who had been captured _since_ the treaty of peace
between the United States and Great Britain; these they had delivered
up, so far as they were able to surrender them. They admitted there were
more negroes among them, whom they might probably obtain at some future
day, and expressed a willingness to do so. It is however evident, from
the talk of the various Chiefs, that they had no idea of returning those
Exiles who were residing in Florida--no allusion being made to them by
either of the Commissioners, on the part of the United States, nor by
the Indians. The Council was also attended by Commissioners on the part
of Georgia, who attempted to dictate the manner of transacting the
business, and, even in offensive language, charged the Commissioners of
the United States with improper conduct; but in no instance did they
name the Seminoles, nor allude to any obligation, on the part of the
Creeks, to return the Exiles resident among the Seminoles. It should
however be borne in mind, that these Commissioners on behalf of Georgia
left the council in disgust, before the close of the negotiation. In the
treaty itself, however, there is a stipulation that the treaty of New
York shall remain in force, except such parts as were expressly changed
by that entered into at Colerain; and that portion of the treaty of New
York by which the Creeks assumed to bind the Seminoles, was not
changed.[19]
The seventh article of the Treaty of Colerain reads as follows:--"The
Creek nation shall deliver, as soon as practicable, to the
Superintendent of Indian Affairs, at such place as he may direct, all
the citizens of the United States, white inhabitants and negroes, who
are now prisoners in any part of the said nation, agreeably to the
treaty at New York; and also all citizens, white inhabitants, negroes
and property, taken since the signing of that treaty. And if any such
prisoners, negroes, or property, should not be delivered on or before
the first day of January next, the Governor of Georgia may empower three
persons to repair to the said nation, in order to claim and receive such
prisoners, negroes and property, under the direction of the President of
the United States." This stipulation was understood by the Creeks, and
they were willing to perform it; but it is very obvious, from all the
circumstances, that they had no idea of binding the Seminoles to return
the Exiles resident in Florida.
The State of Georgia obtained very little territory by this treaty, and
no further indemnity for the loss of their fugitive bondmen. The people
of that State, therefore, were greatly dissatisfied with it. But the
extraordinary feature of this treaty, consists in the subsequent
construction placed upon it by the authorities of Georgia, who,
twenty-five years subsequently, insisted that the Seminoles were in fact
a part of the Creek tribe, bound by the Creek treaties, and that the
Creek nation were under obligation to compel the Seminoles to observe
treaties made by the Creeks.
In each of the treaties made between the State of Georgia and the
Creeks, as well as in that made at New York, between the United States
and the Creek nation, attempts had been made to bind the Seminoles,
although that tribe had steadily and uniformly denied the authority of
the Creeks to bind them; and being sustained by the Spanish authorities,
it became evident that all further efforts to induce them to submit to
the government of the Creeks would be useless. This independence they
had maintained for nearly half a century. They had in no instance
acknowledged the authority of the Creeks since they left Georgia, in
1750; nor is it reasonable to suppose the authorities of that State, or
those of the United States, were ignorant of that important
circumstance.
The flagrant injustice of holding the Creeks responsible for fugitive
slaves resident in Florida, and under protection of the Spanish crown,
must be obvious to every reader; and the inquiry will at once arise. Why
did the Creek chiefs at New York consent to such a stipulation? The
answer _perhaps_ may be found in the secret article of that treaty,
giving to the Creeks fifteen hundred dollars annually, _forever_, and to
McGillivray _twelve hundred dollars during life_, and to six other
chiefs _one hundred dollars annually_. These direct and positive bribes
could not fail to have effect. The necessity for keeping this article
secret from the Indians generally, and from the people of the United
States, is very apparent; as the propriety of thus taking money, drawn
from the free States to bribe Indian chiefs to obligate their nation to
seize and return fugitive slaves, would have been doubted by savages as
well as civilized men. But the duty of the Creeks to seize and return
the Exiles was legally recognized by the treaty of Colerain, which
admitted the treaty of New York to be in force. This was regarded as a
continuance of the claims of Georgia, although the Creeks appear to have
had no idea of entering into such stipulations.
[Sidenote: 1797.]
Many circumstances now combined to quiet the apprehensions of the
fugitive bondmen in Florida. The elder Adams had been elected President
in the autumn of 1796, and assumed the duties of his office on the
fourth of March following. A descendant of the Pilgrims, he had been
reared and educated among the lovers of liberty; he had long served in
Congress; he had reported upon the rights of the people of the Colonies
in 1774, and was chairman of the committee who reported the Declaration
of Independence, in 1776, and to its doctrines he had ever exhibited an
unfaltering devotion. From such an Administration the claimants in
Georgia could expect but little aid.
Another consideration, cheering to the friends of Freedom, was the total
failure of the claims on Great Britain, for slaves lost during the War
of the Revolution. The influence of those claimants was no longer felt
in the Government. The public indignation was also somewhat excited
against the institution of Slavery by incidents of a barbarous
character, which had then recently transpired in North Carolina. After
the promulgation of the Declaration of Independence, the Quakers of that
State, conscious of its momentous truths, proceeded in good faith to
emancipate their slaves; believing that the only mode in which they
could evince their adherence to its doctrines.
The advocates of oppression were offended at this practical recognition
of the "equal right of all men to liberty," and, to manifest their
abhorrence of such doctrines, arrested the slaves so emancipated as
_fugitives from labor_. The Quakers, ever true to their convictions of
justice, lent their influence, and contributed their funds, to test the
legal rights of the persons thus set at liberty, before the proper
tribunals of the State; and the question was carried to the Court of
Appeals, where a final judgment was rendered in favor of their freedom.
This decision appears to have disappointed general expectation among the
advocates of slavery, and created much excitement throughout the State.
At the next session of the Legislature, an act was passed authorizing
persons possessing landed property to seize and reënslave the people
thus emancipated. But the planters of that State were usually possessed
of wealth and intelligence, and, holding principles of honor, they
refused to perform so degrading a service; and the liberated negroes
continued to enjoy their freedom.
But the opponents of liberty became so clamorous against the example
thus set in favor of freedom, that the Legislature passed an amendatory
act, authorizing _any person_ to seize, imprison and sell, as slaves,
any negro who had been emancipated in said State, _except those who had
served in the army of the United States during the war of the
Revolution_.
Persons of desperate character, gamblers, slave-dealers and horse
thieves, were now authorized to gratify their cupidity, by seizing and
selling persons who had for years enjoyed their liberty; and the scenes
which followed, were in no respect creditable to the State, to the
civilization or Christianity of the age. Emancipated families were
broken up and separated for ever. In some instances the wife escaped,
while the husband was captured. Parents were seized, and their children
escaped. Bloodhounds were employed to chase down those who fled to the
forests and swamps, in order to avoid men more cruel than bloodhounds.
The Quakers, so far as able, assisted these persecuted people to escape
to other States. Some left North Carolina on board ships; others fled
north by land; and many reached the free States, where their descendants
yet live. But even our free States did not afford a safe retreat from
the cruelty of inexorable slave-catchers. Those free persons were seized
in Philadelphia, and, under the fugitive slave law of 1793, were
imprisoned in that city; and, what excites still greater wonder, were
delivered up and carried back to bondage.[20]
Some of these people, while in Pennsylvania, sent petitions to Congress,
praying protection against such barbarity; and great excitement was
aroused among Southern members by the presentation of such petitions.
The Quakers of that State, and of New Jersey, also sent petitions to
Congress, praying that these people may be protected against such
piratical persecution. The popular feeling of the nation was shocked at
these things, and great indignation against the institution, generally,
was aroused.
* * * * *
We have no record of further attempts on the part of the claimants to
obtain a return of the Exiles, after the Treaty of Colerain, until the
close of Mr. Adams's administration. During that period, the fugitives
remained quietly in their homes, undisturbed by their former masters.
Their numbers were often increased by new arrivals, as well as by the
natural laws of population, and they began to assume the appearance of
an established community.
In 1801, Mr. Jefferson entered upon the duties of President. He had
himself penned the Declaration of Independence, and manifested a deep
devotion to its doctrines. Nor do we find that any attempt was made by
him for the return of the Exiles; nor were there any measures adopted to
obtain indemnity for the loss of the claimants during the eight years of
his Administration.
In 1802, a new law regulating intercourse with the Indian tribes was
enacted, by which the holders of slaves were secured for the price or
value of any bondmen who should leave his master and take up his
residence with any Indian tribe resident in the United States, or
Territories thereof--at least such was the construction given to this
statute.
The Creeks, Cherokees, and other Southern tribes, had gradually adopted
the institution of Slavery, so long practiced by their more civilized
neighbors, and thus became interested in every effort to extinguish the
hope cherished among their own bondmen, of regaining freedom by fleeing
from their masters. And many circumstances now appeared to favor the
idea, that no more attempts would be made to compel a return of the
Exiles to bondage.
CHAPTER III.
HOSTILITIES MAINTAINED BY GEORGIA.
Mr. Madison's election--His character--Desire of people of Georgia
to enslave Exiles--They demand annexation of Florida--Congress
passes a law for taking possession of that Territory--General
Mathews appointed Commissioner--Declares insurrection--Takes
possession of Amelia Island--Spanish Government demands
explanation--The President disavows acts of Mathews--Governor
Mitchell succeeds Mathews--Georgia raises an Army--Florida
Invaded--Troops surrounded by savage foes--Their danger--Their
retreat--Stealing Slaves--Lower Creeks join Seminoles--Georgia
demands their surrender--Chiefs refuse--Georgia
complains--President refuses to Interfere--Another Invasion of
Florida--Towns burned; Cattle stolen--Troops withdrawn from Amelia
Island--Public attention directed toward our Northern
frontier--Lord Cockrane enters Chesapeake Bay--Issues Proclamation
to Slaves--Dismay of Slaveholders--Slaves go on board British
ships--Several vessels enter Appalachicola Bay--Col. Nichols lands
there with Troops--Gathers around him Exiles and Indians--Builds a
Fort, arms it, and places Military Stores in Its Magazines--Treaty
of Peace with England--Provision in regard to Slaves taken away
during War--Claimants of the Exiles encouraged--Col Nichols
delivers Fort to the Exiles--Their plantations, wealth, and social
condition--Our Army--General Gaines represents Fort as in
possession of Outlaws--Plans for its
destruction--Correspondence--General Jackson's order--Col. Clinch's
Expedition--Met by Sailing-Master Loomis and two gun-boats--Fort
blown up--Destruction of human life--Negroes captured and
enslaved--Property taken--Claimed by Governor of Florida--First
Seminole War commenced.
When Mr. Madison assumed the duties of President (March 4, 1809), the
Exiles were quietly enjoying their freedom; each sitting under his own
vine and fig-tree, without molestation or fear. Many had been born in
the Seminole country, and now saw around them children and
grand-children, in the enjoyment of all the necessaries of life. Many,
even of those who fled from Georgia after the formation of that colony,
had departed to their final rest; but their children and friends had
been comparatively free from persecutions since the Treaty of Colerain,
in 1796. Discarding all connection with the Creeks, and living under
protection of Spain, and feeling their right to liberty was
"self-evident," they believed the United States to have tacitly admitted
their claims to freedom. With these impressions, they dwelt in conscious
security, believing no further attempts would be made to reënslave them.
Mr. Madison had penned the memorable Address of Congress to the people
of the United States, published near the close of the old Confederation,
in which was reiterated, in glowing language, the doctrines of the
Declaration of Independence; and in the Convention that framed the
Constitution, he had declared "it would be wrong to admit, in that
instrument, that _man can hold property in man_."
[Sidenote: 1810.]
The people of Georgia were not satisfied with the existing state of
things. They were greatly excited at seeing those who had once been
slaves, in South Carolina and in Georgia, now live quietly and happily
in the enjoyment of liberty, with their flocks and their herds, their
wives and their little ones, around them; but they were on Spanish soil,
protected by Spanish laws. The only mode of enslaving them was, firstly,
to obtain jurisdiction of the Territory; and the annexation of Florida
to the United States was, accordingly, urged upon the Federal
Government.
[Sidenote: 1811.]
Spain had acquired her American territories by conquest, and was too
proud to part with them. An excitement, however, was raised in favor of
its annexation; and this anxiety to secure the slave interests of the
South, soon extended to Congress, and infused itself into the Executive
policy of the nation. A law was passed by the two Houses, in secret
session, and approved by the President, for taking possession of
Florida. Gen. Mathews, a slaveholder of Georgia, was appointed
Commissioner for that purpose. A few malcontents were found in the
northeastern part of the Territory; their numbers were increased by men
of desperate fortunes from Georgia; and an insurrection was proclaimed
by the Acting General. Mathews, commanding the insurgents, took
possession of Amelia Island, and of the country opposite to it on the
main land. The Spanish Government, on learning the outrage, remonstrated
with our Executive, who disavowed the acts of Mathews, whom he recalled;
and proceeded to appoint General Mitchell, the Governor of Georgia, to
act as Commissioner, in place of Mathews.
Mitchell, however, continued to hold military possession of the island
and part of the main land, and, in fact, continued to carry forward the
policy which Mathews had inaugurated. These things occurred while our
nation was professedly at peace with Spain, and constituted a most
flagrant violation of our national faith.
[Sidenote: 1812.]
The Executive of Georgia, apparently entertaining the idea that his
State was competent to declare war and make peace, raised an army,
which, under the command of the Adjutant General, entered Florida with
the avowed intention of exterminating the Seminoles, who had so long
refused to surrender the Exiles; while the real object was the recapture
and reënslavement of the refugees. The Creeks of the Lower Towns,
however, took sides with the Seminoles, in opposing this piratical foray
of slave-catchers. The army having penetrated a hundred miles or more
into Florida, found itself surrounded with hostile savages. Their
supplies were cut off; the men, reduced almost to a state of starvation,
were compelled to retrace their steps; and with great loss the survivors
reached Georgia. But they robbed those Spanish inhabitants who fell in
their way of all their provisions, and left them to suffer for the want
of food. Nor were the Georgians satisfied with taking such provisions as
were necessary to support life; they also took with them a large number
of slaves, owned by Spanish masters, with whom they resided.[21]
The people, and the authorities of Georgia, were greatly incensed at the
Creek Indians, who had assisted the Seminoles in defending themselves;
and the Governor of that State demanded of the chiefs a surrender of
those individuals who had thus offended against the sovereignty of that
commonwealth. The chiefs refused to deliver up their brethren, and the
Governor complained to the President of this disregard of slaveholding
comity by the Creeks.
The Federal authorities appear to have felt very little interest in the
matter, and Georgia determined to redress her own grievances. The
Legislature of that State, deeming their interests neglected by the
Federal Government, passed resolutions declaring the occupation of
Florida essential to the safety and welfare of their people, whether
Congress authorized it or not; and they passed an act for raising a
force "_to reduce St. Augustine and punish the Indians_."
Under this declaration of war by the sovereign power of Georgia, another
army was raised. Hunters, trappers, vagabonds, and men of desperate
fortunes, were collected from that State, from East Tennessee, and from
other Southern States, to the number of five hundred; and Florida was
again invaded. This expedition was more successful, in some respects,
than the first. They burned two or three of the smaller Seminole towns,
destroyed several cornfields that had been planted by the Exiles, and
drove back to Georgia large herds of cattle, which they had stolen from
the negroes; yet the principal object of the Expedition failed: They
were unable to capture an individual, or family, of the Exiles. There
were no Spanish inhabitants in that part of Florida from whom they could
capture slaves, and they were compelled to return without human victims,
but with the loss of several individuals of their own party. Thus, after
a struggle of more than two years (ending May, 1813), the State of
Georgia found itself unable to conquer Florida or the Seminoles, or to
capture the Exiles. Further prosecution of the war was given up, the
troops were withdrawn from Amelia Island, and peace was restored.
