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fieutenant, and three horses, and a man or two wounded. He took one Indian and a negro prisoners, and one Indian was reported to have been killed. About the same time, there was a fight at Charlotte Harbor, in which five Indians were killed, and nine taken. Lieut. Harding was dangerously wounded. And a day or two after, Capt. Winder, with 30 dragoons, surprised and Mok seven men and 23 women and children, about 40 miles south of Fort McLane, and near Fort McNiell; and 20 miles south-west of Fort Harney, he took 29 more, among whom was a sister of Coahajo. Such were the important operations in Florida, during the year 1837.

CHAPTER XX.

EMBRACING THE EVENTS OF 1838 AND 1839.

BATTLE OF WACASA SWAMP-Defeat of Lieut. Powell-BATTLE OF LUCHA HATCHE-Gen. Jesup wounded-DEATH OF OSCEOLA-His character-Gen. Jesup desires to give up the war, and allow the Indians to live in Florida-Not allowed by the government-His talk with TOSKEGEE-Indians seized at Fort Jupiter Gen. Jesup leaves Florida-Death of PHILIP and JUMPER-Capt. Ellis's exploit-Indians surprise Capt. Beall-Families murdered-Crews of vessels murdered— Death of MUSHALATUBEE-Camp Forbes attacked-Numerous murders—Capt. Russell and Maj. Noel killed-Capt. Rowell defeated-Gen. Macomb takes command in Florida-Endeavors to make a treaty-Lieut. Hulbert killed-Reward for Indians-Massacre at Colooshatchie-Indians surprised at Fort Mellon-Murders on the Waculla-Bloodhounds to be employed against the Seminoles-Depredations continue.

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NEW year has come, but not a "happy new year" to Florida; for its first day had only passed, when the sound of the rifle is heard in its desolate coasts, followed by the groans of the wounded and dying. Brig. Gen. Charles Nelson, with a brigade of Georgia volunteers, being charged with the defence of Middle Florida, was, on the 2 January, scouting in the vicinity of Wacasa Swamp, near Fort Fanning, when he discovered Indian signs leading to said swamp: following them up, he was fiercely attacked as he approached it, and immediately the fight became obstinate, and lasted near three hours. 5 o'clock, P. M., the Indians dispersed, carrying off their killed and wounded, The whites suffered severely; but they claimed a large victory, having captured “15 men and children," and a chief named CHICKACHOO. Col. Foster, who commanded the left wing, was shot down, but his wound proved slight. Lieut. Jennings was killed. Among the wounded were Col. Ainbrister, slightly; Serg. Maj. Jones, badly; Dr. Sheftall of Savannah, badly; with several privates.

We now proceed with an account of a sharp action, near Jupiter Inlet, between a force of about 80 men under Lieut. L.M. Powell, of the navy, and a body of Indians under TOSKEGEE, in which the whites were defeated, and suffered severely in killed and wounded. The action commenced about 4 in the P. M., and continued till half past seven at night, of the 15 January.

On proceeding upon a trail, after landing at Jupiter River, Lieut. Powell captured a squaw, whom he made pilot him to the Indian camp, which he reached after a march of about five miles. He found them prepared for him. and the war-whoop was immediately raised. The whites "charged them through a deep swamp," and the fire became general. Lieut. Harrison, of the navy, was soon shot down at the head of his men, who were left without an officer. Lieut. Fowler, of the artillery, was directed to penetrate the swamp to the right, while the remaining two companies, under Lieut. M Arthur, of the navy, advanced in line. By these manoeuvres the Indians were driven, or retreated, to a large cypress swamp, 700 or 800 yards in the rear Here they made a determined stand, and here Lieut. M'Arthur was badly wounded, and Dr. Leitner was killed while in the discharge of his duty as

surgeon. Night was approaching, and the men were falling fast, when Lieut. Powell ordered a retreat. Lieut. Fowler was shot down in the successful attempt which he made to cover the retreat, and but three officers remained upon their feet at the close of the action. The whites made what haste they could to their boats, all of which they got off except one, which the Indians took, containing ammunition. In this affair the whites had 5 killed, and 30 wounded, many of them severely, and some three several times. The Indians lost 4 or 5. The commander-in-chief in this expedition makes no charges against any engaged in it, in his official account; but an officer, who was twice wounded in the fight, said the sailors were great cowards, and had it not been for the company of artillery under Lieut. Fowler, who covered their retreat, nearly all of them would have been scalped. As it was, about ha.f the wounded were of that class. This fight was on Lucha Hatche, or Turtle River.

Gen. Jesup, thinking the Indians had probably made their head-quarters on the Lucha Hatche, marched with the force under his immediate command from Fort Lloyd, near the head of the St. John, on the 20 January, to see whether Lieut. Powell had just cause for leaving them in full possession there, or not. He came upon them on the 24th, between 11 and 12 o'clock, A. M., and if he had had no more men than the lieutenant had, it is doubtful whether he would have given as good an account, or fared as well; though the general himself says, “that the strength of their position was such, that they ought to have held it much longer than they did;" yet, in forcing them out of it, he was pretty severely wounded, with 30 of his men, and 10 were killed or mortally wounded. Thus had TOSKEGEE handled two considerable forces under separate commanders, and was doubtless as well prepared for a third, as either of those for a second; for he and his men were able to make good their retreat without loss of time, with their all, leaving conjecture only to their enemies of their next locality.

We must now turn our attention, for the last time, to the once feared, and much dreaded, and now no less regretted, chief, OSCEOLA. We left him in prison at St. Augustine, in November last, from which place he was, soon after the escape of COACOOCHEE from thence, sent to Charleston, and confined to the fort in that harbor for safe keeping, until he should be, with others, shipped for the west. But that time never came for him! Death came with that aid which the white man refused! He died in confinement at Fort Moultrie, of a catarrhal fever, on the 30 January, 1838. The portrait of Osceola is difficult to be drawn; some have made him a coward, and others a knave; some have averred that he was but a sub-chief, and without respect among his own people; others have indignantly added, that he was the son of a white man, as though their own blood had degraded him in the scale of being. It might be so. How then ought they to look upon themselves? Doubly degraded in that scale. Others portray his character in unmeasured terms of admiration; making him the greatest of chiefs, ablest of counsellors, and bravest of warriors. We affirm to neither. The circumstance of his being better known when the war began, than other chiefs, gave him a celebrity or notoriety which his deeds did not claim. He had lived more among the white people, and hence was better known to them; and when a depredation was committed, or a battle fought, Osceola was the supposed leader of the Indians; and as the report of such occurrences spread, the supposition vanished, and thus arose much of the celebrity of Ósceola. Hence it is easy to see how he came so prominently into the van of notoriety. Thus, in our account of the defeat of Major Dade, the authorities then relied upon made us say he was the leader in that wretched disaster; but we are now assured that he was at Camp King that same day, and was the chief actor in that tragedy, and hence could not have been in the fight with Maj. Dade. He lived near Camp King when the war began, after which he removed to Long Swamp, 12 miles to the south-west of it.

But we detract nothing from the just fame of Osceola. He was a great man, and his name will go down to the latest posterity, with as much renown as that of PHILIP of Pokanoket. Both, by fatal errors, were brought pré.ua. turely into the hands of their enemies; Philip, by the rash murder of one of

his own men, and Osceola by a mistaken estimate of the character of his foes.

We return to Gen. Jesup, whom we left wounded, though safely through the battle of Lucira Hatche. The next day, January 25th, he crossed the river, and encamped on Jupiter Bay, where he erected a stockade, which he named Fort Jupiter. Here he remained until the 5 February, his men being destitute of shoes and other supplies. At this period he marched southward, about 12 miles, when he encamped again; and here an interview was sought with the Indians. It was now looked upon by the general, as well as all his principal officers, as a matter past accomplishment, to subdue the Seminoles, "for years to come." It was, therefore, concluded that it would be best to effect an accommodation with them, and to allow them to retain and live upon that part of Florida "where nobody else could live." Accordingly, he wrote to the secretary of war, on the 11 February, recommending that measure. In answer, the secretary said, that it was not a question now to be considered by the president, whether it would be better to let the Indians remain in the country or not, but that, as a treaty had been ratified, by which the Indians had agreed to remove, it was his duty to see it executed; that, therefore, no arrangements with the Seminoles would be allowed, having for its object their future residence in Florida. Thus a "veto" was set to the humane object of Generals Jesup, Eustace, and others, though they were allowed to make a kind of a truce with them for the ensuing summer, or until the season would allow the whites to fight them again to advantage.

Meanwhile, Gen. Jesup had moved on slowly, and on the 7th, by means of messengers which he sent out, got a parley with a young chief, named Hallec Hajo. This chief told the general that the Indians were in a wretched condition, that they were unwilling to leave the country, but would be contented with any small portion of it, if they might be allowed to continue in it. At this stage of the conference, the general (very abruptly we think) demanded hostages, or a surrender of the arms of the Indians; but the chief gave him to understand that neither would be done. He then requested a conference with Toskegee, the principal chief of the band. The next day Toskegce came, and the interview resulted in an agreement for a meeting at Fort Jupiter, in ten days from that time. What was done at that fort, or whether the general ever got the Indians there or not, he has not told us; but he says, in his communication to the secretary of war, that "the measure which he adopted had resulted in the peaceable surrender of about 1,200 Indians and negroes, of whom 319 were warriors. Had any other course been adopted, it is questionable," he says, "whether 20 warriors could have been killed or taken."

