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Hostile Disposition of the Indians - 1834- 1836. As time elapsed, it became evident to the Indian Agent and the military and civil officers in Florida that the Indians had determined not to emigrate, and would altogether repudiate the treaty of Payne's Landing and the supplementary treaty of Fort Gibson. Ten companies of troops were placed at General Clinch's disposal, to enforce the provisions of the treaty. In February, 1835, the Secretary of War directed General Clinch to fully explain to the Indians the determination of the government to insist upon their removal, and that they should be made fully aware of the consequences of resistance, and then, ''if necessary, let actual force be employed and their removal effected." General Jackson, then President of the United States, sent a ''talk" to be read to the chiefs, urging their compliance with the treaty. Preparations for supplies, transportation, etc. were made by the War Department, upon a scale supposed to be fully equal to any probable requirement. On the 24th of April, 1835, another council was held at the Indian Agency, which was attended by Colonel Clinch and General Thompson, the Agent, and by a large number of the influential chiefs. The chiefs had agreed, beforehand, to interpose an unqualified negative to the proposal for their removal. On their assembling, Jumper acted as their mouthpiece, and declared their determination to remain in Florida. General Thompson responded with some warmth, which led to recriminations, and a scene of confusion ensued. General Clinch interposed, and urged their fulfillment of the treaty, telling them of his orders to use his troops to enforce it. Eight of the chiefs came forward and agreed to emigrate, and five refused to abide by it; these were Sam Jones, Jumper, Micanopy, Alligator, and Black Dirt. General Thompson at once struck the names of these five from the roll of chiefs, which created great ill feeling and was a most injudicious step, afterwards disapproved of by the Secretary of War and the President. At the solicitation of the eight chiefs, the time for preparation for removal was extended until the 1st of January following, when they promised that they would assemble at the points designated for their embarkation. The Indians seemed quieted, for a time at least but how far they acted in good faith in making this promise is more than questionable, and it seems quite probable that they sought nothing more than the delay necessary to secure their crops and ammunition and mature their plans. They continued to purchase ammunition and arms, until an order was issued by the Agent forbidding the sale of these articles to the Indians. This the Indians regarded as an act of hostility and an insult. Osceola was refused the privilege of purchasing powder, and in a burst of savage indignation exclaimed, "Am I a negro - a slave ? My skin is dark, but not black ! I am an Indian - a Seminole ! The white man shall not make me black ! I will make the white man red with blood, and then blacken him in the sun and rain, where the wolf shall smell of his bones and the buzzard live upon his flesh !" This daring and impetuous leader was frequently at the Agency, comporting himself with reserve and sullenness, and using violent and intemperate language, and, on one occasion, carried his disrespect to General Thompson to such an extent that it was deemed necessary to arrest him and confine him in irons several days, until he professed to be penitent: on the solicitation of other chiefs he was released. He then expressed an entire willingness to emigrate, and subsequently brought in seventy of his followers, who made the same pledge. In October, Major Llewellyn Williams and six of his neighbors discovered a party of Indians near the Cannapa-ha Pond, butchering a beef. As the Indians were a long distance outside of their boundaries, the white party disarmed them and flogged some of them, but one escaped, and two Indian hunters coming up fired on the party of Major Williams. A skirmish ensued, in which two of the Indians were killed, and three of the white men wounded, one mortally. About the same time, the express-rider from Tampa Bay to Fort King was murdered by the Indians. Charley Emathla had commenced his preparations for removal, and gathered his cattle for appraisement and sale. Osceola, at the head of a party of Miccosukies, met the old chief on the trail to his village, in the latter part of November, and shot him down. A friendly chief, with a large number of women and children, now sought protection at Tampa Bay. General Clinch asked for additional troops, and fourteen companies were directed to report to him from various military posts. The estimated number of Indians was three thousand, including women, children, and Negroes. and, in all, from four to five hundred fighting-men. The number of Indians was very greatly underestimated, as the government soon ascertained ; but upon their estimate the force placed under command of General Clinch seemed ample to compel submission. The ignorance of the government agents as to the real number of the Indians in Florida seems strange, considering the intercourse maintained through the Indian Agency and the traders. The error was a very fatal one, and the remissness of the War Department, in not sending troops in sufficient numbers as soon as the hostile intentions of the Indians were known, was very censurable. The authorities at Washington seem hardly