FURTHER EFFORTS TO ENSLAVE THE EXILES.
Indians and Exiles on the Appalachicola River--Other Exiles at
Withlaeoochee, St. John's, Cyprus Swamp, Waboo Swamp--Indians in
various parts of Territory--Difficulty of the subject--President's
Message--Committee of Congress--Interrogations--Mr. Penieres'
Answer--General Jackson's Answer--He relies on Force--United States
recognize the Florida Indians as an Independent Band--Willing to
treat with them--Difficulties--Instructions to
Commissioners--Treaty of Camp Moultrie--Reservations--Covenants on
part of United States--Covenants on part of the Seminoles--Congress
makes no objection--Effect of Treaty--Its Objects--Election of the
younger Adams--His Policy--Indian Agent, Colonel Humphreys--William
P. Duval's Instructions--Claimants complain of the
Agent--Commissioner of Indian Affairs reproves him--His
Letter--Reply--Difficulty of Agent--Dangers which threaten the
Exiles--Colored Man seized and enslaved--Indians Protest--Colonel
Brooke's Advice--United States Judge expresses his Opinion--Effect
on Exiles--Mrs. Cook's Slave--Demand for Negroes--Suggestions of
Agent--Practice of Government--Treaty of Payne's Landing--Its
Stipulations--Abram--His Character--Chiefs become
Suspicious--Delegations sent West--Executive Designs--Supplemental
Treaty--Major Phagan--Petition of the People of
Florida--Indorsement thereon--Treaties approved by Senate--Creeks
remonstrate--Payment of $141,000 to Slave Claimants--Supineness of
Northern Statesmen--Creeks demand Exiles or Slaves--Georgians
kidnap Exiles--Their Danger--They dissuade from Emigration--Their
Warriors--Wiley Thompson's Statement--General Clinch's
Interest--Colonel Eaton's Views--General Cass's Reply--His Address
to Indians--He authorizes Slave trade--Effects of such
License--Agent and others Remonstrate--He replies--Agent
rejoins--Exiles prepare for War.
After the close of the war of 1818, many of the Seminole Indians took
possession of the deserted plantations and villages along the
Appalachicola River, whose owners had fallen in the massacre of Blount's
Fort, in 1816; and some of the Exiles united in reoccupying the lands
which had been reduced to cultivation by their murdered brethren. Some
six or eight small bands of Indians thus became resident along that
river. The fertile bottom lands, near that stream, constituted the most
valuable portion of Florida, so far as agriculture was concerned. These
towns afforded convenient resting places for fugitive slaves, while
fleeing from their masters in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Louisiana,
to the interior portions of Florida.
The United States, nor the slaveholders of the States named, could with
any propriety whatever hold the Creek Indians responsible for the many
refugees, who were now almost daily increasing the number of fugitives
located far in the interior of Florida; and the difficulties attending
the holding of slaves increased in exact proportion as the slaveholding
settlements extended towards these locations; while the greater portion
of the Exiles were taking up their residence farther in the interior of
the territory, upon the Withlacoochee, the St. John's, the Big Cypress
Swamp, the Islands in the Great Wahoo Swamp, and places far retired from
civilization. The Seminole Indians were scattered extensively over
different portions of the country; and although the United States now
owned the unoccupied lands, it was difficult to determine upon any
course of policy by which the difficulties, so long existing, could be
terminated.
[Sidenote: 1822.]
The subject was alluded to by the President in his Annual Message to
Congress (Dec. 3), and a select committee was appointed to take that
portion of it into consideration. The committee propounded
interrogatories to various officers of government, who were supposed
capable of giving useful information in regard to the subject.[55]
In answer to these interrogatories, Mr. Penieres, Sub-Agent for the
Florida Indians, replied, stating the number of Indians at more than
five thousand, while the number of slaves which they held were estimated
at only forty. These he declared to be far more intelligent than the
slaves resident among the white people, and possessing great influence
over their Indian masters. He alluded to the Exiles in the following
language: "It will be difficult (says he) to form a prudent
determination with respect to the 'maroon negroes,' (Exiles), who live
among the Indians, on the other side of the little mountain of
Latchiouc. They fear being again made slaves, under the American
Government, and will omit nothing to increase or keep alive mistrust
among the Indians, whom they, in fact, govern. If it should become
necessary to use force with them, it is to be feared that the Indians
will take their part. It will, however, be necessary to remove from the
Floridas this group of freebooters, among whom runaway negroes will
always find a refuge. It will, perhaps, be possible to have them
received at St. Domingo, or to furnish them means of withdrawing from
the United States!"
This gentleman appears to have had more knowledge of the Exiles, than
was possessed by the officers of the United States, generally, who
supposed that each negro must have a legitimate master. He appears,
also, to have had sufficient humanity to suggest the plan of their
_removal_, rather than their enslavement.
In answer to the interrogatories of this committee, General Jackson
proposed to compel the Seminoles to _reünite with the Creeks_, by
leaving Florida and returning to the Creek country; and closed his
recommendation by saying, "this must be done, or the frontier will be
much weakened by the Indian settlements, and be a perpetual harbor for
our slaves. These _runaway slaves, spoken of by Mr. Penieres_, MUST BE
REMOVED from the Floridas, or scenes of murder and confusion will
exist."[56]
This suggestion of General Jackson for the removal of the Seminoles,
both Indians and negroes, bears date September second, 1822, and is the
first suggestion, of that precise character, of which we have knowledge.
