Delegation from Emigrants return to Florida—Their efforts in favor of Peace—Pacific indications—Troops discharged—Indians and Negroes surrender—Foray of Captain Wade—Waxe Hadjo surrenders—Massacre at Mandarin—People of Georgia and Florida dissatisfied with General Worth—They insist on furnishing Troops—Gen. Worth refuses to employ Militia—General McDonald and Volunteers from Georgia take the field—Demand the withdrawal of the Regular Troops—They are withdrawn—Call for Provisions—General Worth refuses to furnish them—Militia disband—Tustenuggee Chapco surrenders—More Troops discharged—General Worth states the number of Enemy, and recommends cessation of Hostilities—Propositions rejected by Executive—Battle with Halec Tustenuggee—His character—His capture—He and his people sent West—President reconsiders General Worth’s advice—Adopts the proposed policy—General Worth calls Council—Terms of Peace agreed upon—General Order—General Worth retires—War ended—Its object—Its cost—Number of lives sacrificed—Character of Indians and Exiles who remained in Florida.
Delegation from Emigrants return to Florida—Their efforts in favor of Peace—Pacific indications—Troops discharged—Indians and Negroes surrender—Foray of Captain Wade—Waxe Hadjo surrenders—Massacre at Mandarin—People of Georgia and Florida dissatisfied with General Worth—They insist on furnishing Troops—Gen. Worth refuses to employ Militia—General McDonald and Volunteers from Georgia take the field—Demand the withdrawal of the Regular Troops—They are withdrawn—Call for Provisions—General Worth refuses to furnish them—Militia disband—Tustenuggee Chapco surrenders—More Troops discharged—General Worth states the number of Enemy, and recommends cessation of Hostilities—Propositions rejected by Executive—Battle with Halec Tustenuggee—His character—His capture—He and his people sent West—President reconsiders General Worth’s advice—Adopts the proposed policy—General Worth calls Council—Terms of Peace agreed upon—General Order—General Worth retires—War ended—Its object—Its cost—Number of lives sacrificed—Character of Indians and Exiles who remained in Florida.
1841.
On the fourteenth of October, Alligator, with two other chiefs, and one of the leading Exiles, named James, reached Fort Brooke, on their return from the Western Country. They came at the request of General Worth to exert their influence with Tiger-tail and others in favor of emigration. The next day they left for the interior, and after an absence of seven days returned with Tiger-tail. The General held several conversations with him, and kindly expressed his sympathy for the Indians, explaining his own situation and duty, and advising the Indians to emigrate as their best policy. Tiger-tail, after remaining in camp four days, returned for his band; and friendly Indians were dispatched byGeneral Worth to Sam Jones and other chiefs to induce them also to come in. Some thirty Indians deserted Halec Tustenuggee (Nov. 10), and came to Fort Brooke. The appearance of Indians and Exiles was so pacific that the Commanding General discharged from further service in Florida five companies of dragoons, who were ordered to the western frontier. The Indians and Exiles who remained at Fort Brooke when Wild Cat and his party left for the West, were active in their endeavors to induce their other friends to emigrate. In these efforts they were at least partially successful. Small parties from the bands of Tiger-tail and Nethloke-Mathla arrived occasionally, and with the apparent consent of those chiefs; but Tiger-tail himself appeared suspicious and wary. He would not come in then, but promised to do so at some future day. The influence of most of the Exiles now remaining in Florida was exerted in favor of emigration. It is believed that nearly every family of pure Exile blood had left; that the last of that class had departed with Wild Cat, particularly all of the descendants of those pioneers who remained unconnected with the Indians by marriage. There were yet remaining a few who had more recently fled from their masters in Florida and Georgia. They dared not trust themselves within the power of our troops, lest they should be reconsigned to slavery. They exerted a strong influence with the Indians against emigration. There were also, in almost every band and small village of Indians, Exiles who had intermarried with Indian families. They could not well separate from their family connexions, and therefore refused to surrender for emigration, until those relatives would go with them. By the twentieth of November, fifty-two warriors and a hundred and ten women and children—making in all one hundred and sixty-two people—were gathered from the bands of Tiger-tail and Nethloke-Mathla; some thirty of whom were Exiles, intermarried with the Indians and half-breeds.
Captain Wade made a foray into the Indian Country, and captured some sixty-five Indians and Exiles of two different bands, by surprise, and without bloodshed. They were mostly women andchildren, and were at once sent forward to Tampa Bay for emigration.
About the close of November, “Waxe-Hadjo,” a young chief from the Cypress Swamp, with seventeen warriors and more than thirty women and children—some ten or twelve of whom were half-breeds, descendants of Exiles and Seminoles—surrendered, and were sent to Fort Brooke for emigration.
While everything thus wore the appearance of peace, and all were regarding the war as near its close, a small settlement of white people, at a place called Mandarin, twenty-two miles from Jacksonville, was assailed in open day, and five of the people murdered. This attack was conducted by a small party of Indians, less than twenty in number, who had come from the interior, and in a stealthy manner approached this settlement, committed the murders, and retired before any troops could be brought to the scene of slaughter.
Near the close of the year, the authorities of Georgia and Florida gave evidence of their dissatisfaction of the manner in which General Worth was conducting the war. The militia of neither Florida nor Georgia were called on to participate in the war. No opportunities were afforded them of seizing negroes and selling them into slavery; none but the regular sutlers were permitted to encamp with or near the troops; in short, the war, as then conducted, afforded them but little profit. General Worth had encouraged the return of the people to their homes and plantations, and very few of them now drew rations from the public stores for their support. He had discharged citizens and their slaves from public employment, and the war was carried on without permitting the people, or politicians of Georgia or Florida, to interfere or dictate the manner of its prosecution.
This proceeding of General Worth greatly excited the people and Executive of Georgia, who insisted upon furnishing militia to carry on the war. The Secretary of War referred the matter at once to General Worth, and a most interesting and amusing correspondence followed between the Executive of Georgia and the CommandingGeneral. The latter refusing to call for militia from that State, they were mustered without his authority, and he was requested by Governor McDonald to withdraw the United States forces from the Georgia frontiers.
