the reunion and final exodus.

difficulties in effecting a reunion of tribes—its objects—exiles and seminoles move on to creek lands—they settle in separate villages—creeks demand exiles as slaves—exiles arm themselves—they flee to fort gibson—demand protection of the united states—general arbuckle protects them—reports facts to department—administration embarrassed—call on general jessup for facts—he writes general arbuckle—reports facts to the president—president hesitates—refers question to attorney general—extraordinary opinion of that officer—manner in which mr. mason was placed in office—exiles return to their village—slaveholders dissatisfied—slave-dealer among the creeks—his offer—they capture near one hundred exiles—they are delivered to the slave-dealer—habeas corpus in arkansas—decision of judge—exiles hurried to new orleans and sold as slaves—events of 1850—exiles depart for mexico—are pursued by creeks—battle—the exiles continue their journey—they settle near santa rosa—the fate which different portions of the exiles met—incidents which occurred after their settlement in mexico—conclusion.

1846.

the creeks and seminoles had been separated for nearly a century. they had most of that time lived under separate governments. each tribe had been controlled by their own laws; and each had been independent of the other. they had often been at war with each other; and the most deadly feuds had been engendered and still subsisted among them. to unite them with the creeks, and blot the name of “seminole” from the page of their future history, in order to involve the exiles in slavery, had long been a cherished object with the administration of our government. it was now fondly hoped, that that object would be accomplished without further difficulty.

but at no period had the seminole indians regarded the exiles with greater favor than they did when removing on to the territory assigned to the creeks. although many of them had intermarried with the seminoles, and half-breeds were now common among the indians; yet most of the descendants of the pioneers who fled from south carolina and georgia maintained their identity of character, living by themselves, and maintaining the purity of the african race. they yet cherished this love of their own kindred and color; and when they removed on to the creek lands, they settled in separate villages: and the seminole indians appeared generally to coincide with the exiles in the propriety of each maintaining their distinctive character.

during the summer and autumn both indians and exiles became residents within creek jurisdiction; and the executive seemed to regard the trust held under the assignment made at indian spring, twenty-four years previously, as now fulfilled. regarding the creeks as holding the equitable or beneficial interest in the bodies of the exiles, under the assignment from their owners to the united states, and they being now brought under creek jurisdiction, subject to creek laws, the executive felt that his obligations were discharged, and the whole matter left with the creeks.

this opinion appears also to have been entertained by the creek indians; for no sooner had the exiles and seminoles located themselves within creek jurisdiction, than the exiles were claimed as the legitimate slaves of the creeks. to these demands the exiles and seminoles replied, that the president, under the treaty of 1845, was bound to hear and determine all questions arising between them. the demands were, therefore, certified to the proper department for decision. but this setting in judgment upon the heaven-endowed right of man to his liberty, seemed to involve more personal and moral responsibility than was desirable for the executive to assume, and the claims remained undecided.

the creeks became impatient at delay; they were a slaveholding people, as well as their more civilized but more infidel brethren, of the slave states. the exiles, living in their own villages in the enjoyment of perfect freedom, had already excited discontent among the slaves of the creek and choctaw tribes, and those of arkansas. the creeks appeared to feel that it had been far better for them to have kept the exiles in florida, than to bring them to the western country to live in freedom. yet their claims under the treaty of 1845, thus far, appeared to have been disregarded by the president; they had been unable to obtain a decision on them; and they now threatened violence for the purpose of enslaving the exiles, unless their demands were peacefully conceded.

the exiles, yet confident that the government would fulfill its stipulations to protect them and their property, repaired in a body to fort gibson, and demanded protection of general arbuckle, the officer in command. he had no doubt of the obligation of the united states to lend them protection, according to the express language of the articles of capitulation entered into with general jessup, in march, 1837. he, therefore, directed the whole body of exiles to encamp and remain upon the lands reserved by the united states, near the fort, and under their exclusive jurisdiction, assuring them that no creek would dare set foot upon that reservation with intentions of violence towards any person. accordingly the exiles, who yet remained free, now encamped around fort gibson, and were supported by rations dealt out from the public stores.

