426

CONGRESS AND THE SEMINOLE WAR.

[Book IV. them at bay for about an hour. During this time but one had been wounded. The Indians now charged them with such determined fury upon their flanks, that they were obliged to fly to their boats, which were at considerable distance from the shore, and were closely pursued by the Indians. In their hurry, the whites rendered all their guns, but one, useless, by wetting them, with this one, however, they fired as often as possible, and pushed off with energy; but the water being shallow for a great distance, they were in the most imminent danger of being boarded by the numerous Indians; in such event, every man must have perished. However, they escaped with 19 badly wounded, and several of these mortally. One boat fell into the hands of the Indians, in which were eight or ten men, who all jumped overboard and escaped, except one, a Mr. Edward Gould, who swam to Pelican Island, and was there left; nor was it in the power of the others to relieve him, they being pursued by the Indians in the boat which they had just taken. He was not heard of afterwards, and was supposed to have been drowned next day in endeavoring to swim from the island. A Mr. Marks swam to the opposite beach, and escaped to Bulowville; the others were taken into the boats again. Great fears having, all along, been entertained that the Seminoles would be aided by the Creeks, it is now confidently affirmed that at least 1000 of them have gone down into Florida for that end.

About the 20 January, Captain Hooder, on the lower Suanee River, finding the opposite side in possession of the Indians, crossed over with nine men to attack them. As they landed, two of his men were shot down; one with nine balls, the other with five. With his remaining men he charged the Indians with great boldness. In the mean time his boat got adrift, and no other alternative was left but victory or death. After a close and deadly contest of some minutes, the Indians were routed with severe loss.

CHAPTER XI.

CONGRESS makes an appropriation for carrying on the war-Remarks in the Senate of the United States on the war with the Seminoles-Debate in the house of representatives on the bill for the relief of the inhabitants of Florida-Attack on some Creeks at Bryant's Ferry-General Gaines's campaign in Florida-Fights the Indians on the Ouithlacoochee-His conference with OSCEOLA-Resigns his com mand, and leaves the country-Captain Allison's skirmish-The chief OUCHEE BILLY killed—Siege of Camp McLemore-Great sufferings of its garrison—Delivered by Captain Read-The chief MAD WOLF slain.

war.

TOWARDS the close of the preceding chapter, notice was taken of the delay in congress, and by the executive of the nation, to agitate the subject of this At length Mr. Webster of the senate, from the committee on finance, reported, without amendment, a bill making further appropriation for suppressing hostilities with the Seminole Indians, and asked for its immediate consideration, as the state of the country required its passage with the utmost despatch. The amount of the appropriation was 500,000 dollars, and the bill was passed after some explanatory remarks; which remarks, as they not only set the affairs of the war forth as they were known in Washington at that period, but discover to us something by which we can judge who has been in fault there, shall here be laid before the reader.

"Mr. Clay said he should be glad to hear the communications from the departments read, in order to see whether they gave any account of the causes of this war. No doubt, he said, whatever may have been the causes, it was necessary to put an end to the war itself, by all the possible means within our power. But it was a condition, altogether without precedent, in which the country was now placed. A war was raging with the most rancorous violence within our borders; congress had been in session nearly two months, during which time this conflict was raging; yet of the causes of

the war, how it was produced, if the fault was on one side or on both sides, in short, what had lighted up the torch, congress was altogether uninformed, and no inquiry on the subject had been made by either branch of the legislature. He should be glad, he said, if the chairman of the committee on finance, or of the committee on Indian affairs, or any one else, would tell him how this war had burst forth, and what were its causes, and to whom the blame of it was to be charged.

"Mr. Webster replied, that he could not give any answer to the senator from Kentucky. It was as much a matter of surprise to him, as to any one, that no official communication ha en made to congress of the causes of the war. All he knew on the sect he had gathered from the gazettes. The communications from the departments spoke of the war, as a war growing out of the relations between the Indians and the government of the U. States, and gave no reason to suppose that it had its origin in any quarrel with the citizens. It probably grew out of the attempts to remove these Indians beyond the Mississippi. According to the latest accounts, the country between Tallahassee and St. Augustine was overrun by hostile Indians, and the communication between those places was interrupted. The view taken by the gentleman from Kentucky was undoubtedly the true one. But the war rages, the enemy is in force, and the accounts of their ravages are disastrous. The executive government has asked for the means of suppressing these hostilities, and it was entirely proper that the bill should pass.