As there was then no enemy near that State, and no danger to the inhabitants, he removed the troops, and the Georgia militia were ordered by the Governor to take their place. They did so with the confident expectation that General Worth would furnish rations and hospital supplies and arms from the United States stores. But he refused to do this, and the gallant militia of that State immediately retired to their homes in order to dine.
The correspondence on this subject continued until May, 1842, and shows the skillful management of individuals to get up alarms in regard to the supposed presence of hostile Indians, and thereby manifest the necessity of posting troops in certain localities, where there had probably never been an enemy. To give importance to these counterfeited alarms, letters were written, and presentments were made by Grand Juries. The Delegate from the Territory of Florida demanded of the Executive the employment of militia for the protection of the frontier, and that such militia be authorized to act independently of the Commanding General.
Hon. John C. Spencer, Secretary of War, replied, that the Department could see no particular advantage to be derived from such a division of the duties of the Commanding General; and, as he had no doubt General Worth would do whatever was proper, he referred the whole matter to his consideration.
Had General Jessup, in 1836 and ‘37, adopted the policy which guided General Worth; had he sent his prisoners to the Western Country without permitting the militia, or the people of Florida, to seize and enslave those whom he had engaged to protect and defend, there is little doubt that the war would have been closed during the time he was employed in Florida.
During the last days of December, Tustenuggee Chopco, a sub-chief, and about seventy followers, consisting of warriors, womenand children, a proportion of whom were Exiles and half-breeds, surrendered near the Great Cypress Swamp, and were also sent to Fort Brooke for emigration.
1843.
At the commencement of this year several more companies of troops were discharged, the number of the enemy being so far diminished as to render their presence useless.
On the fifth of February, some three hundred and fifty Indians and Exiles were embarked at Tampa Bay for the Western Country. They in due time reached Fort Gibson, and took up their residence with those who had gone before them, and were still residing upon the lands of the Cherokees.
On the fourteenth of February, General Worth addressed the Commanding General of our army, at Washington City, a communication, giving a detailed statement of the number of Indians yet remaining in Florida—amounting in all to three hundred, according to the best information he had been able to obtain. He also stated the impossibility of capturing these individuals, scattered as they were over a vast extent of country, and advising that they be dealt with, henceforth, in a peaceful manner; and that at least five-sixths of the troops then employed in Florida be withdrawn, and an equal proportion of the expenses of the war be curtailed. He proposed sending a portion of those friendly Indians who remained at Fort Brooke, among the hostiles, to continue with them, and exert what influence they could in favor of peace and of emigration; with the assurance, that no further hostilities would be prosecuted by the United States while the Indians remained peaceful.
The proposition, however, was rejected by the Executive; and General Worth continued to carry forward the work which he had prosecuted thus far with such signal success. He dismissed more troops from service in Florida; discharged employees in the various departments under his command, and made such retrenchments as he was able to effect, without detracting from the efficiency of the public service.
On the sixteenth of April, the troops fell in with Hallec Tustenuggee, who, with some seventy warriors of his own and other bands, was encamped upon an island in the Great Wahoo Swamp, and after an irregular fight of two hours, routed them. The loss was slight on both sides. Our troops had one man killed, and four wounded; the allies three wounded, whom they carried from the field. This was the last battle fought in the Florida War. The Indians scattered in various directions, and in that way evaded pursuit.
Halec Tustenuggee was a most skillful warrior: bold and daring in his policy, yet capable of dissimulation and treachery. He had been the object of pursuit for two years. His unceasing vigilance had enabled him to bid defiance to civilized troops. He was now nearly destitute of powder and provisions, and, as an alternative, professed a desire for peace. He came into the American camp boldly, shook hands with General Worth, and proclaimed his pacific purpose. His professions were treated with great apparent respect. He wanted provisions for his band. They were encamped within three miles of General Worth’s head-quarters, and were fed at public expense. And when the whole band had come within the lines, for the purpose of attending a feast, they were secured as prisoners, and immediately sent to Tampa Bay for emigration; and, on the fourteenth of July, this entire band, consisting of one hundred and twenty persons, embarked for Fort Gibson, by way of New Orleans. They reached their destination in safety; and most of them took up their residence with their brethren, the Seminoles; while others joined the Creeks.
The Federal Executive, having more maturely considered the suggestions of General Worth, at length concluded to accede to his propositions for a pacification with the remaining hostiles in Florida. That officer, having secured Halec Tustenuggee and his band, and sent them West, now dispatched his messengers to those small bands of hostiles which remained, inviting them to hold a council and enter into an arrangement, based upon the condition, that theallies should remain in the southern portion of the Peninsula of Florida, confined to certain limits, and abstain from all acts of aggression upon their white neighbors.
Most of these small bands sent chiefs, or sub-chiefs, to attend the council; and terms of peace were agreed to, and the following General Order was issued:
“ORDER,}Head Quarters Ninth Military Department,}No. 28.}Cedar Key, Florida, August 14, 1843. }“It is hereby announced, that hostilities with the Indians within this Territory have ceased. Measures are taken to pass the few remaining Indians within certain limits—those in the far south immediately; those west of the Suwanee in a few days, who, meantime, there is every reasonable assurance, will conduct inoffensively if unmolested in their haunts. The lands thus temporarily assigned, as their planting and hunting grounds, are within the following boundaries, to wit: From the mouth of Talockchopco, or Pease Creek, up the left bank of that stream to the fork of the southern branch, and, following that branch, to the head or northern edge of Lake Istokpoga; thence down the eastern margin of that lake to the stream which empties into the Kissimee River, following the left bank of the said stream and river to where the latter empties into Lake Okeechobee; thence down, due south, through said lake and everglades to Shark River, following the right bank of that river to the Gulf; thence along the Gulf shore (excluding all islands between Punta Rosa and the head of Charlotte’s Harbor) to the place of beginning.“The foregoing arrangements are in accordance with the instructions of the President of the United States.“By order of Col. WORTH:S. COOPER,A. A. General.”
“ORDER,}Head Quarters Ninth Military Department,}No. 28.}Cedar Key, Florida, August 14, 1843. }
“It is hereby announced, that hostilities with the Indians within this Territory have ceased. Measures are taken to pass the few remaining Indians within certain limits—those in the far south immediately; those west of the Suwanee in a few days, who, meantime, there is every reasonable assurance, will conduct inoffensively if unmolested in their haunts. The lands thus temporarily assigned, as their planting and hunting grounds, are within the following boundaries, to wit: From the mouth of Talockchopco, or Pease Creek, up the left bank of that stream to the fork of the southern branch, and, following that branch, to the head or northern edge of Lake Istokpoga; thence down the eastern margin of that lake to the stream which empties into the Kissimee River, following the left bank of the said stream and river to where the latter empties into Lake Okeechobee; thence down, due south, through said lake and everglades to Shark River, following the right bank of that river to the Gulf; thence along the Gulf shore (excluding all islands between Punta Rosa and the head of Charlotte’s Harbor) to the place of beginning.
“The foregoing arrangements are in accordance with the instructions of the President of the United States.
“By order of Col. WORTH:S. COOPER,A. A. General.”
Most of the troops were now withdrawn from Florida. General Worth retired from the command, and the Florida War was supposed to have ended. It had been commenced with a determination to reënslave the Exiles. That object was, in part, attained. Morethan five hundred persons were seized and enslaved, between the first of January, 1835, and the fourteenth of August, 1843. Probably one half of them had been born free; the others had themselves escaped from slavery. To effect this object, forty millions of dollars were supposed to have been expended. Eighty thousand dollars was paid from the public treasury for the enslavement of each person, and the lives of at least three white men were sacrificed to insure the enslavement of each black man. The deterioration of our national morality was beyond estimate, and the disgrace of our nation and government are matters incapable of computation. The suffering of the Indians and Exiles amidst such prolonged persecution, such loss of lives and property, we cannot estimate. The friends and families who were separated, the number of those who were made wretched for life, the broken hearts, we will not attempt to enumerate. Nearly one half of the whole number were consigned to the moral death of slavery, and many to that physical death which was dreaded far less than slavery. After wandering in the wilderness thrice forty years, they fell under the oppression, the persecution, the power of a mighty nation, which boasts of its justice, its honor, and love of liberty. We lament the sad fate of those who died in that struggle; but with deeper anguish, and far keener mortification, we deplore the unhappy lot of those who were doomed to drag out a miserable existence, amidst chains and wretchedness, surrounded by that moral darkness which broods over the enslaved portion of our fellow-beings in the Southern States.
There are yet remaining in Florida a few descendants of the pioneer Exiles. They are intermarried with the bands of “Billy Bowlegs,” and of “Sam Jones,” sometimes called Aripeka; they are now mostly half-breeds, and are rapidly becoming amalgamated with the Indian race.
Besides these, there are a number of Spanish Refugees, or colored people who fled from Spanish masters and took up their residence with those called “Spanish Indians.” These did not engagein the war until 1840: nor did they then engage in any of the battles with our army; they contented themselves with plundering ships wrecked on their coast, and the foray upon Indian Key. They refused to send delegates to the council summoned by General Worth, to establish terms of pacification. They live independent of the white people, subsisting mostly on fish and the natural products of the soil, holding very little intercourse with either white men or other Indians. Descendants of Exile parents, they have the complexion and appearance of pure Spaniards; but they are rapidly blending with the Indians, and forming a mixed race.
These different bands, remaining in Florida, and aggregating into a distinct people, have on several occasions since 1843, given evidence of implacable hostility to the whites. And at the time of writing this narrative, they are engaged in open war; while the Government of the United States is endeavoring to secure peace in the same manner and upon the same terms on which General Worth obtained it, in 1843. Their future history may, hereafter, occupy the pen of some other historian.
Character of Abraham—His knowledge of the Treaty of Payne’s Landing—Its stipulations—General Jessup’s assurances—Confirmed by other Officers of Government—Disappointment of Exiles on reaching Western Country—They refuse to enter Creek jurisdiction—Creeks disappointed—General Cass’s policy of reuniting Tribes—Agent attempts to pacify Exiles—Hospitality of Cherokees—Discontent of all the Tribes—Seminoles loud in their complaints—Hostilities apprehended—Conduct of Executive—Agents selected to negotiate another Treaty—Treaty stipulations—Attempts to falsify history—Executive action unknown to the people.
Character of Abraham—His knowledge of the Treaty of Payne’s Landing—Its stipulations—General Jessup’s assurances—Confirmed by other Officers of Government—Disappointment of Exiles on reaching Western Country—They refuse to enter Creek jurisdiction—Creeks disappointed—General Cass’s policy of reuniting Tribes—Agent attempts to pacify Exiles—Hospitality of Cherokees—Discontent of all the Tribes—Seminoles loud in their complaints—Hostilities apprehended—Conduct of Executive—Agents selected to negotiate another Treaty—Treaty stipulations—Attempts to falsify history—Executive action unknown to the people.
1844.
The Exiles were now all located on the Cherokee lands, west of the State of Arkansas. They had been removed from Florida at great expense of blood and treasure; but they were yet free, and the object of the Administration had not been attained. Conscious of the designs of the Creeks, the Seminoles and Exiles refused to trust themselves within Creek jurisdiction. They were tenants at will of the Cherokees, whose hospitality had furnished them with temporary homes until the Government should fulfill its treaty stipulations, in furnishing them a territory to their separate use.
Abraham was, perhaps, the most influential man among the Exiles. He had been a witness and interpreter in making the treaty of Payne’s Landing, and had dictated the important provision in the supplemental treaty; he had exerted his influence in favor of emigration; to him, therefore, his people looked with more confidence than to any other individual. In all his intercoursewith our officers, he had been assured of the intention to fulfill those treaties; and when he found the Government hesitating on that point, he became indignant, and so did others of his band. But he could only express his indignation to the Agent appointed to superintend their affairs and supply their wants. These complaints were made known to the Indian Bureau, at Washington; but they were unheeded, and the Exiles and their friends lived on in the vain hope that the Administration would at some day redeem the pledged faith of the nation, and assign them a territory for their separate use, where they could live independent of the Creeks, as they had done for nearly a century past.
