We have now reached a period of the war at which we are constrained to admit our inability to give a full or accurate history of the various captures of Exiles, or of the reënslavement of those captured.
Captain Sprague, who had the advantages of personal observation and experience during the war, says that General Hernandez of the Florida Militia, serving principally in the eastern part of the Territory, “captured some important chiefs, and restored to citizens more than three hundred negroes who had been captured by the Indians.” But the means which he used for their capture is not stated.
General Jessup informs us, also, that Abraham, the negro chief, and two Indians, were sent to the Seminoles west of the Okechobee, and prevailed upon Alligator, and three hundred and sixty Indians and negroes, to surrender to Colonel Smith and General Taylor. But what proportion of this number were Exiles, we are not informed; nor are we told of the means used, or the assurances given, to induce them to surrender. It is certain, that many of the chiefs alleged that the Cherokee Delegation assured their friends, that they would be permitted to remain in their own country, and that the President was desirous of making peace upon those terms; and General Jessup says, that the negro chief Abraham, and another negro interpreter named Auguste, gave the same information. Abraham had in fact dictated the supplemental treaty, entered into by the delegation while in the Western Country, and was made to believe, at all times, that the Government would fulfill, and abide by, the terms of this supplemental treaty. It was on this conviction that he acted, and he appears never to have doubted the good faith of the Executive until he actually arrived in the Western Country.
CHAPTER XIV.
GREAT DIFFICULTIES INTERRUPT THE PROGRESS OF THE WAR.
John Ross, the Cherokee Chief, demands the release of Wild Cat and other Chiefs—Answer of Secretary of War—Mr. Everett’s resolution in Congress—Secretary’s Report—General Jessup’s answer—Agitation in Congress—Hon. John Quincy Adams—Hon. William Slade—Difficulty with Creek Warriors—The Exiles who had been captured by the Creeks—Arrangements for emigrating both Indians and Exiles—Indians at Charleston, and Negroes at Tampa Bay, transported to Fort Pike—Families again united—Sympathy excited—General Gaines becomes engaged in their behalf—His noble conduct—Embarrassment of Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and of the Secretary of War—Singular arrangement—Discrepancies unexplained—A Slave-dealer professes to purchase ninety of the Exiles, in order to relieve the Government—Appoints his brother-in-law an Agent to receive them—Department furnishes the necessary vouchers—Sudden change of policy—Sixty Exiles claimed by a Slave-dealer named Love—General Gaines appears on behalf of Exiles—His able defense—Court renders judgment discharging Rule—Thirty-six Exiles released by Love—Lieutenant Reynolds with the Indians, and all but these thirty-six Exiles, take passage for Fort Gibson.
While General Jessup was engaged in carrying out the designs of the Administration by artifice, and by force, events of a serious character were transpiring at Washington which demanded the attention of both the Executive and himself. John Ross, principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, learning the manner in which Osceola, Wild Cat, and other Seminole chiefs and warriors, had been betrayed and seized, while visiting General Jessup under a flag of truce, by advice and at the suggestion of the Cherokee Delegation, wrote an able and very spirited letter to the Secretary of War, demanding the release of the prisoners thus captured in violation of the principles of civilized warfare.
The Secretary attempted a vindication of General Jessup, and an interesting correspondence followed, marked with great ability, in which Ross, with much force, exhibits what he seemed to regard as the perfidious treatment to which the Seminoles had been subjected, while acting under the advice of himself and his country-men, and protected by the flag of truce, which had ever been recognized and held sacred as the inviolable emblem of peace. This was the first exposure of the manner in which this disastrous war had been conducted. Up to that time no member of Congress, or Executive officer, appears to have uttered an objection or protest against the war, or against the manner in which it was carried on. Ross was at the city of Washington, and mingled freely with members of Congress, and in private conversations called their attention to the facts stated.[113]
Mr. Everett, of Vermont,[114] a man of great experience and ability, moved a resolution (March 21) in the House of Representatives, calling on the Secretary of War for such information as he possessed touching the capture of Indians, while visiting the American army under flags of truce. The resolution was adopted, and, in reply, the Secretary of War (April 11) transmitted the answer of General Jessup, in which he rests his justification, upon the bad faith which, he alleges, the Indians had previously exhibited towards the United States. This answer occupies some fifteen documentary pages, most of which are filled with the facts already known to the reader.
After the report of the Secretary of War had been printed, Mr. Everett gave his views upon the facts, in a speech which attracted much attention in the country. The people were already turning their attention to the subject of slavery. Petitions were sent to Congress calling on that body to abolish the institution within the District of Columbia. The Hon. John Quincy Adams had thrown the weight of his influence in behalf of the right of petition, and was known to be opposed to the institution. Hon. William Slade, a member of the House of Representatives from Vermont, had openly avowed his deep and heart-felt sympathy with the Abolitionists, who were striving to direct the popular mind to the crimes of the “peculiar institution,” as slavery was then called.
It was evident, that a full exposure of the causes which led to the Florida war, and of the manner in which it had been prosecuted, would tend to defeat the Democratic candidate in the next Presidential campaign. It was therefore clearly the policy of that party, and of the Administration, to maintain as great a degree of silence as possible upon all these subjects.