THE SEMINOLE WAR. power not delegated by the constitution of the United States to their congress, or to any department of their government, but reserved by the people. That any attempt by act of congress or by treaty would be usurpation of power, unlawful and void, and which it would be right and the duty of the free people of the Union to resist and annul." * This issue was before the House, day after day, until the end of the session, but Adams by speaking continuously every morning prevented the House from reaching a vote. In the Senate, Preston, of South Carolina, introduced a resolution stating that the boundary of the United States under the Louisiana purchase treaty was the Rio Grande and had continued to be so until 1819, when the territory west of the Sabine was surrendered by the treaty with Spain. This surrender of territory was of doubtful constitutionality and weighty considerations made it expedient to reëstablish this true boundary line and reannex the territory occupied by Texas. This should be done, he said, as soon as possible consistently with treaty obligations.† The resolution finally laid on the table, however, and when Congress adjourned on July 9, 1838, neither House had taken any definite action. was The Florida war was still dragging along and had proved a source of great trouble and almost incredible *Von Holst, Constitutional and Political History, vol. ii., p. 603. See his speech in Niles' Register, vol. lv., pp. 92-95. 15 expense. On taking command of the army General Jesup instituted a vigorous campaign, and, toward the end of the year, attacked the Withlacoochee settlement, capturing a few score women and children. Enraged at this, the Seminoles and their negro allies attacked Fort Mellon, but were repulsed; Jesup then penetrated the Indian country, won a few skirmishes, took some prisoners, and persuaded some of the chiefs to discuss terms of peace with him at Fort Dade.* On March 6 a treaty was signed, providing that the whole Indian nation should remove to the country beyond the Mississippi and that their negroes should go with them. The expenses of the removal were to be borne by the United States. A tract of territory ten miles square was set apart near Tampa Bay, to which the Indians were required to repair not later than April 10, and from which they would be carried in vessels to New Orleans. The prospects of peace, however, were destroyed by the attempts of some whites to recover their fugitive slaves, and the war was renewed. The summer was spent in preparation for the autumn campaign, but several forays into the Indian country were made, in one of which, on September 7, 1837, two chiefs, Philip and Uchee Billy, fell into the hands of the Jesup authorized troops.* Late in October, therefore, a band of 80 Seminoles, led by Osceola, Wildcat, and Cloud approached Fort Peyton and requested a conference with Jesup. Brigadier-General Joseph W. Hernandez to hold the talk, but ordered the seizure of Osceola and Wildcat if they came within the fort. But the Indians would not go into the fort, instead requesting Hernandez to go to their camp without escort. Suspecting foul play, Jesup surrounded their camp with an armed force, seized Osceola, Wildcat, and their followers, and sent them to St. Augustine. † Thence Osceola was taken to Fort Moultrie at Charleston, where he died on January 26, 1838.‡ Meanwhile steps had been taken at Washington to send a delegation of Cherokees to the Seminoles to act as mediators. The suggestion of such a measure had been laid before John Ross by a special agent of the United States, and, authorized by the Secretary of War to do so, Ross joined the delegation in October, instructed them what to say and sent them to Florida. This delegation attended the gather * Niles' Register, vol. liii., pp. 66, 114. J. T. Sprague, Origin, Progress, and Conclusion of the Florida War (New York, 1848). Jesup's account and orders will be found in Niles' Register, vol. liii., pp. 262-263. See also p. 148. The story will be found also in Ex. Doc. 327, 25th Congress, 2d session, vol. ix. Niles' Register, vol. liii., p. 387. 66 The talk to be delivered is in Niles' Register, vol. iii., p. 198. ing of Seminoles about sixty miles from Fort Mellon, presented the address from Ross, and induced Micanopy, Cloud, Toskogee, and other chiefs to go to the fort under a flag of true. Other promises were made to surrender the families of the Indians imprisoned at St. Augustine and bring in all Indians within four days' march of the fort. Messengers were immediately sent out to put these promises into effect, but, as news had reached the Indians that Wildcat had escaped from St. Augustine, they hesitated to go in, whereupon the chiefs and warriors who had come in under the flag of truce were seized by Jesup and sent to St. Augustine. Enraged to find themselves the victims of a plot, the Cherokees went to Washingtonand reported to Ross.