The Exiles of Florida: or, The crimes committed by our government against the Maroons, who fled from South Carolina and other slave states, seeking protection under Spanish laws.Giddings, Joshua R. (Joshua Reed)
Philosophy
The Exiles of Florida: or, The crimes committed by our government against the Maroons, who fled from South Carolina and other slave states, seeking protection under Spanish laws.
Giddings, Joshua R. (Joshua Reed)
Maroons; Seminole War, 1st, 1817-1818; Seminole War, 2nd, 1835-1842
The termination of the war had been regarded as certain by the
commanding officer, and by him so reported. The first article in the
capitulation, provided for the cessation of hostilities. But they were
renewed soon after, and the Indians and Exiles charged with a breach of
faith, both by General Jessup and by the Executive. And it becomes
important to the truth of history, that facts should be stated. The
articles of capitulation pledged the faith of the nation for the safety
of both persons and property of the "Seminoles _and their allies_."
Those "allies" could have been no other people than the black men who
were with them contending against a common foe. It is also evident that
Abraham and the Exiles who came in for the purpose of emigrating so
understood it. It is equally certain that the people of Florida who
memorialized the Secretary of War so understood it; and we need only
read the letters and orders of General Jessup to learn that he surely so
understood it: and the whole conduct of the Indians shows that they put
the same construction upon it. While, therefore, justice should be done
to General Jessup, we should be careful to do no injustice to either the
Seminoles or the Exiles. As further evidence of General Jessup's good
faith at the time, we quote an extract from a letter, bearing date six
days later than the one last referred to. It was addressed to Lieutenant
Colonel Miller, commanding at Tampa Bay, and is dated March
twenty-seventh, 1837. It is signed by General Jessup himself, who says:
"I have also been informed that Mr. Cooley's business at Tampa Bay is to
_look after negroes_. If that be so, he must be sent away; a trifling
circumstance would _light up the war again. Any interference with the
negroes which would produce alarm on their part would inevitably deprive
us of all the advantages we have gained._ I sympathize with Mr. Cooley
in his afflictions and losses; but responsible as I am for the peace of
the country, _I cannot and will not permit that peace to be jeopardized
by his imprudence_."
But these demands for slaves increased. The slaveholders were indignant
at the loss of slaves, and it soon became apparent that the stipulation
of safety to the "allies" of the Seminoles was _unpopular_ in Florida.
On the twenty-ninth of March, General Jessup wrote Colonel Warner, of
the Florida Militia, saying, "There is no disposition on the part of the
great body of the Indians to renew hostilities; and they will, I am
sure, faithfully fulfill their engagements, if the inhabitants of
Florida be prudent: but any attempt to seize their negroes, or other
property, would be followed by an instant resort to arms. _I have some
hopes of inducing both Indians and Indian negroes_ to unite in bringing
in the _negroes taken from the citizens during the war_."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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