The Exiles of Florida / or, The crimes committed by our government against the Maroons, who fled from South Carolina and other slave states, seeking protection under Spanish laws.

by Joshua R. Giddings

But the first serious difficulty suggested to General Jessup, in carrying out his stipulations with the “allies,” appears to have been a letter from Major Thomas Child, commanding at Fort Armstrong, informing him that a “Colonel Dill,” a citizen of Florida, was at that post, wishing to pass into the Indian country for the purpose of reclaiming certain negroes which he professed to have owned, but who were then supposed to have fled to the Seminoles.

In reply to this note Colonel Chambers said: “I am instructed by the commanding General to say, that ‘Colonel Dill,’ the person whom you report having detained at Fort Armstrong, must not be permitted to pass, but be required to return from whence he came with all convenient dispatch. Hereafter, no person, not in the employment of the Government, or express rider, must be allowed to pass your post. The necessity of this order, and the strict enforcement of it, arise from the necessity, that, if persons come forward to urge their claims to negroes, it will evidently prevent the negroes from coming in; and if they do not come in, the commanding General is decidedly of opinion, that the Indians themselves will be greatly delayed, if not entirely prevented, from compliance with the terms of capitulation.”

The termination of the war had been regarded as certain by the commanding officer, and by him so reported. The first article in the capitulation, provided for the cessation of hostilities. But they were renewed soon after, and the Indians and Exiles charged with a breach of faith, both by General Jessup and by the Executive. And it becomes important to the truth of history, that facts should be stated. The articles of capitulation pledged the faith of the nation for the safety of both persons and property of the “Seminoles and their allies.” Those “allies” could have been no other people than the black men who were with them contending against a common foe. It is also evident that Abraham and the Exiles who came in for the purpose of emigrating so understood it. It is equally certain that the people of Florida who memorialized the Secretary of War so understood it; and we need only read the letters and orders of General Jessup to learn that he surely so understood it: and the whole conduct of the Indians shows that they put the same construction upon it. While, therefore, justice should be done to General Jessup, we should be careful to do no injustice to either the Seminoles or the Exiles. As further evidence of General Jessup’s good faith at the time, we quote an extract from a letter, bearing date six days later than the one last referred to. It was addressed to Lieutenant Colonel Miller, commanding at Tampa Bay, and is dated March twenty-seventh, 1837. It is signed by General Jessup himself, who says: “I have also been informed that Mr. Cooley’s business at Tampa Bay is to look after negroes. If that be so, he must be sent away; a trifling circumstance would light up the war again. Any interference with the negroes which would produce alarm on their part would inevitably deprive us of all the advantages we have gained. I sympathize with Mr. Cooley in his afflictions and losses; but responsible as I am for the peace of the country, I cannot and will not permit that peace to be jeopardized by his imprudence.”

But these demands for slaves increased. The slaveholders were indignant at the loss of slaves, and it soon became apparent that the stipulation of safety to the “allies” of the Seminoles was unpopular in Florida.

On the twenty-ninth of March, General Jessup wrote Colonel Warner, of the Florida Militia, saying, “There is no disposition on the part of the great body of the Indians to renew hostilities; and they will, I am sure, faithfully fulfill their engagements, if the inhabitants of Florida be prudent: but any attempt to seize their negroes, or other property, would be followed by an instant resort to arms. I have some hopes of inducing both Indians and Indian negroes to unite in bringing in the negroes taken from the citizens during the war.”

In this letter, General Jessup begins to modify his former position. He still entertains no fear of the Indians, if their negroes or other property be not interfered with, and suggests the hope that he may effect an arrangement with the Indians and Indian negroes to bring in (that is, to surrender up,) the negroes taken during the war. This letter gives the first evidence, which we find on record, of General Jessup’s intention to modify or disregard the solemn compact he had made, or to make another with the Indians and Indian negroes by which they should betray those who had fled to them during the war.

But that he did make some arrangement of that character with the chiefs, we are led to infer from a letter bearing date May fifth, 1837, addressed to General Jessup by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, informing him that his articles of capitulation with the Seminoles had been submitted to the Secretary of War, “together with his letters of the first and fifteenth of April, and had been approved;” and the writer then adds: “In relation to the negroes captured by the Seminoles and to be surrendered, I am directed to say, that your arrangement for having them delivered to officers of posts on the St. John’s River, is approved.”[95]

This letter also directs General Jessup to keep a registry of all negroes delivered to citizens, showing their names, age, sex, etc.

A general order, dated Tampa Bay, April fifth, and numbered seventy-nine, announces first, “The commanding General has reason to believe that the interference of unprincipled white men with the negro property of the Seminole Indians will prevent their emigration, and lead to a renewal of the war. Responsible as he is for the peace and security of the country, he will not permit such interference under any pretense whatsoever. And he therefore orders that no white man, not in the service of the United States, be allowed to enter any part of the territory, between the St. John’s and the Gulf of Mexico, south of Fort Drane.”

On the eighth of April, General Jessup wrote Colonel Harney, saying, “I have made an arrangement with the chiefs to-day to surrender the negroes of white men, particularly those taken during the war.”