[204]. When, during the Seminole War, Jackson took possession of St. Marks, the Indian prophet Francis or Hellis Hajo, and the chief Hemollemico, were lured on board an American vessel (April 6, 1818) and hung by Jackson’s orders. These Indians had led the attack, the previous November, upon a boat under command of Lieutenant Scott, which was ascending the Appalachicola River. Having been forced to surrender, all survivors were tortured to death. Jackson’s act was in retaliation for this outrage.—Ed.
[205]. During Jackson’s expedition against the Seminoles, two Indian traders were also captured—Alexander Arbuthnot and Robert C. Ambrister. Both were put to death after the form of a trial, on the charge of being guilty of inciting the Seminole Indians to war against the United States. The latter was shot and the former hung from the yardarm of his vessel, April 29, 1818, at St. Marks, Florida. The execution raised a storm; Henry Clay, on the floor of the House, the following year, during the famous twelve-day debate on Jackson’s Seminole War conduct, declared that if Jackson were voted the public thanks, it would be a triumph of insubordination of military over civil authorities. The long feud between Jackson and Clay began with that speech.—Ed.
[206]. Adams made his strongest defense of Jackson in his letter to Don José Pizarro, Spanish secretary of state. He reviewed the whole situation, and accused the Spanish and Indian traders in Florida of stirring up the Indians, referring to Arbuthnot as “that British Indian trader from beyond the sea, the firebrand by whose touch the Negro-Indian war against our borders has been rekindled.”—Ed.
[207]. The Balise was in early times the best and deepest pass into the Mississippi River. Now known as South-west Pass, it is not used, there being hardly six feet of water on the bar. It was fortified by Bienville about 1720.—Ed.
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