The Great Republic by the Master Historians The Seminole War byBancroft, Hubert H.
[During the early period of the nineteenth century few troubles with the Indians
existed, except those that formed a portion of the war with Great Britain. The
first conflict with Tecumseh antedated that war, but the principal troubles with
the Tecumseh confederacy, and with the Creeks, whom he had stirred up to
hostility, were its resultants. The country east of the Mississippi was now so
thickly occupied by white settlers as to awe the savages, and the final
conflicts in this region came from two thinly-settled territories,-Wisconsin, in
the far northwest, and Florida, in the southeast. In 1832 the famous chief Black
Hawk roused the Sacs, Foxes, and Winnebagoes of Wisconsin to hostilities. As a
result, most of the Indians were driven west of the Mississippi, and a treaty of
peace was concluded, by which they ceded to the United States a large section of
their territory.
The powerful tribal organizations of the Southern range of States, the
Cherokees, Creeks, Chickasaws, and Choctaws, were gradually induced to yield
their lands to the whites and to accept new homes in the Indian Territory. The
Seminoles of Florida, a tribe said to have been derived from Creek refugees,
resisted the efforts made to remove them, and started a war which proved to be
the longest and most costly Indian war to which the United States had ever been
subjected. Instead of being concluded in one or two severe campaigns, as in
ordinary cases, it dragged its slow length along for seven years, until the
government almost despaired of subduing its savage adversaries.
Difficulties with this tribe began in 1812, when Colonel Newnan invaded their
territory and was forced to retreat with loss. The shelter which they gave to
fugitive slaves, and their depredations on the settlements, were the cause of
the next war, conducted by General Gaines and afterwards by General Jackson,
which resulted in the cession of Florida by Spain to the United States in 1819.
The active efforts to settle this new territory which succeeded were partly
checked by the presence and the lurking hostilities of the Indians, while the
shelter which they gave to runaway slaves in their secret coverts formed another
source of disturbance. Finally, in 1833 a treaty was made with the principal
chiefs for the removal of the tribe to the Indian Territory. But many of the
younger warriors resisted this treaty, which they declared to have been
fraudulently obtained. The celebrated Osceola, in particular, displayed
indications of determined hostility to the whites.
After evading the execution of the treaty until 1835, with studied dissimulation
of their real intentions, in which Osceola acted his part so perfectly as
completely to deceive the government agents, while in the mean time they
collected all the arms and ammunition possible, they suddenly broke out into
hostilities. Major Dade, with a party of over one hundred men, was ambushed, and
the whole party killed or mortally wounded. At the same time Osceola and some
followers made a sudden attack upon the government commissioner, General
Thompson, and massacred him and several of his companions, within a short
distance of Fort King. The war thus inaugurated was prosecuted with more or less
vigor for several years succeeding. But such were the intricacies of the swamps
in which the savages concealed themselves that they proved almost impossible to
reach, while they constantly appeared at unexpected places and committed
unceasing murders and depredations.
In October, 1836, Governor Call, with nearly two thousand men, penetrated the
swamps, and defeated the Indians in two engagements. They received a severe blow
in 1837. General Jessup, after several encounters with them, induced some of the
principal chiefs to sign a treaty of removal. This treaty was soon broken
through the influence of Osceola. But in October this chief, with several
others, who had come into the American camp under the protection of a flag, was
seized and held prisoner by General Jessup. Osceola was subsequently confined in
Fort Moultrie, where he died of a fever in the following January.
In December, 1837, the army in Florida numbered about nine thousand men. Yet
against this strong force the Indians still held out. A severe battle took place
during this month near Lake Okechobee, in which General Taylor defeated the
enemy, after a hard fight in the swamps.
Both sides now changed their tactics. The Indians avoided pitched battles, and
confined themselves to unexpected onslaughts, while hiding effectively from the
troops. The whites, on the contrary, penetrated the everglades more and more
deeply, and gradually broke up the lurking-places of the foe. A warfare of a
peculiar and unusual character ensued, a description of the principal features
of which we select from Fairbanks's "History of Florida."]
The winter of 1838-39 was spent by the troops in active service in the endeavor
to hunt out from their hiding-places the small Indian bands scattered through
the country, but with little success, as the Indians, by their better knowledge
of the country, were enabled to avoid their pursuers. Occasionally their
settlements were reached and broken up, but few of the Indians were seen.
During the operations of this campaign, one hundred and ninety-six Indians and
negroes surrendered or were captured and sent West.
The policy of the Indians was now, says General Taylor, to avoid giving battle
to regular troops, even in single companies, while at the same time every
opportunity was seized to wreak their vengeance on the unarmed inhabitants of
the country. Moving by night, rapidly, in small squads, they were able to appear
unexpectedly in remote parts of the country, their presence indicated only by
their rifles and shrill yells as they approached at daylight the home of some
unsuspecting settler. Murders were committed by the Indians within a few miles
of Tallahassee and St. Augustine.