Nor is it easy for men at this day to appreciate that feeling which so stubbornly sought their enslavement; we can only account for this unyielding purpose, from the long-established practice of so wielding the power and influence of the nation as best to promote the interests of slavery. It is certain, that it would have cost the United States no more to set off to the Exiles and Seminole Indians a separate territory, on which they could live free and independent, than it would to constrain them to settle on the Creek lands, and subject them to Creek laws, and Creek despotism, and Creek servitude.
General Jackson, in 1816, had ordered Blount’s Fort to be destroyed and the negroes returned to those who owned them. To effect this latter object, in 1822, he proposed to compel the Seminole Indians to return and reunite with the Creeks. If at any time there were other reasons for the frauds committed upon the Exiles and Indians—for the violations of the pledged faith of the nation—it is hoped that some of the officers who acted a prominent part in those scenes of treachery and turpitude, or their biographers, will yet inform the public of their existence.
Settled, as the Seminoles and Exiles now were on the Cherokee lands, all parties concerned were necessarily dissatisfied. The Creeks were disappointed, and greatly dissatisfied at not having the Exiles in their power, and charged our Government with bad faithin not delivering that extraordinary people into their hands. The Cherokees had assured the Seminoles and Exiles that our Government would deal honorably with them, and would faithfully carry out the treaty of Payne’s Landing, with the proviso contained in the supplemental treaty; and they were now greatly dissatisfied at the refusal of the Executive to observe this solemn stipulation; while the Seminoles and Exiles were indignant at the deception, fraud and perfidy practiced upon them.
Complaints against the Government now became general among all these tribes. All had been deceived; all had been wronged; and all became loud in their denunciations of the Government. This feeling became more intense as time passed away. It was in vain that our Indian agents and military officers at the West endeavored to quiet this state of general discontent. The newspapers of that day gave intimations of difficulties among the Indians at the West; they stated, in general terms, the danger of hostilities, but omitted all allusion to the cause of this disquietude.
The Executive appeared to be paralyzed with the difficulties now thrown in his way. He urged upon the Indian agents and military officers to use all possible efforts to suppress these feelings of hostility, which now appeared ready to burst forth upon the first occasion; coolly insisting that, at some future day, the Seminoles and Exiles would consent to remove on to the Creek territory.
At length the danger of hostilities became so imminent, that the Executive deemed it necessary to enter upon further negotiation in order to effect the long cherished purpose of subjecting the Exiles to Creek jurisdiction and consequent slavery. To effect this object it was necessary to select suitable instruments. Four Indian Agents, holding their offices by the Executive favor, were appointed to hold a Council with their discontented tribes, and if possible to negotiate a new treaty with them. It is somewhat singular that no statesman, no person favorably known to the public, or possessing public confidence, was selected for so important a service.
1845.
Of course any treaty formed under such circumstances and bysuch agents would conform to the Executive will. The treaty bears date on the twenty-fifth of January; and we insert the preamble and those articles which have particular relation to the subject matter of which we are speaking. They are as follows:
“Articles of a Treaty made by Wm. Armstrong, P. M. Butler, James Segan and Thomas S. Judge, Commissioners in behalf of the United States, of the first part; the Creek Tribe of Indians of the second part, and the Seminole Indians of the third part:”“WHEREAS, It was stipulated in the fourth article of the Creek Treaty of 1833, that the Seminoles should thence forward be considered a constituent part of the Creek nation, and that a permanent and comfortable home should be secured for them on the lands set apart in said treaty as the country of the Creeks; and whereas, many of the Seminoles have settled and are now living in the Creek Country, while others, constituting a large portion of the tribe, have refused to make their homes in any part thereof, assigning, as a reason, thatthey are unwilling to submit to Creek laws and Government, and that they are apprehensive of being deprived by the Creek authorities of their property; and whereas, repeated complaints have been made to the United States Government, that those of the Seminoles who refuse to go into the Creek Country have, without authority or right, settled upon lands secured to other tribes, and that they have committed numerous and extensive depredations upon the property of those upon whose lands they have intruded:”“Now, therefore, in order to reconcile all difficulties respecting location and jurisdiction; to settle all disputed questions which have arisen, or may hereafter arise, in regard to rights of property; and, especially, to preserve the peace of the frontier, seriously endangered by the restless and warlike spirit of the intruding Seminoles, the parties to this treaty have agreed to the following stipulations:”“ARTICLE1. The Creeks agree that the Seminoles shall be entitled to settle in a body, or separately, as they please, in any part of the Creek Country; that they shall make their own town regulations, subject, however, to the general control of the Creek Council in which they shall be represented; and, in short, that no distinction shall be made between the two tribes in any respect, except in the management of their pecuniary affairs; in which neither shall interfere with theother.”“ART2. The Seminoles agree that those of their tribe who have not done so before the ratification of this treaty, shall immediately thereafter remove to, and permanently settle in, the Creek Country.”“ART. 3. It is mutually agreed by the Creeks and Seminoles that all contested cases between the two tribes, concerning the right of property growing out of sales or transactions that may have occurred previous to the ratification of this treaty, shall be subject to the decision of the President of the United States.”
“Articles of a Treaty made by Wm. Armstrong, P. M. Butler, James Segan and Thomas S. Judge, Commissioners in behalf of the United States, of the first part; the Creek Tribe of Indians of the second part, and the Seminole Indians of the third part:”
“WHEREAS, It was stipulated in the fourth article of the Creek Treaty of 1833, that the Seminoles should thence forward be considered a constituent part of the Creek nation, and that a permanent and comfortable home should be secured for them on the lands set apart in said treaty as the country of the Creeks; and whereas, many of the Seminoles have settled and are now living in the Creek Country, while others, constituting a large portion of the tribe, have refused to make their homes in any part thereof, assigning, as a reason, thatthey are unwilling to submit to Creek laws and Government, and that they are apprehensive of being deprived by the Creek authorities of their property; and whereas, repeated complaints have been made to the United States Government, that those of the Seminoles who refuse to go into the Creek Country have, without authority or right, settled upon lands secured to other tribes, and that they have committed numerous and extensive depredations upon the property of those upon whose lands they have intruded:”
“Now, therefore, in order to reconcile all difficulties respecting location and jurisdiction; to settle all disputed questions which have arisen, or may hereafter arise, in regard to rights of property; and, especially, to preserve the peace of the frontier, seriously endangered by the restless and warlike spirit of the intruding Seminoles, the parties to this treaty have agreed to the following stipulations:”
“ARTICLE1. The Creeks agree that the Seminoles shall be entitled to settle in a body, or separately, as they please, in any part of the Creek Country; that they shall make their own town regulations, subject, however, to the general control of the Creek Council in which they shall be represented; and, in short, that no distinction shall be made between the two tribes in any respect, except in the management of their pecuniary affairs; in which neither shall interfere with theother.”