to have comprehended the warlike character of the Seminoles, or their powers of resistance. It is not surprising that this supineness of the government should have emboldened the Indians, the majority of whom were too young to recall the campaign of Jackson in 1818. They had never seen more than a few companies of troops, and had learned to despise the supposed feebleness of the government of the United States, while the many councils and "talks" held with them, to persuade them into acquiescence, undoubtedly seemed to betoken conscious weakness. Osceola had dissembled his real feelings and intentions to such a degree as to deceive the agent and people into the belief of his sincerity; but, brooding over his arrest and imprisonment, he thirsted for revenge. Gathering a band of some twenty of his followers, he approached the Indian Agency, seeking an opportunity to glut his vengeance. For two or three days no opportunity presented itself; but, on the afternoon of the 28th of December, General Thompson walked out after dinner in company with Lieutenant Constantine Smith, enjoying a cigar. The day being pleasant, they extended their walk towards the military sutler's, some distance from the fort. Unsuspicious of danger, they were already covered by the watchful eyes and unerring rifles of Osceola and his companions. At a given signal, the whole number of Indians fired upon them. General Thompson and the lieutenant fell, pierced by many balls. The Indians rushed out with a yell, and scalped and mutilated their victims within sight of the fort. Proceeding to the sutler's store, they fired upon the party within, and, after scalping them and cutting in pieces their bodies, set fire to the building. The force in the fort consisted of only forty-six men, and it was supposed that the number of attacking Indians was much larger. It was consequently deemed imprudent to weaken the garrison by sending out any portion of the troops. Osceola and his band, however, contemplated nothing further than the destruction of the agent. General Thompson, and the sutler, Mr. Rogers, who had probably also incurred their enmity. The Indians left immediately after they had fired the sutler's store. Major Francis L. Dade, of the 4th Infantry, had been ordered from Key West to Fort Brooke, and on the 21st of December arrived at Tampa Bay, with Company A of his regiment, thirty-nine men, and a small supply of ammunition. To this force was joined Captain Gardiner's company, C, of 2d Artillery, and Frazer's company, B, 3d Artillery, fifty men each. This force was directed to proceed to Fort King to strengthen that post. The distance was about one hundred and thirty miles, and the route lay through an entirely unsettled country. No one connected with the expedition being acquainted with the country, Major Dade secured the services of a negro slave named Lewis, belonging to a sutler of the name of Antonio Pacheco. (1) This guide, it is said, informed the Indians of the date of departure and the intended route, with the view of affording them a favorable opportunity of making an attack. The point of rendezvous agreed upon by the Seminole leaders was the Big Wahoo Swamp. Osceola, however, had determined to first wreak his vengeance upon General Thompson, which he so successfully accomplished. The troops under Major Dade commenced their march on the 24th of December. The officers attached to the command were Major F. L. Dade, 4th Infantry, Captain S. Gardiner, Second Lieutenant W. E. Basinger, Second Lieutenant R. Henderson, 2d Artillery, Captain U. S. Frazer, Second Lieutenant R. R. Mudge, Second Lieutenant J. L. Reals, 3d Artillery, Assistant Surgeon J. S. Gatlin, and about one hundred men belonging to the 4th Infantry and 2d and 3d Artillery. One six-pounder field piece and one light wagon, with ten days provisions, accompanied them. On reaching the Hillsborough River they were delayed some time on account of the bridge having been burned by the Indians. On the 27th they reached the Withlacoochee, and camped. The next morning they continued their march through an open pine country, and in apparent security, utterly unapprehensive of danger. Their road was skirted, however, by the low palmetto, which afforded a covert for the Indians, who were stationed on the west side of the road, where it passed near a pond. The troops were marching along in open order, and extending a considerable distance. The Indians, posted near trees, and well concealed, were to await the signal of attack, to be given by Micanopy, when each should select his object. They were mostly within a distance of thirty or forty yards, and, of course, their fire could hardly fail to be destructive. Nearly half the command fell at the first fire, which, proceeding from an unseen foe, gave no opportunity of seeking shelter from, or returning it. The number of Indians engaged was, according to the report of Alligator, one hundred and eighty warriors, and, having secured the advantage of the loss inflicted by the first fire, they were enabled to reload. Those who escaped the first discharge took shelter behind trees, and Lieutenant Basinger poured in five or six rounds of canister upon the Indians, which checked them for some time. They retreated over a small ridge and disappeared. Captain Frazer was killed at the first fire; Lieutenant Mudge was mortally wounded, and Lieutenant Reals had both arms broken; they were bound up, and he reclined against some logs until he was killed late in the action. Lieutenant