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Volume XVII April, 1939 Number 4

CONTENTS

Spanish Mission Sites in Florida

M ark F. Boy d

Governor J ohns tone in West F lor idaC. N. Howard

The Parent age an d Birthplace of OsceolaCharles H. Coe

The Panton, Leslie Papers:Two letters ofEdmund Doy le, Trader, 1817

The Florida Historical SocietyThe ann ua l meeting:

MinutesReport of the presidentReport of th e tr easu rer

The programExhibit of Floridiana

NotesLibrary accessions

FIFTY

November

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MISSION SITES IN FLORIDAAn at t empt to approximately ident ify the sites of

Spanish mission settlements of the seventeenthcentury in northern Florida

By MARK F. Bo YD

The story of the mission settlements establishedby the Fr an ciscan fat hers in nort hern Florida su b-sequent to 1633 still awa its t elling. It cann ot beadequa tely told un til th e Spanish ar chives are car e-fully searched.

Random documents recently available from thesesources confirm the meager accounts left by hostileCar olinians , indicating tha t t his region was occupiedby numerous thriving settlements of ChristianizedIndians who practiced a successful agriculture.When the expanding radius of the border strugglesbetween the English and Spanish colonies finallyreached Apalache, th is golden per iod was brought

to an abrupt close in 1704. Information availableto subsequent British a nd Amer ican colonists an dsett lers was largely derived from In dian tr adition,an d th e missions h ad a lready assum ed a legendarycharacter among the ultimate Anglo-Saxon oc-cupan ts of th e region before th e ear liest a vailableof the Spanish accounts were brought to attention.Shea

1was perha ps th e first American stu dent t o

cons ider the su bject. He touched on th e Flor ida mis-

sions inciden ta lly an d der ived most if not a ll of h isinform at ion from a limited nu mber of secondar ysources.

The first penet rat ion of Apalache by Fr an ciscanmissiona ries occur red in 1633,

2near ly one hu ndred

years after De Soto over-wintered in this region.

NOTE:- This paper was read before the Tallahassee HistoricalSociety on November 10, last.

1.) John Gilmary Shea. History of the Catholic Missions amongt h e Indian Tribes of the United States, 1529-1854. (NewYork, 1855).

2) Gov. Horr uytin ez to the King, Nov. 15, 1633, A.G.I., 94-9-18Lowery (MSS.) Apalache, 1621-57. Vol. VII.

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The time appeared propitious for their proselyting

efforts, as a list by Diaz de la Calle 3 writt en in 1655enumerates seven missions lying between St. Augus-t ine an d Apalache (Timucua), an d nine in Apalache.This list is also found in t he Lowery ma nuscript s.The distance between each mission and St. Augus-tine is given in leagues, alth ough th ey are only par -t ially listed in consecut ive longitudina l order .

The next a vailable list is foun d in a lett er wr ittenby Gabriel Diaz Vara Calderon, Bishop of Cuba, toMar iana, Queen of Spain, describing a pastoral visitmade to the Florida missions in 1674-75. This wasrecent ly t ra nslat ed by Lucy L. Wenh old.

4It is im-

port an t n ot only by rea son of th e fact that the a c-count is the most circumstantial of those available,but the missions are enumerated in the order inwhich th ey were appar ent ly visited, an d t heir dis-tance in leagues from St . August ine is given. Elevenmissions ar e listed between St . August ine an d Apa-lache, of which four do not appea r in the 1655 list,an d one on the form er list is omit ted. In Apa lacheth irt een missions a re list ed, four of which do notappear on the 1655 list. The paragraphs describ-ing Timu qua (Timu cua ) an d Apalache in Miss Wen-holds translation are quoted below :

3) Diaz de la Calle. N ot a d e la s Mission es d e la p r ovin cia d e laFlor id a , e tc . In Serr eno y Saenz, Docu m en t os H ist or ica s d e

L a Flor id a y la L ou isia n a , Siglos XVI al XVIII (Madrid1912) p. 132.

4) A 17th century letter of Gabriel Diaz Vara Calderon, Bishopof Cuba, describing the Indians and Indian missions of Flor-ida. Tra nscribed and tr an slated by Lucy L. Wenh old, withan intr oduction by J ohn R. Swant on. Smithsonian miscel-lan eous collections Vol. 95, No. 16, Pu b. 3398 (Wash ingt on,

1936).

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The Province of Timuqua

Ten leagues from the city of St. Augustine, on the

bank of th e river Corrientes [the S t. J ohn s], is the

village and mission of San Diego de Salamototo.It [the river] is very turbulent and alm ost a leagu e

and a half in width. From there to the village and

mission of Santa Fe there are some 20 uninhabited

leagues. Santa Fe is the principal mission of this

province. Off to the side toward the southern bor-

der, at a distance of 3 leagues, is the deserted mis-

sion and village of San Francisco. Twelve leaguesfrom S anta Fe is the m ission of S anta Catalina,

with Ajohica 3 leagues away and Santa Cruz de

Tarihica 2. Seven leagues away, on the bank of thelarge river Guacara, is the mission of San Juan of

the same- nam e. Ten [further on] is th at of S anPedro de Potohiriba, 2, that of Santa Helena de

Machaba, 4, that of S an Matheo, 2, that of S anMigu el de Asyle, last in th is T im uquan, or Usta-

canian province.

The Province of Apalache

Two leagues from the said village of Asylle is themission of San Lorenzo de Hibitachuco, first vil-

lage of this province. From this mission to that of

La Concepcion de Ayubali it is one leagu e, and an-other to that of San Francisco de Oconi, another to

that of San Juan de Aspalaga, 2 to that of SanJ oseph de Ocuya, 4 to that of S an Pedro de Patali,

2 to that of San Antonio de Bacqua, 2 to that of

San Damian de Cupahica, called also Escambi, oneto that of San Luis de Talimali which is the largestof all, another to that of La Purificacion de Tama,

called Yamases, another to that of San Martin de

Tomoli, 2 to that of Santa Cruz de Capoli, called alsoChuntafu, and 4 from Tomoli to Assumpcion del

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Puerto. Of these 13 missions, 2, La Purificacion deTama and Assumpcion de Puerto, both of which

were heathen [villages], I founded on the 27th of

J anuary and the 2d of February, of th is presen tyear, 1675, ga thering in Assum pcion the three hea-

then nations, Chines, Pacaras and Amacanos, whoare gradually being instructed and baptised. In the

mission of San Luis, which is the principal one of

th e province, resides a m ilitary officer in a country

house defended by pieces of ordnance and a garri-

son of infantry.

Another list of th ese missions prepar ed five year slat er in 1680, is also foun d in the Lowery ma nu -scripts.

5This is a simple enumeration. It lists

eleven missions between St. Augustine and Apa-lache, omitting one from and adding one to the pre-vious list. Fourteen are given for Apalache threeof which do not appea r on t he 1675 list , while one onth e former is omitt ed.

The foregoing is the lat est of the sevent eent h cen-tu ry lists kn own us, alth ough in t he Libra ry ofCongress th ere is found a photostat

6of a Spanish

ma p, evident ly prepa red about 1683, which t hemissions a re sh own. The map is crudely dra wn andthe scale is unreliable. Probably its greatest utilityis th e probable repr esent a t ion of the r ela tive posi-t ion of any mission to the others . With one excep-tion it represents all of the missions given on the1680 list between St. Augustine and Apalache, andin Apa lache omits one given on the last list andadds two.

5) Florida, Relacion de las Religios existentes en las con-versiones de la Florida y pueblos donde estan las Doctrinas.A.G. I., 54-5-11 Lowery Manuscripts, Apalache, Vol. IX,1677-80.

6) Anon., Mapa De la Isla de la Florida. Madrid, Ministry ofWar. (Circa 1683). Map Divsion, Library of Congress.

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For convenience of reference and comparison thevarious mission lists ar e brought togeth er in t he ac-companying table, following the order given by Cal-deron. All ava ilable pert inent dat a ar e included. Aport ion of the Spa nish ma p ment ioned is r eproducedas Figure 1.

Recognizing that in part at least the old Spanishroutes from St . Augustine can be tr aced with con-siderable exactitu de, it appear s of int erest to a t -tempt to fit t he Calderon dat a t o th e known rout es.It will be recalled that the act of the first session ofthe 18th Congress, au thor izing the construct ion of aroad from Pensacola to St. Augustine, directed thatfrom the s ite of Fort St . Lewis (San Luis) to St .Augustine, it should follow as nearly as practicablethe old Spanish road, while it would appear thatCaptain Daniel Burch,

7who located the road, com-

plied, at least in general, with these instructions,alth ough it mu st be recognized tha t h e may have re-located some stretches. It would seem likely thatthrough central Jefferson county the Spanish routelay to th e sout h of th at chosen by Bur ch. He sa yshe spen t two days (in 1823) in t he vicinity ofSanLuis endeavoring to t ra ce out th is road , but foun dit impossible. However, when fur nished with a guide

from the Miccosu kee t own who was perfect ly as-quainted with it, it was obvious. The Indians, itappeared, had kept up a trail on this road until with-in a few year s, other wise it would h ave been im-pract icable to follow it, a s bu t few t races of it re-main, and then only in the vicinity of the old Span-ish st a t ions or post s, a num ber of which a re yetplainly to be found.

7) Boyd, Mark F., Th e Firs t Amer ican Road in Flor ida : Pensa-co la- S t . Au gust in e Highw ay, 1824 . (Reports of Captain Burchto General Jesup). The Qua rt erly of the F lorida HistoricalSociety, XIV (1935-36) p. 74, p. 75, p. 93.

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Distance inleagues fromSt. Augustineor preceding

site.(Calderon)

.............

10

11/2

20

...................

12

3

2

7

10

2

4

2

2

1

Diaz de la Calle, T. 1, F. 69, 1655(From Serreno and Saenz, p. 132)

Nombre de Dios....................................

................................................................

Santa Fe de Toloco.. ...........................

San Francisco de Patano...................

San Pedro y San Pablo de Poturiba.

Santa Elena de Machaba ...................

................................................................

San Miguel de Asile...........................

San Lorenzo de Apalache...................

La Concepcion de Apalache ...............