General Jackson was a warrior, and had more faith in the bayonet than in
moral truths. He trusted much to physical power, but had little
confidence in kindness, or in justice or moral suasion. He was an
officer of great popularity, however, and it is not unlikely that his
views had greater weight with those who followed him in official life,
than their intrinsic merits entitled them to. It is certain that his
policy of removing the Indians and Exiles from Florida, was subsequently
adopted by him while President, and has continued to be the cherished
object with most of his successors in that office.
The controversy between the State of Georgia and the Creeks had been
settled at Indian Springs. In the treaty entered into at that place, the
United States had held the Creek Nation responsible for the action of
the Seminoles, under the plea that they were a part of the Creek Nation.
Having obtained two hundred and fifty thousand dollars from the Creeks
in this way, to satisfy the slave claimants of Georgia, the Executive
now suddenly became satisfied that the Seminoles were a distinct and
independent tribe, and he prepared to treat with them as such.
Commissioners were appointed for that purpose, and efforts made to
collect their chiefs, warriors and principal men, in order to carry out
this object.
[Sidenote: 1828.]
Suspicious of the objects which prompted this proposal, the Indians were
unwilling to meet the commissioners. Runners were sent to the different
bands, and eventually some thirty or forty were collected. These were
declared by the commissioners to represent a majority of the Seminole
tribe, and (Sept. 18) they proceeded to form the treaty of "Camp
Moultrie." The letter of instructions, from the Secretary of War, was
specific on one point only. The commissioners were directed to so
arrange the treaty, as to constrain the Indians to settle within the
territory south of Tampa Bay, excluded from the coast on all sides by a
strip of country at least fifteen miles in width. This would have taken
from them their most fertile lands on the Suwanee River, the
Appalachicola River, and in the vicinity of the Mickasukie Lake. Some
six chiefs, who had taken possession of the plantations which had been
opened and cultivated by the Exiles murdered at "Blount's Fort," refused
to sign the treaty. They were, however, prevailed upon to agree to the
treaty, when it had been so modified as to give them each a reservation
of fertile lands, to meet their own necessities.
By agreeing to these stipulations, the commissioners obtained their
signatures to the treaty--the United States guaranteeing to the Indians
peaceable possession of the country and reservations assigned them. They
also covenanted to "_take the Florida Indians under their care and
patronage, and_ AFFORD THEM PROTECTION AGAINST ALL PERSONS WHATSOEVER,"
and to "_restrain and prevent all white persons_ from hunting, settling,
or otherwise _intruding_, upon said lands." They also agreed to pay the
Indians six thousand dollars in cattle and hogs, furnish them with
provisions to support them one year, and pay them five thousand dollars
annually for twenty years. But one great object of the treaty was
embraced in the seventh Article, which was expressed in the following
language:
"The chiefs and warriors aforesaid, for themselves and tribes, stipulate
to be active and vigilant in preventing the retreating to, or passing
through, the district, or country assigned them, of any absconding
slave, or fugitives from justice; and they further agree _to use all
necessary exertions to apprehend and deliver the same to the agent_, who
shall receive orders to compensate them agreeably to the trouble and
expense incurred."
It is worthy of note, that the commissioners, acting under instructions
of the Secretary of War, now assured the Seminoles that they had been a
separate and independent tribe more than a century; while other
commissioners, acting under instructions from the same Secretary, only
twenty months previously, insisted that the Seminoles were, at that
time, a part of the Creek tribe; and on that assumed fact, the Creeks
were held responsible for the value of such slaves as left their masters
during the Revolution and prior to 1802, and took up their residence
with the Seminoles. But these contradictory positions appeared to be
necessary to sustain the slave interest.
It may be remarked that from the signing of this treaty, there was no
longer any controversy between our Government and the Creeks in relation
to fugitive slaves. That quarrel was transferred to the Seminoles; and
now, after thirty-four years have passed away, and many millions of
treasure have been expended, and thousands of human lives sacrificed, at
the moment of writing these incidents, our army is actively employed in
carrying on the contest which arose, and for more than the third of a
century has been almost constantly maintained, for the recapture and
return of these people; and although our members of Congress from the
free States had witnessed the long and expensive contest, and the vast
sacrifice of blood and treasure, which had been squandered in efforts to
regain possession of the Exiles; yet we do not find any objection to
have been raised or protest uttered against this new treaty, in either
branch of our National Legislature. Indeed, so far as we have
information on the subject, the appropriations for carrying it into
effect were cheerfully made, without objection.
This compact drew still more closely the meshes of the federal power
around the Exiles. The United States now held what is called in
slaveholding parlance the "legal title" to their bones and sinews, their
blood and muscle, while the Creek Indians were vested with the entire
beneficial interest in them. But neither the United States nor the Creek
Indians had been able to reduce them to possession. The white
settlements were, however, gradually extending, and the territory of the
Seminoles was diminishing in proportion; and it was easy to foresee the
difficulties with which they were soon to be surrounded.
By the treaty, many of their cultivated fields, and most of the
villages, which they had recently defended with so much bravery, were
given up to the whites, and those who had so long occupied them, were
compelled to retire still further into the interior, and commence new
improvements. A few Exiles remained with the chiefs who held
reservations upon the Appalachicola. Those who remained, however, were
persons who had become connected by marriage with the Indians belonging
to those small bands, from whom they were unwilling to separate.
To this treaty some writers have traced the causes which produced the
recent "Florida War." They attribute to its stipulations that vast
sacrifice of treasure, and of national reputation, which has rendered
that territory distinguished in history. With that war, our present
history is connected only so far as the Exiles were concerned in its
prosecution; but it would appear difficult for any historian to overlook
the important fact that obtaining possession of fugitive slaves
constituted the moving consideration for this treaty, and the primary
cause of both the first and second Seminole wars.
[Sidenote: 1824.]