"Mr. White expressed his regret that he could add nothing to the information given on this subject. He knew nothing of the cause of the war, if it commenced in any local quarrel or not. It was the object of the government to remove these Indians to the west side of the Mississippi, and he was apprehensive that the difficulty had arisen out of this measure. He had, however, no information, which was not in the possession of every other senator. He was for the bill.

"Mr. Benton said he was also ignorant of the causes of the war. Some years ago, he said, he was a member of the committee on Indian affairs. At that time these Indians in Florida were in a state of starvation; they would not work, and it was necessary that they should be fed by the U. States, or they must subsist on the plunder of our citizens. These Indians are a very bad tribe, as their very name signifies, the word Seminole, in Indian, being, 'wild runaway Indians. They were therefore considered a bad race. It was obviously the best policy to remove these Indians to a place where they would be able to obtain plenty."

When the bill for the relief of the distressed inhabitants of Florida was before the house of representatives, which was noticed in our last chapter, the following interesting debate arose upon it, which shall be laid before the reader, for the same reasons which caused the remarks in the senate to be given above. "The resolution having been twice read, the house, on motion of Mr. White, agreed to consider it now.

"Mr. W. said that he would not occupy the time of the house further than to say, that in East Florida, five hundred families were driven from their homes, and had had their possessions destroyed in the progress of a war, which had commenced in consequence of relations between the Indians and this government, and with which the suffering inhabitants of that country have had nothing to do.

66

Appropriations had frequently been made to succor Indians when in circumstances of distress, and he hoped that no member of the house would object to the adoption of the resolution for the succor of our own citizens.

"Mr. Granger of New York rose and said,-Mr. Speaker, in the little observation I have had of men and things, I have learned that precedent is often used to restrain our generous impulses, but seldom to impel us to generous action. In the little time I have been here, I have not been so much gratified with any thing that has occurred, as I have at the prompt manner in which this house has stepped forward to provide means for carrying on the war in Florida. Whilst we have been without any official information from the executive department of government-whilst the newspapers have been discussing the question, whether censure should rest upon one of the depart

428

FIGHT AT BRYANT'S FERRY.

[BOOK IV. ments, or upon the commanding officer in Florida, this house and the other branch of the legislature have stepped forward to sustain this war, although no requisition has been made by the chief magistrate of the nation. Sir I rejoice that they have done so.

"Mr. Cambreleng rose to explain, and Mr. Granger yielded the floor.

"Mr. Cambreleng said, that great injustice had been done in the newspapers to the conduct pursued by the departments. The committee of ways and means had been furnished with the first communication on which they acted by the secretary of war. They next day received a second communication with all the documents relating to the Indian war, and which contained all the information that was requisite. The documents had not gone forth to the public-which was an extraordinary circumstance. They certainly were sent by the committee to this house, and ought to have accompanied the bill and been printed and sent to the senate. If they had, the erroneous impression as to the remissness of the department, or the executive, would not have gone into the newspapers. It was not the fault of the executive, or of the committee on ways and means, that this had not been done.

"Mr. Granger resumed. If the gentleman had listened to me a little longer, he would have discovered that I intended no censure on the executive; but as he has chosen to challenge me to speak, I do say that the history of this nation can present nothing like the silence which has existed on this subject. I do say that whilst this hall has been ringing with plaudits upon one administration, and whilst we have been called upon day after day to hunt up the bones of dead quarrels here—whilst your settlements have been laid waste and desolate, no communication has been made to this house as a branch of the government. Whatever information you have, even upon the gentleman's own showing, is a letter from the secretary of war to the chairman of the committee of ways and means.

"Mr. Cambreleng. That letter contained all that was necessary.

"Mr. Granger continued: Sir, I repeat that, with a war known to exist in this country, we have been occupied in hunting up the possibility, not only of a war which might take place hereafter with a foreign nation, but also to discover whether a war was last year likely to have existed.

"We have war enough upon our hands to take care of. The war-cry is up in the woods; the tomahawk glitters in the sunbeam; the scalping-knife is urged to its cruel duty; the flower of your chivalry is strewed along the plain, and yet every department of this administration is as dumb as the bleeding victims of this inglorious contest.

