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Florida War, continued, under General Taylor - Removal of Apalachee Indians - 1838- 1842. The first important action of General Taylor after assuming command was the removal of some two hundred and twenty Apalachee Indians from West Florida, in October, 1838. The winter campaign of 1838-39 was arranged by General Taylor by districting the country under separate, commanders. Lieutenant-Colonel Green was left in Middle Florida; Colonel Twiggs, with about two regiments, was stationed between the Santa Fe River and the coast, and directed to occupy both sides of the St. John's River to Lake Monroe; Colonel Davenport, with six companies, was placed to look after the enemy between the Suwanee and Withlacoochee Rivers and along the Gulf coast; Major Loomis was to operate from Okechobee, south, in concert with General Floyd, commanding a force of mounted Georgians; and Colonel Cummings, with four companies of 3rd Artillery, was to establish posts, twenty miles apart, between Tampa and Fort Mellon. The winter of 1838-39 was spent by the troops in active service in the endeavor to hunt out from their hiding places the small Indian bands scattered through the country, but with little success, as the Indians, by their better knowledge of the country, were enabled to avoid their pursuers. Occasionally their settlements were reached and broken up, but few of the Indians were seen. During the operations of this campaign, one hundred and ninety-six Indians and Negroes surrendered or were captured, and sent West. The policy of the Indians was now, says General Taylor, to avoid giving battle to regular troops, even in single companies, while, at the same time, every opportunity was seized to wreak their vengeance on the unarmed inhabitants of the country. Moving by night, rapidly, in small squads, they were able to appear unexpectedly in remote parts of the country, their presence indicated only by their rifles and shrill yells as they approached at daylight the home of some unsuspecting settler. Murders were committed by the Indians within a few miles of Tallahassee and St. Augustine. Discouraged at the failure of his efforts either to find the Indians or bring them to a stand, General Taylor adopted the plan of dividing the whole country into squares, and placing a block-house, with a small detachment, in each, a part of the number to be mounted. The officer commanding was to scout his district every alternate day, thoroughly examining the swamps and hammocks to see that they were clear of Indians. The merits of this plan were not tested, as it was never fully carried out. While the posts were being established, it was the misfortune of Florida to have Major-General Macomb sent out by the President "to make an arrangement with the Seminoles." General Macomb arrived at Fort King on the 20th of May, 1839, and runners were sent out to invite the Indian chiefs in to hold a grand council. Halleck-Tustenuggee and Tiger-Tail were present, and Sam Jones sent Chitto-Tustenuggee as his representative. Halleck-Tustenuggee was the mouth-piece of the Indians, and said they were willing to enter into terms if they were not required to go to Arkansas. An arrangement was entered into by General Macomb with the Indians, assigning them temporarily to a portion of the country below Pease Creek and Lake Okechobee; that they should have sixty days to remove within said limits, where they were to remain until further arrangements were made; and they were forbidden to pass out of such limits, and all other persons were forbidden to go within their boundary. General Macomb reported to the Secretary of War that the Indians at the council, when he explained to them who he was, and dictated terms of peace, which they readily accepted, manifested great joy, ''and they have since been dancing and singing, according to their fashion, in token of friendship and peace, in which many of our officers joined them, being satisfied of the sincerity of the respective parties." (1) General Macomb, on the 18th of May, issued his general orders, announcing that; ''The major-general commanding in chief has the satisfaction of announcing to the army in Florida, to the authorities of the Territory, and to the citizens generally, that he has this day terminated the war with the Seminole Indians by an agreement entered into with Chitto-Tuste- nuggee, etc." The termination of the war being thus so authoritatively announced, and the terms being so favorable to the Indians, conceding, as they did to them, the privilege of remaining in Florida, and being virtually a capitulation and surrender on the part of the United States of the point at issue, the question of emigration to the West, the citizens were led to believe that the war had indeed been closed. Many prepared to return to their devastated fields, hoping to make at least a partial crop. All were glad to be relieved of the terror and apprehension of the last three years, and to escape from the restraint of their "forted" villages. The month of June was quiet and undisturbed, and public confidence increased. General Macomb returned to Washington, and General Taylor resumed command. The season for active operations by the troops had passed, when, early in July, the Indians began hostilities in all parts of the country. Plantations were attacked, and the settlers forced to leave everything behind them. Express and post-riders and travelers were shot down on the roads, and a feeling of general insecurity revived. Colonel Harney had gone down to Charlotte Harbor to establish a trading-post for the Indians after they should have retired beyond Pease Creek. His detachment consisted of twenty-five men of the 2nd Dragoons, with