This extraordinary proceeding, on the part of Georgia, appears to have
excited very little attention at the time; probably in consequence of
the more important operations that were then being carried forward, upon
our Northern and Northwestern frontiers. Harrison at Tippecanoe, and at
Maumee; and Scott and Van Rensselaer at Queenston, and along the Niagara
frontier, were gallantly confronting the British army, aided by powerful
allies from the various neighboring tribes of savages; and so greatly
was the attention of the people of the Northern States absorbed in these
operations, that they were scarcely conscious of the slave-catching
forays carried on by the State of Georgia. Indeed, during these
operations, the public men of that State were among the most vehement
advocates for a strict construction of the Federal Constitution, and for
maintaining the American Union.
[Sidenote: 1814.]
These transactions upon our Southern frontier, called attention of
British Ministers to the Seminoles and the Exiles. A hostile fleet
entered Chesapeake Bay, under Lord Cochrane, who issued a proclamation
inviting all persons (meaning slaves), who desired to emigrate from the
United States, to come with their families on board his Britannic
Majesty's ships of war; assuring them of the privilege of entering his
Majesty's naval service, or of settling with their families, as _free_
persons, in either of the British West India Islands. This proclamation
was widely circulated, and spread very general consternation along our
Southern seaboard: it gave the slaveholders of Georgia occasion to look
to their own protection, and to secure the fidelity of those bondmen who
yet remained in the service of their masters.[22]
[Illustration: Gopher John, Seminole Interpreter.]
Two British sloops of war and some smaller vessels suddenly appeared in
Appalachicola Bay, where they landed a body of troops, under Lieut.
Colonel Nichols, of the British Army, for the purpose of lending support
and protection to the Exiles and their Indian allies. He opened
communications with them, furnished them with arms and ammunition, and
soon drew around him a considerable force of Indians as well as negroes.
His encampment was on the east side of the Appalachicola River, some
thirty miles above its mouth. In November, he completed a strong fort on
the bank of that stream. Some eight pieces of heavy ordnance were
mounted upon its walls, and its magazine was well stored with the
material of war.[23] It was evidently intended as a defense against the
forays of slave-catchers, who were not expected to bring with them heavy
artillery. The plan was well conceived. Even the plundering expeditions
authorized by the State of Georgia, would have been unable to make any
impression on this fortification. But neither Nichols, nor the Exiles,
appear to have anticipated the employment of the United States navy in a
piratical work, discarded by most Christian nations and people, and
allowed to be carried on only upon the African coast.
The British fleet withdrew from the coast of Georgia, and the
slaveholders of that State were relieved, for a time, from those
apprehensions of slave insurrection which had been excited by the
proclamation of Lord Cochrane.
In the meantime the Treaty of Ghent was ratified, and peace restored to
the country. In that treaty the interests of Slavery had not been
forgotten; and the same stipulations were inserted, in regard to the
withdrawal of his Majesty's troops and navy, "without taking or carrying
away any negroes or other property of the citizens," which characterized
the treaty of 1782. The owners of slaves who had fled from service under
the proclamation of Lord Cochrane, now determined to obtain compensation
for their loss. This general feeling again aroused the cupidity of those
whose fathers had once claimed to own those Exiles, who fled from
Georgia some thirty or forty years previously.
In the spring of 1815, Colonel Nichols and his troops withdrew from
Florida, leaving the fort, with its entire armament and magazine of
military stores, in the possession of the Exiles, who resided in the
vicinity. Their plantations extended along the river several miles,
above and below the fort.[24] Many of them possessed large herds of
cattle and horses, which roamed in the forests, gathering their food,
both in summer and winter, without expense or trouble to their owners.
The Pioneer Exiles from South Carolina had settled here long before the
Colony of Georgia existed. Several generations had lived to manhood and
died in those forest-homes. To their descendants it had become
consecrated by "many an oft told tale" of early adventure, of hardship
and suffering; the recollection of which had been retained in tradition,
told in story, and sung in their rude lays. Here were the graves of
their ancestors, around whose memories were clustered the fondest
recollections of the human mind. The climate was genial. They were
surrounded by extensive forests, and far removed from the habitations of
those enemies of freedom who sought to enslave them; and they regarded
themselves as secure in the enjoyment of liberty. Shut out from the
cares and strifes of more civilized men, they were happy in their own
social solitude. So far from seeking to injure the people of the United
States, they were only anxious to be exempt, and entirely free from all
contact with our population or Government; while they faithfully
maintained their allegiance to the Spanish crown.
[Sidenote: 1815.]
Peace with Great Britain, however, had left our army without active
employment. A portion of it was stationed along our Southern frontier of
Georgia, to maintain peace with the Indians. The authorities and people
of Georgia maintained social and friendly relations with the officers
and men of the army. By means of Indian spies, the real condition of the
Exiles was also ascertained and well understood. What means were used to
excite the feelings or prejudices of the military officers against these
unoffending Exiles, is not known at this day. Most of the officers
commanding in the South were, however, slaveholders, and probably felt a
strong sympathy with the people of Georgia in their indignation against
them, for obtaining and enjoying liberty without permission of their
masters.
General Gaines, commanding on the Southern frontier of Georgia, making
Fort Scott his head-quarters, wrote the Secretary of War (May 14),
saying, "certain negroes and outlaws have taken possession of a fort on
the Appalachicola River, in the Territory of Florida." He assured the
Secretary, that he should keep watch of them. He charged them with no
crime, imputed to them no hostile acts. He was conscious that they had
taken possession of the fort solely for their own protection; but he
styled them _negroes_, which, in the language of that day among
slaveholders, was regarded as an imputation of guilt; and _outlaw_ was
supposed to be a proper term with which to characterize those who had
fled from bondage and sworn allegiance to another government.[25]
For more than a year subsequently to the date of this letter, General
Gaines made the Exiles a subject of frequent communication to the War
Department. In this official correspondence, he at all times spoke of
them as "runaways," "outlaws," "pirates," "murderers," etc.; but in no
instance did he charge them with any act hostile to the United States,
or to any other people or government.
Of these communications the Exiles were ignorant. They continued in
peaceful retirement, cultivating the earth, and gaining a support for
themselves and families. In the autumn of 1815, they gathered their
crops, provided for the support of the aged and infirm, as well as for
their children. They carefully nursed the sick; they buried their dead;
they lived in peace, and enjoyed the fruits of their labor. The
following spring and summer found them in this enviable condition.
[Sidenote: 1816.]
While the Exiles living on the Appalachicola were thus pursuing the even
tenor of their ways, plans were ripening among the slaveholders and
military officers of our army for their destruction. A correspondence
was opened by the Secretary of War with General Jackson, who commanded
the Southwestern Military District of the United States, holding his
head-quarters at Nashville, Tennessee. Various letters and
communications passed between those officers in regard to this "Negro
Fort," as they called it.
Power is never more dangerous than when wielded by military men. They
usually feel ambitious to display their own prowess, and that of the
troops under their command; and no person can read the communications of
General Gaines, in regard to the Exiles who had gathered in and around
this fort, without feeling conscious that he greatly desired to give to
the people of the United States an example of the science and power by
which they could destroy human life.[26]
At length, on the sixteenth of May, General Jackson wrote General
Gaines, saying, "I have little doubt of the fact, that this fort has
been established by some villains for the purpose of rapine and plunder,
and that it ought to be blown up, regardless of the ground on which it
stands; and if your mind shall have formed the same conclusion, destroy
it and return the _stolen negroes_ and property to their rightful
owners."[27]
Without attempting to criticise this order of General Jackson, we must
regard a fort thus situated, at least sixty miles from the border of the
United States, as a most singular instrument for the purpose of
"rapine," or plundering our citizens. Nor could General Jackson have
entertained any apprehensions from those who occupied the fort. The
entire correspondence showed them to be _refugees_, seeking only to
avoid our people; indeed, his very order shows this, for he directs
General Gaines to return the "_stolen negroes_ to their rightful
owners." The use of opprobrious epithets is not often resorted to by men
in high official stations: yet it is difficult to believe, that General
Jackson supposed these negroes to have been stolen; for, neither in the
official correspondence on this subject, nor in the papers accompanying
it, embracing more than a hundred documentary pages, is there a hint
that these negroes were "_stolen_," or that they had committed violence
upon any person, or upon the property of any person whatever. They had
sought their own liberty, and the charge of stealing themselves, was
used like the other epithets of "outlaws," "pirates" and "murderers," to
cast opprobrium upon the character of men who, if judged by their love
of liberty or their patriotism, would now occupy a position not less
honorable in the history of our country than is assigned to the patriots
of 1776.
Nor is it easy to discover the rule of international law, which
authorized the Executive of the United States, or the officers of our
army, to dictate to the crown of Spain in what part of his territory he
should, or should not, erect fortresses; or the constitutional power
which they held for invading the territory of a nation at peace with the
United States, destroy a fort, and consign its occupants to slavery. But
those were days of official arrogance on the one hand, and popular
submission on the other. The Exiles, or their ancestors, had once been
slaves. They now were cultivating the richest lands in Florida, and
possessed wealth; they were occupying a strong fortress. Many slaves
during the recent war had escaped from their masters, in Georgia, and
some were supposed to be free subjects of Spain, living in Florida; and
if the Exiles were permitted to enjoy their plantations and property in
peace, it was evident that the institution in adjoining States would be
in danger of a total overthrow. These facts were apparent to General
Jackson, as well as to General Gaines and the slaveholders of Georgia.
General Gaines only awaited permission from his superior to carry out
the designs of the slaveholders, who had become alarmed at the dangers
to which their "peculiar institution" was subjected. Upon the receipt of
the order above quoted, he detailed Lieut. Col. Clinch,[28] of the
regular troops, with his regiment and five hundred friendly Creek
Indians, under McIntosh, their principal chief, to carry out the
directions of General Jackson. Colonel Clinch was directed to take with
him two pieces of artillery, for the purpose of cannonading the fort if
necessary.[29]
This commencement of the first Seminole war was, at the time, unknown
to the people of the United States. It was undertaken for the purposes
stated in General Jackson's order, to "blow up the fort, and _return the
negroes to their rightful owners_." Historians have failed to expose the
cause of hostilities, or the barbarous foray which plunged the nation
into that bloody contest which cost the people millions of treasure and
the sacrifice of hundreds of human lives.
It was July before the arrangements were fully made by Colonel Clinch
and his savage allies for descending the river, with suitable artillery
and supplies, to accomplish the object of their mission.[30] The Creeks,
having entered into the treaties of New York and Colerain, by which they
bound themselves, twenty years previously, to return those Exiles who
fled from Georgia, and having failed to perform those stipulations, now
cheerfully united with the American army in this first slave-catching
expedition undertaken by the Federal Government.
Of these movements the Exiles had been informed by their neighbors, the
friendly Creeks; for, among the Lower Creeks, were individuals who at
all times sympathized with them, and kept them informed of the measures
adopted for their destruction. All the families living on the river and
in the vicinity of the fort, fled to it for protection. They had no idea
of the advantages arising from scientific warfare; they believed their
fortification impregnable. Colonel Nichols had erected it for the
purpose of affording them protection, and they had no doubt of its
efficiency for that purpose.
Such were the delays attending the journey, in consequence of
difficulties in transporting heavy guns and provisions, that the troops
did not reach the vicinity of the fort until the twenty-fourth of July.
In the meantime, Commodore Patterson, in pursuance of orders from the
naval department, had detailed Sailing-Master Loomis, with two
gun-boats, to assist in carrying out the order of General Jackson.[31]
On the twenty-fourth of July, Colonel Clinch commenced a reconnoisance
of the fort. On the twenty-fifth, he cleared away the brush and erected
a battery, and placed upon it two long eighteen-pounders, and commenced
a cannonade of the fortress. At the time of this investment, there were
about three hundred Exiles in the fort, including women and children,
besides thirty-four Seminole Indians:[32] yet in the official report of
Colonel Clinch, he makes no mention of his fire being returned; nor does
he say that any of his men were killed or wounded by the occupants of
the fort.
On the twenty-sixth of July, Sailing-Master Loomis, with his command,
reached a point on the river some two miles below the fort. Colonel
Clinch met him at that place, for consultation, and informed him that
his fire had thus far proved ineffectual, and that a nearer approach of
artillery by land would be difficult.[33]
Judging from the language used in his official dispatch, Sailing-Master
Loomis must have entertained some feelings of distrust towards Colonel
Clinch, as they evidently separated in bad temper: yet no officer in the
service of the United States ever exhibited greater prudence in his
preparations, or more firmness in battle, than Colonel Clinch. He was,
however, a man of kind and humane feelings, and high notions of honor.
It has been supposed by many of his friends, that he shrank from the
perpetration of the outrage which he had been detailed to commit.[34]
On the morning of the twenty-seventh, Loomis, with his boats, ascended
the river and cast anchor opposite the fort, while Colonel Clinch and
the Creek Indians took positions so as to cut off retreat by land. The
cannonade was resumed, and the land and naval forces of the United
States were engaged in throwing shot and shells for the purpose of
murdering those friendless Exiles, those women and children, who had
committed no other offense than that of having been born of parents who,
a century previously, had been held in bondage. Mothers and children now
shrieked with terror as the roar of cannon, the whistling of balls, the
explosion of shells, the war-whoops of the savages, the groans of the
wounded and dying, foretold the sad fate which awaited them. The
stout-hearted old men cheered and encouraged their friends, declaring
that death was to be preferred to slavery.
The struggle, however, was not protracted. The cannon balls not taking
effect upon the embankments of earth, they prepared their furnaces and
commenced the fire of hot shot, directed at the principal magazine. This
mode proved more successful. A ball, fully heated, reached the powder in
the magazine. The small size of the fort, and the great number of people
in it, rendered the explosion unusually fatal. Many were entirely buried
in the ruins, others were killed by falling timbers, while many bodies
were torn in pieces. Limbs were separated from bodies to which they had
been attached, and death, in all its horrid forms, was visible within
that doomed fortress.[35]
Of three hundred and thirty-four souls within the fort, two hundred and
seventy were _instantly killed_; while of the sixty who remained, only
_three_ escaped without injury.[36] Two of the survivors--one negro and
one Indian--were selected as supposed chiefs of the allied forces within
the fort. They were delivered over to the Indians who accompanied
Colonel Clinch, and were massacred within the fort, in the presence of
our troops;[37] but no report on record shows the extent of torture to
which they were subjected.
We have no reliable information as to the number who died of their
wounds. They were placed on board the gun-boats, and their wounds were
dressed by the surgeons; and those who recovered were afterwards
delivered over to claimants in Georgia. Those who were slightly wounded,
but able to travel, were taken back with Colonel Clinch to Georgia and
delivered over to men who claimed to have descended from planters who,
some three or four generations previously, owned the ancestors of the
prisoners. There could be no proof of identity, nor was there any court
authorized to take testimony, or enter decree in such case; but they
were delivered over upon _claim_, taken to the interior, and sold to
different planters. There they mingled with that mass of chattelized
humanity which characterizes our Southern States, and were swallowed up
in that tide of oppression which is now bearing three millions of human
beings to untimely graves.