Most of this year was occupied in removing the Indians to their new
territory. They also suffered severely for the want of food, and the
attention of both Indians and officers of Government appears to have
been occupied with these subjects.
[Sidenote: 1825.]
In the autumn, Mr. Adams was elected President. But his policy was in
part unfavorable to the Exiles. Removals from office under his
administration were limited. If an officer were removed, it was not
until after it had been ascertained that just cause existed for the
removal. This policy continued nearly every man in office who had been
connected with the Indian Department under the former Administration.
Colonel Gad Humphreys had been appointed Agent for the Seminoles as
early as 1822. He was a resident of Florida, and a slaveholder, deeply
interested in maintaining the institution; but so far as his official
acts have come before the public, he appears to have performed his duty
with a good degree of humanity. Indeed, such were his efforts in behalf
of justice to the oppressed, that he became obnoxious to Southern men,
and was eventually removed from office on that account. William P. Duval
was also continued in the office of Governor, and ex-officio
Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Territory of Florida. He was
also a slaveholder, and resident of the territory; but even Southern men
found little cause to complain of his devotion to liberty or justice.
He, and many other officers, appear to have supposed the first
important duty imposed on them, consisted in lending an efficient
support to those claims for slaves which were constantly pressed upon
them by unprincipled white men.
Early as the twenty-fifth of January, Governor Duval, acting
Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Territory, wrote Colonel
Humphreys, giving him general directions in regard to the course which
he should pursue in all cases where fugitive slaves were claimed. "On
the subject (said he) of runaway slaves among the Indians, within the
control of your agency, it will be proper in all cases, where _you
believe_ the owners can identify the slaves, to have them taken, and
delivered over to the Marshal of East Florida, at St. Augustine, so that
the Federal Judge may inquire into the claim of the party, and determine
the right of property. But in all cases where the same slave is claimed
by a white person and an Indian, _if you believe_ the Indian has an
equitable claim to the slave, you are directed not to surrender the
slave, except by the order of the Hon. Joseph L. Smith, Federal Judge
residing at St. Augustine; and in that case, you will attend before him,
and defend the right of the Indian, _if you believe_ he has right on his
side."
In all these cases, the slave or colored man, whether bond or free, was
to be treated in the same manner as a brute. He was permitted to say
nothing upon the subject of his own right to liberty. His voice was
silenced amidst the despotism with which he was surrounded. No law was
consulted. The _belief_ of a slaveholding Agent decided the fate of the
person claimed. Those who claimed to own their fellow men, would always
find persons to testify to their claims, and it was in vain for an
Indian to attempt litigation with a slaveholding white man before a
slaveholding Judge.[57]
The Exiles were not the property of the Indians in any sense. The
Indians did not claim to own them. Under the rule prescribed, if a white
man could get one of the Exiles within his power, he could at any time
prove some circumstance that would entitle him to claim _some_ negro;
when he proved this, the law of Florida presumed every colored man to be
a slave, unless he could prove his freedom. This, no Exile could do;
and, when seized, they were uniformly consigned to bondage. The only
safety for the Exile was, to entirely avoid the whites, who were not
permitted to enter the territory except upon the written permit of some
officer.
The slave-catchers, therefore, had recourse to the practice of
describing certain black persons, in the Indian country, as their
slaves, and demanding that the Agent should have them seized and
delivered to him. But the Agent, knowing these claims to be merely
fictitious in some instances, paid no attention to them. The claimants,
intent on obtaining wealth by catching negroes, and selling them as
slaves, complained of the Agent to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs,
who, on the eighth of February (1827), wrote the Agent, reproving him
for his remissness in failing to capture and return fugitive slaves,
saying: "Frequent complaints have been made to the Department,
respecting slaves claimed by the citizens of Florida, which are in
possession of the Indians; all which have been acted on here, in issuing
such orders to you as it was expected would be promptly obeyed; * * *
and that these proceedings would be followed by the proper reports to
the Department. _Nothing satisfactory has been received._"
[Sidenote: 1826.]
Thus the Indian Bureau, at Washington, took upon itself the
responsibility of deciding particular cases, upon the _ex parte_
testimony which the claimants presented; and the commissioner concluded
his letter by a peremptory order to Colonel Humphreys, directing him to
capture and deliver over two slaves, said to be the property of a Mrs.
Cook.
To this order the Agent replied in the language of dignified rebuke.
After stating that one of the slaves had been captured by the Indians,
and given up, he says: "but they will not, I apprehend, consent further
to risk their lives in a service which has always been a thankless one,
and has recently proved so to one of their most respected chiefs, who
was killed in an attempt to arrest a runaway slave."[58]
The love of liberty is universal. We honor the individual who gives high
evidence of his attachment to this fundamental right, with which God has
endowed all men, and we applaud him who manfully defends his liberty,
whether it be a Washington with honors clustering upon his brow, or the
more humble individual who defends his liberty in Florida, by slaying
the man who attempts to deprive him of it. But these views were not
recognized by the agents of our Government.
[Sidenote: 1827.]
While the Department at Washington supposed the Agent to have neglected
his duty, the Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the territory
supposed the Agent had been quite too faithful to the slaveholders. On
the twentieth of March he wrote Colonel Humphreys, saying, "_Many slaves
belonging to the Indians_ ARE NOW IN POSSESSION OF THE WHITE PEOPLE.
These slaves cannot be obtained for their Indian owners without a
lawsuit;" and he then directed the Agent to submit the claim, in all
cases where there was an Indian claimant, to the chiefs for decision.
In these contests between barbarians and savages, concerning the rights
which they claimed to the bodies of their fellow men, the Exiles had no
voice. They well understood that the rapacity of the slave claimants was
unbounded and inexorable; they therefore endeavored to avoid all contact
with the whites, and to preserve their freedom by affording the
piratical slave-catchers no opportunity to lay hands on them.