* In July of 1837, Zachary Taylor was assigned to the command of a force of about 1,100 regulars, volunteers, and Indians to invade the Indian country. Shortly before Christmas he encountered a force of Seminoles strongly posted on the edge of Okeechobee Swamp, where, on the 25th, a great battle was fought. The Seminoles were led by Wildcat and maintained a desperate resistance for several hours, but finally Taylor won the day, though 26 of his own men were killed and 112 wounded.t * Ex. Docs. 225, 285, 327, 25th Congress, 2d session. Some say the loss was 27 killed and 111 wounded. Niles' Register (vol. liii., p. 305) gives it as 148 killed and wounded. Taylor, in a pre THE SEMINOLE WAR. At As it was impossible to carry the wounded about with him, they were placed on litters, while the army made its way back to Withlacoochee. the close of the campaign, Jesup reported that 2,400 Indians, including 700 warriors, had been captured, surrendered or killed.* During the next two years the war continued, but, in May of 1839, General Alexander Macomb was sent to Florida "to make an arrangement with the Seminoles." He had a long talk with the chiefs and assigned to them a temporary location in the far southern part of the Peninsula, where they agreed to remain pending further arrangements.† Clothes and supplies were given to the Indians, and, on May 18, Macomb announced the termination of the war. This peace lasted only two months, however, and hostilities were renewed. Loud demands for more drastic measures followed, and, in December of 1839, Governor Robert R. Reid said in his message, "We must fight fire with fire; the white man must, in a great measure, adopt the mode of warfare pursued by the Indians. It is high liminary report (Niles' Register, p. 337), gives the loss as 23 regulars killed and 79 wounded and 35 militia killed and wounded, but,, in his complete report (ibid, pp. 369–371), says 26 and 112 in one place, and 27 and 111 in another. The report of January 4, 1838, is also in O. O. Howard, Life of General Zachary Taylor, pp. 55-72. The report is in Niles' Register, vol. Iv., pp. 29-31. † Von Holst, Constitutional and Political History, vol. ii., p. 309. See also his letter in Niles' Register, vol. lvi., p. 249. 17 time that sickly sentimentality should cease. 'Lo, the poor redman!' is the exclamation of the fanatic pseudo-philanthropist; Lo, the poor whiteman!' is the ejaculation which all will utter who have witnessed the inhuman butchery of women and children in the massacres which have drenched the territory in blood." Accordingly the council sent to Cuba for blood hounds with which to track the Indians to their hiding places in the swamps. Besides creating a great stir among humanitarians away from the scene of conflict, this expedition was a failure. Throughout 1840 and the early months of 1841 the Indians roamed widely and massacres occurred in various sections of the country. In May of 1841 Colonel W. J. Worth was placed in command of the troops in the field and, ignoring the seasons, pursued the Indians remorselessly summer and winter. Seizing and holding the chiefs with whom he came in contact, he soon brought the Indians to dire straits. One by one the chiefs gave up the fight, until the whole number left in the territory was a mere handful, estimated by Colonel Worth to number 301. In the spring of 1842 Worth proposed to leave these Indians at liberty in the extreme southern part of the territory, provided they gave no further cause for action. This suggestion was finally adopted by the Government, and, on August 14, 1842, Worth was able to announce, "Hostilities with the Indians within this territory have ceased." At the same 18 PROTESTS AGAINST THE GAG RESOLUTION. time he assigned those who remained a location south of the Pease River. Thus ended the longest and most stubbornly contested of all the Indian wars. It had lasted seven years and had kept in the fight an average of nearly 5,000 troops annually, one year, 1837, running as high as 8,800. It had cost the lives of 1,500 regulars and had entailed an expenditure estimated by various historians at from $14,000,000 to $20,000,000.