General Scott

by Marcus J. Wright

When the time came for the removal of the Big Swamp Indians they were so notified. But having been previously informed that they would be expected to go, they did nothing in the way of planting crops, and were destitute of food. Corn was distributed by the agents to the most needy. It was concluded to make another effort to secure their peaceful removal, and on April 22, 1835, several hundred of them assembled in council. After the council was opened General Thompson explained to them the treaty of Payne's Landing, and read a letter from President Jackson, in which he besought them as his children, to whom he had always acted honestly and kind, to comply with the treaty and go to the lands selected for them, telling them they must go; that they had sold all their land and did not have a piece "as big as a blanket to sit upon," and had no right to stay. The letter concluded: "If you listen to the voice of friendship and truth, you will go quietly and voluntarily; but should you listen to the bad birds that are always flying about you, and refuse to remove, I have then directed the commanding officer to remove you by force. This will be done. I pray the Great Spirit, therefore, to incline you to do what is right." After the letter had been read through and interpreted, Jumper rose and opposed the treaty, but deprecated force. Miconopy and others sustained Jumper's views as to the treaty, but were silent on the question of forcible resistance. General Clinch then addressed them, and told them the time of expostulation had passed, that persuasion had been exhausted, and wound up by telling them "it was the question now whether they would go of their own accord or go by force." On the next morning the chiefs and warriors sent word to the agent that they wanted to talk to him. On assembling, Miconopy was absent. Jumper, the spokesman, announced that he stood firm, but the veteran chief Fueta Susta Hajo (Black Dirt) spoke passionately and eloquently in favor of the execution of the treaty. After he had concluded, General Thompson placed on the table a paper, dated April 23, 1835, which pledged the Seminole tribe to voluntarily acknowledge the treaty at Payne's Landing on May 9, 1832, and the treaty concluded at Fort Gibson on March 28, 1833 (the one signed by the seven chiefs who had gone to visit the country to which the Seminoles were to remove), and freely submitting and assenting to said treaties in all their provisions. This paper received the signatures of eight principal chiefs, among them Fueta Susta Hajo and eight subchiefs. Five of the principal chiefs, Jumper among them, stood aloof and would not sign. Miconopy, who was absent, sent word by Jumper that he would not abide by the treaty. Upon this the agent said he would no longer regard Miconopy as a chief, and said his name should be stricken from the council of the nation. This action on the part of the agent was arbitrary and wholly unauthorized, and was severely censured by General Cass, Secretary of War.

On August 11th the mail carrier Dalton was met by a party of Micosukee Indians six miles from Fort Brooke and killed. The body was found a few days afterward, and General Clinch immediately sent a demand for the surrender of the murderers, but they eluded capture by seeking refuge in the "Old red sticks" in the neighborhood of Ouithlacoochee. This murder, it was claimed, was in retaliation for the killing of an Indian in the previous June.

On August 19, 1835, at the request of Holata Amathla and twenty-five others, a council of the Seminoles was convened. At the request of the other chiefs Holata Amathla opened the council, saying they had come to talk about matters of great interest. He referred to the treaty of Payne's Landing, the visit to the West of the seven chiefs, and the promises that had been made; stated that the Seminoles wanted their separate agent, and paid a high compliment to General Thompson, who, he said, had always told them the truth. The speech was forwarded to Washington, but no notice was taken of it. This nonaction on the part of the authorities at Washington served to intensify the distrust and suspicions of the Indians as to the good faith of the Government, and caused many of those who had expressed a willingness to move to join the ranks of those who objected to doing so. Hostilities soon commenced. The Long Swamp and Big Swamp Indians commenced pillaging. Three of them were caught and subjected to exceedingly cruel treatment by the white settlers. Many outrages were perpetrated on both sides. The Indians were notified to bring in all their cattle, ponies, and hogs to be turned over to a United States agent and appraised, the owners to be paid on their arrival across the Mississippi. Six of the principal chiefs and some others surrendered their stock. The sale, however, was indefinitely postponed. The Big Swamp Indians resolved to retain possession of the country, and condemned to death all those Indians who should oppose their views. This caused many of the friendly Indians to take refuge in the United States forts. About four hundred and fifty fled to Fort Brooke, and on November 9th they encamped on the opposite side of Hillsboro River. The hostile Indians, fearing that the secrets of their councils had become known, made every effort to win over to their side those who were disposed to comply with the treaty. Assiola and about four hundred warriors went to the house of Charley Amathla and demanded that he pledge himself to oppose removal. He declined, saying he would sacrifice his life before he would violate the pledge he had given his great father. Assiola attempted to shoot Charley, but was prevented by Abraham, the interpreter. Assiola left, but soon returned with a small party to the house and murdered him in cold blood. A number of the murdered man's followers at once made their escape to Fort King, while others joined the hostile party. Charley Amathla was regarded as a brave, resolute, and upright man. He had saved the life of Assiola, and his murder was an act of horrible ingratitude. The Indians now abandoned their homes and took refuge in the impenetrable swamps.

