The Exiles of Florida Part 6

[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 inst.i.tution; 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 circ.u.mstance that would ent.i.tle 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 fict.i.tious 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 G.o.d has endowed all men, and we applaud him who manfully defends his liberty, whether it be a Washington with honors cl.u.s.tering 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 circ.u.mstances 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 cla.s.s 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 a.s.sembled 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 t.i.tle 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 const.i.tuted 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 a.s.sured 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 a.s.sociation with the Indians and his knowledge of facts, naturally sympathised with them.

He a.s.sembled 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 inst.i.tution 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 Ca.s.s, 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 princ.i.p.al 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 unembarra.s.sed, 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 a.s.serted 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 Ca.s.s, the Secretary of War, as well as the President, must have known that McIntosh, the princ.i.p.al chief of the Creeks, had accompanied Colonel Clinch, with five hundred warriors, when he invaded Florida for the purpose of ma.s.sacreing the Exiles at "Blount's Fort," in 1816; that the Creeks shared in that ma.s.sacre, 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 a.s.signed, 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 p.r.o.noun _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 a.s.signed 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 a.s.sembled to hear their report, and to express their own determination.

But the agent refused to call such council, and a.s.sured them that their homes and heritage were already sold, and that nothing now remained for them to do but to prepare for removal.