sight, reach, and pass them. Still Micanopy did not fire the signal
shot. Now the main division was coming with Major Dade on horseback at
the head. On marched the soldiers with unwavering tramp, tramp. The
warriors crouched with muskets ready. Micanopy fired and Jumper raised
the yell. Instantly the green waste was awake with the flash and bang of
muskets, with death cries and savage yells. A white smoke hid the scene
for a moment. When it cleared away, the road was strewn with the dead
and dying. The Indians having reloaded their guns, rushed from their
hiding places to finish their work.
[Illustration: FLORIDA SWAMP]
Some of Dade's men sprang to the thicket to seek refuge behind trees.
They were followed and shot down. Others caught their feet in the heavy
stems of the palmetto and, stumbling, fell an easy prey to their
pursuers. The officers who had escaped the first fire did their best to
rally the men. The cannon was brought into action and added its roar to
the din of battle. But its balls went over the heads of the Indians and
they succeeded in shooting the gunners before they could do any harm.
The contest seemed over. The warriors were scattered in pursuit of
fugitives or busy scalping the dead, when a negro brought word to Jumper
that a number of the soldiers had collected and were building a fort of
logs with the cannon to protect them. Jumper raised the yell and called
together his Indians for a charge on the little company of brave men who
were making their last stand behind tree trunks placed on the ground in
the form of a triangle. The soldiers had exhausted their powder and were
able to offer only a feeble resistance to the savages, who shot them
down without mercy.
The Indians carried off their own dead and wounded--three dead and five
wounded. But they left the bodies of Dade's men to tell their own story
to those who should find them. So well were the commands of Osceola
heeded that months later when white troops found the dead, their money,
watches and clothes were untouched.
The battle over, the Indians returned to the swamp to await Osceola,
count scalps, and celebrate their victory. Of one hundred and ten
soldiers only four escaped.
VIII. OSCEOLA A WAR CHIEF
As a fire that has smoldered long flames up in many places at once, so
the war broke out with several actions in quick succession. The tidings
of the slaughter at Fort King had not become generally known and the
Indians had not slept after Dade's massacre, before preparations were
afoot for another assault.
[Illustration: INDIAN RUNNER]
Scarcely had the victors wearied of shouting and dancing when an Indian,
exhausted, not with revelry, but with swift running through forest and
swamp, came into the camp, bringing important news. A council of chiefs
was called. The bowl of honey water was passed around and when all had
drunk from the deep ladle, the messenger rose to give his message. He
told the chiefs that General Clinch had left Fort Drane with two hundred
regulars and four hundred Florida volunteers, and was already far
advanced into the Indian country. Indeed he was even now approaching
the Withlacoochee River.
Micanopy, with his usual caution, advised the Indians to keep out of the
way of such a large force. But his hearers were in no mood to listen to
his faint-hearted advice; they had been emboldened by their recent
victories and responded to the fearless daring of Osceola. One hundred
and fifty Indians and fifty negroes volunteered to go with Osceola and
Alligator to intercept General Clinch and his six hundred soldiers.
With one accord the warriors bounded off towards the ford of the
Withlacoochee. There the water was only two feet deep, and as it was the
only place where the river could be crossed without boats, there could
be little doubt that the white general would lead his forces to this
point before attempting to cross the river.
For a day and a night the Indians waited to give their enemy a deadly
welcome. In the neighborhood of the ford there was no sound to interrupt
the music of the river, no sight to disturb the peace of the dense
forest. But on the morning of the following day, scouts came skulking
through the trees, and in a few minutes the apparently unpeopled place
was alive with red men.
The scouts brought word that General Clinch and two hundred of his men
had already crossed the river. They had made the passage slowly and
laboriously in an old canoe that carried only eight at a time. But they
were now advancing on this side of the river. Many a warrior's heart
failed him when he heard this. But Osceola's dauntless spirit rose to
the emergency. He cheered his men with words of such good courage that
they were soon following him with new enthusiasm to a hill, where he
posted them in a hammock to await the enemy.