"In legislating for a suffering people, I want no precedent but that which my Creator has implanted in my bosom. I do not believe that we stand here with the sympathies of our nature chilled and frozen by the mere force of the oath which we have taken; I do not believe that our duty requires that we should be thus chilled and frozen. I believe that the existence of this government depends upon its extending its fostering hand to the unfortunate whenever it can be done within the limits of the constitution. Especially should this be the case, where the sufferers reside within a territory, and have no state government to which they can look for succor.

"Such is the true course to be pursued in this nation; and then our people will feel that they are indeed members of one common family, and that, whilst they bear equal burdens, they are the equal recipients of the bounty and protection of the government.

"On motion of Mr. White, the resolution was read a third time and passed." We have now to return to the recital of warlike operations. About the middle of January, great alarm spread through the confines of Georgia, that the Creek Indians were imbodying in various parts of their country, and the utmost consternation prevailed. On the 23 January, it being reported at Columbus, that the Indians were in force at Bryant's Ferry, 15 miles below that place, a company of whites, consisting of about 20 or 30 men, under Captain Watson, marched down upon discovery. They discovered 30 or 40 Indians, some of whom had rifles, but it does not appear that they had done, or intended, any mischief. However, the whites pursued them, and pretty soon a firing commenced, and, though of short duration, two were killed on

each side, and the whites were driven from the ground, having several of their number wounded.

The next operations of importance were those between the forces under General Gaines and Osceola, and upon the memorable Ouithlecoochee. General Gaines was upon a tour of inspection and duty, when he first learned that serious disturbances had occurred between the whites and Seminoles. This was about the 15 January, and the general was arrived at New Orleans. His previous head-quarters had been at Memphis, in Tennessee. He therefore called on the governor of Louisiana, to have a body of volunteers in readiness for military service, and set out himself immediately for the scene of hostilities. At Pensacola he found some vessels of war, under Commodores Dallas and Bolton, and Captain Webb, who had already commenced operations in the neighborhood of Tampa Bay, and other adjacent inlets. Colonel Twiggs had been ordered to receive into service eight companies of volunteers, to be raised by the governor of Louisiana, and the regular force at Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and other stations in the immediate vicinity of New Orleans, and to hold himself in readiness for a movement towards Tampa. This force consisted of about 1100 men.

That no time should be lost, General Gaines returned immediately to New Orleans (about 26 January), and, on the 4 February, was under way again for Florida, with his forces organized. He arrived at Tampa, with his forces, in three steam-boats, on the 9th, and, on the 13th began to proceed into the Indian country. His first movement was to the east, on the Alafia River, having understood there had been a fight in that direction, near Fort Brooke, between the hostile and friendly Indians; but after two days, no enemy being discovered, the line of march was altered for Fort King. General Gaines's army had but ten days' rations; but, by advices, he was assured that there was plenty at Fort King.

On the 20 February, the army passed Major Dade's fatal field, on which was found 106 men, all of whom they decently interred. All the officers who fell in that disastrous fight were identified, and, what was very remarkable, every man was accounted for; but what struck every one with the greatest surprise, was, that the dead were in no instance pillaged; articles the most esteemed by savages were untouched; the officers' bosom-pins remained in their places; their watches were found in their pockets, and money, in silver and gold, was left to decay with its owner,-a lesson to all the world—a testimony that the Indians are not fighting for plunder!-nay, they are fighting for their rights, their country, their homes, their very existence! The arms and ammunition were all that had been taken, except the uniform coat of Major Dade.

Ön the 22 February, the army arrived at Fort King, much to the agreeable surprise of the garrison, which it had been reported was cut off by the Indians. Owing to the country's being in possession of the Indians, no supplies had arrived; and, the next day, a troop of horse was despatched to Fort Drane, (22 miles north-west,) in hopes to obtain further supplies. They returned the 24, but with only seven days' additional rations. To this they added two days' more at Fort King. The general scarcely knew what course next to take; but he finally concluded to move down the Ŏuithlecoochee, over General Clinch's battle-ground, and so to Tampa, thinking such a route might bring him in contact with the main body of the Indians. Accordingly the army moved, on the 26th, from Fort King, and, at two o'clock on the 27th, arrived at General Clinch's crossing-place. Here, while examining and sounding the river, the Indians fired upon them, and set up a fierce war-cry; but their numbers were not sufficient to make any material impression, although they continued the fight for about half an hour. The whites lost one killed, and eight wounded. On the 28th, the army, having resumed its march, was again attacked, about two miles from its former position, and a fire was kept up about half of the day. At the commencement of the action, Lieutenant Izard, of the United States dragoons, fell, mortally wounded. In the course of the fight, another was killed, and two wounded. In the evening, express was sent to Fort Drane, with directions for the commanding officer to march down with a force upon the opposite side of the Ouithlecoochee, and thus come upon the

