Kitabı oku: «The Exiles of Florida», sayfa 10

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 Washington, 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 Tallahasse – Refuses to assume 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 nobler sentiments which adorn the human character. They do not appear to have supposed the African capable of noble 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 Washington 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 assume 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 hardship and privation, and suffering and danger, rather than be delivered over to degrading bondage.

Congress, participating 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 Cass, Secretary of War, transmitted voluminous papers to Congress, which may be found in the Executive Documents 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 assume 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 passed 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 assault was maintained with determined obstinacy for an hour and a half, the assailants 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 Tallahasse, 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 assume 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 assigns to the party of the first part, all their right, title, 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 passed 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 Cass. 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 Cass, 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 morass 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 assailing 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 assailants 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.

This defeat appears to have taught the allies to be cautious, and stimulated a desire to wipe out the impression which their defeat was calculated to make upon the public mind.

General Call having formed a junction with Major Pearce of the regular service, with nearly three hundred regular troops under his command, making in all more than one thousand men, entered the great Wahoo Swamp on the twenty-first of November. Their intention was to obtain the provisions supposed to be deposited in the villages situated upon the islands in that extensive morass. But they were attacked soon after entering the swamp. The fire at first was principally concentrated upon the Creek Indians, the mercenary troops employed by General Jessup. Major Pearce hastened to their relief. The fire then became general. The men were in a swamp which was nearly covered with water, and much of it with a thick underbrush. After maintaining the battle for a time, the Indians fell back, crossed the river, and formed upon its bank, each man protected by a log or tree. The river was turbid and appeared difficult to pass. As our troops approached it, the fire upon them was severe. Captain Moniac, of the Creek warriors, was killed while examining the stream to ascertain if it could be forded. Others were wounded. The allied force appeared determined to make their final stand upon this stream. Behind them were their wives and children, their provisions, their homes and firesides.

General Call and his troops now obtained an opportunity of fighting the enemy; a privilege which he had long sought, though he embraced it under disadvantageous circumstances. Our troops had great inducements to advance, but the dangers corresponded with the advantages to be gained.⁸⁹ General Call, however, concluded to withdraw; and after sustaining a heavy loss he retreated and left the allies in possession of the field. They very correctly, feeling that their success depended greatly upon the position they had taken, did not pursue General Call, who, with his whole force, retired to Volusi to recruit. His loss was fifteen killed and thirty wounded.

It is certain the allies manifested great skill in selecting their place of attack, and the position for their final stand. Their success greatly encouraged them, and the gallantry displayed by the Exiles served to increase their influence with the Indians.

The Creek warriors had shown themselves very efficient in this expedition, but they suffered severely; and at no subsequent period did they maintain their former character as warriors. They had been greatly stimulated in this conflict with the expectation of capturing women and children, whom they expected to seize and sell as slaves. But so far as that object was concerned, their warriors who fell in this battle died ingloriously, and the result discouraged the survivors.

CHAPTER X.
THE WAR CONTINUED – PEACE DECLARED

General Jessup assumes command of the Army – Number of Troops in the Field – His Advantages – His energetic Policy – Orders Crawford to the Withlacoochee – Capture of fifty two Women and Children – They are held as plunder by the Creeks – Wild Cat and Louis attack Fort Mellon – Severe Battle – Allies retire with their dead and wounded – Death of Captain Mellon – Our loss in killed and wounded – Caulfield’s Expedition to A-ha-popka Lake – Capture of nine Women and Children – Expedition to Big Cypress Swamp – Capture of twenty-five Women and Children – General Jessup seeks Negotiation – Abram and Alligator meet him preparatory to a more general Council – Several Chiefs agree upon terms of Capitulation – Difficulty in regard to Exiles – Jessup yields – Express Stipulation for their Safety – Indians and Exile come into Tampa Bay – Are Registered for Emigration – General Jessup discharges Militia and Volunteers – Transports prepared – He declares the War at an end, and asks to be relieved from active duty.

