The first edition is rare, and American historians are under great obligations to the Parisian publishers for producing a second, and for preserving the original text with such care.
The labors of Ternaux Compans throughout the entire domain of early American history, his assiduity in collecting and translating manuscripts, and in republishing rare tracts, are too well known and generally appreciated to need special comment. Among his volumes there is one devoted to Florida, containing eleven scarce or inedited articles, all of which are of essential importance to the historian.[47] These have been separately considered previously, in connection with the points of history they illustrate.
After the final expulsion of the French, Spain held the ascendancy for nearly two hundred years. Her settlements extended to the south and west, the natives were generally tractable, and at one period the colony flourished; yet there is no more obscure portion of the history of the region now included in the United States. Except the Chronological Essay of Barcia, which extends over only a fraction of this period, the accounts are few in number, meagre in information, and in the majority of instances, quite inaccessible in this country.
The verbal depositions of Pedro Morales and Nicolas Bourguignon,[48] captives brought by Sir Francis Drake to London, from his attack on St. Augustine, (1586,) are among the earliest notices we possess. They were written out by Richard Hackluyt, and inserted in his collection as an appendix to Drake’s Voyage. Both are very brief, neither filling one of his folio pages; they speak of the Indian tribes in the vicinity, but in a confused and hardly intelligible manner. Nicolas Bourguignon was a Frenchman by birth, and had been a prisoner among the Spaniards for several years. He is the “Phipher,” mentioned in Drake’s account, who escaped from his guards and crossed over to the English, playing the while on his fife the march of the Prince of Orange, to show his nationality.
Towards the close of the century, several works were published in Spain, of which we know little but their titles. Thus, mention is made of a geographical description of the country (Descripcion y Calidades de la Florida) by Barrientes, Professor of the Latin language at the University of Salamanca, about 1580. It is probably nothing more than an extract from the Cosmographia, attributed by some to this writer. Also, about the same time, Augustin de Padilla Davila, a Dominican, and Bishop of St. Domingo, published an ecclesiastical history of the See of Mexico and the progress of the faith in Florida.[49] Very little, however, had been achieved that early in the peninsular and consequently his work would in this respect interest us but little. The reports of the proceedings of the Council of the Indies, doubtless contain more or less information in regard to Florida; Barcia refers especially to those published in 1596.[50]
Early in the next century there appeared an account of the Franciscan missionaries who had perished in their attempts to convert the savages of Florida.[51] The author, Geronimo de Ore, a native of Peru, and who had previously filled the post of Professor of Sacred Theology in Cusco, was, at the time of writing, commissary of Florida, and subsequently held a position in the Chilian Church, (deinde commissarius Floridæ, demum imperialis civitatis Chilensis regni antistes.)[52] He was a man of deep erudition, and wrote various other works “very learned and curious,” (mui doctos y curiosos.[53])
Pursuing a chronological order, this brings us to the peculiarly interesting and valuable literature of the Floridian aboriginal tongues. Here, as in other parts of America, we owe their preservation mainly to the labors of missionaries.
As early as 1568, Padre Antonio Sedeño, who had been deputed to the province of Guale, now Amelia Island, between the mouths of the rivers St. Johns and St. Marys, drew up a grammar and catechism of the indigenous language.[54] It was probably a scion of the Muskohge family, but as no philologist ever examined Sedeño’s work—indeed, it is uncertain whether it was ever published—we are unprepared to speak decisively on this point.
The only works known to be in existence are those of Franceso de Pareja.[55] He was a native of the village of Auñon,[56] embraced the Franciscan theology, and was one of the twelve priests dispatched to Florida by the Royal Council of the Indies in 1592. He arrived there two years afterwards, devoted himself to converting the natives for a series of years, and about 1610 removed to the city of Mexico. Here he remained till the close of his life, in 1638, (January 25, 0. S.,) occupied in writing, publishing, and revising a grammar of the Timuquana language, prevalent around and to the north of St. Augustine, and devotional books for the use of the missionaries. They are several in number, but all of the utmost scarcity. I cannot learn of a single copy in the libraries of the United States, and even in Europe; Adelung, with all his extensive resources for consulting philological works, was obliged to depend altogether on the extracts of Hervas, who, in turn, confesses that he never saw but one, and that a minor production of Pareja. This is the more to be regretted, as any one in the slightest degree acquainted with American philology must be aware of the absolute dearth of all linguistic knowledge concerning the tribes among whom he resided. His grammar, therefore, is second to none in importance, and no more deserving labor could be pointed out than that of rendering it available for the purposes of modern research by a new edition.