From Calderon letter 1675

San DiegodeSalamototo........................

Santa Fe.. ..................................................

San Francisco............................................

Santa Catalina..........................................

Ajohica......................................................

Santa Cruz de Tarihica .. ..................

San Juan de Guacara..............................

San Pedro de Potohiriba ........................

Santa Helena de Machaba .....................

San Matheo.............................................

San Miguel de Asyle ................................

San Lorenzo de Hibitachuco.................

La Concepcion de Ayubali.. ...................

From Lowery MSS. 1680

Nombre de Dios de amacarisse.....

Senor San Diego de Ecalamototo.

Senor Santo Thomas de Santa Fe P. de Santa Fe.....

Senor San Francisco de Potano... P. de S. Francisco.

Senora Santa Catholina de ahoica P.deSta.Cathalina

Senor Santa Cruz de Tharihica.....

Senor San Juan de Guacara

Senor San Pedro de Pothohiriva.

Senora Santa Helena de Machava

Senor San Matheo de Tolapatafi.

Senor San Miguel de asile. .......

Senor San Lorenzo de Ybithachuco

Nuestra Senora de la Purissima

P. de Taryica ......

P. de Guacara....

P. de S. Pedro....

P. de Machava....

P. de San Matheo

P. de Asile .........

P. de Ivitachuco..

...................

San Juan del Rio

San Pedro.......

Machaba .......

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Asile .............

Bitachuco ......

On E. bank Suwannee

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Most westerly in Timuqua

Most easterly in Apalache

Concepcion de Ajubali P. de Ainbale ...... Ayubale ......... Ainbale = Aiubale

Map of 1683

..........................

Salamatoto . . . . .

Benavides 1732

......................

.......................

Santa Fe ........

San Francisco....

Sta. Catalina....

NOTES

S1. N.W. Sn. Aug.

E. bank St. Johns near

PicolataW. bank St. Johns

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2

2

1

1

1

2

4 (from Tomoli)

San Franciscode Apalache...............

San Juan de Apalache.........................

San Josefde Apalache.......................

San Pedro y San Pablo de Kpal*.....

San Cosme y San Damian .................

...............................................................

San Luis de Apalache.........................

San Martin de Apalache .....................

...............................................................

.............................................. ................

San Francisco de Oconi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

San Juan de Aspalaga.. ............................

San Joseph de Ocuya.. ............................

San Pedro de Patali ................................

San Antoniode Bacuqua........................

San Damian de Cupahica (Escambi)

.....................................................................

San Luis de Talimali ................................

La Purificacion de Tama (Yamases) ....

.....................................................................

San Martin de Tomoli ............................

Santa Cruz de Capoli (Chuntafu)..........

.....................................................................

.... ...... ........................................................

Assumpcion delPuerto............................

Senor San Francisco de Oconi ....

Senor San Juan de Ospalaga ......

Senor San Joseph de Ocuia ........

Senores San Pedro y San Pablo de Patali

Senor San Antonio de Bacuqua...

Senores San Cosme y San Damian

de Yecambi

Senor San Carlos de chacatos.........

Senor San Luis de Talimali * ..........

Nuestra Senora de la Candelariade la Tama

Senor San Pedro de los Chines.. .....

Senor San Martin de Tomoli..

Santa Cruz y San Pedro de Alcan-tara de Ychutafun

P . de Oconi...........

P. de Aspalaga.....

P. de Ocuya.. .........

P. de Patale...........

Bacuco ..............

P. de Escambe ....

P. de San Carlos...

P. de San Luis.....

P. de Nuestra Se-nora de la Can-delaria

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

P. de Tomale ....

P. de Sta Cruz....

P. de Medellin...

Puerto y Villa deSan Marcos

Espalaga.............

0 Cuya..............

Patale ...............

Bagugua .........

Chatos ...........

San Luis........

La Tama .......................................

Chines.. ..............

Tomale. .............

Capole.. ..............

San Marcos

*Kpal = Apal (Swanton)

*Largest of all (Calderon)

Conversion by Calderon

..................................................

..................................................

Founded by Calderon. Inthis gathered Chines, Pa-caras and Amacanos.

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Furt herm ore, att ention ha s been called t o th e ac-

quirement by the Library of Congress of a photo-sta t of th e Purcell-Stu ar t map of th e road from Pen-sacola t o St . August ine.

8This map gives every in-

dication of being based on a careful reconnaissanceand traverse. It is probable that in part at least,th e tr ails shown thereon between St. August ine andApalache, represent old Spanish routes.

In F igure 2 (par ts a an d b) we have at tempted to

fit th e rout e shown on t he Pur cell-Stuar t m ap t o th ecur rent topogra ph ica l knowledge of th e region , assh own on the 1933 edition of the 1:500,000 map ofthe st a te issu ed by the U. S. Geological Survey, andth e route of th e road sur veyed by Burch a s well. Itwill be noted t ha t from t he easter n por tion of Madi-son county to the St. Johns river, the two routesapparently closely coincide. Westward they diverge,but ma y, neverth eless, represent pat hs regular lytr od by th e Spaniards. It will be noted that th roughMadison coun ty, the t raveller on t he Pur cell-Stu ar ttrail had the choice of two routes westward. Thesecame together before crossing the Aucilla river.Across Jefferson county there was but a singleroute. At Miccosukee the t rail again divided, th esout hern bran ch pa ssing sout hwest th rough Tala-ha ssa Talofa (site of th e present Tallah assee) th ence

proceeding n or th westwa rdly. About 3 miles west -wardly from Tallahassee lay San Luis.

We may n ext consider t he a vailable data ident i-fying Spanish sites. these, that of San Luis

3) appea rs best established, alth ough n oth -ing objective remains at present to positively iden-

8) A Map of the Road from Pen sacola in W. Florida to S t.Augu stine in East Florida from a su rv ey m ade by ord er ofthe late Hon. Col. John Stuart * * in 1778 by Joseph Pur-cell. Map Division, Library of Congress. (See Fla. Hist.Qua rt er ly, XVII p. 15, J uly, 1938).

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tify it. J. L. Williams in his journal of the joint

mission with Dr. Simmons to select the site for theseat of government, relates that on October 31, 1823,he h ired an Indian to guide him t o th e site of an oldSpan ish fort which ha d been men tioned t o him a sbeing in the neighborhood? He describes it as fol-lows: It is situ at ed on a comman ding eminence atthe north point of a high narrow neck of highlandsnea rly sur roun ded by a deep ravine and swam p.

The moat, parapet and bastions are stronglyma rked. The sout h pa rt is 70 paces in length, thenort h 55 paces. Near a spring in t he east ra vine twoold six pounder s wer e discovered, etc. On the fol-lowing day he wrote as follows to R. K. Call:

10

Among the cur iosit ies of the country we discoveredan old Spanish fort on a commanding hill about h alfway from Oclockney to Tallahassee. The south line

of it measured 71 paces, the north 55, the east andwest ends about 46. It had bast ions n ear th e anglesan d in a spring about 50 feet down t he r avine eastof the works we discovered t he breech of a six-poundfield piece. Four years later, in his View of WestFlorida"

11he says : Fort St. Lewis was situate

2 miles west of Tallahassee. Its form was an irreg-ular parallelogram ; the eastern and longest side was

52 paces [sic]. Within the moat, 2 brick edifices hadbeen erected, one 60 by 40 an d t he other 30 by 20feet. Ther e were bast ions at each corn er. The out -ward defences were extensive. A covered way led

9) J ou rn a l of J oh n L ee Wi l l ia m s. Fla. Hist. Sot. Quarterly,I (1908) p. 22.

10) Caroline M. Brevard, A H istory of Flor id a f rom th e T rea t yof 1763 to ou r own Tim es. Vol. I., p. 263, (Fla . Sta te Hist .Soc., DeLand, Florida, 1924).

11) Williams, John Lee. A V iew of West Flor id a , etc. (Phila-delphia, 1827) p. 33.

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to a spr ing, in a deep ra vine, under t he n ort heast

wing of the fort. Slight an d immat erial discre-pancies are to be noted between his different ac-count s. An a nonymous writer

12says: At For t St .

Louis, about 2 miles west of Tallahassee, have beenfound remnants of iron cannon, spikes, hinges, locks,etc., which ar e evidently of Spanish ma nu factu re,an d which have not been much injured by the rust .

Within the principal fort, for the outworks seem

to have been n umerous a nd extensive, ar e the rumsof two br ick edifices, one was a bout 60 feet by 40,th e oth er was about 30 by 20. These ar e in t ota lruins, and nothing but a mound appears where thewalls stood, composed wholely of broken bricks,which have been composed of a coarse sandy clayand burned in the modern fashion. Yet on the verywalls of these bu ildings are oaks 18 inches in diam-

eter. On th e sam e hill, an d in fact with in th e out -works of t his for t , are to be seen gra pe a rbors inparallel lines, which still maintain their pristineregularity.

An interview att ributed t o Capta in Bur ch13

r e-port s t he following : The fir st is Fort St . Louis, a tleast its ruins, situated about 6 miles east of theOcklockney and N. by W. 25 miles from Ft. Marks.

This place ha s more the a ppearan ce of having beena for t ified town, than a mere for t ifica t ion .

Fort St. Louis was built on a n eleva ted spot ofgroun d a round a hollow, from the bot tom of whichissue two springs that furnish an abundant supplyof wat er, but wh ich after ru nn ing but a few yar ds,aga in sink into th e groun d. One of these on being

12) Anonymous. Quoted from the Florida Intelligencer, Pensa-

cola Gazette, April 2, 1825.13) Quoted from the National Intelligencer. Pensacola Gazette,

October 9, 1824.

