The Exiles of Florida

Major Zantzinger, who commanded at Fort Pike, appears to have felt some delicacy at delivering up the negroes on the order of General Gaines, and, with those impressions, wrote General Jessup, inquiring as to that point. He received an answer, dated seventh of April, approving his course, and saying, “the removal of the negroes was proper; they were either free, or the property of the Indians.”

All these proceedings were reported to the proper Department at Washington. About the time, or soon after, they would naturally reach that city, William Armstrong, Acting Superintendent of the Indians in the Western Territory, evidently in the joint service of our Government and of the Creek Indians, addressed a note to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, dated at Washington City, April twenty-third, 1838, saying, “When General Jessup called upon volunteers to go to Florida, he promised them all the property they could capture. Accordingly, the Creeks captured near one hundred negroes, which they left in possession of the officers of the United States. What has become of these negroes? Will they receive them, or their value, as promised?”

The difficulty attending the transformation of men into chattels now increased so much, that the Commissioner of Indian Affairs addressed a letter to the Hon. Secretary of War, which is so characteristic of the manner in which the administration of our Government was then conducted, that we give the letter in full:

“WAR DEPARTMENT,“Office of Indian Affairs, May 1, 1838.

“SIR: I have the honor to submit for the consideration and decision of the Department a question that has been presented by the Superintendent of the Western Territory, (Captain Armstrong.)

“In September last, General Jessup advised the Department that he had purchased from the Creek warriors all the negroes (about eighty in number), captured by them, for $8,000, and this purchase was approved on the seventh of October. At a subsequent date, he wrote that he had supplied Lieutenant Searle with funds, and directed him to make the payment. It is believed, however, that the warriors refused to take the sum named, Lieutenant Searle having made no such payment, and the delegation here asserting that they never received it. It is now asked, whether they will be permitted to take the negroes, or be paid their value? It was suggested by General Jessup, that the consideration for the captives would be a proper charge on the Seminole annuity. But this would deprive the friendly portion, who have emigrated, of what they are justly, and by law, entitled to, and to a certain extent would be paying the Creeks with their own money; for the fourth Article of the Treaty with the Seminoles, of May ninth, 1832, provides, that ‘the annuities then granted shall be added to the Creek annuities, and the whole amount be so divided that the chiefs and warriors of the Seminole Indians may receive their equitable proportion of the same as members of the Creek confederation.’ Independently of this difficulty, I would respectfully suggest, whether there are not other objections to the purchase of these negroes by the United States? It seems to me, that a proposition to Congress to appropriate money to pay for them, and for their transportation to Africa, could its authority for that course be obtained, or for any other disposition of them, WOULD OCCASION GREAT AND EXTENSIVE EXCITEMENT. Such a relation assumed by the United States, for however laudable an object, would, it appears probable, place the country in no enviable attitude, especially at this juncture, when the public mind here and elsewhere it so sensitive upon the subject of slavery. The alternative would seem to be, to deliver the negroes to the Creeks, as originally agreed on. The subject involves so many delicate considerations, that I respectfully invite your attention to it, and your direction as to the answer to be given to the delegation now in the city. As early a decision of this question as practicable, is very desirable: the Indians intending to leave this place in four or five days, and being anxious that this matter should be disposed of before they go.

“Very respectfully,Your most obedient servant,C. A. HARRIS, Commissioner.

Captain S. COOPER, Acting Sec’y of War.”

“P. S. – If it should be determined to deliver them to the Creeks, I would suggest, as the opinion of this office, that it would be impolitic for them to be taken to the country West, and that so far as the Department may of right interfere in regard to the ultimate disposition, it should endeavor to have it effected IN SOME OTHER MODE.

