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Florida War, continued - 1836-1837. General Thomas S. Jesup, upon his assignment to the prosecution of the war in Florida, had the experience of his predecessors, Generals Scott and Call, to warn him against the perils of insufficient preparation and temporary and spasmodic movements. Eight thousand troops were placed at his disposal, and he prepared for a vigorous campaign during the winter months, when active movements could best be carried on. The official reports of all the movements of troops during the previous year had based the want of successful pursuit upon the want of supplies. General Jesup moved forward with rapidity with mounted troops, both officers and men carrying their rations in their haversacks, the commanding general himself often carrying his own haversack. The stronghold of the Indians was in the neighborhood of the Withlacoochee, which they had successfully defended against every effort to dislodge them. Colonel Foster was directed to move up from Tampa and approach the west side of the Withlacoochee, and to scour the hammocks and swamps, General Jesup himself entering the country lying between the forks of the river and the heart of the Wahoo Swamp. The Indians saw in these movements the indications of a new system of warfare, and that their fastnesses on the Withlacoochee were no longer tenable. The troops thoroughly explored the region, and found the habitations of the Indians but recently deserted; one solitary native was discovered and taken prisoner. A careful examination indicated that the Indians had removed to the southeast. The term of service of the Tennessee troops, under General Armstrong, being about to expire, they were embarked for New Orleans. A strong post was established on the Withlacoochee, called Fort Dade, as a depot and post of observation in the region which had heretofore been the centre of the Indian settlements. Having ascertained that the Indians had moved in the direction of the Everglades, General Jesup organized several detachments to make a vigorous pursuit. On the 23rd of January, Colonel Canfield, with a detachment of Alabama and other troops, attacked Osarchee near Ahapopka Lake. The Indian chief and his son were killed, and several prisoners taken, but the main body escaped. Numerous herds of cattle were found on the Thlo-thlo-pop-ka-hatchee Creek, and the Indians were discovered on the Hatchee-Lustee Creek, were attacked by the troops, and dispersed; their baggage and a number of their women and children were captured. The same evening another camp of Indians was dispersed. The troops then moved forward and took a strong position on Topelika Lake, and several hundred head of cattle were taken on the borders of that lake. An Indian prisoner was sent out to invite Abraham, the Interpreter, to come into the camp. Abraham shortly afterwards made his appearance, and after an interview with General Jesup, returned to the nation to induce the chiefs to enter into negotiations. On the 3d of February, Abraham returned, with Jumper, Alligator, and Hapatophe. The result of the conference was that the Indians expressed their desire to treat for peace, and agreed to meet General Jesup at Fort Dade, with the other chiefs, on the 6th of March, and that in the mean time all hostilities should cease. With this understanding, General Jesup withdrew from further pursuit, and returned to Fort Dade. A military post had been established at Fort Mellon, on the west side of Lake Monroe, in December, 1836, by Colonel Fanning. The post was occupied by two companies of artillery, a battalion of South Carolina volunteers, four companies of dragoons, under Colonel Harney, and a detachment of Creeks. The Indian spies had shortly before reported that there was but a small force at the fort, and King Philip and his son Coacoochee assembled about four hundred Seminoles and made an attack at daylight on the 8th of February, 1837. The Indians fought with great steadiness, against a superior force, for nearly three hours, and then retired. Fortunately, the post had received considerable reinforcements a day or two before the attack, the arrival of whom was unknown to the Indians. Captain Mellon, a veteran officer of the 2nd Artillery, was killed; Lieutenant McLaughlin, and fourteen others, severely wounded. The Indian loss was said to be about twenty-five. The Indians had encountered a succession of defeats, and were being driven from their fields and homes by a superior force. The season for planting was passing away, and they had no assurance of being able to obtain provisions in any quarter during the coming season. From conviction of its necessity on the part of some, and from policy on the part of others, it was agreed that the chiefs should comply with their agreement to meet General Jesup. On the 6th of March, the Indians assembled in large numbers, with their chiefs, at Fort Dade, and entered into articles of capitulation. They agreed that they would cease hostilities, and withdraw south of the Hillsborough River, and stipulated that they would at once prepare to emigrate to the West, in the mean time leaving hostages in the hands of the government. General Jesup agreed, on behalf of the United States, that the Seminoles and their allies who come in to emigrate to the West shall be secure in their lives and property, that their Negroes, their bona fide property, should accompany them to the West, and that their cattle and ponies should be paid for by the United States. The capitulation was signed by Jumper, Holatoochee, Hoeth Lee Mathlee, Taholoochee, and Cawaya. A location about ten miles from Tampa was agreed upon as the place of rendezvous of the Indians, preparatory to embarkation. By the middle of May a considerable number of the Indians had arrived at the rendezvous, and some twenty five transports were in readiness to take them to Arkansas. They asked for more time, that others belonging to their families might come in and accompany them. In the mean time, Osceola, Philip, Coacoochee, and Coe- Hajo, with a large number of Seminoles, gathered in the neighborhood of Fort Mellon, and drew rations from the government, preparing, as they said, to emigrate. In consequence of the prevalence of sickness at Fort Mellon, that post was abandoned, and subsequently Volusia was evacuated from the same cause. The war was considered at an end. Arrangements were made for withdrawing the troops to healthier localities. The settlers prepared to reoccupy their abandoned homes, and others were ready to move into the country. On the 2nd of June, Osceola, at the head of two hundred Miccosukies, came to the camp of the Indians, near Tampa, and either forced or persuaded the whole number, upwards of seven hundred, to leave the camp and seek their fastnesses down towards the Everglades. All the hostages took flight with the rest, and Abraham, the Interpreter, was the only one who remained. Various reasons for their flight were given. One was, that a report was spread among the Indians that when they were all embarked their throats were to be cut. Another, given by Osceola, was their fear of the smallpox, the measles having broken out among the soldiers at the fort. At the time the troops left Fort Mellon, Colonel Harney said to Coacoochee that unless the Indians complied with the treaty the United States would exterminate them. The young chief replied that the Great Spirit might exterminate them, but the pale-faces could not, else why had they not done it before? It is supposed by some, and probably by very many, that this treaty of capitulation, entered into by the Indians with General Jesup, was, from the outset, a mere ruse and device to gain time to plant their fields, and to delay operations against them until the warm season should, as in the previous year, force the troops to suspend their movements. This is, however, a supposition drawn from the event rather than from any evidence of prior intentions. The Indians, to the number of seven hundred, did come in, and could at any moment have been placed on the transports. Many of them, including Micanopy, their head chief, were thoroughly satisfied that they could not with stand the power of the government of the United States. The younger chiefs, at the head of whom was Osceola, undoubtedly were treacherous, and anxious to defeat the emigration project, and their leader was reckless enough to be willing to abide the consequences, and he had influence enough to give currency and effect to the two absurd stories which have been mentioned. There was another influence at work which did much, undoubtedly, to induce the breaking of the stipulations of the Indians for removal. Many Negroes had taken refuge with the Indians, and were now liable to be returned to their owners if the emigration should take place. They had, therefore, every motive to induce them to use their influence with the Indians to prevent the carrying out of the capitulation agreed upon. General Jesup, on the 5th of April, 1837, issued his order No. 79, in which he says: "The commanding general has reason to believe that the interference of unprincipled white men with the negro property of the Seminole Indians, if not immediately checked, will prevent their emigration and lead to a renewal of the war. Responsible as he is for the peace and security of the country, he will not permit such interference under any pretense whatever; and he therefore orders that no white man, not in the service of the United States, be allowed to enter any part of the Territory between the St. John's River and the Gulf of Mexico, south of Fort Drane." Many persons were desirous of identifying and reclaiming their slaves, and this order, which seemed to have both the purpose and effect of depriving them of the power of obtaining their property, was looked upon as arbitrary and oppressive. When it was known that the Indians had fled from their camp at Tampa, great consternation prevailed through the country, and the planters, taught by former experience of their insecurity, abandoned their crops and sought refuge near the military posts. In June, the Indians killed Captain Walton, the keeper of the light-ship on Carysfort Reef, and one of his men. About the same time, Captain Gilliland was murdered near Ichatuckny Spring. General Jesup now determined to prosecute the campaign with effect as soon as the season would permit the resumption of active operations. Volunteers