Hence we are to infer, that without gross deception, now-a-days called stratagem, nothing could be effected, of any account, against the Indians of Florida; and what it is probable will be remarked upon hereafter, as worthy of admiration, is the curious fact, that it had taken the government of the country, and all its officers who had been engaged in Florida, three years to find it out. An army could march from one end of that country to another, if they avoided its lakes and swamps; and dogs could, with equal ease, drive all the birds from a rye-field, if there were no brambles in their course; and the latter of these experiments would be of about as much consequence to the owner of the rye-field, as the former to the inhabitants of Florida.

TOSKEGEE had been prevailed upon to lay down his arms, and come into the strong-holds of the white men, to hold a treaty with them, under the assurance that he and his people would be allowed to retain some little part of their own country. But we are told, as the Indians probably were afterwards, that they would be permitted to remain in Florida, provided the president would consent to it. They had become quite confident that such would be the fact, for the very good reason, that the officers who made them this promise, were very confident themselves, that it would be acceded to by him. No other conclusion can be drawn from Gen. Jesup's language, in his communication to the secretary of war, before alluded to. Speaking of his overtures for a reservation, he says, "I believed then, and I believe now, that, as commander-in-chief of the army in the field, I had a right to adopt those measures, either of direct hostility, or of policy, which promised to be most useful in

the end, taking care not to place the ultimate decision of them beyond the control of my official superiors."

Some time bad now intervened since proposals had been made, and it is probable the chiefs had begun to think all was not right; for when, on the 17th March, the general had got his answer from Washington, he notified them to meet him on the 20th, at Fort Jupiter; they did not appear; whereupon Col. Twiggs, by his order, surrounded and captured the whole party, ancunting to 513. In a day or two after, negro s enough were taken to make up 678; but in the mean time Passac-mico, a chief, with 14 others, made their

escape.

On the 24 March, Gen. Jesup detached Halatoochee, Tustenuc-cocho-conee, and the negro chief ABRAHAM, to Gen. Taylor. These were sent out with messages to their countrymen west of Okeechobee and Pahaiokee, and they prevailed upon Alligator, with 36) Indians and negroes, of whom a hundred were warriors, to surrender to Col. Sinith and Gen. Taylor; and soon after Lieut. Anderson captured Pahose-mico, a sub-chief of Toskegee, with his band of 47 persons. Major Lauderdale and Lieut. Powell pursued Appiacca, (Sam Jones,) as Gen. Jesup writes the name, into the everglades, and came up with him on an island, and dispersed his party.

We have now traced events to the month of April, 1838, in which month Gen. Jesup was ordered to proceed to the Cherokee country, and leave Gen. Taylor in command of the forces in Florida. He began operations there in December, 1836, from which time to that now arrived at, there had been taken, with those who surrendered, about 2,400 Indians, above 700 of whom were warriors. Many of the principal chiefs had already been sent out of the country. King Philip, Cloud, and Coahajo, arrived at New Orleans on the 12th of March, but the former never reached his place of destination. King Philip died on board his transport boat in July, 40 miles below Fort Gibson. He was buried on shore with the honors of war; 100 guns being discharged over his grave. JUMPER had preceded him. This chief languished for about two months, at the "Barracks" in New Orleans, when, on a day memorable in our annals, April the 19th, his spirit took its flight. He was buried under arms with much ceremony. Into his coffin were put his rifle, pipe, tobacco, aud other equipments, agreeable to the custom of his people. We now return to inquire what is doing in the land whence they

came.

A scouting party of volunteers, under Capt. Ellis, found five Indians in a bommock near Santa Fee bridge, all of whom are killed, without injury to his own party. This was on the 10th of May. On the 17th of June, as a detachment of about 30 United States dragoons, under Capt. Beall, were sceking Indians in the neighborhood of San Felasco, near Newnansville, they fell into an ambush, and seven of their number were killed and wounded. Among the former was Capt. Walker. They immediately retreated, and were followed some distance by the Indians. On the 19 July the family of a Mr. Guynn was cut off on the Santa Fee; himself, wife, and infant child were murdered. On the 25th of the same month, a family of the name of Lasley was broken up on the Ocloknee, 15 or 20 miles from Tallahassee. Mr. Lasley and a daughter were killed. In Middle Florida, on the last day of the month, a Mr. Singletary, his wife, and two children were cut off. On the 19th of August, a severe blow was struck on the family of a Mr. Baker, on the east side of the Oscilla. Himself, wife, and a grandchild were killed. And thus we might fill out page after page with such awful details-consequences of a war to be remembered only to be lamented.