“ART2. The Seminoles agree that those of their tribe who have not done so before the ratification of this treaty, shall immediately thereafter remove to, and permanently settle in, the Creek Country.”
“ART. 3. It is mutually agreed by the Creeks and Seminoles that all contested cases between the two tribes, concerning the right of property growing out of sales or transactions that may have occurred previous to the ratification of this treaty, shall be subject to the decision of the President of the United States.”
The leading feature of this treaty, is a studied effort to make no allusion to the Exiles, or to recognize their existence in any way. General Jessup, in the articles of capitulation, had expressly stipulated for the protection of the persons and property of the “allies” of the Seminoles; but for half a century efforts had been made to exclude them from the page of our national history, and never was that policy more strikingly illustrated than in this treaty.
As heretofore stated, the Seminoles were said to own some forty slaves; but the Author has been unable to find any hint or intimation that any one of those slaves was claimed by the Creeks: yet efforts were made to falsify the truth of history by representing the four or five hundred Exiles now living with the Seminoles to be slaves to their friends and “allies.”
The next extraordinary feature of the treaty, is the recital of theCreektreaty as binding upon the Seminoles, when they had been no party to it, nor even had knowledge of its existence.
But the third article is that on which both Exiles and Seminoles appear to have relied. Thinking the President would do justice; feeling themselves subject to the power of the Executive, and pressed on all sides to accede to terms of pacification, they signed the treaty as the best alternative that lay before them.
In accordance with the past policy of the Administration, this treaty was withheld from publication. It was of course submitted to the Senate in secret session for approval. It was then amended, and still kept from the public for nearly two years after its negotiation.
NOTE—At the session of Congress, 1845-6, a bill containing, among many other things, an appropriation to carry out this treaty, was reported by the committee on Ways and Means, of the House of Representatives. The treaty itself yet lay concealed in the office of the Secretary of the Senate, where it had been ratified in secret session, and not a member of the House of Representatives had seen it, unless it was the Chairman of the committee of Ways and Means, or other confidential friends of the Executive, to whom it was given for personal examination.The bill was printed, and the Author seeing this provision, determined to know something of the treaty, before voting money to carry it into effect. For this purpose, he called on one of the Senators from Ohio (Hon. Thomas Corwin), to get a copy of the treaty. Mr. Corwin went with him to the office of the Secretary of the Senate, and after much inquiry, and passing from one clerk to another, a copy was obtained.When the bill came up for discussion, inquiry was made as to the treaty, its character and object. No member appeared to have any knowledge of it, save the Chairman of the committee of Ways and Means, (Mr. McKay of North Carolina). The Author of this work endeavored to give the House some idea of its origin, and, in the course of his remarks, referred to the manner in which the State of Georgia had been implicated in the persecution of the Exiles. This reference to the State of Georgia awakened the ire of Mr. Black, a Representative from that State, who advanced toward the Author with uplifted cane, as if to inflict personal chastisement, and quite ascènefollowed, which at the time created some sensation in the country.
NOTE—At the session of Congress, 1845-6, a bill containing, among many other things, an appropriation to carry out this treaty, was reported by the committee on Ways and Means, of the House of Representatives. The treaty itself yet lay concealed in the office of the Secretary of the Senate, where it had been ratified in secret session, and not a member of the House of Representatives had seen it, unless it was the Chairman of the committee of Ways and Means, or other confidential friends of the Executive, to whom it was given for personal examination.
The bill was printed, and the Author seeing this provision, determined to know something of the treaty, before voting money to carry it into effect. For this purpose, he called on one of the Senators from Ohio (Hon. Thomas Corwin), to get a copy of the treaty. Mr. Corwin went with him to the office of the Secretary of the Senate, and after much inquiry, and passing from one clerk to another, a copy was obtained.
When the bill came up for discussion, inquiry was made as to the treaty, its character and object. No member appeared to have any knowledge of it, save the Chairman of the committee of Ways and Means, (Mr. McKay of North Carolina). The Author of this work endeavored to give the House some idea of its origin, and, in the course of his remarks, referred to the manner in which the State of Georgia had been implicated in the persecution of the Exiles. This reference to the State of Georgia awakened the ire of Mr. Black, a Representative from that State, who advanced toward the Author with uplifted cane, as if to inflict personal chastisement, and quite ascènefollowed, which at the time created some sensation in the country.
Difficulties in effecting a reunion of Tribes—Its objects—Exiles and Seminoles move on to Creek Lands—They settle in separate Villages—Creeks demand Exiles as Slaves—Exiles arm themselves—They flee to Fort Gibson—Demand protection of the United States—General Arbuckle protects them—Reports facts to Department—Administration embarrassed—Call on General Jessup for facts—He writes General Arbuckle—Reports facts to the President—President hesitates—Refers question to Attorney General—Extraordinary opinion of that Officer—Manner in which Mr. Mason was placed in office—Exiles return to their Village—Slaveholders dissatisfied—Slave-dealer among the Creeks—His offer—They capture near one hundred Exiles—They are delivered to the Slave-dealer—Habeas Corpus in Arkansas—Decision of Judge—Exiles hurried to New Orleans and sold as Slaves—Events of 1850—Exiles depart for Mexico—Are pursued by Creeks—Battle—The Exiles continue their journey—They settle near Santa Rosa—The fate which different portions of the Exiles met—Incidents which occurred after their settlement in Mexico—Conclusion.
Difficulties in effecting a reunion of Tribes—Its objects—Exiles and Seminoles move on to Creek Lands—They settle in separate Villages—Creeks demand Exiles as Slaves—Exiles arm themselves—They flee to Fort Gibson—Demand protection of the United States—General Arbuckle protects them—Reports facts to Department—Administration embarrassed—Call on General Jessup for facts—He writes General Arbuckle—Reports facts to the President—President hesitates—Refers question to Attorney General—Extraordinary opinion of that Officer—Manner in which Mr. Mason was placed in office—Exiles return to their Village—Slaveholders dissatisfied—Slave-dealer among the Creeks—His offer—They capture near one hundred Exiles—They are delivered to the Slave-dealer—Habeas Corpus in Arkansas—Decision of Judge—Exiles hurried to New Orleans and sold as Slaves—Events of 1850—Exiles depart for Mexico—Are pursued by Creeks—Battle—The Exiles continue their journey—They settle near Santa Rosa—The fate which different portions of the Exiles met—Incidents which occurred after their settlement in Mexico—Conclusion.
1846.
The Creeks and Seminoles had been separated for nearly a century. They had most of that time lived under separate governments. Each Tribe had been controlled by their own laws; and each had been independent of the other. They had often been at war with each other; and the most deadly feuds had been engendered and still subsisted among them. To unite them with the Creeks, and blot the name of “Seminole” from the page of their future history, in order to involve the Exiles in slavery, had long been a cherished object with the administration of our Government. It was now fondly hoped, that that object would be accomplished without further difficulty.
But at no period had the Seminole Indians regarded the Exiles with greater favor than they did when removing on to the territory assigned to the Creeks. Although many of them had intermarried with the Seminoles, and half-breeds were now common among the Indians; yet most of the descendants of the pioneers who fled from South Carolina and Georgia maintained their identity of character, living by themselves, and maintaining the purity of the African race. They yet cherished this love of their own kindred and color; and when they removed on to the Creek lands, they settled in separate villages: and the Seminole Indians appeared generally to coincide with the Exiles in the propriety of each maintaining their distinctive character.
During the summer and autumn both Indians and Exiles became residents within Creek jurisdiction; and the Executive seemed to regard the trust held under the assignment made at Indian Spring, twenty-four years previously, as now fulfilled. Regarding the Creeks as holding the equitable or beneficial interest in the bodies of the Exiles, under the assignment from their owners to the United States, and they being now brought under Creek jurisdiction, subject to Creek laws, the Executive felt that his obligations were discharged, and the whole matter left with the Creeks.
This opinion appears also to have been entertained by the Creek Indians; for no sooner had the Exiles and Seminoles located themselves within Creek jurisdiction, than the Exiles were claimed as the legitimate slaves of the Creeks. To these demands the Exiles and Seminoles replied, that the President, under the treaty of 1845, was bound to hear and determine all questions arising between them. The demands were, therefore, certified to the proper department for decision. But this setting in judgment upon the heaven-endowed right of man to his liberty, seemed to involve more personal and moral responsibility than was desirable for the Executive to assume, and the claims remained undecided.
The Creeks became impatient at delay; they were a slaveholding people, as well as their more civilized but more infidel brethren, ofthe slave States. The Exiles, living in their own villages in the enjoyment of perfect freedom, had already excited discontent among the slaves of the Creek and Choctaw Tribes, and those of Arkansas. The Creeks appeared to feel that it had been far better for them to have kept the Exiles in Florida, than to bring them to the Western Country to live in freedom. Yet their claims under the treaty of 1845, thus far, appeared to have been disregarded by the President; they had been unable to obtain a decision on them; and they now threatened violence for the purpose of enslaving the Exiles, unless their demands were peacefully conceded.
The Exiles, yet confident that the Government would fulfill its stipulations to protect them and their property, repaired in a body to Fort Gibson, and demanded protection of General Arbuckle, the officer in command. He had no doubt of the obligation of the United States to lend them protection, according to the express language of the articles of capitulation entered into with General Jessup, in March, 1837. He, therefore, directed the whole body of Exiles to encamp and remain upon the lands reserved by the United States, near the fort, and under their exclusive jurisdiction, assuring them that no Creek would dare set foot upon that reservation with intentions of violence towards any person. Accordingly the Exiles, who yet remained free, now encamped around Fort Gibson, and were supported by rations dealt out from the public stores.
Soon as he could ascertain all the facts, General Arbuckle made report to the War Department relative to their situation, and the claims which they made to protection under the articles of capitulation, together with the rights which the Creeks set up to reënslave them.
This state of circumstances appears to have been unexpected by the Executive. Indeed, he appears from the commencement to have under-rated the difficulties which beset the enslavement of a people who were determined upon the enjoyment of freedom; he seems to have expected the negroes, when once placed within Creekjurisdiction, would have yielded without further effort. But he was now placed in a position which constrained him either to repudiate the pledged faith of the nation, or to protect the Exiles in theirpersons and property, according to the solemn covenants which General Jessup had entered into with them.
Yet the President was disposed to make farther efforts to avoid the responsibility of deciding the question before him. General Jessup had entered into the articles of capitulation, and the President appeared to think he was competent to give construction to them; he therefore referred the subject to that officer, stating the circumstances, and demanding of him the substance ofhis undertakingin regard to the articles of capitulation with the Exiles.
General Jessup appears to have now felt a desire to do justice to that friendless and persecuted people. Without waiting to answer the President, he at once wrote General Arbuckle, saying, “The case of the Seminole negroes is now before the President. By my proclamation and the convention made with them, when they separated from the Indians and surrendered,they are free. The question is, whether they shall be separated from the Seminoles and removed to another country; or be allowed to occupy, as they did in Florida, separate villages in the Seminole Country, west of Arkansas? The latter is whatI promised them. I hope, General, you will prevent any interference with them at Fort Gibson, until the President determines whether they shall remain in the Seminole Country, or be allowed to remove to some other.”