On the morning of the last day of the year, General Clinch advanced
towards the hammock. He was aware of the presence of hostile Indians,
but not knowing of the outrages they had already committed, he felt
reluctant to attack them. He sent messages to Osceola telling him that
it was useless for the Indians to struggle against the white man and
advising him not to enter upon a war that could end only with the
destruction of his race.
To this humane counsel Osceola replied with haughty independence: "You
have guns, and so have we; you have powder and lead, and so have we; you
have men, and so have we; your men will fight, and so will ours until
the last drop of the Seminoles' blood has moistened the dust of his
hunting grounds." He added, what then seemed to the whites an idle
boast, that after a few weeks' further preparation the Seminoles would
be ready to enter upon a five years' struggle for the hunting grounds of
Florida.
At about noon General Clinch charged up the hill. He was greeted with a
lively fire, but his men were tried fighters and were not checked. On
they came calmly returning the fire of the enemy. The Indians and
negroes offered a determined resistance. If they wavered, the shrill and
terrible "Yo-ho-e-hee" of their leader gave them new courage. Everywhere
his white plumes waved in the thick of the fight. The fire of his
warriors broke upon the enemy always at the most unexpected point, and
had it not been for the bravery of General Clinch, the Indians would
have driven the soldiers back to the river, on the other side of which
four hundred volunteers were watching the battle. But they held their
ground, and at last Osceola was so seriously wounded that he ordered a
retreat.
For an hour and twenty minutes the battle had raged. The loss of the
Indians was slight. When at Osceola's signal the wild yells ceased and
the Indians disappeared in the forest, they bore with them only three
dead and five wounded. General Clinch had suffered much heavier loss.
Eight of his men had been killed and forty wounded.
The Seminoles were highly elated by the success of the first engagements
of the war. They regarded the battle on the Withlacoochee as a great
victory, and Osceola's praises were on every lip. The old and timid
Micanopy, head chief of the Seminoles by birth, kept that title of
honor. But Osceola who, before the war opened, was not so much as a
sub-chief and had but two constant followers, had been the real power in
planning the hostile acts that opened the second Seminole war. All knew
this and they now made him head war chief of the nation. He was only
thirty-two years old, but he had the respect of all. With his own hand
he had taken vengeance on the great white man who had wronged him; with
his own hand he had punished the traitor chief, Charley A. Mathla. He
had planned the massacre of Dade's troops. With a small band of Indians
and negroes he had engaged the forces of General Clinch for more than an
hour, inflicting heavy loss. His words had kindled the spirit of war
throughout Florida.
On the border, lawless young men were spreading terror and desolation;
in the month of January sixteen well stocked plantations were laid waste
by the Indians. In the distant swamp, Indian women were moulding bullets
for the warriors. Through all the forest paths war parties were hurrying
towards the camp of Osceola. The leader of each carried a bundle of
sticks, each stick representing a warrior under his command. These were
given to Osceola--but how many sticks there were only the Seminoles
knew.
IX. THE SEMINOLES HOLD THEIR OWN
The hostile actions of the Seminoles at the close of the year 1835
convinced the War Department of the United States that the Seminole
Indians would not submit to be driven from one section of the country to
another like sheep. Though the combined force of Indian and negro
warriors was not supposed to be greater than twelve hundred, their
treacherous nature and the wildness of the country, made the task of
subduing them so difficult as to require many times that number of
soldiers. General Clinch was already in the field quartered at Fort
Drane, not far from the village of Micanopy. There were several forts in
the Indian country, but they were meagerly garrisoned. General Scott was
made commanding general of the army in Florida, with authority to call
on the governors of South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama for assistance.
He went to work at once to raise a force for an Indian war.
Meanwhile Major General Gaines, who was commander of the Western
Military Department, started to Florida with a force of more than a
thousand men. He ventured into the Seminoles' country with the hope of
meeting them and fighting a decisive battle. He passed the scene of the
Dade massacre and saw the work the savages had done, and after burying
the dead he continued his march to Fort King. But in the whole of his
march he saw not a single Indian. He had expected to find supplies for
his army at Fort King, but being disappointed in this, he was obliged to
return to Tampa with all speed.