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opened by Capt . Burch , displayed t he wooden box

or t ru nk in wh ich it ha d been enclosed ; th ey wereover shadowed by a beautiful live oak tree. Onth e Purcell-Stu art ma p th e loca tion of th e ru ins ofSan Luis fort an d town a re shown at appr oxima telythis location. An explanation for, the disappearanceof the ruins described by Williams and by Burch isafforded by the following account:

14About two

miles west of the city of Tallahassee, lie th e ruins of

what tr adition says was once th e Span ish fort of St.Louis. Out at ten tion h as been r ecent ly directed t othese ruins, from the circumstances that a very in-t elligent gent lema n , former ly of Georgia , now ofAlabama , ha s at th is time man y laborer s engaged inexcavat ing th e site of th is old for t , on a sear ch a fterhidden t reasures . Whether or no he may succeed inbringing to light any considerable deposit of pre-

cious meta ls, it is not for us to say. But he h as al-ready thrown up from beneath the soil, where theyha d long been en tombed, many ar ticles which willpossess grea t int erest with th e an tiquar ian. Thisexplains the deteriora tion an d disappearan ce of th isan d many oth er of our an tiquities.

The location of this site, according to local tra-dition, which is confirmed by the correspondence of

the topography with the description quoted, is on thewest half of the s.e. 1/4 of sect. 27, T.1.N., R.1.W.,about one mile west of the present limits ofTallahassee.

Williams also stat es th at About ha lf a m ile sout hof Tallahassee, (B. Fig. 3), and near the dwellingof h is excellency Govern or Duval, ar e the ru ins ofseveral small fortifications, which appear to have

been hastily thrown up; near one of these a large14) Anonymous. Commercial Advertiser. Apalachicola, June 7,

1843.

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wooden bu ilding appea rs t o ha ve been dest royed by

fire; some large timbers of the frame, completelycha rr ed, have been preserved ; very large spikes,locks, keys and hinges, have been discovered here;among other things, a porcelain lion, in a good stat eof preservation; it appears to have been an orna-men t for a ch imney piece. At some d istance underthe su rface, a floor was discovered, formed of a com-position of lime, and other materials, very hard and

smooth. On a part of the floor, was piled a quantityof char red corn a nd filber ts, perfect in form, butvery t ender . The same anonymous contributor tothe Florida Intelligencer relates about this samesite: Bricks seem t o have been in gener a l use forthey have been discovered in several places by dig-ging a litt le below the surface of th e ear th. With inthe t own of Tallahassee some were dug up, having a

substance adhering to them resembling lime mortar.But on th e hill about a ha lf mile sout heast of th ecapital are to be seen the greatest proof of a denserpopulat ion. On t his h ill are to be seen st reets orroads, run ning near ly at right an gles, at such dis-tances as to demonstrate the former existence of apretty large town. The shade trees of the formerinhabitan ts st ill rema in, and a re genera lly of live

oak , and n ear which may be discovered grape arborsof more or less r egular ity. These observat ions, atleast th a t pa rt refering to the vicinity of Govern orDuvals r esidence, relat e to wha t is now the n .w. 1/4of sect . 6, T.1.S., R.1.E., included with in t he presentlimits of th e city of Tallah assee, probably in MyersPa rk and th e Coun tr y Club grounds.

Williams (ibid.) further describes that Three

miles east of Tallahassee, on a h ill (C), at the baseof which is a sma ll but deep pond, is a for t , about ahundred and fifty paces long, and sixty broad, with

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regular bastions, ditches, etc., both without and

within. In th is fort ar e to be seen the ruins of brickbuildings ; within the fortifications, twenty or moregun-bar rels were found , but litt le inju red by th erust; on one of them, was discovered the towerstamp. * * Mr. J ohn MIver has erected a dwellinghouse within the walls of this fort; and it is expect-ed, when he removes the rubbish of the old brickedifices, that valuable discoveries will be made. Hehas lat ely discovered a large well, which h as not yetbeen cleared out. On a higher h ill, about ha lf a milenorth-east of th is, ar e th e out lines of a lar ger , andappar ently more r egular fort ress; but th e Indiansha ve, for a nu mber of year s, cultivated th e spot, andoblitera ted t he m ost distinguished feat ur es of th ework. Search of the land purchase records in theState Land Office, reveals that John McIvor pur-chased in 1825 t he W. 1/2 of S.W. 1/4 of Sect. 8, T.1.S.,

R.1.E. A visit t o th e site confirm s th e genera l topo-graphical description as given by Williams. Frag-ment s of abor igina l pott ery ar e yet foun d on t hehill top.

Burch is fur th er quoted (ibid.) as st at ing in 1824th at nor th of this (i.e., San Luis), about 12 mileson Lake Hiamony, there was another fort ; northeastof th is, about t he sa me dista nce, th ere was a for t in

the direction of the Mikosuky towns; besides, therewere between St. Louis and the Suwaney (this fortincluded) five other for t ifica t ions, th e most consid-era ble of which were a t Auscilla (probably Aspa -laga) and Sanbala (probably Ayavala), about 26miles west of th e Suwan ey. The Ind ians inform edCapt. Bur ch th at th ere was an oth er a few milesfrom Mikosucky, where some brick walls were still

visible. Another an onymous cont r ibut or15

says15) Anonymous. From the NationalIn t el l igen cer . Pen sa cola

Gazette, April 24, 1824.

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that at Fort San Pedro is a large bell belonging to

the monastery formerly established there, in a goodsta te of preservat ion, and severa l brass 9-poun ders,with their tr un nions broken off. Williams (ibid.)says th at on th e west side of Suwan nee river, an dnear San Pedro lake, there ar e ruins, nearly as ex-t ens ive as t hose descr ibed in t he vicinity of Talla-ha ssee ; but th e coun tr y is yet u nset tled, an d th e ob-

jects of ant iquit y have not been much examin ed. A

ruined monastery is particularly spoken of, thebroken bell of which has long been a n object of won-der to th e Indians. He elsewhere

16sta tes : Sam-

pala Lake, th e San Pedro of th e Spaniar ds, is sit-uate in Madison county, on the north side of theeastern military road. * * It h as an out let into Foe-nahalloway, or Chattahatchee River. He was inerror in st at ing the lake discha rges int o th e Fen-

holloway. The outlet actually discharges into theEconfena r iver. The na me Sa mpala is more likelya corr upt ion of San Pa blo ra th er t ha n of San Pedro.On th e Pur cell-Stu ar t m ap t he sout hern tr ail isshown to pass t o th e nor th ward of a sm all lake withan out let int o the Aucilla via the br idge (Econfena)river. The lat ter was form erly th ought t o be a tr i-but ary of the Aucilla. About one-ha lf mile t o the

northwest of the lake, the ruins of San Pedro fortare noted. It does not appear likely that the SanPedro pond of this map is identical with the lake atpresent called Sampala. The site of the first coun tycourthouse (1828-38), of Madison county, known asSan Pedro, is located about two miles east of Sam-pa la lake, and is likely a significan t site. This wasin the n.w. 1/4 of Sect. 30 of T.1.S., R.9.E. (D. Fig. 3).

Since it is not unreasonable to assume that mis-sion pueblos may have been locat ed on or in t he vi-

16) J ohn Lee William s. The Terr i tory of Florida. (New York1837) p. 59.

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cinity of sites occupied by Indian s in pre-Columbian

time or later, it is desirable to note village sites pre-served by the exist ence of mounds. Mounds of a sizeto be significant are known in the following posi-t ions in Leon coun ty:

1) Miccosukee mound: About 1/2 mile west of thewest shore of the lake, and the same distance southof U. S. Highway No. 90. It is somewhere near theintersection of the boundaries of Sects. 1 and 2 of

T.1.N., R.3.E., with the complementary lines of Sect.35 and 36 of T.2.N., R.3.E. It is about 30 feet inheight and appears to have been originally pyra-midal in form. (E. Fig. 3) This ma y actua lly lie inJefferson county.

2) A large, low, flat-topped mound, lying north ofLake Lafayett e in Sect . 26, T.1.N., R.1.E. (F. Fig. 3).

3) A lar ge mound is found in the n .e. 1/4 of sect .

10 of the same township. (G.)4) A group of lar ge mounds is found on the west

shore of th e sout h a rm of Lake J ackson in th e east1/2 of Sect. 10, T.1.N., R.1.W. (H.)

5) A lar ge moun d on t he edge of the bluff over-looking the north shore of Lake J ackson, pr obablyin th e S.W. 1/4 of Sect. 23, T.2.N., R.1.W. (I.)

6) A large mound in the southwestern portion ofMadison county, probably in Section 18, T.2.S.,R.6.E. (0.)

It is further desirable to note sites where signifi-can t r elics ha ve been encoun tered in recent yea rs .The most impor ta nt was the discovery, while plow-ing, of several jars of characteristic Spanish stylein a field in Sect. 20, T.1 S., R.4 W. (J). All exceptone of th e specimens encoun ter ed were br oken by

the plow. The perfect specimen is now in the pos-session of Mr. Clarence Simpson of High Spr ings.

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A second significant situation exists in Sec. 22,T.1 S., R.3.E., where irregular clumps of fire-hard-ened clay ar e encoun ter ed over an ar ea of about anacre which bear the imprint of split sticks. The im-prints suggest they were the mud daubed on the wallof st ick and m ud h ouses, (wat tle and dau b) ra th erth an th e dau bing of an old stick a nd m ud chim-ney. (K) A grea t dea l of char red wood is pr esen tas well as num erous fragment s of Span ish an d ab-

original pottery, fused glass and some pieces ofglazed modern earthenware. A third significantlocat ion is in Sect. 4, T.1 S., R.3 E, on t he south s ideof Bur nt Mill creek. In t his situa tion th ere h avebeen foun d fragment s of Spanish pot tery, and piecesof iron work. (P) The las t t wo a re tr aditiona lly re-garded as Spanish sites in the neighborhood, theform er k nown as t he fort , th e lat ter as th e mis-

sion. Furthermore, mention should be made of acache of about 40 spherica l bronze bells var yingfrom 1 1/4 to 3 inches in diameter, unearthed a fewyears ago about 2 miles south of Lamont (N). Allof these locat ions are in J efferson coun ty. Numer ousfragments of Spanish pottery, including the round-ed necks of jars, have been found in the Itchetuckneeriver about one mile below the Spring (Columbia

county). (L).The localities mentioned are shown in Fig. 3, in-dicat ed by cap ital lett ers referr ing to th e place inthe text where they are discussed.