Henderson had his left arm broken, but continued to load and fire his piece until late in the second attack, when he too was killed. Captain Gardiner, Lieutenant Basinger, and Dr. Gatlin were the only officers who escaped unhurt by the first volley. On the retreat of the Indians, Captain Gardiner commenced the erection of the breastwork of pine-trees. In about three-quarters of an hour the Indians returned to the attack and commenced a cross-fire on the breastwork with deadly execution. Lieutenant Basinger continued to fire the six-pounder until all the men who served the piece were shot. Captain Gardiner at length fell. Dr. Gatlin, with two double-barreled guns, continued to fire on the Indians until he fell, late in the action; and Lieutenant Basinger was wounded. About two o'clock the last man fell, and the Indians then rushed into the breastwork, headed by a heavy painted savage, who, believing that all were dead, made a speech to the Indians. They then stripped off the accouterments of the soldiers and took their arms, without offering any indignity, and retired in a body. Soon after the Indians had left, about fifty Negroes galloped up on horseback and alighted, and at once commenced a horrible butchery. If any poor fellow on the ground showed signs of life, the Negroes stabbed and tomahawked him. Lieutenant Basinger, being still alive, started up and begged the wretches to spare his life; they mocked at his prayers, while they mangled him with their hatchets until he was relieved by death. After stripping the dead, the Negroes shot the oxen and burned the gun-carriages. Shortly after the Negroes retired, a soldier named Wilson, of Captain Gardiner's company, crawled out, and, discovering that Rawson Clark was still alive, asked him to go back to Tampa with him. As he jumped over the breastwork, an Indian shot him. Clark lay down, and at night, with De Coney, another wounded man, made the best of his way to Tampa. The next day, De Coney was killed by an Indian; Clark concealed himself in a scrub, and the following day reached Tampa. Another soldier, named Thomas, bribed an Indian and was allowed to escape. Captain Hitchcock, with a detachment of troops, passed over the ground on the 20th of February following, and thus describes the appearance of the battle-ground, which had not before been visited by the United States forces: "Our advanced guard had passed the ground without halting, when General Gaines and his staff came upon one of the most appalling scenes that can be imagined. We first saw some broken and scattered boxes, then a cart, the two oxen of which were lying dead, as if they had fallen asleep, their yokes still on them; a little to the right, one or two horses were seen. We then came to a small inclosure, made by felling trees in such a manner as to form a triangular breastwork for defense. Within the triangle, along the north and west faces of it, were about thirty bodies, mostly mere skeletons, but much of the clothing was left upon them. These were lying, almost every one of them, in precisely the same position they must have occupied during the fight, their heads next to the logs over which they had delivered their fire, and their bodies stretched, with striking regularity, parallel to each other. They had evidently been shot dead at their posts, and the Indians had not disturbed them, except by taking the scalps of most of them. Passing this little breastwork, we found other bodies along the road, and by the side of the road, generally behind the trees which had been resorted to for covers from the enemy's fire. ''Advancing about two hundred yards farther, we found a cluster of bodies in the middle of the road. These were evidently the advanced guard, in the rear of which was the body of Major Dade, and to the right that of Captain Frazer. "These were all, doubtless, shot down at the first fire of the Indians, except perhaps Captain Frazer, who must have fallen very early in the fight. Those in the road and by the trees fell during the first attack. It was during the cessation of the fire that the little band still remaining, about thirty in number, threw up the triangular breastwork, which, from the haste with which it was constructed, was necessarily defective, and could not protect the men in the second attack." (2) Osceola and his band arrived at the Wahoo Swamp that night, too late to participate in the fight, but in time to assist in the celebration of the victory. It was not until some time afterwards that General Clinch learned the fate of Dade's command. It is said, however, that on the next day after the Dade massacre it was known among the Negroes in St. Augustine that a terrible slaughter of white troops had taken place in the interior, the news, it is supposed, having been rapidly communicated by Indian runners through the country, and that the Indian Negroes sent word to their relatives in St. Augustine. The treacherous negro guide, Luis Pacheco, feigned to fall at the first fire, but joined the Indians at the earliest moment, and ever afterwards remained with and aided them, and was eventually sent to Arkansas, where his accomplishments seem to have been obscured. This massacre astounded the country. No such event had ever before occurred in the annals of Indian warfare. That two entire companies of trained and disciplined soldiers, fully armed and in perfect order and equipment, well and bravely officered, with a field-piece at their command, in an open field and under the bright sun of a Florida sky, should be totally cut off and annihilated by a not very numerous band of half-naked savages, was without a parallel. Alligator says that he counted the whole Indian force, amounting to one hundred and eighty. Captain Hitchcock estimated, from the appearance of the ground afterwards, that there must have been three hundred and fifty. The true number will never be known; but, even supposing the latter estimate correct, it seems at first sight extraordinary that such a number could accomplish the entire destruction of a body of disciplined troops. On the 1st of December, General Clinch heard of the murder of Charley Emathla, and at once called for volunteers, and by the 15th several companies from Nassau and Duval Counties joined General Call, with five hundred men from Middle Florida, at Newnansville. On their way to Fort Drane they encountered two small parties of Indians, and reached Fort Drane on the 24th of December, and formed a junction with General Clinch. As the volunteers were levied for only one month, the forces were put in motion for the Withlacoochee as soon as Colonel Fanning, with three companies of artillery from Fort King, could join them. These having arrived, the expedition reached the Withlacoochee on the 31st, and most of the troops had succeeded in crossing, when they were attacked by the Indians, who had anticipated their attempt to cross at the usual ford, and were prepared to dispute their passage at that point, where the advantages of position would have been greatly in their favor. The Indians had spent the night of the 28th in a drunken carousal, and were perhaps on that account less watchful than usual. General Clinch had only a canoe to cross with, and some of the volunteers swam their horses over, but the larger number, under General Call, were still on the other side of the river when the attack commenced. The force which had crossed consisted of one hundred and ninety five regulars and twenty seven volunteers, and that of the Indians of two hundred and fifty, inclusive of thirty Negroes, led by Osceola and Alligator. The Indians fought bravely, and the fortune of the day hung for some time in the balance; the Indians were protected by a heavy hammock and scrub, and poured a galling fire upon the troops, who charged twice up to the hammock and fell back, until at length General Clinch dismounted, addressed his men with much feeling, and ordered another charge, which resulted in the total rout of the enemy. The battle was fought within three miles of Osceola's town; and the Indians, fresh from their victory over Major Dade, fought with impetuosity and great perseverance. The Indian loss in the engagement, so far as known, was five killed and several wounded. The regulars under General Clinch lost four killed and twenty five wounded, and the volunteers had fifteen wounded. General Clinch had a ball through his cap and another through his sleeve. The time of the volunteers being about to expire. General Clinch returned with his command to Fort Drane unmolested. The volunteers returned home, and General Clinch was left with but one hundred and fifty men to hold the important positions of Fort King, Fort Drane, and Micanopy, and to guard the wagon-trains which were requisite to supply his troops with provisions. The settlements in the interior were at once broken up; and the inhabitants gathered in stockades or fled to the coast. Below St. Augustine, and in the neighborhood of New Smyrna, extensive sugar plantations had been opened. During the month of January, 1836, sixteen plantations, employing from one hundred to two hundred Negroes, were entirely destroyed, with all their buildings and improvements. The country was desolated in every direction, and many of the settlers, men, women, and children, were ruthlessly massacred. The Indians made it literally a war to the knife. On the 17th of January, Major Putnam went to Tomoka in command of two companies of militia; they camped at Dunlawton, and were attacked by a superior force of Indians, under King Philip, and compelled to retreat. Seventeen of the volunteers were wounded, two mortally, and a son of Hon. Elias B. Gould fell into the hands of the Indians and was killed by them. The public mind was thoroughly aroused, and volunteers came in rapidly from the adjoining States. General Clinch was authorized to call for and accept any amount of force he might require from South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. General Gaines was on duty at New Orleans at this time, with a considerable force of regular troops at his command. Upon receiving information of the massacre of Major Dade's command, and a report that Fort Brooke, on Tampa Bay, was invested by a force of Negroes and Indians, he deemed the emergency so grave that he ought, with the forces at his command, to proceed with all haste to the rescue, without awaiting the slow progress of official orders from Washington. He dispatched a messenger to General Clinch, informing him of his intention to leave at once for Fort Brooke with seven hundred men, and that he would be glad to co-operate with General Clinch for the prompt chastisement of the Indians. General Gaines embarked at New Orleans on the 3rd of February with a force of eleven hundred men, comprising six companies of the 4th Infantry, who were doubtless eager to avenge the loss of their comrades in Major Dade's command, and a regiment of Louisiana volunteers under command of General Persifer Smith. He reached Fort Brooke on the 10th, and on the 13th commenced a march across the country to Fort King. He had no means of transportation, and the men carried ten days rations on their backs. On the 20th they reached the scene of the Dade massacre, and on the 22nd of February arrived at Fort King, without having seen a hostile Indian, but not without having been watched and seen by them. At Fort King he found one company of artillery, with no surplus provisions beyond their own rations. General Clinch was at Fort Drane, equally unprovided, and General Gaines found himself far from any base of supplies, almost out of provisions. With great chagrin, the generous and gallant soldier and his comrades concluded that no other course was left to them but to return to Fort Brooke, and, to give a fuller exhibition of his force, he concluded to take a return route considerably to the west of the one by which he had come up, having been assured by his guides that a ford could be found lower down the Withlacoochee. On the 27th, he reached this river, and, while searching for the ford, the Indians opened fire from the opposite bank. The river was here some thirty yards wide, deep and rapid. While trying to ascertain the depth of the water, Lieutenant Izard was mortally wounded. The crossing in face of the enemy was found impracticable. Finding a considerable body of Indians in front of him. General Gaines sent an express to General Clinch, desiring him to bring what force and provisions he could spare, and co-operate with him in an attack upon them. This General Clinch was unable to do, as he had been superseded in the command of the forces in Florida by General Scott, and was without provisions. General Gaines proceeded to strengthen his position, while at the same time he prepared rafts for crossing the river. On the 29th, a vigorous attack was made upon the troops from all sides, which continued for two hours, during which one man was killed, and three officers and thirty of the men wounded. On the 30th, another express was sent to General Clinch, asking for provisions and a reinforcement. Upon the receipt of General Gaines's letter, inclosed to him by General Clinch, General Scott had written to the latter, expressing a considerable amount of pique against General Gaines, applying to him the term interloper, and saying, ''even if you had sufficient stores and means of transportation, I should command you to send no subsistence to him, unless to prevent starvation." There seems to have been a strong personal dislike existing between General Scott and General Gaines, which interfered with prompt relief being furnished to the latter. General Clinch, however, on receipt of this second message of General Gaines, and learning the condition of his command, gathered some cattle, and, taking stores from his own plantation, went, with one hundred men, to his relief. General Gaines was now closely besieged for several days; the rations were reduced to a pint of corn per day, and they began to consume their horses and dogs. General Clinch reached their camp on the 6th of March, and on the 9th General Gaines turned over the command of his troops to General Clinch, who returned with them to Fort Drane on the 10th. A talk had been held between Captain Hitchcock, of General Gaines's staff, and Osceola, Jumper, and Alligator, on the day of General Clinch's arrival, in which they had consented to make peace if they could be allowed to remain south of the Withlacoochee. General Scott had now assumed the command in Florida, and planned a campaign on paper, which he felt satisfied would close the war in a single season. His plan was to form three wings, which were to move simultaneously from Volusia, on the St. John's River, Fort Drane, near Orange Lake, about the centre of the peninsula, and Tampa Bay, and to thus inclose the whole Indian force supposed to be about the forks of the Withlacoochee. Unfortunately, this distinguished military commander was not familiar with the nature of the country, or with the character of the foe against whom he had to contend. It was a very great mistake, as is now generally admitted, to supersede General Clinch, who was better calculated than any one else, at that time, to operate against the Indians, and who had achieved the only decided success which had been obtained. General Scott's combinations were good only on paper; the delays and obstacles inseparable from movements in such a country met him at every step. Indians, who could slip through the lines in a single night, were not to be caught by a trilateral movement. The campaign was a failure, and operations closed by the 1st of June. This was unfortunate, as it left an impression, on the minds of the Indians, of the weakness of the government. The wings of General Scott's movement had marched and counter marched between Fort King and Tampa, but, with the exception of a few skirmishes, nothing was accomplished. During the summer of 1836, the regulars were ordered to summer quarters, and the volunteers returned home. General Clinch, disgusted with the treatment he had received at the hands of the War Department, resigned his commission and retired to his home at St. Mary's. About the middle of March, Major McLemore had been ordered to the Suwanee, to procure a quantity of corn and proceed with it to the Withlacoochee River, for the use of the troops. He executed the order, and erected a small block-house, about fifteen miles up the river, and left Captain Halliman with a small party to defend it until