soon as he could ascertain all the facts, general arbuckle made report to the war department relative to their situation, and the claims which they made to protection under the articles of capitulation, together with the rights which the creeks set up to re?nslave them.

this state of circumstances appears to have been unexpected by the executive. indeed, he appears from the commencement to have under-rated the difficulties which beset the enslavement of a people who were determined upon the enjoyment of freedom; he seems to have expected the negroes, when once placed within creek jurisdiction, would have yielded without further effort. but he was now placed in a position which constrained him either to repudiate the pledged faith of the nation, or to protect the exiles in their persons and property, according to the solemn covenants which general jessup had entered into with them.

yet the president was disposed to make farther efforts to avoid the responsibility of deciding the question before him. general jessup had entered into the articles of capitulation, and the president appeared to think he was competent to give construction to them; he therefore referred the subject to that officer, stating the circumstances, and demanding of him the substance of his undertaking in regard to the articles of capitulation with the exiles.

general jessup appears to have now felt a desire to do justice to that friendless and persecuted people. without waiting to answer the president, he at once wrote general arbuckle, saying, “the case of the seminole negroes is now before the president. by my proclamation and the convention made with them, when they separated from the indians and surrendered, they are free. the question is, whether they shall be separated from the seminoles and removed to another country; or be allowed to occupy, as they did in florida, separate villages in the seminole country, west of arkansas? the latter is what i promised them. i hope, general, you will prevent any interference with them at fort gibson, until the president determines whether they shall remain in the seminole country, or be allowed to remove to some other.”

general arbuckle, faithful to the honor of his government, continued to protect the exiles. he fed them from the public stores, not doubting that the executive would redeem the pledge of the nation given by general jessup, its authorized agent. but the president (mr. polk) himself a slaveholder, with his prejudices and sympathies in favor of the institution, did not understand the articles of capitulation according to the construction put upon them by general jessup; he appears, therefore, to have called on the general for a more explicit report of facts. in reply to this call, he reported, saying, “at a meeting with the three indian chiefs, and the negro chiefs, auguste and carollo, i stipulated to recommend to the president to grant the indians a small tract of country in the south-eastern part of the peninsula; but it was distinctly understood that the negroes were to be separated from them at once, and sent west, whether the indians were permitted to remain in florida or not. with the negroes, it was stipulated that they should be sent west, as a part of the seminole nation, and be settled in a separate village, under the protection of the united states.” in another letter, addressed to the secretary of war, he says: “a very small portion of the seminole negroes who went to the west, were brought in and surrendered by their owners, under the capitulation of fort dade. over these negroes the indians have all the rights of masters; but all the other negroes, making more than nine-tenths of the whole number, either separated from the indians and surrendered to me, or were captured by the troops under my command. i, as commander of the army, and in the capacity of representative of my country, solemnly pledged the national faith that they should not be separated, nor any of them sold to white men or others, but be allowed to settle and remain in separate villages, under the protection of the united states.”

but even with these explicit statements before him, the president appears to have been unable to form an opinion; and he referred the matter to the attorney general, hon. john y. mason, of virginia, who had been bred a slaveholder, and fully sympathized with the slave power. he, having examined the whole subject, delivered a very elaborate opinion, embracing seven documentary pages;[132] but concluding with the opinion, that although the exiles were entitled to their freedom, the executive could not interfere in any manner to protect them, as stipulated by general jessup, but must leave them to retire to their towns in the indian territory, where they had a right to remain.

1848.

we should be unfaithful to our pledged purpose, were we to omit certain important facts connected with this opinion of the attorney general. nathan clifford, of maine, was appointed attorney general of the united states in 1846, soon after the report of general arbuckle concerning the situation of the exiles reached washington. the subject was before the president more than two years. this delay we cannot account for, unless it were to save mr. clifford (being a northern man) from the responsibility of deciding this question, involving important interests of the slaveholding portion of our union. in 1848 mr. clifford was appointed minister to mexico, and hon. isaac toucey, of connecticut, was appointed attorney general. but he, too, was from a free state, and it would throw upon him great responsibility were he constrained to act upon this subject. were he to decide in favor of the exiles, it might ruin his popularity at the south; and if against them, it would have an equally fatal effect at the north.

