USA > Texas > Border fights & fighters; stories of the pioneers between the Alleghenies and the Mississippi and in the Texan republic > Part 13
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shots at every Indian they saw. The fighting force of the tribe was blotted out then and forever. There was no more Creek war, for there were no more Creeks.
The Americans had paid a high price for their victory, however, for the killed and wounded numbered over two hundred. Among the most seriously wounded was young Sam Houston, who had so distinguished himself on that day. When he was brought back to camp the surgeons, deeming his wounds mortal, paid little atten- tion to him, devoting themselves to those whom they thought they had a chance of saving. He lay all night on the ground with little or no care. They did extract one bullet, but made no attempt to probe for the other.
In the morning, finding him still alive to their great surprise, they put him on a rude litter, improvised out of trees and branches, and carried him seventy miles to Fort Williams. He survived this journey, and the fact that he had done so gave the surgeons an idea that probably he might be worth looking after. He was attended at Fort Williams with such rude surgery as the frontier afforded and after some time removed to another post.
Two months after the battle he reached his home in west Tennessee, after a journey of several hundred miles in a horse litter ! He was so emaciated by his terrible hardships, his face was so changed from the effects of his unhealed wounds-and they remained unhealed to the end of his life, by the way-that his own mother did not recognize him. But, as we shall see, he lived to take part in another more important and more famous battle, two decades later, in which he was the commander instead of a subaltern.
PART IV THE FAR SOUTH III When the Seminoles Fought for Freedom
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WHEN THE SEMINOLES FOUGHT FOR FREEDOM
I. The Injustice of the United States
T O put all the Indian wars in which the United States has engaged under one censure, or to include them in one category, is unscientific, because it takes no account of the facts. Some of the wars were as justifiable as any which have ever been waged by our people. Some of them were brought upon the Indians by their own deliberate actions. For the war of the Apaches under Geronimo upon the United States no defence of the Indians whatever can be urged. Nor is there much to be said, to use an older instance, in behalf of the Creeks, who commenced their famous war by the Battle of Burnt Corn and the Massacre at Fort Mims.
On the other hand, there is no justification for the United States for-to cite a modern illustration-the Nez Perces war, and there is but little for that in which the following incidents occurred.
The Seminoles of Florida and southern Georgia were among the ablest and bravest Indians on the continent. The name means "runaway," and they were mainly of the famous Creek stock which had furnished many instances of capacity and courage. They were leavened by the remnant of the ancient aborigines of Florida who
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- had escaped the inevitable extermination attendant upon Spanish occupation. They were a small tribe, probably never able to put more than two or three thousand war- riors in the field.
Their country was to the southern states after the war of 1812 just what Oklahoma and the Indian Territory were to the western states a few years since. Nominally under the government of Spain, which pretended to do little and could do less in keeping order, their country was the refuge of every outlaw and vagabond who wanted to escape from the law and justice; and especially was it a convenient asylum for the fugitive slave.
The negroes by no means gained their freedom among the Seminoles, but they enjoyed a quasi-liberty which made their condition much more tolerable than that of complete servitude. And when to this state of affairs were added facilities for wild and savage life, to which their natural inclination directed them, it is not strange that many of them embraced the opportunity for change, and crossed the line as they had or could make a chance.
There was constant friction back and forth between parties of slave-catchers, officers of the law, and the Indians. When the territory was ceded to the United States in 1821, after Jackson's vigorous foray, conditions became even more intolerable. Whatever may be said of the rights and wrongs of the situation, never in the his- tory of the world has it been, and I presume never will it be, that a vast body of fertile and arable land suitable for settlement could be withheld from a people who were willing to go in and cultivate it, in the interests of those who simply wished to retain it as a game preserve, and who were unable or unwilling to use it themselves. A
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rude tribal government will not be permitted to exist in contravention to a civilized administration. The weak have always had to go to the wall; whether they always will is a question. But there are ways and ways, and the United States chose a bad way and paid for it.
It was proposed to remove the Seminoles beyond the Mississippi, the government paying them a small sum for the lands thus opened for white settlement, promising them an annuity for a short time, and further agreeing to assume the expenses of transportation. After much per- suasion the Seminoles, who had already been crowded down into what is now Florida, at last agreed to go, at least a portion of them did; but to make a long story short, when the time came for signing the treaty and starting the exodus, only a few of them were willing to leave.
Now the land by ancient usage and long occupation, belonged to the Seminoles. The United States had no vested right to take it from them or to force them to leave against their will, yet that is what the United States proceeded to do. Matters came to a crisis in November, 1836, when Charlie Amathla, a chief who had sold his lands and received his stipend, agreeing to go, was shot by a party under the leadership of Micanopy and Osceola.
Micanopy was the head chief of the Seminoles. Osceola was a half-breed, the son of an Englishman named Powell. He had been reared with the tribe, however, and was to all intents and purposes an Indian. He was the most implacable and persistent, as well as the ablest, antago- nist of the United States among the Seminoles, and his talents for war, his administrative and executive ability, speedily raised him to a position of the first importance. He had many noble qualities and for an Indian he stands
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upon a very high plane, although he was not altogether the magnanimous hero which popular imagination de- picts him.
For instance, when they found the American gold which Amathla had received for his lands upon his person after they had murdered him, Osceola would not permit his band to appropriate any portion of it, but threw it away, saying that it was blood-money and that its pos- session would invite disaster !
One dramatic incident in his career has often been repeated. When he was asked with other chiefs to sign a treaty agreeing to the translation of the tribe beyond the Mississippi, he walked to the table, drew a knife and drove it through the parchment by a blow of his powerful arm, remarking grimly that thus and thus only would he sign the treaty.
The United States, being fully determined to remove the Seminoles willy-nilly, Osceola promptly began hostil- ities. Before they got through with him and his the country paid a price for Florida which staggered human- ity-humanity being more easily staggered in those days than now. The war was protracted by these two or three thousand Seminole warriors through seven years. It cost the United States twenty million dollars and the lives of fifteen hundred regular soldiers and certainly more than as many of the settlers and volunteers.
Reputations were made and lost-the latter, mainly- by successive commanders, and Osceola was finally capt- ured by an act of the blackest treachery. This was nothing less than a flagrant violation of a safe conduct and a flag of truce, by General Jessup, of the U. S. Army, who had invited a conference with the chiefs, promising them absolute liberty to go as they had come, and who
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seized Osceola forcibly, when he trusted his person to American honor. The dauntless chief was thrown into prison and died at Fort Moultrie of grief and despair, after a short captivity.
In the end, of course, the Seminoles were defeated. The bulk of those who were left were sent beyond the Mississippi and a few who were harmless were allowed to remain in Florida. The country was at last open to set- tlement.
The Indians were able to protract the contest for seven years, first, on account of their splendid qualities as irreg- ular fighters, and second, by the almost inaccessible char- acter of the Everglades to which they repaired. They were not beaten until the warriors were practically exter- minated. In many respects their superb fighting reminds us of that of the Boers in South Africa. Their magnifi- cent valor and their desperate determination, the capac- ity of their chiefs, and the consecration of their warriors, sustained them to the end. Right was made only by might, in this instance.
II. The Massacre of Dade and his Men
The most terrible happening during the war was the occurrence which practically began it, and which is known as "The Dade Massacre." The word " massacre " is a very easy one. to bruit about, but how a body of troops who are surprised by an enemy in war time and who fight without asking quarter, until they are all killed, can be said to be massacred, in an invidious sense, is an open question. However, to the story.
In the fall of 1836, there were some five hundred
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United States regular troops in Florida, ten companies in all; one company at St. Augustine, six at Fort King in the centre of the state, nearest the scene of hostilities, and three at Fort Brooke on Hillsboro Bay, near what is now known as Tampa. Two companies were ordered from Fort Brooke on the 16th of December, to meet a force from Fort King near the forks of the Withlacoo- chee River, or Ouithlacoochee, as it used to be spelled, in order to undertake a punitive expedition.
To have taken one hundred men away from Fort Brooke would have left it practically defenceless. The commander, therefore, did not obey the order of General Clinch, the commander-in-chief in Florida, until a re-en- forcement of forty men under the command of Major Francis L. Dade reached him from Key West. Dade was a captain and brevet major in the Fourth Infantry, the same regiment which had, under Boyd, fought so gal- lantly at Tippecanoe twenty-five years before.
Immediately on his arrival the expeditionary force was made up. Drafts from Dade's Fourth Infantry men were made to complete two full companies of fifty men each of the Second Artillery and the Third Infantry, com- manded by Captains Gardiner and Frazer respectively, with Lieutenants Bassinger, Henderson, Mudge and Keais, and Assistant Surgeon Gatlin, as their subordi- nates. Captain Gardiner was to command the expedi- tion, but on the morning of the start Major Dade dis- covered that Captain Gardiner's wife was seriously ill and he therefore volunteered to lead the party so that Captain Gardiner could remain at the post to care for his wife.
The offer was accepted by the grateful captain and the party, comprising one hundred and nine effectives and a
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Spanish negro guide, set out, carrying ten days' provi- sions and accompanied by one six-pounder drawn by four oxen and one light horse wagon. The departure was taken at 6 A.M. on the 24th inst.
A short time after they left the post Captain Gardiner learned that a comfortable transport was to sail imme- diately for Key West, and as members of his wife's fam- ily and other friends were stationed there at the time, it was decided that it would be advisable to send Mrs. Gar- diner thither on the transport. Accordingly they placed her aboard the ship, and her husband bade her farewell, galloped after the detachment, which had been delayed by the breaking down of the ox train, and succeeded in reaching it that evening, raising the muster to one hun- dred and ten officers and men. It was a pity Gardiner had not gone with his poor wife.
Dade had halted his advance, sent back for horses to draw the cannon, and when they were provided marched on. The troops progressed slowly toward the designated rendezvous. It took them four days to make sixty-five miles. They were under Indian surveillance from the start. It was afterward learned that their guide was a traitor who had betrayed the route, and the Seminoles had resolved to intercept them. The usual precautions were observed, however, on the march and the camps were made carefully and thoroughly protected by sen- tries.
They were not molested, though conscious of observa- tion, until the 28th of December. They had crossed the fork of the Withlacoochee and were marching along the trail which served as a road. The ground was an open barren. On one side, however, there was a small pond surrounded by a stretch of swamp overgrown with grass
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five feet high and interspersed with scrubby palmettos. On the left side of the road the ground, save for the pine trees, was open and unencumbered.
Here the Indians had chosen to attack. They wished and expected to annihilate the detachment, and they selected a place which offered the Americans no conceal- ment, so that none of them could get away. At eight o'clock in the morning the advance came slowly trailing up the road.
Osceola had intended to direct the attack in person, but he was busy the day before, killing General Thompson, the Indian agent, his aides and the other settlers, and did not reach the scene of the battle until long after it was over. The Indians, however, were ably led by Micanopy. Some two hundred of them lay hidden in the tall grass overlooking the road which passed close to them. They had received strict orders from their chief not to fire on any account until he gave the signal, which would be the discharge of his own piece.
There do not seem to have been any flankers thrown out on this occasion. The place was the most unlikely one for an ambuscade that could have been conceived. There were numberless spots on the march where they might have been assaulted, narrow defiles, thick woods enclosed by impassable morasses, but here the country on one side was open and on the other the grass would have afforded cover to no force but an Indian one.
In high spirits the troops marched along. Captain Frazer and Lieutenant Mudge led the advance, which seems to have been strung out in a long line. After them came Major Dade with the main body with the six- pounder and the wagons in the midst. With cool and terrible patience Micanopy waited until the whole line
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was under the guns of his troops. Taking careful and deliberate aim at Dade he shot him dead.
Instantly the grass was alive with smoke and fire. Over half of the American force was shot down at the first vol- ley. Captain Frazer was instantly killed and Lieutenant Mudge was mortally wounded. Lieutenant Henderson had his left arm broken, and Lieutenant Keais both arms broken. Captain Gardiner, Lieutenant Bassinger and Dr. Gatlin were the only officers unhurt.
The suddenness of this appalling attack with the terri- ble losses consequent upon it, to the credit of the soldiers, be it said, in no wise disorganized them. There was no panic, the men abandoned the road instantly and took to the trees which abounded, in true Indian fashion, and poured a heavy fire upon the Seminoles. For some forty minutes the battle raged furiously, the Americans husbanding their fire and not delivering it until they caught sight of an enemy, when the Indians actually withdrew.
Hastily collecting the wounded who could be moved Captain Gardiner, who seems to have acted with great courage, moved back a short distance, bringing with him the six-pounder, which had been rapidly served by Lieu- tenant Bassinger. He had between forty or fifty men able to continue the battle. Instantly they set to work to fell trees to make a breastwork which he drew out in the form of a triangle.
They all worked with fervent desperation but did not succeed in raising the breastwork more than three small tree trunks high when the Indians appeared once more. They had been re-enforced and returned to the attack. The battle recommenced with fury. The other side of the road where the grass was thickest was a little higher
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than the place where the troops had attempted to make the breastwork in their haste, which, unfortunately, was in a slight depression. The Indians who surrounded the little fort on all sides easily commanded it with their fire.
Lieutenant Henderson, in spite of his broken arm, con- tinued to load and fire his musket until he was shot down. Lieutenant Keais lay in the breastwork, leaning his head against a log, helpless with his broken arms slung by a handkerchief, until he was shot again and killed. Dr. Gatlin, who had two double-barrelled shotguns which he used effectively, was finally killed by a bullet in the head. Captain Gardiner was mortally wounded and fell, crying, " I can give you no more orders, lads. Do your best ! "
Lieutenant Bassinger, who had fought his piece of artillery which was exposed on the outside of the fort until every man detailed to it had been killed, and him- self seriously wounded, crawled into the fort thereafter and continued the battle until every man had been killed or wounded. When the Indians perceived that the fort was silent, about two o'clock in the afternoon they ceased firing and swarmed into it.
They took many scalps but did not mutilate the bodies nor even rob them, except to take the officers' coats. Almost immediately they left the scene of action. The reason for their sudden departure was that they expected General Clinch's men, the troops from Fort King, which they must prepare to meet at once.
III. After the Battle
After they left the battle-field, however, a party of some fifty negroes appeared who began to kill and plunder
" I can give you no more orders, lads.
Do your best ! "
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the bodies. Lieutenant Bassinger, the only officer left alive, had, with some of the others, lain perfectly quiet while the Indians were in the fort, feigning death. When he perceived the intent of the negroes he strug- gled to his knees and begged for his life and the lives of his men. With brutal wickedness they cut him down with hatchets and mutilated his body in a fearful manner. They, too, were in a hurry, and three living private sol- diers escaped their attention. Two others had managed to get away. during the confusion of the fight, both severely wounded.
Ransom Clark, one of the living, had been wounded five times. His head had been struck by a bullet and he was covered with blood. One of the negroes had seized him to kill him, but another crying that the man was already dead as his head was blown open, the negro dropped him to the ground. He and the others had to lie perfectly still, not daring to give vent even to their anguish. Finally at evening one of the men left alive struggled to his feet and darted across the little breastwork. He was instantly shot dead by a lurking Indian.
Ransom Clark and a man named Cony, the remaining two, waited until dark and then started to return to Fort Brooke; Fort King was much nearer, but they did not know the way, and the Indians were between them and the troops. The progress of the two wounded men was attended by the most excruciating agony and was fright- fully slow. They were so badly injured that they were compelled to crawl the greater portion of the way on their hands and knees.
The next morning a mounted Indian observed the two fugitives. As the only chance for life they divided. The
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Indian pursued Cony and shot him, but Ransom Clark, urged to impossible exertions by the desperation of his case escaped from him. After three days he had dragged himself, or crawled, over the sixty-five miles that in- tervened between the place of the fight and Fort Brooke. He and the other two men referred to were the only persons who escaped, and the other two died of their wounds shortly after reaching the fort, leaving Clark as the sole survivor.
Clark was in a pitiable condition when he reached Fort Brooke, but he survived his awful sufferings for several years, dying as the result of them in 1840. He had led an adventurous life indeed, and had more than once es- caped from sudden death, the last occasion being a few years before when he was the only man saved from a boating party which had gone out from Fort Morgan for a sail and had been overtaken by a storm.
The story of that battle sent a thrill of horror through- out the country, and sealed the fate of the Seminoles. Those who had been inclined to show them pity, or to temporize, were now equally resolved with the others to wage war relentlessly until the end.
It was not until the following February-in the inter- val several battles having taken place-that an expedition reached the place where Dade and his command had been exterminated. The Inspector General thus reports what he found :
"Western Department, " Fort King, Florida, Feb. 22, 1836.
" General-Agreeably to your directions, I observed the battle ground six or seven miles north of the Withla- coochee River, where Major Dade and his command were destroyed by the Seminole Indians on the 28th of
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December, last, and have the honor to submit the follow- ing Report :
" The force under your command, which arrived at this post to-day from Tampa Bay, encamped on the 19th instant, on the ground occupied by Major Dade on the night of the 27th of December. He and his party were destroyed on the morning of the 28th, about four miles in advance of that position. He was advancing towards this post, and was attacked from the north, so that on the 20th instant we came upon the rear of his battle ground, about nine o'clock in the morning. Our advance guard had passed the ground without halting, when the General and his Staff came upon one of the most appall- ing scenes that can be imagined. We first saw some broken and scattered bones; then a cart, the two oxen of which were lying dead, as if they had fallen asleep, their yokes still upon them; a little to the right, one or two horses were seen. We then came to a small enclosure, made by felling trees in such a manner as to form a tri- angular breastwork for defence. Within the triangle, along the north and west faces of it, were about thirty bodies, mostly mere skeletons, although much of the clothing was left upon them. These were ly- ing, every one of them, in precisely the same posi- tion they must have occupied during the fight; their heads next to the logs over which they had delivered their fire, and their bodies stretched with striking regu- larity parallel to each other. They had evidently been shot dead at their posts, and the Indians had not dis- turbed them, except by taking the scalps of most of them. Passing this little breastwork, we found other bodies along the road, and by the side of the road, generally be- hind trees, which had been resorted to for covers from
ยท
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the enemies' fire. Advancing about two hundred yards farther, we found a cluster of bodies in the middle of the road. They were evidently the advanced guard, in the rear of which was the body of Major Dade, and to the right that of Captain Fraser.
" These were doubtless all shot down by the first fire of the Indians, except, perhaps, Captain Fraser, who must however have fallen very early in the fight. Those in the road, and by the trees, fell during the first attack. It was during a cessation of the fire, that the little band still remaining, about thirty in number, threw up the triangular breast-work, which, from the haste with which it was constructed, was necessarily defective, and could not protect the men in the second attack.
" We had with us many of the personal friends of the officers of Major Dade's command, and it is gratifying to be able to state, that every officer was identified by un- doubted evidence. They were buried, and the cannon, a six-pounder, that the Indians had thrown into a swamp, was recovered and placed vertically at the head of the grave, where it is to be hoped it will long remain. The bodies of the non-commissioned officers and pri- vates were buried in two graves and it was found that every man was accounted for. The command was com- posed of eight officers and one hundred and two non- commissioned officers and privates. The bodies of eight officers and ninety-eight men were interred, four men having escaped; three of whom reached Tampa Bay; the fourth was killed the day after the battle.
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