Kitabı oku: «The Exiles of Florida», sayfa 15

C. A. HARRIS, Comm’r.

N. F. COLLINS,

Washington, D. C.”

Preparations being now perfected, and the whole matter being fully understood, Mr. Collins left Washington on the following morning, prepared to bring those fathers, and mothers, and children, back to servitude in Georgia, from which their ancestors had fled nearly a hundred years previously; and this nefarious work was thus encouraged and sanctioned by our Government.

Of these movements the Exiles were ignorant. Many hearts were moved in sympathy for them, and many of our military officers were active in their endeavors to defeat the machinations of the President and the War Department.

Lieutenant Reynolds found it necessary to return to Florida before leaving New Orleans with his party of Emigrants. While he was absent, the efforts of slaveholders to reënslave these people appeared to increase, and they became more bold, although Collins had not yet appeared, clothed with the authority of Government, to effect their enslavement.

General Gaines, commanding the Western Military District of the United States, and residing at New Orleans, as if premonished of the arrival of this national slave catcher, issued his peremptory order (April 29), directing Major Clark, Acting Quarter-Master at New Orleans, to make arrangements for the immediate embarkation and emigration of the Seminole Indians and black prisoners of war, at that time in Louisiana, to the place of their destination on the Arkansas River, near Fort Gibson.

Major Clark being thus placed in charge of the prisoners for the purpose of emigrating them, at once informed the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, that claims were “made for about seventy of the Seminole negroes, and the courts here have issued their warrants to take them. The United States District Attorney has been consulted. He gives it as his opinion, that the Sheriff must be allowed to serve the process. It appears they are claims from Georgia, purchased from Creek Indians. No movement of the Indians or negroes can be made at present. The Indians are almost in a state of mutiny.”

This state of feeling arose from these attempts again to separate the Indians and negroes. Many of them were intermarried: they had been separated; their families broken up, but were now reunited, and they determined to die rather than be again separated. The Exiles had also fought boldly beside the Indians; they had encountered dangers together, and had become attached to each other; and soon as the subject of surrendering the Exiles to bondage was named, the Indians became enraged, threatening violence and death to those who should attempt again to separate them from the Exiles.

The claimants mentioned by Major Clark, were from Georgia. The pirates who robbed E-con-chattimico and Walker of their slaves and seized the Exiles resident with those chiefs, as stated in a former chapter, were from Georgia. Watson, the more dignified dealer in human flesh, and acting in accordance with the advice of the Secretary of War, was also from Georgia; and all these claims were said to be derived from Creek Indians, who, as we have seen, professed to own all the Exiles who fled from Georgia after the close of the Revolution, and prior to 1802, together with their descendants.

Information, respecting these difficulties of reënslaving the Exiles, reached the authorities at Washington, and created great embarrassment. The War Department appears never to have anticipated that negroes, who were already prisoners of war, would find friends or means to awaken the sympathy of others. But it was clear that any litigation would make the public acquainted with the facts.

It will be recollected that on the tenth of May, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs wrote an order, directed to General Jessup, to deliver up near one hundred of these Exiles to Collins, the Agent of Watson, and two days later – that is, on the twelfth of May – he wrote Thomas Slidell, District Attorney of the United States at New Orleans, saying, “It is represented to this Department, that the emigration of the Seminoles, now near New Orleans, has been impeded by claims set up to some of their negroes. I am directed by the Secretary of War to request that you will give the Indians your advice and assistance, and by all proper and legal means protect them from injustice and from harrassing and improper interferences with their property and persons. It is of the highest importance that, if possible, no impediments should be suffered to be thrown in the way of their speedy conveyance to their country, west of Arkansas.”

It is a historical curiosity, that the Secretary of War should so often change his policy. He had, as the reader is aware, exerted his influence to prevent those Exiles, who had been captured by the Creeks, from going West.

On the fifth of May, Commissioner Harris declared – “it is the opinion of the Department that it will be impolitic to take these negroes West;” and on the ninth, acting under the direction of the Secretary of War, he furnished Mr. Collins with authority to demand and receive these people, and instructions were also issued “to the officer commanding at Fort Pike; to Major Isaac Clark at New Orleans; to the commanding officer at Florida, and to any other officer who may have the negroes in charge,” to deliver them to Mr. Collins; while three days afterwards he assures Mr. Slidell, as before stated, “It is of the highest importance that, if possible, no impediments should be suffered to be thrown in the way of their speedy conveyance to their country, west of Arkansas.” This letter to Mr. Slidell was inclosed in another of the same date, addressed to Major Clark, as follows:

“SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt to-day of your letter of the third instant.

“The enclosed copy of a letter of this date to the United States District Attorney will show you what measures have been adopted in relation to the claims set up to the Seminole negroes. This is all that this Department can do in this matter.

“It is very much to be regretted, that anything has occurred to prevent the speedy emigration of these Indians. I will be greatly obliged to you, should no emigrating agent be at New Orleans, to give all the aid in your power in removing the difficulties which are thrown in their way.”

While the Executive officers at Washington, the Creek Indians, and the slave-dealer Watson, were arranging their contracts and perfecting their plans for enslaving those Exiles, who had been captured with the assistance of the Creek warriors, an important and most spirited contest was progressing in New Orleans.

Before one of the courts of the State of Louisiana, a slave-dealer by the name of Love, claimed title to the bodies, the bones and muscles, the blood and sinews, of some sixty of these persons, held by the United States as prisoners of war. They had been captured by our troops as hostiles; had been held for thirteen months as prisoners of war; had been fed, and clothed, and guarded, at the expense of the people of the United States: but they were now claimed as the property of Love. This absurdity was presented before an enlightened court as a grave question of international law; and a determined effort was put forth before that State tribunal to change the law of nations; to modify the law of Nature and of Nature’s God, so far as to transform men into chattels, and declare these prisoners of war to be the property of their fellow men.

Love demanded the Exiles of General Gaines, who was in actual command of the Western Military District of the United States, and by virtue of his office held control of the Exiles while in his district. Bred to the profession of arms, he had made himself familiar with those principles of natural, of international, law which point out the rights of belligerents, whether they belong to the victorious or the vanquished nation. Being advised that efforts were making to get possession of these Exiles for the purpose of reënslaving them, he indicated to the officer in command at the barracks the propriety of retaining possession of them as he would of other prisoners of war.

On the second of May, the Sheriff of New Orleans appeared at the barracks, and desired to pass the line of sentinels for the purpose of serving his process; but the sentinel, punctilious to his duty, refused to let him enter. The Sheriff then returned his writ with the following indorsement thereon:

“Received May second, 1838, and demanded the within slaves of General Gaines, the defendant, who answered me, that he never had the within described slaves in his possession, or under his control. I found the slaves at the barracks of the United States, but the officers in charge of the same refused to deliver them to me. Returned May eighth, 1838.

FREDERICK BUISSON, Sheriff.”

The Exiles still remained in the barracks under the officers in charge of them; and on the ninth of May, General Gaines sued out a rule to set aside the order of sequestration upon the grounds, “that the negroes were ‘prisoners of war’ of the United States, taken in combat with the Seminole Indians; that the control of the United States over said negroes, and their right to the control of such negroes as prisoners of war, could not be taken away by the sequestration issued.”

