soldiers, horribly mangled, came into camp, and brought the melancholy tidings that Major Dade and every officer and man, except themselves, were murdered and terribly mangled. We are at work, night and day, entrenching ourselves in every possible manner. We expect every moment to be attacked, as the savages have sworn we should all be massacred before the 6th of January. We are only about 200 strong, with officers and men, and about 50 citizens, and 100 friendly Indians, under their chief, Black Dirt. The savages are said to number 4000."

After the arrival of General Gaines in Florida, he ordered a detachment, under Captain Hitchcock, to visit the battle-ground of Major Dade. And when he had performed his orders, he gave the following report of that distressing spectacle. His report is dated "Fort King, Florida, Feb. 22, 1836,” and is addressed to General Gaines, as follows:-" Agreeably to your directions, I observed the battle-ground, six or seven miles north of the Ouithlecooche river, where Major Dade and his command were destroyed by the Seminole Indians, on the 28 Dec. last, and have the honor to submit the following report :

"The force under your command, which arrived at this post to-day from Tampa Bay, encamped, on the night of the 19th inst., on the ground occupied by Major Dade on the night of the 27th of December. He and his party were destroyed on the morning of the 28th December, about four miles in advance of that position. He was advancing towards this post, and was attacked from the north, so that on the 20th instant we came on the rear of his battle-ground, about nine o'clock in the morning. Our advanced guard had passed the ground without halting, when the General and his staff came upon one of the most appalling scenes that can be imagined. We first saw some broken and scattered boxes; then a cart, the two oxen of which were lying dead, as if they had fallen asleep, their yokes still on them; a little to the right, one or two horses were seen. We then came to a small enclosure, made by felling trees in such a manner as to form a triangular breastwork for defence. Within the triangle, along the north and west faces of it, were about thirty bodies, mostly mere skeletons, although much of the clothing was left upon them. These were lying, almost every one of them, in precisely the position they must have occupied during the fight, their heads next to the logs over which they had delivered their fire, and their bodies stretched, with striking regularity, parallel to each other. They had evidently been shot dead at their posts, and the Indians had not disturbed them, except by taking the scalps of most of them. Passing this little breastwork, we found other bodies along the road, and by the side of the road, generally behind trees, which had been resorted to for covers from the enemy's fire. Advancing about two hundred yards further, we found a cluster of bodies in the middle of the road. These were evidently the advanced guard, in the rear of which was the body of Major Dade, and, to the right, that of Capt. Fraser.

"These were all doubtless shot down on the first fire of the Indians, except, perhaps, Capt. Fraser, who must, however, have fallen very early in the fight. Those in the road, and by the trees, fell during the first attack. It was during a cessation of the fire, that the little band still remaining, about thirty in number, threw up the triangular breastwork, which, from the haste with which it was constructed, was necessarily defective, and could not protect the men in the second attack.

"We had with us many of the personal friends of the officers of Major Dade's command; and it is gratifying to be able to state, that every officer was identified by undoubted evidence. They were buried, and the cannon, a sixpounder, that the Indians had thrown into a swamp, was recovered, and placed vertically at the head of the grave, where, it is to be hoped, it will long remain. The bodies of the non-commissioned officers and privates were buried in two graves; and it was found that every man was accounted for. The command was composed of eight officers, and one hundred and two non-commissioned officers and privates. The bodies of eight officers and ninety-eight men were interred,-four men having escaped, three of whom reached Tampa Bay; the fourth was killed the day after the battle.

"It may be proper to observe, that the attack was not made from a hammock, but in a thinly-wooded country; the Indians being concealed by palmetto and grass, which has since been burned.

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PRINCIPAL SEMINOLE CHIEFS.

[BOOK IV.

"The two companies were Capt. Fraser's, of the 3d artillery, and Capt Gardiner's, of the 2d artillery. The officers were Major Dade, of the 4th infantry, Capts. Frazer and Gardiner, second Lieutenant Basinger, brevet second Lieut. R. Henderson, Mudge [late of Boston] and Keais, of the artillery, and Dr. J. S. Gatlin."

From a comparison of the above report with the official account before given, of Captain Bellon, nearly every thing concerning this signally great disaster is learned; but from the report of the three men that had the singular fortune to escape, many incidents have, from time to time, been gathered, and communicated through the newspapers. In fact, until the late visit to the battle-ground, no other account, but such as could be gathered from the three poor half-murdered soldiers, could be obtained; and yet it appears that they gave the facts as they really were. They all came in separately, sorely wounded, one of them with no less than eight wounds. He was supposed to be dead, and was thrown promiscuously into a heap of the slain, about which a dance was held by the Indians, before leaving the ground. This man crawled away in the following night, and thus effected his escape.

