USA > Tennessee > Old times in Tennessee, with historical, personal, and political scraps and sketches > Part 12
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lost all hope of a rescue. Gen. Lee Reed proposed the hazard- ous undertaking of relieving them. He called for volunteers at Tallahassee, and some fifty brave men rallied around his stand- ard and devoted their lives to this humane and patriotic object. Gen. Reed embarked with his force at St. Marks, where a small steamer took in tow a keel-boat, baricaded all around to trans- port his men, arms, and provisions, and in this boat he ascended the river. He was frequently fired upon, but escaped without being damaged. He arrived at the fort, about seventy miles from the mouth of the river, after dark. The starving garrison were taken on board, and the descent of the river was made in safety. Thus were these forty soldiers preserved from a horrible death. Gen. Reed was a lawyer of distinction, a manly and pow- erful person, the precious metal without alloy; a man of un- doubted courage and exalted patriotism. He strongly opposed Gen. Scott leaving the country, whose inhabitants were being murdered daily by lurking savages. Angry words and a hostile correspondence ensued, which led Gen. Reed to challenge Gen. Scott to mortal combat, but the latter declined to accept the chal- lenge.
The Tennessee brigade arrived at Tallahassee, where we were detained a few days making preparation for future movements. Here Maj. Washington and Mr. Yerger, two noble and talented members of the brigade, died about the 20th of September, 1836. With pack mules to convey our provisions and camp equippage, we left Tallahassee and marched directly into the Indian country. Every cabin we passed was deserted, the men, women, and chil- dren having been cruelly murdered or driven from the country. Frequently we passed the debris of burnt stages which had been used in transporting passengers and the United States mails. We often saw the skeletons of men, women, and children tied to the bodies of trees, the flesh having rotted from their bones. We arrived at Sewanee Old Town, which we found almost de- serted in consequence of the prevalence of the yellow fever in an epidemic form. It was an old Spanish town, the same that Gen. Jackson took in his campaign in 1818, where Arbuthnot was captured and afterward executed. We lost about forty of our soldiers, and seventy were shipped down the river for New Or- leans, sick with that dreadful malady. We were now in the
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neighborhood of the hostile Indians, and had to put out a strong guard every night, and some of them died with the prevailing fever at the post of duty .* We hurried over the river after a brief stay at this place, and marched directly for Fort Drane, about sixty miles South. This fort was built on the fine estate of Gen. Clinch, a large sugar plantation, stocked with all the improvements for making sugar. The fort had been attacked by
* This reminiscence recalls "The Florida Volunteer's Death Song," which will touch the heart of many a Florida soldier who may still be found on "this bank and shoal of time":
Comrades, dig my grave where the green boughs wave, And the gentle doves are sighing ; In some lonely spot where cares come not ; For I know that I am dying. And let me sleep in the everglades deep, Where the Indian's song is heard, The heather bees and the forest trees, Or the hymn of the singing bird.
Yes, there let me lie 'neath the sod, where naught hath trod Save the goat and the wild red deer, Or Indians that dance 'neath the moonbeam's glance, In the depths of the everglade's dell. My brother hath joy in the billowy sea And the storm as it rolls o'er his head; Still his last hope is that his grave may be Down, down in the ocean's bed.
We soldiers have joys in the trumpet's sound And the deaf'ning cannon's rattle ; Yet we fear not to die when we know we shall lie With the brave on the field of battle. And the poet hath joys in the echoing hills, In the groves, and the deserts dim ; The cataract wild and the gushing rills Are music sweet for him.
Comrades, dig my grave where the green boughs wave, And the gentle doves are sighing ; In some lonely spot where care comes not, For I feel that I am dying. And let me sleep in the everglades deep, Where the Indian's song is heard ; And heather bees and the forest trees, Or the hymn of the singing bird.
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the Indians the previous spring, and the houses and other im- provements destroyed. Gen. Armstrong received information through his scouts that the Indians occupied this fort in full force, which turned out to be true. The brigade made a forced march in order to reach the fort, saw some flying Indians making for the hammock, and concluded to make the attack on the fort that evening, fearing that the Indians we had seen would give in- formation of our approach. The attack turned out to be a farce instead of a tragedy, but each soldier believed that we were to attack and carry the fort with our small arms, and all exhibited the courage necessary to have accomplished this feat. The brig- ade was formed in three columns, two deep, the right and left, as we approached the fort, to turn to the right and left, and thus cut off the retreat of the Indians in the rear, while the center column was to charge directly on the fort. The charge com- menced about two miles from the fort. About one hundred pack-mules, with tin-pans, kettles, coffee-pots, and provisions, were to bring up the rear. The columns were about forty yards apart. During the charge the mules became excited, broke away and rushed pell mell upon the charging columns like an ava- lanche, scattering the wares and provisions in every direction, and became mixed up with the columns. It was an exciting but very ludicrous scene. Col. Trousdale and myself led the center column, and although all were looking for the opening of a brisk fire upon us from the fort, none could help laughing at the antics of the mule brigade. The center column galloped up to the fort and the other two circled around and met in the rear, and to our astonishment, not a gun was fired and not an Indian was to be found in the fort. Some were seen entering the hammock half a mile off. Instead of camping in and around the fort, their large camp was found next morning, with fires burning, one mile off in the hammock. The Indians left during the night for the cove on the Withlacooche. We all felt that this charge was a burlesque on glorious war, though I was satisfied that the Indians had sense enough not to be in the fort, for we stood a good chance of being shot from one of those block port holes if they had.
It is not the object of this sketch to give a history, but merely an outline, of the campaign of Gen. Armstrong's brigade, which had already been greatly reduced by sickness and death. We
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had had no corn or provender of any kind since we left Talla- hassee. The horses were giving out and dying daily. The men were continually on the march, and had to "tie up" at night, the horses subsisting on grass alone, which grew in abundance. The men suffered frequently from hunger, and were badly clothed. We had expected provisions to be brought up the Withlacooche in a steamer, but that failed in consequence of the breaking of the rudder and the steamer running ou a rock eight miles from the mouth, but we were then ignorant as to why the supplies had not come forward. The brigade was then ordered to the cove on the Withlacooche. We had two efficient spy companies, com- manded by Capt. Wilson and Maj. Wm. Lauderdale, brother of Col. James Lauderdale, who fell in the battle of Dec. 23, 1814, at New Orleans. These companies reported large fresh trails pointing to the river. We received five days' rations by some wagons that arrived most opportunely, and were joined by a force of regulars with two pieces of ordnance. On the 10th of Octo- ber the brigade took up the line of march, having previously sent a large number of sick to Black Creek, near the St. Johns. On the 12th our spies discovered an encampment of about fifty Indians. A skirmish ensued, in which seven Indians were killed and eleven squaws and children were taken prisoners. Maj. Up- shaw was wounded. Cudgo, our interpreter, interrogated a squaw and learned from her that the Indians were holding a council on the other side of the river. Another squaw attempted to wrest a butcher knife from a soldier to kill him. We were informed that the cove, which is in the forks of the Withlacooche, was oc- cupied by a large body of Indians-warriors, squaws, and chil- dren-and that there was another large body just below on the opposite side of the river to oppose our passage. Gen. Armstrong led the main body of our troops to that point, and ordered Lieut. Col. Guild to take four hundred volunteers and, with the friendly Chief Billy, a fine looking man, and one of the captured squaws, move upon the Indians in the cove or fork of the river. Large hammocks lay along the bank of the river, which had to be en- tered by the Indian path. Maj. Gordon, with the advance de- tachment, arrived at the river and was fired upon from the oppo- site side, which was responded to by our forces. The fight con- tinued for half an hour. Maj. Gordon and some of the privates
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were wounded. At this point the river is very wide and deep, and could not be crossed. Four of the regulars were drowned in the attempt to cross. Nothing practicable could be accom- plished, and so Maj. Gordon withdrew and returned to camp. The detachment under Lieut. Col. Guild approached the fork of the river by an Indian path through the hammock, which would not permit more than two to ride abreast. Coming suddenly to a muddy looking stream, about fifty yards wide, Billy and the squaw on either side of Lieut. Col. Guild, a momentary halt was made to consult as to whether it could be forded, when the In- dians opened a fire upon the head of the column from the oppo- site shore, and Billy was killed. The command was ordered to dismount, occupy the edge of the stream, take trees, and open a fire upon the enemy. A heavy fire was kept up for half an hour, when, the responses from the opposite bank having slackened, an order was given to fall back to an open field. Maj. Goff, a man of tried courage, was ordered to take one hundred men and move up the stream about two hundred yards and ascertain whether it could be forded, and if it could, to cross over, giving a signal, when Guild would lead the remainder of the command across and join in the attack. Meantime a vigorous fire was opened upon the Indians, thus diverting their attention from the movement of Maj. Goff. Within twenty minutes the Major re- ported that the stream was too deep to be forded. A constant fire was then kept up by the whole command until the Indians retired. We had four men killed and about twenty wounded. It was impossible to ascertain the loss of the enemy. On the 22d of November Col. Trousdale and Lieut. Col. Guild marched the second regiment into the cove, crossing at the point where the previous attempt had been made. The river had fallen about two feet, but still the smaller horses had to swim. We found two large towns in the fork, but no warriors. After burning the towns, we found an old negro, who informed us that the Indians, with the women and children, had a few days previous gone to the Wahoo Swamp, three miles from the place where Maj. Dade and his command were massacred. I give here an extract from the diary of Gen. Zollicoffer, who served gallantly in this cam- paign. He says;
"The old negro prisoner says in Guild's battle of the first
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crossing there were twenty-eight Indians and five negroes killed, besides many wounded. In Gordon's battle on the 13th, nine- teen Indians were killed."
I have in after life reflected upon the fact that the captured squaw was mounted on a horse and compelled to lead the enemy of her people along the by-paths to their places of retreat for the purpose of having them slaughtered. War is a dreadful thing, and generally a curse upon nations. It should never be engaged in except for the protection of a people, and to preserve their liberties. Many are the broken hearts and the untold woes that come out of every war. While war excites and stimulates a thirst for fame ; while it renders men corageous, careless of their own lives as well as of others, it acts like water upon fire: it extinguishes the noble virtues of charity, humanity, love of men, while we forget or neglect to temper our acts towards others with mercy.
Our provisions having given out, and having nothing to eat but captured cattle, without salt or bread, a council of war was held on the 14th of October, at which it was determined to drop down to the mouth of the Withlacooche, where it was supposed Gen. Reed had established a depot. Maj. Goff was sent off with a de- tachment of mounted men to ascertain whether there was a depot at the mouth of the river, but he returned without any favorable tidings. Most of the men were without horses and the command struck for Black Creek, by way of Fort Drane. An express ar- rived bringing intelligence that Col. Lane had arrived at the river with about six hundred regulars and friendly Indians, and that he had had a skirmish with hostile Indians, and was moving on Fort Drane. On the 25th we met wagons with provisions, not far from the Black Creek, and these supplies were distributed among the half-starved men. An express messenger brought information that Col. Lane had shot himself at Fort Drane, and that the Indians were in force on the Withlacooche. We arrived at Fort Drane and found Gov. Call, of Florida, in command of the fort, with Jim Boy, a fine looking Indian chief, and his com- mand. On the 4th of November, Col. Bradford, with a portion of his command, including Gen. Zollicoffer with two hundred Tennesseeans, went to the mouth of the river, and found that the depot had just been built by Gen. Reed, and that the steamer with a barge in tow loaded with provisions, had broke its rudder
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seven miles from the mouth, and was unable to ascend the river. On the 12th a detachment, consisting of the 1st and 2d regiments, and about five hundred regulars and friendly Indians under Gov. Call, was sent down the Withlacooche. The regulars and In- dians crossed the river, but found no warriors, but discovered fresh signs that they had gone East. I give another extrret from Gen. Zollicoffer's diary, as follows :
" The spies and the 2d regiment, Trousdale and Guild, crossed the river at Guild battle, the Ist regiment remaining on this side. The Tennesseeans found and burned two deserted towns, and took a negro who informed them that the Indians in great num- . bers had made their escape the day before, the women having fled some weeks ago."
The 1st and 2d regiments moved up the North side of the river, and the regulars and friendly Indians on the South side. Here Gen. Reed with his Floridians joined us, and we moved toward the Wahoo Swamp. On the 17th a private in Capt. McMahon's company discovered a considerable body of Indians at the end of a large hammock. The 1st regiment, led by Col. Bradford, charged them. The fight continued about half an hour, when the Indians were routed and disappeared in the ham- mock. We lost one man killed and ten wounded. Eighteen of the Indians were killed. The 2d regiment, with about one hun- dred of the 1st, pursued a large fresh trail on the 18th of Novem- ber. As we advanced into the hammock fresh sign, such as trails and slaughtered beeves, was discovered, and at a distance the town of Mickonopa, in an open pine woods, on fire, with a large hammock, supposed to be the Wahoo Swamp, lying immediately West of it. The 2d regsment was divided, Col. Trousdale lead- ing one column and Lieut. Col. Guild the other, and they moved upon the town in different directions, so as to encircle it by the two columns meeting in the rear. Col. Bradford, Lient. Col. Cahal, and Capt. Zollicoffer occupied the ertreme left with about one hundred of their volunteers. Col. Trousdale and myself met with our respective columns in line of battle, for we supposed the Indians lay in ambush in the edge of the hammock. Only a few minutes had expired, when I saw Gen. Reed galloping at full speed, skimming along the edge of the hammock like an eagle. He rode up to Col. Trousdale and myself and reported that the
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Indians were in full force ; he had heard the war-whoop, and he felt sure we would be fired upon in a few minutes. The line was about seventy-five yards from the hammock. We heard two signal guns on the right and lett, and immediately a volley of musketry a mile long was poured into our lines, and the ham- mock seemed to be on fire. The situation of our men was peril- ous in the extreme. They were in an open field, without cover- ing of any kind to protect them. At the first fire every man fell to the ground, and I thought all were killed, but they raised on their knees and returned the fire, and immediately reloaded, when the order was given to charge, and I never saw a more reg- ular or gallant charge made. As soon as we struck the ham- mock the Indians began to retreat. As the men scrambled through the bamboo briers, the Palmetto grape-vines, and thick undergrowth, an Indian would occasionally shoot at a soldier at a distance of not more than ten to twenty feet. One could only see the flash and hear the crack of his gun, when he was off. The Indians were routed throughout the whole line. Lieut. Col. Guild was ordered to take Capts. Battle, Bledsoe, and Henry's companies and check a flank movement on the extreme Northern point of the hammock, and the Indians were again routed. The fight was kept up for about two and a half hours, and as it was now growing dark, the command retired into the pine woods, near to the scene of Dade's massacre, where we camped for the night, having meantime carried out and buried our dead.
On the 21st of November, Gen. Armstrong ordered a com- bined attack to be made upon the Indians on the battle-ground of the 18th. The order of battle was, the Tennessee volunteers on the right wing, the friendly Indians on the left, and the regu- lars in the center. We marched through the open field single file abreast, the line extending a full mile. As we approached the hostile Indians were seen coming out of the edge of the large hammock, half naked, jumping and turning about, accompanied with yelling and the war-whoop. Our whole line at the word charge, moved firmly and regularly abreast. When we arrived within fifty yards of the hammock, the Indians having retired to its edge, there was a simultaneous fire from both sides all along the lines. It was too hot and exposed to remain in the open plain, so we rushed upon the Indians, and as we entered the
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hammock we were almost burnt with the fire from their guns. They fell back a few yards, then rallied and poured a heavy fire into our ranks. It was with the greatest difficulty that we could get through the undergrowth, vines, and grass that cut like a knife. A running fire was kept up until we came to an open field. The Indians then occupied another hammock, and they were soon driven from that. Behind that hammock was a lake about one hundred yards wide, and somehow the Indians got across or around this lake and took their stand in another ham- mock. We charged through this hammock waist deep in water, receiving the fire of the enemy, when they again retreated and were pursued. They made their final stand behind a neck of water connecting two lakes, where the regulars, under Col. Pearce, and the friendly Indians, under Moniac, attacked them. The Tennesseeans came up and took part in the effort to dislodge them. We had no means of ascertaining the depth of the water separating us from the Indians, but some of our friendly Indians said it would swim the men, so it was regarded too hazardous to make a charge through it. We adopted the policy of the hostile Indians, and getting behind trees, and kept up a fire for an hour. In this skirmish, the friendly chief, Moniac, a man of great cour- age, was killed. Near sunset each side drew off, and we returned to our camp, three miles distant, bringing away with us our dead and wounded. The men had been running and fighting the half of the day, and were wet up to the waist and exhausted.
An amusing incident occurred on the day of the fight. Col. Bradford, as brave a man as ever drew a sword, and withal a courteous gentleman, was assigned the command of the camp, there being a small force left with him. He was not less excita- ble than brave. Hearing the roar of the battle, three miles off, which commenced about one o'clock and continued through the afternoon, he became as much excited as one of Napoleon's mar- shals on a certain occasion. The marshal had been wounded and carried to the rear, but hearing a renewal of the battle, the roar of the cannon and the clash of small arms so excited him that he could not be confined to his couch, and sallied forth to the scene of action. Col. Bradford's excitement took a different shape. He had all the wagons belonging to the army moved into a hol- low square ; marched all the force into this square, and ordered
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the men to keep profound silence during the engagement. At length one of the men discovered a large fox squirrel upon a tall pine tree within the encampment. The men commenced shoot- ing at the squirrel, which enraged the Colonel very much; and when he suppressed the shooting on one side, it would open on the opposite side, until it grew so general it was impossible for him to stop it. At length the squirrel was brought down, when the firing ceased. The Colonel was still in a rage when we re- turned at night, and expressed a determination to have the boys court-martialed for disobedience of orders. I laughed at him and told him it was too good a joke, and that they could not resist the temptation to shoot. " What," said he, "to disobey the or- ders of their commanding officer! Sir, it is insubordination- the next thing to mutiny. It might have brought the enemy upon us." I replied, "Colonel, it would have had the contrary effect. It showed the boys were fearless, and their firing would have had the effect to keep the enemy away. Further, the boys were hungry and they were obeying the commands of the stomach, and not in insubordination to your authority, and you must let it pass." I left him somewhat mollified and the matter thus passed off.
A somewhat similar circumstance took place almost in the presence of the enemy as we were marching up the Withlacooche. The two columns were marching about two hundred yards apart, when a large buck came loping along between them. A hundred guns were pointed at him, but the men were forbidden to shoot. At length, however, they opened fire upon him, and about fifty shots were fired before he was killed. Gen. Armstrong came galloping down the lines inquiring what that firing meant. I told him that some of the men had shot a fine buck, contrary to orders, but that it was impossible to prevent the shooting. I suggested that if he would let it pass, I would see that a hind- quarter should be sent to his tent. The old chief was very mad at first, but soon cooled down. That night he got a piece of as fine venison as he ever tasted, and I heard nothing further about the shooting.
Our provisions were nearly exhausted, and a large number of the men had lost their horses. Thus situated, the brigade took up the line of march for Velousia. We saw no Indians nor
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heard of any. On the route we passed Yoklomaha Lake, a beau- tiful sheet of water. We reached Velousia, and on the 25th of November learned that Gen. Jessup was to succeed Gov. Call in command of the troops in Florida. Here provisions and cloth- ing were distributed among the men. Gen. Jessup arrived on the 4th of December, and assumed command. One hundred and twenty of the sick were sent around the cape, homeward bound. The term of service of the Franklin Blues and the Highlanders expired on the 15th of December. The brigade returned to Dade's battle ground. The spies and a strong detachment of Alabamians and Tennesseeans were ordered into Wahoo Swamp, and visited the battle ground of the 18th and 21st of November, but found no Indians. They had all left after that battle, and had gone far into the Everglades. We examined the graves of our dead and found their remains undisturbed. The body of the friendly chief Moniac was found where he fell gallantly fighting for the whites, and it was buried with the honors of war. The brigade built a fort near Dade's battle ground, and gave it the name of Fort Armstrong, in honor of our gallant old commander. It was garrisoned with a strong force of regulars. The brigade gave up their horses to be used as packs, and marched on foot to Tampa Bay, and there took shipping for New Orleans on December 25, 1836, the term of service of all the volunteers having expired.
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