These demands for negroes alleged to be among the Indians, continued to
excite the people of Florida and to perplex the officers of Government,
threatening the most serious results,[59] and continually enhancing the
dangers of the Exiles.
[Sidenote: 1828.]
The troops at Fort King were called on to aid in the arrest of fugitive
slaves; but their efforts merely excited the ridicule and contempt of
both Indiana and negroes. These circumstances becoming known to the
slaves of Florida, naturally excited them to discontent; and while their
masters were engaged in efforts to arrest negroes to whom they had no
claim, their own servants in whom they had reposed every confidence,
suddenly disappeared and became lost among the Exiles of the interior.
The white people became irritated under these vexations. Their
indignation against the Indians was unbounded. The Agent, Colonel
Humphreys, gave a vivid description of their barbarity, in a letter to
the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.[60] But remonstrances with the
Indian Department appeared to have no effect. Peremptory orders for the
arrest and delivery of slaves continued to reach the Agent. These orders
he _could not carry into effect_, as he could command no force adequate
to the arrest of the fugitives. Governor Duval began to regard the Agent
as remiss in his efforts, and so reported him to the War Department.
Some of the most wealthy Seminoles had purchased slaves of the white
people, and for many years, perhaps we may say for generations, had been
slaveholders. They held their slaves in a state between that of
servitude and freedom; the slave usually living with his own family and
occupying his time as he pleased, paying his master annually a small
stipend in corn and other vegetables. This class of slaves regarded
servitude among the whites with the greatest degree of horror.
The owners of fugitive slaves, or men who pretended to have lost slaves,
when able, would seize and hold those belonging to the Indians. The
Indians being ignorant of legal proceedings, were unable to obtain
compensation from those who thus robbed them of what the slaveholders
termed _property_. This practice became so common that, on the
seventeenth of April, many of the chiefs and warriors assembled at the
Agency, and made their protest to the Agent, declaring that "many of
their negroes, horses, cattle, etc., were in the hands of the white
people, for which they were unable to obtain compensation." Contrary to
the treaty of Camp Moultrie, white men were at that time in the Indian
country searching for slaves, and the chiefs demanded of the Agent the
reason why the white people thus violated the treaty to rob the Indians?
The Agent could only reply, that the white men were there by permission
given them by the _Secretary of War_.[61]
So flagrant were these outrages upon the Indians and negroes, that
Colonel Brooke, of the United States Army, at that time commanding in
Florida, took upon himself the responsibility of addressing the Agent,
advising him not to deliver negroes to the white men, unless their
"_claims were made clear and satisfactory_."[62] The District Judge of
the United States for the Territory, also wrote Colonel Humphreys,
giving his construction of the rules adopted by the Indian Bureau. He
thought, in no case, should a negro be delivered up, where the Indians
claimed him, until proofs had been made and title established before
judicial authority.[63]
No law was looked to as the rule by which officers of Government were to
be controlled in their official duties. The opinion, the judgment, of
the individual constituted his rule of action. During the nineteenth
century, perhaps no despotism has existed among civilized nations more
unlimited, or more unscrupulous, than that exercised in Florida, from
1823 to 1843.
This state of affairs determined the Exiles _not to be arrested by white
men_. Thus, when Governor Duval ordered a compensation for a slave
claimed by Mrs. Cook, to be retained from their annuities, the chiefs
held a talk with the Agent, and assured him that the "_man was born
among the Seminoles, and had never been out of the nation_."[64]
These demands for negroes increased in number; and the whites became
more and more rapacious, and the Indians more and more indignant, until
hostilities appeared inevitable. The Agent, from long association with
the Indians and his knowledge of facts, naturally sympathised with them.
He assembled a number of the chiefs at the Agency, and suggested to them
the absolute necessity of submitting to the white people; and for the
purpose of avoiding further difficulties, advised them to emigrate west
of the Mississippi, or, rather, to send a delegation to examine the
country; and, as an inducement, offered to accompany their chiefs and
warriors on such a tour. To this proposition a few of them consented,
and the Agent notified the Department of the fact.[65]
It was easy to see that, under the existing state of affairs,
hostilities could not long be avoided. Up to the period of which we are
speaking, the action of our Government had been dictated by those who
sought to uphold and encourage Slavery; nor could it be expected that
this long-established policy would be suddenly changed, unless such
change were peremptorily demanded by the people.
There was apparently but one course to be pursued under this
policy--that was the removal of the Indians from Florida. This plan had
been recommended by General Jackson ten years previously, and he now
being President, had an opportunity of carrying out his proposed policy.
To effect this purpose, it would be necessary to negotiate a treaty by
which the Indians should consent to abandon Florida and remove west of
the Mississippi.
It had long been the policy of those who administered the Government, to
select Southern men to act in all offices in which the institution of
slavery was likely to be called in question. From the time General
Washington sent Colonel Willett to ascertain facts in regard to the
controversy between the State of Georgia and the Creek Indians, in 1789,
to the period of which we are now speaking, no Northern man was
appointed to any office which required his personal attention to the
situation of the Exiles.[66]
[Sidenote: 1832.]
In accordance with this practice, General Cass, acting as Secretary of
War, appointed Colonel James Gadsden, of South Carolina, to negotiate
the treaty of Payne's Landing. By the preamble of this treaty, the
Seminoles stipulated that eight of their principal chiefs should visit
the Western country, "_accompanied by their faithful interpreter,
Abraham_," (an Exile, and a man of great repute among both Exiles and
Indians,) and should they be satisfied with the character of the
country, and of the favorable disposition of the Creeks to reunite with
the Seminoles as one people, they would, in such case, agree to the
stipulations subsequently contained in said treaty.