Sailing-Master Loomis informed the Naval Department, through Commodore
Patterson, that the value of the property captured in the fort was "not
less than two hundred thousand dollars." He also stated that a portion
of this property was "delivered over by Colonel Clinch to the Indians
who had accompanied him, on the _express agreement that they should
share in the plunder_." Another portion of property was held by Colonel
Clinch, as necessary for the use of the troops. A list of the articles
thus taken is given in the report: it embraces spades, shovels,
pickaxes, swords, sword-belts, pistols and muskets. The remainder of the
property was taken on board the gun-boats, and held subject to the order
of the Secretary of the Navy.[38]
The Governor of Florida demanded, in the name of "his Most Christian
Majesty the king of Spain," possession of the property thus captured in
the fort; denying the right of either our army or navy to invade the
territory of Spain, and take and carry away property from its
fortifications.
To this claim Sailing-Master Loomis replied, that the property did not
belong to the Spanish crown, but to the Exiles, who were in possession
of it, from whom it was taken by _conquest_. This correspondence between
his Excellency the Governor of Florida and the Commander of the two
gun-boats, was duly transmitted to our Government at Washington, and may
now be found in our National Archives.[39]
Some twenty-two years subsequent to the capture of this property, and
the massacre of those who were in possession of it, a bill was reported
in the House of Representatives,[40] granting five thousand dollars to
the officers, marines and sailors who constituted the crews of those
gun-boats, as compensation for their _gallant_ services. Whether the
honorable Chairman of the Naval Committee who reported the bill, or any
member of the House who voted for it, was aware of the true character of
the services rendered, is a matter of doubt; but the bill passed without
opposition, became a law, and the people of the United States paid that
bonus for the perpetration of one of the darkest crimes which stains
the history of any civilized nation.[41]
The official correspondence connected with this massacre was called for
by resolution, adopted in the House of Representatives, and was
communicated to that body at the second session of the fifteenth
Congress. But no action appears to have been proposed in regard to it;
nor does it appear that public attention was at that time particularly
called to this most wanton sacrifice of human life.
In this massacre, nearly every Exile resident upon the Appalachicola
River, including women and children, perished or was reënslaved. Their
homes were left desolate; their plantations, and their herds of cattle
and horses, became the property of those who first obtained possession
of them. Probably one-third of all the Exiles at that time resident in
Florida, perished in this massacre, or were reënslaved by Colonel
Clinch; yet the atrocious character of the transaction appears to have
attracted very little attention at the time. General Jackson was popular
as a military officer, and the Administration of Mr. Madison was
regarded with general favor. No member of Congress protested against the
transaction, or made known its barbarity to the people; while the ablest
members taxed their ingenuity, and brought all their rhetoric to bear,
in vindication of those concerned in the outrage.[42]
While Mr. Clay and others severely condemned the technical invasion of
Florida, as an act of hostility toward the King of Spain, they omitted
all reference to this wanton massacre of the Exiles: nor have we been
able to learn that any member even intimated that the bloody Seminole
war of 1816-17 and 18, arose from efforts of our Government to sustain
the interests of Slavery; or that our troops were employed to murder
women and children because their ancestors had once been held in
bondage, and to seize and carry back to toil and suffering those who
escaped death in that barbarous massacre. The officers of Government,
and historians of that day, appear to have avoided all reference to the
fact, that the people thus murdered had been far longer in the
wilderness than were the children of Israel; that they were contending
for that Liberty which is the rightful inheritance of every human being.
Indeed, more than twenty years elapsed after this massacre, before a
distinguished Philanthropist gave to the public the first intimation
that such a people as the Exiles had existed.[43]
CHAPTER IV.
GENERAL HOSTILITIES.
The Troops along the Florida frontier become active--The Exiles on
Suwanee and Withlacoochee prepare for War--General Gaines's
representation of their numbers--Depredations committed during the
Spring and Summer of 1817--Massacre of Lieutenant Scott and his
party--Its Effect upon the Country--Congress not consulted as to
this War--General Gaines authorized to Invade Florida--General
Jackson ordered to the Field--Mr. Monroe assumes the Duties of
President--His Cabinet--Character of Congress--Public Sentiment in
regard to discussion of Subjects connected with Slavery--General
Jackson concentrates his Army at Fort Scott--Proceeds to
Mickasukie--Battle--Destruction of the Town--Marches to St.
Marks--Indian Chiefs decoyed on board a Vessel--Hanged by order of
General Jackson--The Army moves upon Suwanee--Its Situation--Exiles
prepare for a decisive Battle--Severe Conflict--General Jackson
takes the Town--Captures Indian Women and Children--Burns the
Villages of that region--Returns to Pensacola--Capture and Trial of
Arbuthnot and Ambrister--Their Execution--Invasion of Florida
condemned by some of our Statesmen, and vindicated by others.
The nation having been precipitated into war (1816), the Officers of
Government, and the army, at once became active in carrying it on.
Orders were sent to General Gaines, exhorting him to vigilance, caution
and promptitude. He was on the southern frontier of Georgia, where it
was naturally supposed the first blow, in retaliation for the massacre
of Blount's Fort, would fall. His scouts were constantly on the alert,
his outposts strengthened, and his troops kept in readiness for action.
The Seminole Indians had lost some thirty men, who had intermarried with
the Exiles, and were in the fort at the time of the massacre. They
entertain the opinion that the souls of their murdered friends are never
at rest while their blood remains unavenged; nor could it be supposed
that the Exiles would feel no desire to visit retributive justice upon
the murderers of their friends. Long did this desire continue, in the
minds of the surviving Exiles, until, many years subsequently, their
vengeance was satiated, their hands were stained, and their garments
saturated, in the blood of our troops.
The surviving Exiles had their principal remaining settlements upon the
Suwanee and Withlacoochee rivers, and in the Mickasukie towns. These
settlements were on fertile lands, and were now relied upon to furnish
provisions for their support during hostilities. Savages are usually
impetuous; but the Exiles were more deliberate. Colonel Clinch had
returned to Georgia; Sailing-Master Loomis was at Mobile Bay, and no
circumstances demanded immediate action. They gathered their crops,
obtained arms and ammunition from British and Spanish merchants, and
made every preparation for hostilities. During the summer and autumn of
1816, General Gaines reported slight depredations on the frontiers of
Georgia, but in February, 1817, he reported that larger bodies of
Indians were collecting in some of their villages; and in one of his
letters he stated that _seven hundred negroes_ were collected at
Suwanee, and were being daily drilled to the use of arms. This number of
fighting men would indicate a larger population of Exiles than is
warranted by subsequent information.
[Sidenote: 1817.]
During the Spring and Summer, both parties were in a state of
preparation--of constant readiness for war. A few predatory excursions
to the frontier settlements, marked the action of the Indians and
Exiles, while the army, under General Gaines, often sent parties into
the Indian country, without any important incident or effect. The first
effective blow was struck in November. A boat was ascending the
Appalachicola river, with supplies for Fort Scott, under the escort of a
Lieutenant and forty men, in company with a number of women and
children. Information of this fact was communicated to the Exiles and
Indians resident at Mickasukie, and a band of warriors at once hastened
to intercept them. They succeeded in drawing them into ambush, a few
miles below the mouth of Flint River, and the Lieutenant, and all his
men but six, and all the children, and all the women but one, were
massacred on the spot. Six soldiers escaped, and one woman was spared
and taken to Suwanee as a prisoner. Here she was kept by the Exiles
through the winter, and treated with great kindness, residing in their
families and sharing their hospitality. She had thus an opportunity of
learning their condition, and the state of civilization to which they
had attained, as well as their desire to be at peace with mankind, in
order to enjoy their own rights and liberties.
[Sidenote: 1818.]
This massacre was regarded by the country as a most barbarous and wanton
sacrifice of human life. The newspapers blazoned it forth as an
exhibition of savage barbarity. The deep indignation of the people was
invoked against the Seminoles, who were represented as alone responsible
for the murder of Lieutenant Scott, and his men. Probably nine-tenths of
the Editors, thus assailing the Seminoles, were not aware of the
atrocious sacrifice of human life at "Blount's Fort," in July of the
previous year. Even the President of the United States, in his Message
(March 25), relating to these hostile movements of the Seminoles, during
the previous year, declared "_The hostilities of this Tribe were
unprovoked_," as though the record of the massacre at "Blount's Fort"
had been erased from the records of the moral Universe. Notwithstanding
our army had, in a time of profound peace, invaded the Spanish
Territory, marched sixty miles into its interior, opened a cannonade
upon "Blount's Fort," blown it up, with an unprecedented massacre, in
which both Seminole Indians and negroes were slain, and two of their
principal men given over to barbarous torture; yet, the President, in
his Message, as if to falsify the history of current events, declared
that "as almost the whole of this Tribe inhabit the country within the
limits of Florida, Spain was bound, by the Treaty of 1795, to restrain
them from committing depredations against the United States." Such were
the efforts made to misrepresent facts, in relation to the first
Seminole War. With its commencement, the people had nothing to do; they
were not consulted, nor were their Representatives in Congress permitted
to exercise any influence over the subject. The correspondence between
General Gaines and the Secretary of War, in regard to the occupation of
the fort by the Exiles, had commenced on the fourteenth of May, 1815. It
was continued while Congress was in session, in 1815 and 1816, but no
facts in regard to the plan of destroying it, and entering upon a war,
for the purpose of murdering or enslaving the Exiles, had been
communicated to Congress or the public.
Orders were now issued to General Gaines, authorizing him to carry the
war into Florida, for the purpose of punishing the Seminoles. General
Jackson was ordered to take the field, in person, with power to call on
the States of Tennessee and Georgia for such militia as he might deem
necessary, for the due prosecution of the war; and the most formidable
arrangements were made for carrying on hostilities upon a large scale.
Mr. Monroe had assumed the duties of President in March, 1817. He had
appointed Hon. John Quincy Adams Secretary of State, at the commencement
of his administration; but the office of Secretary of War was not filled
by a permanent appointment, for some months, in consequence of Governor
Shelby's refusal to accept it, on account of his advanced age. It was
finally conferred on Hon. John C. Calhoun, who, through his entire
official life, was distinguished for his devotion to the institution of
Slavery; and this war having been entered upon for the support of that
institution, it may well be supposed that he exerted his utmost energies
for its vigorous prosecution.
The fifteenth Congress assembled in December, 1817. Most of the members
from the free States had not enjoyed the advantages of having served
long in that body. They afterwards showed themselves able men; but the
business of legislation requires experience, industry, and a perfect
knowledge of the past action of government. This cannot be obtained in
one session, nor in one Congress; it can only be gathered by the labors
of an active life. It is, therefore, not surprising that Congress
granted to the War Department whatever funds the President required to
carry on the war.
It is not our province to applaud, or condemn, public men; but history
represents no member of the fifteenth Congress as having proclaimed the
cause of this war, or the atrocious massacre which characterized its
commencement. On the contrary, those who spoke on the subject,
represented it as entirely owing to the Indian murders on the frontiers
of Georgia, and to the massacre of Lieutenant Scott and his men. There
was great delicacy exhibited, and had been for many years previously, in
regard to the agitation of any question touching the institution of
Slavery; and the people of the free and slave States appeared to feel
that silence on that subject was obligatory upon every citizen who
desired a continuance of the Union. These circumstances rendered it easy
for the Administration to prosecute the war, with whatever force they
deemed necessary for the speedy subjection of Indians and Exiles.
On entering the field of active service, General Jackson called on the
State of Tennessee for two thousand troops. He repaired to Harford, on
the Ockmulgee, where a body of volunteers, from Georgia, had already
assembled, and organizing them, he requested the aid of the Creek
Indians also. They readily volunteered, under the command of their
chief, McIntosh, ready to share in the honors and dangers of the
approaching campaign. With the Georgia volunteers and Creek Indians,
General Jackson marched to Fort Scott, where he was joined by about one
thousand regular troops.
With this force, he moved upon the Mickasukie towns, situated near the
Lake of that name, some thirty miles south of the line of Georgia. It
was the nearest place at which the Exiles had settled in considerable
numbers. There were several small villages in the vicinity of this Lake,
inhabited almost entirely by blacks. A large quantity of provisions had
been stored there. There were also several Seminole towns between
Mickasukie Lake and Tallahasse, on the west.
The Exiles appear to have viewed the approach of General Jackson with
coolness and firmness. They had evidently calculated the result with
perfect accuracy. Their women and children were removed to places of
safety, and their herds of cattle were driven beyond the reach of the
invading army; and some of their Indian allies followed the example thus
set them by the Exiles; yet others were not equally careful in
calculating future events.
Neither Indians nor negroes had made these towns their general
rendezvous; nor did they expect a decisive battle to occur at that
point; yet they prepared to meet General Jackson, and his army, in a
becoming manner. Most of their forces were collected prior to the
arrival of our troops. In making the requisite dispositions for battle,
the Indians were formed in one body, and the negroes in another--each
being under their respective chiefs.
General Jackson encountered the allied forces at some little distance
from the Mickasukie towns, April first. The battle was of short
duration. The Indians soon fled. The Exiles fought with greater
obstinacy. Their fire was so fatal that a reinforcement was ordered to
that part of the field, and the Exiles were driven from their position,
leaving twelve of their number dead upon the field.
In his official report of this battle, General Jackson insisted that
British officers had drilled the negroes, and British traders had
furnished them ammunition. He also reported that he burned more than
three hundred dwellings, and obtained a supply of provisions and cattle
for his army.
The Exiles, generally, retreated to Suwanee, and the Indians continued
to hang around the American army, watching its movements. General
Jackson, however, directed his course towards St. Marks, a Spanish fort,
situated on the river of that name, some fifty miles southwest of
Mickasukie Lake.
The American army reached St. Marks on the seventh of April, and
remained there several days. One of the American vessels lying in
Appalachicola Bay, hoisted British colors, in order to decoy some
Indians who were looking at them from the shore. Two of the "Red Stick"
band ventured on board; they were said to be chiefs, and in alliance
with the Seminoles. General Jackson ordered them to be hanged, without
trial or ceremony, justifying the act by charging them with having
participated in the massacre of Lieutenant Scott and his party, during
the previous autumn, apparently unconscious that, by his own orders, two
hundred and seventy people, including innocent children and women, had
been most wantonly and barbarously murdered at the fort on
Appalachicola, and that Lieutenant Scott and _thirty_ men were murdered
in retaliation for that act, according to savage warfare. He appears to
have felt it due to offended justice, that these men should die for
being suspected of participating in that act of retaliation. In all
these cases, the most assiduous efforts were exerted to misrepresent the
real state of facts.
The time occupied in the approach and capture of Fort St. Marks, gave to
the Exiles and Indians full opportunity to concentrate their forces at
Suwanee. It constituted the most populous settlement of the Exiles,
after the destruction of that upon the Appalachicola. It was regarded as
their stronghold. Surrounded by swamps, it was approached only through
narrow defiles, which rendered it difficult for an army to reach it.