C. A. H.”

It is no part of our duty to comment on these proceedings; yet we are constrained to say, that no historian has, or can explain the reason of delay on the part of the Creek Indians, in regard to their claim to these people, for more than an entire year, upon any principles of consistent action. General Jessup said, in his official communications, they had received their pay, and that “the negroes were the property of the Government;” and the Department had approved his whole course on this subject. The Creeks, so far as we can learn, left the country and went West, perfectly satisfied. This Delegation had been some months in Washington, and, as the Commissioner of Indian Affairs says, were to leave in four or five days; when, for the first time, they mentioned the subject, although the negroes had been detained from them, as they allege, in direct violation of their contract. They appear to have rested satisfied until difficulties from other quarters were presented to the Administration. And these letters may all easily be explained, as the carrying out of a previous understanding between these officers and the Creek Indians. However that may be, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs wrote Captain Armstrong, Superintendent of the Western Territory, as follows:

“WAR DEPARTMENT,“Office of Indian Affairs, May 5, 1838.

“SIR: The Secretary of War has directed that the negroes belonging to the Seminoles, and captured by the warriors in Florida, shall be placed at the disposal of the Delegation now in this city. But before this can be carried into effect, it will be necessary to be satisfied that the warriors have not received the $8,000 promised in the agreement with General Jessup; to ascertain accurately their number and identity, and the claims of citizens upon any of them. For all to which such claims can be established, $20 each will be allowed. From the information now here, the number is supposed to be between sixty and seventy, the original number having been reduced by sickness. All the facts herein indicated will be required as early as practicable; but some time must necessarily elapse. It is the opinion of the Department, that it will be impolitic to take these negroes West, and that they should be otherwise disposed of. Any arrangement the Delegation may make respecting them, and submit to this office, will be sanctioned, and instructions given for such action as may be proper on the part of the Government.

“Very, &c., C. A. HARRIS.

Capt. WM. ARMSTRONG,

Washington.”

One feature in these communications stands out prominently to the view of the reader: the number of these victims appears to have undergone constant diminution. General Jessup reported the number sent to Fort Pike at ninety. In his previous letter, addressed to the Secretary of War, Commissioner Harris states the number at eighty; and in this communication, written four days subsequently, he states the number to be between sixty and seventy; while the official registry shows there was one hundred and three – of whom some, however, undoubtedly died.

If the honorable Secretary of War intended these people should be delivered over to the Creek Indians as their property, it would be difficult to understand by what law he should himself attempt to control them, in the subsequent disposition of their legalized chattels, or by what authority he should object to their going West.

It will however be seen that one point yet remained undecided. The negroes were not to be delivered until it was ascertained that the Creeks had not received the eight thousand dollars, agreeably to the order of General Jessup in September, 1837.

Fortunately, a Lieutenant Sloan, who had acted as a disbursing agent of the United States, was at that precise time in Washington City. He stated to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, in a letter dated May sixth, being the day after this decision of the Secretary of War, assuring him that he had learned from Lieutenant Searle himself that the Indians refused to accept the eight thousand dollars for their interest in the negroes. These statements constituted a series of supposed facts, which appears to have been regarded as necessary to authorize the subsequent proceedings.

This evidence was, accordingly, deemed satisfactory; and the Creek Indians were now declared to be the owners of these ninety Exiles, under the original contract made between them and General Jessup, in 1836: thus abrogating the order of General Jessup, No. 175, and setting aside the approval of that order by the Department of War itself – which was dated the seventh of October, 1837 – leaving the United States to sustain the loss incurred by feeding and clothing the prisoners, and guarding them for thirteen months.

At this time a slave-dealer by the name of James C. Watson, said to reside in Georgia, happened to be also at the seat of Government, as was common for Southern gentlemen during the sessions of Congress. To this man the officers of Government now applied for aid, in extricating themselves from the difficulty into which they had been brought by this slave-dealing transaction. Even the Secretary of War is said to have encouraged Watson to purchase those negroes of the Creek Indians.117 By request of these public functionaries, and at their instance, Mr. Watson declares he was induced to purchase the negroes, and to give between fourteen and fifteen thousand dollars for them.118 It was perhaps the heaviest purchase of slaves made in the city of Washington during that year, and certainly the most dignified transaction in human flesh that ever took place at the capital of our nation, or of any other civilized people; inasmuch as the high officers of this enlightened and Christian confederation of States constituted a negotiating party to this important sale of human beings.