were called for from Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Tennessee, Alabama, and Kentucky. On the 24th of October he issued a general order, in which he recites the success attending his previous operations in the field. He truly says, "When the army took the field in December, the enemy's strongholds were on Orange Lake, Ocklawaha, Withlacoochee, Aunutiliga Hammock; they are now south of Lake Monroe and Tampa Bay. The permanent results of the campaign are thirty Indians and Negroes killed, and upwards of five hundred prisoners taken." On the 4th of September, 1837, several Negroes surrendered near Fort Peyton. In consequence of information obtained from them. General Hernandez, with the forces under his command, proceeded south, and captured two camps of Indians and Negroes; among the Indians were several chiefs, one of the most important of whom was King Philip, called Emathla. Philip desired to send a message to his family, and an Indian having been sent returned with Coacoochee, known better as Wild Cat, a son of Philip, who offered to bring in many others. On the 17th of October, Wild Cat returned, and said that about one hundred Indians and as many Negroes were on their way in. General Hernandez met them at Pellicier Creek, and directed them to encamp at Fort Peyton. On the 20th, Osceola and Coe-Hajo sent word they had camped near the fort, and desired to see General Hernandez. Upon the ground that these chiefs and Indians had all capitulated at Fort Dade in March previous, and that Osceola had brought in his family to Fort Mellon and received rations for his band, General Jesup directed General Hernandez to make prisoners of them and bring them to St. Augustine. Osceola afterwards sought an interview with General Jesup, and told him that Micanopy and Jumper, with the greater part of the Seminoles, were ready to execute the treaty, and asked that messengers might be sent to them and to their own people. On the 1st of December, 1837, General Jesup had under his command about nine thousand men, of whom one-half were regulars. (1) The principal Indian force was on the Upper St. John's, except some roving bands through the peninsula. The troops under General Jesup were assigned to duty as follows: Colonel P. F. Smith, on the Calosahatchee, and to operate as far south as Cape Sable; General Taylor was directed to proceed from Tampa Bay eastwardly, and establish posts at the head of Pease Creek and on Lake Kissimee, and to the St. John's River and Lake Okechobee. General Taylor moved out from Tampa on the 14th of December with a force of about eleven hundred, and proceeded to the neighborhood of Lake Okechobee, where he found a large Indian force, occupying a dense hammock, and protected by a miry saw-grass pond in front of them. With great gallantry, and under great disadvantages of position, the troops charged the enemy, and, after a hard-fought battle, routed them, but at a heavy loss. Lieutenant-Colonel Thompson, Captain J. Van Swearingen, Lieutenant Francis Brooke, and Second-Lieutenant J. P. Center, of the 6th Infantry, also Colonel Gentry, of the Missouri Volunteers, and twenty-two privates were killed. Nine officers and one hundred and two men were wounded. The Indians were commanded by Alligator, Arpeika, Coacoochee, and Halleck-Tustenuggee, and numbered about four hundred. Eleven Indians and one negro were killed, and nine wounded. The troops fell back after the battle to Tampa. General Hernandez moved down with his force to Indian River and the head of the St. John's. The result of his operations was two Indians killed, and two hundred and ninety-seven Indians and Negroes taken prisoners. Brigadier-General Nelson operated along the coast of the Gulf, along the Suwanee River, and in Middle Florida. In the course of his operations he killed six Indians, and took fourteen prisoners. Colonel Snodgrass was assigned to the occupation of the country south of Black Creek and west of the St. John's, between that river and the Ocklawaha. He destroyed several Indian villages, and expelled the Indians from that region. Other officers were constantly moving with detachments, and scouring the country in all directions. A Cherokee deputation, headed by John Ross, was sent into Florida to persuade the Seminoles to surrender. Their mission according to General Jesup, was not only useless, but injurious, by the loss of valuable time and the suspension of active operations in the field. Coe-Hajo was sent out as a guide to the Cherokees, and returned with many of his people, accompanied by the Cherokees and the Seminole chiefs Micanopy, Cloud, Toskegee, and Nocase Yoholo, with fifteen or twenty of their followers. A council was held; the chiefs agreed to fulfill their treaty, and sent messengers to collect their people and bring them to camp. The Indians failed to come in, the few who had accompanied the chiefs silently withdrew, and the Indians again scattered. The failure to complete these negotiations was attributed to the escape of Wild Cat from the fort at St. Augustine, with seventeen of his followers. This chief, with a considerable number of other Indians, had been confined within the old Spanish fort for security. They occupied a room on the