CHAPTER X.

Of the principal chiefs and war leaders of the Seminoles—OSCEOLA—MICANOPYJUMPER-Massacre of General Thompson and others at Fort King-BATTLE OF THE OUITHLECOOCHE-Fight near Wetumka-Great distress of the country-Action of Congress upon it-Battle at Musquito-Many Creeks join the Seminoles—Fight on the Suanee River.

THERE has been occasion already pretty fuily to sketch te character of the chief generally called Powell by the whites, but whose real name is OSCEOLA, or Oscola. This chief has shown himself to be, thus far, equal to the desperate cause in which he is engaged. We, at a distance from the Indians, marvel that they should be so short-sighted as not to see that to wage a war is only to hasten their ruin; but, when we thus reflect, we do not consider the scanty information which the Indians have of the real strength of the whites. Our means of getting a knowledge of the Indians, is incalculably greater than theirs is of getting a knowledge of us. They cannot read, neither can they converse (or but very few of them) with intelligent white men; therefore, that they know much less of us than we do of them, must be very apparent. They know nothing of geography. If an Indian, in the interior of Florida, should be told that New England was a great place, without considerable trouble he could not be made to understand whether it were a great town, as large as a village of 50 wigwams in his own country, or as large as the whole of Florida. We learn every thing of this nature by comparison; and how shall the Indian comprehend our terms, but by comparing them with his own? Hence it is owing, mainly, to the unavoidable ignorance of the Indians of our actual condition, that induces them to hazard a war with us. I know, from the best authority, that the western Indians, previous to Black Hawk's war, were generally of the opinion that they were far more numerous than the whites; and when a trader told them they certainly were not, they laughed at him with scornful gestures. We have no reason to believe the Florida Indians any better informed; and, besides, they are cheated and baffled so often by knaves who go among them for that purpose, that they imagine all the whites to be of the same character, and they cannot tell whether a talk really comes from their great father, the president, or whether some impostor be cheating them with one of his own, to get their lands for his particular benefit.

With this view of the case before us, it will not appear altogether unaccountable that a daring chief, like Osceola, should engage in a war. He is said not to be a chief by birth, but has raised himself by his courage and peculiar abilities to that station. His father is said to have been an Englishman, and

his mother a Creek woman. He belongs to the Red Stick tribe. In person he is slender, but well formed, muscular, and capable of enduring great fatigue; is an excellent tactician, and an admirer of order and discipline. He would frequently practise military manoeuvres with the whites, and none of them, it was observed, could excel him. His complexion is rather light, deep restless eyes, clear and shrill voice, and not more than about 35 years of age. He is said to have conducted in person every important action from the time of Warren's defeat to the battle of the Ouithlecoochee. General Thompson imprisoned him, as we have before related, because he would not acknowledge his authority, and for asserting that the country was the Indians', "that they wanted no agent, and that he had better take care of himself."

Of old Micanopy as well as Osceola I have already had occasion to speak. He was said to have joined the latter with 500 men: he is a short, thick-set, "ugly-looking Indian, and much given to intoxication." JUMPER is Micanopy's chief counsellor, and a warrior of great perseverance, activity, and courage. We shall now take up the narrative of events in the order of their occurrence, and the next of importance was the massacre near Camp King, which happened on the same day, but at a later hour than the destruction of the detachment under Major Dade.

Osceola, it will be remembered, had been roughly treated at this place, not many months before, and had been by coercion obliged to comply with the demands of Mr. Agent Thompson, about a removal, &c. He was known afterwards to declare that Thompson should pay with his life for his conduct. Accordingly, with a small band of warriors, at noon day, on the 28 of December, he approached Camp King for this avowed purpose. Thompson resided here, and was in the employ of the United States' government, as agent for the removal of the Seminole Indians, and other affairs concerning them. He was a man of considerable consequence, and had formerly, it is believed, been a member of congress. Whether it was his usual custom to dine out of the fort, we are not informed, but on this fatal day, it seems, he, with nine other gentlemen, met at the store house of Mr. Rogers, which was but 250 yards from the fort, and while seated at dinner there, they were attacked by Osceola; and what was remarked, at the time, as very singular, was, that those people should be beset and slain, and all scalped, within reach of two six-pound cannon then mounted upon the fort, which was garrisoned with 50 men; but such are the facts upon record.

