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diff --git a/old/53243-0.txt b/old/53243-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index dcd4444..0000000 --- a/old/53243-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,6116 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Historical Sketches of Colonial Florida, by -Richard L. Campbell - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Historical Sketches of Colonial Florida - -Author: Richard L. Campbell - -Release Date: October 10, 2016 [EBook #53243] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORICAL SKETCHES--COLONIAL FLORIDA *** - - - - -Produced by WebRover, Chris Curnow, srjfoo, ellinora and -the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - Transcriber’s Note - - Obvious spelling and punctuation errors corrected. - - Corrections noted by the printer in the ERRATA have been made to the - text. - - Befrenings Kriege was changed to Befreiungskriege in reference “Die - deutschen Hülfstruppen im Nordamerikanischen Befreiungskriege, 1776 - bis 1783” to match that book’s title in other sources. - - If Vol. 11 was used to refer to a second volume of Von Elking, it was - changed to Vol. II to be consistent with the majority of references. - - Other inconsistencies in spelling, hyphenation and use of space after - d’ (e.g. d’Iberville and d’ Iberville) have been left as in the - original. - - Italic text in the original is represented by underscores surrounding - the _italic text_. - - Small capitals in the original have been converted to ALL CAPS in the - text. - - Footnotes have been moved to the end of the relevant chapter. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - HISTORICAL SKETCHES - —OF— - Colonial Florida. - - —BY— - - RICHARD L. CAMPBELL. - - CLEVELAND, OHIO: - THE WILLIAMS PUBLISHING CO. - 1892. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - Entered according to Act of Congress, in year 1892, by RICHARD - L. CAMPBELL, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at - Washington. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - PREFACE. - - -The inducement to write this book was to supply, in a slight measure, -the want of any particular history of British rule in West Florida. With -that inducement, however, the effort would not have been made but for -the sources of original information existing in the Archives of the -Dominion of Canada, as well as others, pointed out to me by Dr. William -Kingsford of Ottawa, author of the ‘History of Canada;’ to whom I take -this occasion of making my acknowledgments. - -An account of British rule necessitated one of Spanish colonial annals, -both before and after it. - -If any apology be necessary for the space devoted to the Creeks, it will -be found in the considerations that for twenty years the body of the -nation was within the limits of British West Florida; that their -relations with the British, formed during that period, influenced their -conduct towards the United States until after the War of 1812; and above -all, that the life of Alexander McGillivray forms a part of the history -of West Florida, both under British and Spanish rule. - -The prominence given to Pensacola is due to its having been the capital -of both British and Spanish West Florida, and therefore the centre of -provincial influence. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CONTENTS. - - - PAGE. - - CHAPTER I 9 - - The Discovery of Pensacola Bay by the Panfilo de - Narvaez. The Visits of Maldonado, Captain of the - Fleet of Hernando de Soto. - - - CHAPTER II 19 - - The Settlement of Don Tristram de Luna at Santa - Maria—His Explorations—Abandonment of the - Settlement—The First Pensacola. - - - CHAPTER III 31 - - Don Andrés de Pes—Santa Maria de Galva—Don Andrés - d’Arriola—The Resuscitation of Pensacola—Its - Consequences. - - - CHAPTER IV 36 - - Iberville’s Expedition—Settlement at Biloxi and - Mobile—Amicable Relations of the French and - Spanish Colonies from 1700-1719. - - - CHAPTER V 41 - - War Declared by France against Spain—Bienville - Surprises Metamoras—Metamoras Surprises - Chateauqné—Bienville Attacks and Captures - Pensacola—San Carlos and Pensacola Destroyed— - Magazine Spared. - - - CHAPTER VI 51 - - Sketch of Island Town—Its Destruction—The Third - Pensacola—The Cession of Florida by Spain to Great - Britain—Appearance of Town in 1763—Captain Wills’ - Report—Catholic Church. - - - CHAPTER VII 59 - - British West Florida—Pensacola the Capital— - Government Established—Johnstone first Governor— - British Settlers—First Survey of the Town—Star - Fort—Public Buildings—Resignation of Johnstone—His - Successor, Monteforte Brown. - - - CHAPTER VIII 71 - - General Bouquet—General Haldimand. - - - CHAPTER IX 78 - - Governor Elliott—Social and Military Life in - Pensacola—Gentlemen—Women—Fiddles—George Street— - King’s Wharf on November 14, 1768. - - - CHAPTER X 87 - - Governor Peter Chester—Ft. George of the British and - St. Michael of the Spanish—Council Chamber—Tartar - Point—Red Cliff. - - - CHAPTER XI 93 - - Representative Government. - - - CHAPTER XII 97 - - Growth of Pensacola—Panton, Leslie & Co.—A King and - the Beaver—Governor Chester’s Palace and Chariot— - The White House of the British and Casa Blanca of - the Spanish—General Gage—Commerce—Earthquake. - - - CHAPTER XIII 111 - - Military Condition of West Florida in 1778—General - John Campbell—The Waldecks—Spain at War with - Britain—Bute, Baton Rouge and Fort Charlotte - Capitulate to Galvez—French Town—Famine in Fort - George—Galvez’s Expedition Against Pensacola— - Solana’s Fleet Enters the Harbor—Spaniards Effect - a Landing—Spanish Entrenchment Surprised—The Fall - of Charleston Celebrated in Fort George. - - - CHAPTER XIV 131 - - Fort San Bernardo—Siege of Fort George—Explosion of - Magazine—The Capitulation—The March Through the - Breach—British Troops Sail from Pensacola to - Brooklyn. - - - CHAPTER XV 142 - - Political Aspect of the Capitulation—Treaty of - Versailles—English Exodus—Widow of the White - House. - - - CHAPTER XVI 150 - - Boundary Lines—William Panton and Spain—Indian - Trade—Indian Ponies and Traders—Business of - Panton, Leslie & Co. - - - CHAPTER XVII 158 - - Lineage of Alexander McGillivray—His Education—Made - Grand Chief—His Connection with Milfort—His - Relations with William Panton—His Administration - of Creek Affairs—Appointed Colonel by the British— - Treaty with Spain—Commissioned Colonel by the - Spanish—Invited to New York by Washington—Treaty— - Commissioned a Brigadier-General by the United - States—His Sister, Sophia Durant—His Trials—His - Death at Pensacola. - - - CHAPTER XVIII 200 - - Governor Folch—Barrancas—Changes in the Plan of the - Town—Ship Pensacola—Disputed Boundaries—Square - Ferdinand VII.—English Names of Streets Changed - for Spanish Names—Palafox—Saragossa—Reding—Baylen - Romana—Alcaniz—Tarragona. - - - CHAPTER XIX 217 - - Folch Leaves West Florida—His Successors—War of - 1812—Tecumseh’s Visit to the Seminoles and Creeks— - Consequences—Fort Mims—Percy and Nicholls’ - Expedition. - - - CHAPTER XX 227 - - Attack on Fort Boyer by Percy and Nicholls—Jackson’s - March on Pensacola in 1814—The Town Captured—Percy - and Nicholls Driven Out—Consequences of the War to - the Creeks—Don Manuel Gonzalez. - - - CHAPTER XXI 243 - - Seminole War, 1818—Jackson Invades East Florida— - Defeats the Seminoles—Captures St. Marks—Arbuthnot - and Ambrister—Prophet Francis—His Daughter. - - - CHAPTER XXII 252 - - Jackson’s Invasion of West Florida in 1818—Masot’s - Protest—Capture of Pensacola—Capitulation of San - Carlos—Provisional Government Established by - Jackson—Pensacola Restored to Spain—Governor - Callava—Treaty of Cession—Congressional Criticism - of Jackson’s Conduct. - - - CHAPTER XXIII 267 - - Treaty Ratified—Jackson Appointed Provisional - Governor—Goes to Pensacola—Mrs. Jackson in - Pensacola—Change of Flags—Callava Imprisoned— - Territorial Government—Governor Duval—First - Legislature Meets at Pensacola. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - ERRATA. - - - Page 10. _Sixteenth_ for Eighteenth. - “ 61. _Distant_ for District. - “ 113. _Journal_ for Journey. - “ 117. _1779_ for 1789. - “ 225. _Barrataria_ for Banataria. - “ 276. _Domingo_ for Doningo. - “ 233. _During_ for Doing. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER I. - -The Discovery of Pensacola Bay by Panfilo de Narvaez—The Visits of - Maldonado, Captain of the Fleet of Hernando de Soto. - - -On one of the early days of October, 1528, there could have been seen, -coasting westward along and afterwards landing on the south shore of -Santa Rosa Island, five small, rudely-constructed vessels, having for -sails a grotesque patchwork of masculine under and over-wear. That fleet -was the fruit of the first effort at naval construction within the -present limits of the United States. It was built of yellow pine and -caulked with palmetto fibre and pitch. Horses’ tails and manes furnished -the cordage, as did their hides its water vessels. Its freightage -consisted of two hundred and forty human bodies, wasted and worn by -fatigue and exposure, and as many hearts heavy and racked with -disappointment. It was commanded by His Excellency Panfilo de Narvaez, -Captain-general and Adelantado of Florida, a tall, big-limbed, -red-haired, one-eyed man, “with a voice deep and sonorous as though it -came from a cavern.” - -These were the first white men to make footprints on the shores of -Pensacola Bay and to look out upon its waters. Although they landed on -the Island, there is no evidence that their vessels entered the harbor. - -Narvaez, an Hidalgo, born at Valladolid about 1480, was a man capable of -conceiving and undertaking great enterprises, but too rash and -ill-starred for their successful execution, possessing the ambition and -avarice which impelled the Spanish adventurers to the shores of the Gulf -of Mexico during the sixteenth century, with whom Indian life was but a -trifling sacrifice for a pearl or an ounce of gold. - -Five years before his Florida expedition he had been appointed, with a -large naval and land force under his command, by Velasquez, governor of -Cuba, to supersede Cortez, the conqueror of Mexico, and to send him in -chains to Havana, to answer charges of insubordination to the authority -of Velasquez. But Cortez was not the man to be thus superseded. Never -did his genius for great enterprises make a more striking display than -by the measures he adopted and executed in this emergency. By them he -converted that threatening expedition into one of succor for himself, -embracing every supply, soldiers included, he required to complete his -conquests. Of this great achievement the defeat of the incompetent -Narvaez was only an incident. - -No labored comparison of conqueror and vanquished could present a more -striking contrast between them than that suggested by their first -interview. “Esteem it,” said Narvaez, “great good fortune that you have -taken me captive.” “It is the least of the things I have done in -Mexico,” replied Cortez, a sarcasm aimed at the incapacity of Narvaez, -apart from the gains of the victor. - -The fruits of the expedition to Narvaez were the loss of his left eye, -shackles, imprisonment, banishment, and the humiliation of kneeling to -his conqueror and attempting to kiss his hand. To the Aztec the result -was the introduction of a scourge that no surrender could placate, no -submission, however absolute and abject, could stay, and, therefore, -more pitiless than the sword of Cortez—the small-pox. - -After leaving Mexico, Narvaez appeared before the Emperor Charles V., to -accuse Cortez of treason, and to petition for a redress of his own -wrongs, but the dazzling success of Cortez, to say nothing of his large -remittances to the royal treasury, was an effectual answer to every -charge. The emperor, however, healed the wounded pride, and silenced the -complaints of the prosecutor by a commission with the aforementioned -sonorous titles to organize an expedition for a new conquest, by which -he might compensate himself for the loss of the treasures and empire of -Montezuma, which he had so disastrously failed to snatch from the iron -grasp of Cortez. - -The preparations to execute this commission having been made by -providing a fleet, a land force, consisting of men-at-arms and cavalry, -as well as the necessary supplies, Narvaez, in April, 1528, sailed for -the Florida coast, and landed at or near Tampa bay. - -Having resolved on a westward movement, he ordered his fleet to sail -along the coast, whilst he, by rather a circuitous march, would advance -in the same direction. This parting was at once final and fatal. He -again reached the Gulf, somewhere in the neighborhood of St. Marks, with -his command woefully wasted and diminished by toil, battle and disease; -and, as can well be imagined, with his dreams of avarice and dominion -rudely dispelled. - -No tidings of the fleet from which he had so lucklessly parted being -obtainable, despair improvised that fleet with motley sails which we -have seen mooring off the island of Santa Rosa in the early days of -October, its destination being Mexico—a destination, however, which was -but another delusion that the winds and the waves were to dispel. - -Narvaez found a grave in the maw of the sea, as did most of the remnant -of his followers. Famine swept off others, leaving only four to reach -Mexico after a land journey requiring years, marked by perils and -sufferings incident to such a journey through a vast forest bounded only -by the sea, intersected by great rivers, inhabited by savages, and -infested by wild beasts. One of the survivors was Cabeça de Vaca, the -treasurer and historian of the expedition. - -Twelve years elapsed after Narvaez discovered Pensacola Bay before the -shadow of the white man’s sail again fell upon its waters. In January, -1540, Capitano Maldonado, who was the commander of the fleet which -brought Fernando de Soto to the Florida coast, entered the harbor, gave -it a careful examination, and bestowed upon it the name of Puerta d’ -Anchusi, a name probably suggested by Ochus,[1] which it bore at the -time of his visit. In entering Ochus he ended a voyage westward, made in -search of a good harbor, under the orders of Soto, who was at that time -somewhere on the Florida coast to the westward of Apalachee. - -Having returned to Soto, Maldonado made so favorable a report—the first -official report—of the advantages of Puerta d’ Anchusi that Soto -determined to make it his base of supply. He accordingly ordered -Maldonado to proceed to Havana, and after having procured the required -succors to sail to Puerta d’ Anchusi, where he intended to go himself, -and there to await Maldonado’s return before he ventured into the -interior; a prudent resolve, suggested possibly by the sight of the -bones of Narvaez’s horses, which had been slain to furnish cordage and -water-vessels for his fleet. - -But the resolve was as brief as it was wise. A few days after -Maldonado’s departure a captured Indian so beguiled Soto with tales of -gold to be found far to the northeast of Apalachee, where he then was, -that banishing all thoughts of Puerta d’ Anchusi from his mind, he began -that circuitous march which carried him into South Carolina, northern -Georgia, and Alabama, where he wandered in search of treasure until -disappointment, wasted forces, and needed supplies again turned his -march southward, and his thoughts to his rendezvous with Maldonado. - -That rendezvous was to be in October, 1540. Faithful to instructions, -Maldonado was at Puerta d’ Anchusi at the appointed time with a fleet -bearing all the required supplies. But Soto did not keep the tryst. He -was then at Mauvilla, or Maubila, supposed to be Choctaw Bluff, on the -Alabama river, absorbed by difficulties and engaged in conflicts such as -he had never before encountered. Through Indians they had communicated, -and intense was the satisfaction of Soto and his command at the prospect -of a relief of their wants, repose from their toils, and tidings of -their friends and loved ones. - -Soto, however, still ambitious of emulating the achievements of Cortez -and Pizzaro, looked upon Puerta d’ Anchusi as only a base of supply and -refuge for temporary repose, from which again to set out in search of -his goal. But very different were the views of his followers. By -eaves-dropping on a dark night behind their tents, he learned that to -them Puerta d’ Anchusi was not to be a haven of temporary rest only, but -the first stage of their journey homeward, where Soto and his fortunes -were to be abandoned. - -This information again banished Puerta d’ Anchusi from his thoughts -under the promptings of pride, which impelled him to prefer death in the -wilderness to the mockery and humiliation of failure. He at once -resolved to march deeper into the heart of the continent, and, -unconsciously, nearer to the mighty river in whose cold bosom he was to -find a grave. - -As in idea we go into the camp at Mauvilla, on the morning when the word -of command was given for a westward march, we see depicted on the -war-worn visages of that iron band naught but gloom and disappointment, -as, constrained by the stern will of one man, they obediently fall into -ranks without a murmur, much less a sign of revolt. - -Again, if in fancy we stand on the deck of Maldonado’s ship at Puerta d’ -Anchusi, we may realize the keen watchfulness and the deep anxiety with -which day after day and night after night he scans the shore and hills -beyond to catch a glint of spear or shield, or strains his ear to hear a -bugle note announcing the approach of his brothers-in-arms. And only -after long, weary months was the vigil ended, as he weighed anchor and -sailed out of the harbor to go to other points on the Gulf shore where -happily he might yet meet and succor his commander. - -To this task did he devote himself for three years, scouring the Gulf -coast from Florida to Vera Cruz, until the curtain of the drama was -lifted for him, to find that seventeen months previously his long-sought -chief had been lying in the depths of the Mississippi, and that a -wretched remnant only of that proud host, which he had last seen in -glittering armor on the coast of Florida, had reached Mexico after -undergoing indescribable perils and privations. - ------ - -Footnote 1: - - So the name is given by historians; but, to be consistent with the - termination of other Indian names in West Florida, it should be - written Ochee or Ochusee. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER II. - -The Settlement of Don Tristram de Luna at Santa Maria—His Explorations— - Abandonment of the Settlement—The First Pensacola. - - -Nearly twenty years passed away after Maldonado’s visit to Ochus before -Europeans again looked upon its shores. - -In 1556, the viceroy of Mexico, and the bishop of Cuba united in a -memorial to the Emperor Charles V. representing Florida as an inviting -field for conquest and religious work. Imperial sanction having been -secured, an expedition was organized under the command of Don Tristram -de Luna to effect the triple objects of bringing gold into the emperor’s -treasury, extending his dominions, and enlarging the bounds of the -spiritual kingdom by winning souls to the church. For the first two -enterprises one thousand five hundred soldiers were provided, and for -the last a host of ecclesiastics, friars, and other spiritual teachers. -Puerta d’ Anchusi was selected as the place of the projected settlement, -the base from which the cross and the sword were to advance to their -respective conquests. - -Accordingly, on the fourteenth day of August, 1559, de Luna’s fleet cast -anchor within the harbor, which he named Santa Maria; the same year in -which the monarch who authorized the expedition died, the month, and -nearly the day on which he, a living man, was engaged in the paradoxical -farce of participating in his own funeral ceremonies in the monastery of -Yusté. - -The population of two thousand souls, which the fleet brought, with the -required supplies of every kind, having been landed, the work of -settlement began. Of the place where the settlement was made there -exists no historic information, and we are left to the inference that -the local advantages which afterwards induced d’ Arriola to select what -is now called Barrancas as the site of his town, governed the selection -of de Luna’s, unless tradition enables us to identify the spot, as a -future page will endeavor to do. - -The destruction of the fleet by a hurricane within a week after its -arrival threw a shadow over the infant settlement, aggravating the -natural discontent incident to all colonizations, resulting from the -contrast between the stern realities of experience and of expectations -colored by the imagination of the colonist. Against that discontent, -ever on the increase, de Luna manfully and successfully struggled until -1562; and thus it was, that for two years and more there existed a town -of about two thousand inhabitants on the shores of Pensacola Bay, which -antedated by four years St. Augustine, the oldest town of the United -States. - -Don Tristram de Luna sent expeditions into the interior, and finally led -one in person. In these journeys the priest and the friar joined, and -daily in a tabernacle of tree boughs the holy offices of the Catholic -faith were performed, the morning chant and the evening hymn breaking -the silence and awakening the echoes of the primeval forest. - -Where they actually went, and how far north, it is impossible to say, -owing to our inability to identify the sites of villages, rivers, and -other land marks mentioned in the narratives of their journeys. The -presumption is strong, however, that they took, and followed northward -the Indian trail, on the ridge beginning at Pensacola Bay, forming the -water shed between the Perdido and Escambia rivers, and beyond their -headwaters uniting with the elevated country which throws off its -springs and creeks eastward to the Chattahoochee and westward to the -Alabama and Tallapoosa rivers. It continued northerly to the Tennessee -river; a lateral trail diverging to where the city of Montgomery now -stands, and thence to the site of Wetumpka; and still another leading to -what is now Grey’s Ferry on the Tallapoosa. - -That trail, according to tradition, was the one by which the Indians, -from the earliest times, passed between the Coosa country and the sea, -the one followed in later times by the Indian traders on their -pack-ponies, and the line of march of General Jackson in his invasion of -Florida in 1814. - -That it was regarded and used as their guiding thread by de Luna’s -expeditions in penetrating the unknown country north of Santa Maria they -sought to explore, is evidenced by two facts. They came to a large river -which, instead of crossing, they followed its course, undoubtedly by the -ridge, and, therefore, not far from the trail. They also came to or -crossed the line of de Soto’s march, which he had made ten years -previously, as following the trail they would be compelled to do and -found amongst the Indians a vivid recollection of the destruction and -rapine of their people by white men, which they assigned as the cause of -the then sparsity of population, and the abandonment of clearings -formerly under cultivation. - -So impressed was de Luna with the fertility and other attractive -features of the beautiful region of Central Alabama, which he explored, -that he determined to plant a colony there. But in that design he was -eventually thwarted by the discontent and insubordination of his -followers, the most of whom, from the first, seem to have had no other -object in view than to break up the settlement, and to terminate their -insupportable exile by returning to Mexico. - -There were amongst those composing the expedition two elements which -proved fatal to its success. The gold-greedy soon found that the pine -barrens of Florida, and the fertile valleys of Alabama were not the -eldorado of which they had dreamed. To the friar, the spiritual outlook -was not more promising, the Indians he encountered being more ready to -scalp their would-be spiritual guide than to open their ears to his -teachings. - -Ostensibly, to procure supplies for the colony, two friars sailed for -Havana and thence to Vera Cruz, to make known its necessities to the -Viceroy of Mexico, and solicit the required succor. But, as soon as they -could reach his ear they endeavored to persuade him of the futility of -the expedition, and the unpromising character of the country as a field -for colonization. - -At first, his heart being in the enterprise, he was loathe to listen to -reports so inconsistent with the glowing accounts which had prompted the -expedition and enlisted his zealous support; but, at last, an impression -was made upon him, and an inquiry resolved upon. - -But the viceroyal investigation was forestalled by the visit to Santa -Maria of Don Angel de Villafana, whom the Viceroy of Cuba had appointed -governor of that, at that time undefined region called Florida, who -permitted the dissatisfied colonists to embark in his vessels, and -abandon the, to them, hateful country in which they had passed two -miserable years. - -Don Tristram de Luna, with a few followers only, remained, with the -fixed resolution to maintain the settlement, provided he could secure -the approbation and assistance of the Viceroy. But an application for -that purpose, accompanied by representations of the inviting character -of the interior for settlement, was met by a prompt recall of de Luna -and an order for the abandonment of the enterprise. - -Don Tristram, against whom history makes no accusations of cruelty or -bloodshed during his expeditions into the interior, or his stay at Santa -Maria, and who, animated by the spirit of legitimate colonization, -sought only to found a new settlement, invites respect, if not -admiration, as a character distinct and apart from the gold-seeking -cut-throat adventurers that Spain sent in shoals to the Gulf shores -during the sixteenth century. Sympathy with him in his trials and regret -at his failure, induce the reflection that, perhaps, had he been -burdened with fewer gold-seekers and only one-twentieth of the -ecclesiastics who encumbered and leavened the colony with discontent, -his settlement might have proved permanent. - -The local results of de Luna’s expedition were fixing, for a time, the -name of Santa Maria upon the Bay, and permanently stamping upon its -shores the name Pensacola; and here narration must be suspended to -determine the origin of the latter. - -Roberts says, the name was “that of an Indian tribe inhabiting round the -bay but which was destroyed.” Mr. Fairbanks tells us it was “a name -derived from the locality having been, formerly, that of the town of a -tribe of Indians called Pencacolas, which had been entirely exterminated -in conflicts with neighboring tribes.” - -The first objection to this assigned origin of the name is, that it is -evidently not Indian, such names in West Florida invariably terminating -with a double e, as for examples, Apalachee, Choctawhatchee, Uchee, -Ochusee, Escambee, Ochesee, Chattahoochee. The “cola” added to -Apalachee, and “ia” substituted in Escambia for ee, indicate the -difference between the terminations of Indian and Spanish names. - -Again, amongst savages, we should expect to find in the name of a place -an indication of a natural object, the name being expressive of the -object, and hence as lasting. But, that the accident of an encampment of -savages upon a locality should stamp that locality with their tribal -name, as a designation that should survive not only the encampment, but -the very existence of the tribe, is incredible. An extinct tribe would -in a generation or two cease to have a place in the traditions of -surviving tribes, because their extinction would be only an ordinary -event amongst American savages. - -The termination being Spanish, and no natural object existing suggestive -of the name, we naturally turn our search to a vocabulary of Spanish -names, historical and geographical. - -Perched upon a rock springing 240 feet high from the Mediterranean shore -of Spain, connected with the mainland by a narrow strip of sand, is the -fortified little seaport of Peniscola. Substitute “a” for “i,” transpose -“s” and we have the name for the original of which we seek. The seaports -of Spain furnished the great body of Spanish adventurers to America in -the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; and what more likely than that -some native of the little town crowning with its vine-clad cottages the -huge rock that looks out upon the “midland ocean,” should have sought to -honor his home by fixing its name upon a spot in the new world? - -When and by whom the name was affixed to our shores is an interesting -inquiry. Neither Roberts, nor Fairbanks, nor any other authority, -informs us. It comes into history with the advent of d’ Arriola, whose -settlement will be the subject of a future page. - -Three hypotheses furnish as many answers to the question: it was -original with Arriola to the extent at least of a new application of a -Spanish name; or he found the place already named in some chart or -document now lost to us; or already fixed by an Indian tradition, -according to Roberts and Fairbanks. - -The first hypothesis requires no comment. The second rests upon the -existence of a fact of which we can procure no evidence. The third is a -tradition founded upon, or involving, a Spanish name. - -Very extraordinary events or striking objects only are the subjects of -the traditions of savage tribes; and what event can be imagined more -extraordinary and impressive to the savage mind than to be brought -suddenly in contact, for the first time, with the white man under all -the circumstances and conditions of de Luna’s settlement? It was one not -likely to pass out of tradition in the lapse of one hundred and -thirty-three years, for two long lives only would be required for its -transmission. The settlers would be, in Indian terminology, a tribe; -their departure would be an extinction; and vanity would at last -attribute its ending to the prowess of the Red man. - -A name that identifies a locality and forms a feature of a purely Indian -tradition, having no reference to or connection whatever with the white -man, must be an Indian name. Here, however, the name under discussion is -a Spanish and not an Indian name. The conclusion is, therefore, -irresistible, that as the name is Spanish the tradition relates to -Spaniards, and that the former is a Spanish designation of the locality -of the people to whom it relates. - -The settlement of de Luna was the only Spanish settlement with which the -Indians could have come in contact before Arriola’s. That settlement, -therefore, must be the subject of the Indian tradition, and the Spanish -name Pensacola must have been its name. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER III. - -Don Andrés de Pes—Santa Maria de Galva—Don Andres d’ Arriola—The - Resuscitation of Pensacola—Its Consequences. - - -In 1693, Don Andrés de Pes entered the Bay, but how long he remained, or -why he came, whether for examination of its advantages, from curiosity, -or necessity, to disturb its solitude and oblivion of one hundred and -thirty-three years, history does not say. But as a memorial of his -visit, he supplemented the name de Luna had given it with de Galva, in -honor of the Viceroy of Mexico; and thus, it comes into colonial history -with the long title of Santa Maria de Galva. - -In 1696, three years after de Pes’ visit, Don Andrés d’ Arriola, with -three hundred soldiers and settlers, took formal possession of the -harbor and the surrounding country, which, to make effectual and -permanent, he built a “square fort with bastions” at what is now called -Barrancas, which he named San Carlos. As the beginning, or rather -reconstruction of a town named Pensacola, he erected some houses -adjacent to the fort. And there, too, was built a church, historically -the first ever erected on the shores of Pensacola Bay, but presumptively -the second; for it is hardly credible that the large settlement of de -Luna, embracing so many ecclesiastics, should have failed to observe the -universal custom of the Spaniards to build a church wherever they -planted a colony. Irresistible, therefore, is the inference that the -first notes of a church-bell heard within the limits of the United -States were those which rolled over the waters of Pensacola Bay and the -white hills of Santa Rosa from 1559 to 1562. - -Having demonstrated that the settlement of de Luna was the original -Pensacola, that of Arriola was apparently the second, though actually -but a resuscitation of the colony of 1559; for the name, the people, -though not the same generation, and the place being one, mere lapse of -time should not be permitted to destroy the unity which may be so justly -attributed to the two settlements. - -The inhabitants of the town having been largely recruited by malefactors -banished from Mexico, must be notched low in the scale of morals. But, -perhaps, in some instances at least, actions were then adjudged crimes -deserving banishment which might be deemed virtues in a more enlightened -age, and under free institutions; for under the despotic colonial -governments of Spanish America in that age to criticize the vices, or -censure the lawless edicts of a satrap, was a heinous offence, for which -transportation was but a mild punishment. - -Originally, Spain’s dominion was asserted over the entire circle of the -shores of the Gulf of Mexico, as well as over all the islands which they -girdled. But upon the voyage of La Salle from the upper waters of the -Mississippi to the sea, France asserted a claim, under the name of -Louisiana, to the entire valley of the river from its spring-heads to -the Gulf, making to the extent of the southern limit of her claim, from -east to west, a huge gap in Spain’s North American empire. - -But where were the eastern boundary of Louisiana, and the western limit -of Florida to be fixed? Had the French expedition under Iberville -reached Florida before Arriola’s, Pensacola would have been included in -Louisiana, and afterwards in the State of Alabama. But Arriola’s -settlement was first, in point of time; and it is to him must be -attributed the establishment of the Perdido as the boundary line between -the French and Spanish colonies, and the consequent exclusion of -Pensacola from the limits of the great State of Alabama, her political -influence, her fostering care, and, comparatively, from the vitalizing -influence of her vast mineral and agricultural resources. - -The interest of history consists not in the mere knowledge or -contemplation of events as isolated facts, but in studying their -interrelations, and following their threads of connection through all -the meshes of cause and effect. It is, therefore, an interesting -reflection that the settlement of Arriola may not have been the -absolute, though it was the apparent, cause of the consequences above -pointed out. Behind it, in the shadow of a century and a third, may -perchance be discerned the ultimate and final cause of those -consequences in the settlement of de Luna. He planted the first colony, -and because he so did, Arriola settled his on that spot upon which the -lost chart and tradition probably coincided in fixing the Pensacola of -1559. - -How illustrative of the truth that as one human life can have but one -beginning, so it is with that aggregate of human lives which we call a -people. “In the almighty hands of eternal God, a people’s history is -interrupted and recommenced—never.”[2] - ------ - -Footnote 2: - - The last sentence of Guizot’s History of France. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER IV. - -Iberville’s Expedition—Settlement at Biloxi and Mobile—Amicable - Relations of the French and Spanish Colonies from 1700-1719. - - -The French expedition referred to in the previous chapter, the delay of -which was so fateful to the growth and commercial future of Pensacola, -appeared off the mouth of the harbor in January, 1699. But, observing -the Spanish flag flying from the mast-head of two war vessels lying in -the Bay and from the flagstaff of Fort San Carlos, they did not enter -the harbor, but cast anchor off the Island of Santa Rosa. Thence an -application was made to the Spanish governor for permission to enter, -which was promptly refused. - -After that curt refusal of the Spaniards, the fleet, consisting of three -vessels under the command of Lemoine d’ Iberville, accompanied by his -brothers, Bienvielle and Sauville, which was taking out a colony with -the necessary supplies to settle southern Louisiana, sailed westward and -took formal possession of the country west of the Perdido river. - -Iberville’s first settlement was made at Biloxi on the twenty-seventh of -February, 1699, but it was afterwards abandoned, in 1702, and removed to -Mobile. - -To the accession of Philip V., a Bourbon prince, to the Spanish crown, -whilst Louis XIV. reigned in France, must be attributed the strangely -peaceful settlement of the Perdido as the boundary line between -Louisiana and Florida. For the politic, if not natural, harmony existing -between two kings belonging to the same royal family, a grandfather and -a grandson, both the objects of jealousy and suspicion to the other -nations of Europe, necessarily inspired a like feeling in their -respective colonial officers. Hence it was that we find that the -ineffectual expedition of Governor Ravolli of Pensacola, in 1700, to -expel the French from Ship Island, was the last instance of hostility -between the Louisiana French and the Florida Spaniards for a period of -nineteen years. - -Indeed, so intimate were the relations between the two colonies, that -Iberville, coming from France, in 1702, with two war ships taking succor -to the French colonists, terminated their voyage at Pensacola, and -thence sent the supplies to Mobile in small vessels. Again, in 1703, he -began a voyage to France by sailing from Pensacola. - -The War of the Spanish Succession, in which England was the antagonist -of Spain and France, tightened the bonds of amity between the colonies -of the latter. In 1702, in anticipation of an English expedition against -Pensacola, Governor Martino readily procured from Bienville a needed -supply of arms and ammunition. On the other hand, in 1704, Governor -Martino promptly furnished food from his stores at Pensacola to the -famine-threatened colonists at Mobile; that kind office being a just -requital of a like humanity which had been exercised by Bienville, in -1702, towards the starving garrison of San Carlos. - -In 1706-7, eighteen Englishmen from Carolina, heading a large body of -Indians, made inroads upon the Spanish settlements in Florida, and, -strange as it may seem, extended their operations as far westward as -Pensacola. In the latter year, Bienville was applied to by the Spanish -governor to aid him in defending Pensacola from an impending attack by -the Englishmen and their Indian allies. Prompt and bold in action, -Bienville at once advanced from Mobile with one hundred and twenty -Canadians to assist the Spaniards. But no conflict occurred, for after a -few days of hostile demonstrations the enemy abandoned their enterprise, -owing to the want of necessary supplies. - -In other ways, too, the good feeling and intimate relations of the two -colonies were manifested. We learn, from a letter of the mean, jealous, -and growling Governor Condillac of Louisiana to Count Pontchartrain, -that, in 1713, there existed a trade between Pensacola and Mobile, in -which the former was supplied by the latter with lumber, poultry and -vegetables—a petty traffic, but not too small to excite the jealousy of -the old grumbler. - -Such were the friendly relations existing between the Florida Spaniards -and the Louisiana French up to 1719, being the year after Bienville had -founded the city of New Orleans; relations which must be borne in mind -to enable us to form an enlightened judgment upon the actions of the men -engaged in the bloody drama which was ushered in by the nineteen years -of kind offices and good fellowship which have been mentioned. - - * * * * * - - Lemoine d’ Iberville, a Canadian, esteemed the most skillful - officer of the French navy brilliantly distinguished on many - occasions, was selected to command the expedition to southern - Louisiana, designed to perfect by colonization the claim France - founded upon the voyage of La Salle. He and his brothers, - Bienville, the founder of New Orleans, Sauville, Sevigny and - Chateaugné presented a group of men seldom accorded to one - family. - - During a visit to Havana, d’ Iberville died on the ninth of - July, 1706, leaving to his brothers the task of perfecting the - great enterprise to which the last seven years of his own life - had been devoted. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER V. - -War Declared by France against Spain—Bienville Surprises Metamoras— - Metamoras Surprises Chateaugné—Bienville Attacks and Captures - Pensacola—San Carlos and Pensacola Destroyed—Magazine Spared. - - -On the thirteenth of April, 1719, two French vessels brought to the -French colony the intelligence that in the previous December, France had -declared war against Spain; an event of which Don Juan Pedro Metamoras, -governor of Pensacola, who had just succeeded Don Gregorio de Salinas, -had no information. - -Bienville at once organized, with all possible secrecy, an expedition by -land and water to capture Pensacola by surprise. The land force, -consisting of four hundred Indians and a body of Canadians, was -collected at Mobile. The naval force, composed of three vessels, two of -them, the _Philippe_ and the _Toulouse_, carrying twenty-four guns each, -under the command of Sevigny, had its rendezvous at Dauphin Island. - -The movement of Bienville, who marched across the country with his land -force, and that of the fleet were so well timed that on the fourteenth -of May, at 5 o’clock in the afternoon, as the vessels presented their -shotted broadsides to San Carlos, Bienville, his Canadians, and Indians, -appeared on its land side. There was, of course, nothing for Metamoras -to do but to order the chamade to be beaten and to settle the terms of -capitulation. He surrendered the post and all public property within his -jurisdiction. It was stipulated that he and his garrison should march -out of the fort with the honors of war, retaining a cannon and three -charges of powder, that they should be transported to Havana in French -vessels, that the town should be protected from violence, and that the -property of the soldiers and that of the inhabitants should be -respected. - -The victim of such a ruse, it was natural that Metamoras should have -directed his thoughts to retaliation; and it is probable that during the -voyage to Havana he meditated for his captors a surprise as complete and -prompt as that which he had just suffered from them. - -After the French vessels, the _Toulouse_ and the _Mareschal de Villars_ -had reached Cuba and landed their prisoners, they were seized by order -of the governor of Havana, who had at once, upon learning of the -disaster at Pensacola, determined upon its prompt reparation by a -recapture. He accordingly prepared a fleet, consisting of a Spanish war -ship, nine brigantines and the two French vessels. In this fleet -Metamoras and his lately captured troops, besides others, embarked for -Pensacola. - -On the sixth of August, the Spanish fleet was off the harbor. The two -French vessels, flying the French flag, first entered as decoys, to -enable them to secure favorable positions for attacking San Carlos in -the event of a refusal to surrender. Immediately after them came the -Spanish war vessel. The ruse for position succeeded, but the demand to -surrender was peremptorily refused by Chateaugné, the commander of the -fort. To an almost harmless cannonade there succeeded an armistice, -which the French sought to have extended to four, but which the -Spaniards limited to two days. - -After the expiration of the armistice, another ineffectual exchange of -cannon shots was followed by the surrender of the fort; the terms being -that the garrison of one hundred and sixty men should march out with the -honors of war and be sent to Havana as prisoners. Chateaugné also was to -be sent there and thence to Spain to await exchange. They were -accordingly all taken to Havana. Chateaugné, however, instead of being -sent from there to Spain, was imprisoned in Moro Castle, where he -remained only a short time, in consequence of the energetic preparations -which his brother, Bienville, was then making for his deliverance. - -Metamoras, once again in command at Pensacola, fully realized that the -stake for which he and Bienville had been playing was not to be finally -won by such strategems, as each in turn had been the other’s victim, and -that the two which had been achieved were but preludes to a trial by -battle. Appreciating, too, the bold, prompt and enterprising Bienville, -he well calculated that his time for preparation would be short, and he -accordingly improved it to the best of his abilities and resources. - -He erected a battery on Point Seguenza, the western extremity of Santa -Rosa Island, which he named Principe d’ Asturias, to aid San Carlos and -the Spanish fleet in resisting an attack by sea. To guard San Carlos -from a land attack, he built a stockade in its rear. To man all his -works he had a force of six hundred men. - -The Fort was captured by Metamoras early in August, and on the -eighteenth of the following September Bienville was ready to settle by -arms his right to retain it. - -The celerity of Bienville’s preparations was due, however, to the -accidental arrival at Dauphin Island of a French fleet under -Champmeslin, who at once relieved him from the care and preparation of -the seaward operations of his expedition. - -The naval force of the French consisted of six vessels, under the -command of Champmeslin, the _Hercules_ of sixty-four guns, the _Mars_ of -sixty, the _Triton_ of fifty, the _Union_ of thirty-six, the ---- of -thirty-six and the _Philippe_ of twenty. The land force, commanded by -Bienville in person, consisted of two hundred and fifty troops lately -arrived from France, besides a large number of Canadian volunteers, -which, when it reached Perdido, was joined by five hundred Indians under -Longueville. - -Whilst Bienville was moving towards Pensacola, Champmeslin, having -sailed from Dauphin Island, entered the harbor on the eighteenth of -September with five of his vessels, and was soon engaged in a fierce -conflict with Principe d’ Asturias, the Spanish fleet, and San Carlos. -At the time the five vessels went into action, it was supposed that the -_Hercules_ was following them, but her commander hesitated to cross the -bar, owing to her draught of twenty-one feet, a hesitation which almost -proved fatal to her consorts, for, relying upon the support of her heavy -batteries, they now found themselves without it, whilst they were under -the concentrated fire of the Spanish fleet and the two forts. - -In that conjuncture, however, they were saved by one of those -inspirations which sometimes come to a man in the supreme hour of trial, -making him for the occasion the soul of a host. A Canadian pilot, being -inspired himself, inspired the commander of the _Hercules_ with -confidence in his ability to take her over the bar and into the action. -With a cheer from her crew and all the canvas she could bear, the -gallant ship sped under the guidance of the bold Canadian to the rescue -of her consorts. - -Speedily her sixty-four guns turned the tide of battle. Whilst her heavy -broadside of thirty-two guns soon battered Principe d’ Asturias into -silence, her consorts poured their fire into the Spanish fleet, which, -now short of powder, struck its colors. - -After a conflict of two hours, San Carlos was the only point of defense -left to the Spaniards, and that too, threatened by a new foe. Bienville -was in its rear ready for an assault, which he soon boldly made. He was, -however, so much impeded by the stockade that he withdrew his men until -he could be better prepared for another attack. In the assault, it is -said, his Indian allies emulated the French soldiers in daring and in -their efforts to tear away the impeding stockade. But their war-whoop -was more effectual and decisive than their valor. Impressing the -Spaniards, as it did, with visions of blood-dripping scalps, it disposed -them to obviate by surrender the dire consequences of a successful -assault, for they felt that Bienville, however so disposed, would be -powerless to stay the Indian’s scalping knife when his blood was at -battle heat. Accordingly, before the assault was repeated, Metamoras -signaled for a parley, which resulted not in a capitulation on terms -which he asked for, but in a surrender at discretion. - -Even after the cooling process of the time required for the parley and -arranging the surrender, the Indians were so loath to forego their -scalping pastime, the precious boon of victory, that it was necessary -for Bienville to redeem the scalps of the Spaniards by bestowing -one-half of their effects upon his allies, and reserving the other half -only for his own soldiers. - -When Don Alphonso, the commander of the Spanish fleet, surrendered his -sword to Champmeslin, the latter returned it with the complimentary -assurance that the Don was worthy to wear it. But Bienville would not -even condescend to accept that of Metamoras, but directed him to deliver -it to a by-standing soldier. - -But the real hero of this battle, like the real heroes of many other -fields of glory, must be unnamed, for though it is recorded that the -pilot of the _Hercules_ was rewarded with a patent of nobility for his -skill and daring, there is no accessible record of his name. - -Having won a surrender at discretion, it was Bienville’s pleasure to -send Metamoras and a sufficient number of Spanish troops to Havana, in a -Spanish vessel, to be exchanged for the Frenchmen who had been sent -there in August; and thus it was that he worked the deliverance of his -brother Chateaugné from his imprisonment in Mora Castle. The rest of the -Spaniards were sent to France as prisoners of war. - -It was his will and pleasure likewise to burn the town of Pensacola, and -to utterly destroy San Carlos by blowing it up with powder. The only -structure left undestroyed was the magazine which stood about half a -mile from the fort. - -Upon the ruins of San Carlos there was fixed a tablet announcing: “In -the year 1718, on the eighteenth day of September, Monsieur Desnard de -Champmeslin, Commander of His Most Christian Majesty, captured this -place and the Island of Santa Rosa by force of arms.” - -Thus did the Pensacola of Arriola, after having been a shuttlecock in -the cruel game of war—captured, recaptured and captured again within -four months—perish utterly in the throes of a convulsion and the glare -of a conflagration; a fate which may be traced to the intrigues of -Cardinal Alberoni, the ambitious and crafty minister of Philip V., -resulting in a war in which Spain, without an ally, was confronted by -the united arms of France, Great Britain, Holland and Austria. “I -quickened a corpse” was the vain boast by which he expressed the change -he had effected in Spanish policy, one of the many disastrous -consequences of which was the ending in fire and blood of a little -settlement on the far-off shores of the new world. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER VI. - -Sketch of Island Town—Its Destruction—The Third Pensacola—The Cession of - Florida by Spain to Great Britain—Appearance of Town in 1763—Captain - Wills’ Report—Catholic Church. - - -On February 17, 1720, five months after the destruction of Pensacola, a -treaty of peace between France and Spain was signed. But it was not -until early in January, 1723, that Bienville, under orders from the -French government, formally restored Pensacola to the Spaniards, or -rather its site and surroundings. - -Of the first settlement of the Island town there exists no account, but -it is probable it began immediately after the destruction of the -Pensacola of Arriola. Its origin may be accounted for by the natural -precaution of Governor Metamoras upon his recapture of that place and -preparation for a struggle with the French, to remove the non-combatants -to a place of safety, or rather the safest in the vicinity, and there -was none possessing such great advantages as Santa Rosa island. It was a -narrow, uninhabited strip of land, separated from the main land in its -western portion by three miles of water, rendering a settlement there -comparatively free from the danger of surprise by the Indians. The -deepest water for landing on the bay-side, and a supply of fresh water -obtainable by digging wells, would naturally determine the location of -the settlement; and these conditions were met by a place about two miles -from the western point of the island, not far from the present bay-wharf -of the life-saving station. - -The progress the settlement made in the course of a quarter of a century -is presented by the annexed engraving, which is taken from a sketch made -in 1743. The artist, Don Serres, who was a resident during that year, -came there in the service of the Havana Company in a schooner with a -cargo for the town. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - -[Illustration: - - A NORTH VIEW OF PENSACOLA ON THE ISLAND OF SANTA ROSA.—DRAWN BY DOM - SERRES. - - 1—The Fort. 2—The Church. 3—The Governor’s House. 4—The Commandant’s - House. 5—A Well. 6—A Bungo. -] - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - -He paid New Orleans a visit, and did some profitable trading there with -six thousand dollars which he had at his command. He also secured a -quantity of pitch and turpentine for his Company, as well as two pine -spars, each eighty-four feet long, which he sent to Havana in the -schooner. This was the beginning of the timber trade of Pensacola, its -first known business transaction with New Orleans, and the last -authenticated instance of one of its timber dealers engaging in the -elegant pastime of sketching. - -In vain has information been sought of its progress during the period -between the time Don Serres made the sketch and 1754, which embraced the -last eleven years of its existence, for in that year it was destroyed, -together with many of its people, by a terrific hurricane. And thus it -was that, as the Pensacola of Arriola perished in the conflict of human -passions, its offspring was destroyed in a war of the elements. - -The survivors, removing to the north shore of the Bay, settled upon a -crescent-shaped body of dry land, about the eighth of a mile wide in its -widest part, formed by the Bay and a titi swamp, which, extending from -the mouth of an estuary on the west, curved landward to a marsh just -below the outlet of another on the east. These estuaries, though -seemingly the outlets of two, were in fact those of one and the same -stream flowing through the swamp, and navigable by canoes for some -distance from the bay. The bay-shore also curved deeply, the indentation -being in fact the remnant of a cove, which, as old maps show, extended -to and beyond the northern edge of the swamp. - -That settlement was but a removal of Pensacola to its present site, like -that by which it was removed to the island. Each settlement, in its -order of time, like d’ Arriola’s town, being a continuation of the -Pensacola founded by de Luna in 1559, four years before Menendez founded -St. Augustine. - -Of the history of the present Pensacola, beyond its bare existence, from -1754 to 1763, we have no information further than that its -insignificance shielded it from the trials and sufferings of the seven -years war ended by the treaty of Paris, February 10, 1763. - -By that treaty Florida became a British colony. On July 6 of that year -Captain Wills, in command of the third battery of Royal Artillery, then -at Havana, forming a part of the British force which had captured the -city during the late war, was ordered by General Keppel to proceed with -his command to Pensacola for the purpose of taking possession of the -place. Arriving thereon the seventh of August, Captain Wills having -presented the order of the king of Spain to the Spanish commander for -the surrender of the post, it was promptly obeyed. - -It was the duty of Spain under the treaty to remove her troops from -Pensacola. Her subjects, however, were, under the Nineteenth article, -entitled to remain in the full enjoyment of their personal rights, -religion and property; but, resolving to remove to Mexico, they applied -to the Spanish government for transportation, which was promptly -promised. Accordingly, on September 2, transports for the removal of the -garrison and people arrived; and, on the third, the Spanish troops and -the entire population, to the last man, woman and child, sailed for Vera -Cruz, leaving Captain Wills and his command the only occupants of the -town. - -It is to a report written by him a few days after the Spanish exodus -that we owe all the information we possess of the character and -appearance of the town at that time. - -It consisted of “40 huts, thatched with palmetto leaves, and barracks -for a small garrison, the whole surrounded by a stockade of pine posts.” - -The report says: “The country, from the insuperable laziness of the -Spaniards, still remains uncultivated. The woods are still near the -village, and a few paltry gardens show the only improvements. Stock, -they have none, being entirely supplied by Mobile, which is pretty well -cultivated and produces sufficient for export.” - -Of the Indians we are presented with the following glimpse: “The Indians -are numerous around. We had within a few days a visit from about two -hundred of five different nations. I was sorry not to have it in my -power of making them any presents. I only supplied them with some rum, -with which they seemed satisfied, and went off assuring me of their -peaceful intentions and promising to come down soon with some of their -principal chiefs.” - -The church, which is so hallowing a feature in the sketch of the Island -Town, is suggestive of the persevering devotion of the Catholic Faith to -the spiritual welfare of her children. In 1559, when de Luna raised his -national flag upon the shores of Santa Maria, his spiritual mother -raised her cross beside it. With that sacred symbol she followed him in -his explorations through the limitless wilderness, beginning and ending -each day with her holy rites. She returned with Arriola, and, as he -built his fort, her children under her pious promptings built her -church. As the drum beat the reveille to call the soldier to the -activities of life, the notes of her bell reminded him of her presence -to admonish and console him. The engraving presents the next effort of -her zeal. Afterwards, when the wing of the hurricane and the wild fury -of the waves had swept away her island sanctuary, and left her children -houseless on a desolate shore, she followed them to that hamlet which -has just been described, where, around a rude altar, sheltered by the -frail thatch of the palmetto, they enjoyed her consoling offices. When, -in 1763, their national flag fell from the staff and her people went -into voluntary exile, her cross went with them as their guide and -solace. She returned with Galvez, and never for a day since then has she -been without her altar and her priest on these shores to perform her -rites for the living and the dead. For many years after the -establishment of American rule, that altar and that priest were the only -means by which the Protestant mother, more obedient to the Divine word -than sectarian prejudice, could obey the sacred mandate: “Suffer the -little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not.” - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER VII. - -British West Florida—Pensacola the Capital—Government Established— - Johnstone first Governor—British Settlers—First Survey of the Town— - Star Fort—Public Buildings—Resignation of Johnstone—His Successor, - Monteforte Brown. - - -The little settlement, mentioned in the last chapter, soon attained an -importance in striking contrast with its appearance and condition. - -By the treaty of Paris, France had ceded to Great Britain Canada, and -that part of Louisiana east of a line beginning at the source of the -Mississippi river and running through its centre to the Iberville river, -thence through the middle of this river, lakes Maurepas and -Pontchartrain, to the Gulf. That acquisition, with Florida, extended the -British North American empire from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Sea, -bringing alike the Seminoles and Esquimaux under its dominion. - -On the seventh of October, 1763, by a royal proclamation the limits of -the governments of East and West Florida were established; the former -extending from the Apalachicola river eastward; the latter embracing all -the territory lately acquired from France and Spain south of the -parallel of 31° from the Mississippi to the Chattahoochee river; and by -another exercise of royal authority, in February, 1764, the northern -boundary was pushed to 32°, 28´. This line was also the southern -boundary of the territory of Illinois, and it brought Mobile and Natchez -within the limits of West Florida. - -Of that province, so extensive and so rich in natural resources, -Pensacola became the established capital; a natural result of the high -estimate placed by the British upon the advantages of the harbor. When -Lord Bute’s ministry was assailed in the House of Commons for having -procured Florida, by the surrender of Cuba, which Great Britain had -conquered in the war ended by the treaty of Paris, the acquisition of -the Bay of Pensacola figures as a prominent feature in the ministerial -defense. - -The first step towards the establishment of civil government in West -Florida was taken upon the arrival, in February, 1764, at Pensacola, of -Commodore George Johnstone of the Royal Navy, who came as the governor -of the province; his first official act being a proclamation announcing -his presence, powers, jurisdiction, as well as the laws which were to be -in force. There came with him the Twenty-first British regiment as a -garrison for the post, and also a number of civilians in search of -fortune, or new homes; some as parasites, who are never absent where -public money is to be distributed, and others attracted by the charms of -the distant, under the delusive misrepresentations of which the -immigrant is so often the victim. - -In November, 1764, Governor Johnstone, under instructions from the -British government—which from the first seems to have taken a deep -interest in the development of its late acquisitions—published a -description of the province for the purpose of attracting settlers. By -efforts like this, a tide of immigration soon began to flow into West -Florida, which, during the British dominion of nearly twenty years, it -is estimated, brought into it a population of 25,000. In this inflow -were observable a large number of Africans, imported under official -encouragement, to clear the forests and till the fields of the province; -the British conscience being, then, still enthralled by the greedy -slave-traders of Bristol, Liverpool and London, was patiently awaiting -the advent of Clarkson and Wilberforce, to quicken it into resistance to -the cruel traffic. - -In the early days of Governor Johnstone’s administration, Pensacola was -surveyed and a plan established. The main street was named George, for -King George III., and the second street eastward Charlotte, for Queen -Charlotte. The area between those streets as far north as what is now -Intendencia street was not surveyed into blocks and lots, but reserved -as a public place or park. The lots south of Garden street had an area -of 80 feet front and 170 in depth. North of that street they were 192 -feet square, known as arpent or Garden lots, and numbered to correspond -with those lying south of Garden street, which were, strictly speaking, -town lots. In order to furnish each family with a garden spot, each -grantee of a town lot was entitled, upon the condition of improvement, -to receive a conveyance of an arpent lot of the same number as his town -lot. - -That plan, which was the work of Elias Durnford, appointed, on the -twenty-sixth of July, 1764, civil engineer of the province, is still the -plan of the old part of Pensacola, with some changes in what was the -English park, or public place; and therefore the plan of the town is, -strictly speaking, of English origin. - -The park, however, though excluded from private ownership, was not -intended to be vacant, but on the contrary, was devoted to public uses. -In the centre of it was a star-shaped stockade fort, designed as a place -of refuge for the population in case of an Indian attack. Near it were -the officers’ quarters, barracks, guard house, ordnance store-house and -laboratory, two powder magazines, the King’s bake-house, cooperage -shelter, and government store-house. This park was, therefore, in the -early days of Pensacola, the liveliest and busiest part of the town. - -The star-shaped fort was, from 1764 until after 1772, the only -fortification of the town, as may be inferred from the official report -of Captain Thomas Sowers, engineer, on the fifth of April of the latter -year. - -The first street pushed through the crescent-shaped swamp, was George -street, involving much labor in building a causeway and covering it with -earth. It extended to the elevation, then named Gage Hill, in honor of -General Gage, of Boston memory, and who, as the commander-in-chief of -all the royal forces in the British North American colonies, had much to -do with Pensacola in its early days. Upon the highest point of this hill -was established a lookout from which the approaches of the town landward -and seaward could be observed. - -Governor Johnstone, who was a commodore in the royal navy, in the second -year of his administration, found himself in jarring relations with the -military, resulting from circumstances which, at this distance of time, -seem to be trifles, but magnified, when they occurred, into importance -by that jealous sensitiveness which appears to exist always between -those two arms of the public service. As might be expected, whisperers, -busybodies, and parasites, thronging the seat of patronage, ready to -catch any stray crumb of official favor, aggravated the conflict, which -at last became so bitter and widespread that we find it figuring in the -records of the courts-martial of a major, a lieutenant, and even an -ensign. Naturally, too, the colonists at length became partisans of the -official strife, thereby contributing to bring about a condition of -affairs rendering the governor’s further continuance in office so -uninviting to himself and so unsatisfactory to the people that, in -December, 1766, he resigned. - -An incident which occurred shortly after his appointment, manifests his -impatience of criticism—a weakness which may have been the cause of his -troubles in Florida. He and Grant, governor of East Florida, were -appointed at the same time by the Bute administration, when Scotch -appointees to office were so ill-favored by the English. The -announcement were made in the _North Briton_ with a sarcastic allusion -to them as a brace of Scotchmen. At this Johnstone was so much incensed -that he sent to the publishers what was equivalent to a challenge. -Moreover, on meeting with a Mr. Brooks, who was connected with the -_North Briton_, Johnstone insisted on his stating whether he was the -author of the article. Brooks refusing to answer, Johnstone drew his -sword to use on him when by-standers interfered. Brooks instituted legal -proceedings under which the governor was bound to keep the peace. - -In after years, Johnstone became a member of Parliament, and attracted -much attention by casting, in the House of Commons, one of the only two -negative votes on the Boston Harbor Bill, Edmund Burke casting the -other. His course on that memorable occasion secured him such -consideration with the Americans as to induce the British government to -select him as one of the five commissioners who were sent to America in -1778, under Lord North’s conciliatory bill, intended to concede to the -colonies all, and even more, than they had demanded at the beginning of -the controversy with the Mother country. But the sequel of his mission -proved his unfitness for the position. Besides venturing to enter into -correspondence with Robert Morris and Francis Dana, he attempted, -through a lady, to bribe General Joseph Reed of Pennsylvania by an offer -of £10,000 and the highest office within the gift of the crown in -America in the event his efforts at conciliation proving successful. To -that offer Reed made the memorable reply: “I am not worth purchasing, -but such as I am the King of Great Britain is not rich enough to do it.” - -The other commissioners, Mr. Eden, General Clinton, and Lord Carlisle, -at least, disavowed all knowledge or connection with Johnstone’s course. -His conduct became the subject of resolutions passed by Congress, in -which it was declared: “That it is incompatible with the honor of -Congress to hold any manner of intercourse with the said George -Johnstone, especially to negotiate with him upon affairs in which the -cause of liberty is interested.” - -From that reflection he sought to vindicate himself by an ill-tempered -address, which was followed by his resignation from the commission. - -Though a Scotchman, he seems in this affair to have acted with more of -the impulse of a Frenchman, like Genet, than with the cool deliberation -characteristic of his race. Though he had been a commodore in the -British navy, after his appointment of governor of West Florida his -historical designation is “Governor Johnstone.” - -By virtue of his being lieutenant-governor, Monteforte Brown became -Johnstone’s successor. - -The troops stationed at Pensacola during Governor Johnstone’s time were -the Thirty-first regiment of infantry and the second battalion of Royal -Artillery, under General Taylor. In 1765, these troops suffered from -scurvy, as a remedy for which the governor undertook means to provide -them with fresh meat, a provision which it would seem a thoughtful and -considerate ruler would have employed as a preventive, instead of -waiting until disease required it as a remedy. - -The scourge, however, proved a blessing in the end, as our ills often -do, by turning attention to the necessity of securing regular supplies -of vegetable food, the acids of which science had determined to be the -preventive of scorbutic affections. This led to the clearing, draining -and cultivation of large bodies of the Titi Swamp, a process which, once -begun, was continued throughout the period of English rule, until the -town was surrounded by smiling gardens, extending westward almost to -Bayou Chico, of which this generation has evidence in the absence of -forest from the district and its meadow-like appearance, as well as its -intersections of choked up ditches and drains. - -In October, 1766, there was an exhibition in Pensacola of the cruelty -with which the British soldier was treated in the last century. For -absence without leave, James Baker Mattross of the Royal Artillery -received 100 lashes under sentence of a court-martial. Harsh as this -sentence may seem, it was mild and humane compared with what was -inflicted in other instances at other military posts. Soldiers of the -Royal American regiment, stationed at Detroit, were punished for -rioting, as follows:[3] James Wilkins, Derby McCaffny, and Sargeant Deck -1000 lashes each, whilst fortunate Corporal Saums escaped with only 500, -but who, even in his luck, was yet five times less lucky than the royal -artilleryman at Pensacola. These terrible inflictions provoke inquiry as -to the dermal texture of the backs of the British soldiery of the -eighteenth century. - -With the possibility of such suffering before them, we can appreciate -the joy with which Richard Harris of the Thirty-first regiment, charged -with stealing chickens, and Lewis Crow on trial for selling liquor, who -were tried by court-martial at the same time as Mattross, received their -respective findings of not guilty. - ------ - -Footnote 3: - - Canadian Archives (Haldimand Collection), B. 22, p. 262. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER VIII. - - General Bouquet—General Haldimand. - - -Early in 1765 General Henry Bouquet having been assigned to the command -of the southern military district of the colonies, of which Pensacola -was the headquarters, sailed from Philadelphia in a small schooner for -that place. He arrived there in the early spring, and on the following -September died.[4] Of the day and cause of his death nothing seems to be -known. Of the fact that his grave was marked by a monument, there is the -most conclusive proof.[5] - -Where is that monument? That time and the elements are responsible for -its disappearance is improbable. That it is not even a subject of -tradition suggests the painful suspicion that it was willfully -destroyed; a suggestion which explains the absence of all memorials of -the people who must have died in Pensacola during the nearly twenty -years of the British dominion, and removes from their generation the -reproach of having had no respect for the memory and ashes of their -departed friends and comrades. - -An exodus of the English occurred in 1783, as a future page will show, -like that of the Spaniards in 1763 already mentioned. The town was -filled by a new and strange population, whose needs for building -material were urgent, and their reverence for the dead too feeble, -perhaps, to resist the temptation of supplying their wants by plundering -tombs deserted by their natural guardians. - -Nature, too, conspired with man in the work of desecration. The -necropolis of the English was at the western extremity of the town, -extending southward and embracing a slight bluff on the Bay. From 1860 -to 1870 the water abraded that place, washing out human bones, and thus -compelled the earth to surrender its dead to the sport of the waves. - -General Bouquet was born at Rolle, in the canton of Berne, Switzerland. -That he attained so high a rank is evidence of his merit. His masterly -campaign, in 1763, against the Ohio Indians, including the Delawares, -the Shawnees, and Mingoes, as related by the classic pen of Dr. -Kingsford, in his History of Canada,[6] is a most interesting and -striking chapter of our colonial annals. The result was the removal of a -terrible scourge from the western borders of Pennsylvania and Virginia, -and the restoration to liberty and to friends of three hundred white men -and women by a treaty, the terms of which were left to the discretion of -General Bouquet by General Gage. So highly appreciated were his skill -and courage at the time that both colonies honored him with votes of -thanks for his “great services,” which were supplemented by a -complimentary letter from the king. - -But the royal letter and his promotion were only Dead Sea apples. Their -result was a voyage in a small vessel to the distant shores of the Gulf -of Mexico, where he was to die in a few months in a little garrison town -with his laurels yet fresh on his brow, away from the friends and that -admiring social circle he had left so recently at Philadelphia. Had he -been the son, or cousin, whether first, second or third, would have -mattered not, of a minister, he would have won a pension and obtained an -enviable appointment. - -General Bouquet was not only a distinguished soldier, but he also left -behind him another claim to distinction in the thirty volumes of -manuscript in the British museum, known as the “Bouquet Collection,” -which now calendared is available to the historical student. - -His monument has perished; his bones, perhaps, have been the sport of -the unpitying waves; generations have unconsciously trampled on his -dust; but, in “the Pantheon of history,” his name and his fame are as -fresh as when on these shores he drew his last breath and heaved his -last sigh. - -A letter[7] from his confidential friend Ourry inspires the suspicion -that a romantic passion, nourished by exile and inaction, contributed to -his early death. He was devoted to a Miss Willing of Philadelphia, and -supposed to be her affianced. A Mr. Francis, a wealthy Londoner, wooed -and won the lady whilst the soldier was winning laurels on the western -frontier. But for vandal hands his tomb would be a shrine where -disappointed love could make its votive offerings. - -General Frederick Haldimand was the successor of General Bouquet in the -command of the southern district. He, too, was a Swiss, and a native of -the Canton of Berne. He had held important commands in Canada before he -came to Florida. In 1773 he was appointed governor of New York. In the -same year, during General Gage’s absence in England, he was -commander-in-chief of the colonies. He was, from 1778 to 1784, -governor-general of Canada. To the qualities of a distinguished soldier, -he added ability for civil affairs and the statesmanlike qualities which -great crises sometimes require in a military commander, as appears from -Lord Dartmouth’s correspondence with him during Gage’s absence.