HISTORY OF EXILES CONTINUED.
Character of Abraham--His knowledge of the Treaty of Payne's
Landing--Its stipulations--General Jessup's assurances--Confirmed
by other Officers of Government--Disappointment of Exiles on
reaching Western Country--They refuse to enter Creek
jurisdiction--Creeks disappointed--General Cass's policy of
reuniting Tribes--Agent attempts to pacify Exiles--Hospitality of
Cherokees--Discontent of all the Tribes--Seminoles loud in their
complaints--Hostilities apprehended--Conduct of Executive--Agents
selected to negotiate another Treaty--Treaty stipulations--Attempts
to falsify history--Executive action unknown to the people.
[Sidenote: 1844.]
The Exiles were now all located on the Cherokee lands, west of the State
of Arkansas. They had been removed from Florida at great expense of
blood and treasure; but they were yet free, and the object of the
Administration had not been attained. Conscious of the designs of the
Creeks, the Seminoles and Exiles refused to trust themselves within
Creek jurisdiction. They were tenants at will of the Cherokees, whose
hospitality had furnished them with temporary homes until the Government
should fulfill its treaty stipulations, in furnishing them a territory
to their separate use.
Abraham was, perhaps, the most influential man among the Exiles. He had
been a witness and interpreter in making the treaty of Payne's Landing,
and had dictated the important provision in the supplemental treaty; he
had exerted his influence in favor of emigration; to him, therefore, his
people looked with more confidence than to any other individual. In all
his intercourse with our officers, he had been assured of the intention
to fulfill those treaties; and when he found the Government hesitating
on that point, he became indignant, and so did others of his band. But
he could only express his indignation to the Agent appointed to
superintend their affairs and supply their wants. These complaints were
made known to the Indian Bureau, at Washington; but they were unheeded,
and the Exiles and their friends lived on in the vain hope that the
Administration would at some day redeem the pledged faith of the nation,
and assign them a territory for their separate use, where they could
live independent of the Creeks, as they had done for nearly a century
past.
Nor is it easy for men at this day to appreciate that feeling which so
stubbornly sought their enslavement; we can only account for this
unyielding purpose, from the long-established practice of so wielding
the power and influence of the nation as best to promote the interests
of slavery. It is certain, that it would have cost the United States no
more to set off to the Exiles and Seminole Indians a separate territory,
on which they could live free and independent, than it would to
constrain them to settle on the Creek lands, and subject them to Creek
laws, and Creek despotism, and Creek servitude.
General Jackson, in 1816, had ordered Blount's Fort to be destroyed and
the negroes returned to those who owned them. To effect this latter
object, in 1822, he proposed to compel the Seminole Indians to return
and reunite with the Creeks. If at any time there were other reasons for
the frauds committed upon the Exiles and Indians--for the violations of
the pledged faith of the nation--it is hoped that some of the officers
who acted a prominent part in those scenes of treachery and turpitude,
or their biographers, will yet inform the public of their existence.
Settled, as the Seminoles and Exiles now were on the Cherokee lands, all
parties concerned were necessarily dissatisfied. The Creeks were
disappointed, and greatly dissatisfied at not having the Exiles in their
power, and charged our Government with bad faith in not delivering that
extraordinary people into their hands. The Cherokees had assured the
Seminoles and Exiles that our Government would deal honorably with them,
and would faithfully carry out the treaty of Payne's Landing, with the
proviso contained in the supplemental treaty; and they were now greatly
dissatisfied at the refusal of the Executive to observe this solemn
stipulation; while the Seminoles and Exiles were indignant at the
deception, fraud and perfidy practiced upon them.
Complaints against the Government now became general among all these
tribes. All had been deceived; all had been wronged; and all became loud
in their denunciations of the Government. This feeling became more
intense as time passed away. It was in vain that our Indian agents and
military officers at the West endeavored to quiet this state of general
discontent. The newspapers of that day gave intimations of difficulties
among the Indians at the West; they stated, in general terms, the danger
of hostilities, but omitted all allusion to the cause of this
disquietude.
The Executive appeared to be paralyzed with the difficulties now thrown
in his way. He urged upon the Indian agents and military officers to use
all possible efforts to suppress these feelings of hostility, which now
appeared ready to burst forth upon the first occasion; coolly insisting
that, at some future day, the Seminoles and Exiles would consent to
remove on to the Creek territory.
At length the danger of hostilities became so imminent, that the
Executive deemed it necessary to enter upon further negotiation in order
to effect the long cherished purpose of subjecting the Exiles to Creek
jurisdiction and consequent slavery. To effect this object it was
necessary to select suitable instruments. Four Indian Agents, holding
their offices by the Executive favor, were appointed to hold a Council
with their discontented tribes, and if possible to negotiate a new
treaty with them. It is somewhat singular that no statesman, no person
favorably known to the public, or possessing public confidence, was
selected for so important a service.
[Sidenote: 1845.]
