FURTHER DIFFICULTIES IN PROSECUTING THE WAR.
Emigrants under Captain Morrison--Feeling among the Regular
Troops--They detest the practice of catching Negroes--Another party
Emigrate--Still further Emigration--Situation of the Exiles--Deep
depravity of the Administration--General McComb's Treaty--His
general order--Peace cheers the Nation--Citizens of Florida return
to their homes--Administration congratulates its friends--More
murders perpetrated--Planters flee to villages for
protection--Massacre of Colonel Harney's party--Indians seized at
Fort Mellon--Exiles refuse to participate in those massacres--They
would make no Treaty--Administration paralyzed--Report of Secretary
of War--Its character--Barbarous sentiments of Governor
Reid--Resolution of Legislature of Florida in favor of employing
blood-hounds--Original object in obtaining them--The effort proves
a failure--General Taylor retires from command of Army--Is
succeeded by General Armistead.
We now resume our chronological narration of events connected with the
Exiles of Florida, during the year 1838.
On the fourteenth of June, Captain Morrison arrived at New Orleans from
Tampa Bay in charge of some three hundred Indians and thirty negroes, on
their way to the West; he having been assigned to that particular duty.
These Indians and Exiles had most of them come to Fort Jupiter by advice
of the Cherokees, and surrendered under the capitulation of March, 1837.
At the time they reached New Orleans, Lieutenant Reynolds was absent
with his first emigrating party; and the thirty-one negroes left at New
Orleans were at that time in the hands of the Sheriff. Captain Morrison
felt it his duty to hasten the emigration of those whom he had in
charge, and on the sixteenth, he left that city with his prisoners for
the Indian Country without waiting the return of Lieutenant Reynolds. On
reaching Fort Gibson, he delivered them over to the officer acting as
Seminole Agent for the Western Country, and they soon rejoined their
friends who were located on the Cherokee lands.
It may not be improper to state, that, in several of our recent
chapters, we have quoted from official documents pretty freely, for the
reason that many living statesmen, as well as many who have passed to
their final rest, were deeply involved in those transactions, and we
desired to make them speak for themselves as far as the documents would
enable us to do so. But as we have narrated most of the scenes involving
individuals in transactions of such deep moral turpitude, we hope to be
more brief in our future history.
When General Taylor assumed the command of the army, there was a feeling
of deep disgust prevalent among the regular troops at the practice of
seizing and enslaving the Exiles.
We have already noticed the fact, that the citizens of Florida supposed
the war to have been commenced principally to enable them to get
possession of negroes whom they might enslave. Indeed, they appear not
to have regarded it as material, that the claimant should have
previously owned the negro. If they once obtained control of his person,
he was hurried into the interior of Georgia, Alabama, or South Carolina,
where he was sold and held as a slave. And the Florida volunteers, while
nominally in service, appear to have been far more anxious to catch
negroes than to meet the enemy in battle.
This feeling was so general among the people and troops of Florida, that
General Call, Governor of the Territory, recommended to the Secretary of
War that military expeditions should be fitted out for the purpose of
going into the Indian Country, in order to capture negroes, who, when
captured, _should be sold, and the avails of such sales applied to
defray the expenses of the war_.
It is easy to see that this feeling would lead the regular troops to
entertain great contempt for the volunteers of Florida; and a
corresponding feeling of hostility would arise on the part of such
volunteers toward the regular troops.
These feelings operated upon President Jackson in ordering the
withdrawal of General Scott; and General Jessup sought to appease this
hostility by obeying the dictates of the slave power. Indeed, whatever
appears like a violation of pledged faith, or bears the evidence of
treachery on the part of General Jessup, may probably with great justice
be attributed to the popular sentiment of the Territory. He had
assiduously captured, and delivered over to bondage, hundreds of persons
whom he had most solemnly covenanted to "_protect in their persons and
property_."
General Taylor discarded this entire policy. His first efforts were to
make the Indians and Exiles understand that he sought their emigration
to the Western Country, for the advancement of their own interest and
happiness. Owing to these circumstances there was scarcely any blood
shed in Florida while he had command. The army was no longer employed to
hunt and to chase down women and children, who had been reared in
freedom among the hommocks and everglades of that Territory.
There were yet remaining several small bands of Indians upon the
Appalachicola River, and in its vicinity. Most of the Exiles who had a
few years previously resided with these bands, had been captured by
pirates from Georgia, and taken to the interior of that State and sold,
as the reader has been already informed. Those of E-con-chattimico's and
of Blunt's and of Walker's bands were nearly all kidnapped; but of the
number of Exiles who remained with the other remnants of Indian Tribes,
resident upon the Appalachicola River, we have no reliable information.
