VIGOROUS PROSECUTION OF THE WAR.
General Zachary Taylor--His character and past service--His
expedition--Battle of Okechobee--His loss--Returns to
Withlacoochee--Repudiates the work of catching Slaves--Exiles
delivered over to bondage--Regular Troops despise such
Employment--Indian prisoners indignant at the outrages perpetrated
against the Exiles--Separated from Exiles--Are sent to
Charleston--Exiles to Tampa Bay--Further efforts to re-enslave
Exiles--General Jessup moves South--Skirmish of Loca
Hatchee--Erects Fort Jupiter--Is persuaded to propose peace on
basis of permitting Indians and Exiles to remain in Florida--Sends
one of the Exiles to the enemy with these propositions--He returns
with Hallec Hajo--Parties agree to hold Council and endeavor to
form Treaty on that basis--Indians and Exiles meet for that
purpose--Letter to Secretary of War--His answer--Indians and Exiles
treacherously seized--Their numbers--Alligator and others
surrender--Exiles sent to Fort Pike--Indians sent to Charleston.
[Sidenote: 1837.]
General Zachary Taylor was in command of an efficient force in the
western part of Florida, holding his head-quarters at Tampa Bay. He had
been thirty years in service; had distinguished himself in battle, and
was regarded as an officer of great merit. Looking to the honor of our
flag and the prestige of the service, he appears to have borne himself
entirely above all efforts to prostitute the powers of the nation to the
reënslavement of the Exiles. He was particularly opposed to the plan of
General Jessup, directing that all negroes captured should be the slaves
of the captors.[105]
It now became evident that there was hard fighting to be done. General
Taylor was at all times ready for such service. It is one of the
imperfections of human government, that the men who conceive and direct
the perpetration of great national crimes are usually exempt from the
immediate dangers which beset those who act merely as their instruments
in the consummation of transcendent wrongs. Had General Jackson and
General Cass been assured they would have been the first individuals to
meet death in their efforts to enslave the Exiles, it is doubtful
whether either of them would have been willing to adopt a policy which
should thus consign them to premature graves. Or had Mr. Van Buren, or
his Cabinet, at the time of which we are now writing, been conscious
that, in carrying on this war for slavery, they would fall victims to
their own policy, it may well be doubted whether either of them would
have laid down his life for the safety of that institution; yet they
were evidently willing to sacrifice our military officers and soldiers,
to maintain the degradation of the African race.
General Jessup had written General Taylor, that all hope of terminating
the war through the agency of the Cherokees, was at an end; that Sam
Jones and the Mickasukies had determined to fight to the last. He,
therefore, directed General Taylor to proceed, with the least possible
delay, against any portion of the enemy he might hear of within striking
distance. General Taylor at once concentrated such force as he deemed
necessary for the contemplated expedition. His little army was composed
of regulars and volunteers, including nearly one hundred Delaware and
Shawnee Indians, who had been induced to join the army under the
expectation of obtaining plunder by the capture of slaves. His whole
force amounted to nearly eleven hundred men. Conscious that he was
expected to encounter the full force of the enemy, if he could succeed
in bringing them to action, he left his artillery; divested his troops
of all heavy baggage, and prepared, as far as possible, for a rapid
movement. With him were some of the most valued officers in the service
of Government; men on whom he could rely with confidence, and who were
worthy to command veteran troops. With this force, he left his
encampment on the morning of the nineteenth of December, and directed
his coarse southeastwardly in the direction where, it was said, Sam
Jones and his forces were encamped. As he advanced into the interior, he
discovered signs of Indians; and, through the efforts of Captain Parks,
a half-breed chief, who commanded the Delawares and Shawnees, he induced
Jumper, and a few families of the Seminoles and some few Exiles, to come
in and emigrate under the articles of capitulation of March previous. On
the twenty-second of December, being the third day of their march, they
found conclusive evidence that they were in the vicinity of the enemies'
principal force, but found it difficult to bring them to action. That
night every precaution was taken against surprise. The necessary patrols
were kept out, sentinels doubled, and the troops slept upon their arms.
They confidently expected to engage the enemy the next day.
But the allies were cautious; they passed from swamps, through hommocks,
and over prairies, constantly keeping too far in advance of our army to
incur any danger. In this manner the whole of that day was occupied.