west side of the fort, immediately adjoining the southwest bastion. A narrow embrasure gave light and air to the room. The embrasure was some twenty-five feet above the ditch or moat, which was dry at all times. Coacoochee conceived the idea of squeezing through this narrow aperture and descending into the moat, where he would find himself at once at liberty. The task was easily enough accomplished, and with very little risk. Once at liberty, he hastened to rejoin the Indians in the southern part of the peninsula, and, exasperated by the treatment he had received, used every influence to prevent the submission of the Seminoles. The active operations of the large body of troops had harassed the Indians greatly, and the difficulty of providing places of security for their women and children, and of transporting provisions for their sustenance in the winter season, had greatly discouraged them. By establishing depots of supplies on the Upper St. John's and at strong posts between Tampa and Lake Monroe, General Eustis was enabled to penetrate the region lying on the northern margin of the Everglades, and many Indian settlements were broken up. General Taylor in the course of his operations captured and secured four hundred and eighty-four Indians and Negroes. The battle of Okechobee was a hard-fought engagement, and reflected great credit upon the bravery of the troops, who marched through a deep morass against a foe concealed and protected from their fire; but it was a victory gained at a heavy cost, and the result, it would seem, might have been attained in an easier way. The comparatively slight loss inflicted on the Indians, and their ready escape, would naturally impress them with a consciousness of their great advantages in this kind of warfare. Okechobee was the last general fight in which the Indians engaged. They ever afterwards avoided all engagements, and trusted to the climate, the swamps and morasses, and the almost invincible natural obstacles of their country, to fight their battles for them. During the summer, General Eustis and other officers urged upon General Jesup the propriety of closing the war, by allowing the Indians to remain within a small territory in the southern part of the peninsula. Colonel Twiggs afterwards, with other superior officers, called upon General Eustis, and urged upon him the same views. Anxious as they all were to get out of a region in which they experienced the most extreme hardships, without the compensation of even military glory or the excitement of success, it was very natural that they should see no objection to a peace on such terms as would relieve that part of the country which was habitable and desirable from this inconsiderable Indian tribe, and confine them to an almost insular location, where their presence would injure no one, leaving it to the government to decide, at some future period, when the necessity existed for their removal. As they diminished in numbers, and retreated farther to the south, the more difficult became their pursuit. In February, 1838, impressed with these views, General Jesup, at that time encamped near Jupiter Inlet, sent ''a messenger to the Indians, to offer them peace," but determined, he says, " on no account to grant them the privilege of remaining in the country, unless the measure should be sanctioned by the general government." (2) Halleck-Hajo and Toskegee came in and had a conference with General Jesup, and, after discussion, it was agreed that the Indians should come into camp near Fort Jupiter within ten days, and await the decision of the President whether they should remain in the country. (3) A considerable number of Indians and Negroes came in under this arrangement. General Jesup communicated to the War Department the propositions which had been made, and urged that the requisite permission should be given. Secretary Poinsett replied, under date of March, 1838, saying that, however desirable such an arrangement might be, it could not be sanctioned, as it was the duty of the President to carry out the provisions of the treaty. (4) This communication reached General Jesup about the 20th of March, and, as he was satisfied that if the decision of the War Department was known to the Indians they would at once retire to the swamps, he called a council to be held on the 22nd March, and, in the mean time, directed Colonel Twiggs to secure the Indians. Colonel Twiggs promptly executed the order, securing five hundred and thirteen Indians and one hundred and sixty-five Negroes. Passac- Micco and fourteen others escaped capture. The Indians and Negroes secured at Jupiter were at once transferred, under a strong guard, to Tampa Bay. Those who had been previously secured at Fort Peyton, with Osceola (Powell), had been transferred to Fort Moultrie, in Charleston harbor. It seems proper here to take some special notice of this distinguished leader of the Seminoles, whose name and reputation stand perhaps higher in public estimation than those of any other of his race. His true Indian name was As-se- se-ha-ho-lar, or Black Drink, but he was commonly called Osceola, or Powell. He belonged to a Creek tribe called Red Sticks, and was a half-breed. He removed to Florida with his mother when