Thus was the manhood of these colored people asserted by this military officer of the United States at that day, when few members of Congress would have hazarded their reputation by the avowal of similar doctrines. Twenty-three years previously, as the reader has already been informed, General Gaines gave to the War Department notice that “fugitives and outlaws had taken possession of a fort on the Appalachicola River.” Twenty-two years previously, he had detailed General Clinch, with his regiment and five hundred Creek warriors, to destroy “Blount’s Fort,” and take the fugitive slaves and return them to their owners. He had only two years previously gone to Florida, marched into the Indian Territory, and fought them bravely for several days. He now saw these Exiles and Indians in a different situation. He witnessed their attachment to each other as parents and children, as husbands and wives, as members of the human family, and his sympathy was aroused – his humanity was awakened. His finer feelings being called forth, he possessed the firmness, the independence, to act according to the dictates of his conscience and judgment.¹¹⁹

He assumed the responsibility of paying costs and damages, caused himself to be made defendant in the case, and, having obtained a rule on the sheriff to show cause why the negroes should not be delivered as prisoners of war to him, as commander of that Military District, he appeared in person at the bar of the court, and ably vindicated the rights of Government, of himself, and of the prisoners.

“The laws (said he) of the United States authorize the late and existing war against the Seminole nation of Indians, and against all persons in their service. The negroes claimed by the plaintiff were found in the service of the Indians, speaking the same language, and, like the inhabitants of all savage nations, aiding and assisting in the war. They were captured and taken by the United States forces as prisoners of war, and they are now in charge of a United States officer, Lieutenant Reynolds, acting pursuant to the orders of the President of the United States, directing him to superintend their transportation from the theatre of war in Florida, to a place set apart for their location, west of the State of Arkansas, as prisoners of war, as well as servants of the Seminole Indians, who are also prisoners of war.

“The laws of war, as embraced in the works of Brynkershoeck, Vattel and Wheaton, clearly sanction the principle, that all persons taken in battle, or who may be forced to surrender, whether officers, soldiers, or followers of the enemy’s army, are prisoners of war. * * *

“Among savage nations, it is universally known and admitted, that in war they have no non-combatants, excepting only such as are physically incapable of wielding arms. Every man, without regard to age or color; every boy able to fire a gun, or wield a hatchet, or an arrow, is a warrior. And every woman is a laborer, in the collection and preparation of subsistence and clothing for the warriors: all are therefore liable, when captured in a state of hostility, to be treated as prisoners of war.”

He declared himself “lawlessly taxed with this investigation, and lawlessly threatened with heavy damages and costs, and forced to be defendant, without any legal or rational grounds of action against him. I am (said he) authorized, in virtue of my official station as Major General, commanding the Western Division of the Army of the United States of America, to serve them honestly and faithfully against their enemies and opposers, whomsoever, and to obey the orders of the President of the United States, etc. Under this official pledge, I deem it my duty to afford every officer of the army whatever facilities may be necessary and proper, to enable them to perform whatever duty is confided to them by the President of the United States. In pursuance of this authority, I ordered Major Clark to furnish transportation, for enabling Lieutenant Reynolds, and the officers on duty with him, to convey the prisoners of war to the place of their destination in the Western Country.”

“But it seems that the counsel for the claimant has flattered himself that I should make the most convenient and accommodating defendant imaginable. I was expected to take the responsibility of doing whatever the voracious claimant might desire, without coming into this honorable court. I take leave to apprise the court, for the benefit of all concerned, that I have never hesitated to assume the responsibility of doing my duty, or of doing justice; but I have not yet learned, while acting in my official capacity on oath, to take the responsibility of doing that which is repugnant to law, unjust and iniquitous, as I verily believe any favor shown to this claim would be.”

“The court appears to labor under the impression, that the negroes in question were captured by the Seminole Indians, in the course of their hostile incursions upon our frontier inhabitants. Is this the fact? I will assume, for the learned counsel of the claimant, that he will never have the temerity to assert that they are among the number taken from our frontier inhabitants in the present, or in any former war.”

The gallant General, as well as some other well informed officers, appears to have been conscious of the real character of these Exiles, as will have been noticed in his last remark, assuring the court, that they were never captured from the white people “in the present, or in any former war.”

The ground which he assumed, that the captives were prisoners of war, subject to the orders of the Executive, was so self-evidently true that it could not be met or overthrown, by reason or by argument.

