A Social History of the American Negro Part 7

The agent, sub-agent, and interpreter are to reside within the Indian boundary "to watch over the interests of said tribes"; and the United States further undertake "as an evidence of their humane policy towards said tribes" to allow $1,000 a year for twenty years for the establishment of a school and $1,000 a year for the same period for the support of a gun- and blacksmith. Of supreme importance is Article 7: "The chiefs and warriors aforesaid, for themselves and tribes, stipulate to be active and vigilant in the preventing the retreating to, or pa.s.sing through, the district of country a.s.signed them, of any absconding slaves, or fugitives from justice; and 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." We have dwelt at length upon the provisions of this treaty because it contained all the seeds of future trouble between the white man and the Indian. Six prominent chiefs--Nea Mathla, John Blunt, Tuski Hajo, Mulatto King, Emathlochee, and Econchattimico--refused absolutely to sign, and their marks were not won until each was given a special reservation of from two to four square miles outside the Seminole boundaries. Old Nea Mathla in fact never did accept the treaty in good faith, and when the time came for the execution of the agreement he summoned his warriors to resistance. Governor Duval broke in upon his war council, deposed the war leaders, and elevated those who favored peaceful removal. The Seminoles now retired to their new lands, but Nea Mathla was driven into practical exile. He retired to the Creeks, by whom he was raised to the dignity of a chief. It was soon realized by the Seminoles that they had been restricted to some pine woods by no means as fertile as their old lands, nor were matters made better by one or two seasons of drought. To allay their discontent twenty square miles more, to the north, was given them, but to offset this new cession their rations were immediately reduced.

3. _From the Treaty of Fort Moultrie to the Treaty of Payne's Landing_

Now succeeded ten years of trespa.s.sing, of insult, and of increasing enmity. Kidnapers constantly lurked near the Indian possessions, and instances of injury unredressed increased the bitterness and rancor.

Under date May 20, 1825, Humphreys[1] wrote to the Indian Bureau that the white settlers were already thronging to the vicinity of the Indian reservation and were likely to become troublesome. As to some recent disturbances, writing from St. Augustine February 9, 1825, he said: "From all I can learn here there is little doubt that the disturbances near Tallaha.s.see, which have of late occasioned so much clamor, were brought about by a course of unjustifiable conduct on the part of the whites, similar to that which it appears to be the object of the territorial legislature to legalize. In fact, it is stated that one Indian had been so severely whipped by the head of the family which was destroyed in these disturbances, as to cause his death; if such be the fact, the subsequent act of the Indians, however lamentable, must be considered as one of retaliation, and I can not but think it is to be deplored that they were afterwards 'hunted' with so unrelenting a revenge." The word _hunted_ was used advisedly by Humphreys, for, as we shall see later, when war was renewed one of the common means of fighting employed by the American officers was the use of bloodhounds.

Sometimes guns were taken from the Indians so that they had nothing with which to pursue the chase. On one occasion, when some Indians were being marched to headquarters, a woman far advanced in pregnancy was forced onward with such precipitancy as to produce a premature delivery, which almost terminated her life. More far-reaching than anything else, however, was the constant denial of the rights of the Indian in court in cases involving white men. As Humphreys said, the great disadvantage under which the Seminoles labored as witnesses "destroyed everything like equality of rights." Some of the Negroes that they had, had been born among them, and some others had been purchased from white men and duly paid for. No receipts were given, however, and efforts were frequently made to recapture the Negroes by force. The Indian, conscious of his rights, protested earnestly against such attempts and naturally determined to resist all efforts to wrest from him his rightfully acquired property.

[Footnote 1: The correspondence is readily accessible in Sprague, 30-37.]

By 1827, however, the territorial legislature had begun to memorialize Congress and to ask for the complete removal of the Indians. Meanwhile the Negro question was becoming more prominent, and orders from the Department of War, increasingly peremptory, were made on Humphreys for the return of definite Negroes. For Duval and Humphreys, however, who had actually to execute the commissions, the task was not always so easy. Under date March 20, 1827, the former wrote to the latter: "Many of the slaves belonging to the whites are now in the possession of the white people; these slaves can not be obtained for their Indian owners without a lawsuit, and I see no reason why the Indians shall be compelled to surrender all slaves claimed by our citizens when this surrender is not mutual." Meanwhile the annuity began to be withheld from the Indians in order to force them to return Negroes, and a friendly chief, Hicks, constantly waited upon Humphreys only to find the agent little more powerful than himself. Thus matters continued through 1829 and 1830. In violation of all legal procedure, the Indians were constantly _required to relinquish beforehand property in their possession to settle a question of claim_. On March 21, 1830, Humphreys was informed that he was no longer agent for the Indians. He had been honestly devoted to the interest of these people, but his efforts were not in harmony with the policy of the new administration.

