Defeat of the Seminole Indians, &c.

aggregate, about four or five hundred. The balance of the force under his command was not, at that time, more than nine hundred effectives; and he confidently affirms that, when he took up the line of march from Fort Gadsden, on the 25th of March, 1818, his whole command, fit for duty, consisted only of three hundred and sixty privates of the regulars, about eight hundred Georgia militia, and Major Lovet's detachment of friendly Creeks. McIntosh and his warriors were organized at Fort Mitchell, after the arrival of your respondent at Fort Hawkins, and never united with him until the 1st of April, about six miles in the rear of Mickasuky. All these facts were accessible to your committee, had they been disposed to examine the letters of your respondent on file in the Department of War. To this Department all his communications were made; and there they should have applied for correct information, if it had been wanted.

The next subject which has exposed your respondent to bitter reproach from the committee, is the order which was directed to General Gaines, to occupy St. Augustine. A letter from Major Twiggs had conveyed the intelligence that our savage enemies had been fed and furnished from that garrison; and it was rendered highly probable that, aided, abetted, and encouraged, by the commandant, they were recruiting and imbodying at that place, with a view of renewing hostilities. A strong presumption was created, that this, like the other Spanish posts, had become a depot and rallying point for negroes and Indians, to which they had retreated for refuge and protection, after being driven from Negro Fort, St. Mark's, and Pensacola.

sundry outrages committed subsequent to the date of your respondent's letter to the Secretary of War; and it is also known that six men were murdered in the interior, which it is believed was communicated by General Gaines to the War Department. The communications of General Gaines and Major Fanning, annexed to the report, also give a very different aspect to this question, and to which your respondent begs leave to refer your honorable body.

In the animadversions upon the motives of your respondent, he cannot withhold the opinion that there has been exhibited an unusual share of asperity, as also a want of charity and forbearance, which was not to have been anticipated from members of so august and enlightened a body as the Senate of the United States, deliberating upon a subject which they have represented to be of great national magnitude. Leaving the motives of the committee on this occasion to their own private review and examination, your respondent will barely observe that they have imperfectly recognised the maxim that innocence is always presumed until the contrary appears by proof. Why they should have inquired into the motives of your respondent at all he is at a loss to determine, as it was a matter entirely beyond their control and jurisdiction. The only subject of investigation was the legality of his official acts, as designated in the resolution of the Senate of the 18th of December.

Your respondent has no objection to this course, except as a pernicious precedent, and a violation of authority. He has no secrets, and will never shrink from a rigid and impartial examination into his official conduct. Had the committee adThe order given to General Gaines was entire-verted to the order to take possession of St. Auly conditional and prospective; and had the facts reported been established, as directed, there would have existed the same incontrovertible reason for the occupancy of St. Augustine as of the Spanish fortresses. The orders of your respondent had undergone no modification; and the measure would have been indispensably necessary to their execution, as well as to the peace and security of our frontiers. Besides, he had transmitted to the War Department regular information of his proceedings in Florida, with the reasons and motives by which he had been governed, from the 25th of March to the 7th of August, without a sentence of dissatisfaction ever having been expressed by the Government.

gustine, as well as the communications of your respondent to the Secretary of War upon the subject of his military operations, they must have been satisfied that his motives were to promote the public good; to obey his orders, by carrying on a vigorous and efficient war against the savage enemies of the United States, by which the blood and treasure of the nation was to be economized; to establish a peace that would be honorable and permanent, and to give repose and security to our exposed and defenceless borders.

In this instance, as well as in some others, the report of the committee is contradicted by the evidence of its own documents. The depositions of Colonel Butler and Major Eaton (a member Your committee also report that, "long before of the committee) conclusively prove that your this period, the commanding General had, by his respondent had no agency in speculating in Florletter to the Secretary of War, declared the Sem-ida lands, which is in direct opposition to the ininole war at an end; and, after which, not a single new act of hostility had been committed." It is true, after the defeat of the negroes and Indians at Mickausky, the destruction of Suwanee, and the asylum of St. Mark's had been wrested out of their occupation, that your respondent persuaded himself that the war was ended. But subsequent information proved this opinion to be erroneous. The letter of Governor Bibb, appended to the report of the Senate, as well as the deposition of Charles Baron, details

ference drawn by your committee. No member of that committee can, for a moment, seriously and candidly harbor the opinion that your respondent would lead a gallant army into the field, jeopardize the lives of valuable citizens, risk the ruin of health and reputation, and "violate the Constitution" of his country, for the purpose of speculating with security in Spanish lands. The "motives of his own, unconnected with his military functions," were, a desire to end speedily a savage war, and to save the blood and treasure of

Defeat of the Seminole Indians, &c.

There are several minor points touched upon by the committee, to which your respondent considers it unnecessary to give a particular reply, as they are of inconsiderable importance, and could not be noticed without swelling this memorial to an unwieldy size. He flatters himself they have been satisfactorily answered in the discus-closed. sion of the other subjects out of which they have incidentally arisen. They will all, however, be more amply and minutely explained by an examination of the documents heretofore communicated to Congress relative to the Seminole war, to others on file in the War Office, and to those accompanying this memorial; to all of which your respondent respectfully refers your honorable body.