His honor the Judge, in delivering his opinion discharging the rule, disregarded all claims to right on the part of the Exiles. They being black, under the laws of Louisiana, were presumed to be slaves to some person; and he spoke with exultation of the fact, that neither General Gaines nor the United States had claimed them as slaves; and he declared it would be infinitely more wise and natural for the United States to hold them as lawful prize to the captors, than it would be to send them with the Indians to cultivate their lands in time of peace, and swell the number of our enemies in times of war; but, on this motion, he thought the court bound to regard the facts set forth in the plaintiff’s claim as true, and he therefore discharged the rule, and made the order of sequestration absolute.

There now appeared no hope of escape for these people; they seemed to be the sport of fortune. For more than a century they and their ancestors had set at defiance the efforts of slaveholders, assisted by Government, to reënslave them; but they now appeared to be within the power of those who were anxious to consign them to bondage.

On the fifteenth of May, Lieutenant Reynolds, having returned to New Orleans, wrote the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, saying, “I arrived at this place from Tampa Bay yesterday; was detained longer than I expected to be, in consequence of the absence of General Jessup from Fort Brooke. Arrangements are made for the embarkation of the party for ‘Fort Gibson,’ with the exception of sixty-seven of the negroes, who are claimed by persons from Georgia. The civil authorities, I understand, require that these negroes be not removed. It appears that General Gaines presented himself as defendant, and contended, that as the negroes were prisoners of war, the civil authority had no right to wrest them from the Government’s hands. The court however decided contrary, acknowledging the Indians alone as prisoners, and the negroes as the property of the Indians. The case will not come on for some time, and, deeming (from all that I can learn) that the claim is fraudulent, it will be necessary that they remain.”

Lieutenant Reynolds was delayed until the twenty-first of May before he was able to embark the other prisoners. One steamer left on the nineteenth; and on the twenty-first, he wrote the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, saying, “Thirty-one of the negroes, out of the sixty-seven, have been selected by the claimants. These negroes, I am informed, do not belong to the Indians on whom the claims have been made.”

This opened up new hopes for those to whom the claimants admitted they had no title. There is, however, something about this surrender which we are not able to explain. It is certain that Lieutenant Reynolds left New Orleans on the twenty-first of May with all the prisoners, both Indians and negroes then at that city, except thirty-one left in charge of the sheriff, and seven Spanish maroons, whom he discharged. The remaining thirty-one were left in the charge of the sheriff, with the slave-catching vultures watching, and eager to fasten their talons upon them so soon as opportunity should permit. The separation was painful. Families were again severed: parents were torn from their children, and brothers and sisters compelled to bid adieu to each other; and as they could see no escape for those left at New Orleans, they regarded the separation as final.

But the other prisoners were on board. Lieutenant Reynolds and other officers had done what they could, and they desired soon as possible to get the hapless Exiles, who yet remained in their possession, beyond the reach of slave-hunters and slave-catchers. That mysterious power, steam, was now applied; and rapidly the vessel was driven against the strong current of the Mississippi, as the sable passengers cast their last, lingering look toward their friends who remained behind, the victims of a tyranny – an oppression – which yet disgraces the civilization of the age in which we live. The Indians were also thoughtful and sad, as they cast their eyes back towards their beloved Florida, the scenes amidst which they had been born and reared; where they had fought; where their brethren had been slain; where their fathers rested peacefully in their graves. Many bitter sighs were heard, and many tears fell from the eyes of those prisoners as they resumed their voyage, for unknown homes in the Western Country.