Just what that policy was may be seen from Jackson's special message on Indian affairs of February 22, 1831. The Senate had asked for information as to the conduct of the Government in connection with the act of March 30, 1802, "to regulate trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes and to preserve peace on the frontiers." The Nullification controversy was in everybody's mind, and already friction had arisen between the new President and the abolitionists. In spite of Jackson's att.i.tude toward South Carolina, his message in the present instance was a careful defense of the whole theory of state rights. Nothing in the conduct of the Federal Government toward the Indian tribes, he insisted, had ever been intended to attack or even to call in question the rights of a sovereign state. In one way the Southern states had seemed to be an exception. "As early as 1784 the settlements within the limits of North Carolina were advanced farther to the west than the authority of the state to enforce an obedience of its laws." After the Revolution the tribes desolated the frontiers. "Under these circ.u.mstances the first treaties, in 1785 and 1790, with the Cherokees, were concluded by the Government of the United States." Nothing of all this, said Jackson, had in any way affected the relation of any Indians to the state in which they happened to reside, and he concluded as follows: "Toward this race of people I entertain the kindest feelings, and am not sensible that the views which I have taken of their true interests are less favorable to them than those which oppose their emigration to the West. Years since I stated to them my belief that if the States chose to extend their laws over them it would not be in the power of the Federal Government to prevent it. My opinion remains the same, and I can see no alternative for them but that of their removal to the West or a quiet submission to the state laws. If they prefer to remove, the United States agree to defray their expenses, to supply them the means of transportation and a year's support after they reach their new homes--a provision too liberal and kind to bear the stamp of injustice. Either course promises them peace and happiness, whilst an obstinate perseverance in the effort to maintain their possessions independent of the state authority can not fail to render their condition still more helpless and miserable. Such an effort ought, therefore, to be discountenanced by all who sincerely sympathize in the fortunes of this peculiar people, and especially by the political bodies of the Union, as calculated to disturb the harmony of the two Governments and to endanger the safety of the many blessings which they enable us to enjoy."

The policy thus formally enunciated was already in practical operation.

In the closing days of the administration of John Quincy Adams a delegation came to Washington to present to the administration the grievances of the Cherokee nation. The formal reception of the delegation fell to the lot of Eaton, the new Secretary of War. The Cherokees a.s.serted that not only did they have no rights in the Georgia courts in cases involving white men, but that they had been notified by Georgia that all laws, usages, and agreements in force in the Indian country would be null and void after June 1, 1830; and naturally they wanted the interposition of the Federal Government. Eaton replied at great length, reminding the Cherokees that they had taken sides with England in the War of 1812, that they were now on American soil only by sufferance, and that the central government could not violate the rights of the state of Georgia; and he strongly advised immediate removal to the West. The Cherokees, quite broken, acted in accord with this advice; and so in 1832 did the Creeks, to whom Jackson had sent a special talk urging removal as the only basis of Federal protection.

To the Seminoles as early as 1827 overtures for removal had been made; but before the treaty of Fort Moultrie had really become effective they had been intruded upon and they in turn had become more slow about returning runaway slaves. From some of the clauses in the treaty of Fort Moultrie, as some of the chiefs were quick to point out, the understanding was that the same was to be in force for twenty years; and they felt that any slowness on their part about the return of Negroes was fully nullified by the efforts of the professional Negro stealers with whom they had to deal.

Early in 1832, however, Colonel James Gadsden of Florida was directed by Lewis Ca.s.s, the Secretary of War, to enter into negotiation for the removal of the Indians of Florida. There was great opposition to a conference, but the Indians were finally brought together at Payne's Landing on the Ocklawaha River just seventeen miles from Fort King.

Here on May 9, 1832, was wrested from them a treaty which is of supreme importance in the history of the Seminoles. The full text was as follows:

TREATY OF PAYNE'S LANDING,

MAY 9, 1832

Whereas, a treaty between the United States and the Seminole nation of Indians was made and concluded at Payne's Landing, on the Ocklawaha River, on the 9th of May, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-two, by James Gadsden, commissioner on the part of the United States, and the chiefs and headmen of said Seminole nation of Indians, on the part of said nation; which treaty is in the words following, to wit:

The Seminole Indians, regarding with just respect the solicitude manifested by the President of the United States for the improvement of their condition, by recommending a removal to the country more suitable to their habits and wants than the one they at present occupy in the territory of Florida, are willing that their confidential chiefs, Jumper, Fuch-a-lus-to-had-jo, Charley Emathla, Coi-had-jo, Holati-Emathla, Ya-ha-had-jo, Sam Jones, accompanied by their agent, Major John Phagan, and their faithful interpreter, Abraham, should be sent, at the expense of the United States, as early as convenient, to examine the country a.s.signed to the Creeks, west of the Mississippi River, and should they be satisfied with the character of the country, and of the favorable disposition of the Creeks to re-unite with the Seminoles as one people; the articles of the compact and agreement herein stipulated, at Payne's Landing, on the Ocklawaha River, this ninth day of May, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-two, between James Gadsden, for and in behalf of the government of the United States, and the undersigned chiefs and headmen, for and in behalf of the Seminole Indians, shall be binding on the respective parties.

Article I. The Seminole Indians relinquish to the United States all claim to the land they at present occupy in the territory of Florida, and agree to emigrate to the country a.s.signed to the Creeks, west of the Mississippi River, it being understood that an additional extent of country, proportioned to their numbers, will be added to the Creek territory, and that the Seminoles will be received as a const.i.tuent part of the Creek nation, and be re-admitted to all the privileges as a member of the same.

Article II. For and in consideration of the relinquishment of claim in the first article of this agreement, and in full compensation for all the improvements which may have been made on the lands thereby ceded, the United States stipulate to pay to the Seminole Indians fifteen thousand four hundred ($15,400) dollars, to be divided among the chiefs and warriors of the several towns, in a ratio proportioned to their population, the respective proportions of each to be paid on their arrival in the country they consent to remove to; it being understood that their faithful interpreters, Abraham and Cudjo, shall receive two hundred dollars each, of the above sum, in full remuneration of the improvements to be abandoned on the lands now cultivated by them.

Article III. The United States agree to distribute, as they arrive at their new homes in the Creek territory, west of the Mississippi River, a blanket and a homespun frock to each of the warriors, women and children, of the Seminole tribe of Indians.

Article IV. The United States agree to extend the annuity for the support of a blacksmith, provided for in the sixth article of the treaty at Camp Moultrie, for ten (10) years beyond the period therein stipulated, and in addition to the other annuities secured under that treaty, the United States agree to pay the sum of three thousand ($3,000) dollars a year for fifteen (15) years, commencing after the removal of the whole tribe; these sums to be added to the Creek annuities, and the whole amount to be so divided that the chiefs and warriors of the Seminole Indians may receive their equitable proportion of the same, as members of the Creek confederation.

Article V. The United States will take the cattle belonging to the Seminoles, at the valuation of some discreet person, to be appointed by the President, and the same shall be paid for in money to the respective owners, after their arrival at their new homes; or other cattle, such as may be desired, will be furnished them; notice being given through their agent, of their wishes upon this subject, before their removal, that time may be afforded to supply the demand.

Article VI. 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 unembarra.s.sed to their new homes, the United States stipulate to have the same property (properly) investigated, and to liquidate such as may be satisfactorily established, provided the amount does not exceed seven thousand ($7,000) dollars.

Article VII. The Seminole Indians will remove within three (3) years after the ratification of this agreement, and the expenses of their removal shall be defrayed by the United States, and such subsistence shall also be furnished them, for a term not exceeding twelve (12) months after their arrival at their new residence, as in the opinion of the President their numbers and circ.u.mstances may require; the emigration to commence as early as practicable in the year eighteen hundred and thirty-three (1833), and with those Indians at present occupying the Big Swamp, and other parts of the country beyond the limits, as defined in the second article of the treaty concluded at Camp Moultrie Creek, so that the whole of that proportion of the Seminoles may be removed within the year aforesaid, and the remainder of the tribe, in about equal proportions, during the subsequent years of eighteen hundred and thirty-four and five (1834 and 1835).

In testimony whereof, the commissioner, James Gadsden, and the undersigned chiefs and head-men of the Seminole Indians, have hereunto subscribed their names and affixed their seals.

Done at camp, at Payne's Landing, on the Ocklawaha River, in the territory of Florida, on this ninth day of May, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-two, and of the independence of the United States of America, the fifty-sixth.

(Signed) James Gadsden. L.S.

Holati Emathlar, his X mark.

Jumper, his X mark.

Cudjo, Interpreter, his X mark.

Erastus Rodgers.

B. Joscan.

Holati Emathlar, his X mark.

Jumper, his X mark.

Fuch-ta-lus-ta-Hadjo, his X mark.

Charley Emathla, his X mark.

Coi Hadjo, his X mark.

Ar-pi-uck-i, or Sam Jones, his X mark.