While looking for the ford across the Withlacoochee River he ran into an
Indian ambush and was so harassed by the savages that he had to give up
his plan of crossing the river and go into camp. He had ordered General
Clinch to meet him in this neighborhood, and he sent out expresses to
see what prospect there was of his arrival. The Indians were gathering
in large numbers, and he believed that if General Clinch arrived in time
their combined forces could surround them and crush them. But his supply
of food was so reduced that he was obliged to have his horses killed to
provide the men with meat. All the while the Indians were lying in wait
and assailing all who ventured beyond the fortifications of the camp.
On the fifth of February a negro who spoke good English came to the camp
and asked to see General Gaines. The latter supposed he was a messenger
from General Clinch, and ordered that the negro be sent at once to his
tent. To the general's surprise the negro announced that he was Caesar,
the slave of the Seminole chief Micanopy, and that he had been sent by
the Indians to say that they were tired of fighting and wished to make a
treaty of peace. General Gaines told Caesar that he had no power to make
treaties, but that if the chiefs would pay him a visit the next day, he
would grant them a truce and notify the President of the United States
that his red children wanted to be at peace.
[Illustration: CAESAR AND GENERAL GAINES]
Caesar had acted without consulting any one; he had been a favorite and
had his own way with Micanopy until he thought himself greater than his
master. He had grown tired of the hardships of war and decided to put a
stop to it. When he returned and gave a report of his visit, the Indians
were so angry that they were ready to kill him. The negroes, however,
defended him, and Osceola, fearing trouble between the allies, used his
influence to save him. Osceola's interference in Caesar's behalf
displeased some of the chiefs so much that they deserted without
ceremony.
As Osceola was ready enough to visit the camp of General Gaines to see
his force, he went with other chiefs on the following day, as Caesar had
promised, to hold an interview with General Gaines. Scarcely had the
interview begun when General Clinch arrived and seeing a crowd of
Indians at the entrance of the camp fired on them. This action broke up
all parley; the Indians thought they had been dealt with treacherously
and fled.
Since the Indian forces had been weakened and the strength of the enemy
greatly increased, Osceola decided that it would be best for his
warriors to withdraw and gave directions for them to disperse. The next
day the two generals found their enemy gone. Their supplies were too low
to justify an attempt to pursue them, and General Gaines returned to
Tampa and General Clinch to Fort Drane without accomplishing anything.
Though General Clinch had not attempted to follow the Indians, Osceola
and his warriors lost no time in finding his stronghold. They succeeded
in making his fine plantation at Fort Drane so uncomfortable that in
July when his crops were at their best he was obliged to leave it.
Osceola immediately took possession of the place, and occupied it with
grim pleasure until he was driven out a month later by Major Pearce.
During the spring and summer several skirmishes between the Indians and
United States soldiers occurred, in which the Indians and their black
allies fought with remarkable pluck, perseverance, and success.
The want of troops trained for Indian fighting, the unwholesome climate,
ignorance of the country, the absence of roads and bridges, and the
difficulty of getting supplies had made it almost impossible to invade
Florida without large sacrifice of life and treasure. The people of the
United States, not appreciating the difficulties, complained so much of
the delay that General Scott was removed from the command and General
Jesup was promoted to the command in Florida.
In November, before General Jesup assumed control, an engagement took
place which for a time threatened to close the war. On the eighteenth of
November a force of five hundred soldiers attacked a company of Indians.
After a fierce battle the Indians fled, leaving twenty-five dead on the
field. This was counted by them their first defeat, for so long as they
carried away their dead they did not admit themselves to be defeated.
Three days later they rallied to meet General Call, who was advancing
upon Wahoo swamp with over a thousand men. This was the stronghold of
the Indians. Here their provisions, their cattle, their wives and
children were hidden. The Indians had much at stake and made a strong
defense. At last, however, they were compelled to retreat across the
river. But they took their stand on the opposite bank behind a sand
ridge, prepared to fight to the death.
