<h2><SPAN name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></SPAN>CHAPTER XXIII.<br/><br/> <small>THE REUNION AND FINAL EXODUS.</small></h2>
<div class="blockquot2"><p class="hang">Difficulties in effecting a reunion of Tribes—Its objects—Exiles
and Seminoles move on to Creek Lands—They settle in separate
Villages—Creeks demand Exiles as Slaves—Exiles arm
themselves—They flee to Fort Gibson—Demand protection of the
United States—General Arbuckle protects them—Reports facts to
Department—Administration embarrassed—Call on General Jessup for
facts—He writes General Arbuckle—Reports facts to the
President—President hesitates—Refers question to Attorney
General—Extraordinary opinion of that Officer—Manner in which Mr.
Mason was placed in office—Exiles return to their
Village—Slaveholders dissatisfied—Slave-dealer among the
Creeks—His offer—They capture near one hundred Exiles—They are
delivered to the Slave-dealer—Habeas Corpus in Arkansas—Decision
of Judge—Exiles hurried to New Orleans and sold as Slaves—Events
of 1850—Exiles depart for Mexico—Are pursued by
Creeks—Battle—The Exiles continue their journey—They settle near
Santa Rosa—The fate which different portions of the Exiles
met—Incidents which occurred after their settlement in
Mexico—Conclusion.</p>
</div>
<div class="sidenote">1846.</div>
<p>The Creeks and Seminoles had been separated for nearly a century. They
had most of that time lived under separate governments. Each Tribe had
been controlled by their own laws; and each had been independent of the
other. They had often been at war with each other; and the most deadly
feuds had been engendered and still subsisted among them. To unite them
with the Creeks, and blot the name of “Seminole” from the page of their
future history, in order to involve the Exiles in slavery, had long been
a cherished object with the administration of our Government. It was now
fondly hoped, that that object would be accomplished without further
difficulty.<SPAN name="page_324" id="page_324"></SPAN></p>
<p>But at no period had the Seminole Indians regarded the Exiles with
greater favor than they did when removing on to the territory assigned
to the Creeks. Although many of them had intermarried with the
Seminoles, and half-breeds were now common among the Indians; yet most
of the descendants of the pioneers who fled from South Carolina and
Georgia maintained their identity of character, living by themselves,
and maintaining the purity of the African race. They yet cherished this
love of their own kindred and color; and when they removed on to the
Creek lands, they settled in separate villages: and the Seminole Indians
appeared generally to coincide with the Exiles in the propriety of each
maintaining their distinctive character.</p>
<p>During the summer and autumn both Indians and Exiles became residents
within Creek jurisdiction; and the Executive seemed to regard the trust
held under the assignment made at Indian Spring, twenty-four years
previously, as now fulfilled. Regarding the Creeks as holding the
equitable or beneficial interest in the bodies of the Exiles, under the
assignment from their owners to the United States, and they being now
brought under Creek jurisdiction, subject to Creek laws, the Executive
felt that his obligations were discharged, and the whole matter left
with the Creeks.</p>
<p>This opinion appears also to have been entertained by the Creek Indians;
for no sooner had the Exiles and Seminoles located themselves within
Creek jurisdiction, than the Exiles were claimed as the legitimate
slaves of the Creeks. To these demands the Exiles and Seminoles replied,
that the President, under the treaty of 1845, was bound to hear and
determine all questions arising between them. The demands were,
therefore, certified to the proper department for decision. But this
setting in judgment upon the heaven-endowed right of man to his liberty,
seemed to involve more personal and moral responsibility than was
desirable for the Executive to assume, and the claims remained
undecided.</p>
<p>The Creeks became impatient at delay; they were a slaveholding people,
as well as their more civilized but more infidel brethren, of<SPAN name="page_325" id="page_325"></SPAN> the slave
States. The Exiles, living in their own villages in the enjoyment of
perfect freedom, had already excited discontent among the slaves of the
Creek and Choctaw Tribes, and those of Arkansas. The Creeks appeared to
feel that it had been far better for them to have kept the Exiles in
Florida, than to bring them to the Western Country to live in freedom.
Yet their claims under the treaty of 1845, thus far, appeared to have
been disregarded by the President; they had been unable to obtain a
decision on them; and they now threatened violence for the purpose of
enslaving the Exiles, unless their demands were peacefully conceded.</p>
<p>The Exiles, yet confident that the Government would fulfill its
stipulations to protect them and their property, repaired in a body to
Fort Gibson, and demanded protection of General Arbuckle, the officer in
command. He had no doubt of the obligation of the United States to lend
them protection, according to the express language of the articles of
capitulation entered into with General Jessup, in March, 1837. He,
therefore, directed the whole body of Exiles to encamp and remain upon
the lands reserved by the United States, near the fort, and under their
exclusive jurisdiction, assuring them that no Creek would dare set foot
upon that reservation with intentions of violence towards any person.
Accordingly the Exiles, who yet remained free, now encamped around Fort
Gibson, and were supported by rations dealt out from the public stores.</p>
<p>Soon as he could ascertain all the facts, General Arbuckle made report
to the War Department relative to their situation, and the claims which
they made to protection under the articles of capitulation, together
with the rights which the Creeks set up to reënslave them.</p>
<p>This state of circumstances appears to have been unexpected by the
Executive. Indeed, he appears from the commencement to have under-rated
the difficulties which beset the enslavement of a people who were
determined upon the enjoyment of freedom; he seems to have expected the
negroes, when once placed within Creek<SPAN name="page_326" id="page_326"></SPAN> jurisdiction, would have yielded
without further effort. But he was now placed in a position which
constrained him either to repudiate the pledged faith of the nation, or
to protect the Exiles in their <i>persons and property</i>, according to the
solemn covenants which General Jessup had entered into with them.</p>
<p>Yet the President was disposed to make farther efforts to avoid the
responsibility of deciding the question before him. General Jessup had
entered into the articles of capitulation, and the President appeared to
think he was competent to give construction to them; he therefore
referred the subject to that officer, stating the circumstances, and
demanding of him the substance of <i>his undertaking</i> in regard to the
articles of capitulation with the Exiles.</p>
<p>General Jessup appears to have now felt a desire to do justice to that
friendless and persecuted people. Without waiting to answer the
President, he at once wrote General Arbuckle, saying, “The case of the
Seminole negroes is now before the President. By my proclamation and the
convention made with them, when they separated from the Indians and
surrendered, <i>they are free</i>. The question is, whether they shall be
separated from the Seminoles and removed to another country; or be
allowed to occupy, as they did in Florida, separate villages in the
Seminole Country, west of Arkansas? The latter is what <i>I promised
them</i>. I hope, General, you will prevent any interference with them at
Fort Gibson, until the President determines whether they shall remain in
the Seminole Country, or be allowed to remove to some other.”</p>
<p>General Arbuckle, faithful to the honor of his Government, continued to
protect the Exiles. He fed them from the public stores, not doubting
that the Executive would redeem the pledge of the nation given by
General Jessup, its authorized agent. But the President (Mr. Polk)
himself a slaveholder, with his prejudices and sympathies in favor of
the institution, did not understand the articles of capitulation
according to the construction put upon them by General Jessup; he
appears, therefore, to have called on the<SPAN name="page_327" id="page_327"></SPAN> General for a more explicit
report of facts. In reply to this call, he reported, saying, “At a
meeting with the three Indian chiefs, and the negro chiefs, Auguste and
Carollo, I stipulated to recommend to the President to grant the Indians
a small tract of country in the south-eastern part of the Peninsula; but
it was distinctly understood that the negroes were to be separated from
them at once, and sent West, whether the Indians were permitted to
remain in Florida or not. With the negroes, it was stipulated that they
should be sent West, as a part of the Seminole nation, and be <i>settled
in a separate village, under the</i> <small>PROTECTION OF THE UNITED STATES</small>.” In
another letter, addressed to the Secretary of War, he says: “A very
<i>small portion</i> of the Seminole negroes who went to the West, were
brought in and surrendered by their owners, under the capitulation of
Fort Dade. Over these negroes the Indians have all the rights of
masters; but all the other negroes, making more than <i>nine-tenths of the
whole number</i>, either separated from the Indians and surrendered to me,
or were captured by the troops under my command. I, as commander of the
army, and in the capacity of representative of my country, <i>solemnly
pledged the national faith that they should not be separated, nor any of
them sold to white men or others</i>, but be allowed to settle and remain
in separate villages, <small>UNDER THE PROTECTION OF THE UNITED STATES</small>.”</p>
<p>But even with these explicit statements before him, the President
appears to have been unable to form an opinion; and he referred the
matter to the Attorney General, Hon. John Y. Mason, of Virginia, who had
been bred a slaveholder, and fully sympathized with the slave power. He,
having examined the whole subject, delivered a very elaborate opinion,
embracing seven documentary pages;<SPAN name="FNanchor_132_132" id="FNanchor_132_132"></SPAN><SPAN href="#Footnote_132_132" class="fnanchor">[132]</SPAN> but concluding with the opinion,
that although the Exiles<SPAN name="page_328" id="page_328"></SPAN> were entitled to their freedom, the Executive
<i>could not interfere in any manner to protect them</i>, as stipulated by
General Jessup, but must leave them to retire to their Towns in the
Indian Territory, where <i>they had a right to remain</i>.</p>
<div class="sidenote">1848.</div>
<p>We should be unfaithful to our pledged purpose, were we to omit certain
important facts connected with this opinion of the Attorney General.