With t his sta tement of meager fact and vague tr a-dition, let u s pr oceed to analyze th e Calderon da tain relation to the two routes discussed. We may at-tempt to ascertain the mile equivalent for the

leagues Ca lderon employs, first considering t he d is-tance between two well-identified points, namelySan Luis an d th e west bank of th e St. J ohns river.

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According t o Burch t h is distance is 179 miles, ac-

cording to the itinera ry on th e Pu rcell-Stu ar t ma p(southern route) it is 196 miles. Calderon gives thedistance between the same points as 78 leagues.Thus over th e entire Pu rcell-Stuar t route th e leaguewould have a value of 2.5 miles, over Burchs route2.3 miles, a considerable discrepancy. If we con-sider t he distan ce from th e St. J ohn s to th e Su-wannee, which Calderon gives as 44 leagues, we find

it t o be 114 miles by Pur cell-Stua rt and 113 miles byBur ch, or league values of 2.6 and 2.56 miles respec-tively, a very satisfactory agreement. Since the lat-ter values coincide with the general conception of aleague, it would appear th at Calderons sta tement sof distance are to be taken seriously. Obviouslyth en t he discrepan cies noted lie in th e terr itory toth e west of th e Suwan nee. Thu s the dista nce from

San Luis to the Suwa nnee crossing would; accord-ing to Purcell-Stuart, be 82 miles, according toBurch 66 miles. Calderon gives this distance as 34leagues, which would give th is un it values of 2.4 and1.94 respectively. In view of their close previous cor-respondence it is obvious that some point has es-caped attention. Turning to the map reproduced inFig. 1, it is to be noted tha t from t he t ext one gets

the impression that the bishop travelled directlyfrom Sa n Pedro de Potohiriba t o San ta Helena deMacha ba an d th ence to San Matheo, but on t he ma pth e second is to th e nort h a nd t he th ird to the westof the first . It is therefore likely tha t the bishopmeant th e four leagues dista nce to San Mat heo tobe counted from San Pedro rather than SantaHelena . Assuming th is to be th e case, we sha ll de-

duct 2 leagues from the 34, leaving 32. Dividing the82 miles of the Purcell-Stuart route by 32 gives 2.6miles to the league, which closely corresponds with

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its value east of the Su wan nee, which , we believe,confirms the assumption. Examining the Burchmileage of 66 in this manner, we get a league valueof a trifle over two miles. Apparently then, theBurch r out e over t his dista nce was short er t ha n t heroute followed by Calderon.

Assuming then that Calderons leagues are theequivalent of 2.6 miles, let us start out from the westbank of th e St. J ohn s an d ma rk off his leagues withdividers on the Purcell-Stuart route (Fig. 2a and b).The twenty lonesome leagues to Santa Fe wouldplace this mission about 8 miles north of Gainesville,while th e th en a bandoned Sa n F ra ncisco would ha vebeen approximately on the site of Gainesville.Twelve leagues from San ta Fe to San ta Catalina,would place this mission at about the head of Itche-tucknee river, where the broken pots were found (L).

Ajohica, 3 leagues distant was likely a village ofunconverted Indians. Passing by Santa Cruz at 2leagues, and going seven leagues further, we striketh e east shore of th e Suwannee river a t t he missionof San Juan. This point, where the road crossed,appears to have been from 2-3 miles below CharlesFerr y where Burchs road crossed. F itt ing th esesites to Burchs route it not as satisfactory, despite

the proximity of the two routes, since it throwsSan ta Cata lina 2 miles west of Itchetucknee Spring.It t hu s would appear th at th e former rout e, for t hedistance between the St. J ohn s an d the Suwann eerivers, is probably identical with th a t t ra velled byC a l d e r o n .

Pr oceeding to lay off the leagues on t he southernPurcell-Stua rt rout e (Fig. 2) it will be seen tha tleagues further takes us to the vicinity of SampalaLake (San Pedro) (D) and that, putting SantaHelena off to the north , 6 leagues fur th er places San

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Miguel close t o the Aucilla r iver, t he bounda ry be-tween Timuqua and Apalache since time immemo-rial. Continuing to mark off the distances, we notethat San Joseph would fall east of the Miccosuckeemound (E), San Antonio nort h of th e Lake Lafay-ett e moun d (F) an d San Damian (Escam bi) on t hesite of Ta llahassee. However on F ig. 1, it will benoted th at Escambi is shown t o be nort h of San Luisinstead of east. A passage

17in Delgados papers

suggests t ha t t he vicinity of Escam bi ma y have beenadapted to cattle raising. If we accept the northernra th er tha n a n eastern bearing from San Luis asmarking the direction of Escambi, a leagues dis-t ance will bring u s to the vicinity of the group ofmounds on Lake Jackson. At low water stages, thegrassy meadows of th e lake a re st ill grea tly prizedfor pasturage, as they may have been by MarcosDelgado.

Of the possible sites occupying intermediate posi-t ions along this rout e, tha t of the Miccosukee mound(E) and t ha t n ort h of Lake Lafayett e (F) are t heonly others t end ing to fa ll in appr oximately signi-ficant locations, while the identification of Escambiwith th e Tallah assee site appears for rea sons givento be unsat isfactory. Let u s th en t ur n to th e rout eof Burch. Proceeding westward from the Suwan-nee at th e Pu rcell-Stu ar t crossing instead of Char lesFer ry, and t hen passing to Bur chs r out e, a tenleagues journey places San Pedro at about the siteof the old county seat of Madison county (D) kn ownby tha t na me. Leaving Santa Helena off to thenorth as before, and marking off four and twoleagues from Sa n P edro, th en Sa n Miguel fa lls to

the eastward of the Aucilla. This might be in the

17) Boyd, Mark F., Exp edition of Marcos Delgado, 1686. Fla.Hist. Quarterly XVI (1937-38) 12.

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vicinity of Mound (0) in Madison county. Con-tinuing westward through Jefferson county alongthe general line of Burchs route, it will be notedtha t t he cache of bronze bells have come from SanLorenzo de Hibitachuco (N), San Francisco (Oconi)would fall near th e site where t he Spa nish jars (J )were foun d, San J ua n de Aspalaga nea r site (K) an dSan J oseph near site. (P). From Sa n J oseph west-war d the bishops descr ibed route is longer than itwould h ave been h ad he t ra velled on Burchs r oad,obliging us to seek an other solut ion for this a rea.Assuming tha t m ission pueblos may ha ve been inthe vicinity of mound sit es 2 (F), 3 (G) and 4 (H)we find t ha t four leagues along a hypoth etical rout efrom the last assumed position of San Joseph,which passes a long the n or th shore of Lake Lafay-ette, and crosses the swampy nort h a rm , ta kes us

to a point in t he gener al vicinity of mound site 2 (F)(Fig. 2b). Hence this neighborhood may be the siteof San Pedro de Patale rather than San Antonio.Fr om t his point to mound 3 (G) is roughly 2 leagues,th e requisit e dista nce to San Ant onio; from site 3to site 4 (H) is again two leagues, the distance fromSan Antonio to San Damian (Escambi) on LakeJ ackson, bringing us to a position north of San Luis,

one league distant. This assumption gives the bestfit of the two consider ed.

One league distant from San Luis, according toCalderon, lies La Purificacion de Tama, which mayhave occupied the site within the city of Tallahas-see (B). One league fur th er would car ry us t o SanMar t in de Toma li, perh aps th e site Williams de-scribes on the McIvor place (C). Assumpcion del

Puerto, lying four leagues from San Martin, waslikely in the vicinity of the r ises of either the Wa-kulla or St. Marks rivers.

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Thus it is shown t ha t of th e sevent een missions

described by Calderon as lying west of th e Suwan -nee it is possible, by making certain reasonable as-sumptions relating to the position of Santa Helenaan d San Damian from th e mission m ap, to assigna locat ion along a modified Burch rout e west of theSuwannee river to all which Calderon enumeratesas lying in Apalache, in positions consistent with thedista nces he gives, of which hypothetical sit es, th ir-

t een have some definite object ive rea son for beingconsidered in this conn ect ion.

It has been noted that the 1680 list and the mapof 1683 give two places n ot on Calderons list . Itshould be noted t hat La Pur ificacion de Tam a a p-pears only on Calderons list, although on the 1680list t her e is intr oduced Nu estra Senora de la Can-delaria de la Tama, which we suspect may be the

sam e. Medellin on th e 1683 map does not appear toha ve a coun ter par t on the previous lists.

It should fur th er be noted th at th e int erpret at ionhere favored a s most cons istent , does not at tem ptto name sites in the vicinity of Lakes Iamonia orMiccosukee, although American authorities hereinquoted refer to the existence at one time of ruins inthose vicinit ies. This is however consistent for the

period studied, and may perhaps hold good up tothe per iod of Moores raid. The impr ession h as beengeneral, that following this assault, the missionswere extinguished. There is no positive rea son tobelieve th is, and from th e Span ish side th ere ar eencountered fragmentary data which lead to thesuspicion that the effect of Moores raid may nothave been as permanently devastating as he boasted.

It would appear that in the course of time the frailesgathered together considerable numbers of theirscat ter ed cha rges, and reorgan ized th e doctr inas or

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mission villages, perhaps on different sites. This

view is confirmed by a letter 18 from Governor DonAnt onio de Benavides t o the King, wr itt en from SanMar cos de Apa lache on t he 8th of Febru ary, 1732,in which are listed eight settlements of Timu-quan Indians bearing the XVIIth century names,and thirteen villages of Apalachee Indians whichperpetua te th e names of th e villages of th e previouscentury. This letter discusses plans for colonization

in Apa lache, with t he est ablishm ent of a villa orciudad at La Tama, and the construction of fortifi-cations at La Tama and San Marcos. Certainly thebell

19recovered from a lake in Madison coun ty (sa id

to be Sampala) which bears the date of 1758 (M),cannot be assigned to the XVIIth century periodhere considered.

In view of the deductions we have made from t he

relat ive positions of San Pedr o an d Machaba , andSan Lu is an d Escambi on t he ma p (Ref. 6), Fig. 1,attention should be called to the fact that on thissam e map Bacuca a nd P ueblo Pa ta le ar e shown tolie to the northwest of San Lu is, beyond Escambi, inpositions tha t ar e absolutely irr econcilable with th edistances and intervals given by Calderon. Ofcourse both might be correct if the location of these

villages ha d been chan ged in t he int erval elaps ingbetween. Ca lderons visit a nd t he dra ft ing of themap.