At night the troops bivouacked as on the previous night. They were in
the deepest recesses of the Indian Country, surrounded by swamps,
everglades and hommocks: through these they had groped their way for a
hundred miles. Up to this time, the mounted volunteers had managed to
keep their horses with them, knowing they might be useful in battle. But
the enemy indicated an unwillingness to encounter our troops with the
advantages which the mounted men would possess over them.
Early on the morning of the twenty-fourth, the troops were again put in
motion: the enemy keeping sufficiently in advance to be beyond the reach
of musket or rifle balls. General Taylor and his followers were in close
pursuit; and as the allies left a swamp, or hommock, or prairie, Taylor
and his men entered it, hoping to bring on a general action.
At about ten o'clock, the enemy were traced to a swamp of some
three-fourths of a mile in width, thickly covered with saw-grass, not
less than four feet in height. Through it flowed a turbid stream, whose
current was scarcely perceptible, while it seemed to stretch away to the
left in an endless savanna, and to the right it appeared to deepen into
an impassable morass. After the proper reconnoissance, it was found that
it could not be passed by horses; and on the farther side a thick
hommock reached down to the very edge of the swamp.
It was now plain that the enemy intended to make a stand at this point,
and give battle. Perhaps the whole territory did not furnish a more
advantageous position than that now occupied by the allied forces.
General Taylor saw at a glance the difficulties which lay before him. He
well understood the superiority of the enemy's position, but determined
to maintain the honor of the service. He did not hesitate in entering
upon the conflict. His arrangements were soon made. The volunteers were
directed to dismount, and act on foot. Knowing well that the battle was
to be fought here if anywhere, he directed his troops to divest
themselves of all baggage, which together with the horses, was left
under the charge of a small guard. His troops entered the swamp in two
lines. The first was composed of the volunteers, spies, and friendly
Indians, under the command of Colonel Gentry. They were ordered to
engage the enemy, and maintain their ground until reinforced; or, if
compelled to fall back, they were directed to form immediately in rear
of the second line, and await orders.
They entered the swamp in this manner at about twelve o'clock. The sun
was shining pleasantly, and a quiet stillness appeared to pervade the
scene around them. They passed the stream in safety, and the front line
was approaching the thick hommock in front. There, too, all was silent;
not an enemy to be seen; no voice was heard, nor could they discover any
evidence of animal life within the dense forest before them.
There, however, lay Wild Cat and his band, and the prophet and other
mighty chiefs of the nation with their followers. Wild Cat had been
stimulated to desperation by what he regarded the perfidy of General
Jessup, and his imprisonment at San Augustine, from which he had just
escaped. Most of the Exiles, who remained among the Seminoles, and were
capable of bearing arms, were collected here under their respective
leaders. They had retreated to this point for the purpose of separating
our troops from their horses, and then engaging them at such superior
advantage as would be most likely to insure victory. Their spies had
climbed into the very tops of the trees, whence they had witnessed every
movement of our troops in the swamp, and given constant information to
their comrades who were on the ground, and who, acting under the
information thus received, were enabled to place themselves directly in
front of those who were pursuing them. Every warrior was protected by a
tree, and the thick foliage of the hommock shielded every movement from
the scrutiny of our spies and officers.
Soon as the first line, commanded by Colonel Gentry, came within
point-blank shot of the hommock, the allies opened a heavy fire upon
them. The saw-grass was so high as partially to protect the bodies of
our men from view; but the fire was very fatal. Colonel Gentry, the
gallant commander of the volunteers, fell at the first fire; his son, an
interesting youth, acting as sergeant-major, was wounded almost at the
same moment. Captain Childs, and Lieutenants Rogers and Flanagan, of the
same regiment, and Acting Major Sconce, and Lieutenants Hare and Gordon
of the spies, and twenty-four men, fell wounded at the very commencement
of the action.
It was hardly to be expected that militia would stand such a fire. They
broke, fell back, and instead of halting in the rear of the regulars as
directed, they continued their flight across the swamp, to the place
where they left their horses; nor were the officers of General Taylor's
staff able to induce them again to join their comrades, who soon became
engaged in a most deadly conflict.
But the regulars moved steadily to the charge, under Colonel Thompson, a
most gallant and estimable officer. General Taylor says: "The weight of
the enemy's fire seemed to be concentrated upon five companies of the
6th Infantry, which not only stood firm, but continued to advance until
their gallant commander, Lieut. Colonel Thompson, and his adjutant,
Lieutenant Center, were killed; and every officer, with one exception,
as well as most of the non-commissioned officers, including the
sergeant-major, and four of the five orderly sergeants, were killed or
wounded. When that portion of the regiment retired a short distance and
re-formed, it was found that one of these companies had but _four men
untouched_."