We are left in doubt on this point, as General Taylor drew no
distinctions among his prisoners; he neither constituted himself nor his
officers a tribunal for examining the complexion or the pedigree of his
captives. He denied the right of any citizen to inspect the people
captured by the army under his command, or to interfere in any way with
the disposal of his prisoners. He repaired to the Apalachee towns with
a small force about the first of October. Neither the Indians nor Exiles
made any resistance; nor did they oppose emigration. They readily
embarked for New Orleans on their way westward. Their emigration was not
delayed in order to give planters an opportunity to examine the negroes.
Under the general term of "Apalachees," two hundred and twenty persons
were quietly emigrated to the Western Country; but, as we have already
stated, how many of them were negroes, we have no information. These
people were also delivered over to the agent, acting for the Western
Indians, and settled with their brethren upon the Cherokee lands.
General Taylor now entered upon a new system for prosecuting the war, by
establishing posts and manning them, and by assigning to each a
particular district of country, over which their scouts and patroles
were to extend their daily reconnoisances.
[Sidenote: 1839.]
Small parties of Indians and negroes occasionally came in at different
posts, and surrendered under the articles of capitulation of March,
1837; and, on the twenty-fifth of February, one hundred and ninety-six
Indians and _negroes_ were embarked at Tampa Bay for the Western
Country. But the proportion of negroes, compared with the whole number,
is not stated in any official report. General Taylor, in his
communications, speaks of them as _prisoners_, and occasionally uses the
terms "Indians and negroes".
Thus, in less than a year, General Taylor shipped more than four hundred
prisoners for the Western Country without bloodshed. These prisoners
were also delivered over to the Indian Agent of the Western Country, and
immediately reunited with their brethren already located on the Cherokee
lands. There were, at that time, a colony of more than sixteen hundred
of these people living upon the territory assigned to the Cherokees.
They were without homes, or a country of their own: whereas the
Government had constantly held out to them the assurance that, if they
emigrated West, they should have a country assigned to their _separate
use_, on which they could repose in safety.
At this point in our history, Mr. Van Buren's administration exhibited
its deepest depravity. Since the ratification of the supplemental treaty
of 1833, the Executive, through all its officers, had assured the
Indians and Exiles that they should enjoy its full benefits, by having a
territory set off to their separate use, where they could live
independent of Creek laws. Under these assurances they had received the
pledged faith of the nation, that they should be _protected_ by the
United States in their persons and property.
With these pledges, and with these expectations, a weak and friendless
people had emigrated to that western region; and when thus separated
from their friends and country, with the slave-catching vultures of the
Creek Nation watching and intending to make them their future victims,
the President deliberately refused to abide by either the treaty or the
articles of capitulation. He left them unprotected, without homes, and
without a country which they could call their own. True, many of them
had been betrayed, treacherously seized and compelled to emigrate; but
this was done in violation of the existing treaty and pledged faith of
the nation, which they were constantly assured should be faithfully
observed; and these circumstances enhanced the guilt of those who
wielded the Executive power to oppress them.
Major General McComb arrived in Florida (May 20) for the purpose of
effecting a new treaty with the Seminoles upon the basis of _permitting
them to remain in their native land_. The war had been waged with the
intent and for the purpose of compelling the Indians to emigrate West
and settle with the Creeks, and become subject to the Creek laws. It had
continued three years at a vast expenditure of treasure and of national
reputation. Many valuable lives had also been sacrificed; and, although
some two thousand Indians and Exiles had emigrated West, not one Exile
had settled in the Creek Country, or become subject to Creek laws. Some
hundreds had been enslaved and sold in Florida, Georgia, Alabama and
South Carolina; but a remnant of that people, numbering some hundreds,
yet maintained their liberties against all the machinations and efforts
of Government to reënslave them.[122]
The vast expenditure of national treasure had called forth severe
animadversion in Congress; while the entire policy of the slave power
forbid all explanation of the real cause of this war, and of the objects
for which its prosecution was continued.
Thus, while the nation was involved in a most expensive and disastrous
contest for the benefit of slavery, the House of Representatives had
adopted resolutions for suppressing all discussion and all agitation of
questions relating to that institution.