a child, and lived near Fort King. At the beginning of the Florida war he was about thirty one years of age, of medium size, being about five feet eight inches in height, resolute and manly in his bearing, with a clear, frank, and engaging countenance. He was undoubtedly the master-spirit of the war, and by his firmness and audacity forced the nation into the war which a large majority were averse to engaging in, and either broke up every attempt at negotiations or prevented their fulfillment. He was to have been one of the leaders at Dade's massacre, but was detained at Fort King by his determination to gratify his revenge upon General Thompson. He participated in the battles at the ford of the Withlacoochee and Camp Izard, and led the attack upon Micanopy, where, with his force of less than two hundred and fifty men, within sight of the fort, he attacked upwards of one hundred regular troops in an open field, supported by a field- piece. His capture by General Hernandez was due to his audacity and self-confidence. Bad faith, and a disregard of the usages of civilization, have been imputed to General Jesup on this occasion, Osceola having come in under a white flag to negotiate ; but that officer contended that Osceola had broken his faith in reference to the Fort Dade capitulation, and was to be treated as an escaped prisoner. From all that can be gathered of his character, Osceola was possessed of nobler traits than usually belong to his race. His manners were dignified and courteous, and upon the field he showed himself a brave and cautious leader. It is said that he instructed his people in their predatory excursions to spare the women and children. "It is not," said he, "upon them that we make war and draw the scalping-knife. It is upon men. Let us act like men." Osceola has furnished to the poet, to the novelist, and to the lover of romance most attractive subject, and scarce any limit has been placed to the virtues attributed or the exploits imagined in connection with this renowned chief of the Seminoles. A poet has sung of him, " His features are clothed with a warrior's
pride, Upon his removal to Charleston he became dejected and low-spirited, and gradually pined away. All efforts to interest him in a Western home failed to arouse him, and in a few weeks he died of a broken heart, and was buried just outside of the principal gateway of Fort Moultrie, where his resting-place is inclosed and a monument erected. (5) Major Lauderdale, with a company of the 3d Artillery and two hundred Tennessee volunteers, explored the country south, and established a post at New River. Lieutenant-Colonel Bankhead, with an additional force, joined Major Lauderdale, entered the Everglades, and captured Pahase- Micco, a sub-chief of Micco, with a band of forty-seven persons, and went in pursuit of Arpeika and his followers. After wading through the mud and water for many miles, they found the Indians upon an island, but were unable to prevent their escape. Afterwards, Colonel Harney came up with Arpeika below Key Biscayne, and attacked him, but was unable to pursue him. General Jesup crossed from Fort Jupiter to Tampa Bay in April, 1837, to attack the Miccosukies and Tallahassees, near the mouth of the Withlacoochee, when the troops were ordered to the Cherokee country and General Jesup was relieved from the command. This officer is entitled to great credit for the energy and perseverance with which he performed his duties. After he assumed command, there was no longer the complaint of a want of supplies, or the report of falling back in consequence of being short of rations. Within the year and a half during which he held command, the number of Indians and Negroes altogether who surrendered or were taken amounted to nineteen hundred and seventy-eight, twenty- three of whom escaped. The number of Indians and Negroes taken and killed by the different detachments of the army were equal' to four hundred, making the whole number twenty-four hundred, of whom seven hundred were warriors, - considerably exceeding the entire estimated number of Indians in the country at the beginning of the war. General Jesup also reported, what he believed to be true, but was only so in part, that the villages of the Indians had all been destroyed, and their cattle, horses, and other stock captured or destroyed, and that the small bands who remained dispersed over the Territory had nothing left but their rifles.* The Indians who had been captured or had surrendered were now placed on transports, under charge of Lieutenant J. F. Reynolds, and removed west of Arkansas. Twelve hundred and twenty-nine constituted the first party, which emigrated in May, 1837. In June, another party of three hundred and thirty was sent to the same destination. Captain Stephenson was appointed their agent West. On the 15th of May, 1837, General Jesup retired from the command in Florida, which then devolved upon General Zachary Taylor.
(1) General Jesup's General Report, July 6, 1838. (2) General Jesup's Report of July 6, 1838. (3) General Jesup' s Report of July 6, 1838. (4) Sprague, p. 201. (5) Osceola's remains are no longer at this site the monument is still there.
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