the store-keeper, Mr. Dalham, and Mr. Morgan, his clerk. They were encamped in the open pine barren near the Calosahatchee, about twenty miles from the mouth. At daybreak on the 22nd of July they were attacked by some two hundred and fifty Indians, led by Chechika and Billy Bowlegs. Many were killed at the encampment; others ran to the river, and were shot in the water. Colonel Harney escaped in his shirt and drawers only, and swam to a fishing- smack lying down the river. Out of thirty men, eighteen were killed. The two negro interpreters, Sandy and Samson, were taken prisoners. Sandy was killed next day, and Samson kept prisoner for two years. The Indians had, up to the time of the attack, professed to be very friendly, coming into camp every day, and talking with the men, professing to be entirely satisfied with the treaty. Upon receipt of the intelligence of this attack, Lieutenant Hanson seized forty-six Seminoles, who had come in for provisions, and shipped them to Charleston. This fiasco of a treaty made by General Macomb was due to the action of Congress, which had passed a resolution to that effect, and made an appropriation for that purpose. It was an unfortunate interference, and protracted the war, while it fruitlessly placed the government in a humiliating position. The prosecution of the war became now extremely discouraging, and the end seemed further off than three years before. The Indians had become familiarized with the exhibition of military power, and had learned to condemn it. They found themselves at the close of four years still in possession of the country, and powerful for annoyance and to inflict revenge, and their ferocity seemed to increase with its exercise. Governor Reid, in his message to the Legislature of Florida, in 1839, said; " The efforts of the general and territorial governments to quell the Indian disturbances which have prevailed through four years, have been unavailing. The close of the fifth year will find us struggling in a contest remarkable for magnanimity, forbearance, and credulity on the one side, and ferocity and bad faith on the other. We are waging a war with beasts of prey; the tactics that belong to civilized nations are but shackles and fetters in its prosecution; we must fight 'fire with fire'; the white man must, in a great measure, adopt the mode of warfare pursued by the red man, and we can only hope for success by continually harassing and pursuing the enemy. If we drive him from hammock to hammock, from swamp to swamp, and penetrate the recesses where his women and children are hidden; if, in self-defense, we show as little mercy to him as he has shown to us, the anxiety and surprise produced by such operations will not, it is believed, fail to produce prosperous results. ''It is high time that sickly sentimentality should cease. 'Lo, the poor Indian!' is the exclamation of the fanatic pseudo-philanthropist. ' Lo, the poor white man !' is the ejaculation which all will utter who have witnessed the inhuman butchery of women and children, and the massacres that have drenched the Territory in blood." The citizens and troops had now become so exasperated against the Indians for their repeated massacres of the feeble and the unprotected that a feeling had grown up that they were deserving of extermination, and that any and every means should be used to hunt and capture or destroy them. The great difficulty in so wide an extent of country, abounding in thick hammocks, palmetto and scrubby lands, swamps, islands, and morasses, was to pursue them successfully. In July, 1838, General Taylor forwarded to the War Department a communication he had received on the subject of procuring bloodhounds from Cuba, to ad the army in its operations against the Indians in Florida. General Taylor says, ''I am decidedly in favor of the measure, and beg leave to urge it as the only means of ridding the country of the Indians, who are now broken up into small parties, that take shelter in swamps and hammocks as the army approaches, making it impossible for us to follow or overtake them without the aid of such auxiliaries. " I wish it distinctly understood that my object in employing dogs is only to ascertain where the Indians can be found, not to worry them." An agent was sent to Cuba to procure bloodhounds, in December, 1839, and brought thirty-three, with five Spaniards to manage them, at a cost of about one hundred and fifty dollars for each hound. They did not answer the purpose, and they were soon discarded; but in the mean time the subject had been taken up in Congress, and a resolution of inquiry passed requiring a report from the Secretary of War, and the employment of these bloodhounds was used as political capital against Mr. Van Buren when a candidate for re-election as President. There was a body of Spanish Indians inhabiting the lower part of the peninsula, who had not heretofore taken any part in the contest, but, finding the Seminoles driven down into their region, and probably urged by the savages, who seemed now to have acquired an insatiate thirst for blood, they attacked various settlements upon the islands along the coast, murdered wrecked seamen, and waged war against the fishermen who had frequented the coast for years. One of the most notable of these attacks was made, at Indian Key, upon the family of Dr. Perrine, a botanist of distinction, who was devoting himself to the cultivation of tropical plants. A large party of Indians attacked the settlement on the 6th of August, 1840, and plundered and then burned the houses. Mrs. Perrine and her children were saved by concealing themselves under a wharf. The doctor was massacred in the upper part of the house. The family got possession of a boat which the Indians were loading with plunder, and pushed off to a vessel in the harbor. Several others escaped to the same vessel. (2) General Taylor, having now been in command for two years, asked to be relieved from the arduous position he had so faithfully filled. On the 6th of May, 1840, Brevet Brigadier-General W. R. Armistead, 3rd Artillery, was assigned to the command. Fruitless expeditions marched out and returned, and failed to find the enemy. The work of surprise and massacre still went on by invisible bands, who struck the blow and disappeared. The country was discouraged, the troops were disheartened, and the Indians remained unmolested. Instructions had been given to endeavor to procure amicable relations. An interview was obtained at one time with Halleck-Tustenuggee, through a Seminole delegation which had been brought from the West, but which accomplished nothing towards bringing matters into a more satisfactory state. Occasionally the Indians came in, professed friendship, said they were tired of the war, received subsistence, and then suddenly disappeared, having obtained all they came for. On the 28th of December, 1840, Lieutenant Sherwood started from the military post at Micanopy, in company with Lieutenant N. Hopson, a sergeant, and ten privates of the 7th Infantry, to escort Mrs. Montgomery, the wife of Major Montgomery, to the military post at Wacahootee, ten miles distant. About four miles from Micanopy they were' suddenly fired on by a large party of Indians, concealed in a hammock which skirted the road. Two privates were killed at the first fire. Lieutenant Sherwood determined to stand his ground, and requested Mrs. Montgomery to dismount and get into the wagon, where she would be less exposed. As she was dismounting, she was shot through the breast. Lieutenant Hopson returned to Micanopy for reinforcements. Lieutenant Sherwood and his men continued a gallant hand-to-hand fight, until they were overpowered by the greatly superior force of the Indians. The latter were led by Halleck-Tustenuggee and Cosa-Tustenuggee, and consisted of thirty warriors. Cosa-Tustenuggee, fearing the consequences of this barbarous act, prepared to come in and surrender, when he encountered a detachment of dragoons, by whom his whole band, consisting of thirty-two warriors and sixty women and children, were brought in, and the party shortly after sent to Arkansas. (3) This tragic event roused anew the indignation of the whole country at the manner in which this miserable war was being carried on, and there sprung up a universal demand to have it brought to a close and the Indians driven out. The War Department rescinded the instructions to the commander to urge the Indians to an amicable surrender, and directed him to prosecute the war. Congress, on the 1st of January, made an appropriation of one hundred thousand dollars for the benefit of such of the Indians as might be willing to surrender, and, on the 3rd of March, appropriated upwards of one million of dollars for suppressing Indian hostilities in Florida. The Indians were now occupying all parts of the Territory; some on the Ocklockonee, some near the Okefinokee Swamp, and some in their old hiding places on Orange Lake and the Withlacoochee. Lieutenant Alburtis was in command of Fort Russell, west of Pilatka, when a party headed by Halleck-Tuste- nuggee killed a corporal and approached the fort with yells of defiance. A spirited attack by Lieutenant Alburtis with some seventeen men only resulted in killing three Indians and wounding two. Waxehadjo, who had been a leader in waylaying the express riders and others, had killed the express from Fort Cross to Tampa Bay, and, after torture, had cut off the head of the unfortunate man and set it upright on the coals of his camp-fire, when a detachment of dragoons, with Captain Lloyd Beall, came up and drove him into a pond, where he was killed. Billy Bowlegs, the Prophet, and Hospetarkee, Shiver and Shakes, were the head-men of a large party of Seminoles who occupied the country south of Pease Creek. In December, 1840, Colonel Harney, with a detachment of one hundred men, penetrated this hitherto unexplored region in canoes, and created much alarm among the occupants of this almost inaccessible portion of the country. Chekika, the Spanish Indian chief, was overtaken by a detachment of troops and killed, and six of his companions captured and hung on the spot, and, it is said, their bodies were suspended from the trees. This expedition, and the summary punishment inflicted by Colonel Harney, greatly intimidated the Indians, and they resorted to their old expedient of having a 'talk" and expressing a strong desire for peace and amity. As their sincerity could only be tested by the result, their offers were accepted, and they came in and received clothing and subsistence, thus gaining time to plant their fields and devise new measures of security for their families. During the winter and spring, every day they could delay operations against them was important. In April, having accomplished their purposes, they again disappeared, leaving the baffled officers of the government to speculate once more on the uncertainty of Indian professions. Major Belknap, stationed at Fort Fanning on the Suwanee, succeeded, during the month of March, 1840, in securing, and sending West, Echo-E-Mathlar, the Tallahassee chief, with sixty of his band. During the early summer, the old artifice of professing to be tired of fighting and willing to emigrate was practiced successfully by small bands of Indians, who would come in with a tale of starvation and ask for subsistence for their families to enable them to reach the military posts. The anxiety of the officers of the government to get them