Here many of the Exiles had been born and reared to manhood. Here were
their homes, their firesides. Here their chief, Nero, resided; and here
they concentrated their whole force. They had removed their women and
children, their provisions and cattle, to places of safety, and coolly
awaited the approach of General Jackson's army.[44]
Scouting parties were, however, sent out to harrass his advance guard,
and delay his approach, and render it more difficult; but,
notwithstanding these obstacles, the army steadily advanced, and on the
nineteenth of April reached the "Old Town" of "Suwanee," and found the
allied forces in order of battle, prepared to contest the field. The
Indians were again formed on the right, and the Exiles constituted the
left wing, bringing them in conflict with the right wing of General
Jackson's forces.
With the Exiles, there was no alternative other than war or slavery; and
they greatly preferred death upon the battle field, to chains and the
scourge. We may well suppose they would fight with some degree of
desperation, under such circumstances; and the battle of Suwanee gave
evidence of their devotion to freedom. They met the disciplined troops,
who constituted General Jackson's army, with firmness and gallantry.[45]
At the commencement, their fire was so fatal that the right wing of the
American army faltered, and ceasing to advance, gave signs of falling
back. But the left wing, opposed to the Indians, made a successful
charge; the Indians gave way, and the reserve was suddenly brought into
action to sustain the right wing, when a general charge was ordered, and
the Exiles were compelled to fall back.[46]
General Jackson, in his official report of this battle, refers to the
desperation with which the negroes fought, and says they left many dead
upon the field, but does not mention their number. He entered the town
and set fire to the buildings, and burned all the villages in the
vicinity. He also captured some three hundred Indian women and children,
while those belonging to the Exiles had been carefully removed beyond
the reach of the American army. This superior caution and provident care
appears to mark the character of the Exiles in all their conduct; while
the Indians appear to have practised none of these precautions.
But the allied forces, defeated, and their warriors scattered in various
directions, were pursued by McIntosh and his Creek warriors, who had
accompanied General Jackson, until fearing the Seminoles might rally in
force against them, they returned and again united with the American
army.
This battle substantially closed the war of 1818. It had been commenced
for the destruction of the Exiles; they had shared in its dangers, and
by their energy and boldness, had given intensity to its conflicts. From
the time they united in the expedition for the destruction of Lieutenant
Scott and his party, in November, 1817, until the close of the battle of
Suwanee, they had been active participants in every skirmish, and had
uniformly displayed great firmness; bearing testimony to the truth of
those historians who have awarded to the African race the merit of great
physical courage.
General Jackson appears to have spoken as little of the Exiles as duty
would permit, when communicating with the Secretary of War; yet he was
more free to complain of them in his correspondence with the Governor of
Pensacola. In a letter to that officer, dated a few days after the
battle of Suwanee, he says: "_Negroes who have fled from their masters,
citizens of the United States, have raised the tomahawk, and, in the
character of savage warfare, have spared neither age nor sex_. _Helpless
women have been massacred, and the cradle crimsoned with blood._"
We can, at this day, scarcely believe that this eloquent description of
savage barbarity was from the pen of a man whose order for the massacre
of defenseless women and children, at the Fort on Appalachicola, bore
date less than two years before writing this letter; nor can we readily
comprehend the effrontery of him who thus attempted to justify the
invasion of Florida, by reference to acts done by the Exiles long after
the army under his command had entered that territory, and committed the
most atrocious outrages ever perpetrated by civilized men upon an
unoffending people.
After the battle of Suwanee, General Jackson returned to St. Marks,
being unable to follow the Indians and Exiles into the more southern
portions of Florida. While at St. Marks, he ordered a court-martial,
constituting General Gaines president, in order to try Arbuthnot and
Ambrister. The history of their trial and execution is familiar to the
reader. The first and principal charge against Ambrister was, that he
excited the _negroes_ and Indians to commit murder upon the people of
the United States; the second charge was for supplying them with arms.
On these charges he was convicted and executed. It was also alleged,
that he was present at the battle of Suwanee; and some writers say he
commanded the Exiles on that occasion, and had previously taught them
military discipline.
In May, General Jackson issued an Address to his troops, declaring the
war at an end; and wrote the Executive, asking permission to retire to
his home in Nashville, there being no further use for his services in
the field.
The Exiles now returned to their homes. They had full leisure to
contemplate their situation. Many of their best men had fallen. Nearly
the entire population residing upon the Appalachicola River had been
massacred. Their villages at Mickasukie and Suwanee had been burned; and
it is probable that nearly one half of their entire population had been
sacrificed, in this first war waged by the United States for the murder
and recapture of fugitive slaves.
The invasion of Florida by General Jackson was condemned by many public
men, and was approved by others with equal ability. Even the then
Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams, in his correspondence with Don
Onis, the Spanish Minister, defended the invasion with great ability.
But in the discussions of this subject, we find no allusion to the
massacre at "Blount's Fort;"[47] that appears to have been regarded as
a subject of too delicate a nature for public scrutiny. In the alcoves
of our National Library, we find many volumes of documents touching this
war, embracing some thousands of pages, in which there is the strongest
censure expressed against the Seminoles for provoking the war, and
condemnation for the barbarous manner in which they conducted it; but we
search them in vain to find any condemnation, by American statesmen, of
the object for which the war was commenced, or the unprovoked and worse
than savage massacre which marked its beginning.
CHAPTER V.
FURTHER EFFORTS OF THE GOVERNMENT TO RESTORE EXILES TO SERVITUDE.
Effects of the War--Situation of the Exiles--Servility of Northern
Statesmen--Determination of Southern Slaveholders--The purchase of
Florida demanded--Causes which led to it--Territory
obtained--Authorities of Georgia demand a new Treaty with
Creeks--Mr. Calhoun Secretary of War--His efforts in favor of the
Claimants--Georgia appoints Commissioners--They attempt to dictate
those appointed by the United States--Correspondence--Mr. Calhoun
dissatisfied with those whom he had appointed--They resign--New
Commissioners appointed--Their relation to the
subject--Difficulties--Indian Talks--Treaty
effected--Agreement--Assignment of Fugitive Slaves to United States
in trust for the Creek Indians--Claims adjudicated--Slaveholders
claim the funds belonging to the Creek Indians.
The first Seminole war, like most other wars, was attended with great
sacrifice of blood and treasure. It had corrupted the morals of the
nation; but the Administration had entirely failed to attain the objects
for which it had been commenced. Not ten slaves had been captured, if we
except those who were wounded and taken prisoners at "Blount's Fort,"
one half of whom had died of their wounds. Under such circumstances, the
Government could not, with propriety, condescend to make a treaty with a
community of black men, whose ancestors had fled from slavery. Such act
would, in the opinion of slaveholders, have compromised the dignity of
the Slaveholding States; nor could they treat with the Seminole Indians
as a separate tribe, for the Administration was endeavoring to hold the
Creeks responsible for the acts of the Seminoles, who, the slaveholders
insisted, were a part of the Creek tribe. The army was therefore
withdrawn from Florida, without any treaty whatever. But the act of
withdrawing the army and permitting the Exiles to remain in a state of
freedom and independence, constituted an acknowledgment of the inability
of our Government to reënslave them, although it was constantly asserted
that they were a degraded race, incapable of supporting themselves if
set at liberty.
In looking over the official reports of our officers, the action of
Congress, and the tone of the public press, we are forcibly impressed
with the constant and unceasing efforts to hide from the popular mind of
the nation the real questions involved in this war. Nor can we account
for it upon any other hypothesis, than the popularity of President
Monroe's Administration. The old Federal party had ceased to exist. They
had been the only party opposed to Mr. Monroe; and no member of Congress
appears to have possessed the requisite independence, information and
ability, to take a position distinctly against his policy.
Soon as our army was withdrawn from Florida, peace was of course
restored, and things remained as they were prior to the invasion under
Colonel Clinch, in 1816. The Exiles were again left in peace, as they
had been prior to the commencement of the war. Nothing had been gained
to the United States by the vast expenditure of blood and treasure which
attended the prosecution of hostilities. The Exiles had maintained their
liberty for at least a century, and now they had set the American
Government at defiance. These considerations operated upon the minds of
the slave population of Georgia and Alabama, who now became more anxious
to join them; and their numbers were thus increased almost daily by
slaves from those States.
From 1790, our Government had endeavored to reënslave these people. No
Northern statesmen objected to the policy; while those of the South had
come to believe that, although the Union may not have been formed solely
for the purpose of capturing slaves, yet that duty was regarded by them
as _one_ of its most important objects. It had now become evident that
no military force could pursue them into their retired fastnesses, or
seek them out when scattered among the hommocks, the swamps and
everglades of that singular country.
Southern statesmen now turned their attention to the purchase of
Florida. That would deprive the Indians and Exiles of the nominal
protection of Spanish laws, and would bring them under the jurisdiction
of the United States; they therefore addressed themselves to that policy
with renewed assiduity. Recent events had convinced the authorities of
Spain that it was impossible for them to maintain the dignity of the
Spanish crown, or the sanctity of her soil from invasion against an
American army, when in pursuit of fugitive slaves. She had seen her
territory invaded; her forts at Pensacola and at St. Marks captured, and
that upon the Appalachicola destroyed; her subjects massacred; her
authority despised, and her rights as a nation treated with indignity by
our army. There was, indeed, no other way for her but to accede to the
proposition of the United States.
[Sidenote: 1819.]
A treaty was negotiated (February 22), and in consideration of five
millions of dollars, Florida was transferred to the United States, and
the Seminoles were brought within the jurisdiction which they most
dreaded.
The slaveholders of Georgia, who had so long pressed their claims for
fugitive slaves, now became more clamorous. They saw, with intense
interest, the pertinacity with which the Executive had pressed the
claims of those who lost slaves, in the then recent war with England.
Under the Treaty of Ghent, the President insisted upon full indemnity to
those whose slaves had left the country, under British aid; and when the
English ministry refused, and insisted upon the same construction as
that placed upon the treaty of 1783, which contained the same words, the
American Executive refused, and the question was referred to the
umpirage of the Autocrat of Russia, who held an entire nation in
slavery, and could not be expected to decide in any other manner, than
that most favorable to the institution.[48]
[Sidenote: 1820.]
The influence of the slave power having increased so greatly since 1796,
as to induce the British Government to change its policy, adopted at the
framing of Jay's Treaty, was now believed competent to compel the Creek
Indians to comply with the treaties of New York and Colerain. A quarter
of a century had passed, since the signing of the last of these
treaties, and they had been forgotten by many; but the people of the
free States, and their Representatives and Senators in Congress, had
quietly submitted to this prostitution of our national character and
influence, and none appeared to doubt the propriety of continuing these
efforts.
[Sidenote: 1821.]
Georgia now demanded of the Federal Government a new treaty with the
Creek Indians,[49] in order to obtain from them indemnity for the slaves
she had lost, subsequent to the close of the Revolution, and prior to
the act of 1802. To this demand the Federal Executive assented. The
Secretary of War, Mr. Calhoun, with his attachment to the institution,
could do no less than to exert what influence he was able to wield, in
assisting Georgia to obtain a compensation for the loss of her slaves.
On him devolved the burthen of selecting commissioners to negotiate the
contemplated treaty. Careful to place the subject in the hands of men
who would be likely to wield their power for the benefit of the
"peculiar institution," he appointed General Andrew Pickens of his own
State, and General Thomas Flournoy of Georgia, to conduct the
negotiation.
In his letters of instruction to those gentlemen, he was careful to
inform them that the treaty was to be negotiated _for the benefit of
Georgia_;[50] that she would also appoint commissioners to attend the
negotiation, and watch over the interests of her people. The
commissioners proceeded to make arrangements for the treaty. They
appointed the time and place for holding it; employed an agent to
furnish the requisite supplies, and made arrangements for the necessary
payments. At this point a correspondence arose between them and the
commissioners of Georgia, who assumed to dictate the terms on which the
treaty was to be founded. The commissioners of the United States,
finding those of Georgia inclined to dictate the course of action which
they were to pursue, were unwilling to submit to such dictation, and
reported the difficulty to the Secretary of War; while the commissioners
on the part of Georgia, feeling perfect confidence in the devotion of
that officer to the interests of slavery, made their report of the
matter to him also.[51]
The Secretary returned an answer, reproving the commissioners whom he
had himself appointed, so severely for their refusal to obey the
dictation of those appointed by Georgia, that they both immediately
resigned their offices, appearing to feel that their own self-respect
must be compromised by acting under the instruction of the State
Commissioners.[52]
Apparently determined to appoint no man who should again prove
refractory, the Executive--probably at the instance of the Secretary of
War--next selected as commissioner, in the place of Mr. Flournoy, David
Meriwether, who had, up to the time of receiving the appointment, acted
as commissioner on the part of Georgia. At the request of the Secretary
of War, he resigned his office of commissioner on behalf of the State,
and accepted the appointment from the Federal Government. Hon. D. M.
Forney, of North Carolina, was selected as the other commissioner, in
place of Mr. Pickens. These commissioners were expressly instructed to
assist the State of Georgia in obtaining the objects for which she was
striving.[53]
These preliminary arrangements could not fail to foreshadow the
character of the treaty negotiated under such auspices. Anticipating no
other motive for the treaty than the settlement of the boundary between
the State of Georgia and the Creeks, the chiefs, head-men and principal
warriors of the tribe assembled at the time and place appointed. After
the ordinary formalities on such occasions, the commissioners on the
part of the United States opened the business by simply stating, that
the people of Georgia complained to the President that the Creeks had
not returned the property (negroes, cattle and horses), which they were
under obligations to return to their owners in Georgia, by the treaties
of New York and Colerain.
The commissioners on the part of Georgia now delivered their talk,
saying, that by the treaty of Augusta (1783), of Galphinton (1785), and
of Shoulderbone (1786), the Creeks had agreed to return to their owners,
negroes who had left their masters, and other property; that these
treaties were all made before the formation of the government of the
United States under their present Constitution; but they were ratified
by the treaty of New York (1790), and of Colerain (1796), made with the
United States, and Georgia now demanded compensation for the loss of her
negroes and other property.
On the following day, General McIntosh, principal chief of the Creeks,
replied, that he came to meet the commissioners of the United States,
and had no expectation of meeting those of Georgia; nor had he or his
friends any idea that such claims were to be presented. That the chief,
McGillivray, when he returned, after the treaty of New York, informed
them that they were to deliver up such negroes as were _then in the
nation_; that they were to pay for none who had removed or died; that
they all so understood that treaty, and that nothing was then said about
any other claims than for _negroes_; that the _prisoners_, both black
and white, were delivered up under the treaty of New York; that the
claims now presented were also presented at the treaty of Colerain, in
1796, but the Creeks then absolutely refused to acknowledge any further
obligation than that contained in the treaty of New York, and by that
they were under obligation to surrender no property except persons held
as prisoners, and negroes then in the nation. That many of these negroes
were carried away by the British, during the war of 1812; that others
were in the fort at Appalachicola, when he and his warriors went with
Colonel Clinch and blew it up, and killed nearly all who were in it; and
the others were with the _Seminoles_, and not with the Creeks.
To this answer the commissioners of Georgia replied, that by the
treaties of Augusta, and Galphinton, and Shoulderbone, the Creeks were
bound to deliver all negroes who had left their masters in Georgia;
that, if they had done so, the British would not have carried them off,
nor would they have been killed in the fort; that the _Seminoles were a
part of the Creek nation_, who were responsible, not only for the slaves
and their increase, but also for the loss of the labor which they would
have performed had they remained in bondage.
Of the means used to obtain the treaty, we have no other information
than appears of record. Those acquainted with the usual modes of
negotiating Indian treaties, by the use of intoxicating liquors, by
bribery, and those appliances generally used on such occasions, will not
wonder at the stipulations contained in the Treaty of "Indian Spring."
By the first article, the Creeks ceded to the United States, for the
benefit of Georgia, about five million acres of their most valuable
territory. The second article provided for the reservation of certain
lands, to be retained by those who were then living upon them. The third
reserved certain lands for the use of the United States agency; and the
fourth is in the following words:
"It is hereby stipulated and agreed, on the part of the United States,
as a consideration for the land ceded by the Creek nation, by the first
article, that there shall be paid to the Creek nation, by the United
States, ten thousand dollars in hand, the receipt whereof is hereby
acknowledged, forty thousand dollars as soon as practicable after the
ratification of this convention, five thousand dollars annually for two
years thereafter, sixteen thousand dollars annually for five years
thereafter, and ten thousand dollars annually for six years thereafter;
making in the whole fourteen payments, in fourteen successive years,
without interest, in money or goods, and implements of husbandry, at the
option of the Creek Nation, seasonably signified, from time to time,
through the agent of the United States residing with said nation, to the
Department of War. And as a further consideration for said cession, the
United States do hereby agree to pay to the State of Georgia, whatever
balance may be found due by the Creek Nation to the citizens of said
State, whenever the same shall be ascertained, in conformity with the
reference made by the commissioners of Georgia and the chiefs, head-men
and warriors of the Creek Nation, to be paid in five annual
installments, without interest, provided the same shall not exceed the
sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars; the commissioners of
Georgia executing to the Creek Nation a full and final relinquishment of
all the claims of the citizens of Georgia against the Creek Nation, for
property taken or destroyed prior to the act of Congress, of one
thousand eight hundred and two, regulating the intercourse with the
Indian tribes."
The fifth article merely provides for running the boundaries of the
several reservations. It was duly signed and witnessed, and bears date
on the eighth of January, 1821.
Deeming the treaty not sufficiently explicit in its terms, the
commissioners on the part of Georgia, entered into a further agreement
with the Indians, which reads as follows:
"Whereas at a conference, opened and held at the Indian Spring, in the
Creek Nation, the citizens of Georgia, by the aforesaid commissioners,
have represented that they have claims to a large amount against the
said Creek Nation of Indians: Now, in order to adjust and bring the same
to a speedy and final settlement, it is hereby agreed by the aforesaid
commissioners, and the chiefs, head-men and warriors of the said Nation,
that all the talks had upon the subject of these claims, at this place,
together with all claims on either side, of whatever nature or kind,
prior to the act of Congress of one thousand eight hundred and two,
regulating the intercourse with the Indian tribes, with the documents in
support of them, shall be referred to the decision of the President of
the United States, by him to be decided upon, adjusted, liquidated and
settled, in such manner and under such rules, regulations and
restrictions as he shall prescribe: Provided, however, if it should meet
the views of the President of the United States, it is the wish of the
contracting parties, that the liquidation and settlement of the
aforesaid claims shall be made in the State of Georgia, at such place as
he may deem most convenient for the parties interested; and the decision
and award thus made and rendered, shall be binding and obligatory upon
the contracting parties."
There was also an assignment of the title, or right of property claimed,
executed to the United States by the Commissioners of Georgia, which is
in the following language:
"Whereas a treaty, or convention, has this day been made and entered
into, by and between the United States and the Creek Nation, by the
provisions of which the United States have agreed to pay, and the
commissioners of the State of Georgia have agreed to accept, for and on
behalf of the citizens of the State of Georgia having claims against the
Creek Nation, prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and two, the
sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars:
"Now know all men by these presents, that we, the undersigned,
commissioners of the State of Georgia, for and in consideration of the
aforesaid sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, secured by the
said treaty, or convention, to be paid to the State of Georgia, for the
discharge of all bona fide and liquidated claims which the citizens of
the said State may establish against the Creek Nation, do, by these
presents, release, exonerate and discharge the said Creek Nation from
all and every claim and claims, of whatever description, nature or kind
the same may be, which the citizens of Georgia now have, or may have
had, prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and two, against the
said Nation. And we do hereby _assign, transfer and set over unto the
United States, for the use and benefit of the said Creek Nation_, for
the consideration hereinbefore expressed, all the right, title and
interest of the citizens of the said State to all claims, debts,
damages, and property of every description and denomination, which the
citizens of the said State have or had, prior to the year one thousand
eight hundred and two, as aforesaid, against the said Creek Nation."
It were useless for the historian to criticise the language of these
several instruments. The "claims" mentioned in them, and referred to the
President, were mostly for slaves who left their masters during the
Revolution, and prior to 1802; at least such was the construction given
to the treaty, the agreement and assignment by the parties; and we
cannot, at this day, assert that they did not understand their own
compacts.
The Creeks were to receive two hundred thousand dollars in cash; and the
United States agreed to pay to Georgia her claims, provided they did not
exceed _two hundred and fifty thousand dollars_. The amount due to
Georgia was to be ascertained by the President, and paid by the United
States. The third, and a very important point was the _assignment_ to
the United States, for the benefit of the Creek Indians, of the
interest vested in the claimants to the _property_ and _persons_
claimed--the _United States to hold such interest in trust_ for the
Creek Indians.
By this arrangement, our Government became owners of the Exiles referred
to, _in trust for the benefit of the Creeks_, according to the
construction which the Indians, the authorities of the United States and
those of Georgia, placed upon the assignment, the agreement and treaty.
This important point, if borne in mind, will aid the reader in
understanding the subsequent action of the Federal authorities in
relation to this subject.
[Sidenote: 1822.]
In pursuance of this treaty, the President promptly appointed a
commissioner to ascertain the amounts due the several claimants. But
great difficulties had to be encountered. The claims commenced in 1775
and extended down to 1802, and it was extremely difficult to obtain
evidence of facts which transpired so long prior to the examination.
Sufficient proof was produced, however, to satisfy the commissioner that
ninety-two slaves had, within the periods mentioned, left their masters,
in Georgia, and fled to the Indians; and the estimated value of slaves
and other property lost to the owners in this manner, amounted to one
hundred and nine thousand dollars.[54]
[Sidenote: 1823.]
This amount of money was duly appropriated by Congress. So far as we are
informed, no member of the House of Representatives, or of the Senate,
appears to have entertained doubts as to the propriety of this
governmental slave-dealing. The whole negotiation and arrangement had
been conducted and managed by Southern men, and Northern statesmen
quietly submitted. Thus, after a struggle of thirty-eight years, the
Slaveholders of Georgia, by the aid of our Federal Government, obtained
compensation for the loss of their fugitive bondmen.
After the distribution of the amount found due to the claimants, there
yet remained in the hands of the President one hundred and forty-one
thousand dollars, being the remainder of the two hundred and fifty
thousand appropriated by the treaty to secure the payment of these
claims. This money apparently belonged to the Indians. The claimants for
slaves could not have any title to it, for they had expressly
stipulated, that the award of the commissioner should be _conclusive_
upon the parties. The claimants, by that award, received full
compensation for their loss; yet they next demanded of the President the
hundred and forty-one thousand dollars which remained in his hands.
Notwithstanding the commissioners on the part of Georgia expressly
agreed to abide by the award, and had assigned all interest in the
property and _in the persons_ residing with the Indians, to the United
States, and had received their money in full, under the treaty; yet they
desired to get the remainder, which was considerably larger than the
amount awarded them by the commissioner.
CHAPTER VI.
FURTHER EFFORTS TO ENSLAVE THE EXILES.
Indians and Exiles on the Appalachicola River--Other Exiles at
Withlaeoochee, St. John's, Cyprus Swamp, Waboo Swamp--Indians in
various parts of Territory--Difficulty of the subject--President's
Message--Committee of Congress--Interrogations--Mr. Penieres'
Answer--General Jackson's Answer--He relies on Force--United States
recognize the Florida Indians as an Independent Band--Willing to
treat with them--Difficulties--Instructions to
Commissioners--Treaty of Camp Moultrie--Reservations--Covenants on
part of United States--Covenants on part of the Seminoles--Congress
makes no objection--Effect of Treaty--Its Objects--Election of the
younger Adams--His Policy--Indian Agent, Colonel Humphreys--William
P. Duval's Instructions--Claimants complain of the
Agent--Commissioner of Indian Affairs reproves him--His
Letter--Reply--Difficulty of Agent--Dangers which threaten the
Exiles--Colored Man seized and enslaved--Indians Protest--Colonel
Brooke's Advice--United States Judge expresses his Opinion--Effect
on Exiles--Mrs. Cook's Slave--Demand for Negroes--Suggestions of
Agent--Practice of Government--Treaty of Payne's Landing--Its
Stipulations--Abram--His Character--Chiefs become
Suspicious--Delegations sent West--Executive Designs--Supplemental
Treaty--Major Phagan--Petition of the People of
Florida--Indorsement thereon--Treaties approved by Senate--Creeks
remonstrate--Payment of $141,000 to Slave Claimants--Supineness of
Northern Statesmen--Creeks demand Exiles or Slaves--Georgians
kidnap Exiles--Their Danger--They dissuade from Emigration--Their
Warriors--Wiley Thompson's Statement--General Clinch's
Interest--Colonel Eaton's Views--General Cass's Reply--His Address
to Indians--He authorizes Slave trade--Effects of such
License--Agent and others Remonstrate--He replies--Agent
rejoins--Exiles prepare for War.
After the close of the war of 1818, many of the Seminole Indians took
possession of the deserted plantations and villages along the
Appalachicola River, whose owners had fallen in the massacre of Blount's
Fort, in 1816; and some of the Exiles united in reoccupying the lands
which had been reduced to cultivation by their murdered brethren. Some
six or eight small bands of Indians thus became resident along that
river. The fertile bottom lands, near that stream, constituted the most
valuable portion of Florida, so far as agriculture was concerned. These
towns afforded convenient resting places for fugitive slaves, while
fleeing from their masters in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Louisiana,
to the interior portions of Florida.
The United States, nor the slaveholders of the States named, could with
any propriety whatever hold the Creek Indians responsible for the many
refugees, who were now almost daily increasing the number of fugitives
located far in the interior of Florida; and the difficulties attending
the holding of slaves increased in exact proportion as the slaveholding
settlements extended towards these locations; while the greater portion
of the Exiles were taking up their residence farther in the interior of
the territory, upon the Withlacoochee, the St. John's, the Big Cypress
Swamp, the Islands in the Great Wahoo Swamp, and places far retired from
civilization. The Seminole Indians were scattered extensively over
different portions of the country; and although the United States now
owned the unoccupied lands, it was difficult to determine upon any
course of policy by which the difficulties, so long existing, could be
terminated.
[Sidenote: 1822.]
The subject was alluded to by the President in his Annual Message to
Congress (Dec. 3), and a select committee was appointed to take that
portion of it into consideration. The committee propounded
interrogatories to various officers of government, who were supposed
capable of giving useful information in regard to the subject.[55]
In answer to these interrogatories, Mr. Penieres, Sub-Agent for the
Florida Indians, replied, stating the number of Indians at more than
five thousand, while the number of slaves which they held were estimated
at only forty. These he declared to be far more intelligent than the
slaves resident among the white people, and possessing great influence
over their Indian masters. He alluded to the Exiles in the following
language: "It will be difficult (says he) to form a prudent
determination with respect to the 'maroon negroes,' (Exiles), who live
among the Indians, on the other side of the little mountain of
Latchiouc. They fear being again made slaves, under the American
Government, and will omit nothing to increase or keep alive mistrust
among the Indians, whom they, in fact, govern. If it should become
necessary to use force with them, it is to be feared that the Indians
will take their part. It will, however, be necessary to remove from the
Floridas this group of freebooters, among whom runaway negroes will
always find a refuge. It will, perhaps, be possible to have them
received at St. Domingo, or to furnish them means of withdrawing from
the United States!"
This gentleman appears to have had more knowledge of the Exiles, than
was possessed by the officers of the United States, generally, who
supposed that each negro must have a legitimate master. He appears,
also, to have had sufficient humanity to suggest the plan of their
_removal_, rather than their enslavement.
In answer to the interrogatories of this committee, General Jackson
proposed to compel the Seminoles to _reünite with the Creeks_, by
leaving Florida and returning to the Creek country; and closed his
recommendation by saying, "this must be done, or the frontier will be
much weakened by the Indian settlements, and be a perpetual harbor for
our slaves. These _runaway slaves, spoken of by Mr. Penieres_, MUST BE
REMOVED from the Floridas, or scenes of murder and confusion will
exist."[56]
This suggestion of General Jackson for the removal of the Seminoles,
both Indians and negroes, bears date September second, 1822, and is the
first suggestion, of that precise character, of which we have knowledge.
General Jackson was a warrior, and had more faith in the bayonet than in
moral truths. He trusted much to physical power, but had little
confidence in kindness, or in justice or moral suasion. He was an
officer of great popularity, however, and it is not unlikely that his
views had greater weight with those who followed him in official life,
than their intrinsic merits entitled them to. It is certain that his
policy of removing the Indians and Exiles from Florida, was subsequently
adopted by him while President, and has continued to be the cherished
object with most of his successors in that office.
The controversy between the State of Georgia and the Creeks had been
settled at Indian Springs. In the treaty entered into at that place, the
United States had held the Creek Nation responsible for the action of
the Seminoles, under the plea that they were a part of the Creek Nation.
Having obtained two hundred and fifty thousand dollars from the Creeks
in this way, to satisfy the slave claimants of Georgia, the Executive
now suddenly became satisfied that the Seminoles were a distinct and
independent tribe, and he prepared to treat with them as such.
Commissioners were appointed for that purpose, and efforts made to
collect their chiefs, warriors and principal men, in order to carry out
this object.
[Sidenote: 1828.]
Suspicious of the objects which prompted this proposal, the Indians were
unwilling to meet the commissioners. Runners were sent to the different
bands, and eventually some thirty or forty were collected. These were
declared by the commissioners to represent a majority of the Seminole
tribe, and (Sept. 18) they proceeded to form the treaty of "Camp
Moultrie." The letter of instructions, from the Secretary of War, was
specific on one point only. The commissioners were directed to so
arrange the treaty, as to constrain the Indians to settle within the
territory south of Tampa Bay, excluded from the coast on all sides by a
strip of country at least fifteen miles in width. This would have taken
from them their most fertile lands on the Suwanee River, the
Appalachicola River, and in the vicinity of the Mickasukie Lake. Some
six chiefs, who had taken possession of the plantations which had been
opened and cultivated by the Exiles murdered at "Blount's Fort," refused
to sign the treaty. They were, however, prevailed upon to agree to the
treaty, when it had been so modified as to give them each a reservation
of fertile lands, to meet their own necessities.
By agreeing to these stipulations, the commissioners obtained their
signatures to the treaty--the United States guaranteeing to the Indians
peaceable possession of the country and reservations assigned them. They
also covenanted to "_take the Florida Indians under their care and
patronage, and_ AFFORD THEM PROTECTION AGAINST ALL PERSONS WHATSOEVER,"
and to "_restrain and prevent all white persons_ from hunting, settling,
or otherwise _intruding_, upon said lands." They also agreed to pay the
Indians six thousand dollars in cattle and hogs, furnish them with
provisions to support them one year, and pay them five thousand dollars
annually for twenty years. But one great object of the treaty was
embraced in the seventh Article, which was expressed in the following
language:
"The chiefs and warriors aforesaid, for themselves and tribes, stipulate
to be active and vigilant in preventing the retreating to, or passing
through, the district, or country assigned them, of any absconding
slave, or fugitives from justice; and they further agree _to use all
necessary exertions to apprehend and deliver the same to the agent_, who
shall receive orders to compensate them agreeably to the trouble and
expense incurred."
It is worthy of note, that the commissioners, acting under instructions
of the Secretary of War, now assured the Seminoles that they had been a
separate and independent tribe more than a century; while other
commissioners, acting under instructions from the same Secretary, only
twenty months previously, insisted that the Seminoles were, at that
time, a part of the Creek tribe; and on that assumed fact, the Creeks
were held responsible for the value of such slaves as left their masters
during the Revolution and prior to 1802, and took up their residence
with the Seminoles. But these contradictory positions appeared to be
necessary to sustain the slave interest.
It may be remarked that from the signing of this treaty, there was no
longer any controversy between our Government and the Creeks in relation
to fugitive slaves. That quarrel was transferred to the Seminoles; and
now, after thirty-four years have passed away, and many millions of
treasure have been expended, and thousands of human lives sacrificed, at
the moment of writing these incidents, our army is actively employed in
carrying on the contest which arose, and for more than the third of a
century has been almost constantly maintained, for the recapture and
return of these people; and although our members of Congress from the
free States had witnessed the long and expensive contest, and the vast
sacrifice of blood and treasure, which had been squandered in efforts to
regain possession of the Exiles; yet we do not find any objection to
have been raised or protest uttered against this new treaty, in either
branch of our National Legislature. Indeed, so far as we have
information on the subject, the appropriations for carrying it into
effect were cheerfully made, without objection.
This compact drew still more closely the meshes of the federal power
around the Exiles. The United States now held what is called in
slaveholding parlance the "legal title" to their bones and sinews, their
blood and muscle, while the Creek Indians were vested with the entire
beneficial interest in them. But neither the United States nor the Creek
Indians had been able to reduce them to possession. The white
settlements were, however, gradually extending, and the territory of the
Seminoles was diminishing in proportion; and it was easy to foresee the
difficulties with which they were soon to be surrounded.
By the treaty, many of their cultivated fields, and most of the
villages, which they had recently defended with so much bravery, were
given up to the whites, and those who had so long occupied them, were
compelled to retire still further into the interior, and commence new
improvements. A few Exiles remained with the chiefs who held
reservations upon the Appalachicola. Those who remained, however, were
persons who had become connected by marriage with the Indians belonging
to those small bands, from whom they were unwilling to separate.
To this treaty some writers have traced the causes which produced the
recent "Florida War." They attribute to its stipulations that vast
sacrifice of treasure, and of national reputation, which has rendered
that territory distinguished in history. With that war, our present
history is connected only so far as the Exiles were concerned in its
prosecution; but it would appear difficult for any historian to overlook
the important fact that obtaining possession of fugitive slaves
constituted the moving consideration for this treaty, and the primary
cause of both the first and second Seminole wars.
[Sidenote: 1824.]
Most of this year was occupied in removing the Indians to their new
territory. They also suffered severely for the want of food, and the
attention of both Indians and officers of Government appears to have
been occupied with these subjects.
[Sidenote: 1825.]
In the autumn, Mr. Adams was elected President. But his policy was in
part unfavorable to the Exiles. Removals from office under his
administration were limited. If an officer were removed, it was not
until after it had been ascertained that just cause existed for the
removal. This policy continued nearly every man in office who had been
connected with the Indian Department under the former Administration.
Colonel Gad Humphreys had been appointed Agent for the Seminoles as
early as 1822. He was a resident of Florida, and a slaveholder, deeply
interested in maintaining the institution; but so far as his official
acts have come before the public, he appears to have performed his duty
with a good degree of humanity. Indeed, such were his efforts in behalf
of justice to the oppressed, that he became obnoxious to Southern men,
and was eventually removed from office on that account. William P. Duval
was also continued in the office of Governor, and ex-officio
Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Territory of Florida. He was
also a slaveholder, and resident of the territory; but even Southern men
found little cause to complain of his devotion to liberty or justice.
He, and many other officers, appear to have supposed the first
important duty imposed on them, consisted in lending an efficient
support to those claims for slaves which were constantly pressed upon
them by unprincipled white men.
Early as the twenty-fifth of January, Governor Duval, acting
Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Territory, wrote Colonel
Humphreys, giving him general directions in regard to the course which
he should pursue in all cases where fugitive slaves were claimed. "On
the subject (said he) of runaway slaves among the Indians, within the
control of your agency, it will be proper in all cases, where _you
believe_ the owners can identify the slaves, to have them taken, and
delivered over to the Marshal of East Florida, at St. Augustine, so that
the Federal Judge may inquire into the claim of the party, and determine
the right of property. But in all cases where the same slave is claimed
by a white person and an Indian, _if you believe_ the Indian has an
equitable claim to the slave, you are directed not to surrender the
slave, except by the order of the Hon. Joseph L. Smith, Federal Judge
residing at St. Augustine; and in that case, you will attend before him,
and defend the right of the Indian, _if you believe_ he has right on his
side."
In all these cases, the slave or colored man, whether bond or free, was
to be treated in the same manner as a brute. He was permitted to say
nothing upon the subject of his own right to liberty. His voice was
silenced amidst the despotism with which he was surrounded. No law was
consulted. The _belief_ of a slaveholding Agent decided the fate of the
person claimed. Those who claimed to own their fellow men, would always
find persons to testify to their claims, and it was in vain for an
Indian to attempt litigation with a slaveholding white man before a
slaveholding Judge.[57]
The Exiles were not the property of the Indians in any sense. The
Indians did not claim to own them. Under the rule prescribed, if a white
man could get one of the Exiles within his power, he could at any time
prove some circumstance that would entitle him to claim _some_ negro;
when he proved this, the law of Florida presumed every colored man to be
a slave, unless he could prove his freedom. This, no Exile could do;
and, when seized, they were uniformly consigned to bondage. The only
safety for the Exile was, to entirely avoid the whites, who were not
permitted to enter the territory except upon the written permit of some
officer.
The slave-catchers, therefore, had recourse to the practice of
describing certain black persons, in the Indian country, as their
slaves, and demanding that the Agent should have them seized and
delivered to him. But the Agent, knowing these claims to be merely
fictitious in some instances, paid no attention to them. The claimants,
intent on obtaining wealth by catching negroes, and selling them as
slaves, complained of the Agent to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs,
who, on the eighth of February (1827), wrote the Agent, reproving him
for his remissness in failing to capture and return fugitive slaves,
saying: "Frequent complaints have been made to the Department,
respecting slaves claimed by the citizens of Florida, which are in
possession of the Indians; all which have been acted on here, in issuing
such orders to you as it was expected would be promptly obeyed; * * *
and that these proceedings would be followed by the proper reports to
the Department. _Nothing satisfactory has been received._"
[Sidenote: 1826.]
Thus the Indian Bureau, at Washington, took upon itself the
responsibility of deciding particular cases, upon the _ex parte_
testimony which the claimants presented; and the commissioner concluded
his letter by a peremptory order to Colonel Humphreys, directing him to
capture and deliver over two slaves, said to be the property of a Mrs.
Cook.
To this order the Agent replied in the language of dignified rebuke.
After stating that one of the slaves had been captured by the Indians,
and given up, he says: "but they will not, I apprehend, consent further
to risk their lives in a service which has always been a thankless one,
and has recently proved so to one of their most respected chiefs, who
was killed in an attempt to arrest a runaway slave."[58]
The love of liberty is universal. We honor the individual who gives high
evidence of his attachment to this fundamental right, with which God has
endowed all men, and we applaud him who manfully defends his liberty,
whether it be a Washington with honors clustering upon his brow, or the
more humble individual who defends his liberty in Florida, by slaying
the man who attempts to deprive him of it. But these views were not
recognized by the agents of our Government.
[Sidenote: 1827.]
While the Department at Washington supposed the Agent to have neglected
his duty, the Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the territory
supposed the Agent had been quite too faithful to the slaveholders. On
the twentieth of March he wrote Colonel Humphreys, saying, "_Many slaves
belonging to the Indians_ ARE NOW IN POSSESSION OF THE WHITE PEOPLE.
These slaves cannot be obtained for their Indian owners without a
lawsuit;" and he then directed the Agent to submit the claim, in all
cases where there was an Indian claimant, to the chiefs for decision.
In these contests between barbarians and savages, concerning the rights
which they claimed to the bodies of their fellow men, the Exiles had no
voice. They well understood that the rapacity of the slave claimants was
unbounded and inexorable; they therefore endeavored to avoid all contact
with the whites, and to preserve their freedom by affording the
piratical slave-catchers no opportunity to lay hands on them.
These demands for negroes alleged to be among the Indians, continued to
excite the people of Florida and to perplex the officers of Government,
threatening the most serious results,[59] and continually enhancing the
dangers of the Exiles.
[Sidenote: 1828.]
The troops at Fort King were called on to aid in the arrest of fugitive
slaves; but their efforts merely excited the ridicule and contempt of
both Indiana and negroes. These circumstances becoming known to the
slaves of Florida, naturally excited them to discontent; and while their
masters were engaged in efforts to arrest negroes to whom they had no
claim, their own servants in whom they had reposed every confidence,
suddenly disappeared and became lost among the Exiles of the interior.
The white people became irritated under these vexations. Their
indignation against the Indians was unbounded. The Agent, Colonel
Humphreys, gave a vivid description of their barbarity, in a letter to
the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.[60] But remonstrances with the
Indian Department appeared to have no effect. Peremptory orders for the
arrest and delivery of slaves continued to reach the Agent. These orders
he _could not carry into effect_, as he could command no force adequate
to the arrest of the fugitives. Governor Duval began to regard the Agent
as remiss in his efforts, and so reported him to the War Department.
Some of the most wealthy Seminoles had purchased slaves of the white
people, and for many years, perhaps we may say for generations, had been
slaveholders. They held their slaves in a state between that of
servitude and freedom; the slave usually living with his own family and
occupying his time as he pleased, paying his master annually a small
stipend in corn and other vegetables. This class of slaves regarded
servitude among the whites with the greatest degree of horror.
The owners of fugitive slaves, or men who pretended to have lost slaves,
when able, would seize and hold those belonging to the Indians. The
Indians being ignorant of legal proceedings, were unable to obtain
compensation from those who thus robbed them of what the slaveholders
termed _property_. This practice became so common that, on the
seventeenth of April, many of the chiefs and warriors assembled at the
Agency, and made their protest to the Agent, declaring that "many of
their negroes, horses, cattle, etc., were in the hands of the white
people, for which they were unable to obtain compensation." Contrary to
the treaty of Camp Moultrie, white men were at that time in the Indian
country searching for slaves, and the chiefs demanded of the Agent the
reason why the white people thus violated the treaty to rob the Indians?
The Agent could only reply, that the white men were there by permission
given them by the _Secretary of War_.[61]
So flagrant were these outrages upon the Indians and negroes, that
Colonel Brooke, of the United States Army, at that time commanding in
Florida, took upon himself the responsibility of addressing the Agent,
advising him not to deliver negroes to the white men, unless their
"_claims were made clear and satisfactory_."[62] The District Judge of
the United States for the Territory, also wrote Colonel Humphreys,
giving his construction of the rules adopted by the Indian Bureau. He
thought, in no case, should a negro be delivered up, where the Indians
claimed him, until proofs had been made and title established before
judicial authority.[63]
No law was looked to as the rule by which officers of Government were to
be controlled in their official duties. The opinion, the judgment, of
the individual constituted his rule of action. During the nineteenth
century, perhaps no despotism has existed among civilized nations more
unlimited, or more unscrupulous, than that exercised in Florida, from
1823 to 1843.
This state of affairs determined the Exiles _not to be arrested by white
men_. Thus, when Governor Duval ordered a compensation for a slave
claimed by Mrs. Cook, to be retained from their annuities, the chiefs
held a talk with the Agent, and assured him that the "_man was born
among the Seminoles, and had never been out of the nation_."[64]
These demands for negroes increased in number; and the whites became
more and more rapacious, and the Indians more and more indignant, until
hostilities appeared inevitable. The Agent, from long association with
the Indians and his knowledge of facts, naturally sympathised with them.
He assembled a number of the chiefs at the Agency, and suggested to them
the absolute necessity of submitting to the white people; and for the
purpose of avoiding further difficulties, advised them to emigrate west
of the Mississippi, or, rather, to send a delegation to examine the
country; and, as an inducement, offered to accompany their chiefs and
warriors on such a tour. To this proposition a few of them consented,
and the Agent notified the Department of the fact.[65]
It was easy to see that, under the existing state of affairs,
hostilities could not long be avoided. Up to the period of which we are
speaking, the action of our Government had been dictated by those who
sought to uphold and encourage Slavery; nor could it be expected that
this long-established policy would be suddenly changed, unless such
change were peremptorily demanded by the people.
There was apparently but one course to be pursued under this
policy--that was the removal of the Indians from Florida. This plan had
been recommended by General Jackson ten years previously, and he now
being President, had an opportunity of carrying out his proposed policy.
To effect this purpose, it would be necessary to negotiate a treaty by
which the Indians should consent to abandon Florida and remove west of
the Mississippi.
It had long been the policy of those who administered the Government, to
select Southern men to act in all offices in which the institution of
slavery was likely to be called in question. From the time General
Washington sent Colonel Willett to ascertain facts in regard to the
controversy between the State of Georgia and the Creek Indians, in 1789,
to the period of which we are now speaking, no Northern man was
appointed to any office which required his personal attention to the
situation of the Exiles.[66]
[Sidenote: 1832.]
In accordance with this practice, General Cass, acting as Secretary of
War, appointed Colonel James Gadsden, of South Carolina, to negotiate
the treaty of Payne's Landing. By the preamble of this treaty, the
Seminoles stipulated that eight of their principal chiefs should visit
the Western country, "_accompanied by their faithful interpreter,
Abraham_," (an Exile, and a man of great repute among both Exiles and
Indians,) and should they be satisfied with the character of the
country, and of the favorable disposition of the Creeks to reunite with
the Seminoles as one people, they would, in such case, agree to the
stipulations subsequently contained in said treaty.
The first article merely makes an exchange, by the Seminoles, of lands
in Florida for an equal extent of territory, west of the Mississippi,
adjoining the Creek Nation.
The second article provides compensation for the improvements, and
specifically stipulates, that Abraham and Cudjoe (two Exiles who acted
as interpreters) should receive, each, two hundred dollars.
The third provides for the distribution of blankets and frocks among
them.
The fourth article provides for certain annuities, etc.
The fifth merely stipulates the manner in which the personal property of
the Seminoles shall be disposed of in Florida, and the same articles
supplied them in their new homes at the West.
[Illustration: Negro Abraham.]
The sixth is in the following language: "The Seminoles, being anxious to
be relieved from the repeated vexatious demands for slaves and other
property, alleged to have been stolen and destroyed by them, so that
they may remove to their new homes unembarrassed, the United States
stipulate to have the same properly investigated, and to liquidate such
as may be satisfactorily established, provided the amount does not
exceed fourteen thousand dollars."