Of course any treaty formed under such circumstances and by such agents
would conform to the Executive will. The treaty bears date on the
twenty-fifth of January; and we insert the preamble and those articles
which have particular relation to the subject matter of which we are
speaking. They are as follows:
"Articles of a Treaty made by Wm. Armstrong, P. M. Butler, James
Segan and Thomas S. Judge, Commissioners in behalf of the United
States, of the first part; the Creek Tribe of Indians of the second
part, and the Seminole Indians of the third part:"
"WHEREAS, It was stipulated in the fourth article of the Creek
Treaty of 1833, that the Seminoles should thence forward be
considered a constituent part of the Creek nation, and that a
permanent and comfortable home should be secured for them on the
lands set apart in said treaty as the country of the Creeks; and
whereas, many of the Seminoles have settled and are now living in
the Creek Country, while others, constituting a large portion of
the tribe, have refused to make their homes in any part thereof,
assigning, as a reason, that _they are unwilling to submit to Creek
laws and Government, and that they are apprehensive of being
deprived by the Creek authorities of their property_; and whereas,
repeated complaints have been made to the United States Government,
that those of the Seminoles who refuse to go into the Creek Country
have, without authority or right, settled upon lands secured to
other tribes, and that they have committed numerous and extensive
depredations upon the property of those upon whose lands they have
intruded:"
"Now, therefore, in order to reconcile all difficulties respecting
location and jurisdiction; to settle all disputed questions which
have arisen, or may hereafter arise, in regard to rights of
property; and, especially, to preserve the peace of the frontier,
seriously endangered by the restless and warlike spirit of the
intruding Seminoles, the parties to this treaty have agreed to the
following stipulations:"
"ARTICLE 1. The Creeks agree that the Seminoles shall be entitled
to settle in a body, or separately, as they please, in any part of
the Creek Country; that they shall make their own town regulations,
subject, however, to the general control of the Creek Council in
which they shall be represented; and, in short, that no distinction
shall be made between the two tribes in any respect, except in the
management of their pecuniary affairs; in which neither shall
interfere with the _other_."
"ART 2. The Seminoles agree that those of their tribe who have not
done so before the ratification of this treaty, shall immediately
thereafter remove to, and permanently settle in, the Creek
Country."
"ART. 3. It is mutually agreed by the Creeks and Seminoles that all
contested cases between the two tribes, concerning the right of
property growing out of sales or transactions that may have
occurred previous to the ratification of this treaty, shall be
subject to the decision of the President of the United States."
The leading feature of this treaty, is a studied effort to make no
allusion to the Exiles, or to recognize their existence in any way.
General Jessup, in the articles of capitulation, had expressly
stipulated for the protection of the persons and property of the
"allies" of the Seminoles; but for half a century efforts had been made
to exclude them from the page of our national history, and never was
that policy more strikingly illustrated than in this treaty.
As heretofore stated, the Seminoles were said to own some forty slaves;
but the Author has been unable to find any hint or intimation that any
one of those slaves was claimed by the Creeks: yet efforts were made to
falsify the truth of history by representing the four or five hundred
Exiles now living with the Seminoles to be slaves to their friends and
"_allies_."
The next extraordinary feature of the treaty, is the recital of the
_Creek_ treaty as binding upon the Seminoles, when they had been no
party to it, nor even had knowledge of its existence.
But the third article is that on which both Exiles and Seminoles appear
to have relied. Thinking the President would do justice; feeling
themselves subject to the power of the Executive, and pressed on all
sides to accede to terms of pacification, they signed the treaty as the
best alternative that lay before them.
In accordance with the past policy of the Administration, this treaty
was withheld from publication. It was of course submitted to the Senate
in secret session for approval. It was then amended, and still kept from
the public for nearly two years after its negotiation.
NOTE.--At the session of Congress, 1845-6, a bill containing, among
many other things, an appropriation to carry out this treaty, was
reported by the committee on Ways and Means, of the House of
Representatives. The treaty itself yet lay concealed in the office
of the Secretary of the Senate, where it had been ratified in
secret session, and not a member of the House of Representatives
had seen it, unless it was the Chairman of the committee of Ways
and Means, or other confidential friends of the Executive, to whom
it was given for personal examination.
The bill was printed, and the Author seeing this provision,
determined to know something of the treaty, before voting money to
carry it into effect. For this purpose, he called on one of the
Senators from Ohio (Hon. Thomas Corwin), to get a copy of the
treaty. Mr. Corwin went with him to the office of the Secretary of
the Senate, and after much inquiry, and passing from one clerk to
another, a copy was obtained.
When the bill came up for discussion, inquiry was made as to the
treaty, its character and object. No member appeared to have any
knowledge of it, save the Chairman of the committee of Ways and
Means, (Mr. McKay of North Carolina). The Author of this work
endeavored to give the House some idea of its origin, and, in the
course of his remarks, referred to the manner in which the State of
Georgia had been implicated in the persecution of the Exiles. This
reference to the State of Georgia awakened the ire of Mr. Black, a
Representative from that State, who advanced toward the Author with
uplifted cane, as if to inflict personal chastisement, and quite a
_scène_ followed, which at the time created some sensation in the
country.