Many had supposed, that when so many Indians had been sent out of Florida, but few could be left to trouble their expatriators, but it proved far otherwise. The poor mariner, who had never had any hand in the war, if cast away on any part of that coast, immediately found himself in the midst of Indians. In a terrible tempest, which happened about the 7th of Septem ber, near 40 vessels were wrecked or stranded on its ext nsive shores. Ors only we shall particularly name This was the brig Alna, Capt. Thomas, of Portland. After being wrecked, the crew all got safe on shore, except ona man, who was washed overboard. The captain, A. J, Plummer, and Wi

Reed, were killed. S. Cammett and E. Wyer, Jr., though wounded, almost miraculously escaped.

Amidst these events we will pause to notice the death of the great Chok taw chief, MUSHA LATUBEE. He died at the agency in Arkansas, September the 30th, of small-pox. He had led his warriors against the Creeks, under Jackson, during the war of 1812.

On the 6th of September, Adj. Gen. R. Jones issued orders for the reassembling of such officers and others, in Florida and the Cherokee country, as had been detached to the north-west, or elsewhere, to be ready for active service. On the 11th, as Capt. Rowell's company of Florida volunteers, about 16, were scouting near the mouth of the Oscilla, they fall upon a camp of Indians under Tigertail. Most of them escape on ponies, but two women were killed.

We meet with very little of importance until the close of this year. On he 28th December an attack was made on Camp Forbes, by a small party of Indians, but they were obliged to retire, leaving two of their number dead ehind. The next morning Lieut. Thomas went in pursuit of the party, and ine up with them on the Chattahoochee; here again they were dispersed with loss, but how great is not mentioned. On the 4th of January, 1839, me citizens of Magnolia, learning that Indians were in their neighborhood, arched them out, and killed the whole party, six in number. Capt. L. J. Beall, scouting with a company of dragoons near Ahapopka Lake, captured 16 Indians, of which number but two were men. The two men were near relations of Wild Cat and Sam Jones. The latter had given out word that he would hang any Indian who should attempt to surrender.

A party of 10 or 12 Indians went within about 12 miles of Tallahassee, and cut off the family of a Mr. Pendarvis; killing him, his wife, and two children. This was on the 15th of February, and on the 18th they cut off the family of a Mr. White, four miles nearer the same place. Here they killed two persons and desperately wounded Mr. and Mrs. White. On the Thursday previous, the same, or perhaps another party of Indians attacked the house of a Mr. Stokens, of Jefferson county, and though the family escaped, they plundered it of 1,000 dollars in bank notes, and burnt it.

On the 23d of February, about 15 or 20 Indians attack three wagons on the Magnolia road, loaded with provisions for Camp Wacasa, and about 9 miles from that place. Four persons were killed. As Capt. S. L. Russell was ascending the Miami River, in open boats, from Fort Dallas, with a part of his men, they were fired on by Indians concealed, and Capt. Russell is killed, and Major Noel is mortally wounded. This was on the last day of February, viz., the 28th.

On the 1st of March, the Indians which had been collected at St. Augustine were shipped for the west. There were 250 in all, 65 of whom were men. At this time went the long noted negro chief, Abraham. Yet murders continued to be every where committed. On the 8th, the house of Edmund Gray, in Jefferson county, 9 miles from Monticello, is beset, Mr. Gray and two children killed and one badly wounded, and the house burned.

In pursuing his business of scouting, Capt. Rowell came upon 50 or 60 Indians near Patterson's Hommock, 5 miles east of the Oscilla. They engaged him, and obliged him to retreat with the loss of two killed and two wounded. This happened on the 18th of March, and on the 3d of April some 10 or 15 Indians went to the residence of Capt. Scott, in Jefferson county, about two miles from Bailey's mills, where they killed one person and wounded two or three more. About the same time the house of a Mr. Rollins is attacked at the head of the St. Mary's, on the edge of the Okefeenoke Swamp. Mrs Rollins was killed, and he made a very narrow escape.

Meanwhile Gen. Macomb had been appointed commander-in-chief of the army in Florida, and on the 5th of April he arrived at its head-quarters on Black Creek. His main instructions appear to have been, to pacify the Indians again, until the return of another season for campaigning. But his prospects were discouraging, for "they were dividing themselves into small parties, penetrating the settlements, committing some murders, and firing from their coverts on the expresses and passengers going from post to post.

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