The Exiles of Florida Part 10

The officers under General Gaines charged the allies with bad faith, intending to ma.s.sacre them under pretense of treating with them; while the allies charged our troops with a treacherous effort to shoot them while their flag of truce was floating over them, and they engaged in peaceful negotiation.

General Gaines proceeded to Fort Brooke, and thence returned to New Orleans; while General Clinch conducted his troops back to Fort Drane.

CHAPTER IX.

HOSTILITIES CONTINUED.

General disappointment in regard to the continuance of the War--Its Difficulties--Feelings of the People of Florida--Letter of their Delegate in Congress--Letter of General Jessup to F. P.

Blair--President Jackson's order in regard to it--Secretary of War orders General Scott to Was.h.i.+ngton, and General Jessup to take command--General Call in temporary command of the Army--Court of Inquiry--Osceola attacks Micanopy--Major Heilman's gallant Defense--General Jessup meets General Call at Tallaha.s.se--Refuses to a.s.sume Command--Major Pearce's Expedition to Fort Drane--Meets Osceola with an equal force--Severe Contest--Major Pearce retires to Micanopy--General Jessup's contract with Creeks--Its Character--Resumes barbarous practice of Enslaving Prisoners--General Call's Expedition to Withlacoochee--Its Failure--Further attempts to destroy Stores on that River--Armstrong's Battle--Another severe Battle--Another Expedition to Withlacoochee--Its Failure--Skill and Valor of the Exiles and Indians--Loss of Creeks--They become Disheartened.

When General Scott took command of the army in Florida, the Administration and the country confidently expected that he would bring the war to an immediate close. There was but little known of the combined strength, or the determined purpose, of the Seminoles and Exiles. They were regarded as few in number, and were supposed to be fighting without any very definite purpose. The difficulties of collecting an army in that territory, procuring supplies and arranging a campaign, were great; and the most effective mode for penetrating the strongholds of the allied forces could only be ascertained by experience.

The inhabitants of Florida had urged on the war. They held their enemy in great contempt. They were slaveholders, accustomed to look upon the negro as an inferior being, possessed of very limited reasoning powers, and devoid of the n.o.bler sentiments which adorn the human character.

They do not appear to have supposed the African capable of n.o.ble aspirations, or of manly effort. They were also accustomed to look upon the Indians with about the same degree of contempt. Regarding the war as commenced and prosecuted for their own benefit, they felt authorized in some degree to dictate the manner in which it should be conducted.

General Scott, bred to the profession of arms, and conscious of that self-respect which was due to an officer of his rank, paid but little attention to their attempts at interference with his official duties.

This was regarded as offensive, and the delegate in Congress from that Territory demanded his withdrawal from the command.

General Jessup, at that time in command of the army in Georgia, operating against the Creek Indians, in order to compel them to emigrate West, also wrote a letter (June 20), addressed to a private citizen of Was.h.i.+ngton City,[86] criticising General Scott's policy. This letter was placed in the hands of President Jackson, who, after reading it, indorsed upon it as follows:

"Referred to the Secretary of War, that he forthwith order General Scott to this place, in order that an inquiry may be had into the unaccountable delays in prosecuting the Creek war, and the failure of the campaign in Florida. Let General Jessup a.s.sume the command.[87]

A. J."

It is very evident that General Jackson, when speaking of the "_unaccountable delays_" of a few months, had little expectation that under the direction of his most favorite officer the war would continue during his life, and that he would leave another generation involved in hostilities, for the purpose of enslaving persons whom he had ordered to be "returned to their masters" twenty years previously. But it is also apparent that neither the President, nor Congress, nor the officers of the army, had any just conceptions of that love of liberty which nerved the Exiles to effort, and stimulated them to encounter every hards.h.i.+p and privation, and suffering and danger, rather than be delivered over to degrading bondage.

Congress, partic.i.p.ating in the general astonishment at the failure of our arms to conquer a handful of Indians and negroes, adopted a resolution, calling on the President for information touching that subject. In answer to this resolution, General Ca.s.s, Secretary of War, transmitted voluminous papers to Congress, which may be found in the Executive Doc.u.ments of the second session, Twenty-fourth Congress, from which much of our information is derived.

The Secretary of War issued the order for General Scott to retire, and another for General Jessup to a.s.sume the command.