General Arbuckle, faithful to the honor of his Government, continued to protect the Exiles. He fed them from the public stores, not doubting that the Executive would redeem the pledge of the nation given by General Jessup, its authorized agent. But the President (Mr. Polk) himself a slaveholder, with his prejudices and sympathies in favor of the institution, did not understand the articles of capitulation according to the construction put upon them by General Jessup; he appears, therefore, to have called on theGeneral for a more explicit report of facts. In reply to this call, he reported, saying, “At a meeting with the three Indian chiefs, and the negro chiefs, Auguste and Carollo, I stipulated to recommend to the President to grant the Indians a small tract of country in the south-eastern part of the Peninsula; but it was distinctly understood that the negroes were to be separated from them at once, and sent West, whether the Indians were permitted to remain in Florida or not. With the negroes, it was stipulated that they should be sent West, as a part of the Seminole nation, and besettled in a separate village, under thePROTECTION OF THE UNITED STATES.” In another letter, addressed to the Secretary of War, he says: “A verysmall portionof the Seminole negroes who went to the West, were brought in and surrendered by their owners, under the capitulation of Fort Dade. Over these negroes the Indians have all the rights of masters; but all the other negroes, making more thannine-tenths of the whole number, either separated from the Indians and surrendered to me, or were captured by the troops under my command. I, as commander of the army, and in the capacity of representative of my country,solemnly pledged the national faith that they should not be separated, nor any of them sold to white men or others, but be allowed to settle and remain in separate villages,UNDER THE PROTECTION OF THE UNITED STATES.”
But even with these explicit statements before him, the President appears to have been unable to form an opinion; and he referred the matter to the Attorney General, Hon. John Y. Mason, of Virginia, who had been bred a slaveholder, and fully sympathized with the slave power. He, having examined the whole subject, delivered a very elaborate opinion, embracing seven documentary pages;[132]but concluding with the opinion, that although the Exileswere entitled to their freedom, the Executivecould not interfere in any manner to protect them, as stipulated by General Jessup, but must leave them to retire to their Towns in the Indian Territory, wherethey had a right to remain.
1848.
We should be unfaithful to our pledged purpose, were we to omit certain important facts connected with this opinion of the Attorney General. Nathan Clifford, of Maine, was appointed Attorney General of the United States in 1846, soon after the report of General Arbuckle concerning the situation of the Exiles reached Washington. The subject was before the President more than two years. This delay we cannot account for, unless it were to save Mr. Clifford (being a Northern man) from the responsibility of deciding this question, involving important interests of the slaveholding portion of our Union. In 1848 Mr. Clifford was appointed Minister to Mexico, and Hon. Isaac Toucey, of Connecticut, was appointed Attorney General. But he, too, was from a free State, and it would throw upon him great responsibility were he constrained to act upon this subject. Were he to decide in favor of the Exiles, it might ruin his popularity at the South; and if against them, it would have an equally fatal effect at the North.
Under these circumstances, recourse was had to an expedient. Before Mr. Toucey entered upon the discharge of his official duties, Mr. Mason, himself a slaveholder, was appointed to discharge the dutiesad interim. He entered the office, wrote out the opinion referred to, and then resigned the office and emoluments to Mr. Toucey; having decided no other question, nor discharged any other duty, than this exercise of official influence for the enslavement of the Exiles.
The President affirmed the principles decided by the Attorney General, and the Exiles were informed that theyhad the right to remain in their villages, free from all interference, or interruption from the Creeks. They had no other lands, no other country, no other homes. Many of their families were connected by marriage with the Seminoles. They and the Seminole Indians had, through several generations, been acquainted with each other; they had stood beside each other on many a battle field. Seminoles and Exiles had fallen beside each other, and were buried in the same grave; they had often sat in council together, and the Exiles were unwilling to separate from their friends. Wild Cat and Abraham and Louis, and many leading men and warriors of the Exiles and Seminoles, having deliberated upon the subject, united in the opinion, that the Exiles should return to their villages and reside upon the lands to which they were entitled.
In accordance with this decision, they returned to their new homes, resumed their habits of agriculture, and for a time all was quiet and peaceful; but their example was soon felt among the slaves of Arkansas, and of the surrounding Indian tribes. Nor is it to be supposed that the holders of slaves in any State of the Union, would be willing to admit that so large a body of servants could, by any effort, separate from their masters, for a century and a half maintain their liberty, and after so much effort to reënslave them, be permitted to enjoy liberty in peace.
Hundreds of them had been seized in Florida and enslaved. The laws of slave States presumed every black person to be a slave; and it was evident, that if they could once be subjected to the will of some white man, the laws of Arkansas would enable him to hold them in bondage.[133]
An individual, a slave-dealer, appeared among the Creeks andoffered to pay them one hundred dollars for each Exile they would seize and deliver to him; he stipulating to take all risk of title.[134]
1849.
This temptation was too great for the integrity of the Creeks, who were smarting under their disappointment, and the defeat of their long cherished schemes, of reënslaving the Exiles. Some two hundred Creek warriors collected together, armed themselves, and, making a sudden descent upon the Exiles, seized such as they could lay their hands upon. The men and most of the women and children fled; but those who had arms collected, and presenting themselves between their brethren and the Creeks who were pursuing them, prepared to defend themselves and friends.[135]The Creeks, unwilling to encounter the danger which threatened them, ceased from further pursuit, but, turning back, dragged their frightened victims, who had been already captured, to the Creek villages, and delivered them over to the slave-dealer, who paid them the stipulated price.
1850.
The Seminole Agent, learning the outrage, at once repaired to the nearest Judge in Arkansas, and obtained a writ of habeas corpus. The Exiles were brought before him in obedience to the command of the writ, and a hearing was had. The Agent showed the action of General Jessup; the sanction of the capitulation of March, 1837, by the Executive; the opinion of the Attorney General, and action of the President, deciding the Exiles to be free, and in all respects entitled to their liberty. But the Judge decided that the Creeks had obtained title by virtue of their contract with General Jessup; that neither General Jessup, nor the President, had power to emancipate the Exiles, even in time of war; that the Attorney General had misunderstood the law; that the title of the Creek Indians was legal and perfect; and they, having sold them to the claimant, his title must be good and perfect.[136]
No sooner was the decision announced, than the manacled victims were hurried from their friends and the scenes of such transcendent crimes and guilt. They were placed on board a steamboat, and carried to New Orleans. There they were sold to different purchasers, taken to different estates, and mingling with the tide of human victims who are septennially murdered upon the cotton and sugar plantations of that State, they now rest in their quiet graves, or perhaps have shared the more unhappy fate of living and suffering tortures incomparably worse than death.
