It would appear that some difficulty arose with the Choctaw and Delaware warriors, who had expected to receive higher wages than the law allowed for serving in the army. Such had been done with the Creeks, and undoubtedly had been promised the Choctaws and Delawares. To quiet these discontents, General Jessup wrote Colonel Davenport, on the seventh of November, saying, “I regret the circumstance to which you refer. The importance of fulfilling all our engagements with the Indians with the most scrupulous good faith, is unquestionable. To dismiss them now, might not only cost us another campaign, but may cause us difficulties on our western border. We must retain them at all hazards. I wish you to assure them, that our laws do not authorize the payment of the sum stipulated; but that the enemy has a large property, consisting of ponies, cattle and negroes, and that I will pay them for all the cattle they take, and they will be paid fifty dollars for every negro. * * * Represent to them also, that our country is just, and if they will serve well, I will take their chiefs to Washington, and represent their case to the Great Council (Congress), and I have no doubt they will get all that has been promised them.” He also wrote Captain Armstrong of the Choctaw agency, and Captain Bonneville, commanding the Choctaw warriors, encouraging the Indians to faithful effort in order to obtain negroes.
Some of the Georgia volunteers appeared anxious to know definitely the terms on which they were to expose their lives in these slave-catching forays; and a letter was addressed to Brigadier General C. H. Nelson, commanding the Georgia volunteers, by J. A. Chambers, aid to General Jessup, saying, “We have not the order book with us at this moment; but the General directs me to say, that all Indian property captured belongs to the capturers.”
On the same day, General Hernandez of the Florida militia, found means to secure King Phillip, an aged chief, who lived some distance south of San Augustine, with eleven others of his tribe. It may be regarded as somewhat unfortunate, that history has failed to give us the particulars of this capture. The subsequent conduct of General Hernandez may lead the reader to look back upon this incident of the war with some desire to know the manner of King Phillip’s capture; to understand whether it was peaceful or hostile; and whether any, and how many, white men, and how many Indians and Exiles, fell in the conflict? But we must pass over these particulars, as we have no authentic account concerning them. General Jessup, when called on to report to the Secretary of War as to violations of the flag of truce, merely remarks, incidentally, that King Phillip and his companions were captured by General Hernandez.
Phillip had long been regarded as a chief of influence among the Seminoles. Finding himself a prisoner, he became anxious to see, and converse with, some of his friends; and General Hernandez, at his request, gave permission, for one of the prisoners to carry this talk to his family, inviting them to come and visit him in his captivity. The message was faithfully delivered to his oldest son, already known to the reader as “Wild Cat.” He had been an active warrior at the massacre of Dade’s battalion; had been subsequently elevated to the dignity of a chief; had visited General Jessup, under the articles of capitulation of March, 1837, and at that time delivered up “Louis” as his slave, demanding his transportation West under those articles; and when he learned the intention of General Jessup to deliver up a portion of the Exiles to slavery, he left Fort Brooke, and again swearing vengeance upon the enslavers of mankind, became one of the most active warriors in the Seminole Nation.
The Cherokee Delegation had reached the Indian country. The address of John Ross was directed to Wild Cat and Osceola, as two of the principal Seminole chiefs. They were together, and received the talk of Ross, the Cherokee chief, assuring them of the integrity and honor of the United States. After due consideration, it was determined that Wild Cat should comply with the filial obligations due to his aged father, bearing with him the peace token of Osceola, consisting of a neatly wrought bead pipe, together with a beautiful white plume, to be presented to General Hernandez, as the assurance of Osceola’s pacific desires. Co-Hadjo, another chief, bore a similar message and emblems.
These were received by General Hernandez, who communicated immediate information thereof to General Jessup. They were propositions for negotiating a peace, forwarded at the special request and advice of the Cherokee Delegation, who were active in their efforts to stop the effusion of blood, and restore harmony between our nation and the Seminoles. By direction of General Jessup, Hernandez returned various presents to Osceola by Co-Hadjo, saying, that General Jessup and himself would be glad to hold a conference with them. The same assurances and presents were given to Wild Cat, who also became the messenger between General Jessup and General Hernandez on the one hand, and his brethren on the other. With the hope of effecting an arrangement beneficial to his friends and to mankind, Wild Cat left San Augustine with the promise to return in ten days.
Punctual to the day, he returned with the very satisfactory assurance, that Osceola, and one hundred Indians and as many Exiles, were on their way toward San Augustine, for the purpose of entering upon negotiations. With the intention of hastening their arrival, and manifesting an earnest desire for peace, General Hernandez proceeded, with Wild Cat and other friendly Seminoles, to meet the advancing chiefs, some twenty miles south-west of San Augustine, at a place called “Pelican Creek.” Here he learned that Osceola would join them at evening. General Hernandez left a quantity of provisions with them, and, desiring them to select their encampment for the next day (Oct. 22) somewhere near Fort Peyton, at which place he would meet them with a proper escort, left them, and returned to San Augustine. They accordingly encamped the next day near Fort Peyton, situated seven miles south-west from San Augustine. They approached their encampment with great formality: Osceola and other chiefs bearing white flags, expecting to meet a suitable escort under General Hernandez, with the well-understood intentions of entering upon diplomatic negotiations with that grave dignity for which the Indian is so much distinguished. These flags were kept flying in their encampment through the night and the next morning.
At ten o’clock (Oct. 23), General Hernandez, accompanied by his staff and by most of General Jessup’s staff, in full dress, met them as had been promised, with the apparent purpose of escorting them to head-quarters at San Augustine. After the ordinary salutations had been exchanged, instead of preparing to march, General Hernandez, from a written paper signed by General Jessup, read the following questions addressed to Osceola: “Are you prepared at once to deliver up the negroes taken from the citizens? Why have you not surrendered them already, as promised by Co-Hadjo at Fort King? Have the chiefs of the nation held a council on this subject?”[101]
Osceola exhibited the most perfect astonishment at hearing these questions propounded at such a moment. He appeared, however, instantly to comprehend his situation. Turning to Co-Hadjo, he said to him in his own dialect, “You must answer; I am choked,” at the same time exhibiting unusual emotion for an Indian chief.[102]