in, made them hopeful and desirous of availing themselves of every offer of surrender, and induced them to extend the time and allow still further subsistence. Thus, by cunningly devised stories and well-invented excuses, they drew their subsistence from the government until they were able to dispense with it and the season was too late to operate against them. The Territory was divided into seven military districts, extending from Black Creek to Sarasota, each under the charge of a district commander. Five years had elapsed, and still the Indians remained, and the government was in the position of almost a suppliant for peace. The efforts of the troops against the Indians were evaded by the exercise of the utmost caution and cunning. With the sagacity and thorough wood-craft of natives of the forest, while the white soldier was plodding his weary way dependent upon guides or the compass for a knowledge of his route, the Indian stopped behind some clump of bushes or peered forth from some leafy covert and saw his pursuers pass by, and then stole back to attack some point in the rear of the pursuing troops, which had been left unprotected. Ill success brought, naturally, criticism and wholesale censure. Those who knew least were wisest in such matters, and had always a plan which, if adopted, would infallibly succeed. Constant changes of plans, of officers, and of troops, made matters worse. An uncertain policy, holding out the olive-branch at one time, and fire and sword at another, alternately coaxing and threatening, gave to the Indians a feeling of distrust mingled with contempt. They thought that they had been deceived by fair words and false professions, and they used the same means to further their own purposes. In January, 1841, offensive operations were resumed. Colonel William J. Worth, of the 8th Infantry, had been placed in command of the district of which Tampa was the headquarters, and about the 1st of February a battalion of the 8th Infantry, under General Worth, moved out to the Kissimee. The country was found overflowed in all directions. Believing that Coacoochee, the most active and enterprising of the Indian chiefs, was in that region, and that some arrangement might be made through him, a messenger was sent to find and, if possible, bring him in. A few days afterwards, he visited the camp, arrayed in a gorgeous theatrical costume obtained a few months previously when he had attacked a company of actors on the Picolata Road six miles from St. Augustine, several of who were killed and their theatrical wardrobe became a valuable booty to the handsome young Indian chief. At this interview with General Worth he agreed to consult his followers and other chiefs, and return in ten days. On the tenth day he returned, regretting that he could not collect his people, but wished to see General Armistead at Tampa Bay, to appoint a day when he would have his people assembled. On the 22d of March, he came to Fort Brooke and met General Armistead, when it was agreed that he would bring his band in to Fort Pierce, on Indian River. During April and May he came in frequently to Fort Pierce, expressing great anxiety to emigrate, but saying that the movements of the troops had caused his people to scatter and conceal themselves, and he had great difficulty in finding them. He said a council was to be held at Lake Okechobee, where he would meet Arpeika, Billy Bowlegs, and Hospetarkee, and he would endeavor to induce them to consent to emigrate. From the caution and sobriety evinced by him, and the large requisitions he made for whisky and provisions, Major Childs, commanding at Fort Pierce, became satisfied that Wild Cat was carrying on a deceptive game, and advised his seizure, and orders were issued for that purpose. A band of Indians on the Ocklockonee River, in Middle Florida, kept all that portion of the Territory in continual alarm, and although nearly a regiment of regular troops occupied the country, their commanding officer reported, in April, that he was unable to find or capture them. Another band lurked in and around the Okefinokee Swamp, and disturbed all that region of country. One of the most active and treacherous of the remaining chiefs, Halleck-Tustenuggee, occupied the country around the Withlacoochee and Ocklawaha. He sent in his sub-chiefs to Major Plympton with a bundle of sticks, representing that he was gathering his people in order to emigrate, and asking for provisions, which being at length refused, he threw off the mask and left in his trail sixty sticks, representing his band, painted with blood. Colonel Davenport, commanding at Sarasota, on the 26th of April reported an entire failure in the attempted negotiations with the Indians, and that they had all gone back to the woods, and gave a very hostile reception to the messengers sent to urge their return. The close of the season of active operations left matters in very little better condition than at the same period in the previous year. General Armistead, in May, 1841, asked to be relieved of the command in Florida. The result of his operations during the previous year was the surrender or capture of four hundred and fifty Indians, of whom one hundred and twenty were warriors. A delegation of friendly Indians had been brought from Arkansas to use their influence in persuading the remaining Seminoles to emigrate. They were instructed to give a favorable account of the country assigned to the Indians west of Arkansas, and to use every inducement to obtain their surrender. It was doubted whether they did not accomplish more harm than good. General William J, Worth was now assigned to the command, making the eighth commander sent out to close the war. No better choice could have been made than