In renewing hostilities, General Jessup appears to have fully determined on carrying out the designs of General Jackson, in 1816, when he directed General Gaines to “destroy the fort, and return the slaves to their owners.” From this time forward, he lent his energies, and the power of the army, to the object of capturing and returning slaves. He also deemed it necessary to change the mode of prosecuting the war, and to make it a series of forays for the capture and enslavement of the Exiles.
He had, the previous year, entered into a contract with the Creek Indians, by which he stipulated to pay them a large pecuniary compensation, and to allow them to hold all the plunder (negroes) whom they might capture, as property. He now evidently believed that such inducements, held out to the Florida militia, would have an effect to stimulate them to greater effort.
On the eleventh of June, he wrote Colonel Warren, saying, “There is no obligation to spare the property of the Indians; they have not spared that of the citizens. Their negroes, cattle and horses, as well as other property which they possess, will belong to the corps by which they are captured.”
The same orders were communicated to the Commandants of other posts, and to the militia from other States; and the system by which the negroes and other property were to be distributed among the captors, was prescribed in a letter to Colonel Heilman, declaring the field officers entitled to three shares, the company officers to receive two shares, and the non-commissioned officers and soldiers one share each.
These arrangements were, of course, all duly certified to the War Department, and approved, and thereby became acts of the Administration. The letters of General Jessup, written during the summer and autumn of 1837, to Colonel Crowell, at Fort Mitchell, Alabama; to Colonel Mills, of Newmansville, Florida; to Thomas Craghill, Esq., of Alabama; to Captain David S. Walker, Captain Bonneville and Captain Armstrong;[97] all show, conclusively, that the war was to be conducted by the organization of slave-catching forays, in which the troops were expected to penetrate the Indian Country for the purpose of capturing negroes.
During the sickly season no active operations against the allies could be carried on, and the time was occupied in preparing for the more vigorous prosecution of hostilities, so soon as the unhealthy months should be passed. In order to carry out these forays, the Indians residing west of the Mississippi were applied to for assistance. The Choctaws and Delawares furnished many individuals whose low moral development did not prevent their engaging in the proposed piratical expeditions, for seizing and enslaving their fellow-men; but of the precise number of individuals thus furnished, we have no authentic information. The Cherokees however appear to have rejected a proposition which, to them, appeared incompatible with the civilization of that tribe; they evidently felt deep sympathy for their brethren, the Seminoles, as well as for the Exiles. They agreed to furnish a delegation who should, in a friendly manner, visit the Seminoles, state to them the condition of the Western Country, and advise them in good faith to emigrate.
At that period John Ross was acting as principal chief of the Cherokee Nation. He was the son of a wealthy white man, who had long been engaged as an Indian trader. His mother was a Cherokee. Ross had been educated: had seen the advantages of civilization, and of Christianity, and was at the time, and had long been engaged, in promoting civilization among his own people. It will readily be supposed, that the feelings of such a man would revolt at a proposition for his people to engage in the capture and enslavement of any portion of the human family. The correspondence between Ross and the Secretary of War is interesting, and its perusal would well compensate the curious reader.[98]
This delegation from the Cherokees consisted of some twelve of their most influential men. They bore with them an address from Ross, written with great ability and sincerity. Among other things, he assured the Seminoles that they might confide in the justice and honor of the United States.[99] This address was directed to Micanopy, Osceola and Wild Cat, the three most powerful and warlike chiefs among the Seminoles.
The Creek warriors had engaged to serve until the Seminoles were conquered; but after the death of Captain Moniac, and their other friends who fell in the Great Wahoo Swamp, they had shown a disposition rather to avoid danger than to catch negroes; and it was deemed proper to discharge them. But difficulties intervened in regard to the division of the negroes claimed to have been captured by them, while acting in concert with our troops. Some ninety negroes had been captured, in whose bones and muscles, blood and sinews, seven hundred Creek warriors claimed an interest; while the Tennesseeans, and other troops, had been in the field acting with the Creeks at the time of capture; and the Creeks could, in equity, claim only a pro rata interest. General Jessup however met the difficulty with promptness, and, to put an end to all future strife and discontent, he issued the following:
“ORDER No. 175. TAMPA BAY, Sept. 6, 1837.