At this time the entire military force in Florida amounted to four hundred and eighty-nine officers and men, and were distributed as follows: At St. Augustine, one company, fifty-three men; at Fort Brooke, on Hillsboro Bay, three companies, one hundred and fifty-three men; at Fort King, six companies, three hundred and fifty-three men. The Seminoles were located in the peninsula of Florida, a region of fens, swamps, and creeks almost inapproachable. They claimed that the Government had not carried out in good faith the treaties made with them. Their great leader and chief was Assiola, sometimes called Powell, and improperly spelled Osceola, whose father was a white man and his mother a woman of the Creek Indian tribe. Among most of the tribes of Southern Indians the children took rank from the mother. He was recognized among the Indians as a Creek. He did not inherit the title or place of a chief, but won it by his native ability, cruelty, and courage. In his early days he was insolent in his manners, and kept apart from the society of his people.

When General Alexander Ramsay Thompson was agent of the United States for these Indians, on one occasion Assiola appeared before him and announced that the lands claimed by the Government belonged to the Indians; that the Indians could take care of themselves, and did not need General Thompson's services. He was arrested and placed in confinement, and after being imprisoned some time expressed regret, signed the treaty, and was released. Subsequently he rendered valuable service in arresting criminals, and regained the confidence of the whites. This confidence, however, was of short duration.

War having been declared in the name of the Florida Indians, a detachment of volunteers with some regulars, under General Duncan L. Clinch, moved to the Ouithlacoochee, the Indian encampment. Three days before the event which will be described as occurring at Ouithlacoochee, Major Francis Langhorne Dade, with a small command, had moved from Fort Brooke to relieve the post of Fort King. Major Dade and his command had marched sixty-five miles in five days, intrenching themselves each night in their encampment. On the sixth night they were attacked by Indians and negro allies, and out of one hundred and twelve all were slain except three. The officers killed were Major Francis Langhorne Dade, Captain George Washington Gardiner, Captain William Frazier, Lieutenants William E. Basinger, J.L. Keayes, Robert Richard Mudge, Richard Henderson, and Dr. John Slade Gatlin. Total killed, officers and men, one hundred and seven; escaped, three. A handsome monument has been erected to their memory at West Point. Returning to General Duncan L. Clinch's advance on Ouithlacoochee, here he was attacked by Assiola and his followers after he had crossed the river; but the general succeeded in repelling the attack and driving the Indians. While the battle resulting in the massacre of Major Dade and his command was being fought, the death of Thompson and others was effected within a few hundred yards of Fort King, on February 28th. All of the troops except Thomas W. Lendrum's company of the Third Artillery, about forty strong, had been withdrawn on the 26th, to re-enforce General Clinch at Lang Syne plantation, with a view to his striking a blow at the families of the Indians supposed to be concealed in the swamps and hammocks of the Ouithlacoochee River, with the hope of drawing the Indian warriors out and bringing on a general engagement. All those attached to the fort or agency were directed not to pass beyond the picketing. Thompson slept inside the defenses and passed the greater part of the day at the agency, about one hundred yards beyond the works. The sutler, Rogers, had moved his goods into the fort, but was in the habit of taking his meals at his residence, six hundred yards away in the skirt of a hammock to the southwest of the fort.