No claim is made to have positively located, withthe except ion of San Luis, th e site of an y of themissions which Calderon describes. It is believed

18) Benavides, Don Antonio de. to the King, San Marcos deApalache, Feb. 8, 1732.

Buckingha m Sm ith (MSS.) Libra ryNew York St at e His torical Society. Robert son, No. 1945.19) Williams, Emma Rochelle, The Bell of a Florida Spanish

Miss ion . Fla. Hist. Soc. Quart. V (1926-27) 159.

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however, th at the goodness of fit of his dist an ces to

th e rout es cons idered is more than a coincidence,an d t ha t th e missions existed in th e neighborh oodof, or within a reasonable radius of, the localitiesmentioned. Further study may assign a provisionalloca t ion to La Concepcion. In any even t , however,all from San Lorenzo to San Joseph very evidentlylay in t he pr esent J efferson coun ty.

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GOVERNOR JOHNSTONE IN WEST FLORIDABy C. N. HOWARD

The first letters and reports of Major Farmarupon the new province, West Florida, and the con-duct of th e milita ry admin istr at ion were receivedin t he ear ly spring by th e secreta ry at war an d, indue course, were forwarded to the new governor,George J ohns tone, at his London h ouse in H alf-Moon street. The papers came from the secretarya t wa r t o the office of the secreta ry of st a te for thesouthern department. After inspection, they wereretur ned to the secretar y at war .

There was litt le in t hese despat ches, or Fa rm ar slett er, t o sur prise the govern or. The occupa t ion ha dpr oceeded a long th e genera l lines la id down of thetype. Transfers had been made, inventories taken,manifestoes published, natives conciliated and newsubject s sworn in. The govern or n ot ified th e boardof tr ade of th e things which needed considera tion,but, all in all, the procedure, both in the militaryoccupation of the colony and in the governmentprepar at ions in En gland for his own depa rt ur e forthe colony as the royal governor had been of thegeneral well known and established mode of coloni-zat ion procedur e.

By the la te sum mer , 1764, the governors sh ip wasready to sail for the colony. The transport Grampuswas loaded with th e stores an d Indian pr esent s an dthe persona l belongings of the govern or s par ty

had been embarked. Good fortune attended the ex-pedition across t he At lan tic, according to word r e-ceived from the governor by Lord Halifax, when theGrampu s put into Saint Chr istopher s for water, onAugust 4. The expedition was t o sail the next day

Note-This is the second of a series of articles on British WestFlorida by Dr. Howard, the first of which, The MilitaryOccupation of British West Florida 1763, appeared in the lastissue of the Quarterly.

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for Jamacia. The new governor arrived in Pensa-

cola on October 21. A prompt lett er to Lord Halifaxgave his first impressions of his province:

My LordI ar rived here the 21st of th is mont h a fter a long

passage from J am aica. . . . .

Inclosed I ha ve th e honor to tra nsm it a Retu rnfrom the 35th Regiment in Garrison here by whichYou will see th e debilitat ed Stat e of tha t Regt &

tho I have no return from Mobile, I am told by LordAdam Gordon t hey ar e in a worse plight.

Nothing but compleat Corps can effectually re-lieve such sh at terd Regiments with n either Officersor men . The disposition of the Indians a r ises fromth is distr est Situa tion & in Case t hey should ta keadvant age & push th is ill hu mor fur th er I fear wecould not r esist.

No doubt the Cession of New Orleans to theSpaniards will ha ve a wonderfu l Effect on thoseNations.

Nevert heless we wan t force to give th e most fa-vora ble Circumst an ce any weight.

Unless regts a re sent out and th e Spanish Tradeopened as formerly I see little prospect of Pros-

per ity to this Colony which might otherwise becomeone of the most useful and opulent in the Kingspossessions as I h ave endeavored to explain m oreat large to the Bd of Trade.

The short t ime I ha ve been in t he Province pre-vent s me from ent ering more a t large int o th e Sta teof it. I hope in m y next to be able to sa t isfy yourLordsh ips u tmost Cur iosity concern ing every

particular.I have the Honor t o be &c.

GEORGE J OHNSTONE

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The new governor took up his residence in the

fort at Pensacola. His arrival closed the period ofapproxima tely one year , in which t he m ilitar y au-th orit ies ha d been t he sole aut hority in t he pr ovince.Therein lay the setting for the first disputeof the many which marred Governor Johnstonesadministration.

1

The first t race we have of any difficulty in WestFlorida between the authorities, is in a letter writ-

ten by J ohn stone on th e th ird of November t o Cap-tain Mackinnen, commandant of the fort at Pensa-cola. The letter, one of many such, proves that ifJ ohn stone was an expert swordsm an , he was alsoby no means lacking in ability to express h imself inwriting.

He wr ites: It is a kn own Militar y maxim, th at ,whoever is Govern or, m ust give th e Par ole of th e

Garrison, and whoever gives th e Pa role, has a Rightto the Report of th e Guard .

Imperium in Imperio cannot exist in a Commonwealth , mu ch less within the For t ifica t ions of a Gar-rison; either You m ust h ave Comma nd of th e Fortor I; this is indubitable.

On the seventh of November Johnstone wrote in

r esponse t o Mackinn ens reply: I th is Moment r e-1. Virt ua lly all of this m at erial, un less oth erwise indicat ed, is

dra wn from P. R. O., C. O., 5:574, 575 an d 632. Copies an dsome additional information are to be found in volumes 582,583, and 584. Some of the documents from these volumesare to be found published in the various documentary col-lections, for example, M ississippi Provin cial Arch ives, 1763-66,

En gl ish Dom in ion , Ed. Dunbar Rowland, Volume I. Nashville,Tenn., Mississippi Department of Archives and History, 1911;Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library, Ed. Clar -ence Walmorth Alvord and Clarence Edwin Carter, Volumes

X and XI, Illinois State Historical Library, Springfield, Illi-nois, 1915 and 1916; Correspondence of General T hom as Ga gewith the Secretaries of State, 1763-1775, Ed. Clarence EdwinCarter, Volume I, Yale Univ. Press, 1931.

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ceived your Lett er da ted the 6th in an swer t o th atwhich I h ad the honour of writ ing you on the 3d.

I am extremely sorry that I should have hurriedyou so much after waiting three days for the De-cision of a P oint which ought to have been sett ledin t hr ee hour s, or to occasion an Answer. whichleaves one of the material Questions in Dispute asmuch in the Dark as ever.

I am therefore obliged to ask once more, Whois Now Governor in this Garrison?

Who is n ow answera ble for the Defense of th isFort? and in consequence who has the Distributionof the Guards and Posting of Centries as may beth ought most essent ial for t he Tru st comm itt edto him?

Who has n ow the Direct ion of the Kings Houseswith in t he Fort ?

Who has Now the Ultimate Direction of the Ar-

tillery and Stores, and distr ibut ing them th roughthe Pr ovince, and seeing they a re properly Lodgedan d th at th e Officers appointed to tak e Char ge ofth em do th eir Duty?

Am I or is an y one in West F lorida ent itled toth e Gener al Mont hly Retur n of th e Sta te of th eTroops, Stores, Ammu nition , Provisions, and pub-lick Works?

I do appr ehen d t hose severa l Powers belong tome without infr inging on t he P owers of Genera lGage, or even clashing with his Orders , as you ha vestated them ; since he has given no directions con-cern ing th ose point s; an d from these it ma y be in-ferd he h as left t hem to be determined by theGovernor . . . . . .

Capt ain Mackinn en closed th e cont roversy tem-porarily by replying : I most Sincerely wish a Linehad been pointed out by which I Might have Acted,

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as it is with Grea t Concern , I find myself involvedin a dispu te of th is kind with your E xcellency ; but

hope you will consider me as not Acting from my-self, but a Super ior, to whom I am an swera ble, an dmu st beg leave to refer th is Affa ir t o h is Decision .

During th e wint er J ohn stone spent considerabletime at Mobile where he was preparing for the seriesof Indian congresses which were h eld by Superin-

tendent Stuart in collaboration with the civil andmilitary officials of the province throughout thespring of 1765. The Governor wrote to John Pow-na ll of the Board of Tra de, It ha s been m y par -t icu lar good fort un e to meet here Mr. Stewar t , theAgent for Indian Affairs. I really regard him asone of the most J udicious an d In telligent Men I everConversed with .

2

Apparently it was during these mont hs t ha t th equarrels between Governor Johnstone and MajorFarmar flared to proportions dangerous to the effi-cient administration of the province. The differ-ences between the two men seem to have been asour ce of conflict from the day of th e governor sarrival. General Gage in a letter to the secretary ofstat e for th e sout hern depart ment declar es tha t a

great deal of powder has been going to the savagesof the Illinois and tha t most of it came from WestFlorida in spite of efforts to prevent it. Whetherthis is in any way connected with the general accu-sations which J ohn stone m ade against F ar ma r isuncertain. At length Johnstone wrote to GeneralGage in complaint . Gener al Gage t ells th e story ina letter of February 23, 1765 to Lord Halifax.

It gives me concern tha t I am obliged to t roubleyour Lordship with the rest of the Intelligence con-t ained in my lett ers from West Florida . Govern or

2. Pensacola, October 31, 1764, P. R. O., C. O., 5:574.

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Johnstone has complained, of the Behaviour ofMajor Loftus ; an d exhibited many very heavyChar ges, against Major Fa rma r . And man y of th eselast, are of so scan dalous a Nat ur e, th at I am un -willing to report th e Pa r ticular s, till they are provedupon Tryal.

3I pr opose to bring Major Fa rm ar to

a publick Tryal to an swer for h is Condu ct , as soonas Affairs will admit of it. It is probable that He

will have left the Mobile, before any letters couldget th ere, th o I have wrote t o Him, to prepa re Himfor such an Event. . . . . Governor Johnstone haslikewise sent me a Copy of a Lett er wh ich he ha dreceived from Pensacola, complaining of the Be-haviour of some Officers at that Place; I have or-dered En quirys to be ma de into the Affair . . . . With

the Accusat ions sent me by Govern or J ohn stone, I

received Complain t s from t he Officers in gar r isonat Mobile against the Governor, for his cruel Treat-ment of them, and for his violent and TyrannicalBeha viour towards th em.

