Reminiscenses of the Indian Uprising near Fort Gatlin, Fl

The Florida Historical Society is greatly indebted to Mrs. Martha Tyler
(nee Miss Martha Jernigan),of Orlando, Florida,
for the following interesting reminiscences of the Indian uprisings
near Fort Gatlin. The letters of this remarkable woman, born in
the year 1839, are replete with interesting and humorous detail.
March 27th, 1924

Mrs. Martha Tyler,
Orlando, Florida.
Dear Madam :
I was very much interested in reading in this morning’s
“Times Union” an account of the marking of the
site of Fort Gatlin, near Orlando, by the Daughters of
the American Revolution of that city. The account states
that you, then Martha Jernigan, were in the stockade
during the trouble with the Indians.
The reading of the article recalled to my mind an
incident told me many years ago by my father, Marcellus
A. Williams, who was for years a Government Surveyor
in Florida. During one of the Indian uprisings, he was
visiting the home of Mr. Jernigan. A day or two before
his arrival, Mr. Jernigan and others had captured an
Indian Chief named Enihaw, his wife, a baby, and Enihaw’s
mother. While marching the captives to the Jernigan
home, Enihaw, while passing through a dense
swamp, suddenly picked up his wife and made good his
escape. The baby and Enihaw’s mother were left in the
hands of Mr. Jernigan. During the night my father
spent in the Jernigan home, the mother of Enihaw hanged
herseIf under the table in the “smoke house" where she
was confined.
The above is my recollection of the incident as told
me by my father. If you are the daughter of the above
mentioned Mr. Jernigan and remember the incident, I
would appreciate it greatly if you would write an account
of it for the Florida Historical Society for publication in
our quarterly magazine. Such an article from you would
be of very great interest and would be very greatly appreciated
by the members of the Society and the citizens
of Florida generally. Won’t you please do this for us?
Very respectfully,
ARTHUR T. WILLIAMS,
President, Florida Historical Society.

Orlando, Florida,
April 7th, 1924.
MR. ARTHUR T. WILLIAMS,
Jacksonville, Florida.
Dear Mr. Williams :
Your letter received a few days ago, and in reply will
say:
The Indians were fussing and killing people around
Tampa and Pease Creek, so father thought it best to
build a fort. When it was finished everybody went into
it - altogether about 80 people besides the negroes. We
all stayed there about a year. The regular soldiers were
forted about a mile west of us, altogether about three
hundred of them. They left before we went home from
the fort.
Living was difficult in those days and not very safe.
Father planted corn on the Tohopakaliga Island and
when he gathered it he had to bring it five miles across
the water in a boat. This boat was made out of a
cypress tree, 4 feet wide and 30 feet long. After it was
brought across the water he had to haul the corn 15
miles in a wagon. One day uncle Wright Patrick had a
load of corn and a large pumpkin on it. He met an
Indian who asked him if he could have the pumpkin.
He told him “yes.” He said afterwards he would have
given him the pony and cart if he had asked for it. A
year or so before that, Uncle Isaac Jernigan was at
Tohopakaliga Lake late one evening between sunset and
dark, when the Indians began shooting at him. They
shot four times. He said to himself, “It won’t do for
me to be made a target out of,” so he took after them
and said, “D-, I will have one of you.” They ran
and he after them. After a bit he ran into a hammock
nearby, where he could hear them yelling across the
creek. It sounded like about five hundred of them about
a mile away. When he went to look for his pony she
was gone. (He hasn’t found her yet). He took a beeline
for home through the woods, because he was afraid
to go by the road for fear the Indians would waylay
him. He didn’t get home till about daylight the next
morning. He had lost his shoes off his feet, and they
were scratched and cut up with briars. He could hardly
walk for a week. Father went out and hunted the
Indians, but couId not find them.
A year or two afterwards he captured Enihaw, his
wife, mother, and baby, and left them with Tat Kendrick.
They were looking for others when Enihaw picked his
wife up and made his escape, leaving his mother and the
baby. We kept them two or three weeks, when she
hung herself, as stated in your letter.
On one occasion when father was hunting his cattle
he met an Indian and asked him if he had seen any cows.
He told him “yes, about 8 miles east of here.” He went
as directed and found one of his choicest heifers cut in
pieces and thrown in an alligator hole.
Your father was a good friend of ours. We were
always glad to have him with us. I remember him quite
well. He had a watch - gold, like himself - and we
children would all gather around him like blackbirds to
look at it and hear him talk.
I have not been able to write since I fell and broke
my right arm about two years ago, but I can furnish you
with any information you ask for, and will be glad to
do so.
I am Aaron Jernigan’s daughter.
Your friend,
MARTHA TYLER.
Orlando, Florida,

May lst, 1924.
MR. ARTHUR T. WILLIAMS,
Jacksonville, Florida.
Dear Friend :
I have thought of a few more things which might be
interesting to you.
Father let your father have his boat to go across
Tohopakaliga Lake, as it was six or eight miles nearer
to cross the lake that way. Your father left one man
to carry the mules, and when he got in sight of the rest
of the crew they commenced waving at him, and he,
thinking they were Indians, turned and went back to
father, which was about 25 or 30 miles, and reported
seeing Indians. One of the men (Sherman), took the
boat and went back - had to walk 15 miles, but got there
a few hours after Ohery did. The name of the boat
was “Black Hawk.” It was 30 feet long and 4 feet wide
with two sets of oarlocks to it.
Your sincere friend,
MARTHA TYLER.
Orlando, Florida

MR. ARTHUR T. WILLIAMS,
Jacksonville, Florida.
Dear Friend:
May llth, 1924.
Your letter of the 9th received. You are welcome
to publish my letters.
My father’s name was Aaron Jernigan and my
mother’s maiden name was Mary Hogans. My father
first came to this country in 1843, and brought his cattle,
five or six hundred head of them, and left them here.
Then in about a year he moved mother and us children
here in January, 1844. I was five years old the 14th day
of February, 1844. It took us four days and nights to
come from Jacksonville to Melonville on the boat. They
were expecting the boiler to burst all the way down here.
This was a fine country in those days. Father could
kill four or five deer almost any time he wished to within
a mile or so of the house, and I have seen turkeys so fat
that they would burst when they fell to the ground after
being shot. I knew father to kill a bear that rendered
out 8 gallons of oil. We could kill all the squirrels that
we wanted ; also tigers. I remember they killed one tiger
that measured nine feet long from the end of his nose
to the end of his tail. The beef was fat and nice, the
tallow was soft like lard and about 7 or 8 gallons to the
beef. Fish was also very plentiful.
Father’s father was named Aaron and his mother was
named Martha. Her maiden name was Deas. My
mother’s father was James Hogan and her mother,
Frances. That’s as far back as I can remember. I have
great grand-children married who have children.
If there is any more information I can give you, I will
be pleased to do so.
Your sincere friend,
MARTHA TYLER.

[Source: Vol III, July 1924, No. 1, Florida Historical Society Quarterly]

contributed by Kim

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