General Scott should send for it. Major McLemore died within a few days after making his camp, and his detachment at the block-house was lost sight of. On the 12th of April, the Indians attacked them in large numbers, but were spiritedly repulsed. On the 3d of May, Captain Halliman was shot, and on the 15th and 24th heavy assaults were made and the roof of the block-house was burned off. The garrison were twenty-eight days subsisting on corn alone, and were finally rescued by sending down three men in a boat, who reported their situation, and a force was sent to relieve them. The Indians pursued their predatory incursions, cutting off express-riders and butchering exposed families. In June they made an attack upon the post at Micanopy, some two hundred or more participating in the affair, but they were promptly met by Major Heileman, the gallant officer in command, and driven two miles. Major Heileman died shortly afterwards, from the effects of overexertion during the engagement. In August', a sharp skirmish occurred at Fort Drane, between a force of one hundred and ten men, commanded by Major Pierce, and three hundred Indians, under command of Arpeika. On the 1st of May, Judge Randall's plantation, east of Tallahassee, was attacked and Negroes stolen, and on the 8th hostile Indians appeared near St. Mark's. Fort King was abandoned about the last of May. The summer of 1836 was a very sickly season, and the troops suffered severely at all the posts. Fort Drane was especially unhealthy, and was ordered to be abandoned in July. A wagon-train, removing the stores from that point with a large escort, was attacked near Micanopy, and would probably have been captured but for the timely arrival of reinforcements. All the settlements east of the St. John's, lying south of the Picolata Road, had been destroyed, and all those south of Black Creek and Newnansville had been broken up. In July, the Indians appeared on the St. John's River, at New Switzerland, and attacked the places of Colonel Hallows, Dr. Simmons, and Mr. Colt, and destroyed the buildings. They afterwards appeared in considerable force at the Travers plantation, at the mouth of Black Creek, and a sharp skirmish ensued with a detachment under Lieutenant Herbert. About the last of August the post at Micanopy was broken up, and the whole country between Newnansville and Tampa abandoned to the Indians, ;who found abundant supplies on the deserted plantations. In September, the Johns family, seventeen miles west from Jacksonville, was attacked, Mr. Johns was killed, Mrs. Johns shot and scalped, and the house burned. A little later a large force of Indians approached Newnansville. Colonel Warren marched out to meet them upon the edge of San Felasco Hammock, with a force consisting of one hundred mounted volunteers, twenty-five citizens, and twenty-five United States regulars under Captain Tompkins, with a twenty-four-pound howitzer. After about two hours' fighting, the Indians retreated. The command of the army in Florida now devolved upon General R. K. Call, of Florida. General Armstrong, with a command of twelve hundred Tennesseeans who had been operating in the Creek country, was ordered to report to General Call for duty in Florida. With these troops, one hundred and forty Florida militia, and one hundred and sixty regulars under Major Pierce, General Call began an offensive movement on the Withlacoochee in October, but, being prevented by high water from crossing, he fell back upon Fort Drane for supplies. In November, General Call, reinforced by some regular troops and a regiment of Creek volunteers, advanced again to the Withlacoochee, and crossed and attacked an Indian encampment, which was broken up and the Indians routed. On the 18th, five hundred Tennesseeans attacked a considerable body of the enemy, posted strongly in a hammock. After two hours' hard fighting, the Indians fled, leaving twenty-five dead on the field. On the 20th, Lieutenant-Colonel Pierce, with a detachment of regulars, joined General Call. The enemy being reported in large numbers in Wahoo Swamp, an attack was made in that quarter, and an engagement ensued, lasting several hours. The Indians being protected by a creek and deep miry swamp, it was found impracticable to dislodge them, and the forces of General Call retired again to Fort Drane for supplies. This affair ended military operations for the year 1836. The result of the year's campaign was well calculated to encourage the Indians. They had driven not only the citizens but the troops nearly out of the peninsula, and at its close held their ground in all quarters. They had clearly the advantage thus far. In October, General Jesup reached Tampa, and in the latter part of November joined General Call at Volusia, with four hundred men, and, under instructions of the War Department, relieved that officer of the command of the army in Florida.
(1) Giddings's Exiles of Florida, p. 101. Mr. Giddings makes a very pretty romance out of this negro Lewis, Avho must have been, by his account, an Admirable Crichton. " He had been well bred, was polite, accomplished, and learned. he read, wrote, and spoke with facility the Spanish, French, and English languages, and spoke the Indian." This accomplished negro, it is said, had formerly belonged to Genera Clinch. He was the subject of the celebrated Pacheco Claim in 1848. (2) For Alligator's account of the massacre, see Sprague's History of the Florida War, p. 90.
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