The Exiles of Florida Part 7

The people of Alachua County, Florida, feeling indignant at the determination of the Seminoles to remain in that Territory, addressed a protest to the President of the United States, declaring that the Seminoles did _not capture and return_ the fugitive slaves who fled to the Indian country, according to their stipulations in the treaty of Camp Moultrie, but rather afforded protection to them. They further stated that while the Seminoles remained in the country no slaveholder could enjoy his property in peace. This protest was signed by ninety of the princ.i.p.al citizens of said county, and forwarded to the President.

This statement aroused the ire of the President, who at once indorsed on the back of the pet.i.tion an order to the Secretary of War to "inquire into the alleged facts, and if found to be true, to direct the Seminoles to _prepare to remove West and join the Creeks_." The order was characteristic of the author. He waited not for the approval or ratification of any treaty; with him the whole depended upon the alleged fact of the Seminoles failing to bring in fugitive slaves--not upon treaty, nor upon the ratification of treaties.[68]

[Sidenote: 1834.]

The Senate of the United States was subsequently called on by the President to approve the treaty after the lapse of nearly two years from its date. This was done, and the President by his proclamation immediately declared it in force. It was said by public officers, then in Florida, that had the Seminole delegation been permitted to give an unbiased opinion to their people, there would not have been a man in the Nation willing to migrate.[69]

The whole Nation became indignant at this treatment, and such was the feeling against the agent that he deemed it prudent to retire from the agency. General Wiley Thompson was appointed to succeed him. General Clinch was appointed to the command of the troops, and every preparation was made to insure the speedy removal of the Indians and Exiles west of the Mississippi.

In the meantime, the Creeks learning that a tract of country was, by the additional treaty, agreed to be set off to the separate use of the Seminoles, saw clearly the influence which Abraham had exercised in the matter, and, fearing their own designs for obtaining slaves would be defeated through their princ.i.p.al chiefs, addressed a protest to the Hon. Lewis Ca.s.s, then Secretary of War, remonstrating against the policy of giving the Seminoles a _separate_ country.

These chiefs were sagacious men, who had attained distinction with the Creeks by their manifestation of superior intelligence. Two of them, Rolley McIntosh and Chilley McIntosh, sons of a Scotch trader who lived with the Indians, had been educated, and were regarded as among the able politicians of the day. They, together with "Toshatchee Mieco" and "Lewis," urged the propriety of uniting the two tribes as one people, without any separate organization. The next day they addressed another letter to Secretary Ca.s.s, giving additional reasons and arguments why the Seminoles should not have separate lands.[70]

The President had already adopted the policy of compelling the Seminoles to unite under one government with the Creeks: and this stipulation for _separate_ lands was introduced into the "additional treaty," by commissioners who were not fully informed of the President's views. This compact, entered into at Fort Gibson, erroneously called an "additional treaty," was known to be void: neither the Seminole chiefs nor the United States commissioners had authority to negotiate any treaty whatever; and this stipulation, for holding separate lands by the Seminoles, appears to have been totally disregarded by the Executive, as will more fully appear hereafter.

Another circ.u.mstance had induced the Creeks to remain silent in regard to the Exiles. By the treaty of Indian Spring, they had placed at the President's disposal $250,000, out of which the slaveholders of Georgia were to be paid for slaves and property lost prior to 1802. The commissioners appointed to make the examination found but $109,000 due the claimants under this stipulation, leaving in the hands of the President $141,000 belonging to the Creeks. This, however, was claimed by the slaveholders, in addition to the amount allowed by the treaty. To obtain this money the slaveholders sent their pet.i.tion to Congress. The subject was referred to a committee, of which Mr. Gilmer, of Georgia, was Chairman. The committee made a very elaborate report, setting forth that the claimants had an equitable right to this money as an indemnity "_for the loss of the offspring which the Exiles would have borne to their masters had they remained in bondage_," and it is among the inexplicable transactions of that day, that the bill pa.s.sed, giving the money to those claimants without the uttering of a protest, or the statement of an objection, by any Northern representative or senator.

The Creeks now having paid the full amount stipulated in the treaty, and being robbed of the $141,000, to compensate the slaveholders for children who had never been born, were excited to madness. They believed themselves to hold the beneficial interest in the bodies of the Exiles, and determined to obtain possession of them.[71] They immediately sent a delegation to the Seminoles to demand possession of the Exiles as their slaves.

While the Creeks were thus demanding possession of the refugees, the Executive of the United States and his officers were endeavoring to compel them to go West, where the Creeks could, without opposition, lay hands upon them and enslave them.

The six Seminole chiefs holding reservations upon the Appalachicola River owned some slaves, and with those slaves some of the Exiles had intermarried. Each chief, by the terms of the treaty of Camp Moultrie, was permitted to name the _men_ who were to reside with him, and such chief became responsible for the conduct of the persons thus named; while the United States stipulated to "afford the chiefs and their people _protection against all persons whatsoever_."

The white settlements had extended to the vicinity of these reservations, and the Exiles and Seminole slaves living on them were more immediately exposed to the rapacity of the whites than were those in the interior of the territory.

[Sidenote: 1835.]

The mania for obtaining slaves by piratical violence, seems to have reached a point almost incredible to the people of the free States.

E-con-chattimico was one of the chiefs whose reservation lay on the west side of the river. He had long been highly respected by the whites. He owned some twenty slaves, who were residing with him in a state of partial freedom--paying him an annual stipend of provisions for their time, and holding such property as they could acquire. Connected with these slaves, and with some of the Indians on the Reservation, were about an equal number of Exiles, who had never known slavery, but whose ancestors, in former generations, had toiled in bondage. Unwilling to separate from their intimate friends and connexions, they had, as stated in a former chapter, come here to occupy, with E-con-chattimico and his friends, one of the extensive plantations which had been occupied by their brethren who fell at Blount's Fort, in 1816. The chief had named them as his friends, and a record of the fact had been deposited in the office of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs; and for their conduct E-con-chattimico was responsible, under the treaty of "Camp Moultrie;"

while, by the same instrument, the faith of the nation had been solemnly pledged "to protect them _against all persons whatsoever_."

The piratical slave-dealers of Georgia looked upon these people, both Exiles and slaves, with strong desire to possess them. One of these fiends in human shape, named Milton, residing in Columbus, Georgia, professed to have purchased them from a Creek Indian. The claim was presented to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and by him referred to Judge Cameron, of the United States District Court in Florida, for examination.

The chief being a man of influence and respected by the whites, found friends to espouse his cause. The claimant began to doubt his success under such circ.u.mstances, and proposed to withdraw his claim; but so flagrant was its fraudulent character, that Judge Cameron felt it his duty to report upon it, showing it to be void.[72] This report was duly transmitted to the proper department at Washington, and the Old Chief, with his people, once more reposed in apparent security.

It has been alleged, that men who so far paralyze their own moral sensibilities as to rob their fellow-men of their labor, their liberty, their manhood, and hold them in degrading bondage, can not entertain any clear conceptions of right and wrong. However this may be, it is certain that men who deal in slaves, are ever regarded, even by slaveholders, as dest.i.tute of moral sentiment.

In this case, Milton, finding that Judge Cameron had reported the claim to be fraudulent and void, professed to sell his interest in these people to certain other slaveholders, of Columbus. These men provided themselves with chains, and fetters, and bloodhounds, and all the paraphernalia of regular slave-dealers upon the African coast, and descending the river in a steamboat, intended to surprise their victims before any notice should be given of their approach. But some friendly white, who had learned the intentions of the pirates, had whispered to the aged chief the danger which threatened his people. They were soon armed, and prepared to defend themselves or die in the attempt. The desperadoes landed upon the Reservation; but finding the people armed, and ready to receive them in a becoming manner, they retired into the country and alarmed the settlers, by proclaiming that E-con-chattimico had armed his people and was about to make war upon the whites. The news flew in all directions; troops were mustered into service; an army was organized and marched to the Reservation, and the proper officer sent, with a white flag, to demand the object and intentions of the chief, in arming his people. The old man was most indignant that his honor should be impugned in such manner. He fully explained the cause which induced his people to convene, and a.s.sume a hostile att.i.tude towards those who had come to rob them of their liberty.

The officers, who sympathized with the pirates, were sustained by military force. They a.s.sured the old man that no persons should be allowed to injure him or his people; that the country was alarmed, and the public mind could only be pacified by a surrender of his arms and ammunition. To this proposition he was constrained to yield. They took his arms and ammunition, and left him defenseless. They remained undisturbed, however, during the night; but the next morning the slave-hunters returned, fully armed. They seized every negro residing upon the Reservation, including both Exiles and the slaves of E-con-chattimico, and, fastening the manacles upon their limbs, hurried them off to Georgia, where they were sold into interminable bondage.[73][74] They, and their ancestors, had enjoyed a hundred years of freedom; but they were suddenly precipitated into all the sufferings and sorrows of slavery, and now toil in chains, or have departed to that land where slavery is unknown.

E-con-chattimico pet.i.tioned Congress for indemnity, but obtained no redress. Neither the President, nor the Secretary of War, manifested any interest in maintaining our most solemn treaty obligations with the Indians, or attempted any redress for their violation. Disheartened and broken down in spirits, E-con-chattimico yielded to General Jackson's orders, emigrated to the western country, and spent the remainder of his days in poverty and want.