The commander knew that if he could penetrate the Wahoo swamp
successfully he would bring the Seminole War to an end; but before him
rolled the swift dark waters of the Withlacoochee, and beyond waited the
Indians like tigers at bay. He decided not to make the attempt.
X. OSCEOLA AND GENERAL JESUP
On the eighth of December 1836, under most favorable circumstances,
General Jesup took command of the Florida War and entered upon an
energetic campaign. He had under his command about eight thousand men.
Among these were several hundred Creek Indians hired to fight the
Seminoles with the promise of "the pay and emoluments, and equipments of
soldiers in the army of the United States and such plunder as they may
take from the Seminoles."
It will be remembered that Osceola had told the Indians that the war was
not against women and children. General Jesup took a different view of
the matter. His first step was to make a series of sudden raids upon the
villages on the Withlacoochee in which he seized unprotected women and
children. By his frequent sorties he drove the Indians south or divided
them. On the twelfth of January he reported that he had sent mounted men
in pursuit of Osceola, who was hiding with only three followers and his
family.
The capture of women and children broke the spirit of the Indians. They
felt that if their wives and children must be sent to Arkansas perhaps
they would be happier there with them than in Florida without them.
Accordingly many listened with favor to General Jesup's invitation to
come to Fort Dade and hold a council to decide on terms of capitulation.
On the sixth of March, 1837, five chiefs and a large number of
sub-chiefs met General Jesup at Fort Dade. They agreed to emigrate
according to the terms of the treaty of Payne's Landing, but insisted
that their negroes should be allowed to accompany them. This point was
at last conceded them, and the fifth article of the terms of
capitulation contained these words: "The Seminoles and their allies who
come in and emigrate to the west shall be secure in their lives and
property; their negroes, their _bona fide_ property, shall accompany
them west."
Large numbers of Indians expressed their willingness to sign these terms
and assembled at a point near Fort Brooke on Tampa Bay, where
twenty-eight vessels waited in the harbor to transport them. Even
Osceola is said to have sent word that he and his family would emigrate
with the rest. The camp at Fort Brooke grew larger every day.
General Jesup was well satisfied. He reported that the Florida war was
ended. And indeed it might have been had the terms of the agreement been
adhered to. But slave claims were pushed; unprincipled men went into
the Indians' territory and seized negroes; there was bitter complaint
against the fifth article of the compact. At last General Jesup was
induced to change that article so that it should contain a promise by
the Indians to deliver up all negroes, belonging to white men who had
been taken during the war.
This change was made with the knowledge and consent of only one chief,
Alligator. When the Indians in general became aware that the terms of
capitulation had been tampered with they were highly indignant.
General Jesup appointed a day on which all negroes taken during the war
were to be brought in, but no attention was paid to his order. He then
sent Osceola the following message: "I intend to send exploring parties
into every part of the country during the summer, and I shall send out
all the negroes who belong to the white people, and you must not allow
the Indians or their negroes to mix with them. I am sending for
bloodhounds to trail them, and I intend to hang every one of them who
does not come in."
When Osceola received this message and learned that ninety negroes had
already been seized by General Jesup as belonging to the whites he
declared that the agreement had been violated and that the signers were
therefore no longer bound by it. He instructed those encamped at Tampa
to disperse. The old chief, Micanopy, refused to do so or to give the
command to his people. One night early in June, Osceola entered the camp
and visited the tent of the sleeping Micanopy. As he had always done
before, the old man yielded to the wonderful personal influence of
Osceola and did his bidding like a child.
On the morning of the fifth of June, General Jesup was awakened by an
officer who came hurrying to tell him that the Indians had gone. Surely
enough the great camp had vanished in the night. The captives had fled.
Already they were safe in their marshy fastnesses. Families were
reunited; all had had rest and food and clothes. The coming sickly
season would make it impossible to pursue them till their growing crops
were harvested. The Seminole war with all its difficulties was reopened.