On the day of the massacre Lieutenant Constantine Smith, of the Second Artillery, had dined with General Thompson, and after dinner the two went out for a walk. They had proceeded about three hundred yards beyond the agency office when they were fired upon by a party of Indians who were concealed in the hammock on the border of which the sutler's house stood. The reports of the rifles, and the war-whoop repeated, were heard within a brief time, other volleys more remote were fired, when the smoke of the firing was seen at the fort. Captain Lendrum at once called out his men, who were at that time engaged in strengthening the pickets. He was not aware of the absence from the fort of General Thompson and Lieutenant Smith; he supposed the firing was a ruse to draw him out and cut him off from the fort. Very soon several whites and negroes came in and informed him that Mr. Rogers, his clerks, and themselves had been surprised at dinner, and the three former had fallen into the hands of the Indians. A small command was at once dispatched to succor and pursue, but the butchery had been as brief as it was complete, and a last war-whoop had been given as a signal for retreat. The bodies of General Thompson, Lieutenant Smith, and Mr. Kitzler were soon found and brought in; those of the others were not found until the following morning. General Thompson's body had fourteen bullets in it and a deep knife-wound in the left breast. Lieutenant Smith and Mr. Kitzler had each received two bullets in the head. The bodies of Rogers the sutler and Robert Suggs were shockingly mangled, the skulls of each being broken, and all save Suggs were scalped. The party was led by Assiola, and consisted of fifty or sixty Micosukees. Two other Indians were in the party attired as chiefs, but were not recognized. This information comes from an old negro woman who was in the house and who concealed herself so as to elude the Indians, and made her escape to the fort after the massacre.

Information of the butchery was at once dispatched to General Clinch. General Richard Keith Call, with Colonels Richard C. Parish and Leigh Read, having arrived on the 29th with about five hundred volunteers from the adjoining counties, who had previously been ordered to scour the country on the right and left flank, joined the United States troops, numbering about two hundred under General Clinch. Orders were issued for a forward movement at sunrise on December 29th. They arrived near the Ouithlacoochee on the 30th, and threw up breastworks around their encampment. On arriving at the river next morning it was found too deep to be forded. No Indians being in sight, one of the men swam the river and brought over a canoe. As only seven men could be taken over at a time, the work of crossing the troops was slow and tedious. General Clinch and Colonels Samuel Parkhill and Read crossed over, and, in conjunction with General Call, began the construction of rafts on which the baggage and stores could be crossed over. The regulars were all over by twelve o'clock, and Major Alexander C.W. Fanning marched them into an open field surrounded on all sides either by a thick swamp or hammock, and there formed them into line, awaiting the crossing of the volunteers. When about fifty of the volunteers had crossed, and the officers were engaged in superintending the construction of the rafts, an alarm was given that the Indians were upon them. General Call at once put his men in line, and the Indians opened fire, but the volunteers poured a heavy volley into the hammock, which silenced the fire of the Indians for a time; but they soon collected their forces and opened a galling fire on the regulars. General Clinch ordered a charge, which was gallantly led by Major Fanning, but the Indians maintained their ground. A second charge was more successful, driving the Indians some distance back. The chiefs made every effort to rally them, but without success.

During the battle General Call, Colonel John Warren, and Major James G. Cooper, with a number of volunteers, crossed the river at imminent peril, and the two latter immediately engaged and fought with the most determined bravery. General Call had formed the volunteers that last crossed into two parallel lines, placing one above and the other below the crossing place, for the purpose of protecting the troops on the other side and those who were recrossing with the dead and wounded. He therefore did not reach the field until the enemy were repulsed, though his services were eminently useful in directing the crossing. Clinch at this time was not advised of the disaster to Major Dade's command.

The term of service of the volunteers having expired, General Clinch marched them, on January 2d, to Fort Drane and disbanded them. In this last-named engagement the regulars and volunteers, numbering, all told, two hundred and twenty-seven men—under the able leadership of Clinch, Major Campbell Graham, Major Fanning, Colonel John Warren, General Richard K. Call, Cooper, and Lieutenant George Read—succeeded in defeating over seven hundred Indians who had chosen their ground and were protected by the swamps and hammocks. The volunteer officers, to whom great credit was due, were Major (afterward Brigadier General) Leigh Read, whose horse was shot under him, Colonel John Warren, Colonel Parkhill (of Richmond, Va.), Colonel William J. Mills, Major Cooper, Captain Martin Scott, and Captain William J. Bailey. The services of General Call and Majors Gamble and Wellford were of great value. General Clinch makes mention of Major J.S. Little his aid-de-camp, Captains Gustavus S. Drane, Charles Mellon, and Gates, Lieutenants George Henry Talcott, Erastus A. Capron, John Graham, William Seaton Maitland, and Horace Brooks, of the United States army, and Colonel McIntosh, Lieutenants Youman, Stewart, Nathaniel W. Hunter, Cuthbert, and Adjutant Joseph A. Phillips, of the Florida volunteers, of the officers of the medical staff. Special mention was made of Drs. Richard Weightman, Hamilton, Philip G. Randolph, and Brandon. The returns of the killed and wounded were as follows: