General Scott Part 7

General Scott had been authorized to ask for volunteers from the States of Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, and the Territory of Florida. Among other instructions given the general was the following: In consequence of representations from Florida that measures would probably be taken to transmit the slaves captured by the Indians to the Havana, orders were given the navy to prevent such proceedings, and General Scott was directed "to allow no pacification with the Indians while a slave belonging to a white man remained in their possession." There were a great many negroes among the Indians. In the band that ma.s.sacred Major Dade and his command there were sixty-three of them mounted in one company. The negroes and Indians of mixed African and Indian blood were the most cruel members of the tribe.

Re-enforcements of militia were soon added to the army. The great disadvantages under which Scott labored necessarily delayed his movements until a late period. He found the quartermaster's department very deficient, and had the greatest difficulty in transporting supplies to Fort Drane. His supplies of ordnance were very limited, and the greater part of those on hand were unfit for use. To penetrate a country like Florida, filled with swamps, mora.s.ses, and almost impenetrable hammocks, required much preparation and labor. There was no chain of posts or settlements through the country, and the army was compelled to carry a heavy load of provisions and ordnance. To increase the difficulties, heavy rains had fallen which made the roads almost impa.s.sable. General Scott arrived at Fort Drane on March 13, 1836, with a very small force. Believing the enemy to be concentrated at or near the forks of Ouithlacoochee River, he adopted the following plan of operations:

The Florida army to const.i.tute three divisions, to be known as the right, center, and left wings; the center being composed of Alabama volunteers, three companies of Louisiana volunteers, and two companies of United States artillery, amounting to twelve hundred and fifty men, to be commanded by Colonel William Lindsay. To move from Fort Brooke and take position at or near Chicuchatty, on March 25th. Signal guns to be fired each day thereafter at 9 A.M. to announce position. The right wing, composed of a battalion of Augusta volunteers under Acting Major Robertson; a battalion of Georgia volunteers under Major Mark A. Cooper; Major John M. Dougla.s.s, Georgia Cavalry; eleven companies of Louisiana volunteers, under Colonel Persifor F. Smith; Florida Rangers, under Major McLemore; the regulars, under Colonel James Bankhead; and Captain Clifton Wharton's company of Dragoons--in all amounting to about two thousand men, to be commanded by General Clinch. This wing to move from Fort Drane and be in position near Camp Izard, on the Ouithlacoochee River, between March 26th and 28th. Signal guns to be fired at 11 A.M. The left wing, composed of the South Carolina volunteers, under Colonel Abbott H. Brisbane; mounted volunteers, under Colonels Goodwyn and Butler--amounting to about fourteen hundred men--to be commanded by General Abram Eustis. This wing to move from Volusia and take position at or near Pilaklakaha on March 27th. Signal guns to be fired at ten o'clock each day.

Each wing to be composed of three columns, a center protected by a strong van and rear guard. The baggage train to be placed in the rear of the main column. The center and left wings, on a.s.suming their respective positions, will fire signal guns, which will be responded to by the right wing. The right wing will then move up the cove or great swamp of the Ouithlacoochee in a southeast direction and drive the Indians south, while the center will advance to the north and the left to the west, by which united movement the Indians will be surrounded and left no avenue of escape. The operations of the army will be supported by the naval forces under Commodore Alfred J.

Dallas, protecting the western coast of the peninsula, to cut off retreat and supplies.

Colonel Lindsay, commanding the center wing, arrived at Fort Brooke with eight companies of Alabama volunteers on March 6th, where he found a battalion of Florida troops, commanded by Major Read, and on the 10th was joined by one company of Louisiana volunteers, under command of Captain George H. Marks.

On the 12th he discovered fires to the southeast, and it was soon reported that a large body of Indians was encamped a few miles distant. Colonel Lindsay directed Major Leigh Read with his battalion to make a reconnoissance in the direction of the Indians. Major Read moved during the night, and coming upon the Indians at daylight, surprised them and put them to flight with a loss of three killed and six taken prisoners. He also secured a quant.i.ty of camp equipage and some beef cattle.