The purchase appears to have taken place on the seventh of May; and Watson, being unable to go immediately to New Orleans, authorized his brother-in-law, Nathaniel F. Collins of Alabama, as his agent and attorney, to repair to that city and take possession of the prisoners. Yet the whole business appears to have been carried on in the name of the Creek Indians.

On the eighth of May, five persons, styling themselves “chiefs, head-men and delegates of the Creek Tribe of Indians,” filed with the Commissioner of Indian Affairs a request, stating that they had appointed Nathaniel F. Collins, Esq., of Alabama, their agent and attorney, to demand and receive from General Jessup the negro slaves which the Creek warriors had captured in Florida, under their agreement with that officer, made in September, 1836, and requesting the Department to furnish the proper order for obtaining possession of the slaves from the officer having them in charge. This request was communicated to the Secretary of War the next day, by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and constitutes a part of the record; and, coming from that department of government most implicated in this slave-dealing transaction, we place it before the reader:

“WAR DEPARTMENT, Office of Indian Affairs, May 9, 1838.

SIR: The decision made a few days since, requesting that the negroes captured by the Creek warriors in Florida, should, in compliance with the engagement of General Jessup, be delivered to the Delegation now here, has been communicated to them with the intimation that, when they had determined what disposition would be made of them, and communicated information of the same to this Department, the necessary orders would be issued. In a communication just received from the Delegation, they state they have appointed Nathaniel F. Collins, of Alabama, their attorney in fact to receive the negroes. I have the honor to request that an order be issued to the commanding officer at Fort Pike; to Major Isaac Clark, at New Orleans; to the commanding officer in Florida, and to any other officer who may have charge of them, to deliver to Mr. Collins all the negroes in question. He will, of course, hold them subject to the lawful claims of all white persons. Abraham and his family should be excepted, in consequence of a promise made by General Jessup. The officers should be instructed to use due caution, so as to deliver only those captured by the Creeks. It is proper to remark, that it appears from a letter received from Lieutenant Sloan, that these Indians refused to receive the $8,000, offered them under the direction of General Jessup, for their interest in these negroes.

Very respectfully,Your most obedient servant,C. A. HARRIS.

Capt. S. COOPER, Acting Sec. of War.”

On the same day, Mr. Collins was furnished with written instructions, which, being also important, are presented to the reader:

“WAR DEPARTMENT,“Office of Indian Affairs, May 9, 1838.

“SIR: Having been notified by the Creek Delegation that they have appointed you their agent and attorney in fact, to receive the negroes captured by their warriors in Florida, which, by the decision of the Secretary of War, are to be delivered up to them, in conformity to the agreement made with them by General Jessup, I have the honor to transmit herewith the copy of a communication to the Secretary of War on the subject, which has received his approval. Orders will be given to the officers therein named to carry the measure into effect, in conformity to the recommendation. Captain Morrison, Superintendent of Seminole Emigration at Tampa Bay, and Lieutenant Reynolds, engaged in removing a party of the same, at New Orleans, have been instructed to assist and coöperate in the matter. Herewith you will receive the copy of a list of negroes captured by General Jessup, which, it is believed, embraces the negroes to which the Creeks are entitled; but as this is not certain, much caution should be used in identifying them. It is supposed that all these negroes now alive are at Fort Pike; but some of them may be at Tampa Bay, or other places: it will be for you to find them. No expense of any nature whatever, growing out of this matter, will be paid by the United States.

C. A. HARRIS, Comm’r.

N. F. COLLINS,

Washington, D. C.”

Preparations being now perfected, and the whole matter being fully understood, Mr. Collins left Washington on the following morning, prepared to bring those fathers, and mothers, and children, back to servitude in Georgia, from which their ancestors had fled nearly a hundred years previously; and this nefarious work was thus encouraged and sanctioned by our Government.