Nathan Clifford, of Maine, was appointed Attorney General of the United
States in 1846, soon after the report of General Arbuckle concerning the
situation of the Exiles reached Washington. The subject was before the
President more than two years. This delay we cannot account for, unless
it were to save Mr. Clifford (being a Northern man) from the
responsibility of deciding this question, involving important interests
of the slaveholding portion of our Union. In 1848 Mr. Clifford was
appointed Minister to Mexico, and Hon. Isaac Toucey, of Connecticut, was
appointed Attorney General. But he, too, was from a free State, and it
would throw upon him great responsibility were he constrained to act
upon this subject. Were he to decide in favor of the Exiles, it might
ruin his popularity at the South; and if against them, it would have an
equally fatal effect at the North.</p>
<p>Under these circumstances, recourse was had to an expedient. Before Mr.
Toucey entered upon the discharge of his official duties, Mr. Mason,
himself a slaveholder, was appointed to discharge the duties <i>ad
interim</i>. He entered the office, wrote out the opinion referred to, and
then resigned the office and emoluments to Mr. Toucey; having decided no
other question, nor discharged any other duty, than this exercise of
official influence for the enslavement of the Exiles.<SPAN name="page_329" id="page_329"></SPAN></p>
<p>The President affirmed the principles decided by the Attorney General,
and the Exiles were informed that they <i>had the right to remain in their
villages, free from all interference, or interruption from the Creeks</i>.
They had no other lands, no other country, no other homes. Many of their
families were connected by marriage with the Seminoles. They and the
Seminole Indians had, through several generations, been acquainted with
each other; they had stood beside each other on many a battle field.
Seminoles and Exiles had fallen beside each other, and were buried in
the same grave; they had often sat in council together, and the Exiles
were unwilling to separate from their friends. Wild Cat and Abraham and
Louis, and many leading men and warriors of the Exiles and Seminoles,
having deliberated upon the subject, united in the opinion, that the
Exiles should return to their villages and reside upon the lands to
which they were entitled.</p>
<p>In accordance with this decision, they returned to their new homes,
resumed their habits of agriculture, and for a time all was quiet and
peaceful; but their example was soon felt among the slaves of Arkansas,
and of the surrounding Indian tribes. Nor is it to be supposed that the
holders of slaves in any State of the Union, would be willing to admit
that so large a body of servants could, by any effort, separate from
their masters, for a century and a half maintain their liberty, and
after so much effort to reënslave them, be permitted to enjoy liberty in
peace.</p>
<p>Hundreds of them had been seized in Florida and enslaved. The laws of
slave States presumed every black person to be a slave; and it was
evident, that if they could once be subjected to the will of some white
man, the laws of Arkansas would enable him to hold them in bondage.<SPAN name="FNanchor_133_133" id="FNanchor_133_133"></SPAN><SPAN href="#Footnote_133_133" class="fnanchor">[133]</SPAN></p>
<p>An individual, a slave-dealer, appeared among the Creeks and<SPAN name="page_330" id="page_330"></SPAN> offered to
pay them one hundred dollars for each Exile they would seize and deliver
to him; he stipulating to take all risk of title.<SPAN name="FNanchor_134_134" id="FNanchor_134_134"></SPAN><SPAN href="#Footnote_134_134" class="fnanchor">[134]</SPAN></p>
<div class="sidenote">1849.</div>
<p>This temptation was too great for the integrity of the Creeks, who were
smarting under their disappointment, and the defeat of their long
cherished schemes, of reënslaving the Exiles. Some two hundred Creek
warriors collected together, armed themselves, and, making a sudden
descent upon the Exiles, seized such as they could lay their hands upon.
The men and most of the women and children fled; but those who had arms
collected, and presenting themselves between their brethren and the
Creeks who were pursuing them, prepared to defend themselves and
friends.<SPAN name="FNanchor_135_135" id="FNanchor_135_135"></SPAN><SPAN href="#Footnote_135_135" class="fnanchor">[135]</SPAN> The Creeks, unwilling to encounter the danger which
threatened them, ceased from further pursuit, but, turning back, dragged
their frightened victims, who had been already captured, to the Creek
villages, and delivered them over to the slave-dealer, who paid them the
stipulated price.<SPAN name="page_331" id="page_331"></SPAN></p>
<div class="sidenote">1850.</div>
<p>The Seminole Agent, learning the outrage, at once repaired to the
nearest Judge in Arkansas, and obtained a writ of habeas corpus. The
Exiles were brought before him in obedience to the command of the writ,
and a hearing was had. The Agent showed the action of General Jessup;
the sanction of the capitulation of March, 1837, by the Executive; the
opinion of the Attorney General, and action of the President, deciding
the Exiles to be free, and in all respects entitled to their liberty.
But the Judge decided that the Creeks had obtained title by virtue of
their contract with General Jessup; that neither General Jessup, nor the
President, had power to emancipate the Exiles, even in time of war; that
the Attorney General had misunderstood the law; that the title of the
Creek Indians was legal and perfect; and they, having sold them to the
claimant, his title must be good and perfect.<SPAN name="FNanchor_136_136" id="FNanchor_136_136"></SPAN><SPAN href="#Footnote_136_136" class="fnanchor">[136]</SPAN><SPAN name="page_332" id="page_332"></SPAN></p>
<p>No sooner was the decision announced, than the manacled victims were
hurried from their friends and the scenes of such transcendent crimes
and guilt. They were placed on board a steamboat, and carried to New
Orleans. There they were sold to different purchasers, taken to
different estates, and mingling with the tide of human victims who are
septennially murdered upon the cotton and sugar plantations of that
State, they now rest in their quiet graves, or perhaps have shared the
more unhappy fate of living and suffering tortures incomparably worse
than death.</p>
<p>The year 1850 was distinguished by a succession of triumphs on the part
of the slave power. While the President and his Cabinet, and members of
the Senate and of the House of Representatives, were seeking the passage
of the Fugitive Slave Law; while slaveholders and their northern allies
appeared to be aroused in favor of oppression within the States of our
Union, their savage coadjutors of the Indian territory were equally
active.</p>
<p>There yet remained some hundreds of Exiles in that far-distant territory
unsubdued, and enjoying liberty. They had witnessed the duplicity, the
treachery of our Government often repeated, toward themselves and their
friends—they had, most of them, been born in freedom—they had grown to
manhood, had become aged amidst persecutions, dangers and death—they
had experienced the constant and repeated violations of our national
faith: its perfidy was no longer disguised; if they remained, death or
slavery would constitute their only alternative. One, and only one, mode
of avoiding such a fate remained—that was, to leave the territory, the
jurisdiction of the United States, and flee beyond its power and
influence.</p>
<p>Mexico was <i>free</i>! No slave clanked his chains under its government.