Mr. Rogers was sitting at the head of his table, and the first intimation of the presence of Indians was a volley of, as was judged, 100 guns. The door of the house being open, nothing prevented the deadly aim of the foe, who, after the first discharge, rushed upon the house with savage fury. Those who were not killed jumped out of the windows, on each side, and fled; five, who ran to the fort, escaped; the others, in running for a hammock near by, were shot down. The negro woman, a cook, ran behind the counter and hid behind a barrel. Osceola, at the head of his warriors, rushed into the house, but did not discover her, and immediately left it. The names of the five that were killed, were, General Thompson, Lieutenant Constantine Smith, Erastus Rogers, sutler, a Mr. Suggs and Hitzler. Fifteen bullets were found to have been shot through General Thompson, and 16 through Mr. Rogers. Their heads were scalped all over, as far as the hair extended.

Bloody events now followed each other in quick succession. We have seen that upon the same day happened the two massacres last related, and scarcely had the news of them ceased vibrating on the ear, when the battle of the Ouithlecoochee was announced. The movements of General Clinch, in the very end of the year 1835, brought about this event, which will presently be detailed in his own words. He was lying in garrison at Fort Drane, a stockade about 30 miles from Camp King. He had here a plantation, upon which was a large crop of corn; this he liberally dealt out to the soldiers; other supplies having failed. On the arrival of General Call, an expedition was immediately set on foot for the head-quarters of the Indians.

As the narrative of every transaction is of increased importance and value, in proportion to the means of knowledge and veracity of the narrator, we are always led to a desire to hear the history of such transactions from the very

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BATTLE OF THE OUITHLECOOCHE.

[Book IV. actors in them; because, from such sources, we seldom fail of arriving at the truth. A commander or leader in a battle or expedition, if he would wish to misrepresent a transaction, would, in scarce one time in a thousand, dare to do so; because all his followers, or at least all those wronged by a false statement, would rise in evidence against him. I need not, however, have prefaced General CLINCH's official account of the BATTLE of OUITHLECOOCHEE with these observations, for, from the very face of it, his aim at the strictest veracity is apparent. But it is proper that we know how to value the real sources of history; it was to this end that the above observations were made. I will now proceed with General Clinch's account of his battle with Osceola.

"Head Quarters, Territory of Florida, Fort Drane, Jan. 4, 1836. "SIR-On the 24 ultimo, brigadier Gen. Call, commanding the volunteers called into service by his excellency, G. R. Walker, acting governor of Florida, formed a junction with the regular troops at this post, and informed me that his command had been raised to meet the crisis; that most of their terms of service would expire in a few days, which made it necessary to act promptly. Two large detachments were sent out on the 15th [Dec.] to scour the country on our right and left flauk. Lieut. Col. Fanning, with three companies from Fort King, arrived on the 27th; and, on the 29th, the detachment having returned, the brigade of mounted volunteers, composed of the 1st and 2d regiments, commanded by Brig. Gen. Call, and a battalion of regular troops commanded by Lieut. Col. Fanning, took up the line of march for a point on the Quithlecooche river, which was represented by our guides as being a good ford. About 4 o'clock on the morning of the 31st (of Dec.] after leaving all our baggage, provisions, &c., protected by a guard commanded by Lieut. Dancy, we pushed on with a view of carrying the ford, and of surprising the main body of the Indians, supposed to be concentrated on the west bank of the river; but on reaching it, about day-light, we found, instead of a good ford, a deep and rapid stream, and no means of crossing, except in an old and damaged canoe. Lieut. Col. Fanning, however, soon succeeded in crossing; the regular troops took a position in advance, whilst Brig. Gen. Call was actively engaged in crossing his brigade, and in having their horses swam over the river. But before one half had crossed, the battalion of regulars, consisting of about 200 men, were attacked by the enemy, who were strongly posted in the swamp and scrub, which extended from the river. This little band, however, aided by Col. Warren, Maj. Cooper, and Lieut. Yeoman, with 27 volunteers, met the attack of a savage enemy, nearly three times their number, headed by the chief OSEOLA, with Spartan valor. The action lasted nearly an hour, during which time the troops made three brilliant charges into the swamp and scrub, and drove the enemy in every direction. And after the third charge, although nearly one third of their number had been cut down, they were found sufficiently firm and steady to fortify the formation of a new line of battle, which gave entire protection to the flanks, as well as the position selected for recrossing the troops. Brig. Gen. Call, after using every effort to induce the volunteers remaining on the east bank, when the action commenced, to cross the river, and in arranging the troops still remaining on that bank, crossed over and rendered important service by his coolness and judgment in arranging part of his corps on the right of the regulars, which gave much strength and security to that flank. Col. Fanning displayed the greatest firmness throughout the action, and added much to the high reputation long since established. Captains Drane and Mellon exhibited great bravery and judgment, and likewise added to the character they acquired in the late war. Nor was Capt. Gates wanting in firmness. Capt. Wm. M. Graham, 4th infantry, was fearlessly brave, and although very severely wounded early in the engagement, continued to head his company in the most gallant manner, until he received another severe wound, when he was taken from the field. His brother, Lieut. Campbell Graham, commanding the adjacent company, was likewise severely wounded early in the fight, but continued with his men until another wound forced him, from loss of blood, to retire from the field. Lieut. Maitland, who commanded a company, contributed much, by his gallantry, to encourage his men.