Of these movements the Exiles were ignorant. Many hearts were moved in sympathy for them, and many of our military officers were active in their endeavors to defeat the machinations of the President and the War Department.

Lieutenant Reynolds found it necessary to return to Florida before leaving New Orleans with his party of Emigrants. While he was absent, the efforts of slaveholders to reënslave these people appeared to increase, and they became more bold, although Collins had not yet appeared, clothed with the authority of Government, to effect their enslavement.

General Gaines, commanding the Western Military District of the United States, and residing at New Orleans, as if premonished of the arrival of this national slave catcher, issued his peremptory order (April 29), directing Major Clark, Acting Quarter-Master at New Orleans, to make arrangements for the immediate embarkation and emigration of the Seminole Indians and black prisoners of war, at that time in Louisiana, to the place of their destination on the Arkansas River, near Fort Gibson.

Major Clark being thus placed in charge of the prisoners for the purpose of emigrating them, at once informed the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, that claims were “made for about seventy of the Seminole negroes, and the courts here have issued their warrants to take them. The United States District Attorney has been consulted. He gives it as his opinion, that the Sheriff must be allowed to serve the process. It appears they are claims from Georgia, purchased from Creek Indians. No movement of the Indians or negroes can be made at present. The Indians are almost in a state of mutiny.”

This state of feeling arose from these attempts again to separate the Indians and negroes. Many of them were intermarried: they had been separated; their families broken up, but were now reunited, and they determined to die rather than be again separated. The Exiles had also fought boldly beside the Indians; they had encountered dangers together, and had become attached to each other; and soon as the subject of surrendering the Exiles to bondage was named, the Indians became enraged, threatening violence and death to those who should attempt again to separate them from the Exiles.

The claimants mentioned by Major Clark, were from Georgia. The pirates who robbed E-con-chattimico and Walker of their slaves and seized the Exiles resident with those chiefs, as stated in a former chapter, were from Georgia. Watson, the more dignified dealer in human flesh, and acting in accordance with the advice of the Secretary of War, was also from Georgia; and all these claims were said to be derived from Creek Indians, who, as we have seen, professed to own all the Exiles who fled from Georgia after the close of the Revolution, and prior to 1802, together with their descendants.

Information, respecting these difficulties of reënslaving the Exiles, reached the authorities at Washington, and created great embarrassment. The War Department appears never to have anticipated that negroes, who were already prisoners of war, would find friends or means to awaken the sympathy of others. But it was clear that any litigation would make the public acquainted with the facts.

It will be recollected that on the tenth of May, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs wrote an order, directed to General Jessup, to deliver up near one hundred of these Exiles to Collins, the Agent of Watson, and two days later – that is, on the twelfth of May – he wrote Thomas Slidell, District Attorney of the United States at New Orleans, saying, “It is represented to this Department, that the emigration of the Seminoles, now near New Orleans, has been impeded by claims set up to some of their negroes. I am directed by the Secretary of War to request that you will give the Indians your advice and assistance, and by all proper and legal means protect them from injustice and from harrassing and improper interferences with their property and persons. It is of the highest importance that, if possible, no impediments should be suffered to be thrown in the way of their speedy conveyance to their country, west of Arkansas.”

It is a historical curiosity, that the Secretary of War should so often change his policy. He had, as the reader is aware, exerted his influence to prevent those Exiles, who had been captured by the Creeks, from going West.

On the fifth of May, Commissioner Harris declared – “it is the opinion of the Department that it will be impolitic to take these negroes West;” and on the ninth, acting under the direction of the Secretary of War, he furnished Mr. Collins with authority to demand and receive these people, and instructions were also issued “to the officer commanding at Fort Pike; to Major Isaac Clark at New Orleans; to the commanding officer at Florida, and to any other officer who may have the negroes in charge,” to deliver them to Mr. Collins; while three days afterwards he assures Mr. Slidell, as before stated, “It is of the highest importance that, if possible, no impediments should be suffered to be thrown in the way of their speedy conveyance to their country, west of Arkansas.” This letter to Mr. Slidell was inclosed in another of the same date, addressed to Major Clark, as follows:

“SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt to-day of your letter of the third instant.

“The enclosed copy of a letter of this date to the United States District Attorney will show you what measures have been adopted in relation to the claims set up to the Seminole negroes. This is all that this Department can do in this matter.

“It is very much to be regretted, that anything has occurred to prevent the speedy emigration of these Indians. I will be greatly obliged to you, should no emigrating agent be at New Orleans, to give all the aid in your power in removing the difficulties which are thrown in their way.”

While the Executive officers at Washington, the Creek Indians, and the slave-dealer Watson, were arranging their contracts and perfecting their plans for enslaving those Exiles, who had been captured with the assistance of the Creek warriors, an important and most spirited contest was progressing in New Orleans.

Before one of the courts of the State of Louisiana, a slave-dealer by the name of Love, claimed title to the bodies, the bones and muscles, the blood and sinews, of some sixty of these persons, held by the United States as prisoners of war. They had been captured by our troops as hostiles; had been held for thirteen months as prisoners of war; had been fed, and clothed, and guarded, at the expense of the people of the United States: but they were now claimed as the property of Love. This absurdity was presented before an enlightened court as a grave question of international law; and a determined effort was put forth before that State tribunal to change the law of nations; to modify the law of Nature and of Nature’s God, so far as to transform men into chattels, and declare these prisoners of war to be the property of their fellow men.

Love demanded the Exiles of General Gaines, who was in actual command of the Western Military District of the United States, and by virtue of his office held control of the Exiles while in his district. Bred to the profession of arms, he had made himself familiar with those principles of natural, of international, law which point out the rights of belligerents, whether they belong to the victorious or the vanquished nation. Being advised that efforts were making to get possession of these Exiles for the purpose of reënslaving them, he indicated to the officer in command at the barracks the propriety of retaining possession of them as he would of other prisoners of war.

On the second of May, the Sheriff of New Orleans appeared at the barracks, and desired to pass the line of sentinels for the purpose of serving his process; but the sentinel, punctilious to his duty, refused to let him enter. The Sheriff then returned his writ with the following indorsement thereon:

“Received May second, 1838, and demanded the within slaves of General Gaines, the defendant, who answered me, that he never had the within described slaves in his possession, or under his control. I found the slaves at the barracks of the United States, but the officers in charge of the same refused to deliver them to me. Returned May eighth, 1838.

FREDERICK BUISSON, Sheriff.”

The Exiles still remained in the barracks under the officers in charge of them; and on the ninth of May, General Gaines sued out a rule to set aside the order of sequestration upon the grounds, “that the negroes were ‘prisoners of war’ of the United States, taken in combat with the Seminole Indians; that the control of the United States over said negroes, and their right to the control of such negroes as prisoners of war, could not be taken away by the sequestration issued.”

Thus was the manhood of these colored people asserted by this military officer of the United States at that day, when few members of Congress would have hazarded their reputation by the avowal of similar doctrines. Twenty-three years previously, as the reader has already been informed, General Gaines gave to the War Department notice that “fugitives and outlaws had taken possession of a fort on the Appalachicola River.” Twenty-two years previously, he had detailed General Clinch, with his regiment and five hundred Creek warriors, to destroy “Blount’s Fort,” and take the fugitive slaves and return them to their owners. He had only two years previously gone to Florida, marched into the Indian Territory, and fought them bravely for several days. He now saw these Exiles and Indians in a different situation. He witnessed their attachment to each other as parents and children, as husbands and wives, as members of the human family, and his sympathy was aroused – his humanity was awakened. His finer feelings being called forth, he possessed the firmness, the independence, to act according to the dictates of his conscience and judgment.119