WAR DEPARTMENT, March 17, 1814. The policy dictated, as well by the unprovoked and ungrateful conduct of the hostile Creeks, as To conclude: your respondent has devoted his by a due regard to the future safety of the Southbest services to the cause of his country, and to western frontier, may be brought under the folthe perpetuation of her liberties. Her Constitu-lowing heads, viz:

tion and laws are objects of his sincere venera. 1st. An indemnification, (for expenses incurred

Defeat of the Seminole Indians, &c.

by the United States, in prosecuting the war,) by such cession, or cessions of land, as may be deemed an equivalent for said expenses.

2d. A stipulation on their part that they will cease all intercourse with any Spanish post, garrison, or town; and that they will not admit among them any agent or trader who does not derive his authority or license from the United States.

3d. An acknowledgment of a right in the United States to open roads through their territory; and also to establish therein such military posts and trading houses as may be deemed necessary and proper; and

4th. A surrender of the prophets, or other instigators of the war, who will be held subject to the orders of the President.

With these outlines as your guide you are authorized, in conjunction with Colonel Hawkins, to open and conclude a treaty of peace with the hostile Creeks, as soon as they shall express a desire to put an end to the war. I am, sir, very respectfully, &c.

JOHN ARMSTRONG.

Major General PINCKNEY.

True copy.

R. K. CALL, Aid-de-camp.

commissions in the militia of the State. His circular to these men, and his letter to the Governor, notifying him of what he had done, have been published.

I was present at the meeting of field officers of the volunteers at Nashville, and heard no remarks of General Jackson calculated to control or influence them in the selection of their officers. The only subject of anxiety with him appeared to be that the men should be raised by the first of February. He desired that the number should be completed; that the men should be satisfied with their officers; that they should rendezvous at Fayetteville; be mustered into service, and overtake their General on the frontiers of Georgia. Colonel Hayne, inspector general, was instructed to command the detachment on their march to Fort Scott. He received authority to appoint no other officers than those attached to his personal staff; a privilege enjoyed alike by regular and militia commanders. The Nashville company elected their own officers; and the Kentucky company was raised without even the knowledge of General Jackson. Their own feelings led them into the field upon the mere knowledge of the fact that the frontier was exposed to Indian aggressions.

I accompanied General Jackson through a part of Tennessee, previous to his departure South. In every village we passed through, much interest was taken in the approaching campaign; and the citizens were generally inquisitive as to the nature of the appeal to their patriotism. I

I. James Gadsden, a captain in the army of the United States, on oath declare, that during the whole period in which the transactions below detailed took place, I was an aid-de-camp to Major General Andrew Jackson, and that the follow-was directed by General Jackson to explain its ing narrative contains a true statement of facts to my knowledge:

manders, and elect their own officers. On this subject I found many individuals exceedingly scrupulous. They were assured that no intention was entertained to impose commanders on them; that the men were wanted, and the General was well aware that, to be efficient, they must be contented with their officers.

character; and, in every instance, expressed but one opinion, as derived from him; that one thouEarly in January, 1818, General Jackson re- sand men were wanted to put a speedy close to ceived orders from the War Department to re- the Seminole war; that, in consequence of the pair to Fort Scott, assume the command of the confidence which the General had in his old army, and to bring the conflict with the Seminole comrades in arms, and the facility with which Indians to a speedy termination. The Secretary volunteers could be raised, he had made this apof War stated the enemy's force to be two thou-peal; that they must be satisfied with their comsand seven hundred, or two thousand eight hundred strong, and gave authority to the General to call, from the neighboring States, such a force as would insure the desired object. The regular brigade under General Gaines, did not, according to the last reports, exceed six hundred men. He had called upon Georgia for not more than one thousand two hundred militia; and it was uncertain at that period whether the friendly Creek warriors would accept the invitation tendered. Some additional force was therefore deemed necessary, and the speediest mode of raising it was a subject of solicitude to General Jackson. Governor McMinn, of Tennessee, was engaged about this period in carrying into effect a treaty with the Cherokee nation; and it was a matter of great uncertainty whether a letter would find him at his usual place of residence, near Knoxville, or not. He was not at the capital of the State; and his friends in and about Nashville were generally under the impression that he was still in the Cherokee nation. General Jackson determined therefore to make an appeal to his old companions in arms; many of whom held

General Jackson left Nashville with one company of Tennesseeans. A company of Kentuckians overtook him in the Cherokee nation; and the Tennessee brigade had orders to join him, as soon as organized, on the frontiers of Georgia. From Hartford Gen. Jackson moved with the Georgia brigade, and was reinforced, on his march to Fort Scott, by about six hundred friendly Creeks.