Colonel Lindsay, not hearing from headquarters, determined to proceed as far as Hillsboro River and erect a stockade so as to place his supplies nearer to the scene of operations. This object having been effected, he left Major Read in charge of the fort, which he had named Fort Alabama, and returned to Fort Brooke on the 21st. During his absence dispatches were received from General Scott announcing the plan of campaign, and requesting Colonel Lindsay to be in position at Chicuchatty on March 25th. Major Read having been relieved, the line of march was taken up. The column being fired on by the Indians and several soldiers killed and wounded, Colonel Lindsay ordered a charge, which was executed by Captains Benham and Blount, commanding Alabama volunteers, and the Indians were driven from their covert into a pine woods.

On March 28th, three days after the time mentioned in the orders, this command was in position at Camp Broadnax, near Chicuchatty, in pursuance of General Scott's orders. The country over which they had marched was hilly, and in many places there were dense forests which r.e.t.a.r.ded their movements, though the late period at which Colonel Lindsay received his orders would have prevented his arrival at the time specified in them. No censure can be attributed to General Scott for the delay, as it was impossible under the circ.u.mstances for him to have matured his plans earlier.

General Eustis, commanding the left wing, arrived at St. Augustine on February 15th, and at once established a chain of posts at intervals of from ten to twenty miles, extending along the Atlantic coast as far south as the Mosquito Inlet, in order to drive off the bands of depredators and to give protection to the plantations. Colonel Goodwyn's mounted South Carolina volunteers having arrived on March 9th, the several detachments of the left wing, with the exception of Colonel Pierce M. Butler's battalion and two companies of artillery under Major Reynold M. Kirby, were put in motion for Volusia, where they arrived on March 21st after encountering great difficulties, being compelled to cut the road nearly the whole distance. On the 22d they began crossing the St. John's River. When the vanguard, consisting of two companies under Captains Adams and T.S. Tripp, had reached the opposite sh.o.r.e they were attacked by about fifty Indians who were concealed in a hammock. Being re-enforced by George Henry and Hibler's companies, they charged the enemy and drove him. Two companies of mounted men were crossed above with a view of cutting off the retreat of the Indians, but they were too late. The loss in this battle was three killed and nine wounded. On the 24th, Lieutenant Ripley A. Arnold, with twenty-seven mounted men, was sent in quest of Colonel Butler and his command, who had not joined the main command, he having marched in the direction of New Smyrna. This detachment fell in with a party of twelve or fifteen Indians who gave battle. Two of the Indians were killed, and Lieutenant Arnold, having his horse shot, ordered a retreat, for which he was severely censured. The whole force of General Eustis's command being now concentrated on the west side of the St. John's River, opposite to Volusia, orders were issued to distribute thirteen days' rations, and the line of march to be taken up for Pilaklakaha, leaving the sick and wounded with two companies of Colonel Brisbane's regiment at Volusia, under command of Major William Gates, United States army. The roads being bad, they were unable to march more than seven miles in two days. On the 29th they reached the Ocklawaha, and, constructing a bridge, crossed over after sundown and discovered fires on the margin of Lake Eustis, which they supposed to be signals of the Indians. Colonel Butler, with a small command, accompanied by General Joseph Shelton, who was serving as a private soldier, moved in the direction of the fires and discovered four Indians, who at once retreated. One of these Indians, Chief Yaha Hayo, was killed, while the others made their escape. On the 30th Colonel Goodwyn was sent forward to reconnoiter, and when near Pilaklakaha was attacked by Indians, having three men and several horses wounded.

Colonel Robert H. Goodwyn was soon re-enforced by General Eustis, and a battle ensued lasting nearly an hour. The Indians were driven into the swamp. On March 31st an express was sent to Scott for information and for the purpose of obtaining forage. A signal gun was fired on the following morning after their arrival, but not answered.