General Scott, a veteran officer of our army, had exhausted his utmost
science; had put forth all his efforts to conquer this indomitable
people; or rather to subdue the love of liberty, the independence of
thought and of feeling, which stimulated them to effort; but he had
failed. The power of our army, aided by deception, fraud and perfidy,
had been tried in vain. General Jessup, the most successful officer who
had commanded in Florida, had advised peace upon the precise terms which
the allies demanded at the commencement of the war; and General McComb,
Commander-in-Chief of the army of the United States, was now
commissioned to negotiate peace on those terms. But the first difficulty
was to obtain a hearing with the chiefs who remained in Florida, in
order to enter upon negotiations touching a pacification. To effect this
object, recourse was had to a negro, one of the Exiles who knew General
Taylor, and in whom General Taylor confided. At the request of General
McComb, this man was dispatched with a friendly message to several
chiefs, requesting them to come into the American Camp for the purpose
of negotiation. His mission proved successful. A Council of several
chiefs, and some forty head men and warriors, was convened at Fort King,
on the sixteenth of May, 1839, and the terms of peace agreed upon; but
no treaty appears to have been drawn up in form. On the eighteenth of
May, General McComb, at Fort King, his head-quarters, issued the
following general orders:
"HEAD QUARTERS OF THE ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES,}
_Fort King, Florida_, May 18, 1839. }
"The Major General, commanding in chief, has the satisfaction of
announcing to the army in Florida, to the authorities of the
Territory, and to the citizens generally, that he has this day
terminated the war with the Seminole Indians by an agreement
entered into with Chitto-Tustenuggee, principal chief of the
Seminoles and successor to Arpeika, commonly called Sam. Jones,
brought to this post by Lieutenant Colonel Harney, 2d Dragoons,
from the southern part of the peninsula. The terms of the agreement
are--that hostilities immediately cease between the parties; that
the troops of the United States and the Seminole and Mickasukie
chiefs and warriors, now at a distance, be made acquainted with the
fact, that peace exists, and that all hostilities are forthwith to
cease on both sides--the Seminoles and Mickasukies agreeing to
retire into a district of country in Florida, below Pease Creek,
the boundaries of which are as follows: viz, beginning at the most
southern point of land between Charlotte Harbor and the Sanybel or
Cooloosahatchee River, opposite to Sanybel Island; thence into
Charlotte Harbor by the southern pass between Pine Island and that
point along the eastern shore of said harbor to Toalkchopko or
Pease Creek; thence up said creek to its source; thence easterly to
the northern point of Lake Istokopoga; thence along the eastern
outlet of said lake, called Istokopoga Creek, to the Kissimee
River; thence southerly down the Kissimee to Lake Okeechobee;
thence south through said lake to Ecahlahatohee or Shark River;
thence down said river westwardly to its mouth; thence along the
seashore northwardly to the place of beginning; that sixty days be
allowed the Indians, north and east of that boundary, to remove
their families and effects into said district, where they are to
remain until further arrangements are made under the protection of
the troops of the United States, who are to see that they are not
molested by intruders, citizens or foreigners; and that said
Indians do not pass the limits assigned them, except to visit the
posts, which will be hereafter indicated to them. All persons are,
therefore, forbidden to enter the district assigned to the Indians
without written permission of some commanding officer of a military
post."
"By command of the General: ALEXANDER McCOMB,
_Major General Commanding_.
EDMOND SHRIVER,
Captain and A. A. General."
The country now again rejoiced at what the people regarded as the
restoration of peace. By the terms agreed upon, the Indians retained as
large a territory in proportion to the number left in Florida as was
held by them at the commencement of the war.
The people of Florida had originally petitioned General Jackson for the
forcible removal of the Indians, because they would not seize and bring
in their fugitive slaves. They had protested against peace upon any
terms that should leave the negroes, whom they claimed, in the Indian
Country. These citizens of Florida had long since been driven from their
homes and firesides by the enemy whom they so much despised; and they
now desired peace. The Indians and Exiles were also anxious to cultivate
corn and potatoes for the coming winter, and were glad to be able to do
so in peace.
Thus, the people of Florida, as they supposed, in perfect safety,
returned to their plantations, and resumed their former habits of life.
And the political party in possession of the Government, congratulated
themselves and the country upon the fortunate conclusion of a war which
had involved them in difficulties that were inexplicable.
But this quiet continued for a short time only. Early in July, travelers
and express-riders were killed by small parties of Indians; plantations
were attacked and the occupants murdered; buildings burned and crops
destroyed; families fled from their homes, leaving all their property,
in order to assemble in villages in such numbers as to insure safety to
their persons; and the Florida War again raged with accumulated horrors.
As an illustration of the manner in which it was carried on, we quote
the following:
"ASSISTANT ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, ARMY OF THE SOUTH,}
_Fort Brooke, East Florida_, July 29, 1839. }
"SIR: It becomes my painful duty to inform you of the assassination
of the greater part of Lieutenant Colonel Harney's detachment, by
the Indians, on the morning of the 23d instant, on the
Coloosahatchee River, where they had gone, in accordance with the
treaty at Fort King, to establish a trading-house. The party
consisted of about twenty-eight men, armed with Colt's rifles; they
were encamped on the river, _but unprotected by defenses of any
kind_, and, it is said, without sentinels. The Indians, in large
force, made the attack before the dawn of day, and before reveillé;
and it is supposed that thirteen of the men were killed, among whom
were Major Dalham and Mr. Morgan, sutlers. The remainder, with
Colonel Harney, escaped, several of them severely wounded. It was a
complete surprise. The Commanding General, therefore, directs that
you instantly take measures to place the defenses at Fort Mellon in
the most complete state of repair, and be ready at all times to
repel attack, should one be made. No portion of your command will,
in future, be suffered to leave the garrison except under a strong
escort. The detachment will be immediately withdrawn. Should Fort
Mellon prove unhealthy, and the surgeon recommend its abandonment,
you are authorized to transfer the garrison, and reinforce some of
the neighboring posts.
"I am, Sir,
GEO. H. GRIFFIN,
_Assistant Adjutant General_.
Lieutenant W. K. HANSON,
Commanding at Fort Mellon."
The Indians killed ten men belonging to the military service, and eight
citizens, employed by the sutlers; while Colonel Harney and fourteen
others escaped. The Indians obtained fourteen rifles, six carbines, some
three or four kegs of powder, and about three thousand dollars worth of
goods.
Lieutenant Hanson, commanding at Fort Mellon, on receiving the order
which we have quoted, seized some thirty Indians at that time visiting
Fort Mellon, and sent them immediately to Charleston, South Carolina;
whence they were embarked for the Indian Country, west of Arkansas,
where they joined their brethren, who still resided upon the Cherokee
Territory.
In these transactions, the Exiles who remained in Florida appear to have
taken no part, at least so far as we are informed. They labored to
obtain the treaty of peace; but such was the treachery with which they
had been treated, that they would not subject themselves to the power of
the white people, and were not of course present at the treaty; nor were
they recognized by General McComb as a party to the treaty, or in any
way interested in its provisions. Indeed, we are led to believe that
General McComb adopted the policy on which General Taylor usually
practiced, of recognizing no distinctions among prisoners or enemies.
The Administration appeared to be paralyzed under this new demonstration
of the power and madness of the Seminoles. At the commencement of the
war, some officers had estimated the whole number of Seminoles at
fifteen hundred, and the negroes as low as four hundred. They had now
sent some two thousand Indians and negroes to the Western Country; and
yet those left in Florida, renewed the war with all the savage barbarity
which had characterized the Seminoles in the days of their greatest
power. Indeed, they exhibited no signs of humiliation.
The Secretary of War, Mr. Poinsett, a South Carolinian, probably exerted
more influence with the President in regard to this war than any other
officer of Government. His predecessor, General Cass, had treated the
Exiles as mere chattels, having "no rights." He had advised the
employment of Creek Indians, giving them such negroes as they might
capture; he had officially approved the contract made with them by
General Jessup. After he left the office, his successor, Mr. Poinsett,
approved the order purchasing some ninety of them on account of
Government. He had advised Watson to purchase them; had done all in his
power to consign them to slavery in Georgia. He was, however,
constrained to make an official report upon the state of this war, at
the opening of the first session of the Twenty-sixth Congress, which
assembled on the first Monday of December, 1839.
That report, when considered in connection with the events which gave
character to the Florida War, constitutes a most extraordinary paper.
Notwithstanding all the difficulties which he had encountered in his
efforts to enslave the Exiles, to prevent at least ninety of them from
going West, and the complaints of the Seminoles who had emigrated to the
Western Country, at finding themselves destitute of homes and of
territory on which to settle, he made no allusion to their troubles; nor
did he give any intimation of the difficulties arising on account of the
Exiles; nor did he even intimate that such a class of people existed in
Florida.
[Sidenote: 1840.]
He declared the result of General McComb's negotiation had been the loss
of many valuable lives. "Our people (said he) fell a sacrifice to their
confidence in the good faith and promises of the Indians, and were
entrapped and murdered with all the circumstances of cruelty and
treachery which distinguish Indian warfare. * * * The experience of the
last summer brings with it the painful conviction, that the war must be
prosecuted until Florida is freed from these ruthless savages. Their
late, cruel and treacherous conduct is too well known to require a
repetition of the revolting recital; it has been such as is calculated
to deprive them of the sympathy of the humane, and convince 'the most
peaceable of the necessity of _subduing them by force_."
It appeared necessary to raise the cry of treachery and cruelty against
the Indians and Exiles. They had no friend who was acquainted with the
facts, that could call attention of the nation to the treachery which
had been practiced on them by the order, and with the approval, of the
Secretary of War. No man was able to say how many fathers and mothers
and children were, by the influence of that officer, consigned to a fate
far more cruel than that which awaited the men, under Colonel Harney, at
Coloosahatchee.