Discouraged at the failure of his efforts either to find the Indians or bring
them to a stand, General Taylor adopted the plan of dividing the whole country
into squares, and placing a block-house, with a small detachment, in each, a
part of the number to be mounted. The officer commanding was to scout his
district every alternate day, thoroughly examining the swamps and hammocks to
see that they were clear of Indians. The merits of this plan were not tested, as
it was never fully carried out.
[It was prevented from being put into operation by the arrival of General Macomb
as a government agent to treat with the Indians. He made an arrangement with the
chiefs in which they agreed to confine themselves to a designated portion of the
south of Florida until other arrangements could be made. It was now announced
that the war was at an end, and great joy was felt by the citizens, who prepared
to return to their devastated fields. Yet in July, when the season for active
operations by the troops had passed, hostilities broke out in all directions,
and many murders were committed. Colonel Harney, with a detachment of twenty-
five men, was attacked and many of his men killed, while he himself escaped only
by swimming to a fishing-boat.]
The prosecution of the war now became extremely discouraging, and the end seemed
farther off than three years before. The Indians had become familiarized with
the exhibition of military power, and had learned to contemn it. They found
themselves at the close of four years still in possession of the country, and
powerful for annoyance and to inflict revenge, and their ferocity seemed to
increase with its exercise..
The citizens and troops had become so exasperated against the Indians for their
repeated massacres of the feeble and the unprotected that a feeling had grown up
that they were deserving of extermination, and that any and every means should
be used to hunt and capture or destroy them. The great difficulty in so wide an
extent of country, abounding in thick hammocks, palmetto and scrubby lands,
swamps, islands, and morasses, was to pursue them successfully.
[An attempt was made to run them down with Spanish bloodhounds, but these proved
unsuited to the country. The Indians continued their old tactics, coming in,
professing friendship, claiming to be tired of the war, receiving food, and
suddenly disappearing. New murders would quickly follow. Severely as they had
been hunted, the country was so adapted to concealment that they were yet spread
through all parts of the Territory.]
Billy Bowlegs, the Prophet, and Hospetarkee, Shiver and Shakes, were the head-
men of a large party of Seminoles who occupied the country south of Pease Creek.
In December, 1840, Colonel Harney, with a detachment of one hundred men,
penetrated this hitherto-unexplored region in canoes, and created much alarm
among the occupants of this almost inaccessible portion of the country. Chekika,
the Spanish-Indian chief, was overtaken by a detachment of troops and killed,
and six of his companions captured and hung on the spot, and, it is said, their
bodies were suspended from the trees.
This expedition, and the summary punishment inflicted by Colonel Harney, greatly
intimidated the Indians, and they resorted to their old expedient of having "a
talk" and expressing a strong desire for peace and amity. As their sincerity
could only be tested by the result, their offers were accepted, and they came in
and received clothing and subsistence, thus gaining time to plant their fields
and devise new measures of security for their families. During the winter and
spring, every day they could delay operations against them was important. In
April, having accomplished their purposes, they again disappeared, leaving the
baffled officers of the government to speculate once more on the uncertainty of
Indian professions..
Five years had elapsed, and still the Indians remained, and the government was
in the position of almost a suppliant for peace. The efforts of the troops
against the Indians were evaded by the exercise of the utmost caution and
cunning. With the sagacity and thorough wood-craft of natives of the forest,
while the white soldier was plodding his weary way dependent upon guides or the
compass for a knowledge of his route, the Indian stopped behind some clump of
bushes or peered forth from some leafy covert and saw his pursuers pass by, and
then stole back to attack some point in the rear of the pursuing troops, which
had been left unprotected. Ill success brought, naturally, criticism and
wholesale censure. Those who knew least were wisest in such matters, and had
always a plan which, if adopted, would infallibly succeed. Constant changes of
plans, of officers, and of troops made matters worse. An uncertain policy,
holding out the olive-branch at one time and fire and sword at another,
alternately coaxing and threatening, gave to the Indians a feeling of distrust
mingled with contempt. They thought they had been deceived by fair words and
false professions, and they used the same means to further their own purposes.
[General Armistead, who had succeeded General Taylor in command, asked to be
relieved in May, 1841. He was succeeded by General William J. Worth, the eighth
commander since the war opened. It was an excellent choice. He quickly proved
himself the man to bring the war to an end.]