that of the distinguished officer who so well earned the distinctive title assigned to him by universal consent, - the gallant Worth. No more unpromising field for distinction could have been found than Florida presented at the period when General Worth was assigned to the command. As the number of Indians had been reduced, their tactics had been changed. They no longer presented themselves, as at first, to contest the passage of troops in the open field. They now found that by subdividing into small squads they could distract the attention of the troops, and, by the smallness of their number, find ready concealment and elude pursuit. They had become accustomed to the mode of conducting military operations, and knew that with the approach of the summer heats they would remain unmolested. Far down in the Everglades there were islands never trodden by the foot of the white man, where they could place their families in security and plant their crops in peace. From these fastnesses they could sally forth upon long expeditions for murder and rapine; acquainted with coverts to which they might readily fly in all parts of the country, able to support themselves upon the abundant game, they possessed an unlimited power of doing mischief, and were almost as unapproachable as the birds in the air. Where they had been, was easily ascertained by the bodies of the slain victims and the ashes of destroyed homes, but where they were, it was a matter of impossibility to more than conjecture. And when other means of support failed, or it was desirable to check a too active movement in the direction of their camps, they had the convenient resort of a friendly talk and peaceful overtures, accompanied with an abundant supply of whisky and rations. The officer now in command comprehended fully the task before him. He had seen, in the failures of his predecessors, the results of going into summer quarters one-half of the year, and the cessation of hostilities during peace negotiations occupying much of the remaining portion. He had been assigned to the command on 31st May, a period of the year when it was usual to go into summer quarters. General Worth at once inaugurated a different policy. The force at his disposal was about five thousand men in all, but of these over one thousand were unfit for duty. He at once organized his force in the most effective manner, and prepared for a continuous campaign, irrespective of the season; and the simple injunction, "Find the enemy, capture or exterminate," was to govern the commanders in their operations. General Worth established his head quarters at Fort King. Early in June a detachment of troops penetrated the swamps surrounding Lake Fanee Suffeekee, with the hope of surprising Halleck-Tustenuggee, but, after a severe night march, they found his camp deserted. On the 15th of June, Major Childs, commanding at Fort Pierce, acting under the orders he had received from General Armistead, secured Coacoochee, his brother, a brother of King Philip, together with thirteen warriors and three Negroes who came in to his post. They were immediately sent off to Arkansas. General Worth being advised of this capture, and of their being shipped West, sent one of his officers to New Orleans to intercept the vessel on which they had been sent, in order to bring back Coacoochee, whom he desired to make use of in his ulterior operations. Major Capers, the officer sent, intercepted the vessel, Coacoochee expressing the greatest pleasure at being taken back to Florida, and promising to bring in his whole band. A simultaneous movement was ordered to take place in each district, for the purpose of breaking up any camps which the Indians might have formed, destroying their crops and stores wherever they might be found. Boat detachments ascended the Withlacoochee, found several fields of growing crops, and destroyed them. Every swamp and hammock between the Atlantic and Gulf coasts was visited, and the band of Halleck-Tustenuggee routed out of the Wahoo Swamp. Many fields were found in the hammocks and islands of the Charl-Apopka country, with huts, palmetto sheds, and corn-cribs. Tiger-Tail had a large field upon one of these islands, which was his reliance for the ensuing year, and from a tree in the hammock he witnessed its entire destruction by the troops. Several fields were destroyed on the Suwanee and in Wacasassa Hammock. The operations of the army were harassing and destructive to the Indians, and they were driven to make use of every expedient to escape pursuit and capture by the troops, who were scouting in every direction. The last of June they held a council to consult upon their situation. They determined not to surrender, but to put to death any messenger, whether white, Indian, or negro, who dared to come within their reach. They agreed to keep together for mutual protection, and had scouts out to report the number and approach of troops. The detachments thus engaged in scouring the country continued in the field twenty-five days. The number engaged was about six hundred, and about twenty-five percent, were sent to the hospitals. The thermometer averaged 86°, and, considering the heat and exposure, the experiment satisfactorily demonstrated the ability of the troops to operate in the summer. In the course of their movements they destroyed thirty-five fields and one hundred and eighty huts or sheds. The inhabitants were invited to return to their homes, and inducements of subsistence and protection were offered them if they would do so.
(1) General Macomb's Report of May 22d, 1839. Sprague, p. 228. (2) In Sprague's History, p. 244, will be found a very interesting account of the escape of the Perrine family. (3) Sprague, p. 249. Table of Contents |
