MARTHA JANE, “BANDANNA MAMMY”
who cooked the Treaty dinner for General Worth in 1842. Now living in Kissimmee.
“When Colonel Worth see dem long tables settin’ under the big live oaks an’ see dem beeves an’ muttons an’ turkeys an’ deer we cooked, he jest natchelly laughed an’ say, ‘Clar ter goodness, what kin’ o’ Krismas doin’s is dis’; an’ how dem sojers an’ Indians did eat.
“How come I ter cook de treaty dinner?
“Well, I wuz livin’ out on ole Marse Watterson’ plantation, ’bout four miles from Fort King, dats to Ocala, now, you know, an’ Jim, dat wuz Colonel Worth’s servant, he ride out on dat big white horse o’ de Colonel’s an’ say ‘Colonel Worth want Marthy Jane ter cook de treaty dinner;’ so me an’ Diana Pyles an’ Lucinda Pyles cook dat dinner.
“Oh, Lordy, what scufflin’ roun’ an’ jumpin’ like chickens wif der heads off as we do dat day.
“All de sojers’ guns an’ de Indians’ guns, too, wuz stacked in dat garrison, an’ when de night come, dey make big camp fires an’ de white folks dance an’ de Indians wuz a dancin’ too, wif dem ole coutre (terrapin) shells a strapped ’roun’ der legs.
“Tell you ’bout Colonel Worth? He wuz de gem’men ob all dat crowd; he wuz de nobles’ lookin’ man an’ so kind an’ easy; de United States nebber would hab conquered dem Seminoles if dey had not induced Colonel Worth ter come down an’ argufy wif dem. Him an’ old Captain Holmes wuz de mos’ like our folks ob any ob dem big generals.
“Arter dey had all eat, an’ eat dem fine wituals we cook, den dey hab de speech makin’; oh, dat wuz high ’stronomy talk!
“I reckelmember jest like hit wuz to-day, me an’ Diana Pyles wuz a standin’ right inside de garrison an’ dat noble-lookin’ Colonel Worth wuz talkin’ kind an’ persuadin’ like ter dem savages an’ axin’ dem all ter come up an’ sign de treaty.