CHAPTER LVI.
Florida war--Startling news of the Massacre of Dade--Peoria on the Illinois--Abanaki language--Oregon--Things shaping for a territorial claim--Responsibility of claim in an enemy's country--A true soldier--Southern Literary Messenger--Missionary cause--Resources of Missouri--Indian portfolio of Lewis--Literary gossip--Sir Francis Head--The Crane and Addik totem--Treaty of March 28th, 1836, with the Ottawas and Chippewas--Treaty with the Saginaws of May 20th--Treaty with the Swan Creek and Black River Chippewas of May 9th--Return to Michilimackinack--Death of Charlotte, the daughter of Songageezhig.
1836. The year opened with the portentous news of Indian hostilities. The massacre of Major Dade and his entire command on the waters of the Wythlacootche River in Florida, and the prospect of an Indian war in Florida, excited great sensation in all circles. I was at the Secretary of War's domicil one evening, when he first received and read out the shocking details. The same night troops were ordered to be put in motion from every point in the Union, to be concentrated in that territory; and the greatest activity pervaded the departments. Gen. Jackson expressed himself with energy on the subject. He had formerly conducted a successful campaign against the Seminoles, but he could not be persuaded that there were more than five hundred of this tribe in the whole territory. This led him to believe that the troops actually put in motion for the field of action, were fully adequate to cope with the enemy, and promptly to put them down.
Jan. 4th. The American Lyceum request me to prepare a paper for their sixth anniversary.
6th. I received a letter from my former pastor, Rev. J. Porter, at Peoria, Ill., denoting him to be in a new field of ministerial labor.
"I bade adieu to my dear people at Chicago, on the second Sabbath in November, and commenced my labors here on the fourth Sabbath of the same month--just four years from the day I first preached at the Sault.
"The town is on the north bank of Lake Peoria, which is an expansion of the Illinois. The site is one of the first in our land. The ground rises with a delightful slope from the water's edge for the distance of half a mile--then there is table land for another half mile back to a high bluff. The town began to be built about two years since; it has now a population of eight hundred and fifty."
A descendant of the great theologian Edwards, it is pleasing to note that this gentleman is destined to be employed in various fields, in diffusing Christianity through the great valley.
8th. Mr. Thomas L. Winthrop, of Boston, transmits me "the first volume of a new series of the Transactions of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. This volume, amongst other valuable matter, contains a Dictionary of the Abinaki Language of North America, by Father Sebastian Rasles."