The right wing having a.s.sembled at Fort Drane, General Scott ordered General Clinch to put his troops in motion on March 25th and take position on the Ouithlacoochee; but a heavy rain prevented the movement until the morning of March 26th. General Clinch sent forward two flatboats drawn on wagons to await the arrival of the troops at the river. The movement was begun by Major Dougla.s.s with his mounted Georgians. The order of march was in three columns: the center, with the baggage train, headed by General Clinch, the right consisting of the Louisiana volunteers, under command of Colonel Persifor F. Smith, joined the line at Camp Smith, and the left, commanded by Colonel Bankhert, joined by Lieutenant Colonel William S. Foster's battalion of United States troops at Camp Twiggs, General Scott and staff with an escort of dragoons taking position in the center. Colonel Gadsden was appointed quartermaster general for Florida, and acting inspector general. When nine miles from Fort Drane information reached the army that some volunteers left in charge of a broken-down team had been attacked by the Indians and one man killed. On March 28th the column reached the Ouithlacoochee and encamped near Fort Izard. The river bank was occupied by sharpshooters and two pieces of artillery to protect the crossing. Foster Blodget, of the Richmond Blues of Augusta, Ga., swam the river and attached a rope to a tree on the opposite sh.o.r.e and planted the flag of his command. The whole command was pa.s.sed over, but the rear division was fired upon by the Indians, who were quickly repulsed by the six-pounders. On the morning of March 30th a party of Indians was encountered, charged upon, and routed, and the same party were next day met and driven into the swamp. The column proceeded on its march and arrived at Tampa Bay on April 5th. They here learned that Colonel Lindsay had preceded them one day, being obliged to return for necessary subsistence.

It will be remembered that the center, being under Colonel Lindsay, took position at Camp Broadnax, near Chicuchatty, on March 28th. They were fired on by the Indians, but succeeded in driving them off. As his supplies had run short and the original plan of the campaign had been defeated, Colonel Lindsay returned with his command to Fort Brooke, arriving there April 4th. When Colonel Lindsay reached Fort Alabama, near the Hillsboro River, he learned that the post had been attacked on the morning of March 27th by three or four hundred Indians, who surrounded the breastwork and continued the attack for two hours, when they were repulsed with a loss of fifteen. The garrison lost one man killed and two wounded. General Eustis, for the same reasons which moved Colonel Lindsay, marched on April 2d from Pilaklakaha and encamped about sixteen miles from Fort Brooke, reporting to General Scott.

The whole army being now concentrated at or near Fort Brooke, the plan for a new campaign was discussed. They had found but small parties of the Indians in the cove or swamp region, and it was thought that they had gone to the southern part of the Florida peninsula and concealed themselves in the Everglades.

General Scott ordered Colonel Smith, of the Louisiana volunteers, to proceed by water to Charlotte Harbor and move north, while Colonel Goodwyn, with the South Carolina mounted men, was ordered to the lake at the head of Pease's Creek for the purpose of driving the Indians down. Having destroyed a large unoccupied Indian village on the left bank of that stream, and finding no Indians, the command returned to Hillsboro River and joined the left wing.

The Louisiana troops left Fort Brooke on April 10th and arrived at Pease's Creek on the 17th. They moved forward at once, but the weather was oppressive and the men were broken down by previous marches; many of them being dest.i.tute of shoes and other clothing, it was found necessary to return to camp. Out of over seven hundred Louisiana troops who had volunteered in January and entered the field the beginning of the next month, but one hundred and thirty were now left fit for duty. With these, however, and a small detachment of marines from the United States vessels in that vicinity, Colonel Smith determined to proceed. He embarked with one half of his command in canoes, the others proceeding by land. Meeting no Indians, he returned to Fort Brooke on April 27th, when the Louisiana troops were ordered to New Orleans to be mustered out of service. Colonel Smith proceeded to St. Mark's and reported to General Scott.

The right wing having remained at Tampa Bay from April 5th to the 13th, General Scott issued orders to General Clinch to move toward Fort Drane, and, after relieving Major Cooper, to co-operate with Colonel Lindsay, who had left Fort Brooke about the same time, for the purpose of penetrating the cove in a different direction from that pursued by the right wing on its march to Tampa, and to penetrate the forks of the Ouithlacoochee.

While Colonel Lindsay was engaged in constructing a defensive work on the military road near Big Ouithlacoochee, General Clinch encamped near Fort Cooper and dispatched some cavalry under Captain Malone to relieve the garrison, with instructions that should he meet the enemy, he was to advise General Clinch at once. When about three miles distant from the main body the Indians opened fire and at once retreated. The hammock was penetrated and searched, but no Indians were found.

Major Cooper was attacked by a large body of Indians and besieged for thirteen days. His loss was one man killed and twenty wounded. The Indians not having been found in any large numbers, the two wings separated, the center returning to Fort Brooke and the right to Fort King, where they arrived April 25th.

After the arrival of Colonel Goodwyn's mounted regiment, the left wing, accompanied by General Scott, took up line of march on the 18th for Volusia. A small party of Indians was encountered, but they fled and secreted themselves in a hammock. General Eustis's command arrived at Volusia on the evening of the 25th, and on the 28th all the volunteers from South Carolina marched to St. Augustine and were mustered out. On the arrival of Colonel Lindsay at Fort Brooke he was directed by General Scott to relieve the garrison at Fort Alabama, and disband the Alabama volunteers, leaving only regulars there.

They were attacked by the Indians with a loss of four killed and nineteen wounded. General Scott, accompanied by Colonel Gadsden, Captain Augustus Canfield, and Lieutenant Johnson, with a detachment of seventeen men, embarked in a steamboat at Volusia for the purpose of penetrating by the St. John's River the south part of the peninsula and selecting a site nearer to the seat of war as a depot for supplies. They proceeded to the head of Lake Monroe, but the boat was unable to pa.s.s the bar and they were compelled to return.

In his report of April 30th General Scott says: "To end this war, I am now persuaded that not less than three thousand troops are indispensable--two thousand four hundred infantry and six hundred horse, the country to be occupied and scoured requiring that number."

He further recommended that two or three steamers with a light draught of water, and fifty or sixty barges capable of carrying from ten to fifteen men each, be employed, but did not ask for the control of the operations he recommended, saying it was an honor he would neither solicit nor decline.

CHAPTER VII.

Scott prefers complaint against General Jesup--Court of inquiry ordered by the President--Scott fully exonerated by the court--Complaints of citizens--Difficulties of the campaign--Speech in Congress of Hon. Richard Biddle--Scott declines an invitation to a dinner in New York city--Resolutions of the subscribers--Scott is ordered to take charge of and remove the Cherokee Indians--Orders issued to troops and address to the Indians--Origin of the Cherokee Indian troubles--Collision threatened between Maine and New Brunswick, and Scott sent there--Correspondence with Lieutenant-Governor Harvey--Seizure of Navy Island by Van Rensselaer--Governor Marcy.

General Scott had, a short time previous to the events just narrated, complained to the War Department of disobedience of orders on the part of General Jesup, who had written a letter to the Globe newspaper in Was.h.i.+ngton charging that Scott's conduct had been destructive of the best interests of the country. Mr. Francis P. Blair, the editor to whom the letter was addressed, showed it to President Jackson, who indorsed on it an order to the Secretary of War to recall General Scott to Was.h.i.+ngton, and that an inquiry be held as to his delay in prosecuting the Creek War and the failure of the Florida campaign. On Scott's arrival in Was.h.i.+ngton he asked for a court of inquiry, which was ordered on October 3d, composed of Major-General Alexander Macomb and Brigadier-Generals Henry Atkinson and Hugh Brady, with Colonel Cooper, General Macomb's aid-de-camp, as judge advocate. The court a.s.sembled at Frederick, Md., and was delayed some time by the absence of witnesses. General Scott addressed the court in his own defense.

The finding was unanimous that the plan of the Seminole campaign was well devised, and prosecuted with energy, steadiness, and ability; and as to the Creek campaign, the court decided that the plan of the campaign as adopted by General Scott was well calculated to lead to successful results, and that it was prosecuted by him, as far as practicable, with zeal and ability until he was recalled from the command. This was not only a full vindication, but a compliment to him expressed in the broadest sense.

He now addressed a letter to Secretary of War Joel R. Poinsett, asking the immediate direction of affairs in Florida, as this was a part of the geographical division to which he had been a.s.signed, and a large number of the troops of his command had been ordered there; and that he was senior in rank to General Jesup, then commanding there. The members of Congress from his native State made a unanimous appeal to the Secretary of War seconding his application, but the application was denied.

Some citizens of Florida made complaints of the nonsuccess of the army, and severely censured General Scott. In fact, complaints of this nature were made against every officer who commanded in Florida, except General Zachary Taylor. It has been seen that the court of inquiry fully vindicated General Scott's course in the management of the war in Florida. The campaign, however, vindicated itself.

Considering the scarcity of all the means at hand, it is remarkable how much was accomplished with so little loss of life.

When General Scott undertook this campaign Florida was a _terra incognita_. The greater part of it had scarcely been visited by the whites, and very little was known of the settlements of the Seminoles.

They were known by their approaches to the white settlements, and when the war broke out by their plunders and devastations. It was not known where their hiding places were, and this could only be determined by pursuing them. At the time of General Scott's a.s.signment to the command all the information tended to locating them on the waters of the Ouithlacoochee and the St. John's Rivers; and accordingly against this portion of the country the movement of the army was directed.

It was not only the want of ordnance, clothing, and subsistence, but the geographical peculiarity of Florida--with its marshes, thickets, hammocks, everglades, and impenetrable swamps--that made this campaign almost fruitless, and which for years baffled all efforts of the Government to subdue this small but brave and desperate tribe of Indians.

In Congress General Scott's campaign in Florida was defended by some of the ablest men in the country. Richard Biddle, of Pennsylvania, in 1837, when the House of Representatives was engaged in a debate on appropriations for carrying on the war in Florida, said: "It would be recollected by all that after the war in Florida had a.s.sumed a formidable aspect Major-General Scott was called to the command. An officer of his rank and standing was not likely to seek a service in which, amid infinite toil and vexation, there would be no opportunity for the display of military talent on a scale at all commensurate with that in which his past fame had been acquired. Yet he entered on it with the alacrity, zeal, and devotion to duty by which he had ever been distinguished....

"When the late General Brown, writing from the field of Chippewa, said that General Scott merited the highest praises which a grateful country could bestow, was there a single bosom throughout the wide republic that did not respond to the sentiment? I, for one at least, can never forget the thrill of enthusiasm, boy as I then was, which mingled with my own devout thankfulness to G.o.d that the cloud which seemed to have settled on our arms was at length dispelled. On that plain it was established that Americans could be trained to meet and to beat in the open field, without breastworks, the regulars of Britain....

"Sir, the result of that day was due not merely to the gallantry of General Scott upon the field. It must in part be ascribed to the patient, anxious, and indefatigable drudgery, the consummate skill as a tactician, with which he labored night and day, at the camp near Buffalo, to prepare his brigade for the career on which it was about to enter. After a brief interval he again led that brigade to the glorious victory of Bridgewater. He bears now upon his body the wounds of that day. It had ever been the characteristic of this officer to seek the post of danger--not to have it thrust upon him. In the years preceding that to which I have specially referred--in 1812 and 1813--the eminent services he rendered were in the positions which properly belonged to others, but into which he was led by irrepressible ardor and jealousy of honor.

"Since the peace with Great Britain the talents of General Scott have ever been at the command of his country. His pen and his sword have alike been put in requisition to meet the varied exigencies of the service. When the difficulties with the Western Indians swelled into importance, General Scott was dispatched to the scene of hostility.

There rose up before him then, in the ravages of a frightful pestilence, a form of danger infinitely more appalling than the perils of the field. How he bore himself in this emergency, how faithfully he became the nurse and the physician of those from whom terror and loathing had driven all other aid, can not be forgotten by a just and grateful country....

"Mr. Chairman, I believe that a signal atonement to General Scott will one day be extorted from the justice of the House. We owe it to him; but we owe it still more to the country. What officer can feel secure in the face of that great example of triumphant injustice? Who can place before himself the antic.i.p.ation of establis.h.i.+ng higher claims upon the grat.i.tude of the country than General Scott? Yet he was sacrificed. His past services went for nothing. Sir, you may raise new regiments and issue new commissions, but you can not without such atonement restore the high moral tone which befits the depositories of the national honor. I fondly wish that the highest and lowest in the country's service might be taught to regard this House as the jealous guardian of his rights, against caprice, or fanaticism, or outrage from whatever quarter. I would have him know that in running up the national flag at the very moment our daily labors commence, we do not go through an idle form. On whatever distant service he may be sent--whether urging his way amid tumbling icebergs toward the pole, or fainting in the unwholesome heat of Florida--I would enable him as he looks up to that flag to gather hope and strength. It should impart to him a proud feeling of confidence and security. He should know that the same emblem of majesty and justice floats over the council of the nation, and that in its untarnished l.u.s.ter we have all a common interest and a common sympathy. Then, sir, and not before, will you have an army or a navy worthy to sustain and to perpetuate the glory of former days."