In this case Farmar was not by any means with-out h is defense. On the elevent h of Mar ch MajorFa rm ar ha d writt en his version of th e situ at ion t oGenera l Gage. He cites ma ny inst ances in support

of h is gener a l summary: but every Method th a tthe Govern or and H is Counsil (sic) coud Su ggest .. . . Ruin my Credit with th e Fr ench at Orlean san d In tirely prevent th e Expedition going up to theIllinois has been endeavord at . . . . "

Farmar had left for the Illinois before Gage'sletters arrived. Governor Johnstone had chargedMajor Farmar with gross embezzlement. Lieu-

tena nt Ph ilip Pitt ma n, a youn g engineer, ha d a t-

3. Peter Joseph Hamilton prints the charges in Colonial Mobile,N. Y., 1910, 256; Correspondence of General Gage, I, 50-52;Gage to Conway, P. R. O., C. O., 5:583.

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tempted to ascend the Mississippi disguised as aFr enchman , a few mont hs after Loftu s with dra wal,but ha d r etu rn ed becau se of th e risk of detection bythe Indians who frequently stopped parties tosearch for E nglishm en. Pitt ma ns at tempt was th esouthern counterpart of Croghans successful north-ern feat in reaching Fort Chartres as a scout andadvance guide. Pittman had more recently beenworking upon the Iberville project. He aligned him-self with the governors pa rt y in the province.

Meanwhile Johnstone received a letter of Febru-ary 9 from Lord Halifax which laid down thecrowns decision for a ll Amer ica on the quest ion ofdisput ed comm an ds.

That, according to His Majestys Commissions

granted for that purpose, the Orders of His Com-ma nder in Chief, and, under Him, of th e BrigadiersGenera l comma nding in th e Nort hern and Sout hernDepar tm ent s, in a ll Militar y Mat ter s, sha ll be su-pr eme, an d must be obeyd by th e Troops, as suchin a ll the Civil Govern men ts of Amer ica.

That in Cases, where no Specific Orders havebeen given by the Comm an der in Chief, or by the

Brigadiers Genera l comman ding in t he Distr ict, t heCivil Governor in Council, and where no Councilshall subsist , the Civil Governor ma y, for th e Bene-fit of his Government, give Orders for the March-ing of Troops, t he Disposit ion of them, for makingan d ma rching Deta chment s, Escort s . . . such pu relyMilitary Services, within his Government, to theCommanding Officer of the Troops who is to give

th e proper Orders for carr ying the sam e int o exe-cution; provided they are not contradictory to, orincompatible with, any Orders he may have re-ceived from the Commander in Chief, or the Briga-dier Genera l of the Distr ict ; And the Comm an ding

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Officer is, from Time t o Time, du ly to report , witha ll convenient Expedit ion , to the Comm ander inChief, or to the Br igadier Genera l, such Orders ,which he shall have received from the CivilGovernor.

That the Civil Governor of the Province shallgive the Word in all Places, when he sha ll be withinhis Province, except when the Commander in Chiefor Br igadier General sha ll be in th e same Place.

Tha t t he Return of the Sta te . . . Condition ofth e Troops, Magazines and F ort ificat ions sh a ll bema de to the Governor, as well as to the Commanderin Chief an d the Brigadier Genera l.

Tha t the Civil Governor is not t o int er fere withthe detail of the Military Regimental Duty and Dis-cipline, the Reports concerning which are to be madeto the Comm anding Officer , who is to make h is Gen-eral Report to the Civil Governor.

The minutes of the council relate the next quarrel.May 23, 1765. That the Governor acquainted

the Council, that he proposed to order the Housepossessed by Lieut ena nt Cru tchfield to be clea redt o accomoda te H is Majestys Su per int endent forIndian Affair s, while he remains in t his place, and

th at Lieut enan t Cru tchfield should r emove to thesame House with Lieutenant Massey.

On t he t wenty-th ird of May, the govern or wroteto Captain Simpson, two letters. In the first hesaid : I beg you will be pleased to t ransmit t o mesuch Specific Orders a s you ma y ha ve received fromGeneral Gage, concerning the carrying on of anyService with in t he Pr ovince of West F lor ida, the

knowledge of which may be necessary for the dis-charging of the Powers vested in me, Also wha t -ever st an ding Orders you ma y have issued r elat iveto this Garrison. I observe in the Return of the

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Sta te of th e Regiment t ha t one Sur geon is markedpresent; I beg to know if that is realy the Case. Inth e second letter he ordered the a rr an gement of th eHouses as pr esent ed to the coun cil meeting.

The following day Capt ain Simpson r eplied th athaving perused the letter from the Earl of Halifax,a copy of which the governor had been good enoughto transmit to him, he observed There being noth-

ing in th at Lett er r elat ive to th e Quar tering theTroops; an d the Regiment s Qua rt ers being sett ledbefore I commanded it shall not take upon me toma ke an y alter at ions. As it does not a ppear to me,th at th ere is an ything in th e Ea rl of Ha lifaxs let-ter , that vest s your Excellency with th e ent ire Com-mand of the Troops h ere, I th erefore hope you willexcuse my not sending the specific Order s you were

pleased t o mention. He explains that th e surgeonwas a bsent in Mobile by his permission.

To ma ke sh or ter a long story, th e governor or-dered the captain into arrest. But that officer re-fused t o consider h imself as un der a r rest . Appar -ent ly th e milita ry par ty had closed its r an ks againstth e claim of the governor to th e command of th eirforces. The council minutes show this.

That during these Transactions the Governorha d sent for Lieut Downm an of th e Art illery, andshown him the original Letter, from the Earl ofHalifax . . . an d fur th er asked him if he ha d broughtany Orders, for pu tt ing himself un der the Comman dof any person in th is Pr ovince, to which he repliedthat he had brought none, but a Letter to the Gov-ernor from Colonel J ames. He t hen desired t ha t he

might send an Orderly Gunner an d tr an smit to hima Retur n of th e Men an d Ar tillery Stores . . . Tha tth is Morn ing the Orderly Gun ner not at tending . . .the Governor sent for Lieut Downman to know the

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Reason, who told him, that he waited for Ordersfrom Captain Simpson, under whosealone he apprehended he was. The Governor toldhim he was sorry to differ in Opinion from him, butas the Governor conceived Lieut Downman was u n-der h is Comma nd, he hoped Mr. Downm an wouldexcuse him for demanding his Sword. To which hema de answer sh ort ly, tha t h e had no Sword on. The

Governor a cqua inted him tha t h e should have lear ntas an Officer, when he cam e to wait of his Super iors,on His Majestys Service, that he ought to wear hisSword, however it wa s h is Order s t ha t he sh ouldgo under Arrest and keep his Room. The Governorfurther says, that he has since seen him walkingabroad, an d tha t he is informed Mr. Downma n doesnot t hink, th at th e Governor h as a ny power t o put

h im in Arrest . . . . .From this time on the case of the Governor

aga inst t he milita ry forces an d vica versa appea rsto have crystallized into stubborn assault and de-fense on both sides.

The coun cil minut es for May 24 declare it was t heunan imous opinion of the Council Tha t His Ex-cellency the Governor should forthwith issue his

Order s t o Lieut Colonel Wedderbourne to order aParty of His Majestys 22d Regiment to march fromMobile to Pensacola; and that upon their Arrival,the Colonel, as senior Officer, might (on the verydoctrine of Captain Simpson) take Command of allthe Troops in this Garrison. Colonel Wedder-bourne seems, temporarily at least, to have been ofthe Governors pa r ty a nd while in P ensa cola on a

visit he was present at th e Coun cil meeting at whichthis Resolution was passed.

The situation was serious, the more so becauseth e Indians were gath ering ar oun d P ensacola for

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the Indian congress which was held in June and openquarreling among the British officials was notadvisable.

Both sides in t he dispute appealed th eir ea se toGeneral Gage who laid down a fairly evenhandedjust ice in h is return let ters. In a let t er to Colon elWedderbour ne, in which he a dministered a severerebuk e to th at officer , he cont inu ed : His Majesty

has thought proper to limit and circumscribe thePowers of the respective Governors over his Troops,wisely foreseeing that, if they extended beyondth ose limits, his milita ry service in America mus tbe thrown into the greatest Confusion; and I am toadd that His Majestys Intentions and Orders areso well understood that they have not occasionedth e least Doubt or Disput e in an y one Pr ovince ofAmerica, West Florida alone excepted. I could wishth at you had kept your Comman d at Mobile an d notleft it t o go to ta ke a Comm an d of the 22d Regimen tat Pensacola. . . .

On J un e 12 Govern or J ohn stone an d Superin-tendent Stu ar t drew up th eir report of th e Indiancongress which ha d been held at Pensacola. In pa rtthey said: When we ar r ived here, in the monthof October , 1764, th ere was the great est Reason t oapprehend a Genera l Insur rection of th e Indianson th e Cont inent against His Majestys Arm s. Threevery superior Chara cter s, in t heir way, ha d con-spired to bring about this Event. . . . The Personsto whom we allude, ar e Pondiac, to the Nor th; theMortar or Chief of the Creeks; and old AlabamaMingo, who ha s long led the Choctaw Nation. Ther eis no doubt , the Fr ench were th e Cent er of th is

Union . . . The Mortar has really all the Talentswhich Fa me r eport s of him, an d h is Fr iendsh ipough t to be cu ltivat ed . . . The Fr ench have accus-

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tomed both th e Upper Creeks an d th e Chocta ws tosuch large Pr esent s, that it will be difficult to breaktha t Custom. . . .

Generally speaking, however, th e Indian congressseems to have been at least a temporary success inwinn ing th e fr iendsh ip of th e Indian na tions a nd inobtaining from them certain grants of land for set-t lement? So fa r Shelbur nes policy ha d been car -

ried to success.On September 14 J ohns tone wrote to Ha lifax toinform him of the unexpected dea th of Colonel Bou-quet th irt een da ys after his ar rival and a ssumpt ionof the command in West Florida. General Gage hadcounted upon Bouquet to quell the disturbances inthe province. The health conditions in West F lor idawere very bad un der t he E nglish, an d, alth ough

J ohn stone does not say so, Bouqu et probably diedof yellow fever. He was buried on the shore of Pen-sacola harbor but the waves have long ago washedaway his brick t omb.

5The man who replaced him

was the celebrated General Haldimand, a compatriotand life-long fr iend of Bouquet . The two men wereextraordinarily capable and their appointment toWest F lor idas command bespeaks how ser ious

Genera l Gage th ought th e condition of th at un ha ppyprovince. But Haldimand did not arrive until 1767and J ohn stone in h is lett er t o Halifax declares : ByHis Death, the Command of the Troops within theProvince falls again upon me.

This assu mpt ion of th e right to comm an d whenthus newly an d vigorously reasser ted by GovernorJ ohn stone gave rise to a h eat ed renewal of the old

qua rr el which h ad first begun between J ohn stoneand Mackinnen and Farmar. The contest for power

4. Cf., Shelburne to Stuart, I ll. H ist. Coll., X , 451-454.5. Hamilton, Colonial Mobile, 258.

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which was so import an t in t he infant province be-gan as usual over a trivial affair.On September 29 J ohn stone wrote t o Lieutenan t

Colonel Walsh, comman dan t at Pensacola :The inclosed letters were sent to me from Mo-

bile. On the outer Cover directed, On His MajestysService. To Brigadier General Bouquet, command-ing His Majestys Forces in the Southern District

at Pensacola or Mobile-Or in Case He should notbe-yet arrived in West Florida, To the Officer com-manding at Pensacola. Thos Gage. And on t he in -ner Cover, To Brigadier Genera l Bouquet , or inhis Absence, To the Officer commanding His Majes-tys Forces in West Florida.

It appears that the Officer at Mobile did notconceive himself as compr ehended under tha t De-

scription ; and you have several times told me Youdid not conceive yourself as comprehended underth at Description ; And all I contend for is, thatSomebody is and ought to be comprehended undersuch Description.

On th e th irtieth he wrote again t o Walsh orderinghim to send a deta chm ent of t roops to Man cha c toprotect the work in progress there, and the same

day he received a reply from Walsh in which thelatter agreed to send the troops, clearly intimatingtha t he did so becau se it was for the benefit of theprovince a nd n ot because of the governors orders,th ough h e did not say so. In the same lett er h e con-tinues : I desire to be excused from answeringYour Excellencys Questions, as they are to be de-ter mined by my Superiors.

The Governor, however, t ired a s h e declar ed hewas of disputes, seems to have found additionalstrength to maintain what he considered the digni-t ies of his position. The qua rrel with Colonel Walsh ,

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which ha d begun so innocent ly over a packet of let-

ters, shifted to the question of control over theKings huts and from there to the old question ofth e militar y comm an d. The pitch of th e par ty an dfactional tempers increased throughout the winterof 1765-66 in Pen sacola u n til such lunat ic t r iviali-ties were ser ious ly employed in the for t as givingpar oles a nd coun ter signs such as Love and Har-mony, B ed lam and L u n acy. The governor wrote to

General Gage on J anu ar y 27, 1766, applying for acourt-martial to try Colonel Walsh. In spite ofGages pr evious declarat ion th at he ha d n o suchright J ohn stone had ordered Colonel Walsh in toarrest. He charged that Colonel Walsh had takenover the complete command of the fort in utter dis-regar d of him, th at he was r eceiving the visitingIndian chiefs, th at he ha d with dra wn th e sent ries

from th e governor s door , an d th at he h ad orderedthe guards to show him no further respects.

Gage wrote to Halifax on March 28, 1766, givinga sketch of th e ent ire quar rel and sta ting that hewas order ing an investigat ion of affairs an d tha t herelied upon the new Brigadier General, Haldimand,and Colonel Taylor to quell the t rouble.

Colonel Walsh refused to consider himself under

ar rest . As a ma tt er of fact, the governor was in a nexceedingly inconvenient , not to sa y dangerous , po-sition. His house was with in t he wa lls of a for t overwhich h e ha d lost an y cont rol. In th e sta te of warth en existing between himself an d the militar y, hiscomings and goings and all of his visitors mustnecessar ily be with t he commandan ts consent .

Accordingly, with the advice of his council, on

January 20, 1766 Johnstone ordered Colonel Max-well, in command a t Mobile, to proceed with a de-ta chm ent of tr oops to Pensacola and t ake comman dthere as Eldest Officer.

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Colonel Maxwell a r r ived before the walls of thefort on January 31. There then took place a veryridiculous scene. John Hannay, a member of thecouncil was dispossessed of his house by the soldieryand he applied to the governor for protection-sorun s t he deposition of th e governor. The latt er wentimmediately to the scene and handed over thesergeant to the custody of the provost marshal of

the province, his nephew, James Johnstone. Thegovern or th en a tt empted t o lay the m at ter beforethe Chief J ust ice, Clifton , who lived without t hefort, but his messengers found the gates closed andthe govern or and his pa rt y effectu ally impr isonedwithin the walls. The situation was complicated bythe presence of an increasing number of Indianswho were arriving for the congress, and who, ac-

cording t o Johnstones deposition were den ied ac-cess to th e fort an d t o him. Characteristically, J ohn -stone proceeded at once to Walshs presence wherehe ar rest ed tha t officer for h igh t reason a nd h an dedhim over to th e cust ody of the provost ma rsh al inthe presence of the troops and an assemblage ofpeople. Walsh submitted for the moment.

The governor made his way out of the fort by the

water gate, accompanied by his secretary, PrimroseThompson. Failing to persuade Colonel Maxwellto force an ent ra nce into the fort , the govern or setout to return to his house, but the gates of the fortwere closed against him an d Colonel Walsh was de-clared by the sent ry t o be in comm and of th e fort .Noth ing daun ted, J ohn stone desired h is secreta ryto defend him with his sword while he climbed over

the stockade. The governor, in his deposition, de-clared t ha t th e soldiers a tt acked both himself an dhis secreta ry with bayonet s an d tha t as h e cam e

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down from the P ar apet, one . . . did actu a lly en terth e Knee of his Breeches a nd tore t he sa me. . . .6

When he was within the fort the governor imme-diately ordered Major Bromley, whom he had ap-point ed t o command in lieu of Colonel Walsh, t oopen the gates of the fort, which, accordingly wasdone. The detachment of Colonel Maxwell ent eredan d th e storm blew over . Dur ing the succeedingdays the governor , consulting with h is council, en-

deavored to persuade Colonel Maxwell to take overth e comman d. Tha t officer m an aged to maint ain hisfirm refusa l without coming to an open break an dat length secured permission to return to Mobilewith his t roops.

The storm did not blow over, however, withoutbrewing another. Dur ing th is week Colonel Walshwas examined before the governor and council and

then handed over to Chief J ust ice Clifton. The la t -ter dismissed him in terms which practically ex-onerated him.

The feeling between the governor and the chiefjust ice had never been good, bu t they had never be-fore come t o an open br eak. It is not, t hen , a su r-pr ise to find t hat on th e first of Apr il J ohn stonesent a compla int of the conduct of the chief just ice,

accompanied by formal charges, to the HomeGovernment.Previous to this the governor claimed that Clif-

ton had resigned his seat on the Council, declaringth at th e govern or h ad n o right t o exam ine int o hiscondu ct . The govern or declar ed: By th is mea nsI can not ma ke a Qu oru m, an d th e business of th eCoun cil is th ereby at a St an d, an d th e rest of th emembers being a ll of the opinion , th at Mr. Cliftoncannot by His Majestys Instructions Art. 2nd re-

6. Johnstones deposition, April 1, 1766, P. R. O., C. O., 5:583.

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sign seat in Council while he retains his Commissionas Chief Justice, I am really at loss how to proceed;an d the tru th , is, th at supposing I was drove to thenecessity of su spending h im, I do not k now a Ma nin Society qu a lified t o fill his place.

On th e twenty-eighth of J an ua ry he wrote to Sec-retary Conway that he had suspended Edmund RushWegg, His Majestys a t torney gener al for the pr ov-

ince, for alleged incompetence and negligence. Onth e sevent h of August he wrote to J ohn Powna llth at he had su spended the chief just ice.

7Mr. Clif-

ton an d Mr. Brown r efus ing to at ten d th e Coun cilan d Mr . Randall th e Surveyor -Genera l being occu-pied about h is own Affa irs, I could neither form aQuorum of mem bers a ppointed, nor call in oth ers,agreably to His Majestys In st ru ct ions, an d Mr .

Bru ce th e Collector of Customs, ha ving an Appea lof a very difficult Tendency, upon which he couldnot sit, the Business of the Province must havestood still. . . .

