When informed that his warriors were all in, he resumed his natural cheerfulness; his countenance became lighted up with hope and intelligence; his bearing was lofty and independent. Several officers went on board to congratulate him. He was warmly greeted. He now, turning to the officer of the guard, in a tone of confident assurance, requested that his irons might be removed, and he permitted to address his warriors, as he said, “like a man.” His shackles were taken off; and he then dressed himself in a manner which he deemed fitting the occasion. His turban was of crimson silk, from which three ostrich plumes were gracefully suspended; his breast was covered with glittering silver ornaments; his many-colored frock was fastened around his waist by a girdle of red silk, into which was thrust his scalping knife, enclosed in its appropriate scabbard. Red leggins and ornamented moccasins completed his attire. He was attended on shore by several officers, who took seats with him in the boat. As they approached the shore, and he saw his friends who had gathered at the landing to greet him, his heart seemed to swell with emotion; but gathering himself for the occasion he became dignified and haughty in his deportment, and as he stepped on shore be waived his hand, beckoning them all to stand back. They impulsively obeyed; and raising his form to its utmost height he sent forth a shrill war-whoop, which reached every ear in the vicinity, as the announcement of his freedom. A hearty response at once came back from every warrior of the band. The crowd simultaneously opened to the right and left, when, without noticing the presence of any person, he at once proceeded to the head-quarters, where he met General Worth, whom he saluted in the most respectful manner. He then turned to his people and addressed them, stating the arrangement with General Worth, thanking them for so cheerfully coming to him, declared they were now at peace with the white people. He then inquired for his wife and child, who had remained silent spectators of the whole scene. They at once came forward, and as he saw them, the feelings of the husband and father again overcame him for an instant; but resuming his lofty demeanor he mingled again with those faithful and tried followers, who had so often stood beside him in times of peril.
Such were the fortunes, and such the character, of one of those chieftains whom the incidents of the Florida War brought into public notice. He is now introduced to the reader, and will continue to receive occasional attention until the close of our narrative, and perhaps he may again appear in the future history of the people to whose trials and persecutions we are now directing attention.
We have felt this sketch due to the cause of truth, inasmuch as during the war, and even up to the present day, public newspapers have spoken of Wild Cat as a cruel and vindictive savage. His efforts in behalf of freedom have been represented by public officers as crimes, and he has been held up to the public as an unprincipled brigand. We would judge him, as we would all others, by his acts.
Wild Cat’s band, now convened at Tampa Bay, had been previously diminished by emigration. It now numbered seventy-eight warriors, sixty-four women and forty-seven children—making in all one hundred and eighty-nine souls. We have no official statement of the number of Exiles who surrendered with this band. We suppose, however, from the warm interest which Wild Cat always took in behalf of the Exiles, that more would have flocked to his standard than to those of other chiefs; but we have no evidence that such was the fact. Probably the Exiles constituted about one-sixth of the band—that being the proportion of Exiles who accompanied him to Fort Cummings, and were seized with him by Colonel Childs. Indeed, we have had no official data by which to determine the proportion of Exiles who constituted the several parties that surrendered after General Jessup left the army. No subsequent commander in Florida appears to have drawn distinctions as to the color of his prisoners. They were all reported as Seminoles, and the term “negro” occurred only incidentally in their official reports, when speaking of the class of interpreters and agents who were employed; nor do we find that General Worth made any effort to send any of his prisoners into slavery. So far as we are informed, like General Taylor, he treated them all as prisoners of war, entitled to the same rights, the same respect, and the same attentions, agreeably to the doctrine advanced by General Gaines at New Orleans.
General Worth appears to have felt authorized to send every Exile who surrendered, to the Western Country. If any of them were claimed by the slaveholders of Florida, he directed the proofs of ownership to be taken and the value of the negro estimated, and then, without waiting for further contest, the negro was treated as other prisoners, and sent West with his Seminole friends, leaving the Government to pay for the slave or not, as the Executive and Congress should determine.[130]
It was this policy which enabled General Worth to conduct the war with so much greater success than his predecessors. It enabled him to avail himself of all the influence of Wild Cat, now exerted in favor of emigration; while General Jessup, by delivering over the Exiles to slavery, had induced the same chief to exert absolute violence to prevent emigration.[131]
General Worth, having secured the friendship and coöperation of Wild Cat, entered into consultation with him as to the best method of carrying out his plan of peaceful surrender of the Indians and Exiles, and their emigration West. Those in the eastern part of the Territory, under Hospetarche and Tiger-tail and Sam Jones, were bitterly opposed to emigration. They determined, in council, to kill any messenger sent to them for the purpose of persuading them to surrender, or any one who should attempt to leave them for the purposes of emigration.
Notwithstanding this determination, some three or four families, numbering in all about twenty souls, made their escape (Aug. 10), and, though closely pursued, reached the military post on Pease Creek, and were sent to Tampa Bay, where they joined Wild Cat’s band. Otulke, a brother of Wild Cat, lived in the vicinity of those people who had become so indignant, and it was deemed important to inform him of Wild Cat’s determination to go West. The chief had also a younger brother, now with the band at Tampa Bay, who volunteered to perform the hazardous duty of carrying a message to Otulke. Much solicitude was felt for his safety, but he accomplished his mission successfully. Otulke, with some six warriors and their families, obeyed the call, and came to Tampa Bay and joined the party destined for emigration.
Otulke also brought a message from Hospetarche, an aged chief, the head of a small band numbering nearly one hundred souls. He was said to be eighty-five years of age; but was yet active, and possessed great energy. He sent a message to Wild Cat that he, too, was coming in to see him. He was from the “Great Cypress Swamp,” whose inhabitants were regarded as very treacherous, and altogether destitute of integrity.
A few days after Otulke arrived, Hospetarche sent a boy with a white flag to Tampa Bay, saying, he was old and fatigued, and wanted whisky and provisions to enable him to reach Fort Brooke. These were sent him; but the next day another message of the same character was received, and complied with. This practice continued for five days. And such was the desperate character of the old chief, that none of the friendly Indians dared go out to meet him, particularly as they learned that he was attended only by warriors; they believed he was intent on hostility rather than peace, and they feared him.