Before one of the courts of the State of Louisiana, a slave-dealer by the name of Love, claimed title to the bodies, the bones and muscles, the blood and sinews, of some sixty of these persons, held by the United States as prisoners of war. They had been captured by our troops as hostiles; had been held for thirteen months as prisoners of war; had been fed, and clothed, and guarded, at the expense of the people of the United States: but they were now claimed as the property of Love. This absurdity was presented before an enlightened court as a grave question of international law; and a determined effort was put forth before that State tribunal to change the law of nations; to modify the law of Nature and of Nature’s God, so far as to transform men into chattels, and declare these prisoners of war to be the property of their fellow men.

Love demanded the Exiles of General Gaines, who was in actual command of the Western Military District of the United States, and by virtue of his office held control of the Exiles while in his district. Bred to the profession of arms, he had made himself familiar with those principles of natural, of international, law which point out the rights of belligerents, whether they belong to the victorious or the vanquished nation. Being advised that efforts were making to get possession of these Exiles for the purpose of reënslaving them, he indicated to the officer in command at the barracks the propriety of retaining possession of them as he would of other prisoners of war.

On the second of May, the Sheriff of New Orleans appeared at the barracks, and desired to pass the line of sentinels for the purpose of serving his process; but the sentinel, punctilious to his duty, refused to let him enter. The Sheriff then returned his writ with the following indorsement thereon:

The Exiles still remained in the barracks under the officers in charge of them; and on the ninth of May, General Gaines sued out a rule to set aside the order of sequestration upon the grounds, “that the negroes were ‘prisoners of war’ of the United States, taken in combat with the Seminole Indians; that the control of the United States over said negroes, and their right to the control of such negroes as prisoners of war, could not be taken away by the sequestration issued.”

He assumed the responsibility of paying costs and damages, caused himself to be made defendant in the case, and, having obtained a rule on the sheriff to show cause why the negroes should not be delivered as prisoners of war to him, as commander of that Military District, he appeared in person at the bar of the court, and ably vindicated the rights of Government, of himself, and of the prisoners.

“The laws (said he) of the United States authorize the late and existing war against the Seminole nation of Indians, and against all persons in their service. The negroes claimed by the plaintiff were found in the service of the Indians, speaking the same language, and, like the inhabitants of all savage nations, aiding and assisting in the war. They were captured and taken by the United States forces as prisoners of war, and they are now in charge of a United States officer, Lieutenant Reynolds, acting pursuant to the orders of the President of the United States, directing him to superintend their transportation from the theatre of war in Florida, to a place set apart for their location, west of the State of Arkansas, as prisoners of war, as well as servants of the Seminole Indians, who are also prisoners of war.

“The laws of war, as embraced in the works of Brynkershoeck, Vattel and Wheaton, clearly sanction the principle, that all persons taken in battle, or who may be forced to surrender, whether officers, soldiers, or followers of the enemy’s army, are prisoners of war. * * *

“Among savage nations, it is universally known and admitted, that in war they have no non-combatants, excepting only such as are physically incapable of wielding arms. Every man, without regard to age or color; every boy able to fire a gun, or wield a hatchet, or an arrow, is a warrior. And every woman is a laborer, in the collection and preparation of subsistence and clothing for the warriors: all are therefore liable, when captured in a state of hostility, to be treated as prisoners of war.”

“But it seems that the counsel for the claimant has flattered himself that I should make the most convenient and accommodating defendant imaginable. I was expected to take the responsibility of doing whatever the voracious claimant might desire, without coming into this honorable court. I take leave to apprise the court, for the benefit of all concerned, that I have never hesitated to assume the responsibility of doing my duty, or of doing justice; but I have not yet learned, while acting in my official capacity on oath, to take the responsibility of doing that which is repugnant to law, unjust and iniquitous, as I verily believe any favor shown to this claim would be.”

“The court appears to labor under the impression, that the negroes in question were captured by the Seminole Indians, in the course of their hostile incursions upon our frontier inhabitants. Is this the fact? I will assume, for the learned counsel of the claimant, that he will never have the temerity to assert that they are among the number taken from our frontier inhabitants in the present, or in any former war.”

The ground which he assumed, that the captives were prisoners of war, subject to the orders of the Executive, was so self-evidently true that it could not be met or overthrown, by reason or by argument.

His honor the Judge, in delivering his opinion discharging the rule, disregarded all claims to right on the part of the Exiles. They being black, under the laws of Louisiana, were presumed to be slaves to some person; and he spoke with exultation of the fact, that neither General Gaines nor the United States had claimed them as slaves; and he declared it would be infinitely more wise and natural for the United States to hold them as lawful prize to the captors, than it would be to send them with the Indians to cultivate their lands in time of peace, and swell the number of our enemies in times of war; but, on this motion, he thought the court bound to regard the facts set forth in the plaintiff’s claim as true, and he therefore discharged the rule, and made the order of sequestration absolute.

There now appeared no hope of escape for these people; they seemed to be the sport of fortune. For more than a century they and their ancestors had set at defiance the efforts of slaveholders, assisted by Government, to reënslave them; but they now appeared to be within the power of those who were anxious to consign them to bondage.

Lieutenant Reynolds was delayed until the twenty-first of May before he was able to embark the other prisoners. One steamer left on the nineteenth; and on the twenty-first, he wrote the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, saying, “Thirty-one of the negroes, out of the sixty-seven, have been selected by the claimants. These negroes, I am informed, do not belong to the Indians on whom the claims have been made.”

This opened up new hopes for those to whom the claimants admitted they had no title. There is, however, something about this surrender which we are not able to explain. It is certain that Lieutenant Reynolds left New Orleans on the twenty-first of May with all the prisoners, both Indians and negroes then at that city, except thirty-one left in charge of the sheriff, and seven Spanish maroons, whom he discharged. The remaining thirty-one were left in the charge of the sheriff, with the slave-catching vultures watching, and eager to fasten their talons upon them so soon as opportunity should permit. The separation was painful. Families were again severed: parents were torn from their children, and brothers and sisters compelled to bid adieu to each other; and as they could see no escape for those left at New Orleans, they regarded the separation as final.

Collins, the agent of Watson, left the City of Washington on the tenth of May with full powers to act for the Creek chiefs as well as for his principal; fully provided, also, with orders from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, directing all officers of the United States, in whose custody the Exiles might be, to deliver them to this agent of the slave-dealer. Expecting to find his victims at Fort Pike, he repaired to that place; but on his arrival found they had left for New Orleans some days previously. He forthwith followed them, and reached that city on the twenty-second of June, being one day after Reynolds and his prisoners had left that city for Fort Gibson.

Vexed and mortified at this disappointment, Collins took passage on the first packet bound up the river, determined to secure the victims of Watson’s cupidity wherever he should find them.

While Collins was thus speeding his way up the river, Reynolds and his charge, unconscious that the slave-hunter was on their track, stopped at Vicksburg for a few hours to obtain supplies for their journey. While passing up the river, Reynolds wrote a report to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, stating that on the boat which left New Orleans on the nineteenth, six hundred and seventy-four prisoners had been placed for emigration; that on the boat which left the twenty-first, on which he had taken passage, there were four hundred and fifty-three—making in all twelve hundred and twenty-one Indians and negroes, who were now emigrating to the Western Country. While they were lying at Vicksburg, Collins arrived, and, as he states, “succeeded in getting the order of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs handed to Reynolds.” This was undoubtedly correct, for Reynolds wrote the Department the same day, saying, “Since my letter this morning, enclosing an abstract of my muster-roll, Mr. Collins, the attorney, recognized by you, has sent off various papers, in relation to certain claims for negroes taken by the Creek Volunteers, and your order has been received. I have therefore made arrangements with Mr. Collins to accompany me to Little Rock on board of my boat, that no time may be lost in the emigration on the passage from here thither. Due care will be had in selecting such only as come within your order, as also to apprise the chiefs and other Indians with regard to the claim. The excitement evinced at New Orleans on the part of the Indians, convinced me of the necessity of this measure. I think that, between this and Little Rock, I will be enabled to persuade them to consent without any resistance on their part.”