Amid these difficulties, Lieut. Colonel Foster of the 4th Infantry, with
six companies, numbering about one hundred and fifty men, gained the
hommock in good order, and, after maintaining his ground a short time,
charged upon the allies and drove them from the field, with the loss of
nine Indians and one of the Exiles killed, and eleven wounded.
The battle commenced at half-past twelve M., and continued nearly three
hours, and proved the most desperate, and to our troops the most fatal
conflict which occurred during the war. It was past three o'clock in the
afternoon when the allies gave up the field, for which they had
contended against a force more than double their own numbers.
General Taylor and his surviving officers were now left to ascertain
their loss, and contemplate the expense of subduing even a savage
people, fighting for their homes, their firesides, their _liberties_.
And we are led to think if those Northern statesmen who, for many years
subsequent to that date, were accustomed to inquire, What has the nation
to do with slavery? had been present and propounded that question to
General Taylor or his officers, they would have been silently pointed to
_twenty-six dead bodies_ of their deceased comrades, then lifeless upon
the ground, and to _one hundred and twelve wounded officers and
soldiers_, who were prostrated in that swamp and hommock, suffering all
the pangs which mortals are capable of enduring; but the language of
their gallant commander better expresses his feelings than any which we
can command.
In his official report, General Taylor says: "We suffered much, having
twenty-six killed and one hundred and twelve wounded, among whom are
some of our most valuable officers. * * Soon as the enemy were
completely broken, I turned my attention to taking care of the wounded,
to facilitate their removal to my baggage, where I had ordered an
encampment to be formed. * * And here I trust I may be permitted to say,
that I experienced one of the most trying scenes of my life; and he who
could have looked on it with indifference, his nerves must have been
very differently organized from my own. Besides the killed, among whom
were some of my personal friends, there lay one hundred and twelve
officers and soldiers, who had accompanied me one hundred and forty-five
miles, through an unexplored wilderness, without guides; who had so
gallantly beaten the enemy, under my orders, in his strongest positions;
and who had to be conveyed back, through swamps and hommocks, from
whence we set out, without any apparent means of doing so."
The next day was occupied in burying the dead, making litters for the
transportation of the wounded, and preparing for their return to
Withlacoochee. One hundred and thirty-eight men had fallen in this
single conflict, victims to the policy of our Government, in attempting
to restore to a state of slavery men who abhorred and had fled from it.
The allies had also suffered severely. General Taylor reported that ten
of their dead and wounded were left on the field.[106] But no prisoners
were taken, no slaves were captured; and those Indians who had come from
Arkansas to Florida, for the purpose of sharing in slave-catching
forays, found it a far more dangerous employment, and one of more
difficulty, than they had expected.
On the morning of the twenty-sixth, General Taylor, with his sick and
wounded, left his encampment, and, after encountering great
difficulties, reached Withlacoochee on the thirty-first of December;
having been absent twelve days. He made a brief official report of this
expedition, and of the severe battle he had fought. This report was
quietly filed away in the War Department, and but few, even of our
public men, appeared to be fully conscious that he had performed
meritorious service in the Florida war.[107]
But while General Taylor was thus quietly engaged in the most hazardous
service, General Jessup was active in securing negroes, and employing
the military power of the nation, so far as able, to seize and return
fugitives to their owners. It would exceed the limits of our present
work, were we to notice the efforts of various individuals claiming to
have lost slaves. The Indian Bureau at Washington was engaged in this
service, and applications were constantly made for slaves to the
commanding officer. These applications were usually referred to some
quarter-master, or pay-master, for decision; and if such inferior
officer belonged to the militia, the person claimed was usually
delivered over to bondage, whether the claimant had ever seen him
previously or not. It is a matter of astonishment that our National
Administration, guided by a Northern President (Mr. Van Buren), should
have permitted a pay-master or quarter-master of militia, to sit in
grave examination of the right of their fellow-men to liberty; to act as
judge, jury and counselor, in cases involving the rights with which the
God of Nature had endowed them.
