Sir: Having been appointed as a Delegate from this Nation (the Chickasaw) to the Southern Congress, am at a loss (to know) when the Congress does meet. I have all along understood from newspaper accounts that it was to be on the 22d of February, but some seems to think it is sooner. Will you please inform me at your earliest convenience at what time the S. Congress does meet. Your attention to the above is respectfully requested. I am yours very Respectfully
James Gamble.
P.S. Please continue to send me the Parallel, I will make it all right with you when on my way to Va.
J. G.
[368] In the list of members of the Confederate congresses, given in Official Records, fourth ser., vol. iii, 1184-1191, no Indian delegate is specified until 1863.
[369] Cooper to President Davis, July 25, 1861 [ibid., first ser., vol. iii, 614].
[370] E. H. Carruth, in a letter to General Hunter of November 26, 1861 [Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Report, 1861, p. 47], would have us understand that the Seminoles as a tribe did not negotiate with Pike, but that the whole affair was as between Pike and Jumper, Jumper being assisted by four chosen friends. The five were probably bribed. That Pike was not averse to the use of money for such ends, his letter to Walker of June twelfth would lead us to suspect [Official Records, first ser., vol. iii, 590]. We have, however, no definite proof of the same. John Jumper was early rewarded by the Confederate government. By act of the Provisional Congress, January 16, 1861 [Statutes at Large, p. 284], he was made an honorary lieutenant-colonel of the army of the Confederate States. Carruth further says that the family influence of Jumper “enabled him to raise forty-six men, not all Seminoles, and Ben McCulloch authorized him to call to his aid six hundred rangers from Fort Cobb, that he might crush out the Union feeling in his tribe.”
[371] It is just possible that Rector had been with him all the time. At all events Rector subsequently entered an expense account against the C. S. A. for services from July tenth to August twenty-fourth inclusive. See [Appendix A], Fort Smith Papers.
[372] See letter of Agent Snow, dated March 10, 1864, and its enclosures, one of which is a speech of Long John, who became principal chief when the aged Billy Bowlegs died, and another, a speech of Pas-co-fa, who, provided his signature to the treaty be genuine, eventually must have repented of his Confederate alliance. He was soon, with Bowlegs and Chup-co, in the ranks of Opoeth-le-yo-ho-la [General Files, Seminole, 1858-1867, S291].
[373] The report of the United States commissioner of Indian affairs for 1863 estimates the loyal Seminoles at about two-thirds of the tribe [House Executive Documents, 38th congress, first session, vol. iii, 143], that of the Confederate States commissioner of Indian affairs as fully one-half [S. S. Scott to Secretary Seddon, January 12, 1863, Official Records, fourth ser., vol. ii, 353].