Could they reach the Rio Grande? Could they place<SPAN name="page_333" id="page_333"></SPAN> themselves safely on
Mexican soil, they might hope yet to be free. A Council was held. Some
were connected with Seminoles of influence. Those who were intimately
connected with Indian families of influence, and most of the
half-breeds, feeling they could safely remain in the Indian territory,
preferred to stay with their friends and companions. Of the precise
number who thus continued in the Indian Country, we have no certain
information;<SPAN name="FNanchor_137_137" id="FNanchor_137_137"></SPAN><SPAN href="#Footnote_137_137" class="fnanchor">[137]</SPAN> but some three hundred are supposed to have determined
on going to Mexico, and perhaps from one to two hundred concluded to
remain with their connexions in the Indian Country.</p>
<p>Abraham had reached a mature age; had great experience, and retained
influence with his people. Louis Pacheco, of whom we spoke in a former
chapter, with his learning, his shrewdness and tact, was still with
them, and so were many able and experienced warriors. Wild Cat, the most
active and energetic chief of the Seminole Tribe, declared his
unalterable purpose to accompany the Exiles; to assist them in their
journey, and defend them, if assailed. Other Seminoles volunteered to go
with them. Their arrangements were speedily made. Such property as they
had was collected together, and packed for transportation. They owned a
few Western ponies. Their blankets, which constituted their beds, and
some few cooking utensils and agricultural implements, were placed upon
their ponies, or carried by the females and children; while the
warriors, carrying only their weapons and ammunition, marched,
unencumbered even by any unnecessary article of clothing, prepared for
battle at every step of their journey.</p>
<p>After the sun had gone down (Sept. 10), their spies and patrols, who had
been sent out for that purpose, returned, and reported that all was
quiet; that no slave-hunters were to be seen. As the darkness of night
was closing around them, they commenced their journey westwardly. Amid
the gloom of the evening, silent and sad they took leave of their
western homes, and fled from the jurisdiction<SPAN name="page_334" id="page_334"></SPAN> of a people who had
centuries previously kidnapped their ancestors in their native homes,
brought them to this country, enslaved them, and during many generations
had persecuted them. Many of their friends and relatives had been
murdered for their love of liberty by our Government; others had been
doomed to suffer and languish in slavery—a fate far more dreaded than
death. At the period of this exodus, their number was probably less than
at the close of the Revolution.</p>
<p>When the slaveholding Creeks learned that the Exiles had left, they
collected together and sent a war party in pursuit, for the purpose of
capturing as many as they could, in order to sell them to the
slave-dealers from Louisiana and Arkansas, who were then present among
the Creeks, encouraging them to make another piratical descent upon the
Exiles for the capture of slaves.</p>
<p>This war party came up with the emigrants on the third day after leaving
their homes. But Wild Cat and Abraham, and their experienced warriors,
were not to be surprised. They were prepared and ready for the conflict.
With them it was death or victory. They boldly faced their foes. Their
wives and children were looking on with emotions not to be described.
With the coolness of desperation, they firmly resolved on dying, or on
driving back the slave-catching Creeks from the field of conflict. Their
nerves were steady, and their aim fatal. Their enemies soon learned the
danger and folly of attempting to capture armed men who were fighting
for freedom. They fled, leaving their dead upon the field; which is
always regarded by savages as dishonorable defeat.<SPAN name="FNanchor_138_138" id="FNanchor_138_138"></SPAN><SPAN href="#Footnote_138_138" class="fnanchor">[138]</SPAN></p>
<p>The Exiles resumed their journey, still maintaining their warlike
arrangement. Directing their course south-westerly, they crossed the Rio
Grande, and continuing nearly in the same direction, they proceeded into
Mexico, until they reached the vicinity of the ancient but<SPAN name="page_335" id="page_335"></SPAN> now deserted
town of Santa Rosa.<SPAN name="FNanchor_139_139" id="FNanchor_139_139"></SPAN><SPAN href="#Footnote_139_139" class="fnanchor">[139]</SPAN> In that beautiful climate, they found a rich,
productive soil. Here they halted, examined the country, and finally
determined to locate their new homes in this most romantic portion of
Mexico. Here they erected their cabins, planted their gardens, commenced
plantations, and resumed their former habits of agricultural life. There
they yet remain. Forcibly torn from their native land, oppressed,
wronged, and degraded, they became voluntary Exiles from South Carolina
and Georgia. More recently exiled from Florida and from the territory of
the United States—they are yet <i>free</i>! After the struggles and
persecutions of a hundred and fifty years, they repose in comparative
quiet under a government which repudiates slavery. To the pen of some
future historian we consign their subsequent history.</p>
<p>Before taking leave of the reader, we would call his attention to a
review of the fate which attended different portions of the Exiles, and
to a few further incidents, for some of which we have only newspaper
authority; but from all the circumstances we have no doubt they actually
transpired.</p>
<p>Of the Exiles and their descendants, twelve were delivered up at the
treaty of Colerain in 1796, and consigned to slavery; two hundred and
seventy were massacred at Blount’s Fort in 1816; thirty were taken
prisoners—these all died of wounds or were enslaved. At the different
battles in the first Seminole War in 1818, it is believed that at least
four hundred were slain, including those who fell at Blount’s Fort.</p>
<p>In the Second Seminole War, probably seventy-five were slain in battle,
and five hundred were enslaved; and at least seventy-five were seized by
the Creek Indians, in 1850, and enslaved. Probably a hundred and fifty
connected with the Seminoles now reside in the Western Country, and will
soon become amalgamated with the Indians; while three hundred have found
their way to Mexico,<SPAN name="page_336" id="page_336"></SPAN> and are free.<SPAN name="FNanchor_140_140" id="FNanchor_140_140"></SPAN><SPAN href="#Footnote_140_140" class="fnanchor">[140]</SPAN> Making, in all, thirteen
hundred and fifty souls; being some hundreds less than was reported by
the Officers of Government, in 1836. This discrepancy is accounted for
by the fact, that the Exiles captured by individual enterprise, and by
the Georgia and Florida militia, were never officially reported to the
War Department, and we have no reliable data on which we can fix an
estimate of the number thus piratically enslaved. There are also a few
yet in Florida, not included in the above estimate.</p>
<div class="sidenote">1852.</div>
<p>As to their present situation, we can give the reader but little further
information. In the summer of 1852, Wild Cat suddenly appeared among his
friends, the Seminoles, who yet remained in the Indian Country. His
appearance excited surprise among the Creeks. They at that time
maintained a guard, composed of mounted men: these were at once put in
motion for the purpose of arresting this extraordinary chieftain. But
while they were engaged in looking for him, he and a company of
Seminoles, attended by a number of Exiles and black persons, previously
held in bondage by the Creeks, were rapidly wending their way towards
their new settlement.<SPAN name="FNanchor_141_141" id="FNanchor_141_141"></SPAN><SPAN href="#Footnote_141_141" class="fnanchor">[141]</SPAN></p>
<p>This visit of Wild Cat to the Western Country occasioned much excitement
in that region, as well as astonishment at Washington, and constituted
the occasion of a protracted correspondence between the War Department
and our Military Officers and Indian Agents of that country. Wild Cat
was denounced as a “pirate”—“<i>robber</i>”—“<small>OUTLAW</small>;” and nearly all the
opprobrious epithets known to our language were heaped upon him, for
thus aiding his fellow men to regain those rights to life and liberty
with which the God of Nature had originally endowed them.</p>
<p>During the year 1852, while our commissioners, appointed to establish
the boundary between the United States and Mexico, were engaged in the
discharge of their official duties, a small party of<SPAN name="page_337" id="page_337"></SPAN> armed men was in
attendance for their protection. Some eight of these were said to have
been engaged in patroling the country, when they fell in with Wild Cat
and a portion of this band of Exiles, who were at all times prepared for
friends or foes. The whites were made prisoners without bloodshed, and
taken to their village. A council was called. Abraham was yet living,
and the white men declared that he was regarded as a ruling prince by
his people. They were evidently suspicious of the intentions of our men;
but upon inquiry and consideration, they became satisfied that no
hostile intentions had brought our friends to that country; they were
accordingly treated with becoming hospitality, and dismissed. These
brief statements appeared in some of the newspapers of that day, which
constitutes our only authority for stating them.</p>
<div class="sidenote">1853.</div>
<p>Complaints were subsequently made through the Texan newspapers, that
slaves escaped from that region of country and found an asylum in
Mexico, on the other side of the Rio Grande; and intimations were thrown
out that a party of volunteers, without authority from the United
States, were about to visit the settlement, which thus encouraged slaves
to seek their freedom. The suggestion was so much in character with the
slaveholders of Texas, that it excited attention among those who were
aware of the settlement of Exiles in the region indicated. It was
believed that those men who were about to visit Wild Cat and Abraham and
Louis and their companions, for the purpose of seizing and enslaving
men, would find an entertainment for which they were not prepared.</p>
<p>Some few months subsequently, a brief reference was made in the
newspapers of Texas to this expedition, giving their readers to
understand that it had failed of accomplishing the object intended, and
had returned with its numbers <i>somewhat diminished</i> by their conflict
with the blacks.</p>
<p>As was naturally expected, after the lapse of some six months, great
complaint was heard through the public press of Indian depredations<SPAN name="page_338" id="page_338"></SPAN>
upon the frontier of Texas. Plantations were said to be destroyed;
buildings burned; people murdered, and slaves carried away. This foray
was said to have been made by Camanche Indians, led on by Wild Cat. He
appears yet ready to make war upon all who fight for slavery; and many
of the scenes which were enacted in Florida, will most likely be again
presented on our south-western frontier, where the same causes exist
which formerly existed in Florida, and the same effects will be likely