From Fort Gadsden, where the operations of the campaign may have been said to have commenced, the movement was made with a force of regulars, Gergians, and Indians, not exceeding two thousand men. The strength of the enemy was not known, at this time, to be less than that stated by the Secretary of War, two thousand seven hundred. A detachment of Tennes

Defeat of the Seminole Indians, &c.

seeans, and General McIntosh's warriors, over-received instructions, subsequently, from Fort took the army on the morning of the attack on Gadsden, to have the artillery, ammunition, prothe Mickasuky villages; and all the troops called visions, &c., transported to Fort Montgomery. into the service were not finally concentrated On the return of the army to Fort Gadsden, until the day after the movement from St. Mark's General Jackson received a reply from the Gor towards the towns on Sahwannee river. The ernor of Pensacola, to his letter relative to proactual force of the enemy was never ascertained, visions ascending the Escambia river. At the until their final dispersion from the Sahwannee same time letters were received by individuals, river. Rumor often magnified their strength be- and further information from the captain of yond that stated by the Secretary of War. the schooner, that Pensacola was under the control of the Indians; that more than four hundred warriors were in the vicinity, preparing for the renewal of hostilities on the Alabama frontier. Major Hogan, who had recently arrived from Fort Montgomery, reported some murders lately committed by Indians direct from Pensacola, and who had returned with their plunder and scalps to that place. On the receipt of this information, General Jackson observed to me that he must himself command the troops destined to scour the country west of the Appalachicola. He did not at that time intimate an intention of occupying Pensacola. To give security to the frontiers of Alabama was his object; and that his operations must be governed by circumstances which might occur.

The demand of the surrender of St. Mark's was made in amity. General Jackson received intimation that the Indians and negroes, combined, wished to throw themselves into that work, as a dernier retreat; and the Governor of Pensacola had stated that the work and garrison were both too weak to resist their meditated attacks. I was intrusted with the communication to the Spanish commandant of St. Mark's, and directed to urge the propriety of an amicable permit for the fort to be occupied by an American garrison, until the close of the war, on the ground that the Seminole Indians were enemies to both nations; and that every facility should be afforded the American arms in closing a war so injurious to both parties. In the course of the negotiation facts disclosed themselves developing the real character of the Spanish commandant, and, in a measure, implicating him as a party in the war. These facts were reported to the General; and, not until then, was the order issued for entering the fort by violence.

On the return of the army to Fort St. Mark's, from the towns on the Sahwannee river, General Jackson expressed to me his determination to return to Nashville, conceiving that the war was closed. On the next day information was given, by the captain of a small schooner from Pensacola, that hostile Indians were lurking about that town; that they had frequently sought refuge to the west of the Appalachicola river, and were committing depredations on the road leading from Georgia to the Alabama. On this information General Jackson observed, that it would be necessary to leave strong garrisons in St. Mark's, Forts Gadsden, and Scott, and send a party to Scour the country west of the Appalachicola; but he still expressed his intention to return to Nashville. So well persuaded were the officers, generally, that all operations were over, that many of them sought leave of absence. An officer attached to General Jackson's staff, as volunteer aid-de-camp, left him at this place for New Orleans. Previous to his departure, he was told by General Jackson that his services would no longer be necessary, as he was determined to return to Nashville.

Lieutenant Sands was not sent to Mobile to forward on a train of artillery to a given point. This officer had commanded for many years in Mobile; and, being attached to the place, expressed a wish to visit it, with a view of being reinstated in the command, if possible. His request was granted, and he received an order, at the same time, to have a few pieces of ordnance in a condition for field service. Colonel Gibson

On the third or fourth day of March, an express was sent to Colonel Gibson, at Fort Montgomery, to endeavor to join the army with the artillery and provisions, at or near Durand's Bluff, the lower crossing place on the Escambia.

At this place a letter was received, by express, from Governor Bibb, detailing the murders which had been committed by hostile chiefs from Pensacola; and the next day after the army had crossed the Escambia, the protest of the Governor of Pensacola was received. The bearer was despatched with a note, promising a reply to the protest that night. The same day I was sent to Pensacola with a reply. The Governor had left his capital. The next day the communication demanding the occupancy of Pensacola and its dependencies, until Spain should control, by an adequate military force, the Indians within Florida, was delivered to the Governor at the Barancas; and on his refusal to accede to the terms of that communication, the army took up its line of march for that place. The result is known.

The plan of St. Augustine was sent to General Jackson at my request, and is now in my possession. As an engineer attached to the Seminole army, it was my duty to be prepared for any events, by obtaining accurate knowledge of the country which might be the scene of operations. I did not request the plan of the proprietor, from any intimation from General Jackson thet he intended or wished to visit that fortress.

JAMES GADSDEN. R. K. CALL, Aid-de-camp.

True copy:
STATE OF LOUISIANA,

City and Parish of New Orleans:

Be it known that, on this 30th day of June, 1819, before me, John Lynd, notary public in and for said city and parish, duly commissioned, personally appeared James Gadsden, who in my pre

Defeat of the Seminole Indians, &c.

A true copy: Sworn and subscribed to before me, at Pensasions within that period, he has seen from one cola, September 7, 1818.