Soon after the decision of the court of inquiry exonerating him from blame or censure General Scott was tendered a public dinner in New York from leading members of both political parties. He accepted the invitation, but it was subsequently postponed until about the middle of May, and before that time it was altogether declined, for reasons expressed in a note of which a copy follows:

"GENTLEMEN: Early last month I accepted the invitation to a public dinner which you and other friends did me the honor to tender me. In a few days the embarra.s.sments of this great emporium became such that I begged the compliment might be indefinitely postponed.

You, however, were so kind as to hold me to my engagement, and to appoint a day for the meeting, which is now near at hand. In the meantime the difficulties in the commercial world have gone on augmenting, and many of my friends, here and elsewhere, have been whelmed under the general calamity of the times. Feeling deeply for the losses and anxieties of all, no public honor could now be enjoyed by me. I must therefore, under the circ.u.mstances, positively but most respectfully withdraw my acceptance of your invitation.

"I have the honor to remain, gentlemen, with the greatest esteem, your friend and servant,

"WINFIELD SCOTT."

The subscribers to the dinner, on receipt of General Scott's letter, called a meeting, Cornelius W. Lawrence in the chair, and unanimously adopted the resolutions which follow:

"_Resolved_, That in the decision of General Scott to withdraw, for the reasons a.s.signed, his acceptance of the public dinner designed to testify to him our high appreciation both of his private and public character, we find new evidence of his sympathy with all that regards the public welfare, and of his habitual oblivion of self where the feelings and interests of others are concerned.

"_Resolved_, That we rejoice with the joy of friends in the result, so honorable to General Scott, of the recent court of inquiry inst.i.tuted to investigate his military conduct as commander in chief in Alabama and Florida, and that the President of the United States (Mr. Van Buren), in approving its proceedings, acted in gratifying unison with the general sentiments of the nation."

General Scott also received invitations from Richmond, Va., and Elizabeth, N.J., both of which places had been his former homes.

The Florida War was brought to a close by the defeat of the Indians by Colonel Zachary Taylor, in the decisive battle of Okechobee, for which he received the brevet of Brigadier General, and in 1838 was appointed to the chief command in Florida. Taylor was succeeded by Brigadier-General Armistead, and in 1842 General Worth succeeded to the command and made a treaty with Sam Jones and Billy Bowlegs, allowing them to remain and possess a large tract of land.

In the spring of 1836 General Scott was ordered to take charge of and superintend the removal of the Cherokee Indians to the reservation which had been set apart for them by treaty west of the Mississippi River. Great opposition to removal was expected from the Indians, and much fear felt by the inhabitants contiguous to their settlements.

General Scott, however, by his kindness and generosity, won the confidence of the Indians, and was not compelled to resort to any act of violence. Twenty-four thousand five hundred and ninety-four were removed, two hundred and thirty-six having lost their lives on the steamboat Monmouth. Only seven hundred and forty-four remained east of the Mississippi River. The Cherokees occupied territory in the States of Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama, and Tennessee. Many of their leaders were well educated and were men of ability, and some of them were wealthy, owning fine farms and negro slaves. General Scott in his Memoirs says: "The North Carolinians and Tennesseeans were kindly disposed toward their red brethren. The Alabamians much less so. The great difficulty was with the Georgians (more than half the army), between whom and the Cherokees there had been feuds and wars for many generations. The reciprocal hatred of the two races was probably never surpa.s.sed. Almost every Georgian on leaving home, as well as after arrival at New Echota--the center of the most populous district of the Indian Territory--vowed never to return without having killed at least one Indian."

General Scott arrived at the Cherokee agency, a small village on the Hiawa.s.see River in Tennessee, in the early part of May, 1838. He published and circulated two addresses--one to the troops and the other to the Indians--but had them circulated together.