The group of officials who st ood with the gover-nor in the province were being thinned and factionlines were narrowed. At this same time a deposi-t ion of one Robert Collins records h is test imony as

to the plot t ing of a r evolt in t he colony against thegovernor, more or less involving the leading offi-cials in opposit ion to J ohnst one. The governor toldCollins that all the colonists were too well satisfiedto join in a revolt, and tha t to proceed against theleaders u pon th e deposition would be to th row th ecolony into confusion. He concluded with tellingCollins t o acqua int an yone who ment ioned such a

plot that His Excellency was sowing Beans in h isGarden. On April first the governor sent in thecomplaint to the home government of the conduct

7. P. R. O., C. O., 5:583.

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of the chief justice, he complained also of the con-duct of the lieuten ant governor, Mont fort Br owne. 8

The govern or s complain t counterbala nced a com-plaint by Lieut ena nt Governor Browne of GovernorJ ohn stones conduct, wh ich the form er ha d sen thome on the twenty-seventh of March. Browne said : . . . From my entire Ignorance of any Disputes[he had just ar r ived in th e province] th en subsisting

between Governor J ohn stone a nd Col. Walsh ; I wasinduced to consent to Govr Johnstones proposition.A few Days fully convinced me, that I had been de-ceived in to a Consent . . . He cont inu es, to accusethe governor of being pa r t ial . . . ar bitra ry . . . bymost of the Councillor s, who, th ro sympathy ofDispositions and Pr inciples, or th ro Fea r, or t hr oan implicit Obedience to his Dicta tes; da re not op-

pose him in an yth ing. . . . He declares th at he h asbut a few days since . . . received a Let t er fromMr. Clifton, th e Chief J us t ice, advising me th at hehas been obliged from Govr Johnstones insolentTrea tm ent of him, upon a ll Occasions in t he Coun cilto resign his Sea t , becau se he da red t o differ fromhim in Opinion, an d speak h is Sent iments; this withhis h aving since endeavored to suspen d h im from

the execut ion of h is office as Ch ief J ust ice, an d of-fering that important employment to a Mr. Clarke,a Merchan t of this Town, who for pr udent reasonsrefused it ; an d with his ha ving suspen ded Mr. Wegg,th e lat e Att orney Genera l; ha s added great ly to theSur prize, and F ears of every Inhabitan t, who th inktheir Persons, their Liberties, and their Propertiesare affected; as these two Gentlemen have in their

respect ive employment s, given t he grea test Sat isfac-

8. Vide, Miss. Prov. Arch., I, 460-468, 960-961; the Memorialagainst Johnstone, dated in April, 1766 is in P. R. O., C. O.,5:583.

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t ion, and ar e un iversa lly esteemed . . . I can not con-clude without informing your Excellency, of theTreatment I met myself with from Governor John-stone, he, notwithstanding my Commission and Man-dam us un der H is Majestys Sign ma nu al, ha s r e-fused t o receive me as Govr of th is Province, myCommission as Lt Governor (as he was pleased t oterm it) being a dormant one . . . probably forgot

to be comm unicat ed to eith er by th e Ministr y orBoard of Trade. On another Occasion, in a Conver-sation concerning some guns, which I was to sparethe French refugees, out of my own stock, he toldme tha t I want ed to impose upon th e Lords of Trade. . . I appea red much displeased a t t he Liberty of hisSpeech ; He told me, in case I d id not like h is Con-versation, he would meet me when and where I

pleased. . . .Throughout the spring and summer months of

1766 Colonel Walsh remained in command of thefort at Pensacola. His relations with the Governormay be described as a stat e of ar med t ru ce. A replyof th e comm an dan t to an order from the govern oris witness to this state of affairs: I am desired byLieut ena nt Colonel Walsh to acqua int your Excel-

lency that he received a Letter from you this morn-ing, in which he imagines t here m ust be a Mista keeither on your side or your Secretarys; as you wellkn ow the Colonel cannot obey any Order of yours;but as t he Applicat ion is for the good of the Colony,an d t he Colonel is deter mined to do everyth ing inhis Power for the benefit of it, he will thereforeorder. . . etc., etc. This letter was included among

the evidence of the charges aga inst Colonel Walshwhich Johnstone sent to Colonel William Tayler.The Governor also charged that Walsh had causeda salu te to be fired by the garr ison of the fort a t

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Pensacola in honor of St. Patricks Day, 1766. Thiswas contrary, Johnstone wrote, to his orders to theColonel. It had been done, however , despite t he factthat an Ordinan ce of the King-in-Council of theeighteenth of Apr il, 1764 ha d given th e r egular ex-penditure of the ordnance stores to the governor.

9

The ar r ival in New Orleans in April of th e Span -ish governor, Don Ulloa, added fuel to Johnstones

temper, for, presumably by mistake, Don Ulloawrote to Colonel Walsh to an nounce his a rr iva l.Such was th e tempora ry t riumph for t he colonel andit wa s likely to produce a fact iona l war on border -lands of an empire. Johnstone wrote to Pownall,The vanity of the Colonel is extr eme on t his Occa-sion. He is going about shewing th is Letter to everyShop keeper, and saying, You see now, Gentlemen,

the Spanish Governor looks on me as the SupremeComman der, an d your Commerce with New Orlean sdepends on me, with many other Absurdities.

10

But a second letter of regret from Don Ulloa toJ ohn stone quelled Walshs t riumph .

The conduct of the Creek In dian s, too, was wor-rying t he governor. On J un e 23, 1766, he wr ote t othe secretary of state: In short, their Contempt

for the English Nation is such, that the commonName they now give them is that of Fowl, Saying,that they can equ ally kn ock off the Head of the oneAnimal as of the other with Impunity . . . It plainlyappears to me, upon the whole, that the Creeks mustbe chastised. . . . On June 9 the governor had ad-dressed Ot is Mico: The Governour concludes hisSpeech to Otis Mico as Emistecigo did his concern-

ing the Chactaws, If you are for Peace, say so, we9. Johnstone to Tayler, April 27, 1766. P. R. O., C. O., 5:584,

10. Powna ll, Pensa cola , Apr il 1, 1766, Miss. Prov. Arch ., I, 457;sam e to same, J uly 19, 1765, P. R. O., C. O., 5 :575 in App. G.

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wish to continue, if for War, say so, . . . we are pre-pa red. But to receive our Pr esent s, eat ou r Pr o-visions , use our Powder. . . Ball. . . cut t our Throat s,It is neith er fitt th at you should do so, nor th at weshould permit it."

11

The cru x of th e situ at ion lay in th e fact th at th eCreeks an d Choctaws ha d become involved in a cut -th roat war with each oth er. Testimony from Ea st

Florida, Georgia an d Car olina indicat es th at th erewas litt le distu rban ce of th e whites an d th at th egeneral at titu de of th e Creeks to th e British was oneof friendliness. General Gage, therefore, in writingto Lord Shelburne in December of 1766 urged apolicy of modera tion an d declared tha t he was r ely-ing upon General Haldima nd an d SuperintendentStuart to prevent matters being brought to ex-

tr emities . . . we may become Mediators, and byproper Man agement, ha ve it in our Power, to tur nthe Balance on the Side of those, whom it is Mostour Interest to favor, without engaging in theirQuarr els . . . I ha ve th e honor to tr an smit Your Lord-ship a Copy of a Letter from Governor J ohn stone t oColonel Tayler, which contains the Opinions of theCouncil of West-Florida concerning the Measures

Necessary to be pur sued in t his Matt er, an d th eMaking Preparations to attack the Creeks."12

Gov-ernor J ohn stone planned to att ack t he Creeks in al-lian ce with th e Chocta ws, th e Chicka saws a nd th eCherokees. The situat ion a ppear ed to him a s anunrivalled opportunity to wipe out the power of theCreeks. General Gage, who had just concluded oneIndian war of threatening proportions was anxious

to maintain quiet if it was possible and compatiblewith British prestige. The governors dispu te with

11. P. R . O., C. O., 5:583; copied by Da vid Doig.12. Correspond ence of General T hom as Gage, I, 115-118.

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Colonel Tayler ar ose over t he quest ion of thetoward the Creeks.The colony of West Florida had reached an ex-

ceedingly precarious st a te of a ffair s in th e spr ingof 1766. Indeed the condition of the whole lowerMississippi valley seems to have been unsettled. TheSpan ish were hesitat ing in th eir acceptance of th enew responsibility in Louisiana . The En glish werecomplaining of Span ish ta mper ings with th eir In-dian s. Gage wrote t o Shelburne: An Ind ian Of-ficer from Appalachi has given Intelligence, thatthe Spaniards are tampering with our Indians, andthat they had Sent Messages to all the lower Creeks ;th at a Ch ief of th ose Na tions was gone to th e Bayof Tempe, from whence he wa s t o pr oceed to theHa vana . The Purport of th e Spanish Message wasnot kn own, but an Account of it soon expected, fromth e Indian Commissary in the Creek Nation. 13

Gage a lso writes to Shelbur ne of oth er grievousconditions. Pensacola, he sa ys, is no more th an aplace su r rounded by picket s a nd defensible on lyagainst Indians. Fort Tombecbe has been a ban -doned, an d, in fact , if any definite st and is t o bemade aga inst possible Span ish aggressions , whichwere to be expected sooner or later, the entire mili-

tary organization of the province must be reor-ganized a t considera ble expense. Its m un iment smu st be overh au led an d more troops mu st be sentto the province. The qu estion was complica ted bythe natural attraction of New Orleans as a tradingdepot for the whole of the gulf coast and even forthe Illinois. The Iberville had not proved navigableit s entire length and various plans for portage or

the digging of a can al were advanced in an effor t toprovide an English out let to the gulf an d to increa se

13. Ibid ., 138.

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304

THE PARENTAGE AND BIRTHPLACEOF OSCEOLA

By CHARLES H. COE1

It is comm only believed tha t the famous Seminole2

Indian chief, Osceola,3

hero of the long an d cost lySeminole War, was the son of an Englishman namedPowell, a trader among the Creek Indians of Geor-gia, by a Creek Indian woma n.

One of the ear liest wr iter s on the subject , how-ever , claims tha t Osceolas grandfat her was aScotchman, his grandmother and mother were full-blood Indians. His father was, of course, a half-breed, an d Osceola was t herefore a qua rt er-blood,or one-four th white.

4

The same author says: Osceolas mother, after

the death of his father, married a paleface of thename of Powell, after whom the step-son wascalled.

5

While th is book ha s been pu t t o the pr ess in lessth an th irty days from its being undert ak en, saysth e au th or in h is pr eface, it cont ains ma ny factsabout the Seminoles and the operations of the

1. Author ofR ed Pa t r iot s: t h e S t or y of t h e S em in oles.2. Benj. Hawkins, Ske tches o f the Creek Country in 1798-99 .(The Georgia Historical Society 1848). pp. 10, 25-26. Mean-in g wild men, emigra nt s; Creek Indians who left t he par enttr ibe - th e first gr oup a bout th e year 1776-an d sett led alongthe Gulf Coast of Florida north of Tampa Bay, on accountof the milder climate, abundance of game, and richness ofthe soil. Thereafter they were cal led Istesemoles orSeminoles.

3. Lieut. of the Left Wing, Ske tches o f t he Seminole War .(Charleston, 1836), p. 5 and footnote.

4. M. M. Cohen, N otices of Florida and the Cam paigns. (New

York, 1836), pp. 233