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Southern Historical Association

Negroes and the Seminole War, 1835-1842Author(s): Kenneth Wiggins PorterSource: The Journal of Southern History, Vol. 30, No. 4 (Nov., 1964), pp. 427-450Published by: Southern Historical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2204280

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Negroes and the SeminoleWar, 1835-1842By KENNETH WIGGINS PORTER

THE SECOND SEMINOLE WAR LASTED FROM DECEMBER 1835 TOAugust 1842 and cost over $40,000,000 and the lives of approxi-mately 1,500 members of the armed forces of the United States,'in addition to those of white settlers and militiamen. It is usuallyreferred to as the country's most protracted and expensive Indianwar,2but Major General Thomas Sidney Jesup, who was in com-mand in Florida during its most crucial period, announcedemphatically late in 1836, "This ... is a negro, not an Indian war."The General, of course, was employing hyperbole to emphasizehis belief that if the war were "not speedily put down, the southwill feel the effects of it on their slave population before the endof the next season"3 in other words, that a general slave insur-rection might ensue. Actually the war, which was undoubtedly anIndian war, was just as certainly a Negro war during its mostcritical years. There is abundant evidence that Negroes weremore important than Indians in bringing it about and keeping itup, as well as largely influential in bringing it to a conclusion.Of the Negroes in the Florida Indian country the most impor-tant group were those with a recognized position in the Seminoletribe. A few of these were admittedly the lawful slaves of theIndians and an even smaller number were legally free; the greatmajority, perhaps four-fifths, were runaway or "captured" Ne-groes and their descendants, all of whom were thus legally theproperty of white citizens.4 White observers, however, were in-

1 George Catlin, Letters and Notes on the Manners,Customs, and Condition ofthe North American Indians (2 vols., New York, 1841), II, 219n; John T. Sprague,The Origin, Progress,and Conclusion of the Florida War ... (New York, 1848),526-50; Joshua R. Giddings, The Exiles of Florida (Columbus, O., 1858), 315.2 See, for example, Ethan Allen Hitchcock, Fifty Years in Camp and Field (NewYork, 1909), 81.3 Court of Inquiry-Operations in Florida, &c.: Letter from the Secretary ofWar . . . , House Docs., 25 Cong., 2 Sess., No. 78 (Serial 323), 52; American StatePapers, Military Affairs (7 vols., Washington, 1832-1861), VII, 820-21.4Negroes, &c., Capturedfrom Indians in Florida, &c.: Letter from the Secretaryof War . . . , House Docs., 25 Cong., 3 Sess., No. 225 (Serial 348), 119-20, 57-65;American State Papers, Military Affairs, VI, 461, 465.

MR. PORTERs professor of history in the University of Oregon.


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428 THE JOURNAL OF SOUTHERN HISTORYdined to regardall these Negroes-except for very recent run-aways or captives-as in some sense the Indians'slaves. Nearlyall, regardlessof legal status,received almostidentical treatmentfrom the Indians,which differedso much fromthe treatmentofslaves by whites that it was a difference of kind rather than ofdegree. Indian agent Gad Humphreys in 1827 declared, "Thenegroes of the SeminoleIndiansare wholly independent .. andare Slaves but in name; they work only when it suits their incli-nation";while brevet MajorGeneralEdmundP. Gaines,a decadeor so later, referred to them not as the Indians'slaves but as"theirblackvassalsand allies."5

Althoughthe Seminole Indianswere of all the so-calledCivi-lized Tribes the least influencedby European-Americanivili-zation, someof their chiefs, forreasonsof prestige,had purchasedNegro slaves; and as traditionalallies of the British the Seminolealso had no scruplesabout capturingslaves or receiving fugitiveNegroes from the rebellious Americans or the Spaniards.TheIndians, however, had no intention of spending their lives insupervisingNegroes;so, savefor a very few employed n personalservice,the Negroeswere furnishedwith axes,hoes, and seed cornandleft to take care of themselves.A system of relationshipsbetween the SeminoleIndians andtheir Negroes developedwhich was the admirationor horrorofall beholders.The Negroeslived in separatevillagesof well-builthouses, raised crops of corn, sweet potatoes, other vegetables,and even cotton, and possessedherdsof livestock;theirmasters,or ratherprotectors,never presumedto meddle with any of thispropertyso long as they received a reasonable"tribute" t har-vest and butcheringtime."The Negroesalso had plenty of timefor huntingandfishing,and under this almost dyllic regimetheythroveamazingly.Dressed n the easy Indiancostume,they were,accordingto one observer,"stoutand even giganticin theirper-sons . . . the finest lookingpeople I have ever seen." They wereknown,moreover,as well-armed and brave warriors;a majorof

5Clarence Edwin Carter (ed.), The Territorial Papers of the United States(Washington, 1934- ), XXIII, 911, XXIV, 669; American State Papers, Mili-tary Affairs, VI, 470-71, 533-34, VII, 427.6 Sources cited in note 5, and [Woodburne Potter] The War in Florida (Balti-more, 1836), 45-46; John Lee Williams, The Territoryof Florida . . . (New York,1837), 240; William Kennedy, Texas: The Rise, Progress, and Prospects of theRepublic of Texas (2 vols., London, 1841), I, 350. See also, however, George A.McCall, Letters from the Frontiers . . . (Philadelphia, 1868), 160; and JedidiahMorse,A Reportto the Secretaryof War of the United States on Indian Affairs...(New Haven, 1822), 309-11.


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NEGROES AND SEMINOLE WAR 429Georgia militia in 1812 declared of the Seminole that the Negroeswere "their best soldiers."7The Seminole Negroes' prestige and influence among theIndians were what impressed observers most forcibly. The Ne-groes speedily acquired the Muskogee or Hitchiti tongue of theirprotectors without forgetting the English or Spanish they hadlearned among the whites, which made them valuable interpret-ers. From interpreting it was an easy step to advising and counsel-ing. Some observers believed they governed the Indians, and onewith a taste for classical comparisons said that the Seminolenation approached a doulocracy.8 A few groups of fugitiveNegroes established villages which were not under Seminolecontrol, and the Indians sometimes found it convenient to assertthat all Negro settlements in their country were of this character.9For obvious reasons it is impossible to determine how manySeminole Negroes there were on the eve of the Seminole War.Estimates ranged from 300 or 400 to as many as 1,100; the esti-mate of "more than five hundred" made in 1834 is perhaps thebest.'0 The Negro population in Florida, however, consistedmostly of plantation slaves. In East Florida, the principal arena ofthe Seminole War, about half the population was colored; therewere 4,095 slaves, 343 free colored, and 4,515 whites. In thecounties bordering on the Indian country the Negroes consider-ably outnumbered the whites." The slaves in East Florida werelooked upon as potentially more dangerous than those in otherslaveholding regions. According to an old settler, most of themale slaves in the Mosquito region near the St. Johns Riverowned guns for hunting to save their masters the expense of sup-plying them with the usual salt-pork ration. Both slaves and free

7See the author's "Negroes and the East Florida Annexation Plot, 1811-1813,"Journal of Negro History, XXX (January 1945), esp. 22-23, and "Negroesand theSeminole War, 1817-1818," ibid., XXXVI (July 1951), esp. 255-56, 273-75.8 For additionalsourceson the generally idyllic situationof the SeminoleNegroessee: [William Hayne Simmons] Notices of East Florida (Charleston,S. C., 1822),44-45, 50, 76; Mark F. Boyd, "Horatio S. Dexter and Events Leading to theTreaty of Moultrie Creek with the Seminole Indians," Florida Anthropologist,XI(September 1958), 84; [W. W. Smith] Sketch of the Seminole War and SketchesDuring a Campaign (Charleston, S. C., 1836), 21-22.9Boyd, "Horatio S. Dexter," 91-92; David Y. Thomas, "Report on the PublicArchives of Florida," American Historical Association, Annual Report, 1906 (2vols., Washington, 1908), II, 152.10 Carter (ed.), TerritorialPapers, XXIV, 668, 643-45; American State Papers,Military Affairs, VI, 465.11Memorial of the People of the Territoryof Florida for Admission into theUnion, House Docs., 25 Cong., 3 Sess., No. 208 (Serial 347), 25; Carter (ed.),TerritorialPapers, XXIV, 505-506, 643-45.


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430 THE JOURNAL OF SOUTHERN HISTORYNegroes were well acquainted with the Seminole Indians andNegroes, their way of life, and their language. Many of the slaveshad "wives among the Indian negroes, and the Indian negroeshad wives among them.'2 Ownership of firearms and acquaint-ance with the Indians were doubtless most extensive amongthose Negroes owned by whites whose traditions went back to"Spanish days"; but Governor William P. DuVal is quoted assaying in 1828 that "many of the slaves taken to Florida are thevery worst in the Union,"'"3 nd the need for labor on a newlyopened frontier may indeed have resulted in an unusually largeproportion of slaves who had been "sold down the river" for badconduct.Although the attempt to remove the Seminole from Florida-the spark which set off the seven-year war-was ostensibly partof the general program for Indian removal, the presence andpeculiar position of the Negroes among them was a decisivefactor. The Seminole, who did not lie directly in the path of whitesettlement, might have been permitted to remain on the peninsulahad it not been for the Negroes; in fact, the hardier and moreobdurate of the Florida Seminole were in the end allowed to stay.Sentiment for the removal of the Seminole Negroes precededthat for Indian removal. As early as 1821 the Florida Indianagent said of "the maroon negroes, who live among the Indians"that it would "be necessary to remove from the Floridas thisgroup of lawless freebooters, among whom runaway negroes willalways find a refuge," although he admitted that if force wereemployed the Indians would probably take the Negroes' part.14It was soon recognized that it was impossible to persuade theIndians to rid Florida of a "Seriousnusance" [sic] by selling theirNegroes, because of the Indians' attachment to them. The bodilyremoval of the Indians themselves was increasingly regarded asthe only solution to the Negro problem."-The citizens of Florida, however, would not have been contentwith the removal of the Seminole Indians if it meant that theIndians would take their Negroes west with them. Planters whohad lost slaves through flight to the Indian country were deter-

12 Reminiscences of James Ormond Concerning the Early Days of the HalifaxCountry (n.p.: Ormond Village Improvement Association, 1941), 5-6; ThomasDouglas, Autobiographyof Thomas Douglas, Late Judge of the Supreme Court ofFlorida (New York, 1856), 120-23.13 Carter (ed.), TerritorialPapers, XXIII, 1059.14 Morse,Reportto the Secretary of War, 149-50.15 Carter (ed.), TerritorialPapers,XXIII, 434, 454, XXIV, 668, 679.


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NEGROES AND SEMINOLE WAR 431mined to repossess them. Official circles in Florida arguedstronglythat the baneful influence which the alleged indolenceof the Negroes exerted on the Indians made their separationnecessary'6 but earlier attempts through pressure and fraud togain possession of the Indians' Negroes17 suggest that the desireof white men for cheap slaves was a more important motive forthe proposed separation of the Negroes from the Indians.The program for Seminole removal reached a climax on March28, 1833, when a Seminole delegation inspecting the Indian Terri-tory was wheedled and bullied into expressing satisfaction withthe region of Creek country set aside for the Seminole and withthe plan of uniting them with the powerful Creeks as one people.The government then asserted that this so-called treaty of FortGibson committed the entire tribe to move west within threeyears. The Seminole, insisting that the delegation was withoutpower to bind the Nation, strongly objected to removal in generaland in particular to the prospect that they would become a de-spised minority in the powerful half-breed-dominated Creek con-federacy. One of their objections was that the Creeks claimed theNegro "property"of the Seminole because of slaves who hadescaped to the Seminole when the latter were still consideredLower Creeks and for whom the Creek Nation had been forced topay; they feared that the Creeks would attempt to seize theirNegroes, either in satisfaction of the claim or merely by forcemajeure. For the Seminole Negroes, seizure by the Creeks wouldmean at best substitution of a stricter control in place of slaveryin name only; at worst, sale into real servitude among the whites.

The Seminole Negroes' greatest dread was that they wouldnever reach the Creek country. All, regardless of legal status,belonged to a race the members of which normally occupied theposition of chattels; the Negro without a recognized owner orwithout the clearest evidence of freedom was liable to seizure, nomatter how long he had been in effect his own master or howdubious the claimant's title might be. Since the Seminole wereto be assembled at a central point for transportation west undermilitary supervision, this would give opportunity both for thewhite owners of fugitive Seminole Negroes to present their legalclaims and for the unscrupulous to urge illegitimate claims oreven simply to kidnap likely Negroes. Whites, indeed, hadalready seized or fraudulently acquired numerous Negroes16Ibid., XXIII, 414, 1003, XXIV, 668.17 Ibid., XXIII, 472-75, 483-84; Sprague, Origin of the Florida War, 34, 65-67.


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432 THE JOURNAL OF SOUTHERN HISTORYclaimed bv Indians. John Hicks, onetime principal Seminole chiefwho was friendly to the whites, complained in 1829, "A white mansells us a Negro, and then turns around and claims him again,and our big father orders us to give him up."'18 f this could hap-pen when the Seminole were more or less secure in their owncountry, what would be their fate when surrounded by white menand in their power? An outrage committed shortly after the out-break of the Seminole War demonstrates that their fears werenot groundless. A band of whites raided the village of the friendlyold chief Econchattemicco, rounded up the Negroes, includingthe chief's half-Negro granddaughter, and carried them off toslavery in Georgia.'9The Negroes, described in April 1835 by the officer command-ing in East Florida as "bold, active, and armed," were deter-mined not to submit to removal and to do all in their power topersuade their Indian protectors not to remove.20They possessedable leaders in Abraham, head chief Micanopy's principal Negro,a middle-aged runaway slave of fluent speech and polished man-ners from Pensacola, and John Caesar, a shrewd, fierce old manwho had been brought up among the Indians and was the "chiefNegro" of King Philip (Emathla) of the St. Johns Indians, thesecond chief in the Nation.21 During the three years of graceAbraham and Caesar, Osceola and Yaha Hajo, and other Negroand Indian militants were busy preparing for resistance. The plan-tation slaves, well aware of the idyllic existence of even the"slaves"of the Seminole, were in many cases receptive to urgingsthat, when war broke out, they should rise with axe and torch,wreak havoc on the plantations, and then, laden with plunder,escape into the swamps and hammocks to a life of freedom andplenty.22

18 Carter (ed.), TerritorialPapers, XXIII, 472-75, 483-84, 549-50; Potter, Warin Florida, 24-26; Sprague,Origin of the Florida War, 51, 57, 66.19 R. H. Stewart to Richard K. Call, May 25, 1836, in Caroline M. Brevard,AHistory of Florida from the Treaty of 1763 to Our Own Times (2 vols., Deland,Fla., 1924), I, 278-79; Potter, War in Florida, 15-16.20Carter (ed.), TerritorialPapers, XXV, 133; Sprague, Origin of the FloridaWar, 100, 81; American State Papers, MilitaryAffairs, VI, 454, 458.21 See the author's "The Negro Abraham,"Florida Historical Quarterly, XXV(July 1946), 1-43, and "JohnCaesar: Seminole Negro Partisan,"Journal of NegroHistory, XXXI (April 1946), 190-207.

22 Charleston, S. C., Courier, April 30, 1836; Douglas, Autobiography, 120-23;Myer M. Cohen, Notices of Florida and the Campaigns (Charleston,S. C., 1836),81, 86-89; John C. Casey to Lt. F. Searle, August 25, 1837, in Thomas SidneyJesup Papers (War Department Files, National Archives), No. 2; and the author's"Florida Slaves and Free Negroes in the Seminole War, 1835-1842," JournalofNegro History, XXVIII (October 1943), 393.


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NEGROES AND SEMINOLE WAR 433Abraham, Caesar, and their associates did not neglect the threeor four hundred free colored people of East Florida, nearly halfof whom were residents of St. Augustine and vicinity. These freeblacks had much more to lose and less to gain by supportingSeminole resistance than did the plantation slaves, but they weredisgruntled at having recently been deprived of the privilegesthey had enjoyed under Spanish law and at being put under aterritorial code so severe that it had inspired protests even fromprominent white citizens.23Abraham and the others did not callon those comparatively few free Negroes to rise in arms butrather to furnish supplies and information. With their help, and

with that of the Spanish, Indian, and Negro fishermen, lumber-men, and smugglers of the Southern coast, Abraham proceededto build up a reserve of ammunition. After the war had been goingon for a year he reportedly was still receiving consignments ofpowder, disguised as barrels of flour, from a free St. AugustineNegro.24Near the end of December 1835 the long-smoldering conflictbroke out. The Seminole did not wait for brevet Brigadier GeneralDuncan L. Clinch to attempt to carry out his threat that if theywere not at Tampa Bay by January 8, 1836, he would removethem forcibly. Instead they took the initiative. On December 26-27 King Philip's Indians and Indian Negroes, with the assistanceof many cane-field slaves, fell on the sugar plantations of theSt. Johns valley. On December 28 Micanopy's Indian and Negrowarriors ambushed and annihilated brevet Major Francis L.Dade's command of over a hundred men near the Wahoo Swamp;an intelligent and literate slave named Luis Pacheco, who hadbeen hired as guide and interpreter to Dade's command, is saidto have assisted the hostiles in laying their fatal ambush.25Twodays later Micanopy's band-numbering from 200 to 250 war-riors, of whom from 30 to 50 were Negroes-repulsed 600 regularsand militiamen from the Withlacoochee. Of the three Seminolekilled and five wounded in this action, two of the slain and threeof the wounded were Negroes.26

23 Carter (ed.), TerritorialPapers, XXIV, 800-802.24 Thomas Sidney Jesup to Brig. Gen. J. M. Hernandez, January 21, 1837, inJesup Papers, box 14.25 Niles' Weekly Register, XLIX (January 30, 1836), 365-70; Smith, Sketch ofthe Seminole War, 36-37; Cohen, Notices of Florida, 72; Sprague, Origin of theFlorida War, 91. See also the author's "Louis Pacheco: The Man and the Myth,"Journal of Negro History, XXVIII (January 1943), 65-72, and "The Early Life ofLuis Pacheco nd Fatio," Negro History Bulletin, VII (December 1943), 52, 54,62, 64.26 Sprague, Origin of the Florida War, 92-93.


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434 THE JOURNAL OF SOUTHERN HISTORYFor many of the whites on the St. Johns, the destructionofDade's commandwas less horrifyingthan the enthusiasmwithwhichplantation laves ralliedto the hostiles.Although he youngSouth Carolinavolunteerand writerW. W. Smithinsisted thatwith very few exceptionsthe slavespreferred o remainin their"happyand securestate of servitude,"Floridaplantersand mili-tia officersn closercontact with the situationwereunder no suchillusions.Nearly 400 Negroes, it was reported,"have joined theIndiansand are more desperatethan the Indians."That most ofthem were not captives but volunteerswas evidenced by thenumbersseen under armsand in war paint. With their support

the Seminoleswept throughthe regioneast of the St. Johnsandsouth of St. Augustine with torch and tomahawk,driving thepopulationto take refuge in St. Augustineand other places ofcomparative safety.27 Slave recruitment did not end with theearly weeks of the uprisingbut continuedinto the spring andsummer.The slave uprisingon the St.Johnsspreadalarm, ndeed almosthysteria,throughoutFloridaand even into adjacentstates.28Thesituation in St. Augustine,where displaced plantershad takenrefuge with such of their Negroes as had not "movedoff" withthe Seminole, was particularlycritical. With several hundredNegroes who were well acquaintedwith the Indians and theirlanguage concentratedwithin the city walls, "strongapprehen-sionswere felt ... that they wouldfire the town, andthat, duringthe confusion,"the Indians, "influencedby revenge, cupidity,and the advice of theirblackcounsellors,"might attemptto rushthe city itself.The St. Augustinewhites alsohad to guardagainstattemptsby Seminoleemissaries o enter the town in orderto stirup the Negroesand to obtaininformation,and at the same timeforestallattemptsby local Negroesto escape to the hostiles withinformationand supplies.Despite the vigilance of all the avail-able dismountedforce, Negroes did escape, meet with the hos-tiles, and return.Floridapasseda bill providing hat free Negroes

27 For the participationof plantationslaves in depredationsduringthe early daysof the war, see Porter, "Florida Slaves and Free Negroes," 393-95. See also Mrs.Jane Murray Sheldon, "Seminole Attacks near New Smyrna, 1835-1856 [sic],"Florida Historical Quarterly, VIII (April 1930), 188-96; Earl C. Tanner (ed.),"The Early Careerof Edwin T. Jenckes: A Florida Pioneer of the 1830's,"FloridaHistorical Quarterly,XXX (January 1952), 270-75; American State Papers, Mili-tary Affairs, VII, 259; Sprague, Origin of the Florida War, 106; Smith, Sketch ofthe Seminole War, 20-23.28Porter, "Florida Slaves and Free Negroes," 395-98; Carter (ed.), TerritorialPapers, XXV, 283.


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NEGROES AND SEMINOLE WAR 435aiding the Seminole should be sold into slavery, and MajorBen-jamin A. Putnam of the Florida militia urged GovernorRichardK. Call on July 26, 1836, to see to the strict enforcementof thislaw, suggesting a standing court-martial o deal summarilywithcapturedNegroes.A few days later the Majorwrote to Secretaryof War Lewis Cass that "if strong measures were not taken torestrainour slaves,there is but little doubt that we shouldsoonbeassailed with a servile as well as Indian war."29The Major wasstill unwilling to admit that the war was already what he said hefeared it would become.Sporadic but frequently heavy fighting meanwhile continuedin the Withlacoochee region. The Negroes, their ranks swelled byrecent runaways, bore at least their full share of the "burden andheat of the day." Two authorities agreed on an estimated total of250 Negro fighting men (a figure which one divided into 100"Indian slaves" and 150 runaways) as compared to 1,450-1,650Indian warriors; but when General Edmund P. Gaines wasbesieged on the Withlacoochee early in March by a force esti-mated at about 1,500 warriors, one observer said "there mighthave been four or five hundred negroes among them." Of threeSeminole killed during the siege one was a Negro.30 The prin-cipal action of an October expedition was an attack on a Negrotown protected by a stream, but the Negro warriors, posted inand behind trees and assisted by Indian comrades, gave thetroops such a warm reception that they were unable to cross.31An expedition of the following month drove a body of hostilesinto the Wahoo Swamp, where-outnumbered more than three toone-they turned at bay. The force consisted of an estimated 420Indian warriors and 200 Negro fighting men, "one of the mostdistinguished leaders" of whom was "a negro, the property of aFlorida planter." The whites claimed a victory but on November21 withdrew.32The first year of the war had ended in complete failure torepress Seminole resistance. Early in December 1836, however,Major General Thomas Sidney Jesup assumed command in Flor-

29Porter, "Florida Slaves and Free Negroes," 396-98; Carter (ed.), TerritorialPapers, XXV, 265, 327-28.30 Sprague, Origin of the Florida War, 97, 112-13; Army and Navy Chronicle,VIII (March 7, 1839), 154; II (1836), 151; American State Papers, MilitaryAffairs, VII, 369.81American State Papers, Military Affairs, VI, 998; Niles' Weekly Register, LI(November 5, 1836), 148-49.32 Sprague, Origin of the Florida War, 162-66; Court of Inquiry-Operations inFlorida, 52.


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436 THE JOURNAL OF SOUTHERN HISTORYida. Jesup,recognizing the importanceof the Negroes, immedi-ately set about ascertaining heir number and location."Mican-opy, Philip, and Cooper [Osoochee] . . . each with from onehundred and twenty to two hundred Indian and Negro war-riors-the latter, perhaps, the more numerous"-were reportednot far from Jesup'sencampment.Osceola, Jumper,and LittleAlligatoralso had numerousNegrofollowers.It was at this pointthat the Generaldelivered his famousjudgment that this was aNegroandnot anIndianwar.33Shifting from the attempt to crush Seminole resistance n thefield,Jesup nstituteda policy of huntingdown andcapturing heSeminole in their camps, particularly he women and children,who couldbe used to exertpowerful pressure or surrenderuponthe hostiles. He put specialemphasison raidingNegro villages,adevice not original with him34 but which under his commandwas madeeffectivefor the firsttime. Jesupwas greatlyassisted nhis programby a regiment of Creekscouts who had been prom-ised "suchplunderas they may take fromthe Seminoles"-"plun-der"beingunderstood o meanprimarily apturedNegroes. Fromearly December 1836 to late January1837 Jesup'stroops wereengagedin combingthe swamps,destroyingvillages,and drivingto the east such Indians and Negroes as they failed to kill orcapture.Their captives numbered 131, nearly all Negroes andmostlywomen andchildren.Their greatesttriumphwas breakingup Osceola'sheadquarters,a Negro village in the Panosufkeeswamp,and capturing ifty-two of his Negrofollowers and threeIndians.35

The "principalIndian and negro force . . . retiredfrom theOcklawaha . . towardsthe head of the Caloosahatchee,"nd onJanuary27 the army was close on its heels. A captured Negrosaid "alargenumberof negroes were in advance, and from fortyto fifty Indians,with Abraham . . in our rear."A sudden dashresulted in the seizure of the Negro baggage train of over 100ponies and in the capture of somethingover twenty prisoners,mostly Negro women and children.The main body of the Semi-noleplunged into the GreatCypressSwampandin a running ight33Porter, "Florida Slaves and Free Negroes," 400.34Niles' Weekly Register, L (May 14, 1836), 188, and LII (April 1, 1837), 71;American State Papers, Military Affairs,VII, 277.35American State Papers, Military Affairs, VII, 820, 825-28; Army and NavyChronicle, IV (January 5, 1837), 12, and (February 2, 1837), 79, 111; "MajorChilds, U.S.A.: Extracts from His Correspondencewith His Family," HistoricalMagazine, s. 3, II (December 1873), 371-72; Sprague, Origin of the Florida War,167, 170-71.


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NEGROES AND SEMINOLE WAR 437killed two Marinesand wounded four others. The bodies of twoNegroes and an Indianwere found on the field,and severalmoreNegroes were captured.36

Jesup then conceivedthe idea of using a NegrocaptivenamedBen, one of Micanopy'sprincipal"slaves,"o negotiatewith Abra-ham and through him with the head chief and his circle. TheSeminolehad been roughlyhandled and might thereforebe in areceptive mood, but no important warrior had surrenderedorbeen captured."The warriors," esup commented,"havefoughtas long as they had life, and such seems to me to be the deter-mination of those who influence their councils-I mean theleading negroes."37 Conciliation of the Negroes was seen asessential to successfulnegotiations.Recentdevelopmentsnear St. Augustinehad made Jesup par-ticularly anxious to terminatethe war. His campaignhad drivenOsceola'sand Micanopy'speople toward King Philip's territory.Philip himself, old and weary, hesitated to act, but his chiefNegro, John Caesar,recognized the necessity of a diversionandorganizeda guerrillacampaign, employing principallyrunawayslaves.His campaign,however,was brief. Interruptedon January17, 1837,in a horse-stealing aid on a plantationonly two mileswest of St. Augustine,his bandwas trailedto theircamp;Caesarand two others, ncludinga young free NegronamedJoe Merritt,were killed and the rest fled in confusion.One would have ex-pected such a coup to produce general satisfactionamong thewhite populationof St. Augustine,but actually it caused morealarm than relief. That a band composed almostentirely of Ne-groes-and plantationslaves at that-should have dared a raid socloseto the city, andthat theirabandonedpacksshouldhave con-tained articlesrecently purchased in local shops, revived some-thing of the panic of a year before. The city council, declaringthat "weknow not how soon firebrandsmay be thrown amongstus,"demandedthat the militia company responsible or the dis-ruptionof Caesar'sband be kept near home and "employedtoscour the country in the neighborhood."38The mostimportantandfar-reaching ffectof Caesar'sabortive

3 "MajorChilds," 372-73; American State Papers, MilitaryAffairs, VII, 828-30;Court of Inquiry-Operations in Florida, 69-70; Niles' Weekly Register, LII(March 11, 1837), 30-31; Sprague, Origin of the Florida War, 170-72.8 American State Papers, Military Affairs, VII, 828-30, 832; "MajorChilds,"373; Army and Navy Chronicle, IV (February 2, 1837), 80, and VIII (March 7,1839), 154-55.38 Porter, "John Caesar," 197-201, and "Florida Slaves and Free Negroes,"401-404.


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438 THE JOURNAL OF SOUTHERN HISTORYraid, however,was on Jesup. This raid was doubtless n his mindwhen on January21 he wrote to GeneralJ. M. Hernandezof theFloridamilitia-one of whose slaveshad been in Caesar'sband-denouncing the father of the slain Joe Merritt as an agent ofAbrahamand reiterating,"Thiswar ... is a negro, not an Indianwar."39Doubtless,too, it was in his mind a few days later whenhe sent out the Indian Negro Ben to arrange or a meeting withAbraham.On January31 the Seminole Negroes,and Abraham n partic-ular, undertooka new and importantrole. An army officer hasdescribedthem as "a most crueland malignantenemy . .. active. . .blood-thirsty and cruel";but the Seminole Negro leaders,even fierce old John Caesar,although opposed to a surrenderwhich would expose them to servitude had never been averse tonegotiations.40Abraham now had the responsibility both ofinterpreting he talks between the Generaland the chiefs and ofseeing to it that any peace terms should be acceptable to theNegroes.Jesup's sine qua non for peace was immediate emigration."Therewouldbe no difficultyn makingpeace ... were it not forthat condition.... The negroes .. who rule the Indians,areallaverse to removing to so cold a climate."'41 he Negro Abraham,however,an intelligent and widely-traveledman who had beenon a missionto Washington,D. C., and another to the IndianTerritory, ecognizedthe impossibilityof achievinga decent lifein Floridain the face of the government'sdeterminedattitude.His objective had been to put up a strong resistanceuntil theNegroeswere given satisfactoryassurances.Now he felt that thetimewasripefornegotiations.The negotiationswent on for over a month.On March6, 1837,representativesof Micanopyand of Alligator-among the latterthe subsequently amousIndian-NegrosubchiefJohn Ca-Wy-Ya(Cavallo)-signed an agreementto suspend hostilities and forthe entire Nation to move to the west, for the performanceofwhich the Indians gave hostages. The provisions affecting theNegroes were necessarilyin cryptic language: "MajorGeneralJesup,in behalf of the United States, agrees that the Seminolesand their allies who come in, and emigrateto the West, shall besecurein their lives and property; hat their negroes,their bonafideproperty,shall accompany hem to the West ... ." By "their39Jesup Papers, box 14.40Sprague, Origin of the Florida War, 100, 81; Porter, "JohnCaesar,"194-90,

41 AmericanState Papers,MilitaryAffairs, VII, 827.


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NEGROES AND SEMINOLE WAR 439allies"the Seminole understood he Negroes living amongthem,and since beforethe war an estimatedfour-fifthsof the SeminoleNegroes, including Abraham,were runawayslaves-and duringthe war the Seminole had been joined by several hundredmorerunaways-the Seminole "allies"numbered far more Negroesthan the Seminole "slaves."But at this point no United Statesarmy officercould explicitlyprovide for the transportationwestof Negroes on whom United States citizensmight have a claim;brevet MajorGeneralWinfieldScott, one of Jesup'spredecessors,had been specificallydirected to "allowno pacificationwith theIndianswhile a living slave,belonging to a white man,remainedin their possession."42Jesup,nevertheless,at firstintended to carryout his agreementin good faith. "The negroes,"he wrote on March 26, "ruletheIndians, and it is importantthat they should feel themselvessecure; f they shouldbecome alarmedand hold out, the war willbe renewed."But by the end of the monthso manySeminolehadassembledat Tampa Bay that the Generalbecame overconfidentand, underpressure romFloridaplanters,decided to changehisinterpretationof the agreement.On April 8 he entered into aclandestinearrangementwith Coi Hajo and other chiefs "to sur-render he Negroes taken duringthe war." t was easier,however,to makesuch an agreementthan carryit out. Some of the "cap-turedNegroes," o be sure, had been taken againsttheirwill andwere glad to be returned o their masters,but others,when theyheard of the new arrangement,banded together for defensewhetheragainstwhite men or Indians.They were supportedbymore militant Indians like Osceola, who, when Coi Hajo an-nounced in council that the runawayswere to be returned,rosein a rage,declaring hat so long as he was in the Nationit shouldnever be done.43ApparentlyJesup had not sufficientlyconsideredthat legallymost of the influentialSeminoleNegroeswere as much the slavesof white men as were the recentrunaways.When severalFlorid-ians arrived in the emigrationcamp to search for slaves theNegroesandmanyIndiansfled." On June2 the young militants,Osceola, Philip's son Wild Cat, and John Cavallo, seized andcarriedaway the Seminolehostages given under the termsof the

42 Porter, "Florida Slaves and Free Negroes," 404-405; American State Papers,Military Affairs, VII, 834; Message from the President . . . Relative to IndianHostilities in Florida, Senate Docs., 24 Cong., 1 Sess., No. 152 (Serial 281), 5.'3 Porter,"FloridaSlaves and Free Negroes,"404-407.44 Ibid., 408-409.


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440 THE JOURNAL OF SOUTHERN HISTORYtruce. "All is lost," Jesup despairingly announced, "and princi-pally . . . by the influence of the Negroes."45The Seminole forcewas still largely intact, although an estimate that the warriors inEast Florida numbered 2,500, not including Negroes, "who fightas well as the best of them,"46was probably an exaggeration.Jesup was reduced to drafting plans for the future-the con-fusion of which indicated his own confused state of mind-andputting the best face possible on an admittedly bad situation. Hewas principally concerned with preventing the war from devel-oping any further slave unrest. "The two races, the negro and theIndian," he declared, "arerapidly approximating;they are identi-fied in interests and feelings." Plantation slaves had been promi-nent in depredations and one had occupied a position of leader-ship. "Should the Indians remain in this territory," Jesupcontinued, "the negroes among them will form a rallying pointfor runaway negroes from the adjacent states; and if they remove,the fastnesses of the country will be immediately occupied bynegroes." But, somewhat inconsistently, he believed that theIndians would agree to "surrenderall runaway slaves" if permit-ted to remain in "a small district near Florida Point."47He also pointed out that he had been able to turn over aboutninety captured Negroes to their legal owners and, much moreimportant, had seized over a hundred Indian Negroes, amongthem a score of warriors including Abraham and three otherchiefs. "The negro portion of the hostile force of the Seminolenation not taken," the General optimistically declared, "isentirelywithout a head."48 More significantly, the capitulation hadcommitted to emigration, on conditions, the most powerful EastFlorida group, the Alachua, or "original"Seminole, under Mic-anopy. And with Micanopy's chief Negro, Abraham, still in hishands, Jesup was well equipped to reopen negotiations with theMicanopy group and, through them, with other groups.49

45Jesup to Brig. Gen. R. Jones, October 21, 1837, in War Department, AGOFiles (National Archives), 207; Seminole Indians-Prisoners of War: Letter fromthe Secretary of War . . . , House Docs., 25 Cong., 2 Sess., No. 327 (Serial 329),10-11; Negroes, &c., Captured from Indians, 18; Niles' Weekly Register, LIII(December 23, 1837), 263.

46 Lt. Col. W. S. Harney to Jesup, May 4, 1837 (photostat, Florida HistoricalSociety); American State Papers, Military Affairs, VII, 871; Army and NavyChronicle, IV (1837), 329.47Porter, "FloridaSlaves and Free Negroes," 409-11.48 American State Papers, Military Affairs, VII, 842, 851-52; Negroes, &c.,Capturedfrom Indians, 18, 65-69.49GrantForeman,Indian Removal: The Emigrationof the Five Civilized Tribes


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NEGROES AND SEMINOLE WAR 441The 1837 summer season was, as usual, uneventful, but earlyin September a serious break appeared within the Seminole ranks.It involved the Seminole Negroes, previously regarded as the

strongest element of the hostiles. It came at a point where theNegroes in the Indian country had been quantitatively strength-ened but qualitatively weakened by the mass recruitment ofplantation slaves. Twenty months of fighting and hardship sincethe revolt of the St. Johns plantation slaves had operated to sepa-rate the strong, determined, freedom-loving Negroes from thosewho had been merely caught up in the enthusiasm of the Decem-ber days and were now ready to exchange freedom to go hungryin the swamps for the regular rations of servitude. Early in Sep-tember plantation Negroes, half-naked, "haggard and emaci-ated," began to straggle into forts and camps with pitiable talesof ill-treatment by the Indians. By mid-November over fifty hadsurrendered. Far more important, John Philip, a "slave" of KingPhilip and a former member of Caesar's daring guerrilla band,was persuaded by his wife, a plantation Negro, to "come in" andsurrender.

The surrenderon September 8 of John Philip, whom Jesup nowenthusiastically identified as "the only negro chief who had notbeen previously seized," was comparable to pushing over the firstof a line of upright dominoes. The Indian Negro volunteered toguide a detachment to the camp of King Philip, who was cap-tured with his entire party.50When King Philip's son Wild Catlearned of this, he rode to St. Augustine and offered, in exchangefor his father's release, to bring in Philip's subordinate chiefs fora "talk"and to return all captured Negroes. Seventy-nine Negroeswere shortly on their way, although probably under no compul-sion since they were unescorted and said to be "in a starvingcondition." Later, however, the theory was advanced that Wildof Indians (Norman, Okla., 1932), 349; "Letters of Samuel Forry, Surgeon, U. S.Army, 1837-1838," Florida Historical Quarterly,VI (January 1928), 214.

50 Jacob Rhett Motte, Journey into Wilderness: An Army Surgeon'sAccount ofLife in Camp and Field During the Creekand Seminole Wars, 1836-1838, James F.Sunderman,ed. (Gainesville, Fla., 1953), 116-23, 132-33; American State Papers,Military Affairs, VII, 849-50, 882; Army and Navy Chronicle, V (September 28,1837), 200, 203; Capt. Harvey Brown to Lt. J. A. Chambers,October 8, 1837, inInterior Department, Indian Office (Emigration) Files (National Archives), 1837(196/447); Courtof Inquiry-Operations in Florida, 181, 109-12; Capt. Nathan S.Jarvis, "An Army Surgeon'sNotes of Frontier Service, 1833-1848," Journal of theMilitary Service Institution of the United States, XL (January-February 1908),277-78; Niles' Weekly Register, LIII (September 30, 1837), 66.


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442 THE JOURNAL OF SOUTHERN HISTORYCat andhis followershad intendedto rescue KingPhilip andthatthe Negroeshad been sentto be onhand for the attack.51Micanopyand his associates in the meantime had sent theyoung Negro-IndiansubchiefJohn Cavallo to confer with KingPhilip,Wild Cat, Osceola,and their associatesand, if necessary,to interpretbetweenthemand white officers.A conferenceat theIndians'campnear St. Augustinebetween these chiefs and Her-nandez,who representedJesup,was arranged,but Cavallo'spartin carryingaway the hostages in June caused Jesup, who hadcome to expect "foul play"wherever Cavallowas involved, toorderHernandezto have him and the other Seminoleseized atonce if they did not reply satisfactorily o a specifiedset of ques-tions in regard to surrendering"capturedNegroes."While thechiefs were discussingthese and other questionsthey were sur-rounded and captured.52Wild Cat and Cavalloremainedprisoners ess than six weeks.On the night of November 29-30 they with eighteen othersescapedfrom Fort Marion-with the help, Jesupwas convinced,of local Negroes.53Their escape, however,had come too late topreventa seriesof important urrenders.On November30, Osce-ola's family and about forty plantationslaves surrendered,54nda few days laterall chiefs belongingto Micanopy'sgroupexceptAlligatoragreedto give themselvesup.By December1837two opposingmovementshad set in amongthe SeminoleIndiansand Negroesstill at large.One was towardthe emigrationcamp. About fifty Indian Negroes proceededtoTampaBay, in responseeitherto the ordersof Micanopyandhisgroupor to new appealsfromJesuppromising hem "something. . .GOOD" if they would "get away from the Indians."55 he51Motte, Journey into Wilderness, 135-38; Army and Navy Chronicle, V (Oc-tober 12, 1837), 236, and (October 26, 1837), 269-70; Niles' Weekly Register,LIII (October 14, 1837), 98, and (November 18, 1837), 178; "Lettersof SamuelForry," 88-105 passim.

52 Motte, Journey into Wilderness, 138; Jarvis, "Army Surgeon's Notes," 278;Army and Navy Chronicle, V (November 2, 1837), 284-85, and (December 14,1837), 377-78, and VII (July 26, 1838), 50; Niles' Weekly Register,LIII (Novem-ber 4, 1837), 146, and (November 11, 1837), 165-66, and (December 23, 1837),262-63; Seminole Indians-Prisoners of War, 2-8, 11; Hernandezto Jesup, October22, 1837, and Jesup to Jones, October 21, 1837, both in War Department, AGOFiles.53See the author's"SeminoleFlight from Fort Marion,"Florida Historical Quar-terly, XXII (January1944), 112-33, esp. 121.54Jarvis, "Army Surgeon's Notes," 285; Frank L. White (ed.), "The Journalsof Lieutenant John Pickell, 1836-1837," Florida Historical Quarterly, XXXVIII(October 1959), 159-60.55Brig. Gen. W. K. Armisteadto Lt. J. A. Chambers,December 20, 25, 1837,


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NEGROES AND SEMINOLE WAR 443other currentwas toward the lower Kissimmeeand Lake Okee-chobee where Wild Cat, Sam Jones,Alligator,and Cavalloweremustering die-hardIndians and Negroes for a last-ditchstand.Most of the Seminole Negroes still at large moved toward thecamps of these stalwarts.In fact, some Negroes who had startedout towardTampaBay turnedbackto jointhe resistance orces.56During a period of abouta monththese die-hards oughtthreeof the most savage battles of the seven-yearwar. On Christmas1837, 380 Indians and Negroes, with Lake Okeechobeebehindthem and a swampin front, met an attack by Colonel ZacharyTaylor's housandregularsand militia. Before the Indian-Negroforceretreated hey had killedtwenty-sixmen and wounded overa hundred others.The bodies of eleven Indians and only one ortwo Negroes were found on the field, which suggeststhat Okee-chobee was principally an Indian battle; probablymost of theNegroes who had separatedfromTampa-boundmastershad notyet reachedthe camp of the holdouts.On January15, 1838,how-ever,a landingpartyof sailorsandregularsnearJupiterInlet wasfuriouslyattackedand badly routed, and nine days later Jesuphimself encounteredat the Locha Hatchee a force estimated atfrom two to three hundred Indian warriors and "probablyasmany negroes."Thiswas believed to be the same forcewhich haddefeated the whites at Jupiter Inlet. In both encounters thewhitessufferedheavy losses.57After these costly engagementsJesup built a stockade calledFort Jupiter and consideredhis next move. His officersurgedending the war by a treatywhich would permitthe Seminoletoremain n the southernpart of the peninsula,a planin accordwiththe General'sown views and one which, when finally carriedoutover four years later,terminated he war. Negroeswho had sur-rendered reported that if permitted to remain in Florida theIndians"would. . . sell and deliver up the plantationnegroes."Jesupcommunicatedhis planto Washingtonandsent out a Semi-nole Negro to invite the chiefs to a conference.By the end of Feb-ruary about 400 Indians and perhaps150 Indian Negroes werein Jesup Papers, box 5; Lt. R. W. Kirkham to Jesup, August 1, 1846, with state-ment by Tony Barnett, May 14, 1846, in War Department, QMGO ConsolidatedFiles (National Archives).56 See, for example, White (ed.), "Journalsof Lt. Pickell," 167.57Sprague, Origin of the Florida War, 203-14, esp. 214; "The Battle of OkeeChobee," United States Magazine (February 1857); Niles' Weekly Register, LIII(February 17, 1838), 388, and (February 10, 1838), 369-71; Army and NavyChronicle, VII (July 26, 1838), 49-54; Motte, Journeyinto Wilderness, 195.


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444 THE JOURNAL OF SOUTHERN HISTORYencamped near the fort. The Negroes, according to a fascinatedand repelled Southern officer, were "the most diabolical lookingwretches I ever saw.... They had none of the servility of ournorthern blacks, but were constantly offering their dirty pawswith as much hauteur and nonchalance as if they were conferringa vast deal of honor."Jesup, however, was even more pleased with the presence ofthese Negroes, whatever their appearance, than he was with thatof the larger number of Indians. Convinced that the Negroeswould be a source of difficulty so long as they remained in Florida,that the Indians would not surrender so long as the Negroes heldout, and that the Negroes would not give in until assured of theirfreedom, he appealed through Seminole Negro emissaries to "thenegro chiefs August & John Cavallo" and to another named July,"to whom, and to their people, I promised freedom and protectionon their separating from the Indians and surrendering."This wasthe vague "something ... GOOD" hinted at the previous Decem-ber.The attraction of the offer was not, of course, "freedom"fromSeminole "masters"but rather the "protection"of a United Statesgeneral and United States troops against claims or kidnapping bywhites. As Indian Negroes in Florida would be a constant encour-agement to runaways, "it was stipulated that they should be sentto the west, as a part of the Seminole nation" which had alreadymigrated; Abraham, however, assured them that it was a finecountry, though a bit chilly, and certainly preferable to the Ever-glades. During February and March the Negro chiefs August andJuly, reassured by these promises, voluntarily came in with about150 Indian Negroes and five slaves of white citizens. Most of theIndian Negroes were promptly sent off "to join their masters,"asan officer put it, "in their new homes west of the Mississippi."58But how could Jesup justify granting freedom to Negroes four-fifths of whom were either runaways or their descendants andthus legally slaves? The answer is, of course, wartime necessity.In the first place, the Negroes were regarded as more dangerous

58 Jesup to Wm. L. Marcy, April 5, 1848, in Jesup Papers, box 15; KirkhamtoJesup, August 1, 1846, with statement by Barnett, May 14, 1846, in War Depart-ment, QMGO ConsolidatedFiles; Jesup to Wm. L. Marcy,July 1, 1848, in InteriorDepartment, Indian Office, Seminole Files (National Archives), W-244, andM. Arbuckleto Brig. Gen. R. Jones, January8, 1849, ibid., J-143; American StatePapers, Military Affairs, VII, 825-26; Official Opinions of the Attorneys Generalof the United States . . . (Washington, 1852- ), IV, 720-29; Army and NavyChronicle, VI (March 22, 1838), 177, 190; Motte, Journey into Wilderness, 207,210-11; Sprague,Origin of the Florida War, 193-95.


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NEGROES AND SEMINOLE WAR 445than the Indians; persuading the Negroes to surrenderwouldweaken the Indians "more than they would be weakened bythe loss of the same numberof their own people."59n the sec-ond place, it was imperativeto remove from the slaveholdingSouth all Negroeswho had tasted freedomand knew the fortressof Florida.A well-informedofficercommented,

Thenegroes,rom he commencementf the Floridawar,have, ortheir numbers,been the most formidable oe, more bloodthirsty,active,andrevengeful,han heIndians.... Thenegro, eturnedohisoriginal wner,mighthaveremained few days,whenhe againwouldhavefled to the swamps,morevindictivehanever.... Tenresolutenegroes,with a knowledge f thecountry, resufficiento desolate hefrontier,romone extent o theother.60The sort of thingJesupfearedwas illustratedby a communicationof February10, 1839, from an officerat Fort Heileman,statingthat the recalcitrantCreekIndianshad "all eft the Okefenokee&gone South,"presumablyo jointhe hostileSeminole."Therewereseven runawaynegroes from Georgiaamong them," the officercontinued,"wellarmed&plenty of ammunition... the negroeshave done most of the mischiefin that quarter; he negroes alsohave left and on their way south burned the houses in thevicinity."6'Jesuphad adopted the policy of shipping all Indian Negroeswest as earlyas the precedingSeptember,when he had revokedhis promise o his Creekalliesthat they shouldhave all the enemyproperty hey could captureandoffered nstead to purchase heirclaims to ninety capturedIndianNegroesfor $8,000, since, as hewrote,"it s highlyimportant o the slave-holdingStatesthat thesenegroes be sent out of the country."The Creeksdeclinedthis lessthangenerousoffer,but the armyhungon to the Negroesclaimedby the Creeksand succeeded in deliveringthem in the IndianTerritory.62To give his policy legal justification esupresorted o the fictionthat all IndianNegroes,instead of a smallminority,were legiti-mate Indian property.One statementof his orderwas that "allthe property [sic] of the SeminoleIndians . . . who separated

59Jesup to Brig. Gen. R. Jones, February28, 1838, in Seminole Files, W-244.60 Sprague, Origin of the Florida War, 309.61Col. D. E. Twiggs to Gen. A. Macomb, February 10, 1839, in War Depart-ment, AGO Files, 66.62American State Papers, Military Affairs, VII, 882; Negroes, &c., Capturedfrom Indians, 20-22, 70-71; Foreman,Indian Removal, 347, 349, 365-66.


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446 THE JOURNAL OF SOUTHERN HISTORYthemselves [sic] from the Indians, and delivered themselves up tothe Commanding officer of the troops, should be free."63Tech-nically, this order would apply only to that small minority towhom Indians had valid title and to only those in that small groupwho actually "separated themselves" from the Indians. As a prac-tical matter, however, all Indian Negroes who came in werepromptly marched to the emigration camp and embarked for theWest.Later, in 1841, the War Department decided that the 1832treaty of Payne's Landing had canceled all claims against theIndians for any Negroes run away or captured prior to thattreaty. "No demand can therefore be recognized for any negroesexcept those lost since the date of the treaty, unless the Indiansare willing to give them up voluntarily. All except these mustpositively be removed with the Indians to the West ...." Stillanother legal fiction was developed in regard to those Negroeswhose status as "Indian slaves" was most doubtful-who were,indeed, with little question the legal slaves of white citizens,captured or run away since the Payne's Landing treaty. The WarDepartment order that these Negroes "should be surrendered"contained the all-important proviso, "unless the effect of thiswould be to prevent the Indians from coming in and removing."If so, "it will be better, rather than incur this danger that eventhe negroes to which the whites have a valid claim should also beremoved."64On August 19, 1841, accordingly, Lieutenant Colo-nel W. J. Worth announced, "Indians have been solemnly guar-anteed retention of slaves indifferently ... to the mode or time ...they obtained possession. . . ." That is, if an Indian claimed aNegro, his claim would be recognized without necessity of legalproof, while the citizen claiming such a Negro was, "upon identi-fying and proving property, paid a fair equivalent, determinedupon by a board of officers." In defense of his policy Worthpointed out that "if . . . the swamps of Florida become . . . theresort of runaways, their intelligence, so superior to the Indian,might impose upon the general government a contest quadrupli-cate in time and treasure than that now being waged."65Although the policy of ignoring the legal status of even recentrunaways was not publicly and explicitly announced until 1841,

63 Certificatefrom Bvt. Brig. Gen. Z. Taylor, April 30, 1840, in InteriorDepart-ment, Indian Office Files.64 Carter (ed.), TerritorialPapers,XXVI, 282-83.65 Sprague, Origin of the Florida War, 309-310; Porter, "Florida Slaves andFree Negroes," 419.


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NEGROES AND SEMINOLE WAR 447it bad been applied several times by 1838. The classic examplewas that of the famous Luis Pacheco, who, despite his well-knownstatus as slave to Mrs. Antonio Pacheco, had been shipped out ofthe country as a slave of Chief Jumper, because Jesup thought hewas too dangerous to be left in Florida.6Most of the slaves who during the war escaped from planta-tions or were captured by the Seminole probably were recoveredby their owners, principally by voluntary surrender, but thoserecent runaways who were unwilling to return to plantationslavery and could induce Indians to claim them-no difficulttask-could go west with the more legitimate "Indian slaves."

So far as the formidable Seminole Negroes were concerned, thewar was practically over by the end of March 1838. During thecampaign of September 1837-March 1838, about 250 SeminoleNegroes had surrendered or been captured; Operation Fort Ju-piter alone had accounted for the taking of 167 Negroes (includ-ing fifteen slaves of whites), over forty of whom were warriors,"nearly all armed with rifles." Over 500 Indians, too, had beenmade prisoners, for when the Secretary of War refused to approveJesup's peace terms, the General on March 21 simply surroundedtheir camps near Fort Jupiter and scouring the country that nightand the next two days succeeded in rounding up that number.67Jesup was still confronted with the problem of the Negroes andIndians who, justifiably suspicious of all promises, had stayedaway from Fort Jupiter. A large part of the Negroes still out werewith Alligator and Cavallo, the last Negro chief still in the field.To them the General dispatched the Negro counselor Abrahamand Holatoochee, said to have been Cavallo's brother-in-law.Their mission resulted in the surrender of Alligator, "with 88 ofhis people, among whom was John Cowaya and 27 blacks," andAlligator's capitulation led to the surrenderduring April of about360 more Indians and Negroes, including 100 warriors.68These captures and surrenders reduced any future actions tomere raids and skirmishes. They also marked the disappearanceof Negroes as a major element in Seminole resistance. A few hos-

66Negroes, &c., Captured from Indians, 93-94; Report . . . [on] the Petitionof Joseph Elzaudi, House Reports, 30 Cong., 1 Sess., No. 187 (Serial 524), 1-6;Edwin C. McReynolds,The Seminoles (Norman, Okla., 1957), 240.67 Negroes, &c., Captured from Indians, 25, 81-89; Army and Navy Chronicle,VI (April 19, 1838), 248, and (April 26, 1838), 269; Jarvis, "Army Surgeon'sNotes," 453-54.68 Sprague, Originof the FloridaWar, 195; Niles' Weekly Register,LIV (May 5,1838), 145; Abraham to Jesup, April 25, 1838, in Florida Historical Quarterly,XXV (July 1946), 38-39.


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448 THE JOURNAL OF SOUTHERN HISTORYtile Negroes, both "Indian Negroes" and recent runaways, contin-ued as interpreters, counselors, and fighting men, and theirinfluence with the hostile Indians was recognized in the govern-ment's decision of 1841 to abandon the idea of restoring "to theirrightful owners" any slaves still among the Indians and insteadremove them all to the west.69 But we usually glimpse theseNegroes fleetingly and singly70-in sharp contrast to the dayswhen Negro warriors were numbered in the hundreds and onsome occasions were reportedly as numerous as the Indians. WildCat's sadly shrunken band probably included the greatest numberof remaining Negroes, some of whom he skillfully employed asspies, but when he was seized in May 1841 his immediate follow-ing consisted of fifteen Indians and three Negroes. The com-pany of 229 in which he was shipped west the following Octoberincluded eighteen Negroes.71The Seminole Negroes, having lost their importance as a factorin resistance, assumed the comparatively new role of governmentagents whose task it was to induce hostile Indians to surrender.Negro guides, interpreters, and negotiators-often in co-opera-tion with Indian chiefs who had surrendered-were indispensa-ble in establishing contact and communicating with the remain-ing hostile Indian leaders and, if they remained obdurate, inassisting the troops to locate their camps.Several Negro guides and interpreters performed outstandingservice. Sandy Perryman distinguished himself by locating andbringing in a number of chiefs to Fort King on May 17, 1839, fornegotiations which resulted in an agreement that, in return forpeace, the Indians should be permitted at least temporarily toremain in Southern Florida. Two months later, however, a bandof Indians not parties to this agreement massacred on the Caloo-sahatchee a party for which Sandy was serving as interpreterand put him to death by torture. Negro John, a "captured"slave of Dr. H. B. Crews, served as guide to the aggressive Lieu-tenant Colonel W. S. Harney on an expedition of December 1840

69 Carter (ed.), TerritorialPapers, XXVI, 276-77, 374-75.70Army and Navy Chronicle, IX (August 8, 1839), 93, and XI (October 22,1840), 268-69; Niles' Weekly Register, LIV (August 18, 1838), 386, and LVIII(May 23, 1840), 179-80, and (June 27, 1840), 260, and LX (April 10, 1841), 90;Hester Perrine Walker, "Massacreat Indian Key, Aug. 7, 1840, and the Death ofDr. Henry Perrine," Florida Historical Quarterly,V (July 1926), 26-27.71 Sprague, Origin of the Florida War, 277, 280, 322.72Army and Navy Chronicle, VIII (June 13, 1839), 379, and X (January 16,1840), 39-40; Niles' Weekly Register, LVI (July 20, 1839), 321, and LVII (Sep-tember 14, 1839), 44; Sprague, Origin of the FloridaWar, 233, 316.


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NEGROES AND SEMINOLE WAR 449which resulted in the killing of the Spanish Indian chief Chekika,a leader in the Caloosahatchee and Indian Key massacres, andeight of his warriors. John himself was wounded in the encoun-ter.73 Sampson, who had been wounded and taken prisoner inthe Caloosahatchee massacre, escaped after two years and inDecember 1841 served with distinction as guide on an expeditioninto the Big Cypress which drove the hostiles out of their fast-nesses and so softened them up that in the following summer thechiefs in Southern Florida accepted the peace agreement whichthey had flouted three years earlier, thus bringing the long warto an end.74

Most important of these Negro agents was John Cavallo, orGopher John as he was called by the officers. He had been thelast Negro chief to surrender, and it was he who was responsiblefor the suggestion that delegations of prominent chiefs should bebrought from the Indian Territory as proof positive to the hostilesthat those who had surrenderedhad not been put to death but hadbeen both spared and well treated. This move, which utilizedCavallo's old commander Alligator and his brother-in-law Hola-toochee, proved highly effective. Cavallo was declared to havepersonally participated in bringing in 535 Indians and duringthe last two years of the war was very nearly the "indispensableman" in the army'srelations both with the Indians who were still"out"and those who had finally consented to "come in."75The decision to remove the Seminole from Florida was stronglyinfluenced by the presence and position of the Negroes, and theSeminole Negroes also strongly influenced the general decision toresist removal. These Negroes were shrewd and farsighted in theirplans for resistance and active and aggressive in carrying themout. Once convinced, however, that the government was inflexiblydetermined on Seminole removal, and persuaded, too, that if

73Logan Uriah Reavis, The Life and MilitaryServices of General William SelbyHarney (St. Louis, 1878), 144-45; Niles' Weekly Register, LX (April 3, 1841),71-72; Lt. Col. W. S. Harney to Capt. W. W. Bliss, December 24, 1840, in WarDepartment, AGO Files, A354, and "Old Book 3, Dept. of Florida, Bound as 1,Dept. of New Mexico, Feb. 1, 1842-Aug. 17, 1842," ibid., 30.74 Sprague, Origin of the Florida War, 315-16, 357, 362, 364, 368, 370; White(ed.), "Journalsof Lt. Pickell," 160.75 Kenneth W. Porter, "Davy Crockett and John Horse: A Possible Origin ofthe Coonskin Story,"American Literature,XV (March 1943), 10-15; Brig. Gen.W. K. Armistead to the Adjutant General, June 15, 1840, in War Department,AGO Files, 1840-146. See also Letter Book of Officer Commanding8th Infantry(1840-1842), 95, 100-101, 103, 113-14, and "Head Quarters9th M Department:Letters, from June 2d. 1841 to February 1st. 1842," I, 95-96, 223, both in WarDepartment, AGO Files.


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450 THE JOURNAL OF SOUTHERN HISTORYthey and the Indians surrendered, heir own freedom and thelives of both would be respected, they were almostas influentialin persuading he morerecalcitrant ndians to surrenderas theyhad previously been in rallying Seminole resistance. Prolongedas the war was, the promiseof freedomto the Negroes "tendedvery materiallytowardsaffectingthe main object":the emigra-tion of the greatmajorityof the tribe.76t alsomadepossible thetermination n August 1842 of a struggle which, having alreadylasted seven years, might otherwisehave draggedon for anotherdecade or more with the loss of millionsof dollarsto the govern-ment and hundredsof lives to both whitesandSeminole.

76 Capt. J. T. Sprague to Jesup, July 25, 184?, in War Department, QMGOConsolidated Files, "Seminoles."

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