The seventh article stipulates that a portion of the Indians should
remove in 1833, and the remainder in 1834.
Two leading features of this treaty attract the attention of the reader.
The first is the removal of the Seminoles; second, their _reunion with
the Creeks_. The Creeks, having paid the slaveholders of Georgia for
their loss of Exiles, had permitted the subject to rest in silence, and,
so far as we are informed, no formal claim had yet been asserted by the
Creeks to seize and hold the Exiles as slaves; but it is evident that
the negotiators of this treaty intended to place the Seminoles, when
settled in their western homes, within the power, and under the
jurisdiction, of the Creeks. Yet it was well known that, from the time
of their separation, in 1750, up to the signing of this treaty, they had
disagreed and, at times, had been in open war with each other. General
Cass, the Secretary of War, as well as the President, must have known
that McIntosh, the principal chief of the Creeks, had accompanied
Colonel Clinch, with five hundred warriors, when he invaded Florida for
the purpose of massacreing the Exiles at "Blount's Fort," in 1816; that
the Creeks shared in that massacre, and had publicly tortured and
murdered one Indian and one negro, whom they styled chiefs. It is
difficult to believe that any man could expect them to live together in
peace, with the recollection of those scenes resting on the mind; nor
has any explanation yet been given, nor reason assigned, for the anxiety
of our officers to place the Seminoles within the power of the Creeks,
except a desire to enslave the Exiles.
Abraham, who acted as interpreter, had been born among the Seminoles.
His parents had fled from Georgia, and died in their forest-home. He
appears to have been a man of unusual influence with his more savage
friends; and although he insisted on emigrating to the West, in
opposition to many of his brethren, yet he has to this day maintained a
high reputation among his people. Cudjoe was less known, and,
subsequently, was less conspicuous than Abraham; indeed, we know but
little of him. But the experience of Abraham, nor the learning of
Cudjoe, could detect that vague use of language which was subsequently
seized upon for justifying the fraud perpetrated under this treaty.
In the preamble, it was stipulated that the Seminoles were to send six
of their confidential chiefs to view the western country; and if _they_
were satisfied with the country, etc. The Seminoles supposed the pronoun
_they_ had relation to the Tribe; while General Jackson construed it to
refer to the chiefs sent West. If they were satisfied, he held the Tribe
bound to emigrate at all events; and his efforts were, therefore,
directed to satisfying the chiefs who went to view the country.
But the leading men of the Seminoles became suspicious of the design of
the Creeks to enslave the Exiles, before their delegation left Florida,
and publicly expressed their suspicion.[67]
The President appears to have determined on securing the emigration of
the Indians at all hazards and at any sacrifice. For that purpose he
appointed commissioners to go west and obtain from the Seminole
delegation, while yet in the western country, and absent from the tribe,
an acknowledgment that the country was suitable for a residence, and
that the Creeks were anxious to unite with them as one people. This was
to be obtained before the Seminole delegation should return to Florida,
or make report to their nation, or give the Tribe an opportunity to
judge or act upon the subject.
[Sidenote: 1833.]
His object was accomplished (March 28). The commissioners obtained an
"_additional treaty_," signed by the Seminole delegation sent West,
without any authority from their Nation to enter into any stipulation;
nor had the commissioners, on the part of the United States, authority
to form any treaty whatever: yet this additional treaty, as it was
called, after reciting some of the stipulations contained in that of
Payne's Landing, declares "that the chiefs sent to examine the country
are well satisfied with it;" and then stipulates, "that the Seminole
Indians shall emigrate to it so soon as the United States shall make the
necessary preparations." There was also another provision in this
additional treaty of vast importance to the Exiles; it designated and
assigned to the Seminoles a certain tract of country, giving its metes
and bounds, to the "_separate_ use of the Seminoles forever."
Their agent, Major Phagan, appears to have been willing and capable of
performing his part in this diplomatic intrigue. We have no knowledge of
the means used to obtain this additional treaty, nor the bribery by
which it was secured; but it is known that the chiefs, before they went
West, expressed their dislike of reuniting with the Creeks; that when
they returned, they denied having agreed to settle under Creek
jurisdiction; it is also certain that the additional treaty stipulates
that the Seminoles shall have their lands _separate_ from the Creeks.
When they returned, their agent, Major Phagan, represented them as
having stipulated for the positive removal of the Seminoles. The chiefs
denied it, and insisted they had understood their authority as extending
only to an examination of the country, and to report the result to the
Nation. They requested that the chiefs, head-men and warriors be
assembled to hear their report, and to express their own determination.
But the agent refused to call such council, and assured them that their
homes and heritage were already sold, and that nothing now remained for
them to do but to prepare for removal.
The people of Alachua County, Florida, feeling indignant at the
determination of the Seminoles to remain in that Territory, addressed a
protest to the President of the United States, declaring that the
Seminoles did _not capture and return_ the fugitive slaves who fled to
the Indian country, according to their stipulations in the treaty of
Camp Moultrie, but rather afforded protection to them. They further
stated that while the Seminoles remained in the country no slaveholder
could enjoy his property in peace. This protest was signed by ninety of
the principal citizens of said county, and forwarded to the President.
This statement aroused the ire of the President, who at once indorsed on
the back of the petition an order to the Secretary of War to "inquire
into the alleged facts, and if found to be true, to direct the Seminoles
to _prepare to remove West and join the Creeks_." The order was
characteristic of the author. He waited not for the approval or
ratification of any treaty; with him the whole depended upon the alleged
fact of the Seminoles failing to bring in fugitive slaves--not upon
treaty, nor upon the ratification of treaties.[68]
[Sidenote: 1834.]
The Senate of the United States was subsequently called on by the
President to approve the treaty after the lapse of nearly two years from
its date. This was done, and the President by his proclamation
immediately declared it in force. It was said by public officers, then
in Florida, that had the Seminole delegation been permitted to give an
unbiased opinion to their people, there would not have been a man in the
Nation willing to migrate.[69]
The whole Nation became indignant at this treatment, and such was the
feeling against the agent that he deemed it prudent to retire from the
agency. General Wiley Thompson was appointed to succeed him. General
Clinch was appointed to the command of the troops, and every preparation
was made to insure the speedy removal of the Indians and Exiles west of
the Mississippi.
In the meantime, the Creeks learning that a tract of country was, by the
additional treaty, agreed to be set off to the separate use of the
Seminoles, saw clearly the influence which Abraham had exercised in the
matter, and, fearing their own designs for obtaining slaves would be
defeated through their principal chiefs, addressed a protest to the
Hon. Lewis Cass, then Secretary of War, remonstrating against the policy
of giving the Seminoles a _separate_ country.
These chiefs were sagacious men, who had attained distinction with the
Creeks by their manifestation of superior intelligence. Two of them,
Rolley McIntosh and Chilley McIntosh, sons of a Scotch trader who lived
with the Indians, had been educated, and were regarded as among the able
politicians of the day. They, together with "Toshatchee Mieco" and
"Lewis," urged the propriety of uniting the two tribes as one people,
without any separate organization. The next day they addressed another
letter to Secretary Cass, giving additional reasons and arguments why
the Seminoles should not have separate lands.[70]
The President had already adopted the policy of compelling the Seminoles
to unite under one government with the Creeks: and this stipulation for
_separate_ lands was introduced into the "additional treaty," by
commissioners who were not fully informed of the President's views. This
compact, entered into at Fort Gibson, erroneously called an "additional
treaty," was known to be void: neither the Seminole chiefs nor the
United States commissioners had authority to negotiate any treaty
whatever; and this stipulation, for holding separate lands by the
Seminoles, appears to have been totally disregarded by the Executive, as
will more fully appear hereafter.
Another circumstance had induced the Creeks to remain silent in regard
to the Exiles. By the treaty of Indian Spring, they had placed at the
President's disposal $250,000, out of which the slaveholders of Georgia
were to be paid for slaves and property lost prior to 1802. The
commissioners appointed to make the examination found but $109,000 due
the claimants under this stipulation, leaving in the hands of the
President $141,000 belonging to the Creeks. This, however, was claimed
by the slaveholders, in addition to the amount allowed by the treaty. To
obtain this money the slaveholders sent their petition to Congress. The
subject was referred to a committee, of which Mr. Gilmer, of Georgia,
was Chairman. The committee made a very elaborate report, setting forth
that the claimants had an equitable right to this money as an indemnity
"_for the loss of the offspring which the Exiles would have borne to
their masters had they remained in bondage_," and it is among the
inexplicable transactions of that day, that the bill passed, giving the
money to those claimants without the uttering of a protest, or the
statement of an objection, by any Northern representative or senator.
The Creeks now having paid the full amount stipulated in the treaty, and
being robbed of the $141,000, to compensate the slaveholders for
children who had never been born, were excited to madness. They believed
themselves to hold the beneficial interest in the bodies of the Exiles,
and determined to obtain possession of them.[71] They immediately sent a
delegation to the Seminoles to demand possession of the Exiles as their
slaves.
While the Creeks were thus demanding possession of the refugees, the
Executive of the United States and his officers were endeavoring to
compel them to go West, where the Creeks could, without opposition, lay
hands upon them and enslave them.
The six Seminole chiefs holding reservations upon the Appalachicola
River owned some slaves, and with those slaves some of the Exiles had
intermarried. Each chief, by the terms of the treaty of Camp Moultrie,
was permitted to name the _men_ who were to reside with him, and such
chief became responsible for the conduct of the persons thus named;
while the United States stipulated to "afford the chiefs and their
people _protection against all persons whatsoever_."
The white settlements had extended to the vicinity of these
reservations, and the Exiles and Seminole slaves living on them were
more immediately exposed to the rapacity of the whites than were those
in the interior of the territory.
[Sidenote: 1835.]
The mania for obtaining slaves by piratical violence, seems to have
reached a point almost incredible to the people of the free States.
E-con-chattimico was one of the chiefs whose reservation lay on the west
side of the river. He had long been highly respected by the whites. He
owned some twenty slaves, who were residing with him in a state of
partial freedom--paying him an annual stipend of provisions for their
time, and holding such property as they could acquire. Connected with
these slaves, and with some of the Indians on the Reservation, were
about an equal number of Exiles, who had never known slavery, but whose
ancestors, in former generations, had toiled in bondage. Unwilling to
separate from their intimate friends and connexions, they had, as stated
in a former chapter, come here to occupy, with E-con-chattimico and his
friends, one of the extensive plantations which had been occupied by
their brethren who fell at Blount's Fort, in 1816. The chief had named
them as his friends, and a record of the fact had been deposited in the
office of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs; and for their conduct
E-con-chattimico was responsible, under the treaty of "Camp Moultrie;"
while, by the same instrument, the faith of the nation had been solemnly
pledged "to protect them _against all persons whatsoever_."
The piratical slave-dealers of Georgia looked upon these people, both
Exiles and slaves, with strong desire to possess them. One of these
fiends in human shape, named Milton, residing in Columbus, Georgia,
professed to have purchased them from a Creek Indian. The claim was
presented to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and by him referred to
Judge Cameron, of the United States District Court in Florida, for
examination.
The chief being a man of influence and respected by the whites, found
friends to espouse his cause. The claimant began to doubt his success
under such circumstances, and proposed to withdraw his claim; but so
flagrant was its fraudulent character, that Judge Cameron felt it his
duty to report upon it, showing it to be void.[72] This report was duly
transmitted to the proper department at Washington, and the Old Chief,
with his people, once more reposed in apparent security.
It has been alleged, that men who so far paralyze their own moral
sensibilities as to rob their fellow-men of their labor, their liberty,
their manhood, and hold them in degrading bondage, can not entertain any
clear conceptions of right and wrong. However this may be, it is certain
that men who deal in slaves, are ever regarded, even by slaveholders, as
destitute of moral sentiment.
In this case, Milton, finding that Judge Cameron had reported the claim
to be fraudulent and void, professed to sell his interest in these
people to certain other slaveholders, of Columbus. These men provided
themselves with chains, and fetters, and bloodhounds, and all the
paraphernalia of regular slave-dealers upon the African coast, and
descending the river in a steamboat, intended to surprise their victims
before any notice should be given of their approach. But some friendly
white, who had learned the intentions of the pirates, had whispered to
the aged chief the danger which threatened his people. They were soon
armed, and prepared to defend themselves or die in the attempt. The
desperadoes landed upon the Reservation; but finding the people armed,
and ready to receive them in a becoming manner, they retired into the
country and alarmed the settlers, by proclaiming that E-con-chattimico
had armed his people and was about to make war upon the whites. The news
flew in all directions; troops were mustered into service; an army was
organized and marched to the Reservation, and the proper officer sent,
with a white flag, to demand the object and intentions of the chief, in
arming his people. The old man was most indignant that his honor should
be impugned in such manner. He fully explained the cause which induced
his people to convene, and assume a hostile attitude towards those who
had come to rob them of their liberty.
The officers, who sympathized with the pirates, were sustained by
military force. They assured the old man that no persons should be
allowed to injure him or his people; that the country was alarmed, and
the public mind could only be pacified by a surrender of his arms and
ammunition. To this proposition he was constrained to yield. They took
his arms and ammunition, and left him defenseless. They remained
undisturbed, however, during the night; but the next morning the
slave-hunters returned, fully armed. They seized every negro residing
upon the Reservation, including both Exiles and the slaves of
E-con-chattimico, and, fastening the manacles upon their limbs, hurried
them off to Georgia, where they were sold into interminable
bondage.[73][74] They, and their ancestors, had enjoyed a hundred years
of freedom; but they were suddenly precipitated into all the sufferings
and sorrows of slavery, and now toil in chains, or have departed to that
land where slavery is unknown.
E-con-chattimico petitioned Congress for indemnity, but obtained no
redress. Neither the President, nor the Secretary of War, manifested any
interest in maintaining our most solemn treaty obligations with the
Indians, or attempted any redress for their violation. Disheartened and
broken down in spirits, E-con-chattimico yielded to General Jackson's
orders, emigrated to the western country, and spent the remainder of his
days in poverty and want.
Nor were the piracies of the white people confined to the crime of
kidnapping Exiles. They robbed the Indians and Exiles of horses, cattle
and money.
A chief named Blunt also held a reservation on the river, under the
treaty of Camp Moultrie. He had some friends among the Exiles who
preferred to occupy, with him, one of the plantations left destitute by
the murder of the people at "Blount's Fort," in 1816. He too had named
his friends and become responsible for their conduct, and relied upon
the pledged faith of the nation to protect them.
Some desperadoes, said to have come from Georgia, entered his
plantation, robbed him of a large amount of money, and carried away all
the negroes living on the Reserve.
Another chief named Walker, also residing on a reservation, with some
slaves and Exiles, discovered that a notorious slave-catcher from
Georgia, named Douglass, and some associates, were hanging around his
plantation, with the apparent intention of capturing and enslaving the
colored people. Warned by the outrage committed upon E-con-chattimico
and his people, both Indians and negroes collected together, armed
themselves, and determined to resist any violence that should be offered
them.
When the piratical Georgians approached, they fired upon them. Finding
the people armed and determined to resist, the manstealers retreated and
disappeared. Feeling they were in danger, Walker wrote the Agent of the
Seminoles, calling for protection, according to the stipulations of the
treaty of Camp Moultrie. In his letter he says, "Are the free negroes
(Exiles), and negroes belonging to this town (slaves), to be _stolen
away publicly_ in the face of law and justice--carried off and sold to
fill the pockets of those worse than land pirates?"