The year 1850 was distinguished by a succession of triumphs on the part of the slave power. While the President and his Cabinet, and members of the Senate and of the House of Representatives, were seeking the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law; while slaveholders and their northern allies appeared to be aroused in favor of oppression within the States of our Union, their savage coadjutors of the Indian territory were equally active.
There yet remained some hundreds of Exiles in that far-distant territory unsubdued, and enjoying liberty. They had witnessed the duplicity, the treachery of our Government often repeated, toward themselves and their friends—they had, most of them, been born in freedom—they had grown to manhood, had become aged amidst persecutions, dangers and death—they had experienced the constant and repeated violations of our national faith: its perfidy was no longer disguised; if they remained, death or slavery would constitute their only alternative. One, and only one, mode of avoiding such a fate remained—that was, to leave the territory, the jurisdiction of the United States, and flee beyond its power and influence.
Mexico wasfree! No slave clanked his chains under its government. Could they reach the Rio Grande? Could they placethemselves safely on Mexican soil, they might hope yet to be free. A Council was held. Some were connected with Seminoles of influence. Those who were intimately connected with Indian families of influence, and most of the half-breeds, feeling they could safely remain in the Indian territory, preferred to stay with their friends and companions. Of the precise number who thus continued in the Indian Country, we have no certain information;[137]but some three hundred are supposed to have determined on going to Mexico, and perhaps from one to two hundred concluded to remain with their connexions in the Indian Country.
Abraham had reached a mature age; had great experience, and retained influence with his people. Louis Pacheco, of whom we spoke in a former chapter, with his learning, his shrewdness and tact, was still with them, and so were many able and experienced warriors. Wild Cat, the most active and energetic chief of the Seminole Tribe, declared his unalterable purpose to accompany the Exiles; to assist them in their journey, and defend them, if assailed. Other Seminoles volunteered to go with them. Their arrangements were speedily made. Such property as they had was collected together, and packed for transportation. They owned a few Western ponies. Their blankets, which constituted their beds, and some few cooking utensils and agricultural implements, were placed upon their ponies, or carried by the females and children; while the warriors, carrying only their weapons and ammunition, marched, unencumbered even by any unnecessary article of clothing, prepared for battle at every step of their journey.
After the sun had gone down (Sept. 10), their spies and patrols, who had been sent out for that purpose, returned, and reported that all was quiet; that no slave-hunters were to be seen. As the darkness of night was closing around them, they commenced their journey westwardly. Amid the gloom of the evening, silent and sad they took leave of their western homes, and fled from the jurisdictionof a people who had centuries previously kidnapped their ancestors in their native homes, brought them to this country, enslaved them, and during many generations had persecuted them. Many of their friends and relatives had been murdered for their love of liberty by our Government; others had been doomed to suffer and languish in slavery—a fate far more dreaded than death. At the period of this exodus, their number was probably less than at the close of the Revolution.
When the slaveholding Creeks learned that the Exiles had left, they collected together and sent a war party in pursuit, for the purpose of capturing as many as they could, in order to sell them to the slave-dealers from Louisiana and Arkansas, who were then present among the Creeks, encouraging them to make another piratical descent upon the Exiles for the capture of slaves.
This war party came up with the emigrants on the third day after leaving their homes. But Wild Cat and Abraham, and their experienced warriors, were not to be surprised. They were prepared and ready for the conflict. With them it was death or victory. They boldly faced their foes. Their wives and children were looking on with emotions not to be described. With the coolness of desperation, they firmly resolved on dying, or on driving back the slave-catching Creeks from the field of conflict. Their nerves were steady, and their aim fatal. Their enemies soon learned the danger and folly of attempting to capture armed men who were fighting for freedom. They fled, leaving their dead upon the field; which is always regarded by savages as dishonorable defeat.[138]
The Exiles resumed their journey, still maintaining their warlike arrangement. Directing their course south-westerly, they crossed the Rio Grande, and continuing nearly in the same direction, they proceeded into Mexico, until they reached the vicinity of the ancient butnow deserted town of Santa Rosa.[139]In that beautiful climate, they found a rich, productive soil. Here they halted, examined the country, and finally determined to locate their new homes in this most romantic portion of Mexico. Here they erected their cabins, planted their gardens, commenced plantations, and resumed their former habits of agricultural life. There they yet remain. Forcibly torn from their native land, oppressed, wronged, and degraded, they became voluntary Exiles from South Carolina and Georgia. More recently exiled from Florida and from the territory of the United States—they are yetfree! After the struggles and persecutions of a hundred and fifty years, they repose in comparative quiet under a government which repudiates slavery. To the pen of some future historian we consign their subsequent history.
Before taking leave of the reader, we would call his attention to a review of the fate which attended different portions of the Exiles, and to a few further incidents, for some of which we have only newspaper authority; but from all the circumstances we have no doubt they actually transpired.
Of the Exiles and their descendants, twelve were delivered up at the treaty of Colerain in 1796, and consigned to slavery; two hundred and seventy were massacred at Blount’s Fort in 1816; thirty were taken prisoners—these all died of wounds or were enslaved. At the different battles in the first Seminole War in 1818, it is believed that at least four hundred were slain, including those who fell at Blount’s Fort.
In the Second Seminole War, probably seventy-five were slain in battle, and five hundred were enslaved; and at least seventy-five were seized by the Creek Indians, in 1850, and enslaved. Probably a hundred and fifty connected with the Seminoles now reside in the Western Country, and will soon become amalgamated with the Indians; while three hundred have found their way to Mexico,and are free.[140]Making, in all, thirteen hundred and fifty souls; being some hundreds less than was reported by the Officers of Government, in 1836. This discrepancy is accounted for by the fact, that the Exiles captured by individual enterprise, and by the Georgia and Florida militia, were never officially reported to the War Department, and we have no reliable data on which we can fix an estimate of the number thus piratically enslaved. There are also a few yet in Florida, not included in the above estimate.