* CHAPTER XIV. 1837-1838, THE RIGHTS OF THE ANTI-SLAVERY ADVOCATES. Protests against the gag resolution Anti-slavery in Boston - The clerical appeal - The murder of Lovejoy at Alton The right of Congress to discuss anti-slavery petitions The Vermont memorial The resolutions presented by Calhoun, Morris and Clay - The discussion in the House - Attacks on anti-slavery meetings. in a state."t The people of Ohio petitioned for the repeal of all laws Among the matters considered by the Congress which convened in December of 1837 was the slavery issue. Various incidents - such as the annexation of Texas, the presentation of petitions to Congress, the meetings of anti-slavery societies, and the debate over slavery in the District of Columbia - had kept this issue constantly before the people. The Massachusetts House of Representatives solemnly protested against the gag resolution passed early in the year as being "an assumption of power and authority at variance with the spirit and intent of the Constitution and injurious to the causes of freedom and free institutions," as violating the inalienable rights of man, and as impairing "those fundamental principles of natural justice and natural law which are antecedent to any written constitutions of government, independent of them all, and essential to the security of freedom * The South in the Building of the Nation, vol. iii., pp. 34-36; McMaster, vol. vi., pp. 463–466, 593. On the war as a whole see John T. Sprague, Origin, Progress, and Conclusion of the Florida War (New York, 1848); Woodbourne Potter, The War in Florida, being an Exposition of Its Causes and an Accurate History of the Campaigns of Generals Clinch, Gaines and Scott (Baltimore, 1836); M. M. Cohen, Notices of Florida and the Campaigns (Charleston, 1836); the anonymous Sketch of the Seminole War (Charleston, 1836); Fairbanks, History of Florida, chaps. xx.-xxiii.; Dawson, Battles of the United States, vol. ii., p. 439; James Barr, Correct and Authentic Narrative of the Indian War (New York, 1836); Narrative of Osceola Nikkanochee and his Renowned Uncle Osceola (London, 1841); Authentic Narrative of the Seminole War (Providence, 1836); T. F. Rodenbough, From Everglade to Cañon with the 2d Dragoons. An authentic account of Service in Florida, Mexico, Virginia, and the Indian Country, including the Personal Recollections of Prominent Officers, with an Appendix containing Orders, Reports, and Correspondence, Military Records, etc. (New York, 1875); McCall, Letters from the Frontier. † Niles' Register, vol. lii., pp. 87, 150; Wilson, Rise and Fall of Slave Power, vol. i., p. 366 et seq. Much of the material for this chapter will be found in The Liberator from May to August of 1837. NORTHERN SENTIMENT REGARDING SLAVERY. discriminating between whites and blacks, and the matter was referred to the State judiciary committee for consideration. This committee reported that in only a few respects was the negro unprotected. He could not give evidence in court unless both parties were black; he could not settle and reside in the State until evidence of his freedom was forthcoming; he must give bond that he would conduct himself as a gentleman, and not become a charge on the community; his children could not attend a common school endowed with public funds. The committee thought that none of these restrictions should be removed, for such action would tend but to bring in more negroes, increase existing evils, and produce excitement. A committee of the Illinois legislature stated that it could not see how the negro was benefited by the abolition societies, which, instead of making the slave a moral and intelligent being, had added a hundred fold to the rigor of slavery by scattering discord and disunion through the States, by arousing the turbulence of the mob, and by threatening violation of the rights of private property. The citizens of slaveholding States were no more responsible for slavery than the citizens of the free States. The right of owning slaves was secured to the slaveholding States, and could not be destroyed without their consent, and as it was part of the civil and domestic economy of the Union, it should not be interfered with by 19 any independent authority, either State or Federal. The doctrines of abolition societies therefore did more harm than good, and their existence was much deplored. At a meeting of the "Friends of the Integrity of the Union" at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in May of 1837, it was resolved that the Federal government had no constitutional power over slavery; that each State had "the exclusive right to judge of, establish and maintain within its own borders its own system of democratic relations and domestic policy; and that every attempt by the citizens of one State to denounce or invalidate the institutions of another is unwarranted by the Constitution and hostile to the peace and harmony of the Union."'* During the session of the Vermont Democratic State convention, resolutions were passed to the effect that, while they could not justify slavery and hoped that the time would soon come when all persons in the United States would be born free and equal, still they could not but remind the Northerners that slave-masters were their political brethren, and that the labors of Northerners in behalf of the slave should be tempered with much wisdom and prudence.† Public opinion was by no means undivided. In January of 1837 the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society attempted to hold a meeting, but no meeting house or hall could be ob *Niles' Register, vol. lii., |