Members of families long separated were now united. Fathers embraced their wives and children, whom they had not seen for more than a year; brothers and sons embraced their sisters and mothers; and all exhibited those deep sympathies of the human heart, which constitute the higher and holier emotions of our nature. The officers and soldiers who witnessed this scene could not but feel interested in these people, many of whose ancestors had fled from oppression generations previously, and who, for more than half a century, had been subjected to almost constant persecution. It was undoubtedly owing to these circumstances, that so many of the officers of our army became deeply interested in securing their freedom.
Major Zantzinger was in command at Fort Pike; but he could only act under the direction of his superior officers. Lieutenant Reynolds, therefore, applied to Major General Gaines for orders to Major Zantzinger to deliver the Exiles at Fort Pike to him for emigration. From the peculiar language used in this order, it is most evident that General Gaines expected some effort would be made to prevent the emigration of the Exiles, then resident at Fort Pike. The order is so unusual in its tone and language, that we insert it, as follows:
“To Major Zantzinger, or the officer commanding at Fort Pike, or the officer who has charge of the slaves, or other servants, belonging to, or lately in possession of, Seminole Indians, now in charge of Lieutenant Reynolds, destined to the Arkansas: You will, on receipt hereof, deliver to the said Reynolds all such slaves or servants belonging to, or claimed by, or lately in possession of, the said Seminole Indians to be conducted by him in their movements to the Arkansas River, where the Indians, or their slaves or servants, are to be permanently located and settled: taking triplicate receipts for said slaves or servants, one of which will be forwarded to the undersigned.
EDMUND P. GAINES,
Maj. Gen. U. S. A., Commanding.”
The above order was dated on the twenty-first of March. The next day Lieutenant Reynolds inclosed a copy to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, saying, he should commence his voyage West with the emigrants, and adding, “It is not my intention to remove the negroes from Fort Pike until ready for departure, as I am convinced that many individuals with fraudulent claims are in a state of readiness, and only waiting the arrival of the negroes in this city (New Orleans) to carry their object into effect. The measures I shall adopt will bar their intention.”
This letter explains the reason of the precise and specific terms in which the order of General Gaines was expressed. It is due to the memory of General Gaines, and to the character of Lieutenant Reynolds, that their determined efforts to preserve the liberties of these people, so far as they were able, should find a place in history. The war had been commenced and prosecuted for the purpose of seizing and returning to bondage all those people whose ancestors had once fled from oppression. It was the avowed policy of the Administration to prevent these ninety Exiles, who had been captured by the Creek Indians, from going to the Western Country, preferring to have them consigned to slavery in Georgia or Florida, rather than enjoy freedom in the new homes assigned to the Indians in the West. This feeling had encouraged desperate men to make unfounded claims to their persons: and it should be recorded to the honor of many of our officers, that they were active and vigilant in their efforts to defeat these piratical claims, and the exertions of the President and heads of the various Executive Departments, to consign these people to interminable bondage. In order to do justice on this subject, it is necessary to permit all concerned to speak for themselves, so far as convenience will allow. To carry out this object, the reader will excuse our frequent quotations from official documents.
On the twenty-sixth of March, Lieutenant Reynolds wrote the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, dating his letter at “New Barracks,” below New Orleans, saying, “The Indian negroes will be received at Fort Pike, and brought to this place, via the Mississippi River. This course was adopted with the concurrence of General Gaines. Everything will be in readiness to embark soon as the boat arrives. General Gaines has directed that the guard under the direction of Lieutenant Wheaton shall proceed with me.”
Major Zantzinger, who commanded at Fort Pike, appears to have felt some delicacy at delivering up the negroes on the order of General Gaines, and, with those impressions, wrote General Jessup, inquiring as to that point. He received an answer, dated seventh of April, approving his course, and saying, “the removal of the negroes was proper; they were either free, or the property of the Indians.”
All these proceedings were reported to the proper Department at Washington. About the time, or soon after, they would naturally reach that city, William Armstrong, Acting Superintendent of the Indians in the Western Territory, evidently in the joint service of our Government and of the Creek Indians, addressed a note to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, dated at Washington City, April twenty-third, 1838, saying, “When General Jessup called upon volunteers to go to Florida, he promised them all the property they could capture. Accordingly, the Creeks captured near one hundred negroes, which they left in possession of the officers of the United States. What has become of these negroes? Will they receive them, or their value, as promised?”
The difficulty attending the transformation of men into chattels now increased so much, that the Commissioner of Indian Affairs addressed a letter to the Hon. Secretary of War, which is so characteristic of the manner in which the administration of our Government was then conducted, that we give the letter in full: