A
CORRECT AND AUTHENTIC

N A R R A T I V E

OF THE
INDIAN   WAR   IN   FLORIDA,
WITH A
D E S C R I P T I O N
OF
MAJ.   DADE’S   MASSACRE,
AND AN
ACCOUNT OF THE EXTREME SUFFERING,
FOR WANT OF PROVISIONS, OF THE ARMY—HAVING BEEN
OBLIGED TO EAT HORSES’ AND DOGS’ FLESH, &c. &c.
———
BY CAPT. JAMES BARR.
———

NEW YORK:
J. NARINE, PRINTER, 11 WALL ST.
1836.

NARRATIVE
OF THE
SEMINOLE WAR IN FLORIDA.

IN the beginning of January, 1836, the inhabitants of New Orleans received tidings from Florida of a very alarming and distressing nature. An able and brave, but unscrupulous chieftain, named Powell, had been for some time suspected of harboring designs to prevent the removal of the Seminole Indians, beyond the Mississippi, according to treaty. For this or some such cause, Powell was arrested and thrown into double irons, at Fort King, by General Thompson, the Indian agent. He was soon released: the head chief of the tribe, Attemottely, (I know not if I spell his name properly) pledging himself that Powell should raise no disturbances. Powell repaid him with the blackest ingratitude: he was no sooner free from his confinement, than he with a party of his warriors, killed Attemottely, who was in favor of fulfilling the terms of the treaty, and thus obtained for himself the consequence he now enjoys in the nation. Soon after this, Dalton, the carrier of the mail from Tampa Bay to Fort King, was murdered, and his body found in the woods a few miles from Fort Brooke. Next came the murder of the Indian agent, General Thompson, and several of the officers of Fort King. This was soon followed by the massacre of Major Dade’s command, and the engagement of General Clinch, on the Ouithlacouchy. The houses of the inhabitants were also burned, their plantations destroyed, their property plundered, and they themselves, were, in many instances murdered. On receipt of these tidings, the citizens of New Orleans held a meeting, at which it was unanimously resolved to raise a regiment in defence of their suffering friends in Florida.

Gen. Persifor F. Smith volunteered his services as Colonel, and Mr. Lawson, as Lieut. Colonel: the latter gentleman, the head physician of the United States, has since proved that the profession of arms is not inconsistent with the duties of a follower of Æsculapius. The enlistment was commenced on the 24th January, and a body of seven hundred men was quickly raised. The citizens, with their usual liberality and patriotism, supplied the troops with comfortable quarters, till the 3d of February. Each intervening day the regiment was inspected in the Custom House yard: on the 2nd February the troops received their uniform, blankets and other necessaries, and on the 3rd were mustered in the Barrack yard. Louisiana had done her part—she had raised a fine and as was afterwards proved, an effective body of men. They received their arms, colors and bounty, thirty dollars (the wages were ten dollars per month) and marched, some that evening, others next morning, to the rail road, where we found the cars in readiness and were soon embarked on Lake Ponchartrain. Two steamboats, the Watchman and Merchant were chartered to transport us to Tampa Bay, and the David Brown proceeded to the same point, via the Balise. The Watchman reached Pensacola on the 6th without any adventure except being detained a few hours on a mud bank. We took in wood and again put off, but the evening looked very dirty and the vessel was any thing but a good sea boat. Our captain accordingly determined not to go to sea, and lay too, close to the Fort, which is a few miles below the town. Here we had comfortable quarters for the night, and next morning again embarked. We arrived at Tampa Bay, on the 9th, and landed on the 10th. The Merchant had been in a day before us, and the David Brown arrived the day after. Here was a scene well calculated to rouse the spirits of the lukewarm, (if any such were among us). Almost every house in this beautiful spot had been torn down or burnt, and the inhabitants had been compelled to fly for protection to the vessels in the bay. We bivouacked outside the Fort, under the boughs of the live oak trees, which are very numerous; the watch-fires at night—the groups of men lying around them sleeping in their blankets—the stack of arms—the flash reflected from the musket and bayonet of the centinel as he stalked slowly by the fires; the tout ensemble had a very imposing, and in my eyes, a very military aspect. We were twice alarmed on the second night; the first time from the accidental discharge of a musket, and the second time from the mistake of a Dutch centinel; he had been posted on the piquet guard, with orders to hail any thing which should approach and to fire if he received no answer to the third challenge. Minheer Dutchman heard some noise in the bushes and called three times as he had been ordered, “Who goes dere?” no answer, “Den I fire.” He did fire, and in an instant, the bugles rang, the drums rattled, and we were soon in a posture to defend ourselves; but the alarm was groundless, it served only to show that the men were on the alert, it was soon found that a harmless dog had alarmed the sturdy Dutchman. On the 12th, I received the unwelcome intelligence that my company had been selected to remain in the Fort, to guard the sick and baggage, and to my great mortification was compelled to march inside the piquets. But I must describe Fort Brooke. It is situated at the junction of Hillsborough river with Tampa, or rather Hillsborough Bay. The Fort is a triangle, the hypothenuse or base of which rests on the sea, in the apex are two block houses, which command two sides, and are fortified with cannon, on the breeches of which their sorrowing friends have painted the names of Dade, Gardiner and others who fell in the massacre. The base is commanded by a lunetta, and the whole is surrounded by a strong palisade, with sharp stakes on the top, amply supplied with loop holes for the musketry, and port holes for the cannon; outside the palisades, there has been dug a number of wolf traps, with a strong, sharp stake, in the bottom of each on which the enemy must be impaled, if they should succeed in approaching so near us. There are eighty or ninety volunteers, and eighty regulars and marines, in all about one hundred and sixty fighting men left in garrison: the whole under command of Major Sandes, a fine soldier looking gentleman of the regulars.

The army marched on the 13th, under command of General Gaines, of the United States army. Each man was supplied with ten days provisions. There were two battalions, one commanded by Lieut. Colonel Lawson, the other by Major Marks. The regulars, about four hundred in number, were led by Colonel Twiggs, Major Montfort, and other United States officers. They marched in high spirits and seemed eager for a brush with the enemy.

I should have mentioned that on the morning previous to our arrival, the friendly Indians had had a skirmish with the hostiles, in which two of the friendly tribe were wounded, and one named Old John was missing. This skirmish took place within four miles of Fort Brooke. We found two Indians prisoners within the piquets: they had been taken in a manner which might well grace even the romantic days of ancient chivalry. A fine looking young Indian, named Yellow Hair, asked in marriage the daughter of Black Dirt, a friendly chieftain. The old man