Having recovered his self-possession, he addressed Colonel Worth, saying, “The whites dealt unjustly by me. I came to them, when they deceived me. I loved the land I was upon; my body is made of its sands. The Great Spirit gave me legs to walk over it; eyes to see it; hands to aid myself; a head with which I think. The sun, which shines warm and bright, brings forth our crops; and the moon brings back the spirits of our warriors, our fathers, our wives and children. The white man comes; he grows pale and sickly; why can we not live in peace? They steal our horses and cattle, cheat us, and take our lands. They may shoot us—may chain our hands and feet; but the red man’s heart will be free. I have come to you in peace, and have taken you all by the hand. I will sleep in your camp, though your soldiers stand around me thick as pine trees. I am done: when we know each other better, I will say more.”
General Worth assured him of the good faith with which he should be treated; that the feelings which he had expressed were honorable to him and to his people; that the emotions manifested on seeing his child, were highly creditable to him as a father; assured him that his child should not be separated from him; that the American officers and soldiers highly respected the parental affection which he had exhibited. He then entered upon a consultation with him concerning the best mode of obtaining a peace.
Wild Cat spoke with great sincerity; frankly stated the condition and feelings of this people; stated the friendly attachment between the Exiles and Indians; said that they would not consent to be separated; that nothing could be done until their annual assemblage in June, to feast on the green corn; that, hard as the fate was, he would consent to emigrate, and would use his influence to induce his friends to do so.
After remaining four days in camp, he and his companions left, accompanied by his little daughter, whom he presented to her mother on reaching his own encampment.
Prompt to his engagement with General Worth, he returned on the tenth day after his departure. He stated that he could do nothing until June; but expressed his desire to see General Armistead, the former commander, who was yet at Tampa Bay. With that officer he also made arrangements to do whatever was in his power to induce his friends to emigrate.
There appears no good evidence on which to doubt the sincerity of Wild Cat; yet it appears that General Armistead, before leaving Florida, ordered Colonel Childs, commanding at Fort Pearce, to seize Wild Cat, if he should come within his power, with such followers as should attend him, and send them to Tampa Bay for emigration. General Armistead retired to Washington soon after issuing this order, leaving General Worth in command.
On the twenty-first of May, Wild Cat and his brother, together with an uncle, a brother of his father King Philip, and twelve other Indians and three Exiles, came into Fort Pearce, where Colonel Childs was in command. Wild Cat and his friends had reposed perfect confidence in the honor and good faith of General Worth. He had been betrayed by General Hernandez, acting under General Jessup’s orders; had been imprisoned, and suffered much; but from the manner and bearing of General Worth, he had been led to repose the most implicit confidence in his sincerity. Colonel Childs, however, punctilious in his obedience to orders, at once seized and sent him and his companions in irons to Tampa Bay, where they were immediately placed on board a transport and sent to New Orleans, en route for Fort Gibson. The people of Florida heartily approved this transaction, feeling that the Territory was now rid of one of its most dangerous foes.
General Worth soon learned the manner in which Wild Cat had been again seized as a prisoner, in violation of the pledged faith of Government. Mortified and chagrined, he at once dispatched a faithful officer, with explicit directions, to bring Wild Cat and his friends back to Florida at the earliest moment at which he should be able. The officer found them at New Orleans, and forthwith started with them on his return to Tampa Bay.
This measure of General Worth, though bold, and in direct opposition to the popular sentiment of Florida, probably tended as much to the pacification of that Territory as any movement during the war.
General Worth set out to meet the distinguished chief, and reached Tampa Bay on the third of July. The next day he went on board the ship, where he met Wild Cat and his companions; they were yet in irons. As they met upon the deck, the General took him cordially by the hand; assured him of his sincere friendship; of the mistake by which he had been arrested; but assured him, that so great was his renown as a warrior, and such were the fears which the people entertained of him, that, as commanding General, he was constrained to hold him a prisoner.