Ya-ha-Hadjo, his X mark.

Mico-Noha, his X mark.

Tokose Emathla, or John Hicks, his X mark.

Cat-sha-Tustenuggee, his X mark.

Holat-a-Micco, his X mark.

Hitch-it-i-Micco, his X mark.

E-na-hah, his X mark.

Ya-ha-Emathla-Chopco, his X mark.

Moki-his-she-lar-ni, his X mark.

Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew Jackson, President of the United States of America, having seen and considered said treaty, do, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, as expressed by their resolution of the eighth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-four, accept, ratify, and confirm the same, and every clause and article thereof.

In witness whereof, I have caused the seal of the United States to be hereunto affixed, having signed the same with my hand. Done at the city of Washington, this twelfth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-four, and of the independence of the United States of America, the fifty-eighth.

(Signed) ANDREW JACKSON. By the President, LOUIS MCLANE, Secretary of State.

It will be seen that by the terms of this doc.u.ment seven chiefs were to go and examine the country a.s.signed to the Creeks, and that they were to be accompanied by Major John Phagan, the successor of Humphreys, and the Negro interpreter Abraham. The character of Phagan may be seen from the facts that he was soon in debt to different ones of the Indians and to Abraham, and that he was found to be short in his accounts. While the Indian chiefs were in the West, three United States commissioners conferred with them as to the suitability of the country for a future home, and at Fort Gibson, Arkansas, March 28, 1833, they were beguiled into signing an additional treaty in which occurred the following sentence: "And the undersigned Seminole chiefs, delegated as aforesaid, on behalf of their nation, hereby declare themselves well satisfied with the location provided for them by the commissioners, and agree that their nation shall commence the removal to their new home as soon as the government will make arrangements for their emigration, satisfactory to the Seminole nation." They of course had no authority to act on their own initiative, and when all returned in April, 1833, and Phagan explained what had happened, the Seminoles expressed themselves in no uncertain terms. The chiefs who had gone West denied strenuously that they had signed away any rights to land, but they were nevertheless upbraided as the agents of deception. Some of the old chiefs, of whom Micanopy was the highest authority, resolved to resist the efforts to dispossess them; and John Hicks, who seems to have been subst.i.tuted for Sam Jones on the commission, was killed because he argued too strongly for migration. Meanwhile the treaty of Payne's Landing was ratified by the Senate of the United States and proclaimed as in force by President Jackson April 12, 1834, and in connection with it the supplementary treaty of Fort Gibson was also ratified. The Seminoles, however, were not showing any haste about removing, and ninety of the white citizens of Alachua County sent a protest to the President alleging that the Indians were not returning their fugitive slaves. Jackson was made angry, and without even waiting for the formal ratification of the treaties, he sent the doc.u.ment to the Secretary of War, with an endors.e.m.e.nt on the back directing him "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." General Wiley Thompson was appointed to succeed Phagan as agent, and General Duncan L. Clinch was placed in command of the troops whose services it was thought might be needed. It was at this juncture that Osceola stepped forward as the leading spirit of his people.

4. _Osceola and the Second Seminole War_

Osceola (a.s.seola, or As-se-he-ho-lar, sometimes called Powell because after his father's death his mother married a white man of that name[1]) was not more than thirty years of age. He was slender, of only average height, and slightly round-shouldered; but he was also well proportioned, muscular, and capable of enduring great fatigue. He had light, deep, restless eyes, and a shrill voice, and he was a great admirer of order and technique. He excelled in athletic contests and in his earlier years had taken delight in engaging in military practice with the white men. As he was neither by descent nor formal election a chief, he was not expected to have a voice in important deliberations; but he was a natural leader and he did more than any other man to organize the Seminoles to resistance. It is hardly too much to say that to his single influence was due a contest that ultimately cost $10,000,000 and the loss of thousands of lives. Never did a patriot fight more valiantly for his own, and it stands to the eternal disgrace of the American arms that he was captured under a flag of truce.

[Footnote 1: Hodge's _Handbook of American Indians_, II, 159.]