On the eighth of December, 1836, Major General Jessup joined General Call at Volusi, and relieved that officer from the further command of the army in Florida. He had now eight thousand troops in the field well provided in all the material of war. They were in fine spirits, and he was in all respects prepared to push the campaign with energy. He had all the advantages which experience of the previous campaign had furnished, and endeavored to profit by it. He was careful to order no large body of troops, nor any artillery, into the uninhabited portions of the country. He employed only light troops for such purposes. His first attention was directed to the settlements of Exiles on the Withlacoochee who had up to that time defied our army. They had been the object of frequent attacks, and the scene of as frequent defeats. He directed a battalion of mounted men under Major Crawford, accompanied by two battalions of Creek Indians, to make a sudden descent upon those villages. But the allies had removed their provisions, and most of the people had abandoned the settlements. A few only were left. The warriors fled to the swamps; and the troops seized and secured fifty-two women and children. These were the first prisoners captured during the war; and General Jessup made a formal report of this important victory. It was a victory over defenseless women and helpless children, obtained by the aid of Creek Indians, who claimed both women and children as plunder under their contract. But this victory stimulated the allies to strike in retaliation for the injury thus inflicted upon non-combatants.

1837

Fort Mellon, on the south side of a small body of water called Lake Monroe, some thirty miles west of the Atlantic, was supposed by the allies to be in a weak condition, and they determined to surprise it. Preparatory to this, however, they sent spies to examine and report the condition of the troops at that station. Their report being favorable, “Wild Cat,” acting in conjunction with Louis, the slave of Pacheco, who, it will be recollected, concerted the massacre of Major Dade, made their arrangements for an assault. With a force of two hundred and fifty warriors the allies invested this fort, which they supposed to be garrisoned by not more than one hundred men. Unfortunately for the assailants, however, other troops arrived after the Indian spies had left the vicinity of the fort, and the allied forces unexpectedly met superior numbers protected by defenses which are always regarded as safe against savage foes. The attack was made with great determination, and continued for three hours, when the assailants retired without leaving either dead or wounded upon the field.

Lieutenant Colonel Faning commanded our troops, numbering some three hundred men. A steamboat was lying in the lake, near the fort, having a field-piece on board. This was also brought to bear upon the left wing of the allied forces, so as to completely drive them from that part of the field.

Captain Mellon, who had entered the military service of the United States in 1812, fell early in the action. Midshipman McLaughlin and seventeen others were wounded; some of them mortally.

It may well be doubted, whether history furnishes an instance in which savage troops have beset a superior number of disciplined forces in a fortified position with such daring and obstinacy as that which was manifested at Fort Mellon.

There was a small settlement of Exiles and Indians upon the south side of A-ha-popka Lake, situated about the twenty-eighth degree of north latitude, and nearly equi-distant between the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico. On the twenty-second of January, Lieutenant Colonel Caulfield with his regiment was ordered to visit that settlement, attended by the Creek Indians. A sub-chief of the Seminoles, named Osuchee, with his band of warriors, hastened to the defense of their friends, as soon as they ascertained the object of our troops; but they were unable to resist the large force under Caulfield. Osuchee and three warriors were killed; and nine Exiles, all of them women and children, were taken prisoners.

All the disposable forces under General Jessup were now put into active employ. With the main body of the army he penetrated far into the Indian territory. His report, dated at Fort Armstrong, February seventh, after stating the commencement of his march, says, “On approaching the Thla-pac-hatchee, on the morning of the twenty-seventh ultimo, the numerous herds of cattle feeding on the prairies, and the numerous recent trails in various directions, indicated the presence of the enemy.” He goes on to say: “On the twenty-eighth, the army moved forward, and occupied a strong position on ‘Ta-hop-ka-liga’ Lake, where several hundred head of cattle were obtained.” These immense herds of cattle show to some extent the means of subsistence which the allies possessed. The commander of our army, however, proceeds to state that “the enemy was found on the Hatchee-lustee, in and near the great Cypress Swamp, and gallantly attacked. Lieutenant Chambers of the Alabama Volunteers, by a rapid charge, succeeded in capturing the horses and baggage of the enemy, with twenty-five Indians and negroes, principally women and children.” This language was novel in the military reports of our officers. A charge made by a body of armed troops upon horses, women and children, is termed by the commanding General “gallant.”

The next day one of the prisoners was directed to return to the two principal chiefs, Abraham, with whom the reader is already acquainted, and Alligator, who commanded the Indians, with a message of peace, desiring them to meet the commanding General in council.