The first article merely makes an exchange, by the Seminoles, of lands
in Florida for an equal extent of territory, west of the Mississippi,
adjoining the Creek Nation.
The second article provides compensation for the improvements, and
specifically stipulates, that Abraham and Cudjoe (two Exiles who acted
as interpreters) should receive, each, two hundred dollars.
The third provides for the distribution of blankets and frocks among
them.
The fourth article provides for certain annuities, etc.
The fifth merely stipulates the manner in which the personal property of
the Seminoles shall be disposed of in Florida, and the same articles
supplied them in their new homes at the West.
[Illustration: Negro Abraham.]
The sixth is in the following language: "The Seminoles, being anxious to
be relieved from the repeated vexatious demands for slaves and other
property, alleged to have been stolen and destroyed by them, so that
they may remove to their new homes unembarrassed, the United States
stipulate to have the same properly investigated, and to liquidate such
as may be satisfactorily established, provided the amount does not
exceed fourteen thousand dollars."
The seventh article stipulates that a portion of the Indians should
remove in 1833, and the remainder in 1834.
Two leading features of this treaty attract the attention of the reader.
The first is the removal of the Seminoles; second, their _reunion with
the Creeks_. The Creeks, having paid the slaveholders of Georgia for
their loss of Exiles, had permitted the subject to rest in silence, and,
so far as we are informed, no formal claim had yet been asserted by the
Creeks to seize and hold the Exiles as slaves; but it is evident that
the negotiators of this treaty intended to place the Seminoles, when
settled in their western homes, within the power, and under the
jurisdiction, of the Creeks. Yet it was well known that, from the time
of their separation, in 1750, up to the signing of this treaty, they had
disagreed and, at times, had been in open war with each other. General
Cass, the Secretary of War, as well as the President, must have known
that McIntosh, the principal chief of the Creeks, had accompanied
Colonel Clinch, with five hundred warriors, when he invaded Florida for
the purpose of massacreing the Exiles at "Blount's Fort," in 1816; that
the Creeks shared in that massacre, and had publicly tortured and
murdered one Indian and one negro, whom they styled chiefs. It is
difficult to believe that any man could expect them to live together in
peace, with the recollection of those scenes resting on the mind; nor
has any explanation yet been given, nor reason assigned, for the anxiety
of our officers to place the Seminoles within the power of the Creeks,
except a desire to enslave the Exiles.
Abraham, who acted as interpreter, had been born among the Seminoles.
His parents had fled from Georgia, and died in their forest-home. He
appears to have been a man of unusual influence with his more savage
friends; and although he insisted on emigrating to the West, in
opposition to many of his brethren, yet he has to this day maintained a
high reputation among his people. Cudjoe was less known, and,
subsequently, was less conspicuous than Abraham; indeed, we know but
little of him. But the experience of Abraham, nor the learning of
Cudjoe, could detect that vague use of language which was subsequently
seized upon for justifying the fraud perpetrated under this treaty.
In the preamble, it was stipulated that the Seminoles were to send six
of their confidential chiefs to view the western country; and if _they_
were satisfied with the country, etc. The Seminoles supposed the pronoun
_they_ had relation to the Tribe; while General Jackson construed it to
refer to the chiefs sent West. If they were satisfied, he held the Tribe
bound to emigrate at all events; and his efforts were, therefore,
directed to satisfying the chiefs who went to view the country.
But the leading men of the Seminoles became suspicious of the design of
the Creeks to enslave the Exiles, before their delegation left Florida,
and publicly expressed their suspicion.[67]
The President appears to have determined on securing the emigration of
the Indians at all hazards and at any sacrifice. For that purpose he
appointed commissioners to go west and obtain from the Seminole
delegation, while yet in the western country, and absent from the tribe,
an acknowledgment that the country was suitable for a residence, and
that the Creeks were anxious to unite with them as one people. This was
to be obtained before the Seminole delegation should return to Florida,
or make report to their nation, or give the Tribe an opportunity to
judge or act upon the subject.
[Sidenote: 1833.]
His object was accomplished (March 28). The commissioners obtained an
"_additional treaty_," signed by the Seminole delegation sent West,
without any authority from their Nation to enter into any stipulation;
nor had the commissioners, on the part of the United States, authority
to form any treaty whatever: yet this additional treaty, as it was
called, after reciting some of the stipulations contained in that of
Payne's Landing, declares "that the chiefs sent to examine the country
are well satisfied with it;" and then stipulates, "that the Seminole
Indians shall emigrate to it so soon as the United States shall make the
necessary preparations." There was also another provision in this
additional treaty of vast importance to the Exiles; it designated and
assigned to the Seminoles a certain tract of country, giving its metes
and bounds, to the "_separate_ use of the Seminoles forever."
Their agent, Major Phagan, appears to have been willing and capable of
performing his part in this diplomatic intrigue. We have no knowledge of
the means used to obtain this additional treaty, nor the bribery by
which it was secured; but it is known that the chiefs, before they went
West, expressed their dislike of reuniting with the Creeks; that when
they returned, they denied having agreed to settle under Creek
jurisdiction; it is also certain that the additional treaty stipulates
that the Seminoles shall have their lands _separate_ from the Creeks.
When they returned, their agent, Major Phagan, represented them as
having stipulated for the positive removal of the Seminoles. The chiefs
denied it, and insisted they had understood their authority as extending
only to an examination of the country, and to report the result to the
Nation. They requested that the chiefs, head-men and warriors be
assembled to hear their report, and to express their own determination.