In his report the Secretary most truly remarked: "If the Indians of
Florida had a country to retire to, they would have been driven out of
the Territory long ago; but they are hemmed in by the sea, and must
defend themselves to the uttermost, or surrender to be transported
beyond it." And he might well have added: _When they shall be thus
transported, they will have no country--no home_. Indeed, the whole
report shows that he relied on physical force to effect an extermination
of the Indians and their allies; he looked not to justice, nor to the
power of truth, for carrying out the designs of the Executive.
Men in power appear to forget that justice sits enthroned above all
human greatness; that it is omnipotent, and will execute its appropriate
work upon mankind. Thus, while the people of Florida and Georgia had
provoked the war, by kidnapping and enslaving colored men and women, to
whom they had no more claim than they had to the people of England;
while they had sent their petition to General Jackson, asking him to
compel the Indians to seize and bring in their negroes, and had
protested against the peace negotiated by General Jessup, in 1837;--Mr.
Reid, Governor of Florida, in an official Message to the Territorial
Legislature, in December, 1839, used language so characteristic of those
who supported the Florida War, that we feel it just to him and his
coadjutors to give the following extract:
"The efforts of the General and Territorial Governments to quell the
Indian disturbances which have prevailed through four long years, have
been unavailing, and it would seem that the prophecy of the most
sagacious leader of the Indians will be more than fulfilled; the close
of the fifth year will still find us struggling in a contest remarkable
for magnanimity, forbearance and credulity on the one side, and ferocity
and bad faith on the other. We are waging a war with beasts of prey;
the tactics that belong to civilized nations are but shackles and
fetters in its prosecution; we must fight 'fire with fire;' the white
man must, in a great measure, adopt the mode of warfare pursued by the
red man, and we can only hope for success by continually harrassing and
pursuing the enemy. If we drive him from hommock to hommock, from swamp
to swamp, and penetrate the recesses where his women and children are;
if, in self-defense, we show as little mercy to him as he has shown to
us, the anxiety and surprise produced by such operations will not fail,
it is believed, to produce prosperous results. It is high time that
sickly sentimentality should cease. 'Lo, the poor Indian!' is the
exclamation of the fanatic, pseudo-philanthropist; 'Lo, the poor white
man!' is the ejaculation which all will utter who have witnessed the
inhuman butchery of women and children, and the massacres that have
drenched the Territory in blood.
"In the future prosecution of the war, it is important that a generous
confidence should be reposed in the General Government. It may be that
mistakes and errors have been committed on all hands; but the peculiar
adaptation of the country to the cowardly system of the foe, and its
inaptitude to the operations of a regular army; the varying and often
contradictory views and opinions of the best informed of our citizens,
and the embarrassments which these cases must have produced to the
authorities at Washington, furnish to the impartial mind some excuse, at
least, for the failures which have hitherto occurred. It is our duty to
be less mindful of the past than the future. Convinced that the present
incumbent of the Presidential Chair regards with sincere and intense
interest the afflictions we endure; relying upon the patriotism, talent
and sound judgment of the distinguished Carolinian who presides over the
Department of War, and confident in the wisdom of Congress, let us
prepare to second, with every nerve, the measures which may be devised
for our relief. Feeling as we do the immediate pressure of
circumstances, let us exert, to the extremest point, all our powers to
rid us of the evil by which we are oppressed. Let us, by a conciliatory
course, endeavor to allay any unkindnesses of feeling which may exist
between the United States army and the militia of Florida, and by union
of sentiment among ourselves, advance the happy period when the
Territory shall enjoy what she so much needs--a long season of peace and
tranquillity."
Perhaps no vice is more general among mankind than a desire to represent
ourselves, and our country and government, to mankind and to posterity
as just and wise, whatever real truth may dictate. Surely, if General
Jessup's official reports be regarded as correct, the people of Florida
should have been the last of all who were concerned in that war, to
claim the virtue of magnanimity or forbearance, or to charge the
Seminoles or Exiles with ferocity or bad faith. The expression that "_it
is high time that sickly sentimentality should cease_," manifests the
ideas which he entertained of strict, equal and impartial justice to all
men.
This message was an appropriate introduction to the legislative action
which immediately succeeded its publication. It was that legislative
body which first gave official sanction to the policy of obtaining
blood-hounds from Cuba to aid our troops in the prosecution of this war.
Of this atrocious and barbarous policy much has been said and written,
and its authorship charged upon various men and officers of Government.
