General Scott Part 8

Following is the address to the troops:

"HEADQUARTERS, EASTERN DIVISION,

"CHEROKEE AGENCY, _May 17, 1838_.

"Considering the number and temper of the ma.s.s to be removed, together with the extent and fastnesses of the country occupied, it will readily occur that simple indiscretions, acts of harshness, and cruelty on the part of our troops may lead, step by step, to delays, to impatience, and exasperation, and in the end to a general war and carnage--a result in the case of these particular Indians, utterly abhorrent to the generous sympathies of the whole American people.

Every possible kindness compatible with the necessity of removal must therefore be shown by the troops; and if in the ranks a despicable individual should be found capable of inflicting a wanton injury or insult on any Cherokee man, woman, or child, it is hereby made the special duty of the nearest good officer or man instantly to interpose, and to seize and consign the guilty wretch to the severest penalty of the laws. The major general is fully persuaded that this injunction will not be neglected by the brave men under his command, who can not be otherwise than jealous of their own honor and that of their country.

"By early and persevering acts of kindness and humanity, it is impossible to doubt that the Indians will soon be induced to confide in the army, and, instead of fleeing to the mountains and forests, flock to us for food and clothing. If, however, through false apprehensions, individuals or a party here and there should seek to hide themselves, they must be pursued and invited to surrender, but not fired upon, unless they should make a stand to resist. Even in such cases mild remedies may sometimes better succeed than violence; and it can not be doubted, if we get possession of the women and children first, or first capture the men, that in either case the outstanding members of the same families will readily come in on the a.s.surance of forgiveness and kind treatment.

"Every captured man, as well as those who surrender themselves, must be disarmed, with the a.s.surance that their weapons will be carefully preserved and restored at or beyond the Mississippi. In either case the men will be guarded and escorted, except it may be where their women and children are safely secured as hostages; but in general, families in our possession will not be separated, unless it be to send men as runners to invite others to come in.

"It may happen that Indians will be found too sick, in the opinion of the nearest surgeon, to be removed to one of the depots indicated above. In every such case one or more of the family or the friends of the sick person will be left in attendance, with ample subsistence and remedies, and the remainder of the family removed by the troops. Infants, superannuated persons, lunatics, and women in helpless condition, will all, in the removal, require peculiar attention, which the brave and humane will seek to adapt to the necessities of the several cases."

Following is the address to the Indians:

"_Major-General Scott, of the United States Army, sends to the Cherokee people remaining in North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama this_

"ADDRESS.

"CHEROKEES: The President of the United States has sent me with a powerful army to cause you, in obedience of the treaty of 1835, to join that part of your people who are already established in prosperity on the other side of the Mississippi. Unhappily, the two years which were allowed for the purpose you have suffered to pa.s.s away without following and without making any preparation to follow, and now, or by the time that this solemn address shall reach your distant settlements, the emigration must be commenced in haste, but, I hope, without disorder. I have no power by granting a further delay to correct the error that you have committed. The full moon of May is already on the wane, and before another shall have pa.s.sed away every Cherokee man, woman, and child in those States must be in motion to join their brethren in the far West.

"My friends, this is no sudden determination on the part of the President, whom you and I must now obey. By the treaty the emigration was to have been completed on or before the 23d of this month, and the President has constantly kept you warned during the two years allowed, through all his officers and agents in this country, that the treaty would be enforced.

"I am come to carry out that determination. My troops already occupy many positions in the country that you are to abandon, and thousands and thousands are approaching from every quarter to render a.s.sistance and escape alike hopeless. All those troops, regular and militia, are your friends. Receive them, and confide in them as such. Obey them when they tell you that you can remain no longer in this country. Soldiers are as kind-hearted as brave, and the desire of every one of us is to execute our painful duty in mercy. We are commanded by the President to act toward you in that spirit, and such is also the wish of the whole people of America.

"Chiefs, headmen, and warriors, will you then by resistance compel us to resort to arms? G.o.d forbid! Or will you by flight seek to hide yourselves in mountains and forests, and thus oblige us to hunt you down? Remember, that in pursuit it may be impossible to avoid conflicts. The blood of the white man or the blood of the red man may be spilt, and if spilt, however accidentally, if may be impossible for the discreet and humane among you or among us to prevent a general war and carnage. Think of this, my Cherokee brethren! I am an old warrior, and have been present at many a scene of slaughter; but spare me, I beseech you, the horror of witnessing the destruction of the Cherokees.

"Do not, I invite you, even wait for the close approach of the troops; but make such preparations for emigration as you can, and hasten to this place, to Ross's Landing, or to Gunter's Landing, where you will be received in kindness by officers selected for the purpose. You will find food for all, and clothing for the dest.i.tute, at either of those places, and thence at your ease and in comfort be transported to your new homes according to the terms of the treaty.

"This is the address of a warrior to warriors. May his entreaties be kindly received, and may the G.o.d of both prosper the Americans and Cherokees, and preserve them long in peace and friends.h.i.+p with each other. WINFIELD SCOTT."

There was some delay in bringing in the mountain Indians of North Carolina, but the Indians of Tennessee and Alabama were readily collected for emigration. General Scott remained with the Georgians, and followed up his printed addresses by suggestions which proved to be invaluable.

In a short time the Indians, excepting a few parties, were collected at the place of rendezvous. The camp selected was twelve miles in length, with a breadth of four miles. It was well shaded by large forest trees, and had a large number of springs furnis.h.i.+ng an abundance of the best of water.

The sick were placed in hospitals, and attended by good physicians and furnished with everything necessary for their comfort. General Scott rode through the camps daily, and saw that every attention was given to the Indians which they required, and he made inquiries and gave special attention to the care of the sick and to the women and children. At length he placed the matter of the emigration of the Indians in the hands of the Cherokee authorities, having won the entire confidence and regard of the Indians, and he ordered all of the volunteers to their homes, except one company which he retained as a police force, and one regiment of regulars which it was thought necessary to retain to meet any unforeseen contingencies that might arise. Two other regular regiments were ordered off, one to Florida and the other to the Canada frontier. The company of volunteers retained was from Tennessee, and of it General Scott said: "The company of volunteers (Tennesseeans) were a body of respectable citizens, and under their judicious commander, Captain Robertson, of great value as a police force." The Cherokees were at this time receiving large sums of money from the Government in the way of damages and indemnities, and a number of gamblers and confidence men sought to enter their camps. They were, however, kept out by the vigilance of the Tennessee company.

In October the movement west began. General Scott accompanied them to the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. General Scott gives credit for services and aid rendered him to his acting inspector general, Major Matthew Mountjoy Payne; Captain Robert Anderson, acting adjutant general (later the commander of Fort Sumter, and a brigadier general); Lieutenant Erastus Darwin Keyes, aid-de-camp, afterward major general, United States volunteers; Lieutenant Francis Taylor, commissary; Captains Page and Abner Reviere Hetzel, quartermasters; Lieutenant Henry L. Scott, Fourth Infantry, then aid-de-camp and inspector general; Major H.B. Shaw, aid-de-camp, Tennessee volunteers; Colonel William Lindsay, Second Artillery; Colonel William S. Foster, Fourth Infantry; and Colonel Ichabod Bennett Crane, First Artillery.

Generals Worth and Floyd rendered important service in this campaign, and their names should not be omitted.

It may be necessary, for a better understanding of the Cherokee Indian difficulties, to add something more to what has been written. The chief troubles which had arisen were in Georgia, and many complications arose between the Indians and the whites. In a case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States, the opinion being rendered by Chief-Justice John Marshall, the status of these Indians was thus defined: "Their relation is that of a nation claiming and receiving the protection of one more powerful; not that of individuals abandoning their national character and submitting as subjects to the laws of a master."

Regarding the acts of Congress to regulate trade with the Indians the Chief Justice said: "All these acts, and especially that of 1802, which is still in force, manifestly consider the several Indian nations as distinct political communities, having territorial boundaries, within which their authority is exclusive, and having a right to all the lands within those boundaries, which is not only acknowledged but guaranteed by the United States." By one of the treaties made by the United States Government with this tribe of Indians, it was enacted and agreed that "the United States solemnly guarantee to the Cherokee nation all their lands not hereby ceded,"

and, "that the Cherokee nation may be led to a greater degree of civilization, and to become herdsmen and cultivators, instead of remaining in a state of hunting, the United States will from time to time furnish gratuitously the said nation with useful instruments of husbandry." Acting under this treaty, a greater portion of the Cherokees had become both cultivators and herdsmen, and rivaled their white neighbors in both.

The trouble which arose in Georgia was from the fact that she claimed the right to extend her criminal jurisdiction over these Indians, and that the United States was bound to extinguish the Indian t.i.tles within her borders. This claim of Georgia, persistently pressed, caused the United States Government in 1802 to agree to purchase the Indian lands, and remove them to some other territory. The Indians resisted this action on the faith of treaties. Eventually a treaty was made with a portion of the Cherokees by which they were to relinquish their lands and accept lands across the Mississippi River. Many of the Indians resisted and never ratified this treaty, yet the Government insisted upon carrying out the treaty. General Scott received his orders on April 10, 1838, and first established his headquarters at a small village called Calhoun, on the Hiawa.s.see River, in East Tennessee. Colonel Lindsay, an officer of merit and who enjoyed the full confidence of General Scott, was in immediate command of that territory, had established posts in many of the settlements, and had arranged to have the mountain pa.s.ses well guarded.

Referring to these matters, the National Intelligencer of September 27, 1838, said: "The manner in which this gallant officer [Scott] has acquitted himself within the last year upon the Canada frontier, and lately among the Cherokees, has excited the universal admiration and grat.i.tude of the whole nation. Owing to his great popularity in the North, his thorough knowledge of the laws of his own country, as well as of those which govern nations, united to his discretion, his great tact and experience, he has saved the country from a ruinous war with Great Britain. And by his masterly skill and energy among the Cherokees, united to his n.o.ble generosity and humanity, he has not only effected what everybody supposed could not be done without the most heartrending scenes of butchery and bloodshed, but he has effected it by obtaining the esteem and confidence of the poor Cherokees themselves. They look upon him as a benefactor and friend, and one who has saved them from entire destruction. All the Cherokees were collected for emigration without bloodshed or violence, and all would have been on their way to the West before the middle of July, had not humanity induced General Scott to stop the movement until the 1st of September. Three thousand had been sent off in the first half of June by the superintendent, before the general took upon himself the responsibility of stopping the emigration, from feelings which must do everlasting honor to his heart. An approval of his course had been sent on by the War Department, before his report giving information that he had stopped the emigration had reached the seat of Government. In the early part of January last the President had asked Congress for enlarged powers, to enable him to maintain our neutral obligations to England--that is, to tranquilize the Canadian frontiers. Before the bill pa.s.sed Congress, General Scott had finished the work and effected all its objects. These, too, he effected by flying from one end of the frontier to the other in the dead of winter, and during the severest and coldest period of it. He returns to Was.h.i.+ngton, and is immediately ordered to the Cherokee nation, to take charge of the very difficult and hazardous task to his own fame of removing those savages from their native land. Some of his best friends regretted most sincerely that he had been ordered on this service, and, knowing the disposition of the world to cavil and complain without cause, had great apprehension that he would lose a portion of the popularity he had acquired by his distinguished success on the Canadian frontier. But behold the manner in which this last work has been performed! There is so much of n.o.ble generosity of character about Scott, independent of his skill and bravery as a soldier, that his life has really been one of romantic beauty and interest."

It was General Scott's intention to accompany the Indian emigration farther west, but receiving information that the Canadian insurgents were making renewed attempts on the Canadas, he was directed to proceed at once to that frontier.

Pa.s.sing through the States of Kentucky and Ohio, accompanied by Captain Robert Anderson, he called upon their respective governors and arranged for the calling out of volunteers should they be needed, and also gave proper instructions to the United States marshals and district attorneys for such duties as they might be called upon to perform. He pa.s.sed on rapidly to Cleveland, Sandusky, and Detroit, and met great a.s.semblages of excited citizens, and, by his appeals and reasoning with them, prevailed upon them to desist from any acts in violation of the neutrality with Great Britain. Pending these important services, he learned of the trouble which had arisen between the State of Maine and the British colony or province of New Brunswick, and at once made haste for Was.h.i.+ngton. On his arrival at the capital, after reporting to the President, he was called before the committees on foreign affairs of both Houses of Congress, before whom he urged and succeeded in securing the pa.s.sage of two bills--one authorizing the President to call out the militia for six months and to accept the service of fifty thousand volunteers, and the other to place to his credit ten millions of dollars. On taking leave of the President he said to him: "Mr. President, if you want war, I need only look on in silence. The Maine people will make it for you fast and hot enough. I know them. But if peace be your wish, I can give no a.s.surance of success. The difficulties in its way will be formidable."

The President replied, "Peace with honor"; and the general, who fully reciprocated the President's feeling, took his leave, accompanied by Captain Robert Anderson and Lieutenant E.D. Keyes, his aid-de-camp. He left with general instructions, but in certain events he was to act on his own judgment without restriction. Arriving in Boston, he met Governor Edward Everett, and arranged for calling out the militia and accepting volunteers if needed.

Governor Everett introduced him to his executive council with the following address: "General, I take great pleasure in introducing you to the members of the Executive Council of Ma.s.sachusetts. I need not say that you are already known to them by reputation. They are familiar with your fame as it is recorded in some of the arduous and honorable fields of the country's struggles. We rejoice in meeting you on this occasion. Charged as you are with a most momentous mission by the President of the United States, we are sure you are intrusted with a duty most grateful to your feelings--that of averting an appeal to arms. We place unlimited reliance on your spirit, energy, and discretion. Should you unhappily fail in your efforts, under the instructions of the President, to restore harmony, we know that you are equally prepared for a still more responsible duty. Should that unhappy event occur, I beg you to depend on the firm support of Ma.s.sachusetts." He was then given a reception by the Legislature, and received on its behalf by Robert C. Winthrop.

From Boston he proceeded at once to Portland, where he found the people greatly excited, and demanding the immediate seizure and occupation of the disputed territory. At the capital, Augusta, where he next proceeded, he found the same excitement with the same demands.

The Legislature was in session, and a large majority of its members were for war. The strip of disputed land was valuable chiefly for s.h.i.+p timber. Some British subjects had entered the territory and cut some of the timber, and the Governor of Maine sent an agent with a posse to drive them off. The British seized and imprisoned the agent, and much angry correspondence followed between the authorities of both sides.

General Scott soon determined that the only mode of settlement was to prohibit or have an agreement on both sides to leave the territory unoccupied by either party until the matters in dispute could be arranged between the governments of the United States and Great Britain, taking the matter out of the jurisdiction of the State of Maine and the province of New Brunswick. Previous to Scott's arrival in Maine the Legislature of that State had pa.s.sed an act placing eight hundred thousand dollars at the disposal of the Governor and authorizing the calling out of eight thousand troops. Some of these troops had been organized and moved near the disputed territory, and others were held ready to move when ordered. British troops, both regulars and militia, had also been moved forward. Everything indicated a war. On February 27, 1839, President Van Buren had sent a message to Congress transmitting various doc.u.ments received from the Governor of Maine, and a copy of a memorandum signed by the Secretary of State of the United States and the British Minister to the United States, which, it was hoped, would prevent a collision of arms. Mr.

H.B. Fox, the British Minister, had acted without specific authority from his Government, and the memorandum therefore had only the force of a recommendation. All correspondence had for some time ceased between the governors of Maine and New Brunswick.

The Governor of New Brunswick, John Harvey, had been an adjutant general of one of the armies of Canada in the campaign of 1813, and was well known to General Scott. Scott, it will be remembered, was an adjutant general in this campaign, and he and Colonel Harvey had frequent correspondence, and it was so conducted as to create a feeling of respect on both sides. At one time in the campaign mentioned, when Scott was on a reconnoitering expedition, his party came upon Harvey, and a gun in the hands of a soldier near Scott was leveled on him. Scott caught the gun, and said, "Hold! he is our prisoner," but Colonel Harvey made a rapid turn and escaped.

On General Scott's arrival in Maine he had with him a private letter from Sir John Harvey, the Colonel Harvey just mentioned, then Governor General of New Brunswick. It is proper to mention here, as additional reason for good feeling between General Scott and Sir John Harvey, that at one time in the War of 1813 an American soldier under Scott's command had come into possession of the uniform coat of a British staff officer, and in one of the pockets was found the miniature of a young lady. The portmanteau from which the coat and miniature were taken was marked "Lieutenant-Colonel Harvey." Scott purchased these articles from the soldier and sent them to Colonel Harvey. The picture was that of his young bride, then in England.

Governor Fairfield, of Maine, had on March 12th sent a message to the Legislature objecting to the terms of the memorandum, but recommending that, when fully satisfied that the Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick had abandoned all idea of occupying the disputed territory with a military force, or of attempting the expulsion of citizens of Maine, he [the Governor] be authorized to withdraw the military force, leaving the land agent with a posse of armed or unarmed men, as the case might require, sufficient to drive out or arrest trespa.s.sers. The Legislature on March 20th pa.s.sed resolutions in accordance with these recommendations. The message of the Governor of Maine and the resolutions of the Legislature required the lieutenant governor to make the advance.

General Scott, after the action of the Legislature above mentioned, sent a reply to Harvey's private letter, which he had held unanswered so long. This elicited a friendly reply, and other letters of the same character quickly followed on either side. A line of couriers was established between them to facilitate correspondence. Governor Harvey took the first step, and made the concessions which were necessary to appease the authorities of Maine, but the Governor did not feel authorized to withdraw the troops from the disputed territory unless authorized by the Legislature. General Scott mingled freely with members of the Legislature, urging pacific measures, and on March 20th resolutions were pa.s.sed; and Scott having his memorandum with Sir John Harvey with all concessions to restore tranquillity, the Governor of Maine added his approval, and the question was transferred to the authorities of the United States and Great Britain, which resulted in a satisfactory settlement to both nations of this unhappy affair.

An uprising, confined chiefly to the French inhabitants of Upper Canada, occurred in 1837, in which they demanded a separation from the British Government, and they enlisted many sympathizers among citizens of the United States, especially among those living on the Canadian boundary. Organizations of sympathizers with the Canadians were secretly formed by American citizens to such an extent that the President of the United States issued a proclamation enjoining its citizens to observe neutrality. This did not quiet the excitement, but rather tended to increase it. Matters were brought to a crisis by the action of a certain Van Rensselaer, who had been dismissed from the Military Academy at West Point, and who styled himself "Colonel" Van Rensselaer. He organized a party of Americans reckless like himself, and took forcible possession of a small British island opposite to Fort Schlosser, on the American side, and known as Navy Island. This island was a short distance above the falls of Niagara. Young Van Rensselaer engaged a small steamboat called the Caroline to ferry parties from Navy Island, which he occupied, to Schlosser on the American sh.o.r.e.

The first night on which the Caroline began her voyages the British fitted out an expedition to capture her. Instead of making a descent on Navy Island within British territory, they boarded the steamer at Schlosser, on the American side, and thus violated our territory. The boat at the time of this invasion was filled with people, many of whom were there for idle curiosity, including a number of boys. In the _melee_ of capture one American citizen was killed and several others wounded. They cut the boat from its moorings, set it on fire, and it drifted down the cataract. It was reported and generally believed that when the vessel went over the cataract it had a small number of wounded Americans on board.

The publication of this affair created the greatest excitement from one end of the country to the other. This occurred on December 29, 1837, but the news did not reach Was.h.i.+ngton until January 4th. On the evening of that day General Scott was to dine with President Van Buren and a number of other distinguished gentlemen. The entire party had arrived, but the President failed to appear. After a time he came in and spoke inaudibly to Henry Clay, one of the guests, and then said to General Scott: "Blood has been shed; you must go with all speed to the Niagara frontier. The Secretary of War is now engaged in making out your instructions." General Scott left at once, and pa.s.sing through Albany, met William L. Marcy, the Governor of New York, who with his adjutant general (McDonald) accompanied him to the scene of the troubles. The United States troops at this time were all either in Florida or on the Western frontiers. General Scott, in pa.s.sing through New York, had ordered some small detachments of army recruits to follow him. Governor Marcy was with him ready to answer his requisitions for militia, and he had the aid of the officers commanding on Lake Erie and the Detroit frontier and on the Niagara, Lake Ontario, and St. Lawrence. All United States marshals and other civil officers of the Government were ordered to support and aid him.

He pa.s.sed from one place to another, going where his services could be needed, exhorting the people to observe the neutrality proclamation of the President; and where he found them obstinate and determined, he notified them in terms which could not be mistaken that any attempt to violate this proclamation would be met by resistance from the Government, which would promptly overpower them.

Pending these troubles, a steamer called the Barcelona was taken from the harbor of Buffalo in January, 1838, and pa.s.sed down the river, with a view to aid the insurgents on Navy Island. Scott, on learning of this, sent an agent who made terms to employ the Barcelona for the service of the Government. The vessel then proceeded back to Buffalo, where it was intended to use her on Lake Erie; but the Canadian authorities had determined to destroy her. As the vessel pa.s.sed near Grand Island, within the jurisdiction of the United States, some armed British schooners had taken position, aided by land batteries, to open fire on her. This was on January 16th. General Scott and Governor Marcy stood on the river bank watching events. Batteries on the American side were put in preparation to return the fire of the British.

The day before the event just mentioned, Scott had written and dispatched a note "To the Commanding Officer of the Armed British Vessels in the Niagara":

"HEADQUARTERS, EASTERN DIVISION, U.S. ARMY,

"TWO MILES BELOW BLACK ROCK, _January 15, 1838_.

"SIR: With his Excellency, Governor Marcy, of New York, who has troops at hand, we are here to enforce the neutrality of the United States and to protect our own soil or waters from violation.

The proper civil officers are also present to arrest, if practicable, the leaders of the expedition on foot against Upper Canada. Under these circ.u.mstances, it gives me pain to perceive the armed vessels mentioned, anch.o.r.ed in our waters, with the probable intention to fire upon that expedition moving in the same waters.

Unless the expedition should first attack--in which case we shall interfere--we shall be obliged to consider a discharge of shot or sh.e.l.l from or into our waters, from the armed schooners of her Majesty, as an act seriously compromising the neutrality of the two nations. I hope, therefore, that no such unpleasant incident may occur.

"I have the honor to remain, etc.

"WINFIELD SCOTT."

The next morning, January 16th, the same information was given by General Scott to a British officer who called on him at his quarters.

The Barcelona moved up the river, and Scott had his cannon pointed and his matches in readiness for firing. Scott stood on the highest point in full uniform and in view of the other sh.o.r.e. The vessel pa.s.sed up unmolested, and doubtless by this act of Scott a war was averted.

In the meantime Van Rensselaer with his adherents had evacuated Navy Island and landed some miles below, where they were arrested by General Scott's orders. Thus ended a disturbance which might have resulted in war, and it can not be gainsaid that its peaceful settlement was due to the wisdom, firmness, and prudence of General Scott.