CHAPTER XV.
DIFFICULTIES IN ENSLAVING EXILES CONTINUED

Collins, Agent for the Slave-dealer, reaches Fort Pike – Prisoners gone – He repairs to New Orleans – reaches that City one day after the Exiles and Indians had left – He follows them up the River – Whole number of Prisoners on the two boats – They stop a few hours at Vicksburg – Collins overtakes them – Hands his Order to Reynolds – They consult together – Difficulty in separating Indians from Negroes – They all proceed together – Reynolds and Collins endeavor to persuade Indians to deliver over Negroes – They refuse – They reach Little Rock – Call on Governor Roane for military aid – His emphatic Answer – They proceed to Fort Gibson – Call on General Arbuckle to separate them – He refuses – Collins gives up all as lost – His Letter to Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

Collins, the agent of Watson, left the City of Washington on the tenth of May with full powers to act for the Creek chiefs as well as for his principal; fully provided, also, with orders from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, directing all officers of the United States, in whose custody the Exiles might be, to deliver them to this agent of the slave-dealer. Expecting to find his victims at Fort Pike, he repaired to that place; but on his arrival found they had left for New Orleans some days previously. He forthwith followed them, and reached that city on the twenty-second of June, being one day after Reynolds and his prisoners had left that city for Fort Gibson.

Thus it will be seen, that the efforts of General Gaines, and the active vigilance of Major Clarke and Lieutenant Reynolds, had barely succeeded in getting these people under way for their western homes, when the authority for their reënslavement arrived.

Vexed and mortified at this disappointment, Collins took passage on the first packet bound up the river, determined to secure the victims of Watson’s cupidity wherever he should find them.

While Collins was thus speeding his way up the river, Reynolds and his charge, unconscious that the slave-hunter was on their track, stopped at Vicksburg for a few hours to obtain supplies for their journey. While passing up the river, Reynolds wrote a report to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, stating that on the boat which left New Orleans on the nineteenth, six hundred and seventy-four prisoners had been placed for emigration; that on the boat which left the twenty-first, on which he had taken passage, there were four hundred and fifty-three – making in all twelve hundred and twenty-one Indians and negroes, who were now emigrating to the Western Country. While they were lying at Vicksburg, Collins arrived, and, as he states, “succeeded in getting the order of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs handed to Reynolds.” This was undoubtedly correct, for Reynolds wrote the Department the same day, saying, “Since my letter this morning, enclosing an abstract of my muster-roll, Mr. Collins, the attorney, recognized by you, has sent off various papers, in relation to certain claims for negroes taken by the Creek Volunteers, and your order has been received. I have therefore made arrangements with Mr. Collins to accompany me to Little Rock on board of my boat, that no time may be lost in the emigration on the passage from here thither. Due care will be had in selecting such only as come within your order, as also to apprise the chiefs and other Indians with regard to the claim. The excitement evinced at New Orleans on the part of the Indians, convinced me of the necessity of this measure. I think that, between this and Little Rock, I will be enabled to persuade them to consent without any resistance on their part.”

As stated in this letter, Mr. Collins took passage at Vicksburg with Lieutenant Reynolds, and agreed to go on with him and his prisoners, until they could persuade the Indians to separate from their friends and companions, their wives and children, or until they could obtain a military force sufficient to compel the separation. Mr. Reynolds says that the excitement on the part of the Indians at New Orleans, had convinced him of the necessity of this measure; and the only doubt of his perfect sincerity rests on the assertion, that he thought he could, while on the voyage, induce the Indians to consent to such separation.

On the twenty-seventh, they left Vicksburg for Fort Gibson. While on their passage, they had full opportunity to deliberate and consult together as to the best mode of carrying out the plan of transforming this small portion of mankind into property; but the universal laws of Nature and of Nature’s God appeared to conflict with this slave-dealing theory. While on the passage up the river, Mr. Reynolds assembled the Indian chiefs and warriors, and laid before them the facts concerning the claim of Watson, and, as he says, “explained every thing calculated to appease them.” But the result we give in his own words, expressed in a letter dated at Little Rock, Arkansas, June second, being one week after they left Vicksburg, in which he says: “They (the Indians) at once demurred: Micanopy taking the lead, saying, it was contrary to the express words of General Jessup, and would listen to nothing calculated to dispossess them of their negroes. Finding them thus determined, I prevented any communication with them on the subject until reaching this place, when they were again called together, and I repeated all that had been mentioned to them before. I told them it was needless to object; my orders were positive, and must be obeyed. All was of no use; they became, if anything, more vexed than before, and left me much exasperated. Mr. Collins witnessed my exertions to carry out your instructions; indeed, sir, I have been excessively perplexed with these Indians and negroes. I see no method in the absence of force by which possession of the negroes can be had. The authorities here show a decided inclination to protect the Indians, and there is no doubt every attempt will fail on our part. I have in no instance acted with duplicity. The statements made, have been as they actually exist. Thirty-one of the number left at New Orleans are on the official list handed me by Mr. Collins.”

The whole party were detained several days at Little Rock in consequence of the low stage of water. While waiting here, Collins appears to have become impatient, and anxious to get possession of the negroes. Indeed, from the closing remark of Mr. Reynolds’s letter, last quoted, we are led to suspect that little sympathy existed between Reynolds and this agent of the slave-dealer; nor is it unlikely that an officer, bred up in the cultivation of a high and chivalrous sense of honor, would feel some repugnance at being constrained to associate with any man employed in the business which brought Collins to the Western Country. Knowing, however, that the Executive of the United States had become in fact a party in this disreputable transaction, he endeavored to manifest at least a respect for those officers of Government who had become participants in it.

On the third of June, Lieutenant Reynolds addressed an official letter to Samuel C. Roane, Governor of Arkansas, stating the circumstances in which he was placed. He set forth the claim of the Creeks, and their sale to Watson, together with the fact that Collins was then at Little Rock, anxious to obtain possession of the negroes; that he (Reynolds) could not deliver them to Collins without assistance, and on that account demanded of his Excellency assistance of the civil authority to aid him in carrying out the policy of the Federal Government.

Here again the workings of the human heart, and the laws of human nature, cast insurmountable obstacles in the way of carrying out the Executive designs. True, Arkansas was a slave State, and her Governor was a slaveholder, characterized by that bold and generous nature which usually distinguishes the pioneers of the West; but his letter breathes such a spirit of independence, such a bold and unhesitating regard for justice and propriety, that we prefer to let his Excellency speak for himself. The letter is couched in the following language:

“EXECUTIVE OFFICE,

“Little Rock, June 4th, 1838.

“SIR: Your note of this day has been duly received, in which you call on me as the Executive of the State of Arkansas to furnish you military force, sufficient to coerce obedience to your instructions to surrender a number of negroes, now with the Seminole Indians under your command; and stating that the Indians manifest a hostile determination not to permit the negroes in question to be surrendered to the agent or attorney of the Creek Indians. I have also examined the copies of the order from the War Department, directed to you on this subject, as well as the schedule of the negroes and letter of attorney, in the possession of Mr. N. F. Collins, the Creek agent or attorney, to receive the negroes in controversy. After due reflection on the subject, I have determined not to afford you any assistance to carry these instructions into effect, and respectfully request of you not to attempt to turn over those negroes to the claimants within the State of Arkansas, and more especially in the neighborhood of Little Rock. And I require of you to proceed with your command of Indians and negroes to their place of destination with the least practicable delay, that the citizens of Little Rock and its vicinity may be relieved from the annoyance of a hostile band of Indians and savage negroes.

“Without prejudging the claim of the Creek Indians to the negroes, from the nature of things it is wholly impracticable for the claimants to make a proper designation of the negroes claimed. There are no witnesses here that can identify the negroes– not even the person setting up the claim. And had the Government intended to dispose of those negroes to the Creek Indians, it should have been done in Florida, and not bring Indians and negroes into Arkansas, the vicinity of their future residence, and then irritate the Indians to madness, and turn them loose on our frontier, where we have no adequate protection – the massacre of our citizens would be the inevitable consequence.

“I have just visited the chiefs of your command, and assured them that their negroes should not be taken from them, and they have pledged themselves that their people should go on to their country peaceably. Your immediate departure will insure peace and avert the outrages you had such good cause to expect.