At the time of the transaction, it was represented that the blood-hounds
were obtained for the purpose of trailing the Indians, and historians
have so stated;[123] but for various reasons, we are constrained to
believe they were obtained for the purpose of trailing _negroes_. It was
well known that these animals were trained to pursue _negroes_, and
_only_ negroes. They would no more follow the track of a white man than
they would that of a horse or an ox. It was the peculiar scent of the
negro that they had been trained and accustomed to follow. No man
concerned in obtaining these animals, could have been ignorant that they
had, in all probability, never seen an Indian, or smelt the track of
any son of the forest.
Every slaveholder well understood the habits of those ferocious dogs,
and the manner of training them, and could not have supposed them
capable of being rendered useful in capturing Indians. The people of
Florida appear to have been stimulated in the commencement and
continuance of this war solely by a desire to _obtain slaves_, rather
than to _fight Indians_; and while acting as militia or as individuals,
they were far more efficient in capturing negroes and claiming those
captured by other troops than in facing them on the field of battle. Nor
can we resist the conviction, that catching _negroes_ constituted, in
the mind of General Jessup, the object for which those animals were to
be obtained. Such was evidently his purpose when he wrote Colonel
Harney, as quoted in a former chapter, "If you see Powell (Osceola),
tell him that I intend to send exploring and surveying parties into
every part of the country during the summer; and that I shall send out
and take _all the negroes who belong to white people, and he must_ not
allow the Indians or Indian negroes to mix with them. Tell him I am
sending to Cuba for blood-hounds to trail them, and I intend to hang
every one of them who does not come in."
We cannot close our eyes to the fact, that General Jessup intended the
blood-hounds to be used in catching "the negroes belonging to the white
people," as he said. Those white people were mostly slaveholders of
Florida; those who proposed in the legislative assembly of that
territory the obtaining of the animals, and adopted a resolution
authorizing their purchase. They did not wait for the President to act,
nor for the "Secretary of War," whom the Governor of Florida
characterized as "that distinguished _Carolinian_" on whose judgment and
patriotism the people of Florida so much relied.[124]
By resolution, Colonel Fitzpatrick was "authorized to proceed to
Havana, and procure a kennel of blood-hounds, noted for tracking and
pursuing negroes." He was fortunate in his mission. He not only obtained
the animals, but he accomplished the journey, and reached St. Augustine
as early as the sixth of January, 1840, with a reinforcement for the
army of the United States of thirty-three blood-hounds well trained to
the work of catching negroes. They cost precisely one hundred and
fifty-one dollars seventy-two cents, each, when landed in Florida. He
also procured five Spaniards who were accustomed to using the animals in
capturing negroes; and as the dogs had been trained to the Spanish
language, they would have been useless under the control of persons who
could only speak the dialect of our own country.
The very general error that existed throughout the country, at the time
of this transaction, arose from a misapprehension of the facts. There
had been much said in regard to these blood-hounds before they were
actually obtained. When the report of the War Department, under the
resolution of the House of Representatives of the twenty-eighth of
January, 1839, was published, containing the letter of General Jessup
addressed to Colonel Harney, which we have quoted, many members of
Congress appeared indignant at what they regarded as a stain upon our
national honor in obtaining and employing blood-hounds to act in concert
with our troops and our Indian allies in this war. Party feelings ran
high, and southern members of Congress, who were acting with the Whig
party, were willing to seize upon any circumstance that would reflect
discreditably upon the then existing Administration.
On the twenty-seventh day of December, 1839, the Hon. Henry A. Wise, a
member of the House of Representatives from Virginia, addressed a letter
to the Secretary of War, inquiring as to facts relating to the
employment of blood-hounds in aid of our troops.[125]
To this letter Mr. Poinsett, the Secretary of War, replied on the
thirtieth of December, as follows:
"WAR DEPARTMENT, December 20, 1839.
"SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of
the twenty-seventh instant, inquiring into the truth of the
assertion made by the public papers, that the Government had
determined to use blood-hounds in the war against the Florida
Indians; and beg to assure you it will give me great pleasure to
give you all the information on this subject in possession of the
Department.
"From the time I first entered upon the duties of the War
Department, I continued to receive letters from officers commanding
in Florida, as well as from the most enlightened citizens in that
Territory, urging the employment of blood-hounds as the most
efficient means of terminating the atrocities daily perpetrated by
the Indians on the settlers in that Territory. To these proposals
no answer was given, until in the month of August, 1838, while at
the Virginia Springs, there was referred to me, from the
Department, a letter, addressed to the Adjutant General by the
officer commanding the forces in Florida (General Taylor), to the
following effect:
"HEAD QUARTERS ARMY OF THE SOUTH,}
_Fort Brooke_, July 28, 1838. }
"SIR: I have the honor to inclose you a communication this moment
received, on the subject of procuring blood-hounds from the Island
of Cuba to aid the army in its operations against the hostiles in
Florida. I am decidedly in favor of the measure, and beg leave to
urge it as the only means of ridding the country of the Indians,
who are now broken up into small parties that take shelter in
swamps and hommocks, making it impossible for us to follow or
overtake them without the aid of such auxiliaries. Should this
measure meet the approbation of the Department, and the necessary
authority be granted, I will open a correspondence with Mr.