But the agent refused to call such council, and assured them that their
homes and heritage were already sold, and that nothing now remained for
them to do but to prepare for removal.
The people of Alachua County, Florida, feeling indignant at the
determination of the Seminoles to remain in that Territory, addressed a
protest to the President of the United States, declaring that the
Seminoles did _not capture and return_ the fugitive slaves who fled to
the Indian country, according to their stipulations in the treaty of
Camp Moultrie, but rather afforded protection to them. They further
stated that while the Seminoles remained in the country no slaveholder
could enjoy his property in peace. This protest was signed by ninety of
the principal citizens of said county, and forwarded to the President.
This statement aroused the ire of the President, who at once indorsed on
the back of the petition an order to the Secretary of War to "inquire
into the alleged facts, and if found to be true, to direct the Seminoles
to _prepare to remove West and join the Creeks_." The order was
characteristic of the author. He waited not for the approval or
ratification of any treaty; with him the whole depended upon the alleged
fact of the Seminoles failing to bring in fugitive slaves--not upon
treaty, nor upon the ratification of treaties.[68]
[Sidenote: 1834.]
The Senate of the United States was subsequently called on by the
President to approve the treaty after the lapse of nearly two years from
its date. This was done, and the President by his proclamation
immediately declared it in force. It was said by public officers, then
in Florida, that had the Seminole delegation been permitted to give an
unbiased opinion to their people, there would not have been a man in the
Nation willing to migrate.[69]
The whole Nation became indignant at this treatment, and such was the
feeling against the agent that he deemed it prudent to retire from the
agency. General Wiley Thompson was appointed to succeed him. General
Clinch was appointed to the command of the troops, and every preparation
was made to insure the speedy removal of the Indians and Exiles west of
the Mississippi.
In the meantime, the Creeks learning that a tract of country was, by the
additional treaty, agreed to be set off to the separate use of the
Seminoles, saw clearly the influence which Abraham had exercised in the
matter, and, fearing their own designs for obtaining slaves would be
defeated through their principal chiefs, addressed a protest to the
Hon. Lewis Cass, then Secretary of War, remonstrating against the policy
of giving the Seminoles a _separate_ country.
These chiefs were sagacious men, who had attained distinction with the
Creeks by their manifestation of superior intelligence. Two of them,
Rolley McIntosh and Chilley McIntosh, sons of a Scotch trader who lived
with the Indians, had been educated, and were regarded as among the able
politicians of the day. They, together with "Toshatchee Mieco" and
"Lewis," urged the propriety of uniting the two tribes as one people,
without any separate organization. The next day they addressed another
letter to Secretary Cass, giving additional reasons and arguments why
the Seminoles should not have separate lands.[70]
The President had already adopted the policy of compelling the Seminoles
to unite under one government with the Creeks: and this stipulation for
_separate_ lands was introduced into the "additional treaty," by
commissioners who were not fully informed of the President's views. This
compact, entered into at Fort Gibson, erroneously called an "additional
treaty," was known to be void: neither the Seminole chiefs nor the
United States commissioners had authority to negotiate any treaty
whatever; and this stipulation, for holding separate lands by the
Seminoles, appears to have been totally disregarded by the Executive, as
will more fully appear hereafter.
Another circumstance had induced the Creeks to remain silent in regard
to the Exiles. By the treaty of Indian Spring, they had placed at the
President's disposal $250,000, out of which the slaveholders of Georgia
were to be paid for slaves and property lost prior to 1802. The
commissioners appointed to make the examination found but $109,000 due
the claimants under this stipulation, leaving in the hands of the
President $141,000 belonging to the Creeks. This, however, was claimed
by the slaveholders, in addition to the amount allowed by the treaty. To
obtain this money the slaveholders sent their petition to Congress. The
subject was referred to a committee, of which Mr. Gilmer, of Georgia,
was Chairman. The committee made a very elaborate report, setting forth
that the claimants had an equitable right to this money as an indemnity
"_for the loss of the offspring which the Exiles would have borne to
their masters had they remained in bondage_," and it is among the
inexplicable transactions of that day, that the bill passed, giving the
money to those claimants without the uttering of a protest, or the
statement of an objection, by any Northern representative or senator.
The Creeks now having paid the full amount stipulated in the treaty, and
being robbed of the $141,000, to compensate the slaveholders for
children who had never been born, were excited to madness. They believed
themselves to hold the beneficial interest in the bodies of the Exiles,
and determined to obtain possession of them.[71] They immediately sent a
delegation to the Seminoles to demand possession of the Exiles as their
slaves.
While the Creeks were thus demanding possession of the refugees, the
Executive of the United States and his officers were endeavoring to
compel them to go West, where the Creeks could, without opposition, lay
hands upon them and enslave them.
The six Seminole chiefs holding reservations upon the Appalachicola
River owned some slaves, and with those slaves some of the Exiles had
intermarried. Each chief, by the terms of the treaty of Camp Moultrie,
was permitted to name the _men_ who were to reside with him, and such
chief became responsible for the conduct of the persons thus named;
while the United States stipulated to "afford the chiefs and their
people _protection against all persons whatsoever_."
The white settlements had extended to the vicinity of these
reservations, and the Exiles and Seminole slaves living on them were
more immediately exposed to the rapacity of the whites than were those
in the interior of the territory.
[Sidenote: 1835.]
The mania for obtaining slaves by piratical violence, seems to have
reached a point almost incredible to the people of the free States.