Nor were the piracies of the white people confined to the crime of kidnapping Exiles. They robbed the Indians and Exiles of horses, cattle and money.

A chief named Blunt also held a reservation on the river, under the treaty of Camp Moultrie. He had some friends among the Exiles who preferred to occupy, with him, one of the plantations left dest.i.tute by the murder of the people at "Blount's Fort," in 1816. He too had named his friends and become responsible for their conduct, and relied upon the pledged faith of the nation to protect them.

Some desperadoes, said to have come from Georgia, entered his plantation, robbed him of a large amount of money, and carried away all the negroes living on the Reserve.

Another chief named Walker, also residing on a reservation, with some slaves and Exiles, discovered that a notorious slave-catcher from Georgia, named Dougla.s.s, and some a.s.sociates, were hanging around his plantation, with the apparent intention of capturing and enslaving the colored people. Warned by the outrage committed upon E-con-chattimico and his people, both Indians and negroes collected together, armed themselves, and determined to resist any violence that should be offered them.

When the piratical Georgians approached, they fired upon them. Finding the people armed and determined to resist, the manstealers retreated and disappeared. Feeling they were in danger, Walker wrote the Agent of the Seminoles, calling for protection, according to the stipulations of the treaty of Camp Moultrie. In his letter he says, "Are the free negroes (Exiles), and negroes belonging to this town (slaves), to be _stolen away publicly_ in the face of law and justice--carried off and sold to fill the pockets of those worse than land pirates?"

This appeal was in vain. The Agent paid no attention to it. The kidnappers were vigilant and watchful, and when their victims supposed themselves safe, they stole upon them, seized them, and hurried them off to the interior of Alabama, and sold them into slavery.

The scenes so often witnessed upon the slave coast of Africa became common in Florida; while Georgia, and Alabama, and Florida, afforded a cla.s.s of men in no respect superior in morals to those outlaws and pirates who pursue the foreign slave trade.

The dangers threatening the Exiles now became imminent. They saw clearly they were to be enslaved, or compelled to resort to arms in defense of their liberties. Their entire influence was exercised to prevent emigration, as they feared that would subject them to Creek jurisdiction and enslavement.

These objections were made known to the Department at Washington by the Agent of the Seminoles, Wiley Thompson, who, in plain and unmistakable language, informed the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, that the princ.i.p.al objection to removing West which operated upon the minds of the Seminoles arose from the claim of the Creeks to those people who had fled from Georgia prior to 1802, and extending back to the commencement of the Revolutionary War. He a.s.sured the Department, that if the Seminoles were compelled to remove West, _these descendants of the Exiles would be enslaved by the Creeks_, and if they remained in Florida, they would be enslaved by the whites. He told the Department in plain language, that many of those negroes who had been born and raised among the Indians had been enslaved by the people of Florida and of Georgia, and were then held in bondage.[75]

Among other officers who espoused the cause of humanity at that period, so interesting to the Exiles, was the veteran General Clinch. He was a man of great probity of character--one of the most gallant officers in the service--at the time in actual command of the troops in Florida. He had long been acquainted with the Indians, and no man perhaps better understood the character of the Exiles. He had twenty years before commanded, the troops at the ma.s.sacre of "Blount's Fort," and well understood the persecutions to which the Exiles had been subjected. In strong language, he pointed out the wrong about to be perpetrated upon them, as well as upon the Seminoles. He informed the Secretary of War, in direct and positive language, that if the Seminoles and their "negro allies" were sent West, the _negroes would be enslaved by the Creeks_.[76]

Hon. John H. Eaton, Governor of Florida, a warm personal and political friend of the President, in whom it was believed the Executive reposed great confidence, also wrote the department, delineating the wrongs about to be perpetrated upon these colored people, who for several generations had resided with the Seminoles.

These and other officers of Government united in the opinion, that these "_negroes_," as they were generally called, exerted a controlling influence over the Indians, and that it would be in vain to attempt the removal of the Indians under these circ.u.mstances.

To these remonstrances, the Hon. Secretary of War, General Ca.s.s, replied, with apparent determination to remove the Indians at any expense of blood, of treasure, and of national reputation. The appeals made to the justice of our Government were stigmatized "as the promptings of a _false philanthropy_;" and our agents and officers were directed to inform the Seminoles, in peremptory language, that they must emigrate to the western country.

Laboring under the delusion that official station would add a controlling influence to his language, General Ca.s.s transmitted to the Indian Agent a speech, addressed to the Seminoles and their allies, in which he endeavored to persuade them to emigrate and join the Creeks, and subject themselves to Creek authority. The Seminoles and their friends listened to the speech with that respectful attention which would be expected from men who knew their lives and liberties were in danger.