under these circumstances, recourse was had to an expedient. before mr. toucey entered upon the discharge of his official duties, mr. mason, himself a slaveholder, was appointed to discharge the duties ad interim. he entered the office, wrote out the opinion referred to, and then resigned the office and emoluments to mr. toucey; having decided no other question, nor discharged any other duty, than this exercise of official influence for the enslavement of the exiles.

the president affirmed the principles decided by the attorney general, and the exiles were informed that they had the right to remain in their villages, free from all interference, or interruption from the creeks. they had no other lands, no other country, no other homes. many of their families were connected by marriage with the seminoles. they and the seminole indians had, through several generations, been acquainted with each other; they had stood beside each other on many a battle field. seminoles and exiles had fallen beside each other, and were buried in the same grave; they had often sat in council together, and the exiles were unwilling to separate from their friends. wild cat and abraham and louis, and many leading men and warriors of the exiles and seminoles, having deliberated upon the subject, united in the opinion, that the exiles should return to their villages and reside upon the lands to which they were entitled.

in accordance with this decision, they returned to their new homes, resumed their habits of agriculture, and for a time all was quiet and peaceful; but their example was soon felt among the slaves of arkansas, and of the surrounding indian tribes. nor is it to be supposed that the holders of slaves in any state of the union, would be willing to admit that so large a body of servants could, by any effort, separate from their masters, for a century and a half maintain their liberty, and after so much effort to re?nslave them, be permitted to enjoy liberty in peace.

hundreds of them had been seized in florida and enslaved. the laws of slave states presumed every black person to be a slave; and it was evident, that if they could once be subjected to the will of some white man, the laws of arkansas would enable him to hold them in bondage.[133]

an individual, a slave-dealer, appeared among the creeks and offered to pay them one hundred dollars for each exile they would seize and deliver to him; he stipulating to take all risk of title.[134]

1849.

this temptation was too great for the integrity of the creeks, who were smarting under their disappointment, and the defeat of their long cherished schemes, of re?nslaving the exiles. some two hundred creek warriors collected together, armed themselves, and, making a sudden descent upon the exiles, seized such as they could lay their hands upon. the men and most of the women and children fled; but those who had arms collected, and presenting themselves between their brethren and the creeks who were pursuing them, prepared to defend themselves and friends.[135] the creeks, unwilling to encounter the danger which threatened them, ceased from further pursuit, but, turning back, dragged their frightened victims, who had been already captured, to the creek villages, and delivered them over to the slave-dealer, who paid them the stipulated price.

1850.

the seminole agent, learning the outrage, at once repaired to the nearest judge in arkansas, and obtained a writ of habeas corpus. the exiles were brought before him in obedience to the command of the writ, and a hearing was had. the agent showed the action of general jessup; the sanction of the capitulation of march, 1837, by the executive; the opinion of the attorney general, and action of the president, deciding the exiles to be free, and in all respects entitled to their liberty. but the judge decided that the creeks had obtained title by virtue of their contract with general jessup; that neither general jessup, nor the president, had power to emancipate the exiles, even in time of war; that the attorney general had misunderstood the law; that the title of the creek indians was legal and perfect; and they, having sold them to the claimant, his title must be good and perfect.[136]

no sooner was the decision announced, than the manacled victims were hurried from their friends and the scenes of such transcendent crimes and guilt. they were placed on board a steamboat, and carried to new orleans. there they were sold to different purchasers, taken to different estates, and mingling with the tide of human victims who are septennially murdered upon the cotton and sugar plantations of that state, they now rest in their quiet graves, or perhaps have shared the more unhappy fate of living and suffering tortures incomparably worse than death.

the year 1850 was distinguished by a succession of triumphs on the part of the slave power. while the president and his cabinet, and members of the senate and of the house of representatives, were seeking the passage of the fugitive slave law; while slaveholders and their northern allies appeared to be aroused in favor of oppression within the states of our union, their savage coadjutors of the indian territory were equally active.

there yet remained some hundreds of exiles in that far-distant territory unsubdued, and enjoying liberty. they had witnessed the duplicity, the treachery of our government often repeated, toward themselves and their friends—they had, most of them, been born in freedom—they had grown to manhood, had become aged amidst persecutions, dangers and death—they had experienced the constant and repeated violations of our national faith: its perfidy was no longer disguised; if they remained, death or slavery would constitute their only alternative. one, and only one, mode of avoiding such a fate remained—that was, to leave the territory, the jurisdiction of the united states, and flee beyond its power and influence.

mexico was free! no slave clanked his chains under its government. could they reach the rio grande? could they place themselves safely on mexican soil, they might hope yet to be free. a council was held. some were connected with seminoles of influence. those who were intimately connected with indian families of influence, and most of the half-breeds, feeling they could safely remain in the indian territory, preferred to stay with their friends and companions. of the precise number who thus continued in the indian country, we have no certain information;[137] but some three hundred are supposed to have determined on going to mexico, and perhaps from one to two hundred concluded to remain with their connexions in the indian country.

abraham had reached a mature age; had great experience, and retained influence with his people. louis pacheco, of whom we spoke in a former chapter, with his learning, his shrewdness and tact, was still with them, and so were many able and experienced warriors. wild cat, the most active and energetic chief of the seminole tribe, declared his unalterable purpose to accompany the exiles; to assist them in their journey, and defend them, if assailed. other seminoles volunteered to go with them. their arrangements were speedily made. such property as they had was collected together, and packed for transportation. they owned a few western ponies. their blankets, which constituted their beds, and some few cooking utensils and agricultural implements, were placed upon their ponies, or carried by the females and children; while the warriors, carrying only their weapons and ammunition, marched, unencumbered even by any unnecessary article of clothing, prepared for battle at every step of their journey.

after the sun had gone down (sept. 10), their spies and patrols, who had been sent out for that purpose, returned, and reported that all was quiet; that no slave-hunters were to be seen. as the darkness of night was closing around them, they commenced their journey westwardly. amid the gloom of the evening, silent and sad they took leave of their western homes, and fled from the jurisdiction of a people who had centuries previously kidnapped their ancestors in their native homes, brought them to this country, enslaved them, and during many generations had persecuted them. many of their friends and relatives had been murdered for their love of liberty by our government; others had been doomed to suffer and languish in slavery—a fate far more dreaded than death. at the period of this exodus, their number was probably less than at the close of the revolution.

when the slaveholding creeks learned that the exiles had left, they collected together and sent a war party in pursuit, for the purpose of capturing as many as they could, in order to sell them to the slave-dealers from louisiana and arkansas, who were then present among the creeks, encouraging them to make another piratical descent upon the exiles for the capture of slaves.

this war party came up with the emigrants on the third day after leaving their homes. but wild cat and abraham, and their experienced warriors, were not to be surprised. they were prepared and ready for the conflict. with them it was death or victory. they boldly faced their foes. their wives and children were looking on with emotions not to be described. with the coolness of desperation, they firmly resolved on dying, or on driving back the slave-catching creeks from the field of conflict. their nerves were steady, and their aim fatal. their enemies soon learned the danger and folly of attempting to capture armed men who were fighting for freedom. they fled, leaving their dead upon the field; which is always regarded by savages as dishonorable defeat.[138]

the exiles resumed their journey, still maintaining their warlike arrangement. directing their course south-westerly, they crossed the rio grande, and continuing nearly in the same direction, they proceeded into mexico, until they reached the vicinity of the ancient but now deserted town of santa rosa.[139] in that beautiful climate, they found a rich, productive soil. here they halted, examined the country, and finally determined to locate their new homes in this most romantic portion of mexico. here they erected their cabins, planted their gardens, commenced plantations, and resumed their former habits of agricultural life. there they yet remain. forcibly torn from their native land, oppressed, wronged, and degraded, they became voluntary exiles from south carolina and georgia. more recently exiled from florida and from the territory of the united states—they are yet free! after the struggles and persecutions of a hundred and fifty years, they repose in comparative quiet under a government which repudiates slavery. to the pen of some future historian we consign their subsequent history.