A court of inquiry was duly convened for the purpose of ascertaining the cause of delay under General Scott.[88]

Several months now pa.s.sed without any important incident to mark the progress of hostilities. As the summer approached and the sickly season commenced, General Scott left Florida, and the command of the army, for the time, devolved on General C. K. Call. The allied forces seemed to have retired to the interior, and were supposed to be engaged in raising corn and other provisions, for their support during the coming winter, and all appeared quiet.

Osceola, after the death of Thompson at Fort King, had become a master-spirit among the Seminoles. He had conducted bravely during the battle with General Clinch, and equally so in the several conflicts with General Gaines, and had been raised to the dignity of a chief. He now conceived, and executed, one of the boldest movements ever made by savages against a fortified post manned by regular troops.

On the ninth of June, with three hundred warriors, some sixty of whom were negroes, he attacked the stockade at Micanopy, garrisoned by an equal force of disciplined troops, under the command of Major Heilman.

The a.s.sault was maintained with determined obstinacy for an hour and a half, the a.s.sailants boldly facing the artillery, which was brought to bear upon them; and when they left the scene of action, they carried away their dead and wounded.

Although this attack proved unsuccessful, it gave the country to understand, in some degree, the character of the enemy with whom our Government was contending.

Major Heilman, in his report, regrets the severe wound of Capt. Lee; but says nothing of his other loss, or that of the allies, either in killed or wounded. He himself died soon after, from excessive fatigue during the action.

Soon after this attack the allies became again active, making their appearance at various points on the frontier, again spreading devastation wherever they went.

Major General Jessup continued in Georgia, engaged in constraining the Creeks to emigrate. In this he was very successful, and for that reason was ordered to take command of the army in Florida. With this view he repaired to Tallaha.s.se, where he met General Call, who laid before him a plan, which he had conceived, for an expedition to Withlacoochee.

General Jessup, not having received his instructions for prosecuting the campaign, refused to a.s.sume the command at that time, leaving General Call to carry out his contemplated movement.

General Clinch owned a plantation some twenty miles northwesterly of Fort King. During the early part of the season he had encamped there with his troops, and planted sugar-cane, and other crops; and, being occupied as a military post, he gave it the name of "Fort Drane."

In consequence of the constant depredations committed by the enemy, he was directed to fall back to an Indian town called "Micanopy," which thereby became an outpost. He left Fort Drane in July, when his crops were growing luxuriantly; and Osceola, being in the vicinity with about a hundred followers, consisting of Indians and Exiles, took possession of this plantation, and occupied it with apparent pride, at having driven its veteran owner back farther towards the settlements.

On the twelfth of August, Major Pearce, being in command at Micanopy, left that station, with one piece of artillery and one hundred and ten regular troops, for the purpose of attacking the allies at Fort Drane.

He reached the plantation, situated eight miles from Micanopy, at sunrise, and commenced the attack. Osceola and his followers fell back to a hommock, where they made a stand. The number of men engaged were about equal; Major Pearce and Osceola were known as gallant warriors; of course, the battle was warm and well contested.

After an engagement of an hour and a quarter, Major Pearce fell back; and the allied forces showing no disposition to follow him into the open fields, he retreated to Micanopy, leaving them in possession of the field of battle. Major Pearce's loss was reported to be one killed and sixteen wounded.

Before leaving Alabama, John A. Campbell, aid to General Jessup, acting under direction of that officer, entered into a written contract with certain Creek chiefs and warriors. Being somewhat extraordinary in its character, and rendered still more so by the construction given to it by the Administration and the Indians, it is deemed worthy of being inserted. The following is the language of the instrument:

"The State of Alabama, Tallapoosa County.

This contract, entered into between the United States of America on the first part, and the Creek tribe of Indians on the other part, Witnesseth: That upon the consideration hereafter mentioned, the party of the first part agrees to advance to the party of the second part the sum of thirty-one thousand nine hundred dollars, to be applied to the payment of the debts due by the Creek Nation of Indians. And the party of the second part hereby covenants, and agrees to furnish from their tribe, the number of from six hundred to one thousand men, for service against the Seminoles, to be continued in service until the same shall be conquered; they to receive the pay and emoluments, and equipments, of soldiers in the army of the United States, and such _plunder as they may take from the Seminoles_."

"And the party of the second part releases, transfers and a.s.signs to the party of the first part, all their right, t.i.tle, claim, interest and demand in and to the annuity granted by the party of the first part to the party of the second part, for the year 1837.

