The Exiles of Florida Part 31

[45] Vide General Jackson's Official Report of this battle, Ex. Doc.

175, 2d Session XVth Congress.

[46] Williams, in his History of Florida, states that three hundred and forty Negroes again rallied after the first retreat, and fought their pursuers, until _eighty_ of their number, were killed on the field.

"Monetta" also states the same fact; but General Jackson, in all his Reports, evidently avoided, as far as possible, any notice of the Exiles, as a people. Indeed such was the policy of the Administration, and of its officers, and of all slaveholders. They then supposed, as they now do, that slavery must depend upon the supposed ignorance and stupidity of the colored people; and scarcely an instance can be found, where a slaveholder admits the slave to possess human intelligence or human feeling; indeed, to teach a slave to read the Scriptures, is regarded as an offense, in nearly every slave State, and punishable by fine and imprisonment.

[47] Various names have been given this Fort. The author, having heretofore adopted that of "Blount's Fort," prefers to continue that name. It was equally known, however, as the "Negro Fort," and as "Fort Nichols."

[48] The people of the free States should understand, that almost every question touching slavery which has arisen between our Government and that of England, the latter has yielded, since the formation of Jay's Treaty in 1795.

The payment for slaves who were s.h.i.+pwrecked on board the Comet, the Encomium, and the Enterprise, and found freedom by being landed on British soil, const.i.tute rare instances in which slaveholdlng arrogance has proved successful in the arts of diplomacy. The case of the Creole const.i.tutes another admirable ill.u.s.tration of successful effrontery. In this case, the slaves took possession of the s.h.i.+p, guided it to Na.s.sau, a British Island, went on sh.o.r.e and became free. The officers of the slave s.h.i.+p demanded that the British authorities should seize the negroes, and return them to the s.h.i.+p. They refused. Daniel Webster, Secretary of State, became the voluntary Agent, Attorney and Solicitor, for the slave dealers, who should have been hanged, instead of receiving the encouragement of our Government. But the subject was submitted to the umpirage of a man, said to have once lived in Boston, who, princ.i.p.ally upon the authority of Mr. Webster, decided that the people of the British government should pay the slave dealers for these parents and children; and after fifteen years of continued effort, the money was obtained.

[49] Vide Letter from the Secretary of War to Messrs. Plckens and Flournoy, August 8, 1820. Am. State Papers, Vol. VI, p. 249.

[50] Vide Letter of the Secretary of War to Gen. Flournoy, of the 19th of October, 1820. Ibid, 250.

[51] Vide Papers transmitted to Congress, in connection with the Treaty of "Indian Spring." Am. State Papers, "Indian Affairs," Vol. I, No. 174.

[52] Ibid.

[53] Ibid. Letter of Instructions contained in the papers referred to on preceding page.

[54] Vide Report of Commissioner on this subject; also, the Report of Wm. Wirt, Attorney General of the United States, to whom the President referred the subject. "Opinions of the Attorney General," 1822. Mr. Wirt states the price paid for those slaves was from two to three times their real value.

[55] Vide Reports of Committee XVIIth Congress, 2d Session, No. 125.

[56] Vide Am. State Papers, Vol. VI, pages 411, 412. It will be observed that General Jackson discarded the term "_maroon_," used by Penieres, as that in Jamaica, signifies "_free negroes_ of the mountains," who once fled from service, but have maintained their liberty so long that they cannot be identified, and are therefore admitted to be free.

[57] It is an interesting fact, that the doctrine recently avowed by the Supreme Court of the United States, that "_black men have no rights which white men are bound to respect_," was recognized and practiced upon in Florida, more than thirty years since, by the officers of Government.

[58] Vide Executive Doc.u.ments, No. 271, 2d Session XXVth Congress.

[59] Captain Sprague, of the United States Army, so states, in his History of the War.

[60] Vide Letter of the Agent, dated sixth of March, 1827.

[61] Vide Minutes of Talk held at Seminole Agency, with Treskal, Mathla, and other Chiefs. Ex. Doc. 271, 1st Sess. XXIVth Congress.

[62] Vide Letter of Col. Brooke to Col. Humphreys, 6 May, 1828, contained in the above cited Doc.u.ment.

[63] Vide Letter of Judge Smith, May 10, 1828, contained in same Doc.u.ment.

[64] Vide Statement of John Hick, 15 August, 1828. Ex. Doc. 271, before quoted.

[65] Vide Letter of Gad Humphreys, Oct. 20, 1828. It probably was the first time the proposition was submitted to the Seminoles.

[66] Even Mr. Adams, when President, continued in office those men who had been placed there by his predecessors.

[67] Vide Sprague's History of the Florida War.

[68] Vide Doc.u.ments relating to the Florida War, 1st Session, XXIVth Congress.

[69] Vide Sprague's History of the Florida War.

[70] Vide Ex. Doc. 271, XXIVth Congress, 1st Session, pages 43 and 44.

[71] The Author, while serving in Congress in 1847-8 was, by the Speaker, placed upon the committee of Indian Affairs. While serving on that committee, the Creek Indians applied for the return of this money which had belonged to them, but had been wrongfully paid over by Congress to the slaveholders of Georgia, some fourteen years previously.

The case was referred to the Author, as sub-committee, who reported that the money, in justice, in equity, and in law, belonged to the Indians; that its payment to the slaveholders was unjust and wrong, and that it ought to be paid to the Indians. The report was confirmed, and the money paid to the Indians. The justice of the cause was so obvious that it met with no opposition, and by the vote of both Houses it now stands acknowledged and declared that this sum of $141,000 was taken from the pockets of the laboring men of our Nation, and paid to those slaveholders for _imaginary slave children who were never born_; nor have we been able to learn that an objection was raised, or protest uttered, by any Northern member of Congress.

[72] Vide Opinion of Judge Cameron, pages 35 and 36 of Doc. 271, last quoted.

[73] NOTE.--When the author, in 1841, denounced this transaction, in the House of Representatives, and spoke of these slave-catchers as _Pirates_, Hon. Mark A. Cooper, of Georgia, became indignant at the denunciation;--said he was well acquainted with the men who seized and enslaved these people; that they were _honorable men_, and that he took them by the hand almost daily while at home.

[74] The statement of these facts may be found in Ex. Doc.u.ment, 1st Sess. XXIVth Congress.

[75] Vide Ex. Doc., 1st Sess. XXIVth Congress, page 14.

[76] Vide his letter at length in the Doc.u.ment last quoted.

[77] Vide Sprague's Florida War.

[78] Lieutenant Reynolds, while conducting the first party of emigrants West, in 1841, found among the Exiles persons who possessed so much Spanish blood, that he offered to leave them at New Orleans, and some of them accepted the offer. He left them in that city, and they probably now pa.s.s for Spaniards.

[79] Vide account of this transaction by H. M. Cohen, given in the Quarterly Anti-Slavery Magazine, vol. II, page 419. Mr. Thompson, the Agent, in his letter to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, bearing date soon after, says: "Powell used such language, that I was constrained to order him into irons." Mr. Sprague, in his history of the Florida War, reiterates the statement of Mr. Thompson. But neither Sprague, nor Thompson, nor any other person who was present, it is believed, has ever denied the relation which Mr. Cohen has given.

[80] Sprague's History of the Florida War.

[81] Vide Testimony accompanying Pacheco's Pet.i.tion to Congress for indemnity.

[82] Vide Statement of Tustenuggee, a Seminole Chief, who was present, and whose account of this ma.s.sacre is given in Sprague's History of the Florida War.

[83] These Speeches may be found in the Congressional Globe, 2d Sess.

x.x.xth Congress.

[84] Sprague's History of the War.

[85] Osceola, though a fierce and gallant warrior, entertained high notions of honor; and, although a savage, he was punctilious on those points, and finally fell a victim to the treachery of those calling themselves _civilized_ men.

[86] Francis P. Blair, who is yet living, (1868.)

[87] Vide Ex. Doc., 2d Sess. XXVth Congress, No. 78, pages 558-9.

[88] His vindication before the court was triumphant, and he was honorably acquitted from all censure.

[89] Sprague, in his History of the Florida War, says there were _two hundred negro warriors_ in this battle; that their women and children were a short distance in their rear, mounted on their ponies, and ready to flee, if their husbands, brothers and fathers had been compelled to retreat.

[90] General Jessup was undoubtedly somewhat ignorant as to the history of the Exiles. Speaking of Abraham, that officer says: "He is married to the wife of the former chief of the Nation; is a good soldier, and an _intrepid leader_. He _is the negro chief_, and the most cunning and intelligent negro we have here; _he claims to be free_."

[91] General Jessup _subsequently_ reported his determination to _separate the negroes, or Exiles, from the Indians_. He therefore stipulated for _their safety_, and, at the same time, agreed that the _slaves_ of the Indians should accompany their owners, and not be separated from them. These facts will appear as we proceed in our history.