before taking leave of the reader, we would call his attention to a review of the fate which attended different portions of the exiles, and to a few further incidents, for some of which we have only newspaper authority; but from all the circumstances we have no doubt they actually transpired.

of the exiles and their descendants, twelve were delivered up at the treaty of colerain in 1796, and consigned to slavery; two hundred and seventy were massacred at blount’s fort in 1816; thirty were taken prisoners—these all died of wounds or were enslaved. at the different battles in the first seminole war in 1818, it is believed that at least four hundred were slain, including those who fell at blount’s fort.

in the second seminole war, probably seventy-five were slain in battle, and five hundred were enslaved; and at least seventy-five were seized by the creek indians, in 1850, and enslaved. probably a hundred and fifty connected with the seminoles now reside in the western country, and will soon become amalgamated with the indians; while three hundred have found their way to mexico, and are free.[140] making, in all, thirteen hundred and fifty souls; being some hundreds less than was reported by the officers of government, in 1836. this discrepancy is accounted for by the fact, that the exiles captured by individual enterprise, and by the georgia and florida militia, were never officially reported to the war department, and we have no reliable data on which we can fix an estimate of the number thus piratically enslaved. there are also a few yet in florida, not included in the above estimate.

1852.

as to their present situation, we can give the reader but little further information. in the summer of 1852, wild cat suddenly appeared among his friends, the seminoles, who yet remained in the indian country. his appearance excited surprise among the creeks. they at that time maintained a guard, composed of mounted men: these were at once put in motion for the purpose of arresting this extraordinary chieftain. but while they were engaged in looking for him, he and a company of seminoles, attended by a number of exiles and black persons, previously held in bondage by the creeks, were rapidly wending their way towards their new settlement.[141]

this visit of wild cat to the western country occasioned much excitement in that region, as well as astonishment at washington, and constituted the occasion of a protracted correspondence between the war department and our military officers and indian agents of that country. wild cat was denounced as a “pirate”—“robber”—“outlaw;” and nearly all the opprobrious epithets known to our language were heaped upon him, for thus aiding his fellow men to regain those rights to life and liberty with which the god of nature had originally endowed them.

during the year 1852, while our commissioners, appointed to establish the boundary between the united states and mexico, were engaged in the discharge of their official duties, a small party of armed men was in attendance for their protection. some eight of these were said to have been engaged in patroling the country, when they fell in with wild cat and a portion of this band of exiles, who were at all times prepared for friends or foes. the whites were made prisoners without bloodshed, and taken to their village. a council was called. abraham was yet living, and the white men declared that he was regarded as a ruling prince by his people. they were evidently suspicious of the intentions of our men; but upon inquiry and consideration, they became satisfied that no hostile intentions had brought our friends to that country; they were accordingly treated with becoming hospitality, and dismissed. these brief statements appeared in some of the newspapers of that day, which constitutes our only authority for stating them.

1853.

complaints were subsequently made through the texan newspapers, that slaves escaped from that region of country and found an asylum in mexico, on the other side of the rio grande; and intimations were thrown out that a party of volunteers, without authority from the united states, were about to visit the settlement, which thus encouraged slaves to seek their freedom. the suggestion was so much in character with the slaveholders of texas, that it excited attention among those who were aware of the settlement of exiles in the region indicated. it was believed that those men who were about to visit wild cat and abraham and louis and their companions, for the purpose of seizing and enslaving men, would find an entertainment for which they were not prepared.

some few months subsequently, a brief reference was made in the newspapers of texas to this expedition, giving their readers to understand that it had failed of accomplishing the object intended, and had returned with its numbers somewhat diminished by their conflict with the blacks.

as was naturally expected, after the lapse of some six months, great complaint was heard through the public press of indian depredations upon the frontier of texas. plantations were said to be destroyed; buildings burned; people murdered, and slaves carried away. this foray was said to have been made by camanche indians, led on by wild cat. he appears yet ready to make war upon all who fight for slavery; and many of the scenes which were enacted in florida, will most likely be again presented on our south-western frontier, where the same causes exist which formerly existed in florida, and the same effects will be likely to follow.