"I will give him Osceola's message," said the sentry.
When General Jessup heard that the savage Seminole was near by, he immediately devised a scheme for capturing him. Finding that he could not entice him into the fort, he ordered one of his officers, with over a hundred soldiers, to seize the Seminole chief, under cloak of a flag of truce. This sharp trick was successfully operated, and, although it was a piece of the most flagrant treachery, the wily enemy to white government was at last secured. The affair is a perpetual stain upon the honor of the United States.
In spite of his vigorous protests, Osceola was sent to St. Augustine and afterwards confined in the dungeon at Fort Moultrie, Charleston, South Carolina. Crushed by the humiliating position to which he had sunk, and brooding over the misfortunes of his race, he pined away and died within a year. The war kept on as vigorously as before, and did not terminate until 1842. Then the great bulk of the Seminoles was sent beyond the Mississippi, and a few, who were harmless, were allowed to remain in Florida.
The skeletons of the unfortunate soldiers who fell with the gallant Major Dade were collected, and buried in St. Augustine with appropriate ceremonies. A monument was erected to the memory of these courageous men. At West Point is also another monument, the inscription upon which reads:
"To commemorate the Battle of the 28th of December, Between a Detachment of 108 U. S. Troops and the Seminole Indians, of Florida, In which all the Detachment Save Three Fell Without an Attempt to Retreat."
All honor to these brave men who, dying with their face to the foe, nobly upheld the finest traditions of the army of the United States!
ROMAN NOSE: THE CUSTER OF THE CHEYENNES
All the world admires a brave man, whether he be of red, black, or yellow complexion. All the world respects the leader of a gallant cavalry charge, whether it be successful or not. The British leader of the heroic 600 has been celebrated in both prose and poetry. The gallant Von Bredow of the Franco-Prussian War; the fearless Custer; the impetuous Farnsworth of Gettysburg fame, have all had their stories told by scores of writers; but here is the story of an Indian who led as fierce a gallop as that of the courageous British squadrons at Balaklava, and it is a tale which should live as long as that of any of the other heroes of sabre, spur, and cuirass, whose names adorn the most exciting pages of history. All honor to Roman Nose, the intrepid leader of the Cheyennes, whose mad gallop across the alkali wastes of the Arikaree Valley in the spring of 1868 has had but little recognition by writers of stirring deeds and desperate attacks!