No more unpromising field for distinction could have been found than Florida
presented at the period when General Worth was assigned to the command. As the
number of Indians had been reduced, their tactics had been changed. They no
longer presented themselves, as at first, to contest the passage of troops in
the open field. They now found that by subdividing into small squads they could
distract the attention of the troops, and, by the smallness of their number,
find ready concealment and elude pursuit. They had become accustomed to the mode
of conducting military operations, and knew that with the approach of the summer
heats they would remain unmolested. Far down in the Everglades there were
islands never trodden by the foot of the white man, where they could place their
families in security and plant their crops in peace. From these fastnesses they
could sally forth on long expeditions for murder and rapine; acquainted with
coverts to which they might readily fly in all parts of the country, able to
support themselves upon the abundant game, they possessed an unlimited power of
doing mischief, and were almost as unapproachable as the birds in the air. Where
they had been, was easily ascertained by the bodies of the slain victims and the
ashes of destroyed homes, but where they were, it was a matter of impossibility
to more than conjecture, and when other means of support failed, or it was
desirable to check a too active movement in the direction of their camps, they
had the convenient resort of a friendly talk and peaceful overtures, accompanied
with an abundant supply of whiskey and rations.
[They had now, however, a man to deal with who was ready to profit by the
experience of his predecessors, and who particularly saw the bad policy of going
into summer quarters at the approach of the hot weather. He at once organized
his troops for a continuous campaign. "Find the enemy, capture, or exterminate,"
were his orders to his subordinates. Major Childs had captured Coacoochee and
several other chiefs and warriors and sent them off to Arkansas. Worth ordered
their return, as he wanted to make use of them. Coacoochee, pleased at being
returned to Florida, promised to bring in his whole band.]
A simultaneous movement was ordered to take place in each district, for the
purpose of breaking up any camps which the Indians might have formed, destroying
their crops or stores wherever they might be found. Boat-detachments ascended
the Withlacoochee, found several fields of growing crops, and destroyed them.
Every swamp and hammock between the Atlantic and Gulf coasts was visited, and
the band of Halleck Tustenuggee routed out of the Wahoo swamp. Many fields were
found in the hammocks and islands of the Charl-Apopka country, with huts,
palmetto sheds, and corn-cribs. Tiger Tail had a large field upon one of these
islands, which was his reliance for the ensuing year, and from a tree in the
hammock he witnessed its entire destruction by the troops.
[These operations proved very harassing and destructive to the Indians. Yet they
resolved not to surrender, and to put to death any messenger who should approach
them. The detachments of troops continued to scour the country for twenty-five
days, with the thermometer averaging 86 deg, and clearly demonstrated their
ability to stand a summer campaign. During this time they destroyed thirty-five
fields and one hundred and eighty huts or sheds.
General Worth now used his prisoners with good effect. Keeping Coacoochee in
chains, he released five of his companions, and sent them out with the message
that unless they returned in forty days, with their band, he would hang the
chief and all the prisoners on the last day. This measure proved effective. One
hundred and eighty-nine Indians came in, seventy-eight of them being warriors.]
Coacoochee was by no means the great warrior his vanity led him to estimate
himself. He was vain, bold, and cunning. General Worth had operated upon his
weak point by treating him as a great chief. The general now proposed to make
still further use of him by procuring his services in bringing in the other
bands, which he thought might more easily and certainly be brought to surrender
by negotiation than by hostile pursuit. Coacoochee having surrendered, he
desired to increase his influence at the West by carrying with him a larger
force, and readily consented to use his influence in inducing the rest to
emigrate. At his instance, the active operations of the army were in some degree
suspended.
[By these and other means a considerable number of the Indians were secured.
Worth now organized a large expedition to attack the stronghold of the Indians
in the Big Cypress Swamp. A naval force accompanied the movement.]
The examination of the hiding-places of the Indians was thorough and complete.
The troops marched through swamps, deep in mud and water; their boats penetrated
every creek and landed upon every island. The Indians, apprised of their
presence, fled towards the coast and were seldom seen; extensive fields were
found and destroyed, and every hut and shelter burned. The Indians now saw that
no hiding-place was secure, and that, with a vigilant and energetic commander
like General Worth to deal with, they were to encounter war in a different form
from that which they had previously experienced..
The following graphic summary of the Big Cypress expedition is appended to a
long and interesting diary kept by an officer: "Thus ended the Big Cypress
campaign, like all others. Drove the Indians out, broke them up, taught them
that we could go where they could; men and officers worn down; two months in
water; plunder on our backs; hard times; trust they are soon to end.. Indians
asking for peace in all quarters. The only reward we ask is the ending of the
Florida War."
[A year more of such operations ended it. All the Indians, with the exception of
about three hundred and sixty men, women, and children, had been sent to
Arkansas. These, under the chiefs Billy Bowlegs and Arpaika, were allowed to
remain, within the district south of Pease Creek, no apprehension of further
difficulties being felt.]
The Florida War may be said to have commenced with the massacre of Major Dade's
command, on the 28th of December, 1835, and closed, by official proclamation, on
the 14th of August, 1842. It was generally said to have cost the United States
forty millions of dollars.. Captain Sprague, in his valuable work, states the
expenditure at nineteen millions.. The number of deaths among the regular troops
during the war amounted to an aggregate of fourteen hundred and sixty-six, of
whom the very large number of two hundred and fifteen were officers.