In witness whereof, I, John A. Campbell, on the part of the United States, do hereby set my hand and affix my seal, the 28th of August, 1836."

"JOHN A. CAMPBELL, [L.S.]"

"In witness whereof, we, the Chiefs and Head-men of said tribe, on the behalf of said Nation, do hereby set our hands and affix our seals, the 28th of August, 1836."

"HYPOTHLE YOHOLA, his X mark, [L.S.]

LITTLE DOCTOR, his X mark, [L.S.]

TUCKABATCHEE MICO, his X mark, [L.S.]

YELCO HAYO, his X mark,[L.S.]"

"Attest: EDWARD HAWICK, BARENT DUBOIS."

The real character of this contract will at once be seen when the reader shall be reminded, that the laws of the United States had, in the most specific manner, prescribed the amount to be paid each man who should enter the military service of the Government, and the manner and time of payment; nor had there been any act pa.s.sed enabling General Jessup, or the Secretary of War, or the President, to employ any other persons in the army except those enlisted in the ordinary mode; yet this contract was duly approved by the War Department, at that time under the direction of General Ca.s.s. That provision which gives to the Creek warriors such _plunder as they might capture_, has been denounced as "_piratical_;" and we are constrained to admit there is some degree of propriety in this denunciation, when we find that General Jessup, by whose orders it was framed, and General Ca.s.s, Secretary of War, who approved it, and the Creek Warriors who signed it, all understood that the Creeks were to _hold as slaves all the negroes they might capture_, while engaged in the service of the United States. It was this construction which subsequently involved the War Department in difficulties, from which it has never been able to extricate itself.

The barbarous practice of enslaving prisoners captured in war, had been repudiated by all Christian nations for more than two hundred years. The civilization of the sixteenth century had brought that atrocious practice into disrepute, which was now resorted to and renewed in the nineteenth, by this American Republic, so boastful of its refinement and Christianity. While the laws of the United States provided for an ignominious punishment of those who seize the stupid heathen of Africa and enslave them, our nation was taxing its resources, employing our army and paying out its funds, to employ heathen allies to capture and enslave a people who for generations had been free.

On the nineteenth of September, General Armstrong, with a brigade of twelve hundred Tennessee militia, was ordered to Suwanee "Old Town."

Here he was met by a detachment of two hundred Creek warriors, under Major Brown, and a battalion of Florida militia, under Colonel Warren; and with this formidable army, Governor Call moved upon Withlacoochee.

On coming near the stream he encamped.

During the darkness of night the allies fired upon his troops, and kept them in a state of alarm. In the morning it was found that the _river had suddenly risen_, which rendered it difficult for the troops to cross; and this gallant army returned to Fort Drane for supplies without firing a gun or seeing an enemy, leaving the allies in peaceful possession of the country.

But the Indians and Exiles now found themselves almost daily threatened in their own fastnesses. Along the Withlacoochee were many small villages and plantations occupied almost exclusively by Exiles. Large crops of corn and other vegetables had been raised there during the season, and it was known that stores of provisions were located upon various islands surrounded by the swamps lying along that river, and in the great mora.s.s called the "Wahoo Swamp;" while it was equally known that many families of the Exiles were residing in that vicinity. It was therefore deemed important to destroy those villages and obtain the supplies which they contained.

General Armstrong, with five hundred mounted men, while marching toward these villages on the fourteenth of November, encountered a strong force consisting of Indians and Exiles. The conflict was spirited. In forty minutes, eleven of Armstrong's men fell before the deadly aim of the allies. He, however, drove them from the field, but they took with them their dead and wounded. This fact with savages is regarded the only test of success in battle: they never acknowledge defeat while they hold possession of their dead and wounded.

But the time drew near when they were constrained to acknowledge a _defeat_. On the eighteenth of November, a regiment of Tennesseeans, consisting of about five hundred, encountered a body of the enemy whose numbers are not given by any officer or historian whom we have consulted. They were posted in a hommock. The Tennesseeans were the a.s.sailing party. The battle continued more than two hours, when the allies fled, leaving upon the field twenty-five Indians and Africans slain in battle; while the loss of the a.s.sailants was still larger. This was the best contested battle which occurred during the campaign of 1836, and the first in which the allies left their dead in possession of our troops.