430

GAINES'S SEMINOLE CAMPAIGN.

[Book IV.

rear of the Indians; which movement, should it succeed, it was hoped, would finish the war.

On the morning of the 29th, no Indians were to be seen; but the general did not relax his precautions. A party was preparing timber and canoes for crossing the river, when, about 9 o'clock, they were sharply fired upon, and, at the same time, the encampment was attacked upon every side, but that towards the river. The Indians now seemed in great force, (12 or 1500, as was supposed,) having been collecting, from all quarters, since the fight on the previous day. They continued the contest two hours, in which time one man was killed and 33 wounded. Among the latter was the general himself,-a rifle ball having passed through his lower lip, knocked out one tooth, and damaged two others. When it was found that the general was wounded, his companions expressed much regret; but he talked of it as a matter of small moment; said "it was very unkind in the rascals to take away a tooth which he valued so highly."

Ön reconnoitering the enemy's ground, after he had fled, Gaines's men found one of their dead, which had been dragged a considerable distance and left unburied, from which circumstance they conjectured he had fled in haste. His rifle had been taken away, but he was found to be well provided with ammunition, having plenty of powder and sixty bullets. The place of this attack Gaines called Camp Izard.

The flight of the Indians was no security for their not appearing again; for, on the 2d of March, they returned, and commenced pouring in their shot upon the whites, which, at intervals, they continued to do until the 5th. Meantime all of their provisions were exhausted, and they began the slaughter of their horses to sustain life. But it is said that, during all this time, no one was heard to murmur or complain.

On the night of the 5th, about 10 o'clock, a call was heard from the woods, and some one requested a parley. On the officer of the guard's demanding what was wanted, it was answered that the Indians were tired of fighting, and wished for peace. The general ordered the officer of the guard to answer, that if the Indians wished to treat, to send a messenger the next morning, with a white flag, and he should come and go in safety. He replied, "very well," and added that "he desired to have a friendly talk, and to shake hands." Accordingly, on the morning of the 6th, about 300 Indians filed out from the river, and took a position in the rear of the whites, about 500 yards off. They expected nothing now but a most bloody contest, supposing the main body of the Indians to be concealed in a neighboring hammock. Both parties remained a short time in suspense, each doubting what the other would do. At length, one or two advanced within hailing distance, and, being joined with others, repeated what had been said the night before. The general now sent out to them a staff officer, and they told him they did not wish to fight any more, but requested that the army should withdraw from the Ouithlecoochee. Osceola was at the head of the Indian deputation. When the officer who had met the Indians reported this talk to Gaines, he ordered him to return to Osceola, and to inform him, in the plainest terms, that they would be subdued, that a large force was on the way into their country, and that, unless they submitted, every Indian found in arms would be shot. When this was communicated to the Indians, they said they would go and hold a council, and would meet them again in the afternoon. The meeting in the afternoon, accordingly, took place, and the Indians urged what they had said in the morning, and added that they had lost many of their men by death and wounds, and were tired of the war; but as their governor (as they styled Micanopy) was not there, they must first consult him, and asked to have the war suspended until he could be consulted. They were told that if they would cease from acts of hostility, go south of the Ouithlacoochee, and attend a council when called upon by the United States commissioners, they should not be molested. This they agreed to, and, at the same moment, General Clinch came upon the main body of the Indians, and they all fled with the utmost precipitation, probably concluding this was a stratagem which the whites had prepared to cut them off. Clinch came with 500 men and supplies, which was doubtless more agreeable to the starving army, than even a treaty with Osceola.

The Indians seem to have been well acquainted with the condition of Gen