Evertson on the subject, through Major Hunt, Assistant Quarter
Master at Savannah, and will authorize him, if it can be done on
reasonable terms, to employ a few dogs with persons who understand
their management.
"I wish it distinctly understood, that my object in employing dogs
is only to ascertain where the Indians can be found, not to worry
them.
"I have the honor to be, sir,
Your obedient servant,
Z. TAYLOR,
_Brev. Brig. Gen. U. S. A. Commanding_.
General R. JONES,
Washington, D. C."
"On this letter I indorsed the following decision, which was
communicated to General Taylor: 'I have always been of opinion that dogs
_ought_ to be employed in this warfare to protect the army from
surprises and ambuscades, and to track the Indian to his lurking place;
but supposed if the General believed them to be necessary, he would not
hesitate to take measures to secure them. The cold-blooded and inhuman
murders lately perpetrated upon helpless women and children by these
ruthless savages, render it expedient that every possible means should
be resorted to, in order to protect the people of Florida, and to enable
the United States forces to follow and capture or destroy the savage and
unrelenting foe. General Taylor is therefore authorized to procure such
number of dogs as he may judge necessary: it being expressly understood
that they are to be employed to track and discover the Indians, not to
worry or destroy them.'
"This is the only action or correspondence, on the part of the
Department, that has ever taken place in relation to the matter. The
General took no measures to carry into effect his own recommendation,
and this Department has never since renewed the subject. I continue,
however, to entertain the opinion expressed in the above decision. I do
not believe that description of dog, called the blood-hound, necessary
to prevent surprise or track the Indian murderer; but still I think that
every cabin, every military post, and every detachment, should be
attended by dogs. That precaution might have saved Dade's command from
massacre, and by giving timely warning have prevented many of the cruel
murders which have been committed by the Indians in middle Florida. The
only successful pursuit of Indian murderers that I know of, was, on a
late occasion, when the pursuers were aided by the sagacity of their
dogs. These savages had approached a cabin of peaceful and industrious
settlers so stealthily, that the first notice of their presence was
given by a volley from their rifles, thrust between the logs of the
house; and the work of death was finished by tomahawking the women,
after tearing from them their infant children, and dashing their brains
out against the door posts.
"Are these ruthless savages to escape and repeat such scenes of blood,
because they can elude our fellow citizens in Florida, and our regular
soldiers, and baffle their unaided efforts to overtake or discover them?
On a late occasion, three of our estimable citizens were killed in the
immediate neighborhood of St. Augustine, and one officer of
distinguished merit mortally wounded. It is in evidence, that these
murders were committed by two Indians, who, after shooting down the
father and beating out the son's brains with the butts of their rifles,
upon hearing the approach of the volunteers, retired a few yards into
the woods and secreted themselves, until the troops returned to town
with the dead bodies of those who had been thus inhumanly and wantonly
butchered.
"It is to be regretted that this corps had not been accompanied with one
or two hunters, who, with their dogs, might have tracked the
blood-stained footsteps of those Indians; have restored to liberty the
captives they were dragging away with them, and have prevented them from
ever again repeating such atrocities; nor could the severest casuist
object to our fellow citizens in Florida resorting to such measures, in
order to protect the lives of their women and children."
"Very respectfully,
Your most obedient servant,
J. R. POINSETT.
Hon. HENRY A. WISE,
House of Representatives."
It is no part of our present duties to comment on the code of morals
which the Secretary of War had adopted. He undoubtedly felt, that
neither the Indians nor negroes "possessed any rights which white men
were bound to respect." He was not, he could not, have been ignorant of
the cold-blooded massacre of nearly three hundred Exiles and Indians at
Blount's Fort, in 1816; nor of the manner in which the present war had
been brought on; nor of the objects for which it was prosecuted; nor
does it appear possible that he, a large slaveholder of South Carolina,
could have expected these blood-hounds would follow the trail of
Indians. But we must bear in mind that he had been exceedingly vexed
with the indomitable resistance of the Exiles. They appeared perfectly
determined not to be enslaved, and that determination had given him much
trouble; and he must have foreseen the defeat of his party in the next
Presidential contest, should all these facts become known to the public.
With these feelings, he was prepared to apply almost any epithets to the
Indians, as the friends and allies of a people to whose real character
he dared not publicly allude, although they were occasioning the
Administration so much trouble.