But to the honor of our army, it was said that both officers and men of
the regular service, generally held the work of catching slaves in
supreme contempt. More than three hundred heavy documentary pages were
communicated to Congress on this subject, nearly all of which are filled
with extracts of letters, reports, orders, opinions and directions
concerning slaves, connected with this Florida war.[108]
Great difficulty arose among the Indians in consequence of the
reënslavement of their friends, the Exiles. They felt the outrage with
as much apparent keenness as though it had been perpetrated upon
themselves. To prevent these difficulties, General Jessup separated the
Exiles from their Indian allies, whenever they surrendered or were taken
prisoners.[109]
In pursuance of this plan, he sent Osceola and the other Indians seized
at Fort Peyton; and Micanopy, and others who had come into his own camp
for the purpose of negotiating a treaty, to Charleston, South Carolina;
while the Exiles were sent, some to Tampa Bay and other places, to be
subjected to the inspection of men who professed to have been their
previous owners.
General Jessup, in the very elaborate defense of his proceedings, dated
July, 1838, justifies this policy of separating the Indians and Exiles
by saying, that he learned the year previous, from prisoners captured,
that the Indians through the Seminole negroes had entered into
arrangements with their slaves that so soon as hostilities should
commence, the latter were to join their masters, and take up arms
against the whites. This information, representing the Indians as
entering into negotiation with their own slaves _through_ the "Seminole
negroes" (Exiles), bears the character of fiction; yet it is gravely set
forth in an official report, and we are bound to treat it
respectfully.[110]
Under this arrangement--separating the Indians and Exiles--all the
relations of domestic life were disregarded. The Indian husband was
separated from the wife he had selected among the daughters of the
Exiles; and the Indian wife was separated from her more sable husband.
The darker colored prisoners were hurried to Tampa Bay, and the red men
and women were sent to Charleston for safe keeping.
Up to the commencement of the year 1838, General Jessup appears to have
been mostly employed in efforts to obtain peace by negotiation and in
directing the movements of various detachments of the army, who did not
require his personal attendance, and making arrangements for the
delivery of negroes to their supposed former owners; but had found very
little time to mingle in the dangers of the field. Brigadier General
Taylor had performed a most hazardous service; and it appeared proper
that the Commanding General should also strike a blow that would
distinguish his administration of the military department of the
territory.
[Sidenote: 1838.]
Early in January, he moved south, with about five hundred mounted men,
well provided. On the twenty-fourth, at about twelve o'clock, he
encountered the "allies," near the "Locka-Hatchee," and a short skirmish
followed, in which the General was himself wounded somewhat severely in
the arm. He lost seven men killed and thirty wounded. The enemy yielded
the field to our troops, but left neither dead nor wounded upon the
scene of conflict, nor is it known whether they sustained any loss
whatever. General Jessup expresses the belief that there were not more
than a hundred warriors engaged on the part of the enemy. On the
twenty-fifth, he erected a stockade called "Fort Jupiter." Here he lay
until the fifth of February, when he moved forward some twelve miles,
where, it is said, some of his officers--General Eaton and
others--proposed that General Jessup should make terms with the Indians
and their allies, and permit them to remain in the country, confining
them to the southern portion of the Territory. He, however, moved
forward another day's march, when, being called on by Colonel Twiggs,
and learning that it was the general desire of the officers, he says he
determined to send a messenger to the Indians, offering them peace.
The first messenger dispatched on this service was one of the Exiles,
or, as General Jessup called him, a "Seminole negro." This man soon
returned with several Indians, among whom was a sub-chief named "Hallec
Hajo," who was willing to hold a conference, and expressed a desire to
remain in the country; but said, if compelled, they must go West.
General Jessup insisted that "Toshkogee," the principal chief in that
neighborhood, should attend, and hold a Council the next day; and that
the Indians should give up their arms. Hallec Hajo at once refused to
comply with such condition. He would meet in Council, but would never
surrender his arms.
On the morning of the eighth of February, Toshkogee and Hallec Hajo met
General Jessup agreeably to appointment. An interchange of opinions and
views took place, and the General agreed to recommend the conclusion of
a peace upon the _basis of allowing the allies to remain in the
country_, and occupy a suitable portion of the southern part of the
Territory. It was also agreed that a certain territory, near the place
of negotiation, should be occupied by the Indians and their families,
where they should be safe, and might remain until the views of the
Executive should be ascertained.[111]
In pursuance of this arrangement of treating upon the basis of
permitting the allies to remain in the country, many of the Seminoles
and Exiles collected with the expectation that the agreement was to be
carried out in good faith.