Abraham was, perhaps, the most experienced and best informed chief in the allied forces. He had lived at Micanopy; and his familiar acquaintance with the treaty of Payne’s Landing, and the supplemental treaty entered into at the West, qualified him to exert a powerful influence with the Exiles.⁹⁰ The Indians, also, appear to have held him in the highest respect.

Alligator was an active warrior and chief. He was a bold leader; but was supposed to be much under the influence of Micanopy, a chief somewhat advanced in years, said to be very corpulent, and too indolent to be otherwise than pacific in his desires. It is related of him, that he was actually carried, by the younger and more enthusiastic warriors, into battle on one occasion, in the early part of the war. It is not unlikely that both Abraham and Alligator were influenced in some degree by Micanopy to visit General Jessup, and make arrangements to hold a conference with him, at Fort Dade, on the eighteenth of February.

Lieut. Colonel Henderson, of the United States Marines, serving on land, also made a very successful excursion into the Indian Country, with a pretty large force of mounted men and friendly Indians. In his report, he states the capture “of twenty-three negroes, young and old; over a hundred ponies, with packs on about fifty of them; together with all their clothes, blankets, and other baggage.” In this expedition, his loss was two men killed and five wounded.

On the first of March, the troops under the command of Major General Jessup had captured one hundred and nine women and children of the Exiles, and some fifteen belonging to the Indians. The fortunes of war now bore hard upon those friendless and persecuted people; but not a warrior had fallen into the hands of our troops. It is a remarkable fact, that in all the conflicts which had occurred, no Seminole Indian nor negro warrior had surrendered, even to superior numbers. They had fought gallantly, they had died freely; but they preferred death to that slavery which they knew would follow a surrender.

General Jessup now ordered the cessation of hostilities, in the hope of getting the Indian and negro chiefs to assemble in council, in order to negotiate for their emigration West. After his interview with Abraham and Alligator, he appears to have felt confident of success. The Exiles and Indians also began to feel that it would soon be necessary for them to plant corn, potatoes and pumpkins, for their support during the coming season. Every effort was made by General Jessup to acquaint the different chiefs with this arrangement, and to induce them to come in, or send by some sub-chief or warrior an expression of their willingness to emigrate to the western country.

Agreeably to these arrangements, a few of their principal men met General Jessup at Fort Dade, near the Withlacoochee, on the sixth of March. Only five chiefs were present, either in person or by proxy. The principal chiefs in attendance were Halatoochie and Jumper.

But the former difficulty was again encountered, at the very commencement of the negotiation. The Indians would enter upon no arrangement that did not guarantee to the Exiles equal protection and safety as it did to the Indians. Such stipulation would constitute an abandonment of the objects for which the war had been commenced and prosecuted; but, after sixteen months occupied in hostilities, and the expenditure of much blood and treasure, this question lay directly across the path of peace. But the Indians were firm. Not one of the Exiles, except Abraham, now dared trust himself within the power of our troops; yet Abraham’s influence was powerful with the Indians.

General Jessup yielded. The articles of capitulation were drawn up and considered. The fifth reads as follows: – “Major General Jessup, in behalf of the United States, agrees that the Seminoles and their allies, who come in and emigrate West, shall be secure in their lives and property; that their negroes, their bona fide property, shall also accompany them West;⁹¹ and that their cattle and ponies shall be paid for by the United States.”

The language of this article could not be misunderstood. The black men then residing with the Indians, in the Indian Country, who were acting with them, and fighting our troops by the side of the Seminoles, were their “allies:” and to show that the capitulation was not a surrender of property, they were careful to have the compact expressly state, that their own “negroes, their bona fide property” (for many Seminoles owned slaves), should accompany them; and that their cattle and ponies, which would become the property of the captors by virtue of an ordinary surrender, under their ideas of warfare, were to be paid for by the United States. There was no room left for cavil or dispute on these points;⁹² nor could it be supposed that Abraham, with his experience and shrewdness, would leave such an important point doubtful.

Under these articles, the Exiles were to enjoy that security for which they had contended during a century and a half. It was for this that their ancestors left South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Florida; to attain it, they were willing to leave the graves of their fathers – the country in which they had lived during many generations. Abraham now entered upon the work of inducing all his brethren, both Indians and negroes, to go to the Western Country, where they could be free from persecutions.