Having shown that no blood-hounds had been previously employed, he
proceeded to argue the propriety of employing them in future, by
adopting the policy proposed by the Legislature of Florida, who, as we
have already seen, had taken measures to obtain them some twenty days
prior to the date of this communication.
The Secretary of War thus exonerated himself and the Federal Executive
from the responsibility of employing blood-hounds, on the thirtieth of
December; and the animals arrived in Florida, under charge of Colonel
Fitzpatrick, just one week _subsequently_ to that date.
One feature was most obvious, in the commencement and prosecution of
this war: we allude to the very respectful, almost obsequious obedience
of the Executive to the popular feeling in favor of slavery, in every
part of the country where that institution existed. This war had been
commenced at the instance of the people of Florida. General Jessup
attempted to change the articles of capitulation which he had signed,
when the people of Florida protested against peace, unless attended by a
restoration of slaves; and now, when the popular voice of the nation had
paralyzed the Executive arm in regard to obtaining blood-hounds, the
people of Florida, in their Legislature, took up the subject and carried
the policy into practice, so far as to obtain the animals; but that
would be of no use unless they could be employed by the army of the
United States. Preparatory to this adoption of the purchase made by the
Legislature of Florida, Mr. Poinsett had argued the propriety of their
employment, in his letter to Mr. Wise; and twenty-six days afterwards,
he wrote General Taylor as follows:
"WAR DEPARTMENT, Jan'y 26, 1840.
"SIR: It is understood by the Department, although not officially
informed of the fact, that the authorities of the Territory have
imported a pack of blood-hounds from the Island of Cuba. And I
think it proper to direct, in the event of those dogs being
employed by any officer or officers under your command, that their
use be confined altogether to tracking the Indians; and in order to
insure this, and to prevent the possibility of their injuring any
person whatever, that they be muzzled and held with a leash while
following the track of the enemy.
"Very respectfully,
Your most obedient servant,
J. R. POINSETT.
Brig. Gen'l Z. TAYLOR,
Com'd'g Army of the South, Florida."
From the commencement of this war, the officers of our army had found it
necessary to employ persons who could communicate with the Indians in
their own tongue. This was usually done through negroes, who could
safely approach both Exiles and Indians; they were, in fact, the only
class of persons who could safely go from our posts to those of the
enemy. No Indians could do it unless by arrangement made through those
negroes; inasmuch as Creeks, Chickasaws and Choctaws were employed to
act with our troops in hunting down the Seminoles, who shot those
Creeks, Choctaws and Chickasaws, when opportunity permitted, with just
as little ceremony as they did white men.
When those negroes visited the Seminoles, they were supposed to convey
to them as accurate intelligence in regard to our troops, as they
brought back respecting the enemy's forces; they were, therefore,
supposed to have put their brethren, the Exiles, upon their guard in
respect to the blood-hounds. Understanding perfectly the nature and
_education_ of those animals, it does not appear very extraordinary to
us that the Exiles remained for a time in the interior, where neither
blood-hounds nor civilized troops were accustomed to penetrate. This
policy of the Exiles rendered useless the whole expenditure of money and
honor, made in the purchase of blood-hounds and Spaniards, with a view
to their capture.
But the animals had been obtained, and authority given to our officers
to employ them. The Spaniards attended them. The dogs were attached to
different regiments, and fed liberally on bloody meat; young calves were
provided, and driven with each scouting party, to supply food for them.
The Spaniards were supplied with a sufficient number of assistants to
keep the dogs in their leashes. Thus provided, several parties, composed
of regular troops, militia, Indians, Spaniards, dogs and calves, started
for the interior. Their marches continued in some instances for days
before they found even the track of an enemy; but when they found
foot-prints of Indians, and the dogs were looked to with confidence to
lead on the warlike host, while some more humble officer, following the
canine leaders, Spaniards and Indians, was expected to bear aloft the
glorious stars and stripes, as they engaged in deadly conflict with the
wily foe;--lo! just at that moment, when all hearts were palpitating;
while hope was at its height; when the stern resolve clothed each brow
with the dark scowl of battle, the dogs were blithe and frolicsome, but
paid no more attention to the tracks of the Indians than to those of the
ponies on which they sometimes rode.
This grand experiment for closing the Florida War was now pronounced a
_dead failure_; and the use of dogs, and calves, and Spaniards, was
discarded; and the whole affair served no other purpose than to bring
odium upon the Administration, and ridicule upon the officers who
proposed the employment of blood-hounds to act as allies of the American
army.
General Taylor, having had command of the army in Florida nearly two
years, and the sickly season having commenced, requested to be relieved
from that responsible station. His request was granted, and he left
Florida for his plantation in Louisiana. Brevet Brigadier General
Armistead, by order of the War Department, assumed the position from
which General Taylor retired.