On the next day, General Jessup addressed a long communication to the
Secretary of War, in which he gives his views upon the policy of
immediate emigration somewhat at length, and advises its abandonment in
the following language:
"In regard to the Seminoles, we have committed the error of attempting
to remove them when their lands were not required for agricultural
purposes; when they were not in the way of the white inhabitants, and
when the greater portion of their country was an unexplored wilderness,
of the interior of which we were as ignorant as of the interior of
China. We exhibit in our present contest the first instance, perhaps,
since the commencement of authentic history, of a nation employing an
army to explore a country, (for we can do little more than explore it,)
or attempting to remove a band of savages from one unexplored wilderness
to another."
"As a soldier, it is my duty, I am aware, not to comment upon the policy
of the Government, but to carry it out in accordance with my
instructions. I have endeavored faithfully to do so; but the prospect of
terminating the war in any reasonable time is any thing but flattering.
My decided opinion is, that, unless _immediate_ emigration be abandoned,
the war will continue for years to come, and at constantly accumulating
expense. Is it not, then, well worthy the serious consideration of an
enlightened Government whether, even if the wilderness we are traversing
could be inhabited by the white man, (which is not the fact,) the object
we are contending for would be worth the cost? I do not certainly think
it would; indeed, I do not consider the country south of
Chickasa-Hatchee worth the medicines we shall expend in driving the
Indians from it."
To this communication the Secretary of War replied: "In the present
stage of our relations with the Indians residing within the States and
Territories east of the Mississippi, including the Seminoles, it is
useless to recur to the principles and motives which induced the
Government to determine their removal to the West. The acts of the
Executive, and the laws of Congress, evince a determination to carry out
the measure, and it is to be regarded as the settled policy of the
country. In pursuance of this policy, the treaty of Payne's Landing was
made with the Seminoles; and the character of the officer employed on
the part of the Government is a guarantee of the perfectly fair manner
in which that negotiation was conducted and concluded. Whether the
Government ought not to have waited until the Seminoles were pressed
upon by the white population, and their lands become necessary to the
agricultural wants of the community, is not a question for the Executive
now to consider. The treaty has been ratified, and is the law of the
land; and the constitutional duty of the President requires that he
should cause it to be executed. I cannot, therefore, authorize any
arrangement with the Seminoles by which they will be permitted to
remain, or assign them any portion of the Territory of Florida as their
future residence."
"The Department indulged the hope, that, with the extensive means placed
at your disposal, the war by a vigorous effort might be brought to a
close this campaign. If, however, you are of opinion that, from the
nature of the country and the character of the enemy, such a result is
impracticable, and that it is advisable to make a temporary arrangement
with the Seminoles, by which the safety of the settlements and posts
will be secured throughout the summer, you are at liberty to do so."
General Jessup had previously represented the subjection of the
Seminoles as an object easily to be accomplished. He had so represented
in his letter to Mr. Blair, in 1836, which occasioned the withdrawal of
General Scott, and his own appointment to the command of the army in
Florida. He had himself been in command more than a year, and the War
Department was doubtless somewhat astonished at his recommendation now
to adopt the policy which the Indians and Exiles had from the first been
ready to accept. He was probably somewhat mortified at seeing his
proposition so coldly received, and the whole responsibility of carrying
it out placed upon himself, upon condition that he was _satisfied
nothing better_ could be accomplished. He had done all in his power to
effect the objects so much cherished by the Administration. But the
Secretary of War still urged the carrying out of the treaty of Payne's
Landing, not according to its letter and spirit, but according to the
unnatural and unexpected construction which General Jackson placed upon
it, after complaints were made against the Seminoles by the people of
Florida. It is also evident that no intention of executing it according
to the supplemental treaty entered into by the Seminole Delegates while
at the West, was entertained by the Administration. No measures had been
taken for establishing the boundaries between the Seminoles and the
Creeks; nor do we hear of any intention to fulfill that stipulation. On
the contrary, it had been constantly asserted by the Secretary of War,
that the Seminoles and Creeks were to be _united as one people_.
The Commanding General, in the opinion of many statesmen, had
compromited the honor of the service, and violated the plighted faith of
the nation by treacherously seizing Indians and Exiles who had
approached the army under the white flag, which had so long been
regarded as a sacred emblem of peace by all civilized nations; yet,
notwithstanding these circumstances, his propositions were in spirit
rejected, although in language he had been authorized to negotiate a
temporary peace upon the basis he had proposed.