[8] - -There is an interesting coincidence in the lives of Bouquet and -Haldimand. Drawn to each other, doubtless, by the tie of nativity and -profession, similarity of disposition, interests and fortunes, a -life-long friendship was the natural consequence. They were associates -in land investments. Bouquet bequeathed his entire estate to his native -brother-in-arms, including the valuable collection before referred to. -More fortunate than the former, the latter lived to be made a Knight of -the Bath, and to die in his native town of Yverdun.[9] - ------ - -Footnote 4: - - Kingford’s History of Canada, Vol. V., p. 110. - -Footnote 5: - - A statement of the English grey bricks used in the monument exists in - the Canadian archives at Ottawa, dated February 1, 1770. Haldimand - Papers, K. 15, p. 84. - -Footnote 6: - - Volume V., pp. 93-113. - -Footnote 7: - - J’ai lu mon cher ami, et relu avec attention votre triste lettre du - premier, et suis sensiblement touché de votre état. Je vois que votre - esprit agité, comme la mer après une rude secousse de tremblement de - terre, n’a pas encore repris son assiette. Je n’avois que trop bien - prévu l’effet funeste; plût à Dieu que je l’eusse aussi bien pu - prévenir!... Je suis attendri du récit touchant que vous me faites de - votre situation douloureuse, et je vous conjure par ce que vous tenez - du plus cher et de plus sacré, de ne vous pas laisser aller à la merci - d’une passion qui vous mène, et qui vous privera bientôt, si vous n’y - prenez garde, des moyens qui vous restent encore pour la dompter - (Kingsford Hist. of Can., Vol. V., p. 110). - -Footnote 8: - - I trust the designs of those who have apparently from self-interested - motives endeavored to spread an alarm, and create fresh disturbances - in consequence of the importation of tea by the East India company - will prove abortive.... In the present state of uncertainty with - regard to what may be the issue of this disagreeable business, I - cannot say more to you; and, indeed, the sentiments you have expressed - in your former dispatches in respect to the propriety or impropriety - of employing a military force in case of civil commotion are so just, - and your conduct in that delicate situation so temperate and prudent, - as to render any particular instructions from me on that head - unnecessary. Dartmouth to Haldimand—Canadian Archives, Series B., Vol. - 35, p. 64. - -Footnote 9: - - Kingsford’s Hist. of Can., Vol. 4, p. 318. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER IX. - -Governor Elliott—Social and Military Life in Pensacola—Gentlemen—Women— - Fiddles—George Street—King’s Wharf on November 14, 1768. - - -There exists evidence in the Canadian archives that, in July, 1767, Mr. -Elliot was appointed to succeed Governor Johnstone, but careful search -has failed to discover any official act upon which to rest the -conclusion that he ever came to the province. - -In a note dated eighteenth of October, 1768, at Pensacola, General -Haldimand tells Governor Brown that “assistance will be given to land -Governor Elliot’s baggage, and put the garden in order,” in answer, -evidently, to a request of Governor Brown, made in expectation of the -new governor’s early arrival. But these preparations were manifestly -made in vain, for in a letter written at Pensacola, in January, 1769, by -the general to Mr. John Bradley of New Orleans, he says: “I hope that -these matters will be settled on the arrival of Governor Elliot, daily -expected.” And numerous papers in the Canadian archives, as well as -documents in the American state papers, show that from the eighteenth of -December, 1766, up to the appointment of Governor Peter Chester, in -1772, Brown was the acting governor of the province. The evidence is -therefore conclusive that though Elliot was appointed, he either died or -resigned without ever having gone to the province. - -The coming of officers and others from the military posts of the -province to headquarters, as well as the frequent courts-martial held -there, especially numerous and exciting in 1766-7, enlivened military -life at Pensacola. - -Of the social life of the town during Johnstone’s and Brown’s -administrations, we have but little information. If, however, the -opinion of an official high in rank is to be accepted as evidence, -gentlemen were not numerous up to 1767, as will be seen from an extract -from a letter of his to a friend: “A ship lately arrived from London, -has brought over the chief justice and the attorney-general of the -province, and _other gentlemen, who are very much wanted_.” But who are -and who are not gentlemen? Let the moralist, the sectarian, partisan, -votary of sport or fashion, dude, friend, enemy, the prejudiced, the -just, the harsh, and the charitable successively sit in judgment upon -the same man; what a very chameleon in character will he not appear, as -he is reviewed by each of his judges? Of this variety of judgments, an -occurrence, at Pensacola during this period, is illustrative. - -Major Farmer of the Thirty-fourth regiment of infantry, stationed at -Fort Charlotte,[10] was by the Johnstone party accused of embezzlement -and fraud. But a court-martial which sat at Pensacola honorably -acquitted him, and upon a review of the record the finding of the court -was approved by the King. - -Another letter, in 1770, gives the following uninviting picture of the -civil as well as the social condition of the place: “Pensacola has been -justly famed for vexatious law-suits. It is contrived, indeed, that if a -poor man owes but five pounds, and has not got so much ready money, or -if he disputes some dollars of imposition that may be in the account, or -if he is guilty of shaking his fist at any rascal that has abused him, -he is sure to be prosecuted, and the costs of every suit are about seven -pounds sterling.... I have known this province for a little more than -four years, yet I could name to you a set of men who may brag of one -governor resigned, one horse-whipped and one whom they led by the nose -and supported while it suited their purpose, and then betrayed him. What -the next turn of affairs will be, God knows.” - -Perhaps, however, the writer owed a shopkeeper who sued him; or he had -been fined for offering violence to some other importunate creditor; and -as to the costs of litigation, it is likely, that in this year of grace -some luckless litigant, in the modern Pensacola, can be found who would -heave a sympathetic sigh on reading the complaint which comes to us from -a suitor in its early days. - -Besides, the reference to the treatment received by three governors, in -a letter written in 1770, is rather puzzling, for though three governors -had been appointed for West Florida up to that time, but two, Johnstone -and Brown, administered its government. Johnstone resigned and, -therefore, Brown must have been the man, if any, who was horsewhipped -and led by the nose. As “led by the nose,” however, is a metaphor, -“horsewhipped” may, perhaps, be regarded as a figure of speech likewise. - -Strange though it be, yet so it is, in the mass of Pensacola -correspondence, from 1763 to 1770, we find mention made of military -officers of every grade, governors, secretaries, surveyors, judges, male -Indians, ships, boats, bricks, lumber, shingles, wine, swords, muskets, -cheese, cannon and fiddles, but of a woman or any of her belongings, -never, with only two exceptions. - -One comes to us like an attractive mirage on the far-off horizon of this -Sahara of masculinity and soulless things in the person of Mrs. Hugh -Wallace of Philadelphia, a friend of General Haldimand, in respect to -whom, in a letter to her husband, he says: “I beg my best respects may -be acceptable to Mrs. Wallace.” The other is a nameless moral wreck, of -whom the writer of a letter exclaims: “I wish I could make the mother of -my children my wife!” forcing upon the imagination the shadow of a -wronged wife, with one’s heart touched by the probable sorrows of a -blighted life. - -But, though excluded from men’s letters, we do not need their -correspondence to inform us that wives, mothers, sisters and nurses -formed no inconsiderable part of the population of Pensacola in those -early days, for we know it as certainly, fully, and confidently as we -know the town must have been blessed with air, light, food, and all the -other vivifying conditions of human existence. - -It has been intimated that fiddles were the subject of correspondence, -and thuswise. It appears that General Haldimand was the owner of two -fiddles. Whether fiddling was one of his accomplishments does not -appear. But as ownership of one fiddle ordinarily creates the -presumption that the owner is a performer in some one of the three -degrees of good, bad or indifferent, the ownership of two would seem to -be conclusive of the fact. - -However that may be, it seems that Governor Thomas Penn of Pennsylvania -had knowledge of the instruments, and, presumably, knowing their merits, -coveted them to such a degree that the general induced him to pay $360 -for them. As the bargain was made by letter, after the general and the -fiddles had been in Pensacola for several years, we may infer that their -dulcet tones must have made a deep and ineffaceable impression upon the -governor, which no other fiddles could remove. By a vessel sailing from -Pensacola to Philadelphia, the general sent a box containing the two -fiddles to Mr. Joseph Shipping of that place, agent of Governor Penn, -and also a letter to Hugh Ross, his own agent, whom he tells (evidently -with the chuckle of a trader who has made a good bargain) of the $360 he -is to collect from Shipping, closing the letter with the exclamation, “I -wish I had more fiddles to sell!” - -Correspondence in 1767 shows courtesies exchanged between Pensacola and -Philadelphia. A Pensacolian sends a sea turtle, and the Philadelphian -returns a cheese. - -The town was accused of being hot and inhospitable. But the letter of -complaint tells what a specific wine is for the prevention of all -climatic diseases and the other ills of life. One gentleman, to be sure -of a supply of the panacea, orders a pipe of old Madeira. - -On November 14, 1768, we are walking down the east side of George street -from the gardens to the Bay. After passing two blocks we find ourselves -on the Public Square and in front of a large building. Going in and out -of that building are many people, the most of them soldiers and Indians, -and somewhere in or about it we find a Mr. Arthur Neil. Upon inquiry we -are informed the building is the king’s store-house, and Mr. Neil its -keeper. Leaving the store, a short walk brings us to the shore and -afterwards to the king’s wharf, which we see covered with troops, some -of them getting into boats, whilst others, already embarked, are going -to a ship lying at anchor. That ship is the _Pensacola_ bound for -Charleston, South Carolina. The troops are the Thirty-first regiment, -lately stationed at Mobile, whence they have just arrived, after an -overland march, for the purpose of embarking in the _Pensacola_. Whether -they shall remain at Charleston in winter quarters will, according to a -letter of General Haldimand to Colonel Chisolm, “depend upon the conduct -of the Bostonians.”[11] - ------ - -Footnote 10: - - Formerly Fort Condé at Mobile. - -Footnote 11: - - Can. Archives, B. 14, pp. 31, 37, 41. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER X. - -Governor Peter Chester—Fort George of the British and St. Michael of the - Spanish—Tartar Point—Red Cliff. - - -Peter Chester, having been commissioned governor of West Florida in -1772, came to Pensacola, the capital of the province, and entered upon -the administration of the office. He was recognized and deferred to by -General Haldimand as a man of capacity and experience, a reputation -which was not impaired by his nine years’ rule in Florida. - -The first days of his administration were marked by a determination to -reform the public service, and to supersede the old star fort by more -stable and efficient defenses for the town and harbor, and the spirit -which animated him was at once communicated to the military commander of -the province. - -Early in his administration, after much discussion by engineers of -several plans for the defense of the town, a fort was built, under -orders from General Gage, on Gage Hill, and named Fort George for his -majesty George III.[12] - -In the centre of the fortress was the council chamber of the province -and the repository of its archives, where the office duties of the -governor and the military commander were performed, where audience was -given to Indian chiefs and delegations, and where really centered the -government of West Florida, according to its English boundaries. - -In that chamber on one occasion could have been seen a man in the prime -of life, partly in Indian dress, in earnest conversation with Governor -Chester and William Panton, the millionaire and merchant prince of the -Floridas. By the evident admixture of white and Indian blood in his -veins, his skin had lost several shades of the hue, his hair the -peculiar stiffness, and his cheek bones somewhat of the prominence of -those of his aboriginal ancestry. He was tall and slender; his eyes, -black and piercing, beamed with the light that belongs to those of the -cultured; the Indians said his high forehead was arched like a -horse-shoe; the fingers which hold the pen with which he is writing, -during a pause in the conversation, are long and slender; he speaks and -then reads what he has written; all is in the purest English, to which -he is capable of giving point by an apt classical quotation. On a future -occasion he will enter that chamber with the commission of a British -colonel. A few years later he will hold a like commission from the King -of Spain. A few years later still will find him a brigadier-general of -the United States. That man is Alexander McGillivray, of whom much is to -be written. - -In that chamber three men were once seated at a table, attended by two -secretaries busily writing, one in English, the other in Spanish. One of -the three is Governor Chester, another is General John Campbell, a -distinguished English officer whom fortune has just deserted. The third, -a young-looking Spaniard, too young for his insignia of a Spanish -general, is Don Bernardo de Galvez, the governor and military commander -of Louisiana. Those three men are closing a drama and writing the last -paragraph of a chapter of history. The two papers the secretaries are -writing, when signed, will separate, one going to London, the other to -Madrid, to meet again at Versailles. At Versailles they will be copied -substantially into the duplicates of the treaty of 1783 between Spain -and Great Britain, and constitute its V Article. - -A pigeon-hole on the side of that chamber once contained an order from -Lord Dartmouth, dated January, 1774, to the commander-in-chief of West -Florida, to forward a regiment from Pensacola to revolutionary Boston to -quell the tea-riots. This book is debtor to many documents which once -rested in other pigeon-holes of the chamber. - -Fort George was a quadrangle with bastions at each corner. There were -within the fort a powder magazine and barracks for the garrison, besides -the chamber above mentioned. The woods north of it, for an eighth of a -mile, and within a curve bending around it to the bay, were felled, in -order to give play to its guns landward, whilst they could bear upon an -enemy in the bay by firing over the town. By a system of signals, -intercommunication was kept up with Tartar Point and thence with Red -Cliff. - -Tartar Point, now the site of the Navy Yard, where a battery and -barracks were erected by the British, is the only existing name in this -part of West Florida which carries one’s thoughts back to the days of -British rule. The name of the point under the second Spanish dominion, -which lasted about forty years, was _Punta de la Asta Bandera_—the Point -of the Flagstaff. It seems strange that an English name which had been -superseded for that period by a Spanish designation, should after that -lapse of time be restored. - -The locality of Red Cliff was for a time a puzzle. Such a name for a -locality at once induced a search for a suggestive aspect. No red bluff, -however, not too far eastward to serve as the site of a work for the -defense of the town or harbor, could be found, and yet, no bluff -westward of the former could be observed to suit the designation. But at -length, a letter in the Canadian archives fixed Barrancas as the -locality by stating that there was at about the distance of a half to a -quarter of a mile from Red Cliff a powder magazine, built by the -Spaniards, capable of holding 500 barrels of powder, which was then -being used as the powder depôt of the province, evidently the relic of -old San Carlos, destroyed by the French in 1719, and stood on the site -of the present Fort Redoubt. - -The defenses of Red Cliff consisted of two batteries, “one on the top -and the other at the foot of the hill.” There were quarters for the -officers and barracks for the soldiers in one building, so constructed -as to be proof against musket balls and available as an ample defense -against an Indian attack.[13] - ------ - -Footnote 12: - - Mr. Fairbanks, in his ‘History of Florida,’ calls the fort St. - Michael; but that was, in fact, a name bestowed upon it after 1783, - when Florida became a Spanish colony. - -Footnote 13: - - Canadian Archives—Rept. of T. Sowers, Capt. Engineers Series B., Vol. - XVII., page 302. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XI. - - Representative Government. - - -When the governments of West and East Florida were established, as -before related, their governors were, severally, vested with authority, -their councils consenting and the condition of the provinces being -favorable, to call for the election of general assemblies by the people. - -In 1773, Governor Chester concluded that the time had arrived when it -would be expedient for him to exercise this power. He, accordingly, -issued writs authorizing an election, fixing the time it was to be held, -the voting precincts, the qualifications of voters, and the number and -qualifications of assemblymen to be chosen, as well as the day of the -sitting of the general assembly at Pensacola. - -But the writs, unhappily, fixed the terms of assemblymen at three years; -a provision which proved fatal, not only to this first attempt, but -likewise to all future efforts to establish representative government in -West Florida. The election was held throughout the province, and the -members of a full general assembly elected. But whilst the people went -to the polls with alacrity, and hailed with pleasure the advent of -popular government, they were opposed to the long tenure fixed by -Governor Chester; and so determined was that opposition that they -resolved that it should not receive the implied sanction of their votes. -They accordingly cast ballots which declared that they were subject to -the condition that the representative should hold for one year only. To -that condition the governor refused to consent. The people, on the other -hand, were equally unyielding in their opposition. Efforts were made, -but in vain, to induce a concession by one side or the other; -consequently, during the following years of English dominion, as before, -the province knew no other civil government than that of the governor -and his council. - -It is difficult to understand the motives which prompted the people to -so stubborn an opposition. The tenure of three years might, indeed, seem -long to voters who had probably lived in colonies, where it was a third -or two-thirds less. But still, if there was any value to a people in -representative government, surely an assembly holding for three years -was better than none; especially as it would have so concentrated the -influence and power of the community as to enable it at some auspicious -conjuncture to remove the one popular objection to the system. - -On the other hand, we can better appreciate the conduct of Governor -Chester. An Englishman with the Tory conservatism of that day, he would, -naturally, fear the effect of short terms and frequent elections, aside -from economical considerations. All the northern colonies were in a -state of ferment bordering on revolution, and that consideration, -doubtless, intensified his opposition to anything that savored of -opposition to the wishes of the king or his representatives. Indeed, -from his stand-point, to yield to the popular wishes in array against -his own will and judgment, was to leaven the province with a pestilent -political heresy which was seeking to substitute the power of the people -for the authority of the crown. - -Governor Chester seems to have possessed superior talents for -government, the best evidence of which is found in the prosperity of the -colony during his administration, the harmony that existed between him -and the military, and the high respect and deference he received from -General Haldimand. - -Such a man, conscious of his rectitude and good intentions towards the -province, evinced by his readiness to afford it the privilege of -representative government, somewhat at the expense of his own authority, -would naturally feel that the condition attached to the ballots, and -adhered to with much insistance, manifested such a want of confidence in -him as to justify his distrust of the people. - -But what Governor Chester’s zealous endeavors could not accomplish in -West Florida, the reluctant efforts of Governor Tonyn achieved in the -eastern province. In 1780, the latter, against his own wishes, and -solely at the suggestion of others, called for the election of a general -assembly. The call having been promptly obeyed, the first popular -representative body in Florida met at St. Augustine in January, -1781.[14] - ------ - -Footnote 14: - - Fairbank’s Florida, p. 232. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XII. - -Growth of Pensacola—Panton, Leslie & Co.—A King and the Beaver—Governor - Chester’s Palace and Chariot—The White House of the British, and - Casa Blanca of the Spanish—General Gage—Commerce—Earthquake. - - -There is evidence of great improvement in the town within a few years -from Governor Chester’s advent; a progress which was accelerated as the -revolution in the Northern Colonies advanced. That great movement, ever -widening its area, extended at last from the Gulf to Canada, leaving no -repose or peace for those who, living within it, were resolute to remain -loyal to their king. - -Some entered the royal military service; multitudes left America, and -others, to nurse their loyalty in quietude, removed to Florida. Though -most of that emigration went to East Florida, yet West Florida, and -especially Pensacola, received a large share. St. Augustine, however, -was the tory paradise of the revolutionary era. She can, without -question, supplement the glory of her antiquity with the boast of having -once seen her streets lighted up by the blazing effigies of John Adams -and John Hancock.[15] - -The most important commercial acquisition of Pensacola by that tory -immigration was William Panton, the senior of the firm of Panton, Leslie -& Co., a Scotch house of great wealth and extensive commercial -relations. They had an establishment in London, with branches in the -West India Islands. During the English dominion in Florida they -established themselves in St. Augustine; later, during Governor -Chester’s administration, at Pensacola, and afterwards, at Mobile. Other -merchants also came to Pensacola about the same time, attracted -principally by the heavy disbursements of the government. But these -expenditures were not the attraction to the Scotchmen. Their object was -to grasp the Indian trade of West Florida. A building which they erected -with a wharf in front of it is still standing, or at least, its solid -brick walls are now those of the hospital of Dr. James Herron, whose -dwelling house stands on the site of the Council Chamber of Fort George. - -In that building was carried on a business which grew steadily from year -to year during the British dominion, and afterwards attained great -magnitude under Spanish rule, as we shall have occasion to notice in a -future page. In building up that business, Panton had a most able and -influential coadjutor in General Alexander McGillivray, whom we lately -saw in the Council Chamber of Fort George. Through him their business -comprehended not only West Florida, but extended to and even beyond the -Tennessee river. In perfect security, their long lines of pack horses -went to and fro in that great stretch of country, carrying all the -supplies the Indians needed, and bringing back skins, peltry, bees-wax, -honey, dried venison, and whatever else their savage customers would -provide for barter. Furs were a large item of that traffic, for the -beaver in those days abounded throughout West Florida, and was found -even in the vicinity of Pensacola. - -One of their ponds, still existing on Carpenter’s Creek, four miles from -the town, is suggestive of an instructive comparison between the fruits -of the life-work of its humble constructors, and those of the twenty -years rule, of a mighty monarch. Of the British dominion of his Majesty -George III., in this part of Florida, the millions of treasure expended, -and the thousands of lives sacrificed to establish and maintain it, -there exists no memorial, or result, except a fast disappearing bank of -sand on the site of Fort George. From that barren outcome of such a vast -expenditure of human life and money, we turn with a blush for the vanity -and folly of man, to contemplate that little pool fringed with fairy -candles,[16] where the water lilies bloom, and the trout and perch flash -in the sunlight, as the memento of a perished race, whose humble labors -have furnished pastime and food to successive generations of anglers. - -An unsuccessful effort has been made to obtain reliable information as -to the number and description of the houses Pensacola contained in its -most thriving days during Governor Chester’s administration. But the -only account we have, is that of William Bertram, who though reputed an -eminent botanist is hardly reliable, for he describes Governor Chester’s -residence as a “stone palace, with a cupola built by the Spaniards;”[17] -and yet, according to the description of the town in Captain Will’s -report, at the close of Spanish rule, it consisted of “forty huts and -barracks, surrounded by a stockade;” and he witnessed at that time, the -exodus of the entire Spanish population. Besides, persons whose memories -went back within thirty years of Governor Chester’s alleged palatial -residence, neither saw, nor even heard, of the ruins of such a -structure. - -Upon the same authority rests the statement, that the Governor had a -farm to which he took morning rides in “his chariot.”[18] But a traveler -whose fancy was equal to the transformation of a hut into a palace, may -have transformed his excellency’s modest equipage into a more courtly -vehicle. - -It is probable, however, that although Governor Chester was not the -occupant of a stone palace with a cupola, he lived in a sightly and -comfortable dwelling built of brick or wood, or perhaps of both. One -such dwelling of his time, that of William Panton, was familiar, forty -years ago to the elders of this generation. It stood near the business -house of Panton, Leslie & Co. Taking its style and solidity as a guide, -there existed several houses in the town within the last half century -that could be identified as belonging to Governor Chester’s day. - -One of them was the scene of a tragedy; a husband cutting a wife’s -throat fatally, his own more cautiously, or perhaps her cervical -vertibrae had taken off the edge of the razor, for he survived. -Thereafter, none would inhabit it, and consequently it rapidly went to -ruin. It stood on the north side of Government street, a block and a -half from Palafox. A jury acquitted him. Why? No one could conjecture, -unless because she was his wife, and therefore his chattel, like the cow -or sheep of a butcher. - -In Governor Chester’s time there existed a large double story suburban -residence, which was a distinguished feature in the landscape looking -southwesterly from Fort George, or from any part of the Bay. It stood on -the bluff between the now Perdido R. R. and Bayou Chico. Painted white, -it became the “white house” of the English, and “Casa Blanca” of the -Spanish dominion. - -It was the home of a family of wealth and social standing, composed of -three—husband, wife, and daughter, the latter a child. Gardens belonging -to it covered much of the area of that meadow-like district already -mentioned. That home was to be the scene of a drama in three acts; the -death of a child, the death of a husband, and a struggle of strong, -martyrlike womanhood in the toils of temptation, tried to the lowest -depth of her being, but coming forth triumphant. - -In examining the calendar of the Haldimand collection by Mr. Douglas -Brymner, Archivest of the Dominion of Canada, we are impressed with the -great and varied responsibility, labor, and care, attending the office -of commander in chief of the American colonies, especially after Great -Britain’s, Canada, Florida, and Louisiana acquisitions. His -administration involved not merely general superintendence of the -military department, but likewise embraced the minutest details -requiring expenditures of public money. We accordingly find General -Gage, during Governor Chester’s administration, dictating letters in -respect to carpenter’s wages[19] in Pensacola. Again we find him busy -over a controversy which had sprung up there in respect to the -employment of a Frenchman, Pierre Rochon,[20] to do carpenter’s work, -and furnish shingles, to the exclusion of Englishmen. Upon economical -grounds his excellency decided in favor of Rochon. Pierre was evidently -an active and enterprising man. Before he came to Pensacola to secure -for himself all the public carpentering and shingle business there, he -had enjoyed the like monopoly at Mobile. - -Again we find the General engaged with a small matter at Red Cliff.[21] -Lieutenant Cambell, of the engineer department, had furnished some -carpenters who were employed there with candles and firewood, doubtless -because they could not otherwise be procured by the men. That act of -kindness brought the benevolent lieutenant the following scorching -reproof: “I am sorry to acquaint you that his excellency, General Gage, -is greatly displeased at your giving of the carpenters candles and -firewood; and he desires to know by what authority you assumed to give -those allowances, or by what order they were given? For his excellency -declares, that a shilling shall not be paid on that account.” New York, -16 Feb. 1773. S. Sowers, Captain of Engineers. - -Even the quality of bricks used on the public works at Pensacola was a -matter of interest to the commander in chief. In 1771, a brick -manufactured by the British, and one by the Spaniards, nearly a century -before, as General Haldimand says, were sent to headquarters at New -York, for the judgment of his excellency as to their comparative merits. - -These letters impress us the more with the cares of General Gage, when -we reflect they were written at the time of the troublesome tea business -at rebellious Boston; and when the flowing tide of the revolution, as -may be discerned from almost every page of the calendar, was daily -rising, and threatening to sweep away the supports of British authority -in the colonies. - -In a former page mention is made of a Philadelphia lady, whose name -occurs in the Pensacola correspondence of an earlier day. It is but -fair, therefore, that we should not leave unnoticed a New York lady who -is mentioned in letters of Governor Chester’s time; the more so, because -she seems to have been one of those thrifty housewives, who do not -entirely depend upon the tin can, and green glass jar of the shop to -supply their families with preserved fruits and vegetables; besides, -there can be brought in with her extracts from letters, exemplary of the -courtly style, with which in Governor Chester’s day, a gentleman -returned, and a lady received his thanks for a small courtesy.[22] - -General Haldimand, at Pensacola, writes Captain S. Sowers, the husband -of the lady, who is in New York: - -“I most respectfully ask Mrs. Sowers, to permit me, through you, to -tender to her my most grateful thanks for the three jars of pickels.” - -The Captain replies: “Mrs. Sowers, with pleasure, accepts your thanks -for the pickels, and when ye season comes for curing of them, she will -send you another collection which she hopes will be acceptable.” - -In this stirring, short-hand, type-writing age, the form of a like -exchange of courtesies would probably be: “Pickels received. Thanks.” - -Though there was no lack of lawyers and doctors, who it is said, lived -in fine style, there was a sad want of clergymen or preachers in the -province. There was but one of whom we have any account up to 1779, and -he was stationed at Mobile. Stuernagel, the Waldeck Field Preacher, on -his arrival in Pensacola, in that year, christened a boy whose parents -had been waiting eight years to make him the subject of the holy office. -He also baptized men who had been watching from their boyhood for an -opportunity to make their baptismal vows. Nor can there be found a -reference to church or chapel during the English dominion.[23] - -The most prosperous and promising days Pensacola ever saw, except those -since the close of the civil war, were from 1772 to 1781. As the -American revolution advanced, additions were made to the numbers, -intelligence and wealth of its population, owing to causes already -mentioned. It was the capital of a province rich in its forests, its -agricultural and other resources. Its Bay was prized as the peerless -harbor of the Gulf, which it was proposed by the British government to -make a great naval station, a beginning in that direction having been -made by selecting a site for a navy yard adjoining the town to the -westward. Its commerce was daily on the increase; not only in -consequence of the extension of Panton, Leslie & Co.’s trade with the -Indians, but other enterprising merchants who had been added to the -population, were engaged in an export trade, comprising pine timber and -lumber, cedar, salt beef, raw hides, cattle, tallow, pitch, bear’s oil, -staves, shingles, honey, beeswax, salt fish, myrtle wax[24], deer skins, -dried venison, furs and peltry. This trade, and the £200,000 annually -extended by the British government, as well as the disbursements of the -shipping, constituted the sources of the prosperity of the town. - -This period, besides being a season of growth and prosperity to -Pensacola, as well as the rest of the Province, was one of repose, -undisturbed by the march of armies, battles, and the other cruel shocks -of war that afflicted the northern colonies. But it was not to remain to -the end a quiet spectator of the drama enacting on the continent. It, -too, had an appointment with fate. Though not even a faint flash of the -northern storm was seen on its horizon, yet there had been one for long -brooding for it in the southwest. - -The earthquake, too, that visited it on the night of February 6, -1780,[25] was but a presage of that which on May 8, 1781, was to shake -it to its center; and prove the signal of an exodus of the English -almost as complete as was that of the Spanish population in 1763. - ------ - -Footnote 15: - - Fairbank’s History of Florida, p. 223. - -Footnote 16: - - A name which the children of the neighborhood have bestowed on the - bloom of a water plant, suggested by its wax like stem and its yellow - point, and here mentioned to suggest to our people that it is time we - should have popular designations for others of our beautiful wild - flowers. - -Footnote 17: - - Fairbanks Florida, p. 219. - -Footnote 18: - - Pickett, Vol. II. p. 25. - -Footnote 19: - - Canadian Archives B. Vol. 15, p. 267. - -Footnote 20: - - Id. 15 p. 195. - -Footnote 21: - - Id. 17 p. 267. - -Footnote 22: - - Canadian Archives B. Vol. 15 p. 161. - -Footnote 23: - - Von Elking Vol. II p. 139. - -Footnote 24: - - This is the product of the wild myrtle, obtained by putting the seed - into hot water, when the wax liquifies and floats on the surface. - -Footnote 25: - - “On the sixth of February 1780, at night, a fearful storm arose with - repeated thunder and lightning. An earthquake was accompanied by such - a violent shock, that in the barracks the regimentals and the arm - racks fell from the walls in a great many places, and everything was - moved in the rooms. The doors were sprung, chimneys were thrown - together, and from the fires burning on the hearths, a conflagration - threatened to burst forth. Neighboring houses clashed together, and - those buried in the ruins cried for help. The sea foamed and raged; - the thunder continually rolled. It was a terrible night. Only towards - one o’clock, the raging elements in some measure again became subdued. - Wonderful to relate, no human life was lost.”—Von Elking, Vol. II, p. - 144. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XIII. - -Military Condition of West Florida in 1778—General John Campbell—The - Waldecks—Spain at War with Britain—Bute, Baton Rouge and Fort - Charlotte Capitulate to Galvez—French Town—Famine in Fort George— - Galvez’s Expedition against Pensacola—Solana’s Fleet Enters the - Harbor—Spaniards Effect a Landing—Spanish Entrenchment Surprised—The - Fall of Charleston Celebrated in Fort George. - - -The military condition of West Florida was changed as the revolutionary -war progressed. There were no longer seen two or more regiments at -Pensacola, one or two at Mobile, and one at Fort Bute, Baton Rouge, and -Panmure. The call for troops for service in the northern colonies had, -by the latter part of 1778, reduced the entire effective force of the -province to five hundred men. - -That such a reduction was thought prudent, was due to the peaceful -relations of the Spaniards and the British, as well as those of the -latter with the Creek and Choctaw Indians, attributable to the influence -of McGillivray, now a colonel in the British service. - -In the latter part of 1778, however, the British government becoming -suspicious of Spain, and anticipating her alliance with France, ordered -General Clinton to reinforce West Florida. Accordingly, General John -Campbell, a distinguished officer, was sent to Pensacola, with a force -of 1,200 men, composed of a regiment of Waldecks, and parts of two -regiments of Provincials from Maryland and Pennsylvania. They did not -arrive, however, until the twenty-ninth of January, 1779.[26] - -Early in 1789, General Campbell sent two companies of Waldecks to -reinforce Fort Bute, which brought its garrison up to about 500 men -under the command of Lt. Colonel Dickson. - -At length Spain threw off the mask, and adopted a course which justified -the suspicions of the British Court as to her inimical intentions. On -June 16, the Spanish minister, the Marquis d’ Almodovar, having -delivered to Lord Weymouth a paper equivalent to a declaration of war, -immediately departed from London without taking leave. Spain thereupon -became an ally of France, but not of the United States. Nevertheless, -under the influence of the Court of Versailles, Don Bernardo de Galvez, -the Governor of Louisiana, on June 19, published, at New Orleans, the -proclamation of the Spanish King, acknowledging the independence of the -United States. The dates of these transactions furnish conclusive -evidence of a pre-arrangement, designed to enable the Spaniards to -assail the British posts in West Florida before they could be succored -by the home government. - -In pursuance of that policy, Galvez at once began his preparations for -offensive operations against Forts Bute, Baton Rouge and Panmure, in the -order in which they are mentioned. The great distance of Pensacola from -them, as well as the want of facilities of communication, assured him -that with an adequate force at his command, General Campbell’s first -intimation of his operations would be the news of their capture. - -In August, with a force of 2,000 men, Galvez began his advance on Fort -Bute. As soon as Dickson was informed of his movement, he resolved to -concentrate his forces at Baton Rouge, leaving at the former post a few -men to man the guns, and to make such a show of resistance as would give -him time to perfect the defenses of the latter. - -On August 30, Galvez appeared before Bute. After a contest of some -hours, its handful of defenders arrested his movements by the time -consumed in an honorable capitulation. Bute having been secured, Galvez -pushed on to Baton Rouge. In his first attack, he was repulsed with the -heavy loss of 400 men killed and wounded, which was within 100 of -Dickson’s entire force. In the next attack which was made on the -following day, the Spanish loss was 150. Although the loss on his side -was in both attacks only 50 men, Dickson realizing that he was cut off -from all succor, and that he must either surrender, or see his command -gradually waste away under the repeated attacks of an overwhelming -enemy, capitulated upon the most honorable terms. The command was -pledged not to fight against Spain for eighteen months unless sooner -exchanged. With loaded guns and flags flying the garrison was to march -to the beat of the drum 500 paces from the fort and there stack arms. -The officers were to retain their swords and every one his private -property. All were to be cared for and transported to a British harbor -by the Spaniards.[27] Fort Panmure, from which the garrison had been -withdrawn for the defense of Baton Rouge, was included in the surrender. - -It was not until the twentieth of October that a courier brought to -Pensacola intelligence of the fall of the Mississippi Posts, although -Baton Rouge had surrendered during the first days of September. When it -was received it was not credited, but regarded as a false report coming -from the Spaniards to entice the British commander from Pensacola in -order that it might be captured in his absence. Even the report of a -second courier coming, on the twenty-third, failed at first to work -conviction; but at last all doubt was dispelled, and every effort -directed to putting Pensacola in a defensive condition. - -Why Galvez did not follow up his success at Baton Rouge by an immediate -advance on Mobile, it is difficult to conceive, except upon the -presumption of his ignorance of the weakness of the military forces -there, and at Pensacola. - -In December, 1779, Clinton’s expedition against Charleston sailed from -New York; its destination veiled in such secrecy, that even General -Washington, as well as the rest of the world outside of the British -lines, was in the dark respecting it. Miralles, the Spanish agent, -feared it was intended to recover the conquests of Galvez in West -Florida, and signified so much in a letter to General Washington. By the -time the letter was received, however, the General had become convinced -“that the Carolinas were the objects,” and in reply so tells the Spanish -agent. - -It was during the interval of Galvez’s inaction between the capture of -Baton Rouge, and his attack on Mobile, that Chevalier de la Luzerne had -a conference with General Washington, on the fifteenth of September, -1779, at West Point, with the view of bringing about such concert of -movement in the American forces in the Carolinas and Georgia, and the -Spanish forces in Florida, as would be a check on the British in their -movements against either.[28] But with every disposition for such -co-operation, the latter being without authority to that end, went no -further than to show his sympathy with the Spaniards, and his readiness -to afford advice and information, which he afterwards manifested in the -letter to Miralles above mentioned. - -In that letter, referring to the capture of Fort Bute and Baton Rouge, -he says: “I am happy of the opportunity of congratulating you on the -important success of His Majesty’s arms.” It is hardly probable, -however, that General Washington would have been so ready to -congratulate Miralles on those successes, had he known that in -consequence of Galvez’s bad faith, their result would be to increase the -ranks of the foe he was fighting. - -In the beginning of March, 1780, Galvez again began military operations, -by advancing against Fort Charlotte. On the twelfth, after his demand -for a surrender had been refused by Captain Durnford, the British -commander, the fort was assailed by six batteries. - -By the fourteenth, after a conflict of ten days, a practicable breach -having been made, Durnford capitulated upon the same terms which Dickson -had exacted at Baton Rouge. Hunger had conspired with arms to make -capitulation a necessity. For several days before that event the -garrison had been comparatively without food. When the gallant Durnford -marched out of the breach at the head of a handful of hunger-smitten -men, Galvez is said to have manifested deep mortification at having -granted such favorable terms to so feeble a foe. An effort was made by -General Campbell to relieve Fort Charlotte, but it fell just as succor -was at hand. The delay in rendering it was occasioned by rain storms, -which, having flooded the country, greatly impeded the movements of the -relieving force.[29] - -The gallant defense of Fort Charlotte by Durnford seems to have lead -Galvez to reflections which ended in the conclusion that he was not, -then, strong enough to attack Pensacola. He, accordingly, made no -further movement, until he had procured from Havana a supply of heavy -artillery, and a large additional force. - -That it was a part of his plan to advance upon Pensacola immediately -after the capture of Mobile, is evidenced by the Spanish Admiral -Solana’s fleet appearing, and anchoring off the harbor, on March 27, -hovering about as if in expectation of a signal from the land until the -thirtieth, and then sailing away. The appearance of a scouting party of -Spaniards about the same time, on the east side of the Perdido, likewise -pointed to such a design. - -Be that as it may, Galvez made no further movement in West Florida until -February, 1781, the eventful year of the great American rally; the year -that witnessed Morgan’s brilliant victory, on the seventeenth of January -at the Cowpens; and Green’s masterly strategy, culminating on the -fifteenth of March at Guildford Court House in an apparent defeat, but -in sequence, a victory, for it sent Cornwallis to Yorktown for capture -on the nineteenth of October. - -As we contemplate that year, big with the fate of empire on this -continent, the imagination is captivated by the spectacle of a line of -battle extending from the northern limits of Maine to the mouth of the -Mississippi; the intense points of action being Cowpens, Guildford Court -House, Pensacola and Yorktown. - -That no reinforcement was sent to General Campbell, although the fall of -Fort Charlotte was a warning that Galvez’s next effort would be against -Pensacola, manifests the strain which Britain’s contest with her -colonies and France had brought upon both her naval and military -resources. When, therefore, in February, 1781, Galvez was about to -advance against the place with a large fleet and an army of 15,000 men, -according to the lowest estimate, the British force numbered about -1,000[30] regular troops, besides some provincials. - -The British looked for some aid from the Creek, Choctaw and Chickasaw -Indians. It was a body of the latter which drove the Spanish scouts -across the Perdido shortly after the capture of Mobile. - -The three tribes were loyal to their white allies, even when the latter -were no longer able to furnish them with their customary supplies. The -Spaniards, on the other hand, with everything to offer them, utterly -failed to shake their British loyalty. As illustrative of their -devotion, it is related when the Waldecks landed at Pensacola, the -Indians, inferring from their strange language that they were enemies, -inclined to attack them. They had the prudence, however, to call upon -Governor Chester for an explanation. After he had satisfactorily -answered the question “whether the men of strange speech were the -friends or foes of their Great White Brother on the other side of the -big water,” they manifested great joy and honored the strangers with a -salute from their rifles. - -When, however, the advance on Pensacola by the Spaniards was abandoned -in the spring of 1780, and thence up to the following December General -Campbell found his savage allies rather an encumbrance than a benefit. -That time was devoted to strengthening Fort George and the defenses of -the harbor, a labor in which no reward could induce them to assist. The -exciting occupation of taking Spanish scalps, for which £3[31] were -paid, however, was one in which they could render a barbarous service to -the British. - -The Indians were under the command of a Marylander, formerly an ensign -in the British army, who, whilst stationed at Pensacola, had been -cashiered for misconduct. He afterwards went to the Creek Nation, where -he married the daughter of a chief. Though vainly styling himself -General William Augustus Bowles, he was content to accept restoration to -his rank of ensign as a reward for the service, which, at the head of -his band of Creeks, Choctaws and Chickasaws, he was expected to render -to the British during Galvez’s operations in West Florida. - -In the latter months of 1780, Pensacola and the garrison of Fort George -were on the point of starvation. All the resources of the British -government seem to have been required for the great struggle of 1781 on -the Atlantic coast, and Galvez’s conquest had cut off the customary -supplies from the rich country lying between Mobile Bay and the -Mississippi. - -Field-preacher Stuernagel says in his journal: “This morning we drank -water and ate a piece of bread with it. At mid-day we had just nothing -to drink but water. Our evening meal consists of a pipe of tobacco and a -glass of water. A ham was sold for seven dollars. A pound of tobacco -cost four dollars. A pound of coffee one dollar. The men have long been -without rum. From hard service, and such want, diseases were more and -more engendered.”[32] - -But that state of want was suddenly changed to superabundance. A British -cruiser captured in the gulf a number of merchant vessels loaded with -supplies, embracing “rum, meal, coffee, sugar and other welcome -provisions,” and another exclusively with powder.[33] Not long -afterwards a more brilliant, although not as useful, a prize was -captured. It contained $20,000 in coin, a large collection of -silver-plate, fine wines, “all sorts of utensils for the kitchen and -things of the same kind, being General Galvez’s outfit and requirements” -for his intended campaign of 1781.[34] Fortune thus feasted and gilded -the victim for the coming sacrifice. - -Having perfected the defenses of Fort George, General Campbell turned -his attention to Red Cliff, in which, on November 19, he placed a small -garrison of 50 Waldecks, under the command of Major Pentzel, at the same -time providing it with some heavy artillery, which could be spared from -Fort George. - -Apparently, tired of waiting for Galvez’s attack, or presuming from his -delay in making a movement that he had abandoned the intention of -attacking Pensacola, General Campbell sent an expedition against a -Spanish post, on or near the Mississippi, called French Town by the -British. The force consisted of 100 infantry of the Sixtieth regiment, -and 60 Waldeckers, besides 300 Indians, commanded by Colonel Hanxleden, -the senior officer of the Waldecks, and next in command to General -Campbell. It was an unfortunate enterprise, resulting in the death of -the gallant Hanxleden, as well as other veteran officers and soldiers -who were soon to be greatly needed at Pensacola. In the retreat, the -body of their brave commander was borne by his men from the field of -battle to a large oak in its vicinity under the shade of which it was -buried. Gratefully did the Waldecks, on their return to Germany, -remember and record the chivalric conduct of “the gallant Spaniards who -honored fallen gallantry by enclosing the grave with a railing.”[35] On -January 9 the remnant of the expedition reached Fort George. - -On the ninth of March General Campbell’s impatient waiting for Galvez -was brought to a close. On that day a preconcerted signal of seven guns -from the war-ship _Mentor_ told the British that the Spaniards were at -last approaching for the final struggle for mastery in West Florida.[36] -By 9 o’clock of the next morning, thirty-eight Spanish ships, under -Admiral Solana, were lying off the harbor, or landing troops and -artillery. During the night a British vessel glided out of the harbor -with dispatches to the commandant of Jamaica, pleading for -reinforcements, which however were not to be had, for the movements of -de Grasse on the Atlantic coast required all the attention of the -British navy, whilst Cornwallis and Clinton had drawn, or were drawing, -there every available man to meet the great American rally. - -On March 11, the Spaniards opened fire upon the _Mentor_, then lying in -the harbor, from a battery on Santa Rosa island. She replied to the -attack until she had received 28 shots from twenty-four pound guns, when -she retired nearer the town. - -After this affair there were no further movements by the Spaniards until -the eighteenth, when a brig and two galleons, taking advantage of a very -favorable wind, sailed past the batteries defending the mouth of the -harbor, without receiving any perceptible injury. Thinking they might -sail up to the town, and find cover from some structures on the beach, -General Campbell caused them to be burned down. - -On the nineteenth, the entire Spanish fleet, excepting a few vessels, -sailed past the batteries, though subjected to a heavy fire from Red -Cliff, which lasted for two hours. - -Galvez, even after he found himself in possession of the harbor with a -fleet of 38 vessels, and a large land force, consisting not only of -troops brought directly from Havana, but those also with which he had -captured the posts west of the Perdido, sent to Havana for -reinforcements; and remained inactive until they reached him on April -16. The reinforcement consisted of eighteen more ships, and an -additional land force, with heavy siege artillery. - -Whilst awaiting that addition to his strength, a landing was attempted. -The attempt was resisted by a body of Indians and a part of the garrison -of Fort George with two field pieces of artillery. The Spaniards, taken -by surprise, were driven to their boats. In the attack many were killed, -and in the confusion of re-embarking others were drowned. On April 22, -however, a second and successful attempt to land was made by the -invaders, followed by the establishment of camps where batteries were to -be erected. - -One of the camps, nearer the Fort and the town than the others, by its -temerity invited rebuke. Accordingly, a surprise for it, to be executed -on the twenty-third, was prepared, but defeated by a fanatic. On the -night of the twenty-second, a Waldeck private reported to his captain, -that a Waldeck corporal was missing, under circumstances which implied -desertion; that the deserter was a Catholic, the only one in the -regiment, the rest being Protestant; and that it had been suspected by -his comrades that his fanaticism would lead him, on the first -opportunity, to desert to his co-religionists. That the suspicion was -well founded was manifested by the movements of the enemy the next -morning. - -The enterprise, however, though arrested, was not abandoned. The British -commander, shrewdly calculating on the improbability in the enemy’s -conception, that a surprise defeated on the twenty-third would be -attempted on the twenty fifth, actually executed the movement on the -latter day. The attacking force, composed of a part of the garrison, and -a body of Indians, was commanded by the general in person. The Spaniards -were driven from their entrenchments with considerable loss, and their -works hastily destroyed. This proved, however, the last aggressive act -of the British. By the twenty-seventh of April, batteries mounted with -heavy siege artillery completely invested Fort George. - -On the twenty-fourth, the day before the attack on the Spaniards, -General Campbell learned for the first time, that Charleston had been -captured by General Clinton on the eleventh of May, 1780. We are not -informed of the channel through which the information came to him; but -as it could not have come by sea, it must have reached him through the -Indians, who obtained it, probably, from traders of the Atlantic coast. -His ignorance for nearly a year of so important an event impresses us -with his isolation, and the courage with which he bore it. The event was -duly celebrated in Fort George by an illumination and a discharge of -rockets. - ------ - -Footnote 26: - - It is to the presence of these Waldecks at the siege and capture of - Pensacola, that we are indebted for the only detailed account we - possess of those events. The Waldeck regiment was one of the many - mercenary bodies of German troops which Great Britain hired to conquer - her revolted colonies. On the return of the commands to Germany, after - the close of the war, each commander was required to make to his - government a detailed report of its experiences. In 1863, Max Von - Elking published, at Hanover, two volumes containing the substance of - those reports, entitled: - - [“Die deutschen Hülfstruppen im Nordamerikanischen Befreiungskriege, - 1776 bis 1783.”] - - The German Troops in the North American War of Independence, 1776 to - 1783. - - Those of the Waldecks extended from the day the regiment was completed - at Corbach, where it was reviewed by the widowed Princess of Waldeck, - and her court ladies, on May 9, 1776, up to the return of its small - remnant in 1783. The princess entertained them, and furnished them - besides 100 guelden for a jollification—doubtless out of the hire she - received for the hapless creatures. The remark of a courtier, that he - would see “all those who came back riding in carriages,” indicates the - delusive hopes with which it was sought to inspire them. Nevertheless, - it was thought prudent by the Princess, that the departing mercenaries - should, to prevent desertion, be guarded during their journey to the - _Weser_, where they were to embark, by the Green Regiment of - Sharpshooters. The regiment consisted of 640 men, under the command of - Colonel Von Hanxleden. Stuernagel was the Field Preacher, or chaplain, - to whose journey Von Elking makes many references. - -Footnote 27: - - Von Elking, Vol. II, p. 142. - -Footnote 28: - - Sparks, Vol. 6, p. 542. - -Footnote 29: - - Von Elking, Vol. II, pp. 144-5. “It proved a horrible march. It almost - continually rained. The men were forced to wade up to their ankles - through the soft ground, or through mud. It was only possible to cross - the greatly swollen streams by means of the trunks of the trees. The - men could only pass singly on them, and the one who missed his - footing, and stept into the water below was irretrievably lost.” - -Footnote 30: - - Von Elking, Vol. II., p. 152. - -Footnote 31: - - Von Elking, Vol. II., p. 140. - -Footnote 32: - - Von Elking, Vol. II., p. 146. - -Footnote 33: - - Id. 147. - -Footnote 34: - - Von Elking, Vol. II., p. 149. - -Footnote 35: - - Von Elking, Vol. II., p. 148. - -Footnote 36: - - Von Elking, Vol. II., p. 148. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XIV. - -Fort San Bernardo—Siege of Fort George—Explosion of Magazine—The - Capitulation—The March Through the Breach—British Troops Sail from - Pensacola to Brooklyn. - - -The Spanish operations against Fort George were conducted with extreme -caution. What, in the beginning, was one of a circle of intrenchments, -developed into a fort as extensive and strong as the former. Like Fort -George, it was built of earth and timber. Its position was about -one-third of a mile to the northward of the latter. During its -construction it was hidden from observation by a dense pine forest and -undergrowth, which, after its completion, were cleared to give play to -its guns. It was named San Bernardo, for the patron saint of the Spanish -commander. - -The magnitude of San Bernardo indicated that it must have been -constructed for exigencies besides that of assailing the British works. -Galvez probably feared an attack in his rear from the Indians coming to -the relief of their allies, or that he might have to encounter a -relieving expedition coming by sea. In either event his fortress would -be a place of security for his supplies and a rallying point in case of -disaster. - -The siege was a struggle between two forts, with the advantage to one of -them in being supported by intrenchments which with itself formed a -circle around its antagonist. The latter began the contest. - -Among the works constructed by the British to strengthen their position, -was a redoubt, named Waldeck. On April 27, a Spanish intrenchment was -seen to be in the course of construction opposite to Waldeck, under -cover of the woods. Against that intrenchment the besieged directed a -heavy fire, but with little effect, as the work was nearly completed -when discovered. This attack upon the besiegers was the signal for all -their batteries to open fire upon Fort George and its defenses. - -The firing was incessant on both sides until May 1, when that of the -British was almost entirely suspended, for the purpose of enabling the -garrison to make some indispensable repairs on their works. On the -second, however, the British guns were again in full play. - -But the demand for repairs was so continuous and urgent as to impose a -heavy tax upon the limited numbers of the besieged. Short reliefs from -duty became a stern necessity, and want of rest, as well as -overexertion, so impaired their strength that men were seen falling -prostrate beside their guns from fatigue and exhaustion. - -Galvez’s failure to storm the British works, during the silence of their -guns on May 1, seemed to indicate his determination to reduce the -contest to the question, how long the ammunition of the besieged would -last and their artillery remain serviceable? He may, however, have -regarded the suspension of the British firing as a strategem to invite -an assault. - -There was a vital spot in the defenses for which the Spanish shot and -shell had been vainly seeking—the powder magazine. But as the gunners -were without requisite information to enable them to procure its range, -it was but a wild chance that a shell would strike it. That its position -was not drawn from the Waldeck corporal, is an impeachment of the -military sagacity of the Spanish officers, and an act of gross -negligence which would have prolonged the siege indefinitely, but for an -imprudence of the British commander equally as gross. - -A provincial colonel for infamous conduct—of what character we are -uninformed—was drummed out of the Fort, instead of being, as prudence -required, carefully kept within it during the siege. The man, as should -have been expected, went to the Spaniards and informed them of the -condition of the garrison and defenses, and especially of the angle in -which the magazine was situated. That disclosure sealed the fate of Fort -George. Thenceforward, that angle became the mark of every Spanish shot -and shell. For three days and nights did those searching missiles beat -upon it, until at last on the morning of May 8, there occurred an -explosion that shook Gage Hill to its deep foundations as though once -again in the throes of an earthquake. - -A yawning breach was made in the Fort. Fifty men were killed outright -and as many more wounded fatally and otherwise. - -At that thunder-like signal 15,000 men are marshalled for the assault. -But there is no panic in Fort George. Calmly the British commander -orders every gun to be charged, and many to be moved so as to sweep the -breach. That work done, he hoists a white flag and sends an officer -under another to the Spanish general with a communication, which -doubtless had been prepared in anticipation of the conjuncture in which -he at last found himself. It was an offer to capitulate upon the -following terms: “The troops to march out at the breach with flying -colors and drums beating, each man with six cartridges in his cartridge -box; at the distance of 500 paces the arms were to be stacked; the -officers to retain their swords; all the troops to be shipped as soon as -possible, at the cost of the Spaniards to a British port, to be -designated by the British commander, under parole not to serve against -Spain or her _allies_, until an equal number of the same rank of -Spaniards, or the troops of her allies, were exchanged by Great Britain, -and the best care to be taken of the sick and wounded remaining behind, -who were to be forwarded as soon as they recovered.” - -Knowing that those were the terms which the gallant Dickson and Durnford -had demanded and obtained at Baton Rouge and Mobile, the spirit in which -General Campbell dictated the terms of the capitulation can be readily -imagined. To submit to less than had been conceded to his inferior -officers would be dishonor. - -Galvez answered, that the terms proposed could not be conceded without -modification. General Campbell replied that no modification was -permissible; adding, that in case they were not conceded he would hold -“the Fort to the last man.” That bold reply was followed by the consent -of Galvez to the capitulation proposed by the British commander. - -It would be a grateful task to record humanity or chivalry as the motive -for the concession; and it would be the duty of history to assign it, in -the absence of facts, inconsistent with such a conclusion. But the -victor, by his own confession, has precluded such a presumption.[37] In -a letter of General Washington’s to Don Francisco Rendon, agent of the -Spanish government in the United States, written at “Headquarters before -Yorktown, twelfth of October, 1781,” occurs the following: “I am obliged -by the extract of General Galvez’s letter to Count de Grasse, explaining -at large _the necessity_ he was under of granting the terms of -capitulation to the garrison at Pensacola, which the commandant -_required_. I have no doubt, from General Galvez’s well known attachment -to the cause of America, that he would have refused the articles, which -have been deemed exceptionable, had there not been very powerful reasons -to induce his acceptance of them.” - -What, it may be asked, were “those very powerful reasons?” He had an -army at his command only one thousand less in number than General -Washington had before Yorktown, when he wrote the letter to Rendon; he -had ample supplies of every description; he was backed by a powerful -fleet; he had selected for his expedition a time when de Grasse’s -movements on the Atlantic coast required the presence, in that quarter, -of the whole British naval force on this side of the Atlantic; and -hence, we can find no “necessity he was under of granting terms,” which -General Campbell “required,” unless we find it in his want of faith in -his ability by force of arms, to compel the British commander to modify -his requirements. - -In order to fully appreciate the transaction, it should be borne in mind -that there was an understanding between Galvez and the French commanders -in America, that he should not grant to British troops that might fall -into his power during his operations in West Florida, such terms as -would enable them to become a part of the armies operating against the -United States. - -This understanding Galvez violated at Baton Rouge and Mobile, and again -for the third time, in conceding the terms demanded by General Campbell; -for the articles bound the garrison not to serve against Spain and _her -allies_ only, and the United States was not her ally, but only a -sympathizer. - -To say that the “powerful reasons,” to quote from General Washington, -were not in Fort George, would be to accuse Galvez of bad faith to his -French ally, and untruth, as to the existence of any necessity for his -concession to the British. - -Such being the conclusions that impartial history must draw, impressive -was the spectacle presented, on the ninth of May, 1781, upon that hill -now crowned by the monument to the Confederate dead. In a circle around -Fort George the Spanish army stands in array. The roll of a drum breaks -the stillness, followed by the sound of mustering in the Fort. Again as -it beats to the fife’s stirring military air, the British commander, in -the dress of a major-general, sword in hand, emerges from the breach, -followed by his less than eight hundred heroes. Proudly does the gallant -band step the five hundred paces; then successively come the orders to -halt, fall into line, and stack arms. - -The scene would have thrilled the heart of every soldier whose memory is -consecrated by the shaft that springs from that historic hill, then the -centre of a landscape, whence, northward, the eye could rest on a -limitless expanse of verdure; eastward and westward upon the -far-sweeping curves of the shore; southward upon the glorious mirror of -the Bay, with the hills of Santa Rosa rising out of the blue waters like -snow-clad peaks above the azure of a distant horizon, and far beyond -them upon the tremulous sky-line of the heaving gulf. - -The formal signing of the articles of capitulation in the Council -Chamber of Fort George, which occurred on the ninth of May, immediately -before the British marched out, was anticipated in a former page. - -On June the fourth the British troops sailed for Havana, where they -arrived on the fourteenth of the same month; and thence the same vessels -transported them to Brooklyn. A further addition was made to the -strength of the British, by the garrisons of Baton Rouge and Fort -Charlotte, which after many obstacles, and several voyages from point to -point, finally reached Brooklyn about the time the Pensacola troops -arrived there. And thus, in consequence of Galvez’s breach of faith, a -force of 1,200 veterans, with their gallant officers, was added to the -British army. - -It was doubtless this accession of British strength, at New York, in -that rallying year, when each side required every available man, that -caused de Grasse to complain to the Spanish government of the -capitulation at Pensacola, and called forth the apology of Galvez -referred to by General Washington in his letter to Rendon. - ------ - -Footnote 37: - - Sparks, Vol. 8, p. 175. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XV. - -Political Aspect of the Capitulation—Treaty of Versailles—English - Exodus—Widow of the White House. - - -The terms of the surrender of Fort George, as stated in the previous -chapter, present the strictly military side of the capitulation. But -there was also a political aspect to the formal articles, signed on the -ninth of May, by General Campbell, Governor Chester, and General Galvez. -West Florida was surrendered to Spain, and it was stipulated, that “the -British inhabitants, or those who may have been subjects of the King of -Great Britain in said countries, may retire in full security, and may -sell their estates, and remove their effects as well as their persons; -the time limited for their emigration being fixed at the space of -eighteen months.” - -It was that political feature of the capitulation which made Governor -Chester’s signature necessary, and to that it related exclusively. That -of General Campbell referred to the strictly military stipulations only. -In the former we may find one of General Galvez’s inducements to submit -to the British general’s “requirements.” - -The object of the Spanish government in directing the invasion of West -Florida was to permanently regain the territory which Spain had -surrendered to Great Britain in 1763; and in addition, to obtain that -part of Louisiana on the Gulf of Mexico which the latter had acquired -from France. Consequently, the large expedition so long in preparing -against Pensacola, and so disproportionate to the mere capture of the -place, was intended for colonization, as well as conquest. Such being -the policy of his government, Galvez necessarily subordinated all other -considerations to its achievement. Accordingly, his overwhelming numbers -designed to overawe opposition; his ponderous siege artillery intended -to batter Fort George into ruins without danger to the town; avoidance -of all movements by his fleet against it as well as all injury to it by -his artillery during the siege; and, lastly, the article above quoted -pointed to the colonization of a Spanish population, for the -accommodation of which the English homes were to be vacated, and their -inmates forced into exile. If that object could be obtained by the -capitulation, there was nothing within the lines of Spanish policy to be -gained by taking Fort George by storm, at the fearful sacrifice of human -life which it would have cost. The French might, indeed, complain that -the agreement with them respecting British troops in Florida was -violated by conceding the terms demanded by General Campbell; but -diplomacy, the science of excuses and pretexts, would be equal to the -task of satisfying them. As to the Americans, it was of little -consequence to Spain that General Clinton’s forces would be strengthened -by the reinforcement of the Florida troops, albeit at a conjuncture when -every available man was required to sustain Britain’s tottering North -American empire. For though Spain became an ally of France in order to -place herself in a position to claim a fragment of that empire when it -fell, yet her purpose was to attain that end with the least possible -inconvenience or sacrifice to herself. - -That General Washington was satisfied with the apology of Galvez made -through de Grasse may well be doubted. His dignity, however, forbade -complaint. Besides, the promise violated was made to the French; if they -were satisfied, respect for them imposed silence upon the Americans. But -there is in the paragraph of the letter to Rendon, before quoted, a vein -of irony, the sting of which, coming from such a man, Galvez must have -keenly felt. - -As already intimated, the above quoted provision of the capitulation -became substantially the Fifth Article of the treaty between Great -Britain and Spain, signed on the twenty-eighth of January, 1783, at -Versailles.[38] - -The condition in which that treaty placed the Florida-English was -peculiar. Spain was not opposed to foreigners living in her colonies, -provided they were Catholics; and it was well understood, that any -English who were, or should become, such would be at liberty to remain -in Florida in the full enjoyment of their liberty and property.[39] - -History does not afford a more striking contrast between the conduct of -two nations under similar circumstances, to the honor of one, and the -reproach of the other, than that between Spain and Great Britain, as -they are presented by the treaties of Paris and Versailles. In the -former, Spanish subjects were secured in their persons, religion, -liberty and property. In the latter, Great Britain virtually stipulated -for the banishment of hers, and the confiscation of their estates. The -privilege of selling their property within eighteen months was but a -mockery; for purchasers were not only few, but well aware, likewise, -that a trifling consideration would in the end be preferable to a total -sacrifice. - -The British government professed to compensate the victims of her -policy; but her justice was confined to those whose claims upon it were -the slightest; to the absentees owning large tracts of land which had -been granted by the crown, and who did not see fit to go to the -provinces to attempt to effect sales. [40]But no indemnity was provided -for those who had made their homes in the provinces, under the gilded -representations and inviting promises of their governors in the name of -His Protestant Majesty, George III., Defender of the Faith. - -The conduct of Spain in this matter is hardly censurable, when it is -remembered that it occurred in an age of religious intolerance. She was -a Catholic power and wanted no Protestant subjects. Her own had left -Florida in 1763, as soon as the Spanish flag was lowered. In the -articles of capitulation and the treaty of 1783 she had enforced her -traditional policy. And to her credit, be it said, that she did not -enforce banishment and confiscation after eighteen months had expired -under the former; and when that period had elapsed under the latter, she -granted an extension of four months. Great Britain, on the other hand, -in yielding to Spain’s demands was false to her faith, false to her -traditions, and false to that boasted principle of her constitution that -her ægis covers every Englishman, in every land. - -Eighteen months is but a fleeting span to a people, when it is but a -respite from confiscation and exile, avoidable only by apostasy. - -Of the heartaches of the exodus of the Florida-English we have an -illustration in the widow of the White House. She had lived out the -eighteen months under the capitulation, and the like period under the -treaty, when the extension came to her like a respite to the condemned. - -Those four months embraced the days and nights of her struggle in the -toils of temptation, foreshadowed in a previous page. Can she leave that -home, consecrated by the graves of her husband and her child; that home -where every object, tree, vine, shrub, sea, sky, and the very wild -violets at her feet, brought up hallowed associations and sacred -memories which made them all parts of her very being? No! The surrender -would be at the cost of as many bleeding heart strings. There is, -however, an escape in apostasy. She has but to signify her wish to -renounce her faith; that faith, however, with which she had consoled a -dying husband, and in which she had buried a darling child. Home -triumphs. The governor is notified. - -Time wanes to the day of sacrifice. The bell tolls the sacrificial hour. -The priest stands at the altar ready for the offering. But the victim -fails the tryst. Faith triumphs. The bonds of temptation are snapped. -Turning her back upon home, she goes forth an exile; crowned, we may -well believe, with the promise to all the true of every creed who leave -“lands” and “houses” for His name’s sake, to swell the mighty host of -woman martyrs; time’s woeful harvest of blighted lives and broken -hearts; victims of man’s ambitions, his wars, his policies, and his -laws. - ------ - -Footnote 38: - - White’s Recopilacion, Vol. II., p. 298. - -Footnote 39: - - White’s Recopilacion, Vol. II., p. 301. - -Footnote 40: - - Id. p. 300. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XVI. - -Boundary Lines—William Panton and Spain—Indian Trade—Indian Ponies and - Traders—Business of Panton, Leslie & Co. - - -The treaty of Versailles re-adjusted the broken circle of Spain’s empire -on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, by restoring to it the segment -taken from it by d’Iberville’s settlement, as well as that cut from it -by the Treaty of Paris in 1763. - -But British West Florida was not in its entirety acquired by Spain. By -the Treaty of Paris of the third day of September, 1783, acknowledging -the independence of the United States, the 31° parallel of north -latitude was made the southern limit of the latter from the Mississippi -river to the Appalachicola. Thence the boundary line was that river up -to the Flint, thence in a straight line to the head waters of the St. -Mary’s and down that river to the Atlantic ocean. The Treaty of -Versailles, on the other hand, made that line the northern boundary of -the territory ceded to Spain. Those treaties therefore cut off a huge -slice from British West Florida. - -But, even within that narrow strip of territory, Pensacola lost its -primacy; for in the establishment of the Spanish colonial governments -within it, the Perdido was made the western limit of West Florida. -Pensacola was, therefore, by that arrangement placed geographically in -reference to boundary lines as it stands to-day; the result, as before -shown, of d’Arriola having made his settlement three years before the -advent of d’Iberville to the gulf coast. - -Those territorial changes dealt a withering blow to Pensacola. Instead -of being the capital of a province, bounded by the Mississippi and the -Chattahoochee, and a line from one to the other some miles north of -Montgomery, it became but the chief town of a narrow strip of wilderness -between the Perdido and the Appalachicola rivers. Lately regarded and -fostered as the future commercial base on the gulf of Britain’s North -American empire, it now became a garrison town, valued by Spain as only -an outpost to guard against encroachments by other powers on the shores -of a sea over which she sought supremacy. - -Left to Spanish influences exclusively, it must have rapidly dwindled to -the condition, commercially at least, in which Captain Wills found it in -1763. But from that fate it was saved by two men who have already been -introduced to the reader. - -The narrow religious prejudices of the Spanish court demanded the -banishment of all Protestant British under the Fifth Article of the -Treaty of Versailles; and they were rigidly obeyed by colonial officials -with one exception. They knew that to banish William Panton was to -insure for the town the fate above indicated, and they were equally -aware that his presence would be more effective in the preservation of -the peace of the provinces than a large military force, owing to his -influence over Alexander McGillivray, and of the latter’s over the -powerful Creek Indians. Indeed, it is unquestionable, that without those -influences, the Spanish government could not have been maintained in -West Florida. But it would have been idle to hope that a man who had -been loyal to an earthly monarch, under pain of confiscation and -banishment, would incur the guilt of apostasy from a faith that was to -him, at least, the symbol of allegiance to the King of Kings. -Accordingly, the religious test was waived as to him, and for it was -substituted an oath of allegiance to the Spanish King, whilst his -residence and influence were secured by means the most inviting to his -interest and flattering to his pride. - -A treaty was entered into with him, as a quasi-sovereign, securing his -firm in all its possessions and rights, and bestowing upon its houses at -Pensacola, Mobile and Appalachee a monopoly of the Indian trade. For -these concessions the firm became the financial agent of the government -at those points, and bound to wield its influence in promoting peace and -good will between the Spaniards and the Indians. - -The stipulations on both sides were faithfully fulfilled. At one time -Spain was indebted to the firm in the sum of $200,000 for advances, and -the debt was afterwards faithfully discharged. In humiliating contrast -with the honor and fidelity which marked the dealings of the Scotchmen -and Spaniards with each other, is the following advice of an American -agent, James Seagraves, [41]to his government. “I think if the Spanish -court were pushed in the business they will readily sacrifice Panton & -Co., especially as they owe the concern $200,000 for Indian supplies.” - -This advice was given at a time when complications had arisen between -the Spanish government of Florida and the United States, growing out of -the energetic struggle of the Atlantic Indian traders to divert the -Creek trade from Pensacola to Charleston and Savannah. The step -suggested was, in effect, to transfer a commercial contest from the -Indian wilds to Madrid, where an American minister was expected to -perform the degrading task of attempting to induce the Spanish court to -commit a fraud upon agents who had served it so long and faithfully, as -well as to violate all its other obligations to them. - -Panton, Leslie & Co. were engaged in that trade at Charleston and -Savannah long before the American revolution; a trade which, even then, -extended through the Coosa country in the heart of the Creek nation. -With a full knowledge of it, in all its details, they established -themselves at Pensacola with a view of drawing a part of it there. This -was the beginning of the commercial struggle which is continued to this -day, between the gulf and Atlantic ports for the trade of Central -Alabama. It began with the Indian ponies as a means of transportation; -it is carried on now by the steam horse; and a future generation may see -it continued by electricity. - -The pony used by the trader was a strong, hardy little creature, which -with ease carried one hundred and eighty pounds and traveled twenty-five -miles a day. The rich and abundant pasturage in those times enabled him -to supply himself with sufficient food at noon and at night to meet his -requirements. There was often oddity in his load. It might be a -miniature chickenhouse, or two kegs of taffi, hung to his sides, with a -pack of merchandise on his back; or two pendant firkins of honey-comb, -with a pile of hides, skins, or beeswax towering between. - -One driver for ten animals was the usual proportion of man and beast. -The companies were generally from five to ten, making a long line of -march, following the main and lateral trails mentioned in a previous -chapter. But as all the Indian settlements were visited, their movements -could not always be on the ridge. Sometimes creeks and rivers had to be -crossed. On such occasions, when the stream was not fordable with safety -to the packs, they were ferried over on rafts composed of logs or masses -of matted cane, guided where the current was strong by a grapevine rope -stretched across the stream. - -Regarded by their savage customers as friends, who came periodically to -administer to their wants, and gratify their taste for taffi, the -traders made their journeys in perfect security. Like their class -everywhere, they were joyous men, full of fun and jokes, news and -gossip, to which full play was given, under the spur of a cup of taffi, -when caravans met. - -Beside the trade thus carried on, there was one equally as great, if not -greater, carried on by the Indians themselves, without the intervention -of the traders. The business required Panton, Leslie & Co. to keep up a -stock of $50,000 at least, and a large corps of clerks to wait on their -savage customers. - -Other business sprung up and brought population. Sawmills were erected, -brickyards opened and a tanyard established, which added leather to the -exports of the town. - -Such were the fruits of William Panton’s presence in the province. Idle, -however, would have been his labor, his wealth and talents, though -backed by the Spanish Government, but for the co-operation of -McGillivray. Had the great Chief pointed his long, slender finger to -Savannah and Charleston as the sources of supply for his people, the -commercial life of Pensacola would have withered and perished like a -tree girdled by the woodman’s axe. - ------ - -Footnote 41: - - American State Papers, Vol. III. p. 311. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XVII. - -Lineage of Alexander McGillivray.—His Education—Made Grand Chief—His - Connection with Milfort—His Relations with William Panton—His - Administration of Creek Affairs—Appointed Colonel by the British— - Treaty with Spain—Commissioned Colonel by the Spanish—Invited to New - York by Washington—Treaty—Commissioned a Brigadier-General by the - United States—His Sister, Sophia Durant—His Trials—His Death at - Pensacola. - - -The people who have been called Creeks in previous pages, received that -name after their settlement in Alabama and Georgia; a name, it is said, -they derived from the number and beauty of the streams or creeks of the -country they inhabited. Before that they were known as Muscogees -according to English, and Othomis or Otomies, according to Castilian -orthography. - -Their original seat was in northern Mexico. They were a warlike and -independent tribe, which, though lacking the comparative civilization of -the Aztecs and the Tlascalans, had yet received some rays of its light. -They had been confederates of the latter in their conflicts for -existence with the former. They had afterwards aided in the defence of -Tlascala against Cortez. Surviving warriors, however, carried back to -their people such accounts of that field of slaughter, and the prowess -of the foe, who seemed to be armed with supernatural weapons, that the -tribe became panic-stricken, and in a council, resolved upon a flight -beyond the reach of the invincible invader. The determination was -promptly put into execution. - -The entire tribe, bearing off its movable effects, took its line of -march in an easterly course. After a journey which consumed many months, -they found themselves on the head waters of Red river. Reaching that -river, and following it, they at length found a suitable place for a -settlement, where they felt they were sufficiently remote from the -terrible foe who had inspired their flight. There they accordingly -established themselves, and remained for several years. Abandoning that -settlement, they proceeded northward to the Missouri, thence to the -Mississippi, and from there moved to the Ohio. That progress, however, -was not by a continuous march, but by periodic advances, interrupted by -settlements more or less long, and marked by conflicts with other -tribes, in which, according to their traditions, they were always -victorious. - -They must have been living on the banks of the Ohio, when Soto made his -devastating march through the Creek country which was afterwards to be -their home. There they must have been likewise, when de Luna made his -explorations, and noted the sparseness of population, and abandoned -fields as before narrated; or, perhaps, they were then making one of -their intermittent advances southward, which were to bring them -eventually to the Coosa, Tallapoosa, and Chattahoochee. - -Like other Mexican tribes, the Muscogees were divided into septs or -fratries, the most notable of them being those of the Ho-tal-gee, or the -Wind, the Tiger, the Bear, and the Eagle. In the first, however, resided -the primacy, or hegemony of the tribe. - -The traditions of their Mexican origin and emigration, collected by Le -Clerc Milfort under the most favorable conditions, as will be seen -hereafter, are fortified by their form of government, with its dual -executive for civil and military affairs; their glimmer of civilization, -as well as their federative tendency. - -Soon after their settlement in the Creek country, they are found -absorbing other tribes; not by enslavement or incorporation, but as -confederates. They had their national councils, composed of the -principal chiefs of the confederacy, and suitable buildings at fixed -places for their accommodation. The head of the confederacy for civil -affairs was the Grand Chief, as the Tustenuggee, or Great Warrior, was -for war. They also had Town Governments, the Chief of each being the -Micco, an elective officer, and not a King, as often misrepresented. -Each town had its council house, in which local affairs were -administered. - -The Grand Chief of the Muscogees held the position, and exercised the -functions which recent criticism has assigned to Montezuma, as the head -of the Aztec confederacy, to whom the Spaniards erroneously gave the -title, and attributed the powers of an emperor, in accordance with their -own habits of thought, as the subjects of an emperor. - -The Indian trade that existed between the Creeks and the Atlantic coast, -which has already been mentioned, was an inviting field to cupidity and -enterprise, and many were the young adventurers from the old world who -engaged in it soon after their landing at Charleston or Savannah. Some -of them, too, fascinated by the wild life of the forest, made themselves -homes in the Creek nation, and found wives amongst the Creek maidens, -who in form, feature and habits, were superior to those of other tribes. - -Amongst those adventurous spirits was Lachlan McGillivray, a youth of -good Scotch family, of Dumglass, Scotland. A few years found him a -successful trader. On one of his visits to the Hickory Ground, a -prominent Creek town on the Coosa, situated near the present site of -Wetumpka, Alabama, he became acquainted with Sehoy Marchand, a young -woman whose mother was a full blood of the Ho-tal-gee, or Wind family, -and whose father was a French captain who had been murdered by mutineers -at Fort Toulouse, a few miles from Hickory Ground. That meeting resulted -in marriage. Shortly afterward, McGillivray made a home, and established -a trading house, not far from where he had first met his Indian wife. - -Of that marriage, Alexander McGillivray was the first born, Sophia the -next, and Jenette the third. - -The father became exceedingly prosperous, partly in consequence of his -alliance with the chief family of the Creeks, and in a few years found -himself the owner of two plantations on the Savannah river. His trading -journeys, however, still had their attractions for him. When Alexander -was fourteen years old he induced his wife to let the boy go with him to -Charleston, and remain there to be educated. After having been -instructed sufficiently for the purpose, he was placed in a -counting-house; but having acquired a taste for learning, that -occupation became intolerable to him. His father, accordingly, -determined to yield to the bent of the boy’s mind, and found him a -highly educated teacher in a clergyman of Charleston. With that -assistance, and sedulous application, he became a Greek and Latin -scholar, and besides, made rapid and extensive progress in other -departments of knowledge. He appears to have been a student up to the -age of thirty, which he reached about the year 1776. In that year he -left Charleston, an educated man, to return to his people, whom he, a -little semi-savage of fourteen, had left sixteen years before. The -impelling motive to that movement probably was, that being like his -father, a loyalist, residence in a rebel colony was no longer agreeable. -Possibly, however, he had purposely deferred his return to the Indian -nation until he had arrived at such an age as would justify him in -looking to the position of Grand Chief. But, be that as it may, the time -for his return was judiciously chosen, and consistently with that -sagacity which characterized his whole life, of acting opportunely in -all exigencies. - -The white settlers of Georgia were beginning to press through what the -Creeks claimed as their frontier; and to that pressure was added the -hostility engendered by the revolution, now in its second year, against -any semblance of favor to the enemies of the patriotic cause. The West -Florida-English and their government were on the most friendly terms -with the Creeks; and that in itself was sufficient to beget hostility to -the latter on the part of the Whigs of Georgia and the Carolinas. This -was a new and complex condition of things to the Creeks, presenting -questions for solution with which their great council felt its inability -to deal. To whom could they look for guidance? They knew no -disinterested advice could come from the government at Pensacola, and it -would be folly to seek counsel from the Georgians, who regarded them as -enemies because they desired to be neutrals, living in peace between -hostile communities, engaged in a conflict in which the Indian could -feel no interest. - -It was just at this juncture that Alexander McGillivray found himself -amongst his people. Long and impatiently had they awaited the advent of -the representative of the Ho-tal-gee, the grand chieftain, who for so -many years had been studying that wisdom of the white man, which made -him the Indian’s superior; that wisdom which now acquired by him, was to -be exercised for the salvation of his people. Great, therefore, was the -satisfaction produced the advent of such a disinterested counselor and -guide. - -He is hardly well within the nation before a grand council is called at -Coweta, on the Chattahoochee, over which he was to preside, and formally -assume the hegemony of the Ho-tal-gee. - -To a thoughtful mind there is a pathos in this scene which appeals to -every generous nature! It comes like the despairing appeal of infancy to -manhood for help! It is the ignorance of the savage stretching out its -supplicating hands to the white man’s wisdom as his only refuge. - -One of the most striking powers which McGillivray possessed, was his -ability to win and retain the childlike confidence of his people, and -thereby exercise boundless control over them. He was not a soldier, or a -man of blood, in any sense of the term. He was essentially a statesman -and a diplomat. The conquests of peace only had any fascination for him. -His ambition was to save and civilize his people. That such a man should -bend to his will in the paths of peace a numerous population of warlike -savages, to whom the war-whoop was music, and scalping the most inviting -pastime, is a domination over brute instincts of which history contains -very few examples. - -A remarkable instance of that influence occurred shortly after the -council at Coweta. He there made the acquaintance of Le Clerc Milfort, -mentioned in a previous page; an adventurous Frenchman, highly educated, -and possessing military qualities of no ordinary kind, as well as bodily -strength and endurance equal to any exertion. Their mental culture was a -mutual attraction. - -Milfort went with him from Coweta to Hickory Ground, the home of -McGillivray’s childhood, where his mother and his sisters Sophia and -Jenette were living. He at once entered into Creek life, and united his -fortunes with McGillivray’s. The bright eyes of Jenette were not long in -winning Milfort’s heart, nor was there much delay in his winning hers. -They were married. By the marriage he acquired great consideration -amongst the Creeks. - -As previously remarked, McGillivray was not a soldier himself; but as a -wise ruler, he felt the necessity of having an able commander in war, -when the exigency for it arose. Moreover, his policy as a civilized -ruler, was to have war conducted by a civilized leader, who might by his -example and influence, control the brutal instincts of his savage -forces. Milfort was the man for the place. An obstacle to his -appointment, seemingly insuperable, however, existed. The office of -Tustenuggee was an honor to which the Indian braves looked as the -highest attainable; and presumptively, they would refuse their consent -that this coveted prize should be conferred upon a stranger. But, that -stranger had married a Ho-tal-gee, and it was the wish of the Grand -Chief that he should receive it. It was, accordingly, conferred upon -Milfort with the sanction of the tribe. - -McGillivray soon attracted the attention of the British government at -Pensacola, as well as that of the British officers in Georgia, with whom -he carried on an extensive correspondence. They at once saw that it -would be impossible for him to keep the Creeks in a state of neutrality, -founded, as it must be, upon good feeling for each of two bitter foes, -marked by such strict impartiality of conduct as to avoid any ground of -exception by either belligerent. McGillivray’s judgment soon led him to -the same conclusion; a conclusion which imposed upon him the necessity -of choosing one of the belligerents for the ally of his people. He, -accordingly, decided in favor of a British alliance, for which the -reasons were too obvious for hesitation. - -The Americans could reach his people upon one frontier only, and even -then their attention would be distracted by their contest with the -British. The British, on the other hand, could without danger of -interference, assail the Creeks from Pensacola; and in case they -crushed, the Georgians would be at liberty to attack them from the east. -But, although he sided with the British, it was with the secret -resolution that the alliance should be maintained at the least possible -sacrifice to his people. His policy was, not to permit their spirit to -be broken, or their numbers diminished, by entering with their full -strength into a conflict with which they had no concern. Nor would he -permit them to inflict such extensive injuries upon Georgia as would be -a barrier to future reconciliation. - -In order to spur the Creeks to great efforts against the Americans, -Tait, a British colonel, was stationed on the Coosa; and at the same -time McGillivray received from the British government the commission and -pay of colonel in its service. But both expedients proved ineffectual to -materially change the policy the latter had adopted. Raids, it is true, -were made upon the Georgians, necessarily attended by some blood-shed -and rapine, but they were limited in number, character, and consequence, -by the mental reservation with which McGillivray had entered into the -British alliance. With that limited exertion, however, the British were -fain to be content, as it was better for them than strict neutrality, -and still more so than the hostility of such a powerful tribe directed -against themselves. - -Milfort was the commander intrusted with the expeditions against the -Georgia settlements; and, doubtless, being fully aware of the -conservative policy of the Grand Chief, he made every effort to observe -it. A Frenchman, of his ability, was the very man to make such a show of -warfare as would impose on the British, and at the same time to render -it so barren in results as to make but a transient impression upon those -against whom it was directed. That a man should have been selected so -eminently qualified to execute such a singular task, affords the highest -evidence of the capacity of the mind that made the selection. Such -ability, is, indeed, after all, the surest test of the capacity of a -ruler. - -Though a band of the Creeks, as already mentioned, assisted the British -at the time of Galvez’s operations against Pensacola, it is remarkable, -that neither McGillivray, who was a colonel in the British army, nor -Milfort, the Great War Chief, seem to have taken any part in the -contest. Such a force as could have been raised by the Creeks and their -confederate tribes, could have rendered great service to the British in -resisting, if not, indeed, in defeating Galvez’s invasion. But an -explanation is readily found in the Grand Chiefs policy of preventing -his people from taking any large part in the quarrels and conflicts of -the whites. Besides, he was doubtless impressed with the smallness of -the British force in West-Florida, compared with the host the Spaniards -had at their command; justifying the conclusion, that as the latter had -been able to conquer the country west, they would prove equal to the -conquest of that east of the Perdido. He, therefore, wisely refrained -from such an interference as would array the Spaniards against his -people, after they had expelled the British from the country. If the -British proved victorious, the assistance rendered by the Creeks, aided -by the Choctaws and Chickasaws, could be urged as the fulfillment of the -obligations of an ally. On the other hand, if the Spaniards were -successful, it was an easy matter to disavow the action of an adventurer -like Bowles, at the head of a handful of Creeks and other Indians, as -one in which the tribe had no concern; an explanation the more -acceptable, as the conqueror would naturally seek to cultivate the like -friendly relations with the Indians which the conquered had enjoyed. - -Soon after McGillivray became Grand Chief of his tribe, he met William -Panton at Pensacola. Panton was deeply impressed with his ability. It is -probable, too, that he was acquainted with the elder McGillivray, and -sympathized with him as a fellow victim, who, like himself, had suffered -banishment and confiscation, for no other crime than loyalty to their -King. That sympathy with the parent naturally inspired good will toward -the son. But, aside from such a sentimental consideration, each soon -discovering the great advantage he could be to the other, it was not -long before they were united by the more practical bonds of mutual -interests. McGillivray likewise saw great advantages to his people in -dealing exclusively with a house of such great wealth and influence as -that of Panton, Leslie & Co., whilst Panton was as quick to see, that by -the management of the Grand Chief the firm could secure a monopoly of -the entire Indian trade. It was immediately after this understanding -between them was reached, that they had that meeting with Governor -Chester in the Council Chamber of Fort George, of which a glimpse was -had in a previous page. - -The war in Georgia and South Carolina had cut off the Creek trade with -the Atlantic coast; and consequently, McGillivray had no difficulty in -directing the whole of it to Pensacola. But after peace was established, -the Atlantic traders were again ready, with their pack ponies, to take -the trails that led to western Georgia and eastern Alabama. Panton at -once saw that the monopoly of his house was in danger; and that to avert -it, he must bring about an understanding between the Spanish government, -himself, and McGillivray, like that which he had previously effected -with the British. He, accordingly, entered into the treaty with the -Spaniards, of which mention was made in the previous chapter. To be -effective, however, he knew that treaty must be supplemented by another -between the Indians and the Spaniards. - -In playing his cards, Panton was looking solely to the advantage of his -house. But it was far otherwise with McGillivray. If he induced his -people to make such a treaty, it was because he saw clearly it was to -their advantage. He rejoiced, too, to find that he was about to reap the -fruit of that policy by which he had brought them through the period of -the Revolutionary War, stronger, and more numerous than they ever were -before; a condition which excited the fears of the Spaniards, and -disposed them to seek the alliance of such a powerful tribe by liberal -concessions. Accordingly, a treaty between the Creeks and the Seminoles -represented by McGillivray, and Spain by Governor Miro of New Orleans, -assisted by O’Niell, Governor of West-Florida, and Don Martin Navarro, -Intendent General of Florida, was entered into on the first of June, -1784, at Pensacola.[42] The relations created by that treaty between the -Indians and Spaniards were close and intimate, and seem to have been -observed substantially, although not always in form, up to the last day -of Spanish rule in Florida. - -Its conclusion was followed by McGillivray obtaining a commission with -the pay of Colonel in the Spanish army. - -By that treaty he felt, as he had reason to feel, that he had secured -for his tribe an alliance with a strong European power, one that had -just expelled the British from the Floridas; and, that thus fortified, -he was in a condition to meet the Americans on the eastern frontier in a -manner that would prevent their threatened encroachment upon the rights -of his people; not by war, however, in which the Creeks were to engage -with the United States, for such a course, his judgment told him, would -end in their destruction. His treaty with the Spaniards was but a card -which he proposed to use, to give his nation the imposing aspect of one -to be courted rather than despised. To render its attitude still more -imposing, he announced his determination to prevent any further -encroachments by the whites upon the Indian territory in Georgia. - -These cards won the game, according to the calculations of the sagacious -brain which conceived it. The United States met the threatening aspect -of affairs in Georgia, by appointing commissioners in 1785, to treat -with the Indians. One of them, Andrew Pickens, addressed a letter to -McGillivray, expressing the wish of the government amicably “to adjust -matters on an equitable footing.” This was the point for the attainment -of which the treaty with the Spaniards, and the threats of hostility -against the Georgians had been made. For it was the strength of the -Creeks, which his policy had so successfully fostered in the midst of -war, backed by the Spanish alliance, that induced the United States, -exhausted by the Revolutionary struggle, to resort to peaceable means to -avoid a conflict with such a powerful tribe. - -The reply of McGillivray so clearly illustrates his profound policy, -which previous pages have endeavored to unfold as the moving spring of -all his actions as Grand Chief, that it must be given in extenso, -especially as any attempt to present it by extracts would prove a -mutilation in which its force would be impaired, if not destroyed. - - LITTLE TALLASEE, 5th Sept., 1785. - - SIR:—I am favored with your letter by Brandon, who, after - detaining it near a month, sent it by an Indian, a few days ago. - He, perhaps, had some reasons for keeping himself from this - region. - - The notification you have sent us is agreeable to our wishes, as - the meetings intended for the desirable purpose of adjusting and - settling matters, on an equitable footing, between the United - States and the Indian nations. At the same time, I cannot avoid - expressing my surprise that a measure of this nature should have - been so long delayed, on your part. When we found that the - American Independence was confirmed by the peace, we expected - that the new government would soon have taken some steps to make - up the differences that subsisted between them and the Indians - during the war; to have taken them under their protection, and - confirmed to them their hunting-grounds. Such a course would - have reconciled the minds of the Indians and secured the States - their friendship, as they considered your people their natural - allies. The Georgians, whose particular interest it was to - conciliate the friendship of this nation, have acted, in all - respects, to the contrary. I am sorry to observe that violence - and prejudice have taken the place of good policy and reason, in - all their proceedings with us. They attempted to avail - themselves of our supposed distressed situation. Their talks to - us breathe nothing but vengeance, and, being entirely possessed - with the idea, that we were wholly at their mercy, they never - once reflected that colonies of a powerful monarch were nearly - surrounding us, to whom, in an extremity, we might apply for - succor and protection, and who, to answer some ends of their - policy, might grant it to us. However, we yet deferred any such - proceeding, still expecting that we could bring them to a true - sense of their interest; but still finding no alteration in - their conduct towards us, we sought the protection of Spain, and - treaties of friendship and alliance were mutually entered into— - they guaranteeing our hunting-grounds and territory, and - granting us a free trade in the ports of the Floridas. - - How the boundary and limits between the Spaniards and the States - will be determined a little time will show, as I believe that - matter is now on foot. However, we know our limits, and the - extent of our hunting-grounds. As a free nation, we have - applied, as we had the right to do, for protection, and obtained - it. We shall pay no attention to any limits that may prejudice - our claims, that were drawn by an American and confirmed by a - British negotiator. Yet, notwithstanding we have been obliged to - adopt these measures for our preservation, and from real - necessity, we sincerely wish to have it in our power to be on - the same footing with the States as before the late unhappy war, - to effect which is entirely in your power. We want nothing from - you but justice. We want our hunting-grounds preserved from - encroachments. They have been ours from the beginning of time, - and I trust that, with the assistance of our friends, we shall - be able to maintain them against every attempt that may be made - to take them from us. - - Finding our representations to the State of Georgia of no - effect, in restraining their encroachments, we thought it proper - to call a meeting of the nation, on the subject. We then came to - the resolution to send our parties to remove the Georgians and - their effects from the lands in question, in the most peaceful - manner possible. - - Agreeably to your requisition, and to convince you of my sincere - desire to restore a good understanding between us, I have taken - the necessary steps to prevent any future predatory excursions - of my people against any of your settlements. I could wish the - people of Cumberland showed an equal good disposition to do what - is right. They were certainly the first aggressors, since the - peace, and acknowledged it in a written certificate, left at the - Indian camp they had plundered. - - I have only to add, that we shall meet the commissioners of - Congress whenever we shall receive notice, in expectation that - every matter of difference will be settled, with that liberality - and justice worthy the men who have so gloriously asserted the - cause of liberty and independence, and that we shall, in future, - consider them as brethren, and defenders of the land.[43] - - I am, with much respect, sir, - Your obedient servant, - ALEXANDER MCGILLIVRAY. - - HON. ANDREW PICKENS. - -How politic and graceful the allusion to American independence! Could -the alliance with Spain have been touched more artfully? How firm is the -insistance of the rights of his people! How striking is the regulation -of the force exerted in the removal of trespassers from the Indian -domain! How worthy of the spring days of republican America is the -closing paragraph! - -The reader must be induced to read another letter, not merely as -illustrative of the style and springs of action of the Grand Chief, but -as a narrative of events bearing upon his life, which no pen can so well -narrate as his own. It is in reply to a letter of James White, -superintendent of the Creek Indians. - - LITTLE TALLASEE, 8th April, 1787. - - SIR:—It is with real satisfaction, that I learn of your being - appointed by Congress, for the laudable purpose of inquiring - into and settling the differences that, at present subsist - between our nation and the Georgians. It may be necessary for - you to know the cause of these differences, and our discontents, - which, perhaps, have never come to the knowledge of the - honorable body that sent you to our country. - - There are Chiefs of two towns in this nation, who, during the - late war, were friendly to the State of Georgia, and had gone, - at different times, among those people, and once, after the - general peace, to Augusta. They there demanded of them a grant - of lands, belonging to and enjoyed as hunting-grounds by the - Indians of this nation, in common, on the east of the Oconee - river. The Chiefs rejected the demand, on the plea, that these - lands were the hunting-grounds of the nation, and could not be - granted by two individuals; but, after a few days, a promise was - extorted from them, that, on their return to our country, they - would use their influence to get a grant confirmed. Upon their - return, a general convention was held at Tookabatcha, when these - two Chiefs were severely censured, and the Chiefs of - ninety-eight towns agreed upon a talk, to be sent to Savannah, - disapproving, in the strongest manner, of the demand made upon - their nation, and denying the right of any two of their country - to make cession of land, which could only be valid by the - unanimous voice of the whole, as joint proprietors in common. - Yet these two Chiefs, regardless of the voice of the nation, - continued to go to Augusta, and other places within the State. - They received presents and made promises; but our customs did - not permit us to punish them for the crime. We warned the - Georgians of the dangerous consequences that would certainly - attend the settling of the lands in question. Our just - remonstrances were treated with contempt, and these lands were - soon filled with settlers. The nation, justly alarmed at the - encroachments, resolved to use force to maintain their rights, - yet, being averse to the shedding of the blood of a people whom - we would rather consider as friends, we made another effort to - awaken in them a sense of justice and equity. But we found, from - experience, that entreaty could not prevail, and parties of - warriors were sent, to drive off the intruders, but were - instructed to shed blood, only, where self-preservation made it - necessary. - - This was in May, 1786. In October following we were invited by - commissioners, of the State of Georgia, to meet them in - conference, at the Oconee, professing a sincere desire for an - amicable adjustment of our disputes, and pledging their sacred - honors for the safety and good treatment of all those who should - attend and meet them. It not being convenient for many of us to - go to the proposed conference, a few, from motives of curiosity, - attended. They were surprised to find an armed body of men, - prepared for and professing hostile intentions. Apprehensions - for personal safety induced those Chiefs to subscribe to every - demand that was asked by the army and its commissioners. Lands - were again demanded, and the lives of some of our Chiefs were - required, as well as those of some innocent traders, as a - sacrifice to appease their anger. Assassins have been employed - to effect some part of their atrocious purpose. If I fall by the - hand of such, I shall fall the victim of the noblest of causes, - that of maintaining the just rights of my country. I aspire to - the honest ambition of meriting the appellation of the preserver - of my country, equally with the Chiefs among you, whom, from - acting on such principles, you have exalted to the highest pitch - of glory. And if, after every peaceable mode of obtaining - redress of grievances proved fruitless, a recourse to arms to - obtain it be a mark of the savage, and not of the soldier, what - savages must the Americans be, and how much undeserved applause - has your Cincinnatus, your Fabius, obtained. If a war name had - been necessary to distinguish that Chief, in such a case, the - Man-Killer, the Great Destroyer, would have been the proper - appellation. - - I had appointed the Cussetas, for all the Chiefs of the Lower - Creeks to meet in convention. I shall be down in a few days, - when, from your timely arrival, you will meet the Chiefs, and - learn their sentiments, and I sincerely hope that the - propositions which you shall offer us will be such as we can - safely accede to. The talks of the former commissioners, at - Galphinton, were much approved of, and your coming from the - White Town (seat of Congress) has raised great expectations, - that you will remove the principal and almost only cause of our - dispute, that is, by securing to us our hunting-grounds and - possessions, free from all encroachments. When we meet, we shall - talk these matters over. - - Meantime, I remain, - With regard, your obedient servant, - ALEXANDER MCGILLIVRAY.[44] - - HON. JAMES WHITE. - -The foregoing letter illustrates the troubles the Georgians were giving -the Creeks, and the call they made upon McGillivray’s abilities and -influence over his people, in order to avoid a state of war. No result -was reached by the Cussetas talk. Matters remained in the same -unsatisfactory condition after as before it, and so continued until -after General Washington became President of the United States in 1789. - -He appointed a new set of commissioners to effect a settlement, but -these, like the others, failed to reach a favorable result. On the other -hand, their reports were so alarming that he at first regarded war as -the only remedy for the troubles existing between the Georgians and the -Creeks. But, wisely concluding that the country was not then able to -bear the burden of such a costly corrective, he determined to make -another effort at conciliation. In this frame of mind the happy thought -occurred to him, that a personal interview between him and McGillivray -might be attended by results which commissioners had failed to reach. -Acting upon it, he sent an agent to the Creek nation, in the person of -Colonel Marius Willet, to induce McGillivray to visit New York. The -mission was successful. McGillivray in June, 1790, at the head of thirty -of the principal chiefs of the confederacy, set out on their long -journey mounted on horses. - -A stage of the journey brought them to Guildford Court House, where they -were honored by a large assembly of the neighborhood. Suddenly the -throng around the Great Chief opens to a woman, who rushes up to him, -her face bathed in tears, and then, with blessings upon him, expresses -her gratitude for a good deed done by him years before, of which she and -her children were the beneficiaries. In an Indian raid her husband had -been killed, and she and her children carried into captivity. Her -benefactor hearing of their melancholy fate redeemed them, and gave them -a home in his own house, until an opportunity was afforded of sending -them to their friends. He was received with distinguished consideration -at Richmond and Fredericksburg. Philadelphia honored him and his company -with a three days’ entertainment. Colonel Willet, who accompanied them, -tells us that upon their landing in New York, the Tammany Society, in -full regalia, received them, attended them to Congress Hall, and thence -to the residence of General Washington. And then and there, were brought -face to face, the most remarkable white man, and the most remarkable red -man the western hemisphere had then produced. - -Whilst the chiefs of the two confederacies are settling their relations, -an interesting event calls our thoughts from New York to Alabama. The -impressive influence of the Great Chiefs presence was no sooner -withdrawn, than a large number of the restless Creeks conceived the -purpose of destroying the white settlements on the Tensas, which had -been increasing rapidly under his protection. The plan, and the time for -its execution were at last fixed. But, fortunately, they were revealed -to Mrs. Sophia Durant, the sister of McGillivray. - -She possessed remarkable command of the Muscogee language, coupled with -the gift of oratory. She often addressed councils at the instance of her -brother, who, owing to his long absence from his people in his youth, as -well as the study of other tongues, had lost the full command of his -own. - -At the time she was informed of the bloody scheme, she was at her farm -on Little river. Although far under the shadow of maternity she -determines, at every risk to herself, by prompt action, to save an -unsuspecting population from the terrible fate hanging over them. She -orders two horses to be saddled on the instant. She mounts one and her -trusty negress the other. More than twice two score human lives depend -upon her reaching Hickory Ground in time, and that required a ride of -sixty miles. Night and day those two women ride on that errand of mercy. -The only pause was when an opportunity offered to summon a chief to the -Hickory Ground Council House. The notice flies from chief to chief, that -the sister of the Grand Chief has called a council, to tell them, -doubtless, what he had said to her on “talking paper.” From all -quarters, prompted by interest and curiosity, there is a rush for the -Hickory Ground. By that device, worthy the genius of her brother, the -council is promptly assembled. She addresses them with a tone of mingled -authority and persuasion. She tells them of the scheme that had been -disclosed to her; upbraids them for ingratitude to her brother, then -with the Great White Chief, who might exact from him and his thirty -companions the lives of the murdered whites; warns them, too, of the -vengeance which he would be compelled, with the assistance of the -whites, to visit upon the murderers; adding all those appeals which in -such an exigency would come swelling up from the heart of a noble woman. -From all sides of the assembly come pledges that the ringleaders shall -be seized, and the enterprise crushed; and promptly and efficiently it -was done. History, story and art have commemorated the saving of a -single life by Pocahontas; but how insignificant was that act compared -with the one just described! The action is further glorified by the -fact, that within two weeks after the noble woman had saved so many -human beings, she added another life to the long roll of the living.[45] - -A treaty was speedily negotiated between the Creeks and the United -States, by which the Oconee lands referred to in the foregoing letter -were ceded for an annual payment of fifteen hundred dollars, and a -distribution of merchandise. Questions of boundary were settled; the -Indian territory was guaranteed against farther encroachment; a -permanent peace was provided for; the Creeks and Seminoles placed -themselves under the jurisdiction of the United States, and renounced -their rights to make treaties with any other nation. All the Indian -Chiefs besides McGillivray participated in the negotiation and execution -of the treaty. - -But besides that open one, there was a secret treaty to which the Grand -Chief and the United States only, were parties. It contained a -stipulation, that after two years the Indian trade should be turned to -points in the United States. It provided for annual stipends to be paid -to designated chiefs. McGillivray himself was appointed Indian agent of -the United States, with the rank of a Brigadier-General, and the yearly -pay of twelve hundred dollars.[46] - -These treaties were the grounds of severe criticism upon McGillivray. By -the open treaty, it was said, he made a surrender of the Oconee county -for an inadequate consideration. But the obvious answer to that -objection was, that he had exhausted every expedient that his clear and -fertile mind could command, to stay the encroachments of the Georgians -without a war, an alternative which would have eventually ended in -crushing his people. Besides, the plighted faith of the United States, -that no farther encroachments should be made upon them, was to them a -consideration far exceeding every other; for history had not then -declared, as it has since, how frail a barrier against encroachments -upon Indian territory is the plighted faith of the nation. - -Whatever personal advantages he derived from the secret treaty, whether -pecuniary or in dignity, inured to the benefit of his people. To honor -him was to give consideration to them; and they regarded the tributes -which his abilities drew from the British, the Spaniards, and the -Americans, as so many offerings made to the power of the nation. That -each of those tributaries complained that he was not their dupe, is -alike a proof of his ability, and his fidelity to his people. - -For a short time after the New York Treaty he seemed to be losing the -confidence of his people, through the machinations of the self-styled -General Bowles, who, it will be remembered, assisted with a body of -Choctaws, Chickasaws and Creeks, in the defense of Pensacola against -Galvez. He was a bold, unprincipled mischief-maker, who would stop at -nothing that could be turned to his own advantage; one of those -characters who breed suspicion and create confusion for their own profit -and consideration. To sap the confidence of the Creeks in their Grand -Chief, was to bring about an unsettled condition of things in which he -would find himself in his element; and for that purpose he availed -himself of the New York Treaty. It would have been an easy matter for -McGillivray to have him driven out of the nation, or by the judgment of -a council to have taken his life; but neither of these courses suiting -his policy, he resolved upon one more subtle and yet as effectual. He -visited New Orleans, where it was conjectured he held a consultation -with Governor Carondolet, on the subject of ridding the nation of the -mischief-maker. Shortly afterwards, Bowles was seized by the Spaniards -and sent to Spain. Of the end of his exile we are informed by a letter -of General Washington’s dated at Mount Vernon, fifth of August, -1793.[47] “On my way to this place I saw Captain Barney at Baltimore, -who had just arrived from Havana. He says, the day before he left that -place, advice had been received, and generally believed, that Bowles, -who was sent to Spain, had been hanged.” Thus ended a chequered life, -full of adventures, strange phases, and bad deeds, which it would be -interesting to follow were this the proper place. - -The New York Treaty was an object of suspicion both to Panton and the -Spaniards, although they knew nothing of its secret feature; but they -naturally inferred that some other considerations, besides those made -public, must have induced the United States to honor McGillivray with -the commission and pay of Brigadier-General. - -The suspicion, however, resulted profitably to McGillivray. Before he -went to New York he complained to Panton of the parsimonious conduct of -the Spanish government to him, from whom it expected, and obtained, so -much care and labor. Believing this supposed slight on their part was -the cause of the favor he manifested for the Americans, that government -at once took steps to remove it. He was appointed the Spanish -Superintendent-General of the Creek nation, with a salary of two -thousand dollars, to which fifteen hundred more were shortly afterwards -added. - -Soon after McGillivray received that appointment, the Spanish government -sent to the Hickory Ground, as its resident agent, Captain Pedro -Olivier, accompanied by an interpreter. This man soon became engaged in -intrigues to prevent the running of the boundary lines provided for by -the New York Treaty; and in this matter he was assisted by William -Panton, who visited the Creek nation for that purpose. - -This state of things naturally excited the suspicion of the United -States, that McGillivray was co-operating with Panton and Olivier. Of -any active co-operation by him, however, there is no evidence, as there -is none of his active opposition to their machinations. He was too -sagacious a man, and had the good of his people too much at heart to -engage in the latter. The boundary line fixed by the treaty, had from -the first, been exceedingly objectionable to the Creeks, so much so, -that even the influence of their Grand Chief had failed to reconcile -them to it. Indeed, he himself feared that such a reconciliation was -beyond his ability. In self-vindication, in the midst of Olivier’s -intrigues, he writes to General Knox, Secretary of War: “You recollect, -sir, that I had great objection to making the south fork of the Oconee -the limit; and when you insisted so much, I candidly told you that it -might be made an article, but I would not pledge myself to get it -confirmed.” It was against the running of that boundary line, that the -intrigues of Olivier and Panton were ostensibly directed; but their real -object was to keep the Creeks in a ferment in order to exclude their -trade from the Atlantic cities, and confine it to Pensacola; the -question of boundary being seized upon as a means of accomplishing that -end. McGillivray’s position was one of great delicacy and -responsibility. For him to resist by active opposition those who opposed -the running of the boundary line, was not only to do something he had -never undertaken to do, but to take a stand that might divide his people -into two hostile camps, the most calamitous condition that could befall -them. - -In the midst of these trials, death came to his relief on the -seventeenth of February, 1793, at Pensacola, whilst on a visit to -William Panton. He was buried with masonic honors, and, it is said, in -Panton’s garden. Unfortunately the identity of the spot has defied -diligent investigation, and generations have unconsciously desecrated -his dust, as they have that of another distinguished man already -mentioned. But the suspicion arises that to a different cause must be -attributed the oblivion that has befallen the last resting place of the -Great Chief, from that which has been assigned in the case of General -Bouquet’s. Had Panton erected a respectable brick monument even, over -the remains of one for whom he professed so much friendship, and who had -done so much to increase his fortune, reverently protecting it up to the -time he left Florida, this generation might be able to direct the -footsteps of the stranger to the tomb of the most remarkable man to whom -Alabama ever gave birth, and the most extraordinary man to whom Florida -has furnished a grave. - -He has been accused of deceit and duplicity in his dealings with the -British, the Spaniards and Americans. But truth and candor, if not -exotics, are not virile growths in the domain of state craft, while -necessity is the ever ready plea on which adepts in the art, or their -apologists, rest their vindication. When, therefore, the Great Indian -stands condemned at the Bar of Eternal Truth, well may other statesmen -and diplomatists whose achievements history delights to record, shrink -from the Judgment Seat. - -The Grand Chief watched without interference the struggle of the Spanish -and British for supremacy in West-Florida, because the true interests of -his people pointed to neutrality. Cavour, the ablest and purest -statesman of recent times, from a like patriotic motive stood ready, in -case of failure, to disavow the invasion of Naples by Garibaldi, which -he had, nevertheless, secretly promoted. If the New York treaty was a -gross violation of the Pensacola treaty of 1784, Washington and his -cabinet invited, and encouraged, whatever of bad faith there was in the -transaction. - -The defense of such characters must rest at last upon the final judgment -of their own nation upon their life work. So judged, McGillivray is -entitled to no low place on the roll of patriotic statesmen. - -For seventeen years, dating from the Creek troubles in 1776, up to his -death, he had been the guide and shield of his people. For them those -were years of comparative peace, growth, and preparation for the white -man’s civilization, by the example afforded in his own person of its -benefits and attractions. With war raging around them, under his -guidance, they reached a condition which caused him to be honored, and -their alliance sought by two monarchs and a Great Republic. He moved -amongst them enjoying the reverence and honor of a patriarchal sheik. -Intrigue and detraction brought him under a transient cloud. But when -they learned his life was closed in death, their hearts were smitten as -those of a family when it loses its head. There went up from the Creek -land an universal wail; and again, like a sinister prophecy of evil, -there came over it the shadow it was under before the council of Coweta. - -Bitter, too, to his people, was the thought, that he slept in the “sands -of the Seminoles,” and not on the banks of the beautiful Coosa, which he -loved so well; where he was born, where he had presided over councils, -and made “paper talk” for their good, and where his hospitality was ever -ready, alike for the distinguished stranger and the humble wayfarer. - - * * * * * - - The fate of Milfort may interest the reader. After the death of - McGillivray he returned to France, where in 1802 he published - the “Memoire De Mon Sejour Dans La Nation Crëck,” to which we - owe the preservation of the traditions of that people. But sad - to relate, forgetting his Indian wife, he married a French - woman. He was made General of Brigade by the Emperor Napoleon. - He died in 1814. His French wife was burned to death at an - advanced age at Rheims. - ------ - -Footnote 42: - - American State Papers, Vol. 10, pp. 223-227. - -Footnote 43: - - Indian Affairs, Vol. I., pp. 17-18. - -Footnote 44: - - Indian Affairs, Vol. I., pp. 18-23. - -Footnote 45: - - Pickett’s History of Alabama, Vol. II. p. 127. - -Footnote 46: - - 2 Pickett’s History of Alabama, Vol. II. pp. 110-11. - -Footnote 47: - - The same letter speaks of the death of “our friend McGillivray,” - Sparks, Vol. 10, p. 335. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XVIII. - -Governor Folch—Barrancas—Changes in the Plan of the Town—Ship Pensacola— - Disputed Boundaries—Square Ferdinand VII.—English Names of Streets - Changed for Spanish Names—Palafox—Saragossa—Reding—Baylen Romana— - Alcaniz—Tarragona. - - -Galvez remained but a short time in Pensacola after the surrender of the -British. On their departure, he returned to New Orleans, the capital of -his province of Louisiana. - -In May, 1781, Don Arturo O’Niell was appointed Governor of Spanish -West-Florida, and continued to hold the office until 1792. His successor -was Enrique White, who was succeeded by Francisco de Paula Gelabert, -whose _ad interim_ tenure expired in 1796, by the appointment of Vicente -Folch y Juan. - -The events of any interest which occurred before that year, have been -already mentioned in previous chapters. Folch signalized the early part -of his administration by causing a town to be laid out, “between a -quarter and half a mile” from San Carlos, that fort having been -reconstructed between 1781 and 1796.[48] This town was officially known -as San Carlos de Barrancas, that being the original application to the -locality of the Spanish word _barranca_, signifying broken, in the sense -in which the term is applied to a landscape. - -Folch’s purpose in laying out the town was, to substitute it for -Pensacola, as the chief town and capital of the province. Of the real -motives which prompted the design no information can be obtained. His -scheme was defeated, however, by his inability to procure for it the -royal approval; the probable result of an appeal to the King by the -inhabitants of Pensacola. - -He afterwards attempted an important change in the English plan, by -laying off into blocks and lots, so much of the park, or public place as -is now embraced in the area between Intendencia and Government streets. -He also sold many of the lots, which the purchasers proceeded to -improve. But, when Intendant Morales visited the town in 1806, he -utterly disapproved of Folch’s proceedings, and refused to confirm the -titles of the vendees. Morales’ subsequent conduct in the matter, -however, shows that in refusing his confirmation he was influenced more -by inimical feeling against the governor, than any just sense of public -duty, for he himself afterwards granted the lots. This was the beginning -of the mutilation of the great public place according to the English -plan; a mutilation which was continued from time to time, until there -was nothing left but the two small plats of ground known as Seville -Square, and that of Ferdinand VII. - -His administration in one of its earlier years was marked by one event -for which his generation is entitled to credit. A ship of 800 tons was -built at _Caranaro_, as the cove in which the Marine Railway is now -situated was then known. Her name was Pensacola, and during the decade -from 1870, she was still in existence, making voyages to and from -Spanish ports. This was the first, and thus far, the last private -enterprise of the kind by Pensacolians. - -In 1804, the firm of William Panton & Co., was dissolved by the death of -William Panton, who had been, as we have seen, so prominent a figure in -the history of Pensacola, both under the British and Spanish rule. The -business of the firm was thenceforward carried on under the style of -John Forbes & Co. - -In October, 1800, Bonaparte compelled Spain by the treaty of San -Ildefonso to cede Louisiana to France; and France, in 1803, sold and -ceded it to the United States. The United States, from the time of the -purchase, claimed that it extended eastward to the Perdido, which was -the eastern boundary of Louisiana in the days of d’Arriola and -Iberville, and so remained until the cession, in 1763, to Great Britain -of Florida by Spain, and of that portion of Louisiana south of the 31 -parallel of N. latitude, east of the Mississippi, by France. The -British, after that cession, in creating the province of West-Florida, -extended it from the Chattahoochee to the Mississippi. Spain, on the -other hand, after the treaty of Versailles, restricted West-Florida to -the Perdido, she being at that time the owner of the whole of Louisiana. -When, therefore, she ceded Louisiana to France, it was, as claimed by -the United States, Louisiana beginning westward of the Perdido; for by -contracting the West-Florida of the British, she, to that extent, -extended Louisiana to its original limit, and left Pensacola within the -boundary line tacitly established by the expeditions of Arriola and -Iberville. Spain did not, however, consent to that construction. She -claimed that British West-Florida was not embraced in Louisiana; and the -question was not finally settled until 1819, when Florida was ceded to -the United States. It was, from 1803, up to that cession, a cause of ill -feeling and secret hostility on the part of Spanish officials at -Pensacola, towards the American settlers in the disputed district. - -Folch’s official term extended to 1809, and in the number of sovereign -masters to whom he was subject during one year of his administration, -his official life was remarkable. He was commissioned by Charles IV., -who abdicated the throne of Spain in March, 1808. Upon his abdication, -his eldest son, the Prince of Asturias, was proclaimed King, under the -title of Ferdinand VII. On May 10, Bonaparte, having insidiously enticed -Ferdinand to Bayonne, compelled him, by threats against his life, to -resign his crown. On June sixth, of the same year, Joseph Bonaparte was -proclaimed King of Spain, by no other real authority than the will of -his imperial brother. - -Never did any event arouse the patriotic resentment of a people, as -Spain’s was aroused, by the ignominy of witnessing her lawful King -deposed, to enable an adventurer to assume his crown. The French Emperor -marched army after army into the country, to establish the new dynasty -by overawing the people into submission. But army corps led by marshals, -whose names had theretofore been the synonyms of victory, only -intensified the spirit of resistance. As one man, from the shore of the -Mediterranean to the Bay of Biscay, the population flew to arms. -Mountain and plain, hill and valley, rang with their battle cry as they -hastened to their cities, towns, and villages, to be organized into -military commands. The patriotic passion that fired every heart in the -Kingdom, was shared by Spaniards in every quarter of the globe. Of the -sympathy of Pensacola with the great patriotic movement in the mother -country, there exists memorials in the names of some of its streets, and -its chief public square. - -It was in the fervor of that sympathy that the square received the name -of the exiled monarch; a token of loyalty, of which, however, he proved -himself unworthy by his conduct after his restoration to the throne. -Never had a monarch a better opportunity of making his reign happy and -illustrious, and never did one under such conditions make it a source of -greater shame to himself, and misery to his people. He was not by nature -a cruel, or a bad man; but he was neither firm nor truthful; two -weaknesses in a ruler which may prove as fruitful a source of political -crimes as a natural inclination to evil actions. In his first -proclamation after re-ascending the throne, amid the enthusiastic joy of -his people, he said, “I detest, I abhor despotism;” yet he, afterwards, -lent himself to schemes which deprived Spain of constitutional -government, restored the inquisition, and led to proscriptions involving -the lives of some of the patriots who had contributed so largely to the -restoration of his crown. The cruel and despotic policy of his advisers, -at length, drove the liberal party into a widespread revolt, which would -have resulted in his permanent dethronement, but for the intervention of -the French, who, in 1823, enabled him by their arms to keep on his head -the crown they had snatched from it in 1808. - -But, if in the chief square of the town there be a reminder of a -perfidious monarch, there are in some of its streets memorials of -Spanish glory. - -The English names of those streets were changed to the names they bear, -at the time when the events with which the latter are associated -occurred, and were designed to be commemorative monuments of the glory -shed upon old Spain by the illustrious deeds of her sons. Upon their -being monumental, must rest the apology for a slight retracing of their -legends, which would otherwise be out of place in this book. - -Palafox and Saragossa, or Zaragoza, are the first to arrest attention, -as they are likewise suggestive one of the other. - -José de Palafox y Melzi, whose ancestral seat was near the city of -Zaragoza, was in 1808, a young officer of the King’s guards. He -accompanied Ferdinand on his visit to Bayonne, which ended in the King’s -abdication. It was by him the captive King sent the instructions to the -Junta which was to exercise the sovereignty of the Spanish people during -the exile of their monarch. Having performed that duty, Palafox went to -Zaragoza, to join in the uprising of Aragon, of which it was the -capital. Despite his lack of years and experience, his commanding -presence led the Aragonese, full of patriotic ardor and warlike impulse, -to choose him as their leader, and proclaim him Captain General of -Aragon. In a short time he found himself at the head of ten thousand -infantry, two hundred horse, and eight pieces of artillery. - -Zaragoza, situated on the right bank of the Ebro, was, in 1808, a city -of fifty thousand inhabitants. It stood in the midst of an alluvial -plain, rich in its olive trees, its vineyards, and agricultural -products. Its fortifications consisted of a brick wall not above ten -feet high and three in thickness, pierced for guns, but few were in the -embrasures. At intervals, however, there were convents, castles, and -other solid stone structures. The universal uprising of the Aragonese, -and the proximity of the city to the French frontiers, suggested it as -one of the most important points for the French to occupy, in the -execution of their designs to subjugate Spain. It was, accordingly, one -of the first places against which a military force was sent. - -In June 1808, Napoleon ordered Lefebvre to advance against it from the -Pyrenian frontier. His advance was interrupted by three battles, in -which the raw and undisciplined Aragonese peasants did not hesitate to -attack the French column, but were in each instance driven back. -Lefebvre at last presented himself before Zaragoza, with a demand for -its submission. To that demand Palafox made the memorable reply, “War to -the knife;” a reply that foreshadowed the terrific struggle by which -those old brick walls were to be won by the enemy. In every attack the -French made upon the gates and walls, between the twelfth of June and -August fifteenth, they were repulsed with fearful loss. Lefebvre, -discouraged by his successive failures to carry the place by storm, drew -off his army to await the arrival of heavy artillery, to enable him to -undertake a regular siege. - -The second attempt on Zaragoza began in December, 1808. In the interval -between this and the first attack the defences had been greatly -strengthened, and a large supply of arms procured. As the French columns -advanced towards the city there was presented a spectacle not often -witnessed by one doomed to a siege. The entire population, men, women -and children, were engaged in the work of preparing for resistance. None -left the walls, but on the contrary the peasantry of the surrounding -country rushed within them to share in the perilous defence. By the time -the French took their position around the city, it had within it fifty -thousand defenders, the most of them undisciplined and uninured to arms, -yet animated with the spirit of their leader’s reply to Lefebvre’s -demand of surrender. - -The French force consisted of two army corps of fifty thousand men, -commanded by Marshals Moncey and Montier, with all the necessary -artillery and appliances for a siege. For fifty days after the French -artillery began to play upon the city the conflict between the besieged -and the besiegers was incessant. In that time, thirty-three thousand -cannon shot, and sixteen thousand bombs had been hurled against the -place. When a breach was made in the wall, immediately and under the -terrific fire of the enemy it was closed up with sand bags. If at any -point an entry was made within them by the besiegers, the stone houses -became citadels for the besieged. If the defenders were driven from a -room, a stand was made in the next one. Women and children shared in the -labors and the perils of the fight. As a gunner fell at the feet of his -wife, stricken down by a cannon shot, she promptly took his place at the -gun. Napoleon, dissatisfied with the slow progress made by Moncey and -Montier towards a reduction of the place, sent Junot to take the -command. Becoming dissatisfied with him, he sent Lannes to bring the -operations to a close. Pestilence, too, came to his aid as well as -additional forces sent by the Emperor. At last Palafox was confined to -his bed with the prevailing epidemic. The French soldiers were at the -same time depressed by the fierce and uninterrupted conflict. “Scarce a -fourth of the town is won,” said one of them, “and we are already -exhausted. We shall all perish amongst these ruins, which will become -our own tombs, before we can force the last of these fanatics from the -last of their dens.” With the assailants thus depressed, and the -besieged deprived of the presence and encouragement of their leader, -besides the havoc of pestilence, a favorable capitulation was accepted -by Marshal Lannes. The regular troops marched out of the walls with the -honors of war, and were sent as prisoners into France, each soldier -retaining his knapsack, the officers their horses and side arms. The -peasants were dismissed, and private property was respected. Fifty -thousand human beings perished during the siege, all, except six -thousand, from pestilence. Palafox remained a prisoner in France until -1814, when he returned to Spain. He was afterwards created Duke of -Zaragoza, and died in 1847. - -Of this siege a British historian has said: “Modern Europe has not such -a memorable siege to recount; and to the end of the world, even after -Spain and France have sunk before the waves of time, and all the glories -of modern Europe have passed away, it will stand forth in undecaying -lustre; a monument of heroic devotion, which will thrill the hearts of -the brave and generous throughout every succeeding age.”