This appeal was in vain. The Agent paid no attention to it. The
kidnappers were vigilant and watchful, and when their victims supposed
themselves safe, they stole upon them, seized them, and hurried them off
to the interior of Alabama, and sold them into slavery.
The scenes so often witnessed upon the slave coast of Africa became
common in Florida; while Georgia, and Alabama, and Florida, afforded a
class of men in no respect superior in morals to those outlaws and
pirates who pursue the foreign slave trade.
The dangers threatening the Exiles now became imminent. They saw clearly
they were to be enslaved, or compelled to resort to arms in defense of
their liberties. Their entire influence was exercised to prevent
emigration, as they feared that would subject them to Creek jurisdiction
and enslavement.
These objections were made known to the Department at Washington by the
Agent of the Seminoles, Wiley Thompson, who, in plain and unmistakable
language, informed the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, that the
principal objection to removing West which operated upon the minds of
the Seminoles arose from the claim of the Creeks to those people who had
fled from Georgia prior to 1802, and extending back to the commencement
of the Revolutionary War. He assured the Department, that if the
Seminoles were compelled to remove West, _these descendants of the
Exiles would be enslaved by the Creeks_, and if they remained in
Florida, they would be enslaved by the whites. He told the Department in
plain language, that many of those negroes who had been born and raised
among the Indians had been enslaved by the people of Florida and of
Georgia, and were then held in bondage.[75]
Among other officers who espoused the cause of humanity at that period,
so interesting to the Exiles, was the veteran General Clinch. He was a
man of great probity of character--one of the most gallant officers in
the service--at the time in actual command of the troops in Florida. He
had long been acquainted with the Indians, and no man perhaps better
understood the character of the Exiles. He had twenty years before
commanded, the troops at the massacre of "Blount's Fort," and well
understood the persecutions to which the Exiles had been subjected. In
strong language, he pointed out the wrong about to be perpetrated upon
them, as well as upon the Seminoles. He informed the Secretary of War,
in direct and positive language, that if the Seminoles and their "negro
allies" were sent West, the _negroes would be enslaved by the
Creeks_.[76]
Hon. John H. Eaton, Governor of Florida, a warm personal and political
friend of the President, in whom it was believed the Executive reposed
great confidence, also wrote the department, delineating the wrongs
about to be perpetrated upon these colored people, who for several
generations had resided with the Seminoles.
These and other officers of Government united in the opinion, that these
"_negroes_," as they were generally called, exerted a controlling
influence over the Indians, and that it would be in vain to attempt the
removal of the Indians under these circumstances.
To these remonstrances, the Hon. Secretary of War, General Cass,
replied, with apparent determination to remove the Indians at any
expense of blood, of treasure, and of national reputation. The appeals
made to the justice of our Government were stigmatized "as the
promptings of a _false philanthropy_;" and our agents and officers were
directed to inform the Seminoles, in peremptory language, that they must
emigrate to the western country.
Laboring under the delusion that official station would add a
controlling influence to his language, General Cass transmitted to the
Indian Agent a speech, addressed to the Seminoles and their allies, in
which he endeavored to persuade them to emigrate and join the Creeks,
and subject themselves to Creek authority. The Seminoles and their
friends listened to the speech with that respectful attention which
would be expected from men who knew their lives and liberties were in
danger.
It was at one of these consultations, in the presence of their Agent,
that "Osceola," at that time a young warrior, attracted attention by
saying, "_this is the only treaty I will ever make with the whites_,"
at the same time drawing his knife and striking it forcibly into the
table before him.[77]
It was at this period that abandoned white men conceived the plan of
buying negroes from Seminoles while in a state of intoxication, and
selling them to the white people. If they could get an Indian drunk,
they could of course obtain from him a bill of sale of any negro they
pleased, whether the Indian had any title to him or not. This plan of
separating the Seminoles from their colored friends, it was thought
would conduce to their removal.
Applications to enter the Indian Territory for the purpose of purchasing
slaves were referred by the Secretary of War to the Commissioner of
Indian Affairs, and by the latter officer to the Attorney General Felix
Grundy, who gravely reported, that he "saw no good reason why the white
people should not be permitted to buy slaves of the Indians;" and the
President having considered the matter, ordered permission to be granted
for that purpose.
Officers who were in Florida saw at once that this policy would kindle
the smothered indignation of the Indians and Exiles into a flame. The
Agent of the Seminoles, refusing to obey the orders thus given,
remonstrated against the policy in a letter addressed to the head of the
Department, in which he says: "The remark in your letter that it is not
presumed the condition of these negroes (the Exiles) would be worse than
that of others in the same section of country is true; yet you will
agree that the same remark would apply to _you, to me, or to any other
individual of the United States_, as we should, if subjected to slavery,
be in the precise condition of other slaves."
So general and so great was the indignation excited by this order for
establishing a commerce in human flesh with drunken Seminoles, that it
was soon after countermanded; yet the immediate emigration of the
Indians was urged with increased earnestness, although the Department of
War was informed by nearly every officer in the military and Indian
service of Florida, that they could not be induced to emigrate, so long
as the Exiles should be regarded as in danger of being subjected to
Creek authority.
But the stern decree had gone forth that "the Indians should prepare to
emigrate West and _join the Creeks;_" and the necessary preparations
were hurried forward both in the Military and Civil Departments of
Government. The Exiles and Seminoles saw clearly the terrible
alternative to which they were soon to be driven, and they turned their
attention to active preparations for the conflict. Their crops were
carefully secured; their cattle driven far into the interior; and their
women and children removed from the frontier to places of safety. They
omitted no opportunity of securing powder and lead; and while
associating with the white people, they manifested a bold contempt and
dislike for them, which gave gloomy forebodings of the future.
CHAPTER VII.
COMMENCEMENT OF THE SECOND SEMINOLE WAR.
The number of Exiles in Florida--Spanish Maroons--Seminole
Slaves--Osceola--His Parentage--His Character--His Wife--Her
Parentage and sad Fate--Imprisonment of Osceola--His Release--He
swears Vengeance against Mr. Thompson--Decree of General
Council--Fate of Charley E. Mathler--Osceola and followers seek the
life of Thompson--Lay in wait near Fort King--Fate of Mr. Thompson
and Lieut. Smith--Of the Sutler and his Clerks--General Clinch
orders Major Dade to Fort King--The Major seeks a faithful
Guide--Engages the Services of Louis, a Slave--His Learning and
Character--He meditates the Massacre of Dade and his men--Councils
with the Exiles--Arranges the plan of Massacre, and informs them of
the time--Exiles and Indians rendezvous in Wahoo Swamp--Dade's
Approach--The preparation--The Massacre--Osceola and Louis--The
Exiles and Indians again meet in the Swamp for the
night--Digression--Incidents.
The number of Exiles at the commencement of the Second Seminole War, has
been variously estimated. Probably their whole number, including women
and children, was not less than twelve hundred. To these may be added
the slaves belonging to the Seminoles, estimated at two hundred, making
a population of fourteen hundred blacks. Most of the slaves lived with
the Exiles, separate and apart from their masters, paying a certain
quantity of vegetables annually, for the partial freedom which they
enjoyed. There were many half-breeds, however, some of whom resided with
the Indians, and others were located with the Exiles.
The Spanish population called the Exiles "Maroons," after a class of
free negroes who inhabit the mountains of Cuba, Jamaica, and other West
Indian islands. Indeed, some of the Maroons of Cuba appear to have
found their way to Florida,[78] and many of the Exiles passed from that
Territory to the West India Islands. Many officers of Government appear
to have known or cared little for these people, while others manifested
much intelligence and humanity in regard to them. We have already
noticed the efforts of Mr. Thompson, the Indian Agent, of Colonel
Clinch, and of Colonel Eaton, in behalf of the Exiles, who had long
resided in Florida.
During the summer, the Indians committed various depredations upon the
white people, such as stealing horses and killing cattle; but the first
open hostilities occurred on the twenty-eighth of December, when two
important and bloody tragedies took place, which left the country no
longer in doubt as to the actual existence of war.
A young and gallant warrior, named Osceola, was the principal actor in
one of these scenes. He was the son of an Indian trader, a white man,
named Powell. His mother was the daughter of a Seminole chief.
He had recently married a woman said to have been beautiful. She was the
daughter of a chief who had married one of the Exiles; but as all
colored people by slaveholding laws are said to follow the condition of
the mother, she was called an African slave. Osceola was proud of his
ancestry. He hated slavery, and those who practiced the holding of
slaves, with a bitterness that is but little understood by those who
have never witnessed its revolting crimes.
He visited Fort King, in company with his wife and a few friends, for
the purpose of trading. Mr. Thompson, the Agent, was present, and, while
engaged in business, the wife of Osceola was seized as a slave.
Evidently having negro blood in her veins, the law pronounced her a
slave; and, as no other person could show title to her, the pirate who
had got possession of her body, was supposed of course to be her owner.
[Illustration: As.se.he.ho.lar. (known as Osceola, or Powell.)]
Osceola became frantic with rage, but was instantly seized and placed in
irons, while his wife was hurried away to slaveholding pollution.[79] He
remained six days in irons, when, General Thompson says, he became
penitent, and was released.
From the moment when this outrage was committed, the Florida War may be
regarded as commenced. Osceola swore vengeance upon Thompson, and those
who assisted in the perpetration of this indignity upon himself, as well
as upon his wife, and upon our common humanity.
The Exiles endeavored to stimulate the Indians to deeds of valor. In
general council, they decreed that the first Seminole who should make
any movement preparatory to emigration, should suffer death. Charley E.
Mathler, a respected chief, soon after fell a victim to this decree.
Osceola commanded the party who slew him. He had sold a portion of his
cattle to the whites, for which he had received pay in gold. This money
was found upon his person when he fell. Osceola forbade any one touching
the gold, saying it was the price of the red man's blood, and with his
own hands he scattered it in different directions as far as he was able
to throw it.
But his chief object appeared to have been the death of General
Thompson. Other Indians and Exiles were preparing for other important
operations; but Osceola seemed intent, his whole soul was absorbed, in
devising some plan by which he could safely reach Mr. Thompson, who was
the object of his vengeance. He, or some of his friends, kept constant
watch on the movements of Thompson, who was unconscious of the danger to
which he was exposed. Osceola, steady to his purpose, refused to be
diverted from this favorite object. Thompson was at Fort King, and
there were but few troops to protect that fortress. But Indians seldom
attempt an escalade, and Osceola sought an opportunity to take it by
surprise. With some twenty followers, he lay secreted near the fort for
days and weeks, determined to find some opportunity to enter by the open
gate, when the troops should be off their guard.
Near the close of December, a runner brought him information that Major
Dade, with his command, was to leave Fort Brooke on the twenty-fifth of
that month, and that those who intended to share in the attack upon that
regiment, must be at the great "Wahoo Swamp," by the evening of the
twenty-seventh. This had no effect whatever upon Osceola. No
circumstance could withdraw him from the bloody purpose which filled his
soul.
On the twenty-eighth, in the afternoon, as he and his followers lay near
the road leading from the fort to the house of the sutler, which was
nearly a mile distant, they saw Mr. Thompson and a friend approaching.
That gentleman and his companions had dined, and, on taking their
cigars, he and Lieut. Smith, of the Second Artillery, had sallied forth
for a walk, and to enjoy conversation by themselves.
At a signal given by Osceola, the Indians fired. Thompson fell, pierced
by fourteen balls; Smith received about as many.[80] The shrill
war-whoop followed the sound of the rifles, and alarmed the people at
the fort. The Indians immediately scalped their victims, and then
hastened to the house, where Mr. Rogers, the sutler, and two clerks,
were at dinner. These three persons were instantly massacred and
scalped. The Indians took as many valuable goods as they could carry,
and set fire to the building. The smoke gave notice to those in the fort
of the fate that had befallen the sutler and his clerks. But the
condition in which the commandant found his troops, forbade his sending
out any considerable force to ascertain the fate of Thompson and his
companion. Near nightfall, a few daring spirits proceeded up the road to
the hommock, and brought the bodies to the fort; but Osceola and his
followers had hastened their flight, not from fear of the troops, but
with the hope of joining their companions at Wahoo in time to engage in
scenes of more general interest.
General Clinch had foreseen that hostilities were unavoidable, and, as
early as the fifteenth of November, had sought to increase the number of
troops at Fort King by such reinforcements as could be spared from other
stations. For this purpose, he ordered Major Dade, then at Fort Brooke,
near Tampa Bay, to prepare his command for a march to Fort King. The
distance was one hundred and thirty miles, through an unsettled forest,
much diversified with swamps, lakes and hommocks. No officer nor soldier
could be found who was acquainted with the route, and a guide was
indispensable: yet men competent to the discharge of so important a
trust were rarely to be found, for the lives of the regiment might
depend upon the intelligence and fidelity of their conductor.
At this point in our history, even before the commencement of general
hostilities, we are led to the acquaintance of one of the most romantic
characters who bore part in the stirring scenes of that day. On making
inquiry for a suitable guide, the attention of Major Dade was directed
to a colored man named Louis. He was the slave of one of the old and
respectable Spanish families, named Pacheco, who resided in the vicinity
of Fort Brooke. Major Dade applied to the master, Antonio Pacheco, for
information concerning his slave, and was assured that Louis, then near
thirty years of age, was one of the most _faithful_, _intelligent_, and
_trustworthy_ men he had ever known. He had also been well bred, was
polite, accomplished, and learned. He read, wrote, and spoke, with
facility, the Spanish, French, and English languages, and spoke the
Indian, and was perfectly familiar with the route to Fort King, having
frequently traveled it.
Pleased with the character and appearance of Louis, Major Dade entered
into an agreement with the master for his services in conducting the
troops through the forest to Fort King, at the rate of twenty-five
dollars per month, and stated the time at which the service was to
commence. The contract was made in the presence of Louis, who listened
attentively to the whole arrangement, to which he of course gave his own
consent.
Louis Pacheco was too enlightened to smother the better sympathies of
the human heart. He was well informed, and understood the efforts that
were making to reënslave his brethren, the Exiles. With many of them he
had long been acquainted; he had witnessed the persecutions to which
they had been subjected, the outrages heaped upon them, and now saw
clearly the intention to subject them to slavery among the Creeks. He
had spent his own life thus far in servitude, and, although his
condition was regarded with envy by the plantation servants around him,
he yet sighed for freedom.
Blessed with an intellect of no ordinary mould, he reflected deeply upon
his condition, and determined upon his course. Hostilities had not yet
commenced, and he was in the daily habit of conversing with Indians, and
often with Exiles. He was well acquainted with the character of each,
and knew the men to whom he could communicate important information with
safety. To a few of the Exiles, men of integrity and boldness, he
imparted the facts that Dade, with his troops, would leave Fort Brooke
about the twenty-fifth of December, for Fort King, and that he, Louis,
was to act as their guide; that he would conduct them by the trail
leading near the Great Wahoo Swamp, and pointed out the proper place for
an attack.[81]
This information was soon made known to the leading and active Exiles,
and to a few of the Seminole chiefs and warriors. The Exiles, conscious
that the war was to be waged on their account, were anxious to give
their friends some suitable manifestation of their prowess. They desired
as many of the Exiles capable of bearing arms as could assemble at
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