It is believed that the substance of this answer had become to some
extent known, or suspected by the Indians, for General Jessup admits he
received the decision of the Secretary of War on the seventeenth; and on
the nineteenth, he directed the chiefs to meet him in Council on the
twentieth, at twelve o'clock. For some cause, the Indians and their
allies appear to have been indisposed to do this, and he directed
Colonel Twiggs to seize them, and hold them prisoners; and he reported
to the War Department that, by this movement, "five hundred and thirteen
Indians, and one hundred and sixty-five negroes, were secured."[112]
Of this transaction we can only speak from the account given of it by
General Jessup. From his report, certain important facts are clearly
understood. For instance, he announces to the Indians and Exiles a
proposition to treat with them, _upon the basis of permitting them to
remain in the country_. That, for the purpose of entering into such a
negotiation, they collected near Fort Jupiter; and that, without any
attempt to negotiate, and while they were in his camp, they were
unexpectedly seized against their will; and that Passac Micco, and
fourteen others, escaped capture. Nor does General Jessup pretend that
one of those six hundred and seventy-eight persons _voluntarily_
surrendered. It is certain, that however honorable the intentions of
General Jessup were, the Indians and the Exiles were deceived, and, as
they believed, treacherously dealt with.
The official register of colored persons seized at Fort Jupiter,
represents one hundred and fifty-one as properly belonging to the
Seminoles, or as "_Seminole negroes_," the term usually applied to the
Exiles by General Jessup and his officers; and fourteen are represented
as the slaves of citizens of Florida. These people were soon hurried off
to Tampa Bay, where they were confined within the pickets, under a
strong guard. Fort Brooke now presented to the eye of a stranger all the
external appearances of a first class "slave factory" upon the African
coast. The Exiles who had been betrayed at Fort Peyton and other places,
and not delivered over to slave-hunters, were also here; and the number
had so greatly increased, that many had to be sent to New Orleans for
safe keeping.
When the Exiles seized at Fort Jupiter arrived at Tampa Bay, they found,
among those already there, many old acquaintances, friends and
relatives, who had been taken at other places. Families, in some
instances long separated, were once more united; husbands, whose wives
and children had been seized and long imprisoned at Tampa Bay, now
rejoined their families, and were in some degree compensated for the
mortification of having been made prisoners by treachery.
But fathers and husbands, whose children and wives were captured by the
Creeks near Withlacoochee and other places during the previous year, now
looked around for their families in vain. On making inquiry, they were
informed their friends had been taken to Fort Pike, which had now become
a general depot for the imprisonment of Exiles.
The Indians who had been captured by this "coup d'etat," were sent to
Charleston, South Carolina, for safe keeping; and the negroes reported
upon the registry as "slaves of citizens of Florida," were without
ceremony delivered over to those who claimed to be their masters.
* * * * *
We have now reached a period of the war at which we are constrained to
admit our inability to give a full or accurate history of the various
captures of Exiles, or of the reënslavement of those captured.
Captain Sprague, who had the advantages of personal observation and
experience during the war, says that General Hernandez of the Florida
Militia, serving principally in the eastern part of the Territory,
"captured some important chiefs, and restored to citizens more than
_three hundred negroes_ who had been captured by the Indians." But the
means which he used for their capture is not stated.
General Jessup informs us, also, that Abraham, the negro chief, and two
Indians, were sent to the Seminoles west of the Okechobee, and prevailed
upon Alligator, and three hundred and sixty Indians and negroes, to
surrender to Colonel Smith and General Taylor. But what proportion of
this number were Exiles, we are not informed; nor are we told of the
means used, or the assurances given, to induce them to surrender. It is
certain, that many of the chiefs alleged that the Cherokee Delegation
assured their friends, that they would be permitted to remain in their
own country, and that the President was desirous of making peace upon
those terms; and General Jessup says, that the negro chief Abraham, and
another negro interpreter named Auguste, gave the same information.
Abraham had in fact dictated the supplemental treaty, entered into by
the delegation while in the Western Country, and was made to believe, at
all times, that the Government would fulfill, and abide by, the terms of
this supplemental treaty. It was on this conviction that he acted, and
he appears never to have doubted the good faith of the Executive until
he actually arrived in the Western Country.