to follow.</p>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""
style="padding:2%;border:3px dotted gray;">
<tr><th align="center">Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber:</th></tr>
<tr><td align="center">General Call at Talahasse=> General Call at Tallahasse {pg 125}</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center">visited Fort <span class="errata">Mellen</span>=> visited Fort Mellon {pg 141}</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center">Any <span class="errata">inteference</span> with the negroes=> Any interference with the negroes {pg 147}</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center">Members of <span class="errata">familes</span>=> Members of families {pg 174}</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center"><span class="errata">prefering</span> to have them=> preferring to have them {pg 195}</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center"><span class="errata">arrrangements</span> were privately making=> arrangements were privately making {pg 237}</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center">Acting <span class="errata">Commmissioner</span>=> Acting Commissioner {pg 241}</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center">to those <span class="errata">gentleman</span> to enable them=> to those gentlemen to enable them {pg 241}</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center">he was in <span class="errata">Forida</span> at the time=> he was in Florida at the time {pg 245}</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center">all <span class="errata">prisoner</span> captured in war=> all prisoners captured in war {pg 246}</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center">This feelng was=> This feeling was {pg 252}</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center">betrayed, <span class="errata">treachererously</span>=> betrayed, treacherously {pg 255}</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center">This Message was=> This message was {pg 263}</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center">that <span class="errata">Territoy</span>=> that Territory {pg 282}</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center">outnumbered the <span class="errata">asssailants</span>=> outnumbered the assailants {pg 289}</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center"><span class="errata">disppointment</span> and chagrin=> disappointment and chagrin {pg 289}</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center">died of <span class="errata">sicknes</span>=> died of sickness {pg 303}</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center">sense of <span class="errata">gatitude</span>=> sense of gratitude {pg 306}</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center">were <span class="errata">sacrified</span>=> were sacrificed {pg 315}</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center">Blount’s <span class="errata">Fourt</span>=> Blount’s Fort {pg 318}</td></tr>
</table>
<div class="footnotes"><p class="cb">FOOTNOTES:</p>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></SPAN> Vide Bancroft’s and Hildreth’s Histories of the United
States.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></SPAN> Vide both Histories above cited.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></SPAN> Vide Schoolcraft’s History of Indian Tribes.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></SPAN> Vide American Archives, Vol. I. Fifth Series: 1852.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></SPAN> This was the residence of George Galphin, an Indian trader,
who, in 1773, aided in obtaining a treaty by which the Creek Indians
ceded a large tract of land to the British Government. Georgia succeeded
the British Government in its title to these lands, by the treaty of
peace in 1783. Some fifty years afterwards, the descendants of Galphin
petitioned the State of Georgia for compensation, on account of the
services rendered by Galphin in obtaining the treaty of 1773. But the
Legislature repudiated the claim. The heirs, or rather descendants of
Galphin, then applied to Congress, who never had either legal or
beneficial interest, in the lands obtained by the treaty. The
Representatives from Georgia and from the South generally supported the
claim. Northern men yielded their objections to this absurd demand, and
in 1848 a bill passed both Houses of Congress by which the descendants
of Galphin, and their attorneys and agents, obtained from our National
Treasury $243,871 86, and the term “Galphin” has since become synonymous
with “peculation” upon the public Treasury.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></SPAN> Vide Report of Hugh Knox, Secretary of War, to the
President, dated July 6, 1789. American State Papers. Vol. V. page 15,
where the Treaty is recited in full.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></SPAN> Vide papers accompanying the Report of the Secretary of
War, above referred to, marked A, and numbered 1, 2 and 3.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></SPAN> Vide letter of James White to Major General Knox, of the
24th May, 1787. American State Papers, Vol II, Indian Affairs.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></SPAN> American State Papers, Vol. V, page 25.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></SPAN> Vide Documents accompanying the Treaty of New York; Am.
State Papers, Vol. I, Indian Affairs.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></SPAN> The reader need not be informed, that these demands of
indemnity for slaves were promptly rejected by the English government;
and Jay’s Treaty of 1794, surrendered them forever.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></SPAN> Hildreth, in his History of the United States, speaks of
in that light.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></SPAN> Vide Annals of Congress, Vol. I, pages 1068-70-74.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></SPAN> Vide Correspondence on this subject between Seagrove and
the War Department. American State Papers, Vol. V, pages 304-5, 320,
336, 387, and 392.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></SPAN> American State Papers, “Indian Affairs.” Vol. II, p. 306.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></SPAN> Vide talk of principal Chief at Treaty of Colerain.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></SPAN> Vide Annals of Congress of that date.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></SPAN> Vide papers accompanying the Treaty of Colerain. American
State Papers, Vol. I, “Indian Affairs.”</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></SPAN> Vide the papers accompanying this Treaty when submitted to
the Senate. They are collected in the second volume of American State
Papers, entitled “Indian Affairs.” They will afford much interesting
matter as to the doctrines of “State Rights” and Nullification, which it
is unnecessary to embrace in this work.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></SPAN> Vide Annals of IVth Congress, 2d Session</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></SPAN> The claims of these ancient Spanish inhabitants for
indemnity against these robberies, have been pressed upon the
consideration of Congress for the last twenty-five years, and were
recently pending before the Court of Claims. When the bill for their
relief was under discussion before the House of Representatives, In
1843, Hon. John Quincy Adams presented a list of some ninety slaves, for
the loss of whom the owners claimed compensation from the United States.
But the discussions which arose on private bills were not at that time
reported; and neither this exhibit, nor the speech of Mr. Adams, are to
be found in the Congressional Debates of that day.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></SPAN> Many slaves actually fled from their masters and found an
asylum on board British vessels. Some sixty, belonging to a planter
named Forbes, who resided in Georgia, left his plantation and took
shelter on board the ship commanded by Lord Cochrane. They were
transported to Jamaica, where they settled and lived as other free
people. After the restoration of peace, Forbes sued his Lordship, before
the British courts, for damages sustained by the loss of these slaves.
The case elicited much learning in regard to the law of Slavery and,
next to that of Sommerset, may be regarded as the most important on that
subject ever litigated before an English court.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></SPAN> “Monette,” In his “History of the Valley of the
Mississippi,” says Woodbine erected this fort in the summer of 1816; and
such were the representations made before the Committee appointed in
1819, to investigate the conduct of General Jackson, in taking
possession of Florida. But the reader will notice the Letter of General
Gaines, hereafter quoted, which bears date on the 14th May, 1815, and
<i>officially</i> informed the Secretary of War that “<i>negroes and outlaws
have taken possession of a</i> <span class="smcap">Fort on the Appalachicola River</span>.” This was
more than a year before the time of erecting the fort, according to
“Monette.”</p>
<p>The parapet of the fort was said to be fifteen feet high and eighteen
thick, situated upon a gentle cliff, with a fine stream emptying into
the river near its base, and a swamp in the rear, which protected it
from the approach of artillery by land. On its walls were mounted one
thirty-two pounder, three twenty-four pounders, two nine pounders, two
six pounders, and one brass five and a half-inch howitzer. Vide Official
Report of Sailing-Master Loomis.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></SPAN> This is the official account of Sailing-Master Loomis, who
commanded the naval expedition subsequently sent to reduce this
fortress.</p>
<p>“Monette,” in his History of the Valley of the Mississippi, says, “<i>Near
the Fort the fields were fine</i>, and extended along the river nearly
<i>fifty miles</i>.”</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></SPAN> The reader will at once see, that these people were as
much under the protection of Spain, as the fugitive slaves now in Canada
are under the protection of British laws. They were as clearly Spanish
subjects as the latter are British subjects. By the law of nations,
Spain had the same right to permit her black subjects to occupy
“Blount’s Fort,” that the Queen of England has to permit Fort Malden to
be occupied by her black subjects. The only distinction between the two
cases is, Spain was weak and unable to maintain her national honor, and
national rights; while England has the power to do both.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></SPAN> Vide the voluminous Correspondence on this subject
contained in Ex. Doc. 119, 2d Session, XVth Congress.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></SPAN> Perhaps no portion of our national history exhibits such
disregard of International law, as this unprovoked invasion of Florida.
For thirty years, the slaves of our Southern States have been in the
habit of fleeing to the British Provinces. Here they are admitted to all
the rights of citizenship, in the same manner as they were in Florida.
They vote and hold office under British laws; and when our Government
demanded that the English Ministry should disregard the rights of these
people and return them to slavery, the British Minister contemptuously
refused even to hold correspondence with our Secretary of State on a
subject so abhorrent to every principle of national law and
self-respect. Our Government coolly submitted to the scornful arrogance
of England; but did not hesitate to invade Florida with an armed force,
and to seize the faithful subjects of Spain, and enslave them.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></SPAN> Hon. Duncan L. Clinch. He left the service in 1841, and
was subsequently a Member of Congress for several years, and died in
1852.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></SPAN> War was thus waged against Spain, by Executive authority,
without consulting Congress; and no member of that body uttered a
protest, or denunciation of the act.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></SPAN> In Ex. Doc. No. 119, 2d Session, XVth Congress, may be
found the official correspondence between the War Department and General
Jackson; also that between General Jackson and General Gaines, together
with the orders of each, as well as the correspondence between the
Secretary of the Navy and Commodore Patterson; and the order of the
latter officer to Sailing-Master Loomis; and the final report of
Sailing-Master Loomis and General Clinch. In none of these papers is
there any act of hostility mentioned or referred to as having been
committed by the Exiles, or the Seminole Indians, prior to their
reaching the vicinity of the Fort.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></SPAN> Hildreth states that <i>three</i> gun-boats were detailed on
that occasion; but the report of Sailing-Master Loomis speaks only of
<i>two</i>.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></SPAN> Hildreth states the number to have been about three
hundred, partly Indians and partly negroes.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></SPAN> Monette says this expedition was undertaken by Col. Clinch
upon his own responsibility, to enable some boats laden with provisions
to pass up the river. A strange misapprehension of facts, as shown by
official documents.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></SPAN> At this conference, Sailing-Master Loomis informed Colonel
Clinch that, on the day previous, while a party of his men were on
shore, they were fired on by Indians and one man killed. This was the
first and only act of hostility against our troops. It was committed by
<i>Indians</i>, not by <i>Exiles</i>; but it was subsequently seized upon and
published as a justification for carrying out General Jackson’s order,
bearing date more than two months prior to the occurrence, directing
General Gaines to destroy the fort and return the negroes to slavery.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></SPAN> Monette says, “The scene in the fort was horrible beyond
description. <i>Nearly the whole of the inmates were involved in
indiscriminate destruction; not one-sixth of the whole escaped. The
cries of the wounded, the groans of the dying, with the shouts and yells
of the Indians, rendered the scene horrible beyond description.</i>”</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></SPAN> Vide Official Report at Sailing-Master Loomis, Ex. Doc.
119: 2d Sess. XVth Cong.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></SPAN> Some years since, the author wrote a short sketch of the
general Massacre, but omitted this point as too revolting to the
feelings of humanity, and too disgraceful to the American arms, to be
laid before the popular mind in such an article; and he would most
gladly have omitted it in this work, could he have done so consistently
with his duty to the public.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></SPAN> Monette says that three thousand stands of arms and six
hundred barrels of powder were destroyed by the explosion. This is
probably somewhat of an exaggeration. We have no fact to warrant the
assertion, that there was any addition made to the stores left by Col.
Nichols, when he delivered the fort to the Exiles. The same author
states, that one magazine, containing one hundred and sixty barrels of
powder, was left unharmed by the explosion; but no mention of such fact
is found in the Official Report, by Sailing-Master Loomis.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></SPAN> Vide Documents before the Committee of Congress appointed
to investigate the cause of General Jackson’s invasion of Florida: XVth
Congress, 2d Session.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></SPAN> This bill was reported by Mr. Ingham of Connecticut,
Chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></SPAN> Vide Statutes enacted at 2d Session, XXVIth Congress. The
author was then a member of the House of Representatives, but had not
learned to watch the movements of slaveholders and “their allies,” so
closely as subsequent experience taught him would be useful.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></SPAN> Vide Speeches of Hon. George Poindexter and others on the
Seminole War, in 1819.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></SPAN> Hon. William Jay, of New York, published his Views of the
action of the Federal Government in 1887.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></SPAN> Monette says Arbuthnot sent word to the Negroes and
Indians, notifying them of the approach of General Jackson; but the
official report of that Officer shows that his advance guard was daily
engaged in skirmishing with the Indians.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></SPAN> Vide General Jackson’s Official Report of this battle, Ex.
Doc. 175, 2d Session XVth Congress.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></SPAN> Williams, in his History of Florida, states that three
hundred and forty Negroes again rallied after the first retreat, and
fought their pursuers, until <i>eighty</i> of their number, were killed on
the field. “Monetta” also states the same fact; but General Jackson, in
all his Reports, evidently avoided, as far as possible, any notice of
the Exiles, as a people. Indeed such was the policy of the
Administration, and of its officers, and of all slaveholders. They then
supposed, as they now do, that slavery must depend upon the supposed
ignorance and stupidity of the colored people; and scarcely an instance
can be found, where a slaveholder admits the slave to possess human
intelligence or human feeling; indeed, to teach a slave to read the
Scriptures, is regarded as an offense, in nearly every slave State, and
punishable by fine and imprisonment.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></SPAN> Various names have been given this Fort. The author,
having heretofore adopted that of “Blount’s Fort,” prefers to continue
that name. It was equally known, however, as the “Negro Fort,” and as
“Fort Nichols.”</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></SPAN> The people of the free States should understand, that
almost every question touching slavery which has arisen between our
Government and that of England, the latter has yielded, since the
formation of Jay’s Treaty in 1795.</p>
<p>The payment for slaves who were shipwrecked on board the Comet, the
Encomium, and the Enterprise, and found freedom by being landed on
British soil, constitute rare instances in which slaveholdlng arrogance
has proved successful in the arts of diplomacy. The case of the Creole
constitutes another admirable illustration of successful effrontery. In
this case, the slaves took possession of the ship, guided it to Nassau,
a British Island, went on shore and became free. The officers of the
slave ship demanded that the British authorities should seize the
negroes, and return them to the ship. They refused. Daniel Webster,
Secretary of State, became the voluntary Agent, Attorney and Solicitor,
for the slave dealers, who should have been hanged, instead of receiving
the encouragement of our Government. But the subject was submitted to
the umpirage of a man, said to have once lived in Boston, who,
principally upon the authority of Mr. Webster, decided that the people
of the British government should pay the slave dealers for these parents
and children; and after fifteen years of continued effort, the money was
obtained.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></SPAN> Vide Letter from the Secretary of War to Messrs. Plckens
and Flournoy, August 8, 1820. Am. State Papers, Vol. VI, p. 249.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></SPAN> Vide Letter of the Secretary of War to Gen. Flournoy, of
the 19th of October, 1820. Ibid, 250.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></SPAN> Vide Papers transmitted to Congress, in connection with
the Treaty of “Indian Spring.” Am. State Papers, “Indian Affairs,” Vol.
I, No. 174.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></SPAN> Ibid.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></SPAN> Ibid. Letter of Instructions contained in the papers
referred to on preceding page.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></SPAN> Vide Report of Commissioner on this subject; also, the
Report of Wm. Wirt, Attorney General of the United States, to whom the
President referred the subject. “Opinions of the Attorney General,”
1822. Mr. Wirt states the price paid for those slaves was from two to
three times their real value.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></SPAN> Vide Reports of Committee XVIIth Congress, 2d Session, No.
125.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></SPAN> Vide Am. State Papers, Vol. VI, pages 411, 412. It will be
observed that General Jackson discarded the term “<i>maroon</i>,” used by
Penieres, as that in Jamaica, signifies “<i>free negroes</i> of the
mountains,” who once fled from service, but have maintained their
liberty so long that they cannot be identified, and are therefore
admitted to be free.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></SPAN> It is an interesting fact, that the doctrine recently
avowed by the Supreme Court of the United States, that “<i>black men have
no rights which white men are bound to respect</i>,” was recognized and
practiced upon in Florida, more than thirty years since, by the officers
of Government.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></SPAN> Vide Executive Documents, No. 271, 2d Session XXVth
Congress.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></SPAN> Captain Sprague, of the United States Army, so states, in
his History of the War.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></SPAN> Vide Letter of the Agent, dated sixth of March, 1827.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></SPAN> Vide Minutes of Talk held at Seminole Agency, with
Treskal, Mathla, and other Chiefs. Ex. Doc. 271, 1st Sess. XXIVth
Congress.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></SPAN> Vide Letter of Col. Brooke to Col. Humphreys, 6 May, 1828,
contained in the above cited Document.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></SPAN> Vide Letter of Judge Smith, May 10, 1828, contained in
same Document.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></SPAN> Vide Statement of John Hick, 15 August, 1828. Ex. Doc.
271, before quoted.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></SPAN> Vide Letter of Gad Humphreys, Oct. 20, 1828. It probably
was the first time the proposition was submitted to the Seminoles.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></SPAN> Even Mr. Adams, when President, continued in office those
men who had been placed there by his predecessors.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></SPAN> Vide Sprague’s History of the Florida War.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></SPAN> Vide Documents relating to the Florida War, 1st Session,
XXIVth Congress.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></SPAN> Vide Sprague’s History of the Florida War.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></SPAN> Vide Ex. Doc. 271, XXIVth Congress, 1st Session, pages 43
and 44.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></SPAN> The Author, while serving in Congress in 1847-8 was, by
the Speaker, placed upon the committee of Indian Affairs. While serving
on that committee, the Creek Indians applied for the return of this
money which had belonged to them, but had been wrongfully paid over by
Congress to the slaveholders of Georgia, some fourteen years previously.
The case was referred to the Author, as sub-committee, who reported that
the money, in justice, in equity, and in law, belonged to the Indians;
that its payment to the slaveholders was unjust and wrong, and that it
ought to be paid to the Indians. The report was confirmed, and the money
paid to the Indians. The justice of the cause was so obvious that it met
with no opposition, and by the vote of both Houses it now stands
acknowledged and declared that this sum of $141,000 was taken from the
pockets of the laboring men of our Nation, and paid to those
slaveholders for <i>imaginary slave children who were never born</i>; nor
have we been able to learn that an objection was raised, or protest
uttered, by any Northern member of Congress.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></SPAN> Vide Opinion of Judge Cameron, pages 35 and 36 of Doc.
271, last quoted.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></SPAN> N<small>OTE</small>—When the author, in 1841, denounced this
transaction, in the House of Representatives, and spoke of these
slave-catchers as <i>Pirates</i>, Hon. Mark A. Cooper, of Georgia, became
indignant at the denunciation;—said he was well acquainted with the men
who seized and enslaved these people; that they were <i>honorable men</i>,
and that he took them by the hand almost daily while at home.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></SPAN> The statement of these facts may be found in Ex. Document,
1st Sess. XXIVth Congress.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></SPAN> Vide Ex. Doc., 1st Sess. XXIVth Congress, page 14.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></SPAN> Vide his letter at length in the Document last quoted.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></SPAN> Vide Sprague’s Florida War.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></SPAN> Lieutenant Reynolds, while conducting the first party of
emigrants West, in 1841, found among the Exiles persons who possessed so
much Spanish blood, that he offered to leave them at New Orleans, and
some of them accepted the offer. He left them in that city, and they
probably now pass for Spaniards.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></SPAN> Vide account of this transaction by H. M. Cohen, given in
the Quarterly Anti-Slavery Magazine, vol. II, page 419. Mr. Thompson,
the Agent, in his letter to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, bearing
date soon after, says: “Powell used such language, that I was
constrained to order him into irons.” Mr. Sprague, in his history of the
Florida War, reiterates the statement of Mr. Thompson. But neither
Sprague, nor Thompson, nor any other person who was present, it is
believed, has ever denied the relation which Mr. Cohen has given.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></SPAN> Sprague’s History of the Florida War.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></SPAN> Vide Testimony accompanying Pacheco’s Petition to Congress
for indemnity.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></SPAN> Vide Statement of Tustenuggee, a Seminole Chief, who was
present, and whose account of this massacre is given in Sprague’s
History of the Florida War.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></SPAN> These Speeches may be found in the Congressional Globe, 2d
Sess. XXXth Congress.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></SPAN> Sprague’s History of the War.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_85_85" id="Footnote_85_85"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></SPAN> Osceola, though a fierce and gallant warrior, entertained
high notions of honor; and, although a savage, he was punctilious on
those points, and finally fell a victim to the treachery of those
calling themselves <i>civilized</i> men.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_86_86" id="Footnote_86_86"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></SPAN> Francis P. Blair, who is yet living, (1868.)</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_87_87" id="Footnote_87_87"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></SPAN> Vide Ex. Doc., 2d Sess. XXVth Congress, No. 78, pages
558-9.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_88_88" id="Footnote_88_88"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></SPAN> His vindication before the court was triumphant, and he
was honorably acquitted from all censure.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_89_89" id="Footnote_89_89"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></SPAN> Sprague, in his History of the Florida War, says there
were <i>two hundred negro warriors</i> in this battle; that their women and
children were a short distance in their rear, mounted on their ponies,
and ready to flee, if their husbands, brothers and fathers had been
compelled to retreat.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_90_90" id="Footnote_90_90"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></SPAN> General Jessup was undoubtedly somewhat ignorant as to the
history of the Exiles. Speaking of Abraham, that officer says: “He is
married to the wife of the former chief of the Nation; is a good
soldier, and an <i>intrepid leader</i>. He <i>is the negro chief</i>, and the most
cunning and intelligent negro we have here; <i>he claims to be free</i>.”</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_91_91" id="Footnote_91_91"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></SPAN> General Jessup <i>subsequently</i> reported his determination
to <i>separate the negroes, or Exiles, from the Indians</i>. He therefore
stipulated for <i>their safety</i>, and, at the same time, agreed that the
<i>slaves</i> of the Indians should accompany their owners, and not be
separated from them. These facts will appear as we proceed in our
history.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_92_92" id="Footnote_92_92"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></SPAN> Vide these articles at length, Ex. Doc. 225, 3d Sess.
XXVth Congress.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_93_93" id="Footnote_93_93"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></SPAN> General Jessup at all times practiced upon this principle.
When “Louis,” the guide who planned the defeat and massacre of Major
Dade, became a prisoner and Wild Cat claimed to have captured him,
General Jessup disregarded the claim of Pacheco, the owner, and sent the
negro West; and, in other instances, he kept those known to have been
slaves as guides, and, at a proper time, sent them to the Western
Country, as freemen. He even bribed negroes to act as guides to his army
by promising them liberty, and carried out such arrangement.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_94_94" id="Footnote_94_94"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></SPAN> Vide this Memorial at length, Ex. Doc. 225, 3d Sess. XXVth
Congress.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_95_95" id="Footnote_95_95"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_95_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></SPAN> All these communications may be found at length in the
Fifth Vol. Ex. Doc., 3d Session XXVth Congress. But these arrangements
made with the chiefs are supposed to have rested entirely in parole. No
copy of any such agreement has been found by the Author, who is fully of
opinion that it does not exist in any authentic form.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_96_96" id="Footnote_96_96"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_96_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></SPAN> Vide Ex. Doc. 225, 3d Sess. XXVth Congress.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_97_97" id="Footnote_97_97"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_97_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></SPAN> These Letters may be found in Ex. Doc. 225, 3d Sess. XXVth
Congress.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_98_98" id="Footnote_98_98"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_98_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></SPAN> This Correspondence may be found in the 8th vol. Ex. Doc.,
2d Sess. XXVth Cong., No. 285.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_99_99" id="Footnote_99_99"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_99_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></SPAN> Of this declaration he had subsequent cause to repent, and
most eloquently he expressed his mortification, in a letter to the
Secretary of War. Vide his Letter or Jan. 2, 1839, in the Document last
quoted.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_100_100" id="Footnote_100_100"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_100_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></SPAN> These facts may all be found officially recorded in Ex.
Doc. 78, 2d Sess. XXVth Congress, and Ex. Doc. 225, 3d Sess. XXVth
Congress.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_101_101" id="Footnote_101_101"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_101_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></SPAN> The Interrogatories were embraced in a paper, of which
the following is a copy:</p>
<div class="blockquot"><p class="c">“MEMORANDA OF SPECIFIC QUESTIONS TO BE ADDRESSED TO OSCEOLA.</p>
<p>“Ascertain the object of the Indians in coming in at this time.
Also their expectations. <i>Are they prepared to deliver up the
negroes taken from the citizens, at once?</i> Why have they not
surrendered them already, as promised by Co-Hadjo at Fort King?
Have the chiefs of the nation held a Council in relation to the
talk at Fort King? What chiefs attended that Council, and what was
their determination? Have the chiefs sent a messenger with the
decision of the Council? Have the principal chiefs Micanopy,
Jumper, Cloud and Alligator sent a messenger? and if so, what is
their message? Why have not those chiefs come themselves?</p>
<p class="r">“(Signed) THOS. S. JESSUP, <i>Major General Commanding</i>.</p>
<p>“S<small>AN</small> A<small>UGUSTINE</small>, <i>August 21st, 1837</i>.”</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_102_102" id="Footnote_102_102"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_102_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></SPAN> From the first and second interrogatories, the reader
will see that General Jessup was fully conscious, that the attempt to
deliver over those negroes to slavery who were claimed by the citizens
of Florida, had been the sole cause for renewing the war. He dictated
the first and most important interrogatory propounded to Osceola—“<i>Are
you prepared at once to deliver up the negroes taken from the
citizens?</i>”</p>
<p>But the second shows an important fact which had, so for as we have
information, been kept from the public: The words, “Why have they not
already surrendered them, as promised by <i>Co-Hadjo at Fort King</i>?” This
shows that the arrangement reported by him to have been made with the
chiefs, was made with Co-Hadjo only. It will be recollected, that after
the articles of capitulation, in March, when the people of Florida began
to demand their negroes, General Jessup said he would endeavor to make
an arrangement with the chiefs for delivering up those negroes who had
been <i>captured during the war</i>. After the protest of the people of
Florida had been addressed to the Secretary of War, against the peace,
unless they were to get their negroes, and the public meeting held at
San Augustine, which expressed the same views, he reported that <i>he had
made such arrangement with the chiefs</i>; but with how many, or with which
particular <i>chiefs</i>, was unknown until this interrogatory disclosed the
fact, that it was made with one obscure chief only. And whether he were
intoxicated, or sober, at the time he attempted to act without any
authority, to consign hundreds of his fellow-beings to slavery, without
their knowledge or consent, does not appear. But every reader at once
propounds the question, <i>What were the terms of that arrangement?</i> If it
existed, it should have been reported verbatim to the War Department,
and made known to the public.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_103_103" id="Footnote_103_103"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_103_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></SPAN> Capt. Sprague, of the Regular service.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_104_104" id="Footnote_104_104"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_104_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></SPAN> This statement is taken entirely from the Letters of John
Ross, chief of the Cherokees, to the Secretary of War. In these letters,
he relates the whole transaction with great force and apparent candor,
and, in the name of the Cherokee Nation, boldly arraigns the War
Department for this treachery, practiced by a Christian nation towards a
people called heathens. These letters may be found at length in Ex. Doc.
327, 2d Sess. XXVth Cong., vol. 8.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_105_105" id="Footnote_105_105"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_105_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></SPAN> Vide letter of General Taylor to Commissioner of Indian
Affairs, Ex. Doc. 225, 3d Sess. XXVth Congress.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_106_106" id="Footnote_106_106"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_106_106"><span class="label">[106]</span></SPAN> Mr. Sprague says there were three hundred Indian and
negro warriors engaged in this battle, and that their loss was ten
Indians and one negro killed, and eleven wounded; showing a great
disparity between their loss and General Taylor’s.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_107_107" id="Footnote_107_107"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_107_107"><span class="label">[107]</span></SPAN> In 1848, General Taylor was the Whig candidate for
President of the United States; and so little was the history of this
war known to our statesmen or politicians, that it is believed no
newspaper, or stump orator, or advocate of his election, ever related or
referred to this most gallant act of his life. He had himself, during
the war, exhibited no particular sympathy in the work of catching and
enslaving negroes; on the contrary, he had expressed his detestation of
that policy. Of course the slave power, not willing to make open war
upon him, had permitted his name to rest without connecting it with the
performance of any brilliant or humane acts. The casuist may say, that
he ought not to have served in such a war, and that no gallantry
displayed in such a cause ought to reflect credit upon any man. But
General Taylor, like other men, should be judged by the times, the
customs, the morality of the age in which he lived.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_108_108" id="Footnote_108_108"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_108_108"><span class="label">[108]</span></SPAN> Vide Ex. Doc., 2d Sess. XXVth Congress, No. 225.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_109_109" id="Footnote_109_109"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_109_109"><span class="label">[109]</span></SPAN> Vide General Jessup’s letter to General Arbuckle, 8 Vol.
Ex. Doc., 2d Sess. XXVth Congress.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_110_110" id="Footnote_110_110"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_110_110"><span class="label">[110]</span></SPAN> Vide General Jessup’s letter to Commissioner of Indian
Affairs, Ex. Doc. 225, above referred to.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_111_111" id="Footnote_111_111"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_111_111"><span class="label">[111]</span></SPAN> This is the view which General Jessup gives of the
transaction, Ex. Doc., 8th Vol., 3d Sess. XXVth Congress</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_112_112" id="Footnote_112_112"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_112_112"><span class="label">[112]</span></SPAN> Vide Report of General Jessup to the Secretary of War,
Ex. Doc., 3d Sess. XXVth Congress.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_113_113" id="Footnote_113_113"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_113_113"><span class="label">[113]</span></SPAN> These facts may all be found in the 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th,
11th & 12th vols. of Ex. Doc., 2d Sess. XXVth Congress; the letters of
Ross and correspondence of General Jessup, and official reports,
occupying several hundred pages.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_114_114" id="Footnote_114_114"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_114_114"><span class="label">[114]</span></SPAN> Horace Everett, who was many years a Representative in
Congress, an ardent Whig, and constant opponent of Jackson and Van
Buren. After the report of the Secretary of War in answer to his
resolution had been received, Mr. Everett made a speech on the subject,
exposing the manner in which the war had been conducted, and intimated
that it was more immediately connected with the support of slavery than
it ought to be. But while he was careful to say nothing exceptionable to
the slave interest, he certainly entitled himself to the honor of being
the first member who assailed the war, and the first to hold the
Administration responsible for the manner in which it was prosecuted.
The speech may be found at length in the Appendix to the Congressional
Globe of that session.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_115_115" id="Footnote_115_115"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_115_115"><span class="label">[115]</span></SPAN> Vide Letter of Commissioner of Indian Affairs to
Secretary of War, 9th May, 1838. Ex. Doc. 225, 2d Sess. XXVth Congress.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_116_116" id="Footnote_116_116"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_116_116"><span class="label">[116]</span></SPAN> Major Zantzinger, like many other officers, appears to
have thought that every negro must have a master, and he called these
Exiles the property of the Seminoles, although the Agent for that Tribe
had reported a few years previously, that the number of slaves owned by
them did not exceed <i>forty</i>.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_117_117" id="Footnote_117_117"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_117_117"><span class="label">[117]</span></SPAN> Vide Watson’s Petition and proofs, in support of his
claim, presented to Congress—1st Sess. XXVIth Cong.—now on file in the
office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_118_118" id="Footnote_118_118"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_118_118"><span class="label">[118]</span></SPAN> Vide Watson’s Statement of facts in this case, on file
with the above papers.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_119_119" id="Footnote_119_119"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_119_119"><span class="label">[119]</span></SPAN> Several years after this transaction, the Author happened
to meet this war-worn veteran, and as the old hero recounted this
incident of his life with warm and glowing eloquence, his eye kindled,
his countenance lighted up with pleasure, and he spoke of it with more
apparent satisfaction than he ever referred to his most brilliant
military achievement.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_120_120" id="Footnote_120_120"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_120_120"><span class="label">[120]</span></SPAN> Vide Letter of Major Isaac Clark to Commissioner of
Indian Affairs, Sept. 18, 1838. Ex. Doc. 225, 3d Sess. XXVth Congress.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_121_121" id="Footnote_121_121"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_121_121"><span class="label">[121]</span></SPAN> Hon. Elisha Whittlesey, the predecessor of Mr. Giddings,
long and ably presided over the committee on Claims. He was a man of
untiring industry; and when he found it necessary to report on a slave
case, in 1835, he wrote the Register of the Treasury, inquiring if
slaves had ever been paid for by the United States as property. The
reply stated they had not; and the committee reported adversely to the
case, although it was one of the strongest character possible. Francis
Larche, living near New Orleans, owned a horse, cart and slave. The day
before the battle below that city, in 1814, they were impressed into the
service; and while thus held by the United States authorities, on the
day of the battle, the horse and slave were killed by cannon shot, and
Larche petitioned Congress for compensation for the loss of his slave.
Mr. Whittlesey drew up an able report refusing such compensation.</p>
<p>At the commencement of the Twenty-seventh Congress, Mr. Giddings was
placed at the head of that committee; but, being obnoxious to the
advocates of slavery, he was removed from that position at the
commencement of the Twenty-eighth Congress; yet there seemed to be an
Impression that his successor should be taken from Ohio, and Hon. Joseph
Vance was made Chairman. He was a man at that time somewhat advanced in
life, and not accustomed to legal investigations. Cases which required
research, were usually consigned to some subordinate member of the
committee. It was while he was acting as Chairman, that this case of
Watson was first reported upon favorably by the committee on Claims,
although it had never before been regarded by that committee as entitled
to any encouragement.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_122_122" id="Footnote_122_122"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_122_122"><span class="label">[122]</span></SPAN> There is little doubt that the real number of Exiles was
unknown to General Jackson, or to General Cass, at the commencement of
the war. They appear to have regarded their number far less than it was
estimated, during the first Seminole War of 1818.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_123_123" id="Footnote_123_123"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_123_123"><span class="label">[123]</span></SPAN> Captain Sprague’s History of the Florida War so
represents the subject.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_124_124" id="Footnote_124_124"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_124_124"><span class="label">[124]</span></SPAN> Not having the Statutes of Florida before us, we make
this statement on the authority of Captain Sprague.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_125_125" id="Footnote_125_125"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_125_125"><span class="label">[125]</span></SPAN> We have no copy of Mr. Wise’s letter, and have never seen
the letter itself; but we state the fact that he wrote the Secretary of
War by authority of that officer, who says in the letter quoted, “I have
the honor to acknowledge the receipt of <i>your letter of the 27th inst.</i>,
inquiring,” <i>etc.</i></p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_126_126" id="Footnote_126_126"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_126_126"><span class="label">[126]</span></SPAN> The Author was at that time a member of the House of
Representatives. He had then no conception of the real objects of this
war: indeed, it had long been the practice for members to say nothing on
the subject of slavery; and it was equally the practice for newspapers
to print nothing on that delicate subject, as it was called. Of course
the people knew very little concerning it.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_127_127" id="Footnote_127_127"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_127_127"><span class="label">[127]</span></SPAN> Captain Sprague, in his history of the Florida War, says,
“The truth, when made known to the Indians who remained in Florida,
constituted the strongest argument why they should not emigrate. Had
they (says that author) been kept in ignorance, better results might
have been anticipated; but what they gathered from the honest
confessions and silence of their brothers tended to make them venerate
with more fidelity and increased love the soil which they had defended
with heroic fortitude for five consecutive years.”</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_128_128" id="Footnote_128_128"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_128_128"><span class="label">[128]</span></SPAN> Captain Sprague, in his history, declares, that it was
proven in two instances that white men, disguised as Indians, actually
committed depredations and murdered white people.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_129_129" id="Footnote_129_129"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_129_129"><span class="label">[129]</span></SPAN> This first speech had been carefully prepared by the
Author of this work, and contained little more than a collation of facts
from public documents. It was made with the design of testing the
application of the gag rules more than for the purpose of exposing the
character of the war. Hon. John Q. Adams, Wm. Slade, and the Author,
often consulted with each other as to the best means for inducing the
House to repeal those obnoxious rules. The Author suggested the plan of
alluding to slavery while publicly discoursing matters with which it was
incidentally connected. Mr. Adams and Mr. Slade insisted that the Author
should try his plan. Aware that appropriations for this war would be
called for, he prepared this speech, showing the causes of the war; and
when the bill above referred to came before the House, he proceeded to
test his plan. He was frequently called to order, and great excitement
was produced; but he succeeded in delivering the speech. When he was
through, a southern member replied, declaring that the gag-rules may as
well be repealed as kept in force, if they permitted such discussions.
The position was evidently correct, and those disgraceful rules were
repealed by the next Congress.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_130_130" id="Footnote_130_130"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_130_130"><span class="label">[130]</span></SPAN> This statement is founded upon the authority of Captain
Sprague. It is however certain, that many of the claimants actually
received compensation from the public treasury for the loss of their
slaves. The power to pay for them was assumed by Executive officers,
under the appropriation act of March, 1841, without reference to
Congress.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_131_131" id="Footnote_131_131"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_131_131"><span class="label">[131]</span></SPAN> Captain Sprague, in his history, enters into a somewhat
lengthened apology for this practice of General Worth, by saying, the
negroes were the most active and vindictive of the hostile forces; that,
from the peculiar situation of the country, ten negroes could keep it in
a state of constant alarm; that many of them had intermarried with the
Seminoles and become identified with them, had acquired their habits,
and would have been useless to their owners had they been delivered to
them; that the negro would have remained in service but a few days, when
he would have again taken to the swamps and hommocks, when he could
elude pursuit, and would have been more vindictive than before.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_132_132" id="Footnote_132_132"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_132_132"><span class="label">[132]</span></SPAN> Vide opinions of the Attorney Generals, from 1838 to
1851, page 1944, Senate Doc. 55. It is a singular fact that, in the
whole of this elaborate opinion, no allusion is made to the real
condition of the Exiles; nor would any person suspect, from reading it,
that the Attorney General had any knowledge of the claim which the
Creeks preferred. Although he quotes the clause in the articles of
capitulation, which expressly and emphatically declares that “Major
General Jessup, in behalf of the United States, agrees that the
Seminoles <i>and their allies, who come in and emigrate, shall be
protected in their lives and property</i>;” yet he appears never to have
conceived the idea that such a stipulation could impose any duties upon
our Government in favor of negroes; nor does he attempt to define the
meaning of this most explicit covenant.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_133_133" id="Footnote_133_133"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_133_133"><span class="label">[133]</span></SPAN> Under this law, which is general in all slave States,
free colored citizens of nearly every free State of the Union have been
seized and enslaved, and are now toiling in chains.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_134_134" id="Footnote_134_134"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_134_134"><span class="label">[134]</span></SPAN> Hon. R. W. Johnson, a Representative from Arkansas, spoke
of this wretch as having come from Louisiana; but from manuscript
letters on file in the War Department, the Author is led to think he
came from Florida, and had previously participated in kidnapping Exiles
in that Territory.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_135_135" id="Footnote_135_135"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_135_135"><span class="label">[135]</span></SPAN> The Author, being unable to obtain a publication of the
documents showing these facts, states them upon the best authority he
possesses. During the discussions upon what is called the Indian
Appropriation Bill for 1852, in the House of Representatives of the
United States, the following colloquial debate occurred, and is now
cited as a part of the evidence on which these facts are stated. It will
be found in the Congressional Globe of 1852, vol. 24, part 3d, pages
1804, 1805:</p>
<div class="blockquot"><p>“Mr. G<small>IDDINGS</small>. I rise for a different purpose than that of
expressing my approbation of the amendment which has just been
read. I ask the especial attention of gentlemen to some
interrogatories which I desire to propound for the purpose of
obtaining information; and that the information may go to the
country, I will observe, that I desire to have the experience of
the able Chairman of the committee on Indian Affairs (Mr. Johnson
of Arkansas), to obtain this intelligence. According to reliable
information which I received in the summer of 1850, these Creek
Indians, to whom attention has been turned, with force and
violence, seized from seventy to one hundred free persons of color
in the Indian Territory, or at least those claiming to be free, and
enslaved, sold and transported them to the State of Louisiana,
where they are now in servitude as slaves. I will state that this
was done in violation of the treaty entered into in 1845, and in
subversion of our solemn faith, entered into with these negroes
during the Seminole War, in 1837. The official information upon
this subject is in the Indian Department, where it has been
received; and from which that we have not been able to obtain any
intelligence by resolution, although a resolution for that purpose
has been in my desk since the first day of the session. The
questions I desire to propound to those gentlemen are—First, Is it
a fact that those persons of color were seized and sold into
slavery; and, second, by what claim of right or pretended title did
these Creek Indians enslave and sell those people?</p>
<p>“Mr. J<small>OHNSON</small>. I have no official knowledge in the matter at all.
Then as to the knowledge I have obtained incidentally, I do know
that there has been a great contest in relation to a portion of
these Creek Indian negroes; I do know that the matter has been
looked into here in the Executive Departments; I do know that the
matter has never been before the House at all, unless it has
strangely escaped my notice; I know it has not been before my
committee; I know the Attorney General of the United States has
declared his opinion as to the title of these negroes: I think
there were seventy of them, though it might have been more or less.
So, then, I have no official information on the subject to which
the gentleman alludes.</p>
<p>“Some two or three years ago, I know of a contest going on about
the title to these negroes, and that it was decided that they
belonged to those Indians. They had established themselves in a
free town, which they maintained with force and arms. There were
heavy disturbances existing there in the Indian nation, amounting
at times almost to civil war: I believe before it was done with, it
was quite civil war. I know they were taken; but what was done with
them, I do not know. They were taken, and carried out of the
nation, with the design of holding them as property, when they
could not hold them in the nation on account of the disturbance
which they created. I know the decision of the Attorney General of
the United States, as to the title to these negroes; and that is
the whole statement in regard to the matter as far as I can give
it.”</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_136_136" id="Footnote_136_136"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_136_136"><span class="label">[136]</span></SPAN> The Author has written many letters, and made frequent
efforts, to obtain a copy of the record of this writ, if any had been
kept, and the proceedings, together with the opinion of the Judge
thereon, but has not succeeded. The statement, therefore, rests on the
verbal reports, current at the time in the Indian Country, and
communicated to the Author by individuals who happened to be there at
the time.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_137_137" id="Footnote_137_137"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_137_137"><span class="label">[137]</span></SPAN> The Author has been unable to obtain official data of the
number of Exiles who remained in the Indian Country.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_138_138" id="Footnote_138_138"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_138_138"><span class="label">[138]</span></SPAN> The Author has been compelled to rely on verbal reports
received from individuals for these facts. He also understood Mr.
Johnston, the Representative from Arkansas, in the debate referred to in
a former note, to say distinctly, that the Creeks pursued the Exiles,
and that a <i>battle was fought</i>, but he was unable to state particulars.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_139_139" id="Footnote_139_139"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_139_139"><span class="label">[139]</span></SPAN> Vide Official Report of Major Emory, in regard to the
boundary line between the United States and Mexico. He states the
location of Wild Cat and the Seminole Indians, but omits all reference
to the Exiles.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_140_140" id="Footnote_140_140"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_140_140"><span class="label">[140]</span></SPAN> This number has been increased by fresh arrivals from the
Indian Country, since 1850.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_141_141" id="Footnote_141_141"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_141_141"><span class="label">[141]</span></SPAN> Vide Manuscript Letters now on file in the Indian Bureau
at Washington.</p>
</div>
</div>
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