Osceola, who a few months before had been a hunted fugitive with only
three followers, without hope for himself or his people, was again a
powerful war chief. With a brighter outlook his natural cheerfulness of
disposition returned, and he hoped and planned great things for the
coming autumn.
Early in September he learned that his good friend "King Philip" had
been captured with eleven followers by General Joseph Hernandez. King
Philip's son, Wild Cat, came to him, saying he had been to St. Augustine
to see his father, that the palefaces had treated him well and had
allowed him to carry his father's messages to his friends. The old chief
wanted Osceola to come to St. Augustine to arrange for his liberation.
Osceola, always generous and ready to serve a friend, sent back to
General Hernandez a finely wrought bead pipe and a white plume to
indicate that the path between them was now white and safe and to
inquire whether it would be safe for his return.
Wild Cat soon returned to Osceola with presents and friendly messages
from the general. With the hope of gaining the release of King Philip,
Osceola started for St. Augustine with a large attendance of warriors.
Wild Cat went in advance to announce his coming. With a great show of
regard General Hernandez went out to meet Osceola with a store of
supplies. He met his advance guard, and learning that Osceola would not
arrive till evening, left word that Osceola should choose a camping
ground near Fort Peyton, and went back to communicate with General
Jesup.
The next morning General Hernandez rode out dressed in full uniform and
escorted by his own staff and many of the officers of General Jesup's
staff. He found Osceola and Chief Alligator with seventy-one picked
warriors assembled under the white flag for council. The warriors had
brought with them the women of King Philip's family, and about one
hundred negroes to be given up in exchange for the prisoner.
After the usual greetings and ceremonies General Hernandez took out a
paper and said that General Jesup wanted to know the Indians' answer to
these questions: "What is your object in coming? What do you expect? Are
you prepared to deliver up at once the slaves taken from the citizens?
Why have you not surrendered them already as promised by Alligator at
Fort King? Have the chiefs of the nation held a council in relation to
the subjects of the talk at Fort King? What chiefs attended that council
and what was their determination? Have the chiefs sent a messenger with
the decision of the council? Have the principal chiefs, Micanopy,
Jumper, Cloud, and Alligator, sent a messenger, and if so, what is their
message? Why have not those chiefs come in themselves?"
When Osceola heard these questions he struggled to answer. He began a
sentence but could not finish it. Turning to Alligator he said in a low
husky voice: "I feel choked. You must speak for me." Perhaps his
suspicions were aroused by the questions; perhaps he saw afar the lines
of soldiers closing round his camp--at any rate he was deeply troubled.
Finding the answers given by Alligator unsatisfactory, General
Hernandez, following the orders of General Jesup, gave the signal and
the troops surrounding the camp closed in upon the dismayed Indians and
marched them off to the fort.
In this way was the man that the generals in Florida pronounced the war
spirit of the Seminoles conquered.
XI. THE IMPRISONMENT OF OSCEOLA
Osceola and his warriors were taken by their captors to St. Augustine
where they were imprisoned within the strong walls of the old Spanish
castle of San Marco. It was very hard for these Indians who loved
liberty better than life to be shut up in narrow dark cells, to be
obliged to give up the warpath, to sit for hours, and days, and weeks,
and months in inaction, not knowing what need their friends had of them
but imagining the heaviest possible misfortunes for those they held
dear.
[Illustration: FORT SAN MARCO]
Osceola could have stood the torture of wrenched limbs and of fire with
haughty spirit unbent. What was that to this torture of the white man's,
the dim light, the quiet, the narrow walls, the waiting, the not
knowing, the fearing of evil?
The warrior still held his head high, but gradually the fierce gleam in
his eye changed to a look of gentleness, of unspeakable sadness, and his
winning smile came to have so much sorrow in it that men said to each
other after they left him, "His heart is breaking." He was allowed to
see and talk with other prisoners. When Micanopy and other chiefs were
brought to the fort he was told of their arrival. When Wild Cat, after
fasting many days, escaped through the small window in his wall with the
help of a rope made from his blanket, Osceola was aware of it. But none
of these things seemed to move him.