E-con-chattimico was one of the chiefs whose reservation lay on the west
side of the river. He had long been highly respected by the whites. He
owned some twenty slaves, who were residing with him in a state of
partial freedom--paying him an annual stipend of provisions for their
time, and holding such property as they could acquire. Connected with
these slaves, and with some of the Indians on the Reservation, were
about an equal number of Exiles, who had never known slavery, but whose
ancestors, in former generations, had toiled in bondage. Unwilling to
separate from their intimate friends and connexions, they had, as stated
in a former chapter, come here to occupy, with E-con-chattimico and his
friends, one of the extensive plantations which had been occupied by
their brethren who fell at Blount's Fort, in 1816. The chief had named
them as his friends, and a record of the fact had been deposited in the
office of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs; and for their conduct
E-con-chattimico was responsible, under the treaty of "Camp Moultrie;"
while, by the same instrument, the faith of the nation had been solemnly
pledged "to protect them _against all persons whatsoever_."
The piratical slave-dealers of Georgia looked upon these people, both
Exiles and slaves, with strong desire to possess them. One of these
fiends in human shape, named Milton, residing in Columbus, Georgia,
professed to have purchased them from a Creek Indian. The claim was
presented to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and by him referred to
Judge Cameron, of the United States District Court in Florida, for
examination.
The chief being a man of influence and respected by the whites, found
friends to espouse his cause. The claimant began to doubt his success
under such circumstances, and proposed to withdraw his claim; but so
flagrant was its fraudulent character, that Judge Cameron felt it his
duty to report upon it, showing it to be void.[72] This report was duly
transmitted to the proper department at Washington, and the Old Chief,
with his people, once more reposed in apparent security.
It has been alleged, that men who so far paralyze their own moral
sensibilities as to rob their fellow-men of their labor, their liberty,
their manhood, and hold them in degrading bondage, can not entertain any
clear conceptions of right and wrong. However this may be, it is certain
that men who deal in slaves, are ever regarded, even by slaveholders, as
destitute of moral sentiment.
In this case, Milton, finding that Judge Cameron had reported the claim
to be fraudulent and void, professed to sell his interest in these
people to certain other slaveholders, of Columbus. These men provided
themselves with chains, and fetters, and bloodhounds, and all the
paraphernalia of regular slave-dealers upon the African coast, and
descending the river in a steamboat, intended to surprise their victims
before any notice should be given of their approach. But some friendly
white, who had learned the intentions of the pirates, had whispered to
the aged chief the danger which threatened his people. They were soon
armed, and prepared to defend themselves or die in the attempt. The
desperadoes landed upon the Reservation; but finding the people armed,
and ready to receive them in a becoming manner, they retired into the
country and alarmed the settlers, by proclaiming that E-con-chattimico
had armed his people and was about to make war upon the whites. The news
flew in all directions; troops were mustered into service; an army was
organized and marched to the Reservation, and the proper officer sent,
with a white flag, to demand the object and intentions of the chief, in
arming his people. The old man was most indignant that his honor should
be impugned in such manner. He fully explained the cause which induced
his people to convene, and assume a hostile attitude towards those who
had come to rob them of their liberty.
The officers, who sympathized with the pirates, were sustained by
military force. They assured the old man that no persons should be
allowed to injure him or his people; that the country was alarmed, and
the public mind could only be pacified by a surrender of his arms and
ammunition. To this proposition he was constrained to yield. They took
his arms and ammunition, and left him defenseless. They remained
undisturbed, however, during the night; but the next morning the
slave-hunters returned, fully armed. They seized every negro residing
upon the Reservation, including both Exiles and the slaves of
E-con-chattimico, and, fastening the manacles upon their limbs, hurried
them off to Georgia, where they were sold into interminable
bondage.[73][74] They, and their ancestors, had enjoyed a hundred years
of freedom; but they were suddenly precipitated into all the sufferings
and sorrows of slavery, and now toil in chains, or have departed to that
land where slavery is unknown.
E-con-chattimico petitioned Congress for indemnity, but obtained no
redress. Neither the President, nor the Secretary of War, manifested any
interest in maintaining our most solemn treaty obligations with the
Indians, or attempted any redress for their violation. Disheartened and
broken down in spirits, E-con-chattimico yielded to General Jackson's
orders, emigrated to the western country, and spent the remainder of his
days in poverty and want.
Nor were the piracies of the white people confined to the crime of
kidnapping Exiles. They robbed the Indians and Exiles of horses, cattle
and money.
A chief named Blunt also held a reservation on the river, under the
treaty of Camp Moultrie. He had some friends among the Exiles who
preferred to occupy, with him, one of the plantations left destitute by
the murder of the people at "Blount's Fort," in 1816. He too had named
his friends and become responsible for their conduct, and relied upon
the pledged faith of the nation to protect them.
Some desperadoes, said to have come from Georgia, entered his
plantation, robbed him of a large amount of money, and carried away all
the negroes living on the Reserve.
Another chief named Walker, also residing on a reservation, with some
slaves and Exiles, discovered that a notorious slave-catcher from
Georgia, named Douglass, and some associates, were hanging around his
plantation, with the apparent intention of capturing and enslaving the
colored people. Warned by the outrage committed upon E-con-chattimico
and his people, both Indians and negroes collected together, armed
themselves, and determined to resist any violence that should be offered
them.
When the piratical Georgians approached, they fired upon them. Finding
the people armed and determined to resist, the manstealers retreated and
disappeared. Feeling they were in danger, Walker wrote the Agent of the
Seminoles, calling for protection, according to the stipulations of the
treaty of Camp Moultrie. In his letter he says, "Are the free negroes
(Exiles), and negroes belonging to this town (slaves), to be _stolen
away publicly_ in the face of law and justice--carried off and sold to
fill the pockets of those worse than land pirates?"
