General Hernandez was now sent with two hundred and fifty men to hold a parley with the Seminoles, and the lieutenant was told to report whether the answers of the Indians were satisfactory. He came back after a short time with word that they were not. Jessup then ordered Major Ashby to seize the whole party, and this, too, despite the fact that the meeting was under a flag of truce.

It was so done. Seventy-five Indians, including Osceola, were made prisoners under the white flag, and without the firing of a gun, October 23, 1837, and the act was accepted by our government.

While the deed must ever remain a blot upon our honor, it is only fair to name some of the circumstances that were urged in excuse. The Seminoles themselves had repeatedly violated flags of truce, and were so treacherous that they had placed themselves outside the pale of civilized warfare. Furthermore, there was every reason to doubt the honesty of Osceola and his brother chiefs. They had made the same professions before, for no reason except to gain time. Finally, there was every cause to believe that his capture and that of the prominent leaders would either end, or hasten the end, of the war, and prevent the shedding of a great deal of innocent blood through the termination of hostilities.

These arguments named may be accepted as a partial excuse for the act of General Jessup, though it cannot be justified. All the abuse he had suffered before was as nothing compared to that now heaped upon his head, but he had probably become used to that sort of thing, and believed that when peace speedily followed, those who blamed him would speak words of praise. But peace did not come, and the war dragged on for year after year.

OSCEOLA, THE SEMINOLE

Osceola and his brother prisoners were sent to St. Augustine. The leader was soon after removed to Fort Moultrie, in Charleston harbor. His heart was broken, his spirit crushed, and he pined away and died within the following year. That he possessed courage and much strength of character cannot be denied, though in no respect was he the equal of several leaders of his race who have been named in these pages in the true stories that have been told.

We have said so much about the Seminole War that it is well to sum up its history. It has been stated that the capture of Osceola and many leading chiefs failed to bring the struggle to an end, as nearly every one believed it would do. General Zachary Taylor succeeded General Jessup in command, and marched from Fort Gardener at the close of the year, 1837. "Rough and Ready" became President of the United States something more than ten years later, because of the fine record he made in our war with Mexico. In his biographies, much notice was given to the battle of Lake Okeechobee, which was fought on that body of water. It was the conflict of the war with the Seminoles. The issue more than once was doubtful, but in the end the Americans drove the enemy from the field. The loss of the soldiers was twenty-eight killed and a hundred and eleven wounded. Four companies had every officer, with one exception, killed.

The rough handling which the Indians received made them more wary than before about risking a battle in the open. The affrays were too numerous to be recorded. In one case, General Jessup was badly hurt, and had ten men killed and thirty wounded. Convinced by this time that it was impossible to drive out the Seminoles from Florida, he wrote to the Secretary of War advising that a certain part of the Territory be set apart for them. The Secretary gave no attention to the suggestion.

Finally, after all methods, including the violation of the flag of truce, had failed, a novel plan was tried. General Jessup proposed that bloodhounds should be used to run down the Indians, who hitherto had found refuge in the swamps. General Taylor and the administration approved the scheme, it being declared that the dogs were to be used for no other purpose than to track the redskins. Despite the storm of protests raised throughout the country, thirty-three hounds were imported from Cuba, and five Spaniards were hired to handle them, the cost of the venture being several thousand dollars.