Lieuts. Talcot, Capron, John Graham, Ridgely, (who was wounded early in the action,) and Brooks, all displayed good courage and coolness throughout the action. When almost every non-commissioned officer and private exhibited such firmness, it was almost impossible to discriminate between them; but the commanding-general cannot withhold his high approbation of judgment and courage displayed by sergeant Johnson of H company, third artillery, on whom the command of the company devolved, after Lieut. Graham was removed from the field; and who, although severely wounded, continued at the head of the company till the action was over. Also of sergeants Kenton and Lofton, and corporal Paget, 4th infantry. Sergeants Scoffield and Potter D company, 2d artillery; sergeant Smith, C company, first artillery, and cor poral Chapin, C company, 3d artillery. Colonel John Warner, commandan 1st regiment volunteers, Maj. Cooper, and Lieut. Yeoman of same corps, whe had formed on the left flank, were all severely wounded, while leading their little band to the charge, and all behaved with great bravery, as well as adjutant Phillips. Lieut. Col. Mills displayed great coolness and judgment during the action, and in recrossing the river with his command. Lieuts. Stewart and Hunter of the 2d regiment, with a few men of that regiment, were judiciously posted on the right, and, from their reputation for firmness, would have given a good account of the enemy, had he made his appearance in that quarter. Col. Parkill, of the F. volunteers, who performed the duties of adjutant-general, displayed much military skill and the utmost coolness and courage throughout the whole action; and his services were of the first importance. Col. Reid, inspector-general, displayed much firmness, but he had his horse shot, and received a slight wound early in the engagement, and was sent with orders to the volunteers. My volunteer aid, Maj. Lytle, and Maj. Welford, aid to Brig. Gen. Call, were near me throughout the action, and displayed the most intrepid courage and coolness. Col. J. H. McIntosh, one of my aids, and Maj. Gamble, aid to Gen. Call, both displayed much firmness and courage, and were actively employed on the left flank. I also feel it due to Lieut. Col. Bailey, Capt. Scott, and Lieut. Cuthbert, to say, that, although the action was nearly over before they could cross the river with a few of the 2d regiment, they took a judicious position, and showed much firmness. Capt. Wyatt, of the same corps, was entirely employed in erecting a temporary bridge, and manifested much firmness. Much credit is also due to the medical department, composed of Doctors Wightman, Hamilton, Randolph, and Bradon, for their activity and attention to the wounded.

"The time of service of the volunteers having expired, and most of them having expressed an unwillingness to remain longer in the service, it was considered best, after removing the dead and taking care of the wounded, to return to this post, which we reached on the 2d instant, without the least interruption, and, on the following day, the volunteers from Middle Florida took up the line of March for Tallahassee; and this morning those from East Florida proceeded to their respective homes, leaving me a very few men to guard this extensive frontier. I am now fully convinced that there has been a great defection among the Florida Indians, and that a great many Creeks have united with them; consequently it will require a strong force to put them down.

"I also have the honor to enclose you a list of the killed and wounded of the respective regiments and corps. I am, sir, with high respect, your most obedient,

D. L. CLINCH,

Brevet B. General U. S. Army, Commanding.

“R. Jones, Adjutant-General U. S. Army.”

"Return of the killed and wounded at the battle of the Ouithlecooche on the 31st day of December, 1835.-C company, 1st artillery, Capt. Gates commanding-one artificer killed; 1 corporal and 3 privates wounded. D company, 2d artillery, Capt. G. Drane commanding-1 private killed; 1 second Lieut., 1 corporal, and 12 privates wounded. F company, 2d artillery, bt. Capt. Mellon commanding-1 artificer killed. C company, 3d artillery, 1st Lieut. Maitland commanding-1 artificer killed, and 7 privates wounded. H