[49] - -Baylen, a parallel street with Palafox, next invites notice. Baylen is a -small town at the foot of the Sierra Morena, on the road leading from -Cadiz to Cordova and Seville. There, on July nineteenth, 1808, the -French General Dupont, after his recent plunder of Cordova, with -excesses more in keeping with the days of Alaric, than the nineteenth -century, was, with 20,000 men, and all their plunder, compelled to -surrender, after a series of battles to a Spanish army, largely made up -of irregular Spanish troops. - -To Reding, a Swiss in the service of Spain, was due the glory of the -event, which excited profound attention throughout Europe, and made a -deep and sinister impression on the French. - -Of the “catastrophe” Napoleon, who was at Bordeaux when he heard of it, -said: “That an army should be beaten, is nothing; it is the daily fate -of war and is easily repaired; but that an army should submit to a -dishonorable capitulation is a stain upon the glory of our arms which -can never be effaced. Wounds inflicted on honor are incurable. The moral -effect of this catastrophe will be terrible.” Baylen was doubtless the -first link in the chain of events which drew from him the reflection in -which he indulged at St. Helena: “It was that unhappy war in Spain which -ruined me.” - -Romana street bears the name of the most illustrious General Spain -produced during her great Peninsula war—the Marquis de Romana. He was -one of those great and generous characters who are too great and -generous to be moved by selfishness or envy, and was in consequence the -bond of union between the English and Spanish armies. He was marching to -the relief of Badajoz, when he was seized with heart disease at Cartaxo, -where he died suddenly January 22, 1811. It is enough for his fame for -him to have been the subject of the following dispatch by the Duke of -Wellington: “In the Marquis de Romana, the Spanish army has lost its -brightest ornament, his country its most upright patriot, and the world -the most strenuous and zealous defender in the cause in which we are -engaged; and I shall always acknowledge with gratitude the assistance -which I received from him, as well by his operation, as by his counsel, -since he has been joined with the army.” - -Alcaniz is a reminder of another field of Spanish glory. It is the name -of a town in Aragon, on the right bank of the Guadalupe, sixty miles -south-east of Zaragoza. It was, on May twenty-third, 1809, the scene of -the defeat of a French army under Suchet by the Spanish forces under -General Blake. - -Tarragona street commemorates one of those sieges like that of -Saragossa, which signalize the Spanish race above all others, for the -tenacity and devotion with which in all ages it has defended its homes. -The city of that name, situated on the Mediterranean shore of Spain, was -besieged by Suchet, and defended by General Cortinas, from May 4, to -June 29, 1811. The defense was conducted with the same fierce obstinacy -and courage which marked that of Saragossa, and with even greater -mortality, if allowance is made for the ravages of pestilence in the -latter. But there was a vast difference in the finality of the two -sieges. Tarragona was taken by assault; and never did American savages -exercise more demon-like fury upon unresisting and powerless humanity -than the French troops visited upon the Tarragonese. Above six thousand -human beings comprising all ages, and both sexes, were massacred whilst -appealing for mercy. “The blood of the Spaniards inundated the streets -and the houses. Armed and unarmed, men and women, gray hairs and infant -innocence, attractive youth and wrinkled age, were alike butchered by -the infuriated troops.”[50] - ------ - -Footnote 48: - - American State Papers, Public Lands, Vol. IV., p. 136. - -Footnote 49: - - Allison’s Modern Europe, Vol. III., p. 301. - -Footnote 50: - - Allison’s History of Modern Europe, Vol. III., p. 422. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XIX. - -Folch Leaves West Florida—His Successors—War of 1812—Tecumseh’s Visit to - the Seminoles and Creeks—Consequences—Fort Mims—Percy and Nicholls’ - Expedition. - - -In October, 1809, Folch left Pensacola to fill the appointment of -Governor of the country west of the Perdido, the capital of which was -Mobile. The uneventful period, for Pensacola at least, between that year -and 1813, was marked only by the incoming and outgoing of governors. -Folch’s successor was his son-in-law, Don Francisco Maximiliano de Saint -Maxent, under an _ad interim_ appointment. In July 1812, he was -succeeded by Mauricio Zuniga, who in May, 1813, gave place to Mateo -Gurzalez Maurique, whose administration covered the period of the war -between the United States and Great Britain, which was declared by the -former, on June 18, 1812. - -That Pensacola should have been involved in that struggle would seem to -be out of the natural order of events, when it is remembered that Spain -and the United States were at peace. But, as before intimated, there -existed a covert hostility on the part of the Spanish officials at -Pensacola against the Americans, growing out of the dispute as to the -limits of West Florida; and now intensified by the capture of Mobile on -April 13, 1813, by an expedition from New Orleans, under the command of -General Wilkinson. Spain herself was too much absorbed by her struggle -for existence to take any active interest in a question of boundary in -the new world. But the British, who were her allies in her war with the -French, availed themselves of that official hostility to induce the -Spaniards at Pensacola to permit them to make that place a base from -which the Indians could be furnished with supplies to wage war on the -United States. - -After the capture of Detroit, in August, 1812, the British formed the -scheme of combining the Indians on the western frontier of the United -States in a line of warfare extending from the Lakes to the Gulf of -Mexico. As their chief emissary to accomplish that end, they employed -Tecumseh, the great Shawnee Chief, who in the fall of that year made his -appearance amongst the Seminoles and Creeks. He at once began the work -of exciting their hostility against the Americans, by every argument, -art, and device which his own savage shrewdness could suggest, or the -deliberate calculations of his British allies prompt. He addressed the -Creek assemblies with the burning words of an impassioned oratory, to -which his stately form and commanding presence gave additional force. He -upbraided their disposition to adopt the speech, the dress, and habits -of the white man, instead of cleaving to those of their forefathers. He -persuaded them that it was degrading to an Indian warrior to follow the -plow, or to rely upon cattle and the fruits of the field for sustenance; -that it was decreed by the Great Spirit that the country should go back -to the forest, and that the Indian should depend upon the chase for his -food, as his forefathers had done. An invidious contrast was drawn -between the disinterested friendship of the British, who had no occasion -or use for their lands, and the cupidity of the Americans who were -annually restricting their hunting grounds by their ever extending -settlements. Superstition, and necromancy, too, were successfully -employed to enforce his teachings. Some of the wavering, like Francis, -afterwards known as the prophet, were induced to submit to days of -seclusion and fasting, in houses from which the light was excluded, -until darkness, spells, and incantations, acting upon bodies enfeebled -by hunger, inspired faith in the mission of the great Shawnee. A comet, -which appeared in the last days of September of that year, was pointed -to as a sign placed in the heavens by the Great Spirit, as a presage of -wrath and destruction to the white man, and a promise of redemption to -the Indian. - -He had the temerity, even, to foretell a great natural phenomenon of -which he was to be the proximate cause, as an evidence his mission was -inspired. “When I reach Detroit I shall stamp my foot, and the earth -will tremble and rock.” And strange to relate, at about the lapse of -time the journey would consume, an earthquake was felt throughout the -Creek country, when from all sides came the cry of the awe-stricken -Indians: “Tecumseh has reached Detroit and stamped his foot.”[51] - -His mission divided the Creeks into two parties, of which by far the -most numerous and warlike, was that which yielded to his seductions. To -each of his converts he gave a red stick as an emblem of war, and hence -the hostile Creeks became known as “Red Sticks.” - -He had hardly returned to Detroit, when there came to Pensacola British -agents, bringing with them military supplies for distribution amongst -the Red Sticks, to whose bloody instincts was applied the stimulus of a -bounty of five dollars for every American scalp. - -That Pensacola should be the Creek base of supply, was in accordance -with the plan of warfare designed by the British at Detroit, and a -fulfillment of Tecumseh’s promised assistance to their savage allies. -After the arrival there of the British agents and their stores, the Red -Sticks lost no time in procuring from them the needed supplies for the -war to which they had pledged themselves. From all parts of the Creek -country the hostiles were seen hurrying to Pensacola, and returning with -arms and ammunition, without hindrance from the Spanish officials. - -The first startling result of the alliance between the British and -Indians, was the massacre of Fort Mims, which occurred in August, 1813, -an event that sent a thrill of horror through every American heart. - -The fort was situated on Lake Tensas, a mile east of the Alabama river. -It consisted of a stockade enclosing about an acre, with a blockhouse in -one of its angles. In the center of it stood the residence of Samuel -Mims, for whom it was named. It had been hastily constructed, as a -refuge for the people of the neighborhood, in anticipation of an -extended war, rendered imminent by encounters that had taken place -between small parties of Indians and whites. In July, there entered the -stockade five hundred and fifty-three souls, composed of soldiers, other -men, women and children. Owing to the ill chosen site, situated as it -was in a hammock, and the negligence of those in command, the place was -surprised at midday on August 30, by one thousand Creek Indians under -William Weatherford and Francis, who rushed in at the open gate, which -had been heedlessly left unclosed. But few of those in the Fort escaped. -All the dead were scalped, except those who were saved from that -outrage, by undergoing the process of cremation in the buildings in -which they had taken refuge, and which were fired by the enemy to -overcome their defenders. Their bloody work finished, the Indians rested -and feasted, at the scene of the massacre, smoking their pipes, and -trimming and drying the scalps they had taken. Afterwards, these horrid -trophies of victory, strung on sticks, were taken to the British agents -at Pensacola, who paid for them the promised bounty. - -It is due to William Weatherford, who was a son of a half-sister of -Alexander McGillivray, that, it should be mentioned, at the peril of his -own life, he interfered to save the women and children. Failing in his -merciful efforts, he refused to witness their massacre, and left the -bloody scene. - -Not content with making Pensacola a base for inciting the Indians to -hostilities against the United States, in 1814, there came into the -harbor a British fleet, with a body of marines, the former under the -command of Captain William Henry Percy, and the later under that of -Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Nicholls, for the purpose of taking possession -of its fortifications. This the imbecile Maurique permitted them to do. -Fort George, which had been named St. Michael by the Spaniards, resumed -its English name, and received a British garrison, whilst the flag of -St. George once again floated from its ramparts. Fort San Carlos and the -battery on Santa Rosa Island were also turned over to the British. And -at the same time, the Governor’s house was made the headquarters of -Percy and Nicholls. - -The fleet consisted of two ships, each of twenty-four guns, and two -brigs, each of eighteen guns, with three tenders. The marines numbered -two to three hundred men. - -Nicholls at once began to increase his force by enlisting Indians, whom -he supplied with British uniforms, and drilled in the streets of -Pensacola. - -Thus reads his order of the day, twenty-sixth of August 1814. “The noble -Spanish nation has grieved to see her territories insulted, having been -robbed and despoiled of a portion of them while she was overwhelmed with -distress, and held down by the chains which a tyrant had imposed on her -gloriously struggling for the greatest of all blessings (true liberty). -The treacherous Americans, who call themselves free, have attacked her -like assassins while she was fallen. But the day of retribution is fast -approaching.... As to the Indians, you are to exhibit to them the most -exact discipline, being patterns to these children of nature. You will -teach and instruct them, in doing which you will manifest the utmost -patience, and you will correct them when they deserve it.” - -Percy in a communication to Lafitte, the commander of the Barrataria -pirates, says: “As France and England are now friends, I call on you -with your brave followers to enter into the service of Great Britain, in -which you shall have the rank of Captain.” - -Nicholls likewise issued a proclamation to the people of Louisiana and -Kentucky, inviting them to join the British. To the latter he addressed -himself specially as follows: “Inhabitants of Kentucky, you have too -long borne with grievous impositions. The whole brunt of the war has -fallen on your brave sons. Be imposed upon no more. Either range -yourselves under the standard of your forefathers, or observe a strict -neutrality.”[52] - -And as an additional stimulus to the activity and zeal of the Indians, -the bounty on American scalps was raised from five to ten dollars.[53] - ------ - -Footnote 51: - - Pickett’s History of Alabama, Vol. II., p. 246. - -Footnote 52: - - Niles’ Weekly Register, Vol. VII., pp. 134-135. - -Footnote 53: - - Pickett’s History of Alabama, Vol. II., p. 357. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XX. - -Attack on Fort Boyer by Percy and Nicholls—Jackson’s March on Pensacola - in 1814—The Town Captured—Percy and Nicholls Driven Out—Consequences - of the War to the Creeks—Don Manuel Gonzalez. - - -The first aggressive operation of Percy and Nicholls against the -Americans after they had established themselves at Pensacola was an -attack on Fort Boyer on Mobile Point, preparatory to an advance on -Mobile. But General Jackson’s great victory of the Horse Shoe over the -Creeks on the twenty-seventh of March had effectually crushed them, and -the treaty with them which followed enabled him to direct his attention -exclusively to the movements of the British at Pensacola. - -His first step was to put Fort Boyer in condition to resist an attack, -by repairing it, mounting additional guns and placing an ample garrison -in it. This preparation had hardly been accomplished, when, early in -September, 1814, the British commanders made a combined attack upon it -by land and water. The former was repulsed, and the latter resulted in -the destruction of the _Hermes_, Percy’s flag ship, and the drawing off -of the other vessels in a crippled condition. After the inglorious -expedition, the British fleet and land forces retired to Pensacola—a -result hardly in keeping with the vaunts of Percy and Nicholls in their -several proclamations issued in August. - -Pensacola having lost all claim to neutrality, as well by being under -the British flag, as by becoming a refuge for the hostile Indians who -declined to bring themselves within the terms of the treaty which -General Jackson had made with the Creeks after the victory at the Horse -Shoe, he resolved to advance upon it. He had previously written Maurique -a letter reminding him of the peaceful relations between Spain and the -United States, expostulating with him upon his permitting the British to -make Pensacola the base of their operations, and allowing it to be an -asylum for the hostile Creeks, naming two of them especially, McQueen -and Francis, whose strange adventures will be mentioned in a future -page. To this mild expostulation the governor made an ambiguous and -insulting reply, ending with the threat “that Jackson should hear from -him shortly.”[54] The correspondence occurred just before the Percy and -Nicholls’ attack on Fort Boyer, and doubtless it was their bombastic -prediction of success which prompted old Maurique to send Jackson so -defiant reply. - -General Jackson, however, did not wait longer than the last days of -October, 1814, for the execution of the Spanish governor’s threat. -Having collected his forces at Fort Montgomery, on the twenty-seventh he -took up his line of march for Pensacola, the Indian trail referred to in -an early chapter being its guiding thread. The troops consisted of the -Third, Thirty-ninth and Forty-fourth infantry, Coffee’s brigade, a -company of Mississippi dragoons and part of a West Tennessee regiment, -numbering three thousand effective men, besides a band of friendly -Choctaws. - -He reached the vicinity of the town on the evening of the sixth of -November. He first appeared on its western side, and there, having -halted, he says, in the dispatch containing an account of the -expedition, “On my approach I sent Major Pierre with a flag to -communicate the object of my visit. He approached the Fort St. George -with his flag displayed, and was fired on by the cannon from the -fort.”[55] Immediately afterwards, with the adjutant and a small party, -he himself made a reconnoissance. He found the fort manned by Spanish as -well as English troops. He likewise observed that there were in the -harbor seven English war vessels, which it was necessary for him to -consider in his future movements. His plans were at once formed. A force -under Captain Denkins, with several pieces of artillery, occupied the -site of Fort St. Barnardo, which was once again to be pitted against its -old antagonist, Fort George.[56] Inferring that the enemy would expect -his attack from the west, General Jackson, on the night of the sixth, -caused the main body of his army to make a circuitous march, so that the -morning would find it on the eastern extremity of the town.[57] This -movement shielded him from the guns of St. George or St. Michael, whilst -by entering the town at the eastern end of Government street he would, -in a measure, be protected from the guns of the English vessels. But he -encountered a battery of two guns as he entered the street, which fired -upon the centre column with ball and grape, whilst there opened upon the -troops a shower of musketry from houses, fences and gardens.[58] The -battery was soon silenced, however, by a storming party led by Captain -Laval, who lost a leg at the last fire of the guns. All the Spanish -forces at the battery fled as Laval’s command rushed upon it except a -gallant Spanish officer, who, refusing to fly, was taken prisoner. But -tradition says, instead of laurels, he won from his own people the -imputation of “fool” for his rashness—a rashness, however, which, had it -been crowned with success, would probably have secured him the praise of -a hero. - -When the command had well advanced into the town it was met by the -governor in person, with a white flag, and an offer of surrender at -discretion. The offer was accepted, but solely for the purpose of -enabling General Jackson to accomplish the declared object of the -expedition—which was not conquest—but to expel the British, whose -presence was due to the imbecility of Maurique, as well as the small -Spanish force at his command, consisting, as it did, of two or three -companies of the regiment of Tarragona. In order to attain that object, -possession of Forts Barrancas and St. Michael by the Americans was -indispensable, and, to the extent of his ability, the governor made the -surrender. But when Captain Denkins and his command were about to -proceed to take possession of St. Michael, Captain Soto, the Spanish -officer in command, refused to obey the governor’s instructions to make -the surrender. Preparations that were immediately made to take it by -storm, however, induced Soto to reconsider his refusal and to admit the -American command. The demand was made at six o’clock on the evening of -the seventh, and the surrender occurred at midnight. The purpose of -Soto’s delay cannot be divined, for Nicholls having on the night of the -sixth withdrawn his men to the shipping, there remained in the fort but -a small band of Spaniards. - -As General Jackson withdrew his forces from the town, which he did on -the evening of the same day of its capture, they were fired upon by the -British vessels, but without inflicting any injury. - -Whilst, on the morning of the eighth, a detachment was preparing to -march on Barrancas, with the purpose of cutting off the retreat of the -British fleet, there was heard a great explosion, which it was at once -concluded was occasioned by the blowing up of San Carlos. General -Jackson nevertheless sent the detachment there to verify the fact. On -its return in the night it reported the fort blown up, everything -combustible burned, and cannon spiked by the British, who had taken to -their ships, and sailed out of the harbor. - -The only casualties which occurred during these operations on the part -of the Americans were seven killed and eleven wounded, including Captain -Laval; and on the part of the Spaniards four killed and six wounded. - -Captain William Laval was a South Carolinian, the son of a French -officer of the Legion of Lauzun, belonging to the French forces in the -Revolutionary war. In 1808 he received the commission of ensign in the -American army. In 1812, he became a first lieutenant. The breaking out -of the Creek war found him a captain. He was with the third regiment, to -which his company belonged, at the battle of Holy Ground. For the -service of charging the Spanish battery at Pensacola he was specially -selected by General Jackson. The loss of his leg prevented his sharing -with his regiment in the glorious victory of New Orleans, and ended his -military career as well. His aptitude for civil as well as military life -was manifested by his filling the offices of Secretary of State, -Comptroller General, and Treasurer of South Carolina, as well as -Assistant Treasurer of the United States under Polk’s administration. - -That the presence of the British was enforced, and by no means agreeable -to the Spaniards, was promptly manifested by the good feeling exhibited -by the latter towards the Americans, as soon as Percy and Nicholls had -taken their departure. The inhabitants were much impressed by the kind -and generous conduct of General Jackson; who seems fully, to have -appreciated the peculiar position in which the town was placed, by the -pretentious audacity of Percy and Nicholls, the feebleness of its -garrison, and above all the imbecility of Maurique. In the dispatch -before referred to he says: “The good order and conduct of my troops, -whilst in Pensacola, have convinced the Spaniards of our friendship and -our prowess; and have drawn from the citizens an expression, that ‘The -Choctaws are more civilized than the British.’” In letters written from -Pensacola to Havana, in relation to the capture of the place, the -comparison is thus expressed: “the American Choctaws were more civilized -than the religious English.” These letters teem with the praises of the -considerate conduct of General Jackson and his army. - -When the first account of the invasion reached Havana, American vessels -were seized as a retaliatory measure; but when all the particulars of -the expedition were learned they were promptly released. - -Having blown up St. Michael, General Jackson left Pensacola, on November -9, to go to the defence of New Orleans, which from all indications was -threatened with an attack by the British. There he arrived with his -army, on December 2, to begin those preparations which were to end on -January 8, in the grand and glorious land victory of the War of 1812. - -When Percy and Nicholls left Pensacola, they took with them, not only -their Indian allies, but also about one hundred negro slaves belonging -to the inhabitants of the town. Sailing to Appalachicola, they there -landed the Indians and negroes. Still bent on instigating a savage -warfare against the American settlements, a fort under their directions -was built on the Appalachicola river, which they supplied with guns and -ammunition. It was designed to serve as a refuge for fugitive slaves, -and a resort for hostile Indians, as well as a salient point from which -to carry on an exterminating warfare against the white settlements in -southern Georgia and Alabama. - -Such were the inglorious results of the Percy-Nicholls expedition to -Florida, beginning, as we have seen, with stilted proclamations to the -people of Louisiana and Kentucky, coupled with an invitation to a nest -of pirates to become their allies; and ending with the robbing and -destruction of the property of a community to which they had come under -the guise of friendship, and as its shield from wrongs which existed in -their own imaginations only. - -Aside from the barbarity which marked the warfare instigated by Britain -against the Americans in Florida and Alabama during the years 1812-1814, -history has cause to lament its fatal consequences to the people who -were the cruel instruments by which it was waged. - -At the time of Tecumseh’s mission to the Creeks, about twenty years had -elapsed since the death of their Great Chief, McGillivray. In that -interval, under the impulse of his teachings and example, continued and -increased by the fostering care of the United States, they had made -considerable advance in civilization. Large numbers of them had learned -to rely more upon tillage and their herds for a livelihood, than on the -chase. It was no uncommon thing to see in the nation, well-built houses -standing in the midst of considerable farms. They owned slaves and large -herds of cattle. The hum of the spinning wheel, and the noise of the -shuttle, moved by the deft hands of Indian matrons, were common sounds -throughout the Creek country; whilst an Indian maiden with her milk -pail, or at her churn, was no unusual sight. The schools established -amongst them were gradually shedding upon them the light and mellowing -influence of knowledge.[59] - -The large infusion of white blood into the tribe, owing to the -attractions of the Creek women, which have already been noticed, -likewise, added the hope of a civilization resting upon the strongest -instincts of human nature. Of the possibility of this civilizing and -ennobling influence, gradually permeating and elevating the Creeks as a -people, we have the evidence in some of their descendants, who at this -day, are amongst the most respectable citizens in several communities in -Alabama and Florida. - -Such was the state of the Creek nation, when the British at Detroit sent -Tecumseh, like another Prince of Evil, into that fair garden of a -nascent civilization, to convert its peaceful scenes into fields of -slaughter, with all the woes that follow in the footsteps of war. - -The first fruit of that cruel scheme, as we have seen, was the tragedy -of Fort Mims. Then followed in rapid succession the avenging battles of -Tallasehatchee, Talladega, Auttose, and Holy Ground. To those succeeded -the last great heroic struggle at the Horse Shoe, in which, of one -thousand Red Sticks engaged, two hundred only survived. Afterwards came -the surrender of Weatherford with that speech[60] which comes to us as -the dirge-like epilogue of the woeful drama; and a memorial of that -prophetic shadow which fell on his people when they learned their Grand -Chief was lying in the “sands of the Seminoles.” - -The Spaniards criticised General Jackson’s Florida campaign, because he -did not, instead of advancing on Pensacola, proceed at once to -Barrancas, to capture San Carlos, and thereby prevent the escape of the -British vessels. But the answer to the criticism is, that he was not -aware, perhaps, of all the conditions known to the Spaniards, which in -their judgment, would have facilitated a surprise, or contributed to a -successful assault. Besides, such a movement would have been -inconsistent with the purpose of his invasion, which was to procure the -exclusion of the British from Florida, by the action of the Spaniards -themselves; a consideration which was due to the amicable relations -existing between Spain and the United States. Entertaining these views, -General Jackson did not deem it proper to seize the Spanish forts in the -first instance without communicating with the Governor. This he -attempted to do, and it was only after the outrage of firing on his -flag, he resolved, without further parley or remonstrance, by his own -arms to drive out the British. - -That, however, he had considered a movement on Barrancas, before or at -the time of his advance on Pensacola, is evidenced by an interview which -he had with Don Manuel Gonzalez, who was an officer in the Spanish -commissary department, and who had a cattle ranch at a place then known -as Vacaria Baja, now as Oakfield, one mile from the trail the American -army was following. Don Manuel, with his family, was at the ranch, when -the General rode up to the house, and accosted him. There was with the -Don at the time, his son, Celestino, then a young man. Through an -interpreter, the General made known, that the purpose of his visit was -to require the Don, or his son, to guide the army to Barrancas. The Don -boldly refusing, the General became insistent, to the degree of -threatening the use of force to secure compliance. Roused by the threat, -with a mien as dauntless as Jackson’s, Don Manuel replied: “General, my -life and my property are in your power; you can take both; but my honor -is in my own keeping. As to my son, I would rather plunge a sword into -his bosom than see him a traitor to his king.” The General replied by -extending his hand with the exclamation, “I honor a brave man,” and -thenceforth became his friend. - ------ - -Footnote 54: - - Niles’ Weekly Register, Vol. VII., p. 11. - -Footnote 55: - - Niles’ Weekly Register, Vol. VII., p. 281. - -Footnote 56: - - Niles’ Weekly Register, Vol. VII., p. 281. - -Footnote 57: - - Niles’ Weekly Register, Vol. VII., p. 281. - -Footnote 58: - - Niles’ Weekly Register, Vol. VII., p. 281. - -Footnote 59: - - Niles’ Weekly Register, Vol. 6, p. 370. - -Footnote 60: - - Weatherford having boldly ridden up to General Jackson’s tent, was met - by the threatening question: “How dare you, sir, ride up to my tent - after having murdered the women and children at Fort Mims?” - Weatherford replied: “General Jackson, I am not afraid of you. I fear - no man, for I am a Creek warrior. I have nothing to request in behalf - of myself; you can kill me if you wish. I come to beg you to send for - the women and children of the war party who are now starving in the - woods. Their fields and cribs have been destroyed by your people, who - have driven them to the woods without one ear of corn. I hope you will - send out parties to safely bring them here in order that they may be - fed. I exerted myself in vain to prevent the massacre of the women and - children at Fort Mims. I am now done fighting. The Red Sticks are - nearly all killed. If I could fight you any longer I would most - heartily do so. Send for the women and children; they never did you - any harm. But kill me if the white people want it done.”—Pickett’s - History of Alabama, Vol. II., p. 349. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XXI. - -Seminole War, 1818—Jackson Invades East Florida—Defeats the Seminoles— - Captures St. Marks—Arbuthnot and Ambrister—Prophet Francis—His - Daughter. - - -At the close of the war between the United States and Great Britain, the -British troops were withdrawn from the fort on the Appalachicola river -built under the auspices of Nicholls and Percy. - -The Seminoles were, as their name signifies, outlaws and runaways from -the Creek confederacy, or their descendants. Hence it was, that those of -the Red Sticks who refused to submit to the terms of the treaty between -the United States and the Creeks, either fled to the British at -Pensacola, or to the Seminole nation. It was in a district inhabited by -Seminoles, that the fort built by Nicholls on the Appalachicola river -was situated. The spirit and objects which prompted its construction -continued to animate its motley garrison long after Nicholls’ departure. -At length it proved such an interruption to navigation, besides being an -asylum for runaway negroes, as to bring against it, in 1816, an -expedition by land and water under Colonel Duncan L. Clinch. A shot from -a gunboat exploded the magazines and destroyed the larger part of the -garrison. The destruction of this nest of rapine, however, did not for -long give peace and security to the district. - -In the fall of 1817, a feeling of unrest and suspicion mutually seized -upon the white settlers and Indians, induced by causes for which both -were responsible. The first act of war, however, was the capture on -November 21 of Fowlton, a Seminole village above the Georgia line, by an -American force, under Colonel Twiggs. This proved the signal for Indian -massacres, the most shocking of which was that of Lieutenant Scott and -his command. Whilst going up the Appalachicola river in a barge they -were attacked from a dense swamp on the bank. There were in the barge -forty men besides Scott, seven soldiers’ wives, and five children. All -were killed except one woman spared by the Indians, and four men who -swam to the opposite bank. - -In March 1818, General Jackson was ordered to the seat of war. He -invaded East Florida, and in a campaign of six weeks crushed the -Indians. In one of their towns, were found three hundred scalps of men, -women and children, fifty still fresh hanging from a red war pole. He -also captured the Spanish Post of Saint Marks. - -For the last act, investigation can find no adequate reason. It was not, -however, an irremediable wrong, for restitution furnished a remedy. Two -irreparable wrongs, however, marked that short campaign. - -Alexander Arbuthnot, being found at St. Marks, was brought before a -court-martial. He was a man of seventy years of age, a Scotchman, an -Indian trader, and a friend of the Indians, but a counsellor of peace -between them and the whites; a man of education, who used his pen to -represent Indian wrongs to both Spanish and American officials; and who, -when Jackson was about to invade their country, advised the Seminoles to -fly and not to fight. On his trial, the plainest rules of evidence were -disregarded, and without proof he was found guilty of the charges of -inciting the Creeks to war on the United States and, likewise, of -“aiding and abetting the enemy, and supplying them with the means of -war.” Under that baseless judgment the old man was hanged; his waving -white locks protesting his innocence.[61] - -Robert C. Ambrister, who had formerly belonged to Nicholls’ command, -being found in the Indian nation, was also seized and tried by a -court-martial. He confessed that he had counselled and aided the -Indians. The court at first sentenced him to be shot, but before closing -the trial, upon a reconsideration it set aside that judgment, and -substituted for death the punishment of fifty stripes, and confinement -“with a ball and chain at hard labor for twelve months.” Nevertheless, -General Jackson disregarding the last, executed the first judgment.[62] - -Jackson having early in May closed his campaign against the East Florida -Seminoles, and obtained evidence satisfactory to himself, that the -Spanish officials at Pensacola were in sympathy with them, resolved to -march upon that town, and repeat the lesson which he had taught it in -1814. Before following him in that expedition, however, mention will be -made of the adventures, fate and daughter of Francis, the Indian -prophet, who left Pensacola, it will be remembered, with Nicholls on the -approach of the Americans in 1814. - -Francis had been one of Tecumseh’s most notable and zealous disciples, -as well as one of the most sedulous in making Red Stick converts. A -leader in the massacre of Fort Mims, he had revelled in deeds of blood -in that human slaughter pen. When Nicholls left Florida with his troops, -Francis accompanied him, and finally made his way to London. There in a -gorgeous dress he was presented to the Prince Regent, who in recognition -of his military services to the crown, bestowed upon him a gilded -tomahawk, with a dazzling belt, a gold snuffbox, and a commission of -brigadier-general in the British service. Well would it have been for -the prophet had he remained in a land where his deeds were so highly -appreciated. But the instinct of the savage brought him back to Florida, -where he was captured by the decoy of an American vessel lying in the -St. Marks river, flying a British flag. He went off to her in a canoe, -to meet allies, but found enemies, who seized and delivered him to -Jackson. He was summarily hanged, with his brigadier’s commission on his -person. - -It is a pleasing change to turn from deeds of blood to instances of -humanity, especially when they come to us in the form of attractive -youth. A young Georgian, named Duncan McRimmon, captured by the Indians -whilst he was fishing, was doomed to death. The stake was fixed, the -victim bound, the faggots and torch were ready when a deliverer came in -the person of Milly or Malee, a girl of sixteen years, the daughter of -Francis. Her intercessions induced her father to spare McRimmon and send -him to St. Marks to insure his safety. Not thinking himself secure -there, McRimmon went aboard the decoy vessel, and by a singular fatality -was there when Francis also came. - -Malee, bewitching in face, slender and graceful in form, a Red Stick in -blood and courage, an expert with the rifle, a fearless rider who -required no other help than one of her small hands to mount, was the -ideal of an Indian heroine. She was likewise sprightly in mind, and -spoke English and Spanish as well as Indian. - -An adventure will illustrate her heroic nature. After her father’s -capture, but in ignorance of it, she and several attendants barely -escaped the snare into which he had fallen. As they approached the -decoy, however, something occurring to excite suspicion, their canoe was -turned for the land. To arrest it, a blank shot was fired by the vessel. -That being unheeded, a charge of grape shot was sent after the -fugitives. The missiles fell around them, but the canoe neither pausing -nor changing its course, was paddled the faster for the shore. A boat -was sent in pursuit, but the chase was too late. As the heroine leaped -from the canoe to the beach, she snatched a rifle from an attendant and -fired at the pursuers. The ball having grazed several of them, and -struck the rudder-post, put an end to the chase. - -After the close of the war, McRimmon sought Malee in marriage. His suit, -after repeated refusals, was crowned with success. A marriage, and a -happy plantation home on the Suwanee, were the fruits of her humanity, -and his persistent wooing. After eighteen years of married life, Malee -found herself a widow with eight children. - -Among the Red Sticks, who after the disastrous battle of the Horse Shoe -fled to the Seminole nation, were a Creek mother and her orphan boy, -whose age might be twelve. The young Red Stick was destined in after -years to fill the continent with his name. Osceola was old enough at the -time of Tecumseh’s mission, and the stirring events in which it -resulted, to receive from them a deep and lasting impression. To those -impressions, doubtless, and the blood he derived from one of those -Spartan warriors, whose heroism excited the admiration of their -conquerors,[63] was due his primacy in the Seminole war; for an alien he -was without the influence of a sept to achieve it. In the career of the -Seminole chief may be discerned the far-reaching influence of the Great -Shawnee, and the abiding force of youthful impressions. - ------ - -Footnote 61: - - Niles’ Weekly Register, Vol. 15, pp. 270-282. - -Footnote 62: - - Niles’ Weekly Register, Vol. 15, p. 281. - -Footnote 63: - - So impressed was General Jackson’s chivalric nature with the lion-like - courage of the Red Sticks at the battle of the Horse Shoe, that he - made an earnest, but ineffectual effort to end the conflict, and - thereby save a remnant of that band of heroes. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XXII. - -Jackson’s Invasion of West Florida in 1818—Masot’s Protest—Capture of - Pensacola—Capitulation of San Carlos—Provisional Government - Established by Jackson—Pensacola Restored to Spain—Governor Callava— - Treaty of Cession—Congressional Criticism of Jackson’s Conduct. - - -Hitherto Jackson’s operations had been confined to the province of East -Florida. On the tenth of May, 1818, he began his invasion of West -Florida by crossing the Appalachicola river at the Indian village of -Ochesee. Thence he followed a trail which led him over the natural -bridge of the Chipola river—a bridge which it would be difficult for the -wayfarer to observe, as it is formed by the stream quietly sinking into -a lime-stone cavern, through which it again emerges within a distance of -half a mile. - -Within a few hundred yards of the trail, and near the north side of the -bridge, there is a cave one-fourth of a mile in length, with many -lateral grottoes, its roof pendant with glittering stalactites and its -floor covered with lime-stones moulded in varied and eccentric forms. -Panic-stricken by Jackson’s campaign in East Florida, the Indians on the -west of the Appalachicola river, when he began his westward march, made -this cave a place of refuge, and were there quietly concealed when his -troops unconsciously marched over their subterranean retreat. - -The army marched in two divisions. The one commanded by Jackson in -person followed the bridge trail, the other moved by a trail which led -to the river, northward of the place where it made its cavernous -descent. The water being high, the construction of a bridge or rafts -became necessary to enable the wagons and artillery to cross. Whilst the -northern division was thus obstructed, General Jackson, unimpeded in his -march, reached the appointed place of junction. Here he waited, in -hourly expectation of the appearance of the other column, until worked -up to a frenzy of impatience which was changed to indignation when, -after the junction, the interposition of a river—contradicted, as he -supposed, by his own immediate experience—was assigned as the cause of -the delay. At length, however, the guides, by disclosing the existence -of the bridge, solved the riddle and restored the general to good humor. - -His march westward, and south of the northern boundary of the province -of West Florida, brought him to the Escambia river, which, having -crossed, he reached the road that he had opened over the old trail in -1814, when he marched to Pensacola on a similar mission to that in which -he was now engaged. - -Don José Masot, who was governor of West Florida, having received -intelligence of Jackson’s westward march and his designs on Pensacola, -sent him a written protest against his invasion, as an offence against -the Spanish king, “exhorting and requiring him to retire from the -Province,” threatening if he did not, to use force for his expulsion. -This protest was delivered by a Spanish officer, on May 23, after -Jackson had crossed the Escambia river and was within a few hours’ march -of Pensacola. Notwithstanding Masot’s threat, instead of advancing to -meet the invader, he hastily retired with most of his troops to Fort San -Carlos, leaving a few only at Pensacola, under the command of -Lieutenant-colonel Don Lui Piemas, for the purpose of making a show of -resistance. - -Masot’s protest, instead of retarding, seems to have accelerated -Jackson’s advance. In the afternoon of the same day on which it was -received, the American army was in possession of Fort St. Michael and -encamped around it. Thence, immediately upon its occupation, Jackson -sent Masot a dispatch in reply to his protest, in which he demanded an -immediate surrender of Pensacola and Barrancas. In his answer, on May -24, to that demand, Masot, as to Pensacola, referred Jackson to Don Lui -Piemas; as to San Carlos he replied: “This fortress I am resolved to -defend to the last extremity. I shall repel force by force, and he who -resists aggression can never be considered an aggressor. God preserve -your excellency many years.” Upon the receipt of this communication, -Jackson, by arrangement with Colonel Piemas, took possession of -Pensacola. - -On the twenty-fifth, Jackson replied to Masot’s dispatch of the -twenty-fourth, in which he tells him he is aware of the Spanish force, -and hints at the folly of resistance to an overwhelming enemy. In -conclusion he says: “I applaud your feelings as a soldier in wishing to -defend your post, but when resistance is ineffectual and the opposing -force overwhelming, the sacrifice of a few brave men is an act of -wantonness, for which the commanding officer is accountable to his God.” - -In the evening of the day on which Jackson’s communication was written, -and within a few hours after it was received by Masot, Fort San Carlos -was invested by the American army. On the night of the twenty-fifth, -batteries were established in favorable positions within three hundred -and eighty-five yards of the fort, though the work was interrupted by -the Spanish guns. Before the American batteries replied, Jackson, in his -anxiety to spare the effusion of blood, sent Masot, under a flag of -truce, another demand to surrender, accompanied by a representation of -the futility, if not the folly, of further resistance. The refusal of -the demand was followed by the batteries and the fort opening upon each -other. The firing continued until evening, when a flag from the fort -invited a parley, which resulted in a truce until the following day, the -twenty-seventh, when, at eight o’clock in the morning, articles of -capitulation were signed. Such was Masot’s defense to “the last -extremity,” and such the fruit of Jackson’s expostulation with his fiery -but feeble antagonist. - -The military features of the capitulation were that the Spanish -surrender should be made with the honors of war, drums beating, and -flags flying, during the march from the gate of the fort to the foot of -the glacis, where the arms were to be stacked; the garrison to be -transported to Havana; and their rights of property, to the last -article, strictly respected. - -But, as in the case of General Campbell’s and Governor Chester’s -surrender, in 1781, to Galvez, there was a political aspect to the -capitulation of Masot. - -In Jackson’s despatch to Calhoun, Secretary of war, he says of the -capitulation: “The articles, with but one condition, amount to a -complete cession to the United States, of that portion of the Floridas -hitherto under the government of Don José Masot.” The condition alluded -to was, that the province should be held by the United States until -Spain could furnish a sufficient military force to execute the -obligations of existing treaties. - -Having accepted the cession of West-Florida to the United States, -Jackson further assumed the authority of constituting a provisional -government for the conquered province. He appointed one of his officers, -Colonel King, civil and military governor; he extended the revenue laws -of the United States over the country; appointed another of his -officers, Captain Gadsden, collector of the port of Pensacola, with -authority to enforce those laws; declared what civil laws should be -enforced, and provided for the preservation of the archives, as well as -for the care and protection of what had been the property of the Spanish -crown, but now, in the General’s conception, become the property of the -United States. - -Shortly after these occurrences, General Jackson, with his constitution -sorely tried by the fatigue and privations of the campaign, left -Pensacola for his home in Tennessee, to find quietude and repose, made -sweet by public applause on the one side, and interrupted by bitter -censure and criticism on the other. - -The views with which Jackson began the Seminole campaign in March, and -those which he entertained at its close in May, by the capitulation of -Masot, present a strange and striking contrast. He invaded East-Florida -to crush the Seminoles, as he had crushed the Creeks of Alabama. This he -accomplished by invading the territory of a power at peace with the -United States. As an imperious necessity, the invasion was justified by -his government. During his operations, however, he acquired information -from which he concluded that there existed a sympathy between the -Spanish officials at Pensacola and the Indians. Ostensibly, to correct -that abuse he marched to Pensacola, where he ended his campaign by -procuring the cession of the province of West-Florida, followed by the -establishment of an American government, without the authority of the -United States. - -The United States, without formally disavowing Jackson’s conduct, -signified its readiness to restore Pensacola and St. Marks whenever a -Spanish force presented itself to receive the surrender. In September, -1819, such a force appearing at Pensacola, the town and Barrancas were -immediately evacuated by the American troops. And thus ended the -government established by Jackson, after it had existed fourteen months, -during which it was administered to the satisfaction of the inhabitants -of the Province. - -With the troops there came as governor Don José Maria Callava, knight of -the military order of Hermenegildo, who, in 1811, had won the cross of -distinction for gallant conduct in the battle of Almonacid, one of the -many fiercely fought battles of the Peninsula war. - -The advent of the Spaniards seemed to be inconsistent with the fact -that, on the twenty-second of the previous February, a treaty had been -entered into between Secretary Adams and Don Louis de Onis, the Spanish -minister for the cession of the Floridas. But it was subject to the -ratification of both governments, and, though ratified by the United -States, it had not been acted upon by Spain. At first the re-occupation -might have been considered a matter of form, in which a sensitive -government consulted its dignity by placing itself in a condition to -make a voluntary surrender of territory for a consideration, instead of -appearing to submit to a conquest. But, as time rolled on without a -ratification of the treaty by Spain, the re-occupation of Pensacola -seemed to point to her determination to permanently retain the Floridas. - -It was believed, at the time the treaty was negotiated, that Jackson’s -bold action had done more to bring it about than Mr. Adams’ diplomatic -skill, a belief for which there was an apparent foundation in the delay -of Spain to ratify it after the pressure of his conquest was removed. - -No instance in the life of that great man more strikingly illustrates -than these transactions the beneficent working of that imperious will, -to which he made everything bend that stood in the way to the attainment -of what he conceived a patriotic end. - -The necessity for the campaign of 1814, as well as that which he had -just closed, convinced him that Florida, as a Spanish colony, would be a -constant menace to the peace and security of the border settlements of -Alabama and Georgia, not so much from the hostility of the Spanish as -their inability to control the restless and war-like Seminoles. He saw, -too, the necessity of making Spain sensible of her obligation to -exercise the necessary restraint upon her savage subjects, and at the -same time to make her fully realize the large and onerous military -establishment it would be necessary to maintain in Florida to accomplish -that object. The articles of capitulation brought the United States and -Spain face to face upon this question. It impressed upon the former the -imperative necessity of securing a permanent cession, and it compelled -the latter to count the cost involved in fulfilling the condition by -which only the provisional cession could be nullified. - -A study of the correspondence between Masot and Jackson, whilst the -latter was still east of the Appalachicola river, creates the impression -that the reason assigned by Jackson for his expedition to Pensacola was -but a pretext, and that the real motive was made manifest by the -articles of capitulation—a provisional cession, as the first step to a -permanent cession. He was unsustained by his government openly, at -least, he was censured by a congressional committee and denounced by the -press, but he soon found his vindication in public opinion, enlightened -by subsequent events. - -Masot, the other chief actor in these transactions, had been appointed -governor of West Florida in November, 1816, and, as we have seen, his -official term ended with the capitulation of the twenty-seventh of May, -1818. Shortly afterwards he left Pensacola for Havana in the cartel -_Peggy_, one of the vessels provided by Jackson to carry the Spanish -governor to the latter place. The _Peggy_ was overhauled by an armed -vessel under the “Independent Flag,” as the ensign of Spain’s revolted -South American colonies was called. No lives were taken, nor was the -_Peggy_ made a prize, for she was an American, but the Spaniards were -robbed. Masot had with him eight thousand dollars in coin, which he had -concealed. A slight suspension by the neck, however, as a hint of a -higher and more fatal one, wrung from him the hiding-place of his -treasure, which he lost, but saved his life.[64] The _Peggy_ was -overhauled by the “Independent Flag,” during a voyage to Havana from -Campeachy, whither she had taken refuge from what was supposed to be a -piratical vessel. - -During Masot’s administration there occurred a transaction which -occupied a place in the investigations of the special committee of the -senate of the United States, appointed, in 1818, to inquire into and -report upon the occurrences of the Seminole war of that year, prominent -amongst them the capture of St. Marks and Pensacola. The committee -condemned all Jackson’s proceedings and seem to have even harbored the -suspicion that a land speculation prompted him to exact a cession of the -latter place. The circumstances which induced the suspicion are detailed -in an affidavit of General John B. Eaton, afterwards secretary of war -under Jackson and governor of Florida, which appears amongst the -documents accompanying the report of the committee.[65] - -It seems that, in 1817, Eaton and James Jackson of Nashville—nowise -related to General Jackson—foreseeing that Florida was to be acquired by -the United States, resolved to make a purchase of lots in Pensacola and -lands in its vicinity. To them were afterwards added six associates, -John McCrae, James Jackson, Jr., John C. McElmore, John Jackson, Thomas -Childress and John Donelson, who was a nephew of Mrs. Jackson. Donelson -and a Mr. Gordon were appointed to proceed to Pensacola to make the -purchases. As a measure of security to Donelson and Gordon, Eaton -applied to General Jackson and obtained for them a letter of -introduction to Masot. Provided with this letter, which facilitated -their operations, Donelson and Gordon went to Pensacola and fulfilled -their mission by buying a large number of unimproved town lots, sixty -acres of land adjoining the town and a tract on the bay two or three -miles to the westward. - -Eaton says: General Jackson had no interest in the speculation, nor was -he consulted respecting it, his only connection with it being the letter -to Masot. As there is no allusion to the transaction in the report of -the committee, they must have concluded that the suspicion which -prompted the search for evidence respecting it was unfounded. Such at -least must be the just conclusion from the silence in respect to the -matter observed by a document so full of pointed condemnation of -Jackson’s acts, of the manner in which his army was raised and the -officers commissioned by himself, the executions of Arbuthnot and -Ambrister, the capture of St. Marks and Pensacola, the establishment of -a provisional government, the extension of the revenue laws of the -United States over the conquered province, and the appointments for it -of a governor and a collector of the customs. - ------ - -Footnote 64: - - Niles’ Weekly Register, Vol. XV., p. 261. - -Footnote 65: - - Niles’ Weekly Register, Vol. XV., p. 88. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XXIII. - -Treaty Ratified—Jackson Appointed Provisional Governor—Goes to - Pensacola—Mrs. Jackson in Pensacola—Change of Flags—Callava - Imprisoned—Territorial Government—Governor Duval—First Legislature - Meets at Pensacola. - - -Although the United States was unremitting in its efforts to induce -Spain to ratify the treaty of cession, her ratification was postponed -from time to time under various pretexts. Prominent English journals -having declared, that if Florida was ceded to the United States, Great -Britain, in order to maintain her influence in the Gulf of Mexico, -should insist upon a surrender to her of the Island of Cuba, public -opinion in the United States settled down to the conclusion that the -delay of the ratification was due to British intrigue. But, that this -opinion was ill founded, is evident from President Monroe’s message of -the seventh of December, 1819, in which he says: “In the course which -the Spanish government has on this occasion thought proper to pursue, it -is satisfactory to know that they have not been countenanced by any -European power. On the contrary, the opinion and wishes of both France -and Great Britain have not been withheld either from the United States -or Spain, and have been unequivocal in favor of ratification.” - -The procrastination of Spain was the occasion of intense public feeling -in the United States; which at length formally manifested itself on -March 8, 1820, in a resolution reported by the committee of Foreign -Relations of the House of Representatives, to authorize the President to -take possession of West Florida. Patience, however, prevailed, and on -February 19, 1821, the ratification took place. - -General Jackson was shortly afterwards appointed Provisional Governor of -Florida, and instructed to proceed to Pensacola with a small military -force, to receive from the Spanish authorities a formal surrender of -West Florida. On April 18, he left the Hermitage, with Mrs. Jackson and -his adopted son, Andrew Jackson Donelson, to enter upon the long, -tedious journey to Pensacola, via New Orleans. - -A stage of the journey in Southern Alabama, brought him to a military -post, in the neighborhood of which, William Weatherford, the Creek hero, -resided. At the suggestion of General Jackson, Colonel Brooke, the -commandant of the Post, and his host, invited Weatherford to dine with -his conqueror. The invitation was accepted. When the Great Chief -appeared, Jackson cordially met him, and taking him by the hand, -presented him to Mrs. Jackson as “the bravest man in his tribe.” - -Coming into Florida early in July, on reaching what was then known as -the Fifteen Mile House, now as Gonzalia, where Mr. Manuel Gonzalez then -had his cattle ranch, the General spent several days with him. Whilst -there, hearing of the approach of his troops, accompanied by Mr. -Gonzalez, he went up the road to meet them. Coming to a creek, they saw -the wagons of several up-country traders stuck in the mud, which the -latter, for lack of sufficient force, were making ineffectual attempts -to move. On the other side of the branch were several men lying on the -ground, and horses grazing near them. Accosting the men who were tugging -at the wheels of a wagon, Jackson said, “Why don’t you get those men -across the branch to help you?” “Oh! they say they are General Jackson’s -staff.” “Well,” said he, “I am General Jackson himself, and by the -eternal, I will help you!” And with those words, dismounting from his -horse, and throwing off his coat, he lustily put his shoulder to the -wheel. - -Upon the arrival of the troops at the Fifteen Mile House, headquarters -were established, and remained there until all the arrangements were -made for a formal change of government. - -Mrs. Jackson, however, took up her residence at Pensacola two or three -weeks before July 17, when the change of flags was to take place. During -the Sundays which preceded the change, Mrs. Jackson, who was an -eminently pious woman, cherishing great reverence for the Sabbath, was -greatly scandalized by the manner in which it was dishonored. Shops did -more business on that day than any other. It was a day of public -gambling, fiddling, dancing, and boisterous conduct. When the last -Sunday of Spanish rule came, seemingly because the last, the fiddling, -dancing, noise and confusion, exceeded that of any preceding one. Unable -to restrain her pious indignation, Mrs. Jackson vented it in a protest -against the Sabattic Saturnalia, made through Major Staunton, with the -emphatic announcement that the next Sunday should be differently spent. - -In anticipation of the change of government, there was a large influx of -people from the States, induced by the great expectations entertained of -the future of Pensacola; a future in which it was confidently predicted, -it was to be the rival of New Orleans. Many persons also came expecting -official appointments from the new Governor, but who, greatly to his -chagrin, as we learn from Mrs. Jackson’s letters, were disappointed, in -consequence of the President himself making the appointments. - -At length the sun arose upon the day when its beams were for the last -time to bathe in light the ancient banner of Castile and Aragon, as the -emblem of the sovereignty of these shores. In the early morning appeared -in the Public Square the Spanish Governor’s guards, handsomely dressed -and equipped, consisting of a full company of dismounted dragoons of the -regiment of Tarragona. After a parade, they fell into line south of the -flag staff, extending from east to west in front of the Government -House, which stood on the north-east corner of Jefferson and Sargossa -streets. At eight o’clock there marched down Palafox street a battalion -of the Fourth Infantry, and a company of the Fourth United States -Artillery, coming from their camp at Galvez Springs, which filing into -the Square, formed a line opposite the Spanish guards, and north of the -flag staff. Precisely at ten o’clock, General Jackson and his staff, -entering the Square, passed amid salutes from the Spanish and American -troops, between their lines to the Government House, where Governor -Callava awaited him for the purpose of executing the documentary -formalities of the cession. As the first sign that this act was -performed, the Spanish sergeant guard at the gate was relieved by an -American sentinel. General Jackson and Governor Callava then left the -house, and passed between the double line of troops. As they reached the -flag staff the Spanish flag came down, and the stars and stripes went -up, saluted by the Fourth Artillery and the sloop-of-war _Hornet_, -whilst her band, assisting at the ceremony, played the Star Spangled -Banner. - -At Barrancas the ceremony was slightly different. The flags of both -nations appeared at the same time at half-mast. In that position they -were saluted by the Spaniards. As the flags were separated, one -ascending and the other descending, both were honored with a salute by -the Americans. - -The day was naturally one of rejoicing to the Americans, but as -naturally one of sadness and in some instances of heart aches to the -Spanish population. The advantages of being under the United States -government were too great not to be appreciated by owners of real estate -and business men generally. But there was a sentimental side to the -change. Some of the Spanish garrison had married in Pensacola, and with -others the inhabitants had formed social ties, induced by a common -language, habits and tastes. To them it can well be imagined that the -change of flags was but the presage of bitter separations. In 1763 all -the Spanish left the country, and in a common exile mutual consolation -was found; but, in 1821, the sorrow was that a part went and a part -remained to mingle with a strange people. Mrs. Jackson, in a letter, -thus expresses the emotions of the occasion: “Oh! how they burst into -tears to see the last ray of hope depart from their devoted city and -country—delivering up the keys of the archives—the vessels lying in the -harbor in full view to waft them to their distant port.... How did the -city sit solitary and mourn. Never did my heart feel more for a people. -Being present, I entered immediately into their feelings.” - -The Sunday following the change was, according to Mrs. Jackson’s -prediction, one of quietude and freedom from the license of previous -ones, which had so shocked her religious sensibilities. She thus -expresses the change: “Yesterday I had the happiness of witnessing the -truth of what I had said. Great order was observed, the doors kept shut, -the gambling houses demolished, fiddling and dancing not heard any more -on the Lord’s day, cursing not to be heard.” For the change the lovers -of Sunday quietude were doubtless indebted to Mrs. Jackson, for her -prediction is not to be taken as that of a prophetess who merely -foresees and foretells, but that of a woman with a will of her own, and -conscious of her ability to direct the stern governor in the exercise of -his authority, at least outside of politics. - -The next morning after the change of flags, the Spanish officers and -garrison sailed for Havana in the transports _Anne Maria_ and _Tom -Shields_, under convoy of the United States sloop-of-war _Hornet_. - -Governor Callava and staff, however, remained in Pensacola, where his -handsome person, polished manners, soldierly bearing and high character -made him a general favorite with the American officers and their -families, who extended to him every social courtesy. General and Mrs. -Jackson, however, were distant and reserved in their bearing towards -him, resulting in some measure from a prejudice against Spanish -officials induced by the general’s experience with Maurique and Masot. -Perhaps, too, there mingled with that prejudice a slight feeling of -jealousy of Callava’s social success, a weakness from which strong -characters, under the insinuation of others, are not exempt. - -There soon occurred, however, a painful interruption of the gallant -Spaniard’s social enjoyment—so graceful an attendant of the change of -government—by an occurrence which must be regarded as a lasting reproach -to its authors. - -The treaty required the Spanish government to surrender all documents -relating to private rights in the archives of the province. This duty -had been performed by Callava, who had caused a separation to be made -between the documents falling within the definition of the treaty and -others which did not, and had delivered the former to Alcalde H. M. -Brackenridge, an appointee of the American governor. The latter papers, -packed in boxes for transportation to Havana, were placed in the custody -of Domingo Sousa, one of Callava’s subordinates. In the separation of -the papers, one relating to the estate of Nicholas Maria Vidal, -involving a trifling sum, was by accident placed with the documents in -one of the boxes in Sousa’s possession. - -A woman claiming to be an heir of Vidal complained to Brackenridge that -the paper had not been delivered to him and was about to be removed to -Havana by Sousa. Brackenridge, instead of politely calling Callava’s -attention to the woman’s complaint and asking for a surrender of the -document, at once made a preemptory demand for it upon Sousa. Sousa -properly declined compliance, alleging his want of authority to do so -without instructions from Callava, and at the same time, to relieve -himself from responsibility in the matter, sent the boxes to Callava’s -house. Brackenridge at once reported the matter to Jackson, who ordered -Sousa to be imprisoned, and at the same time Callava to be arrested and -brought before him immediately, although it was night and Callava was at -the time at a dinner party at Colonel Brooke’s. When the knightly -Castilian was brought before Jackson, he naturally proposed to enter a -protest against such astonishing proceedings. This Jackson would not -permit, but insisted that Callava should at once answer interrogatories -to be propounded to him. Callava’s persistent attempts to protest were -as persistently interrupted by Jackson, until at last the latter, in a -rage of passion, ordered him to be imprisoned, an order which was -promptly executed by committing him to the calaboose, where Sousa had -preceded him. This outrage committed, Alcalde Brackenridge, as if -determined to leave no bounds of decency unviolated, had the boxes at -Callava’s house opened that night and took from one of them the -worthless paper—worthless at least to the claimant—that had occasioned -the trouble. - -For this disgraceful transaction Brackenridge is primarily responsible. -He was an intelligent lawyer, afterwards a judge, and later a member of -Congress from Pennsylvania; and therefore, presumably acquainted with -the decencies, to say nothing of the amenities of official intercourse. -He was likewise well acquainted with Jackson’s prejudices and irascible -temper, as well as what a fire-brand to his nature were the wrongs, -whether real or simulated, of a woman. In the light of these -considerations, Brackenridge must stand condemned, as either a wilful -mischief-maker, or a wily sycophant, playing from selfish motives, upon -the weaknesses of a great man. - -But neither Jackson’s greatness, nor his being the dupe of Brackenridge, -can remove from him the reproach of having in this transaction violated -official courtesy, the chivalrous consideration due by one distinguished -soldier to another, as well as the laws of international comity and -hospitality. - -A writ of Habeas Corpus was issued by Hon. Elijias Fromentin, U. S. -Judge for West Florida, to bring before him Callava and Sousa, on the -night they were committed. Obedience to the writ was refused by the -guard, who sent it to the Governor. Thereupon, His Excellency issued a -notice to the Judge to appear before him, “to show cause why he has -attempted to interfere with my authority as Governor of the Floridas, -exercising the powers of the Captain-General and Intendant of the Island -of Cuba.” The Judge prudently delayed his appearance until the next day, -in order to allow the Governor time to cool; but in the meantime -remained in momentary expectation of a guard to take him to jail. The -affair, however, ended in a stormy interview, in which to the Governor’s -question, whether the Judge “would dare to issue a writ to be served on -the Captain-General,” the latter replied, “No, but if the case should -require it, I would issue one to be served on the President of the -United States.” - -After the troublesome paper was procured by Brackenridge, an order was -made for the release of Callava. A few days after his release he left -Pensacola for Washington to make his complaints to the United States -government. - -Some of the Spanish officers whom he had left in Pensacola, published -after his departure, a paper expressing their sense of the outrage to -which he had been subjected. This being regarded by Jackson as an -attempt “to disturb the harmony, peace and good order of the existing -government of the Floridas,” the protesting Spaniards were by -proclamation ordered to leave the country by the third of October, -allowing them four days for preparation, “on pain of being dealt with -according to law, for contempt and disobedience of this, my -proclamation.” - -A tragedy occurred during Jackson’s rule, which illustrates his lack of -tenderness of human life. With full knowledge of the affair, he -permitted a duel to be fought in a public place by two young officers, -Hull and Randall. When he was informed that the former had fallen, shot -through the heart, pistol in hand, with the trigger at half-cock, he -angrily exclaimed: “Damn the pistol; by G—d, to think that a brave man -should risk his life on a hair-trigger!” - -Jackson’s bearing generally, and especially his summary dealings with -Callava and Sousa, had inspired the population with great fear of his -despotic temper. Of that feeling there occurred a ludicrous -illustration. An alarm of fire brought a crowd to the Public Square, -which was near the fire. General Jackson also hurried to the scene. To -stir the lookers-on to exertion, he made a yelling appeal. The crowd not -understanding English, and thinking it had heard a notice to disperse, -took to its heels, and left the General the sole occupant of the Square. - -Mrs. Jackson was a domestic woman, and better satisfied to have her -husband at home, than to see him in exalted stations requiring his -absence from the Hermitage. Whilst in Pensacola, she pined for that dear -spot; and it is, evidently, with joy, that she announced in a letter to -a friend, that the General calls his coming to Florida, “a wild goose -chase,” and that he proposed an early return. In October they returned -to Tennessee. - -That a man of his estate and political prospects, should have accepted, -to fill for a few months, the office of Governor of a wilderness, with a -salary of $5,000, admits of only one explanation. His recent campaign -had been so severely condemned, that he regarded the tender of the -appointment by Mr. Monroe, as having the semblance, at least, of a -national apology for the injustice which he had suffered, and -accordingly he accepted it in the spirit in which it was tendered. In a -word, he filled the office, because filling it would be a vindication of -his conduct in the campaign of 1818. - -On the third of March, 1822, congress established a territorial -government for both the Floridas as one territory. The first governor -under the territorial organization was W. P. Duval of Kentucky, who had -represented a district of that state in congress, and who was the -original of Washington Irving’s Ralph Ringwood. He resided, temporarily, -in Pensacola, where the legislative council of thirteen, appointed by -the President, held its first session. It had hardly begun its work, -however, when the yellow fever breaking out compelled an adjournment to -the Fifteen-mile house, before mentioned, where the Florida statutes of -1822 were enacted. One of them illustrates the vice or virtue there may -be in a name. The title of “An Act for the Benefit of Insolvent -Debtors,” was misprinted in the laws of the session so as to read: “An -Act for the Relief of Insolent Debtors.” The error destroyed its -utility, and no man, it is said, as long as it remained on the statute -book, ever invoked the relief of its provisions. - -The limit assigned to these historical sketches has now been reached. -The space that intervenes between the visit of the luckless Narvaez to -Pensacola bay and the establishment of the territorial government of -Florida embraces a period of nearly three hundred years. The changes and -shifting scenes which, during that period, marked the history of the -settlements on its shores, stand in contrast with the persistency of the -arbitrary boundary line of the Perdido, established by the mutual -consent of the Spanish and French in the early years of the eighteenth -century. Disturbed by the English dominion for twenty years, it was -restored by the Spanish, and finally confirmed in 1822 by the act of -congress establishing a territorial government for the Floridas. - -In 1820 the constitutional convention of Alabama, in anticipation of the -ratification of the Spanish treaty, memorialized congress to embrace -West Florida within the boundaries of that state. The memorial enforced -the measure with all those obvious arguments which come to the mind when -it turns to the subject. But they were silenced, as if by the imperious -decree of fate that the Perdido boundary should be, and forever remain, -a monument of d’ Arriola’s diligence in reaching the Gulf coast three -years before d’ Iberville. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Historical Sketches of Colonial Florida, by -Richard L. 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