This appeal was in vain. The Agent paid no attention to it. The
kidnappers were vigilant and watchful, and when their victims supposed
themselves safe, they stole upon them, seized them, and hurried them off
to the interior of Alabama, and sold them into slavery.
The scenes so often witnessed upon the slave coast of Africa became
common in Florida; while Georgia, and Alabama, and Florida, afforded a
class of men in no respect superior in morals to those outlaws and
pirates who pursue the foreign slave trade.
The dangers threatening the Exiles now became imminent. They saw clearly
they were to be enslaved, or compelled to resort to arms in defense of
their liberties. Their entire influence was exercised to prevent
emigration, as they feared that would subject them to Creek jurisdiction
and enslavement.
These objections were made known to the Department at Washington by the
Agent of the Seminoles, Wiley Thompson, who, in plain and unmistakable
language, informed the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, that the
principal objection to removing West which operated upon the minds of
the Seminoles arose from the claim of the Creeks to those people who had
fled from Georgia prior to 1802, and extending back to the commencement
of the Revolutionary War. He assured the Department, that if the
Seminoles were compelled to remove West, _these descendants of the
Exiles would be enslaved by the Creeks_, and if they remained in
Florida, they would be enslaved by the whites. He told the Department in
plain language, that many of those negroes who had been born and raised
among the Indians had been enslaved by the people of Florida and of
Georgia, and were then held in bondage.[75]
Among other officers who espoused the cause of humanity at that period,
so interesting to the Exiles, was the veteran General Clinch. He was a
man of great probity of character--one of the most gallant officers in
the service--at the time in actual command of the troops in Florida. He
had long been acquainted with the Indians, and no man perhaps better
understood the character of the Exiles. He had twenty years before
commanded, the troops at the massacre of "Blount's Fort," and well
understood the persecutions to which the Exiles had been subjected. In
strong language, he pointed out the wrong about to be perpetrated upon
them, as well as upon the Seminoles. He informed the Secretary of War,
in direct and positive language, that if the Seminoles and their "negro
allies" were sent West, the _negroes would be enslaved by the
Creeks_.[76]
Hon. John H. Eaton, Governor of Florida, a warm personal and political
friend of the President, in whom it was believed the Executive reposed
great confidence, also wrote the department, delineating the wrongs
about to be perpetrated upon these colored people, who for several
generations had resided with the Seminoles.
These and other officers of Government united in the opinion, that these
"_negroes_," as they were generally called, exerted a controlling
influence over the Indians, and that it would be in vain to attempt the
removal of the Indians under these circumstances.
To these remonstrances, the Hon. Secretary of War, General Cass,
replied, with apparent determination to remove the Indians at any
expense of blood, of treasure, and of national reputation. The appeals
made to the justice of our Government were stigmatized "as the
promptings of a _false philanthropy_;" and our agents and officers were
directed to inform the Seminoles, in peremptory language, that they must
emigrate to the western country.
Laboring under the delusion that official station would add a
controlling influence to his language, General Cass transmitted to the
Indian Agent a speech, addressed to the Seminoles and their allies, in
which he endeavored to persuade them to emigrate and join the Creeks,
and subject themselves to Creek authority. The Seminoles and their
friends listened to the speech with that respectful attention which
would be expected from men who knew their lives and liberties were in
danger.
It was at one of these consultations, in the presence of their Agent,
that "Osceola," at that time a young warrior, attracted attention by
saying, "_this is the only treaty I will ever make with the whites_,"
at the same time drawing his knife and striking it forcibly into the
table before him.[77]
It was at this period that abandoned white men conceived the plan of
buying negroes from Seminoles while in a state of intoxication, and
selling them to the white people. If they could get an Indian drunk,
they could of course obtain from him a bill of sale of any negro they
pleased, whether the Indian had any title to him or not. This plan of
separating the Seminoles from their colored friends, it was thought
would conduce to their removal.
Applications to enter the Indian Territory for the purpose of purchasing
slaves were referred by the Secretary of War to the Commissioner of
Indian Affairs, and by the latter officer to the Attorney General Felix
Grundy, who gravely reported, that he "saw no good reason why the white
people should not be permitted to buy slaves of the Indians;" and the
President having considered the matter, ordered permission to be granted
for that purpose.
Officers who were in Florida saw at once that this policy would kindle
the smothered indignation of the Indians and Exiles into a flame. The
Agent of the Seminoles, refusing to obey the orders thus given,
remonstrated against the policy in a letter addressed to the head of the
Department, in which he says: "The remark in your letter that it is not
presumed the condition of these negroes (the Exiles) would be worse than
that of others in the same section of country is true; yet you will
agree that the same remark would apply to _you, to me, or to any other
individual of the United States_, as we should, if subjected to slavery,
be in the precise condition of other slaves."
So general and so great was the indignation excited by this order for
establishing a commerce in human flesh with drunken Seminoles, that it
was soon after countermanded; yet the immediate emigration of the
Indians was urged with increased earnestness, although the Department of
War was informed by nearly every officer in the military and Indian
service of Florida, that they could not be induced to emigrate, so long
as the Exiles should be regarded as in danger of being subjected to
Creek authority.
But the stern decree had gone forth that "the Indians should prepare to
emigrate West and _join the Creeks;_" and the necessary preparations
were hurried forward both in the Military and Civil Departments of
Government. The Exiles and Seminoles saw clearly the terrible
alternative to which they were soon to be driven, and they turned their
attention to active preparations for the conflict. Their crops were
carefully secured; their cattle driven far into the interior; and their
women and children removed from the frontier to places of safety. They
omitted no opportunity of securing powder and lead; and while
associating with the white people, they manifested a bold contempt and
dislike for them, which gave gloomy forebodings of the future.