The whole party were detained several days at Little Rock in consequence of the low stage of water. While waiting here, Collins appears to have become impatient, and anxious to get possession of the negroes. Indeed, from the closing remark of Mr. Reynolds’s letter, last quoted, we are led to suspect that little sympathy existed between Reynolds and this agent of the slave-dealer; nor is it unlikely that an officer, bred up in the cultivation of a high and chivalrous sense of honor, would feel some repugnance at being constrained to associate with any man employed in the business which brought Collins to the Western Country. Knowing, however, that the Executive of the United States had become in fact a party in this disreputable transaction, he endeavored to manifest at least a respect for those officers of Government who had become participants in it.

On the third of June, Lieutenant Reynolds addressed an official letter to Samuel C. Roane, Governor of Arkansas, stating the circumstances in which he was placed. He set forth the claim of the Creeks, and their sale to Watson, together with the fact that Collins was then at Little Rock, anxious to obtain possession of the negroes; that he (Reynolds) could not deliver them to Collins without assistance, and on that account demanded of his Excellency assistance of the civil authority to aid him in carrying out the policy of the Federal Government.

This letter of Governor Roane certainly indicated to Mr. Collins a strong repugnance to the policy adopted by the War Department, and must have convinced him that his mission was, at least, unpopular among men removed from the moral atmosphere in which the Executive appeared to live. We are not informed of its effects upon Mr. Reynolds; but that gentleman could not have been very greatly disappointed, as he had clearly predicted the failure of all attempts to separate the Indians and negroes.

A rise in the Arkansas River enabled them to resume their journey. They reached Fort Gibson on the twelfth of June, and both Indians and negroes were turned over to the care of Captain Stephenson, the agent appointed to reside with the Western Seminoles. Here Mr. Reynolds and Mr. Collins expected to make a final effort to separate the Indians and negroes, in order that the latter might be transported back to that interminable slavery which all knew awaited their return to Georgia. For this purpose, Lieutenant Reynolds addressed Brigadier General Arbuckle, in command at Fort Gibson; but, as the correspondence between these officers brought the important mission of Mr. Collins in that Western Country to a close, we will present these letters to the reader.

General Arbuckle was in command of the military forces of the United States in that Western Country, and of course felt great responsibility in regard to maintaining peaceful relations with the Indians of that region. Having maturely reflected upon the communication of Mr. Reynolds, he returned the following answer:

Collins now gave up all as lost. He appears to have realized, that almost every officer of the army west of Florida, had conspired against this policy of enslaving the Exiles, while he himself seemed to entertain no doubt of the honor and rectitude of his own position; and in order to do him justice, and render our narrative brief as consistent, we here insert so much of his report to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, drawn up after his return to Alabama, as relates to his mission up to the time of leaving Fort Gibson, on his return. It is as follows:

After the emigrating company of Indians and Exiles had left New Orleans, under charge of Lieutenant Reynolds, Gen’l Gaines assumed upon himself the whole responsibility of defending the thirty-one who remained in that city; for as yet there had been no trial upon the merits of the case, although it was pretty evident that the judge was strongly impressed in favor of reënslaving them. The cause was duly brought to a hearing, and, after argument and consideration, the court gave judgment in favor of the claimants.

In the meantime, the Executive officers at Washington had become informed of the difficulties which had lain across the path of Mr. Collins, and felt it to be desirable that the whole matter should be arranged with as little discussion as possible.

General Jessup retired from the command of the army in Florida on the fifteenth of May, and returned to Washington, leaving General Zachary Taylor as commander-in-chief of our military forces in that Territory. He had shown himself prompt in the execution of all orders; cool, deliberate, and firm in battle; faithful to his men, to himself and his country; but, up to this time, he had manifested no particular zeal in the capture of negroes. Indeed, although he had penetrated farther into the Indian Country than any other officer—had fought the bloodiest battles of any commander in Florida, yet he refused to draw any distinctions among his prisoners. With him Indians and negroes were equally prisoners of war, and entitled to the same treatment. Nor would he listen to men who professed to own the persons whom he captured, or who had surrendered themselves as prisoners.

This language was received at the War Department without reproof, although the Secretary was from South Carolina, bred up in the chivalrous doctrines of the Palmetto State. He quietly suffered a Brigadier General thus plainly to express his contempt for this slave-dealing transaction, in which not only the War Department, but the President of the United States, was involved. He appears to have been willing to encounter almost any kind of disrespect, rather than call public attention to the subject.

Colonel Humphreys appeared to regard himself as entitled to the possession of those people; although by the treaty of Payne’s Landing the Seminoles had paid for all slaves residing with them prior to 1832; and had been released from all further demands on account of such slaves.

That officer (Mr. Poinsett) having received this report, transmitted it to Colonel Humphreys. This drew from that gentleman a still more elaborate argument in favor of his claim, which occupies nearly four heavy pages in documentary form. This was also transmitted to Mr. Downing, and by him passed over to the Secretary of War; but we are not informed whether the Secretary of War replied to this second argument or not.

It is, however, important to the truth of history to notice this recognition of the doctrine by a slave-holding Secretary of War, that the Executive in time of war may separate slaves from their masters, and send them out of the country, without regard to the relation previously subsisting between them and their owners. The principle was thus recognized by Mr. Poinsett, although a citizen of South Carolina, acting under the advice and direction of Mr. Van Buren, a Democratic President of the United States.

General Jessup also, in a report to the War Department, declared, that, in his opinion, the treaty of Payne’s Landing exonerated the Indians from all claims for slaves which accrued prior to that date, and that Colonel Humphreys and other claimants could only demand a proportion of the seven thousand dollars allowed by the Indians for slaves then residing among them. This suggestion was obviously just, and was approved by the Secretary of War; and we are naturally led to inquire, why the same obviously just rule was not applied to some hundreds of other cases precisely like that of Colonel Humphreys?

On the twenty-fifth of June, Mr. Collins addressed a note to Mr. Reynolds, inquiring whether there had been any decision of the court upon the claim of Love to the Seminole negroes left at that place; and what number he (Reynolds) was satisfied belonged to the Creek Indians; and demanding that such as belonged to them should be delivered to him, under the order of the Commissioner of “Indian Affairs.”

Mr. Reynolds replied that he understood the case had been dismissed; but as he (Reynolds) was then acting under a superior officer (Major Clark), he would refer Mr. Collins to him.

On the following day, Collins addressed Major Clark on the subject; but receiving no answer, and becoming vexed and disgusted with the business, he left the city on the twenty-seventh for his home in Alabama. In justice to Mr. Collins, we let him speak for himself, and quote the remainder of his report to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, being that portion which relates to his efforts to get possession of these thirty-one Exiles. It reads as follows:

It is most obvious that Collins believed that the military officers of Government, who were serving at a distance from Washington, viewed his mission with no particular favor, and he evidently retired from New Orleans with some degree of indignation.

These thirty-one prisoners who had been thus detained, were now once more under way for their western home. Their hearts appeared to beat more freely as the noble steamer, which bore them on their way to their friends and future homes, cut loose from her moorings and sped her way toward her destined port. On board that happy craft, also, were many smiles and hearty congratulations exchanged among those children of the forest, who had been borne along on the tide of ever-varying circumstances. Although helpless and penniless, and apparently friendless, they had almost miraculously escaped the meshes which our Government and the slave-dealers had spread for their destruction. In due time they reached Fort Gibson, and were delivered over to the care of the proper agent, who conducted them to their friends. And now some nine hundred Seminoles, and some three to four hundred Exiles, had reached the Indian Country; they constituted the first party of that nation who, driven from their homes—their native wilds—had consented to be taken to a strange land.

They had been assured by General Jessup and all officers who spoke for the Government, that the treaty of Payne’s Landing was to be complied with. To enforce that treaty had been the order of General Jackson. General Cass had declared that the Indians must comply with that treaty; while, to our Indian agents, he asserted it to be the policy of the Government to unite the Creeks and Seminoles as one people.

But now the turpitude and guilt of the Executive were revealed. The orders of the agent directed him to take them on to the territory assigned to the Creeks. This would subject them to Creek jurisdiction and Creek laws; and they were perfectly conscious that every Exile would be immediately enslaved. Yet there was no country which they could call their own. The perfidious pretense of enforcing the treaty of Payne’s Landing, without giving them a separate territory according to the supplemental treaty, now stood exposed in its proper light. Abraham was a man of influence with his brethren. He had used his utmost efforts to induce them to emigrate. He had been honest. He believed in the integrity of our nation, of its people, its government; but his error had been fatal. The Exiles were in the Western Country, without a home, and with no means of support, except the stipulation of Government to furnish them provisions for one year.