It is well to pause for a moment and reflect upon some of the deeper motives that entered into the impending contest. A distinguished congressman,[1] speaking in the House of Representatives a few years later, touched eloquently upon some of the events of these troublous years. Let us remember that this was the time of the formation of anti-slavery societies, of p.r.o.nounced activity on the part of the abolitionists, and recall also that Nat Turner's insurrection was still fresh in the public mind. Giddings stated clearly the issue as it appeared to the people of the North when he said, "I hold that if the slaves of Georgia or any other state leave their masters, the Federal Government has no const.i.tutional authority to employ our army or navy for their recapture, or to apply the national treasure to repurchase them." There could be no question of the fact that the war was very largely one over fugitive slaves. Under date October 28, 1834, General Thompson wrote to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs: "There are many very likely Negroes in this nation [the Seminole]. Some of the whites in the adjacent settlements manifest a restless desire to obtain them, and I have no doubt that Indian raised Negroes are now in the possession of the whites." In a letter dated January 20, 1834, Governor Duval had already said to the same official: "The slaves belonging to the Indians have a controlling influence over the minds of their masters, and are entirely opposed to any change of residence." Six days later he wrote: "The slaves belonging to the Indians must be made to fear for themselves before they will cease to influence the minds of their masters.... The first step towards the emigration of these Indians must be the breaking up of the runaway slaves and the outlaw Indians." And the New Orleans _Courier_ of July 27, 1839, revealed all the fears of the period when it said, "Every day's delay in subduing the Seminoles increases the danger of a rising among the serviles."

[Footnote 1: Joshua R. Giddings, of Ohio. His exhaustive speech on the Florida War was made February 9, 1841.]

All the while injustice and injury to the Indians continued.

Econchattimico, well known as one of those chiefs to whom special reservations had been given by the treaty of Fort Moultrie, was the owner of twenty slaves valued at $15,000. Observing Negro stealers hovering around his estate, he armed himself and his men. The kidnapers then furthered their designs by circulating the report that the Indians were arming themselves for union with the main body of Seminoles for the general purpose of ma.s.sacring the white people. Face to face with this charge Econchattimico gave up his arms and threw himself on the protection of the government; and his Negroes were at once taken and sold into bondage.

A similar case was that of John Walker, an Appalachicola chief, who wrote to Thompson under date July 28, 1835: "I am induced to write you in consequence of the depredations making and attempted to be made upon my property, by a company of Negro stealers, some of whom are from Columbus, Ga., and have connected themselves with Brown and Dougla.s.s....

I should like your advice how I am to act. I dislike to make or to have any difficulty with the white people. But if they trespa.s.s upon my premises and my rights, I must defend myself the best way I can. If they do make this attempt, and I have no doubt they will, they must bear the consequences. _But is there no civil law to protect me_? Are the free Negroes and the Negroes belonging to this town to be stolen away publicly, and in the face of law and justice, carried off and sold to fill the pockets of these worse than land pirates? Dougla.s.s and his company hired a man who has two large trained dogs for the purpose to come down and take Billy. He is from Mobile and follows for a livelihood catching runaway Negroes."

Such were the motives, fears and incidents in the years immediately after the treaty of Payne's Landing. Beginning at the close of 1834 and continuing through April, 1835, Thompson had a series of conferences with the Seminole chiefs. At these meetings Micanopy, influenced by Osceola and other young Seminoles, took a more definite stand than he might otherwise have a.s.sumed. Especially did he insist with reference to the treaty that he understood that the chiefs who went West were to _examine_ the country, and for his part he knew that when they returned they would report unfavorably. Thompson then, becoming angry, delivered an ultimatum to the effect that if the treaty was not observed the annuity from the great father in Washington would cease. To this, Osceola, stepping forward, replied that he and his warriors did not care if they never received another dollar from the great father, and drawing his knife, he plunged it in the table and said, "The only treaty I will execute is with this." Henceforward there was deadly enmity between the young Seminole and Thompson. More and more Osceola made his personality felt, constantly a.s.serting to the men of his nation that whoever recommended emigration was an enemy of the Seminoles, and he finally arrived at an understanding with many of them that the treaty would be resisted with their very lives. Thompson, however, on April 23, 1835, had a sort of secret conference with sixteen of the chiefs who seemed favorably disposed toward migration, and he persuaded them to sign a doc.u.ment "freely and fully" a.s.senting to the treaties of Payne's Landing and Fort Gibson. The next day there was a formal meeting at which the agent, backed up by Clinch and his soldiers, upbraided the Indians in a very harsh manner. His words were met by groans, angry gesticulations, and only half-m.u.f.fled imprecations. Clinch endeavored to appeal to the Indians and to advise them that resistance was both unwise and useless.

Thompson, however, with his usual lack of tact, rushed onward in his course, and learning that five chiefs were unalterably opposed to the treaty, he arbitrarily struck their names off the roll of chiefs, an action the highhandedness of which was not lost on the Seminoles.

Immediately after the conference moreover he forbade the sale of any more arms and powder to the Indians. To the friendly chiefs the understanding had been given that the nation might have until January 1, 1836, to make preparation for removal, by which time all were to a.s.semble at Fort Brooke, Tampa Bay, for emigration.