It was at one of these consultations, in the presence of their Agent, that "Osceola," at that time a young warrior, attracted attention by saying, "_this is the only treaty I will ever make with the whites_,"

at the same time drawing his knife and striking it forcibly into the table before him.[77]

It was at this period that abandoned white men conceived the plan of buying negroes from Seminoles while in a state of intoxication, and selling them to the white people. If they could get an Indian drunk, they could of course obtain from him a bill of sale of any negro they pleased, whether the Indian had any t.i.tle to him or not. This plan of separating the Seminoles from their colored friends, it was thought would conduce to their removal.

Applications to enter the Indian Territory for the purpose of purchasing slaves were referred by the Secretary of War to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and by the latter officer to the Attorney General Felix Grundy, who gravely reported, that he "saw no good reason why the white people should not be permitted to buy slaves of the Indians;" and the President having considered the matter, ordered permission to be granted for that purpose.

Officers who were in Florida saw at once that this policy would kindle the smothered indignation of the Indians and Exiles into a flame. The Agent of the Seminoles, refusing to obey the orders thus given, remonstrated against the policy in a letter addressed to the head of the Department, in which he says: "The remark in your letter that it is not presumed the condition of these negroes (the Exiles) would be worse than that of others in the same section of country is true; yet you will agree that the same remark would apply to _you, to me, or to any other individual of the United States_, as we should, if subjected to slavery, be in the precise condition of other slaves."

So general and so great was the indignation excited by this order for establishing a commerce in human flesh with drunken Seminoles, that it was soon after countermanded; yet the immediate emigration of the Indians was urged with increased earnestness, although the Department of War was informed by nearly every officer in the military and Indian service of Florida, that they could not be induced to emigrate, so long as the Exiles should be regarded as in danger of being subjected to Creek authority.

But the stern decree had gone forth that "the Indians should prepare to emigrate West and _join the Creeks;_" and the necessary preparations were hurried forward both in the Military and Civil Departments of Government. The Exiles and Seminoles saw clearly the terrible alternative to which they were soon to be driven, and they turned their attention to active preparations for the conflict. Their crops were carefully secured; their cattle driven far into the interior; and their women and children removed from the frontier to places of safety. They omitted no opportunity of securing powder and lead; and while a.s.sociating with the white people, they manifested a bold contempt and dislike for them, which gave gloomy forebodings of the future.

CHAPTER VII.

COMMENCEMENT OF THE SECOND SEMINOLE WAR.

The number of Exiles in Florida--Spanish Maroons--Seminole Slaves--Osceola--His Parentage--His Character--His Wife--Her Parentage and sad Fate--Imprisonment of Osceola--His Release--He swears Vengeance against Mr. Thompson--Decree of General Council--Fate of Charley E. Mathler--Osceola and followers seek the life of Thompson--Lay in wait near Fort King--Fate of Mr. Thompson and Lieut. Smith--Of the Sutler and his Clerks--General Clinch orders Major Dade to Fort King--The Major seeks a faithful Guide--Engages the Services of Louis, a Slave--His Learning and Character--He meditates the Ma.s.sacre of Dade and his men--Councils with the Exiles--Arranges the plan of Ma.s.sacre, and informs them of the time--Exiles and Indians rendezvous in Wahoo Swamp--Dade's Approach--The preparation--The Ma.s.sacre--Osceola and Louis--The Exiles and Indians again meet in the Swamp for the night--Digression--Incidents.

The number of Exiles at the commencement of the Second Seminole War, has been variously estimated. Probably their whole number, including women and children, was not less than twelve hundred. To these may be added the slaves belonging to the Seminoles, estimated at two hundred, making a population of fourteen hundred blacks. Most of the slaves lived with the Exiles, separate and apart from their masters, paying a certain quant.i.ty of vegetables annually, for the partial freedom which they enjoyed. There were many half-breeds, however, some of whom resided with the Indians, and others were located with the Exiles.

The Spanish population called the Exiles "Maroons," after a cla.s.s of free negroes who inhabit the mountains of Cuba, Jamaica, and other West Indian islands. Indeed, some of the Maroons of Cuba appear to have found their way to Florida,[78] and many of the Exiles pa.s.sed from that Territory to the West India Islands. Many officers of Government appear to have known or cared little for these people, while others manifested much intelligence and humanity in regard to them. We have already noticed the efforts of Mr. Thompson, the Indian Agent, of Colonel Clinch, and of Colonel Eaton, in behalf of the Exiles, who had long resided in Florida.