A Doctrina Cristiana and a treatise on the administration of the Sacraments are said to have been written in the Tinqua language of Florida by Fray Gregorio Morrilla, and published “the first at Madrid, 1631, and afterwards reprinted at Mexico, 1635, and the second at Mexico, 1635.”[57] What nation this was, or where they resided is uncertain.
The manuscript dictionary and catechism of the Englishman Andrew Vito, “en Lengua de Mariland en la Florida,” mentioned in Barcia’s edition of Pinelo, and included by Ludewig among the works on the Timuquana tongue, evidently belonged to a language far to the north of this, probably to one spoken by a branch of the Lenni Lennapes.
Throughout the seventeenth century notices of the colony are very rare. Travellers the most persistent never visited it. One only, Francesco (François) Coreal, a native of Carthagena in South America, who spent his life in wandering from place to place in the New World, seems to have recollected its existence. He was at St. Augustine in 1669, and devotes the second chapter of his travels to the province.[58] It derives its value more from the lack of other accounts than from its own intrinsic merit. His geographical notions are not very clear at best, and they are hopelessly confounded by the interpolations of his ignorant editor. The authenticity of his production has been questioned, and even his own existence disputed, but no reasonable doubts of either can be entertained after a careful examination of his work.
Various attempts were made by the Spanish to obtain a more certain knowledge of the shores and islands of the Gulf of Mexico during this period. A record of those that took place between 1685 and 1693[59] is mentioned by Barcia, but whether it was ever published or not, does not appear.
About this time the Franciscan Juan Ferro Macuardo occupied the post of inspector (Visitador General) of the church in Florida under the direction of the bishop of Cuba. Apparently he found reason to be displeased with the conduct of certain of the clergy there, and with the general morality of the missions, and subsequently, in his memorial to the king,[60] handled without gloves these graceless members of the fraternity, telling truths unpleasant to a high degree. In consequence of these obnoxious passages, its sale was prohibited by the church on the ground that such revelations could result in no advantage.[61] Whether this command was carried out or not,—and it is said to have been evaded—the work is rare in the extreme, not being so much as mentioned by the most comprehensive bibliographers. Its value is doubtless considerable, as fixing the extent of the Spanish settlements, at this, about the most flourishing period of the colony. The Respuesta which it provoked from the pen of Francisco de Ayeta, is equally scarce.
The next book that comes under our notice we owe to the misfortune of a shipwreck. On the “twenty-third of the seventh month,” 1696, a bark, bound from Jamaica to the flourishing colony of Philadelphia, was wrecked on the Floridian coast, near Santa Lucea, about 27° 8´, north latitude. The crew were treated cruelly by the natives and only saved their lives by pretending to be Spaniards. After various delays and much suffering they prevailed on their captors to conduct them to St. Augustine. Here Laureano de Torres, the governor, received them with much kindness, relieved their necessities, and furnished them with means to return home. Among the passengers was a certain Jonathan Dickinson a Quaker resident in Pennsylvania. On his arrival home, he published a narrative of his adventures,[62] that attracted sufficient attention to be reprinted in the mother country and translated into German. It is in the form of a diary, introduced by a preface of ten pages filled with moral reflections on the beneficence of God and His ready help in time of peril. The style is cramped and uncouth, but the many facts it contains regarding the customs of the natives and the condition of the settlement give it value in the eyes of the historian and antiquarian. Among bibliopolists the first edition is highly prized as one of the earliest books from the Philadelphia press. The printer, Reinier Jansen, was “an apprentice or young man” of William Bradford, who, in 1688, published a little sheet almanac, the first printed matter in the province.[63] After his return the author resided in Philadelphia till his death, in 1722, holding at one time the office of Chief Justice of Pennsylvania. He must not be confounded with his better known cotemporary of the same name, staunch Presbyterian, and first president of the College of New Jersey, of much renown in the annals of his time for his fervent sermons and addresses.
The growing importance of the English colonies on the north, and the aggressive and irritable character of their settlers, gave rise at an early period of their existence to bitter feelings between them and their more southern neighbors, manifested by a series of attacks and reprisals on both sides, kept alive almost continually till the cession to England in 1763. So much did the Carolinians think themselves aggrieved, that as early as 1702, Colonel Moore, then governor of the province, made an impotent and ill-advised attempt to destroy St. Augustine; for which valorous undertaking his associates thought he deserved the fools-cap, rather than the laurel crown. An account of his Successes,[64] or more properly Misfortunes, published in England the same year; is of great rarity and has never come under my notice. Of his subsequent expedition, undertaken in the winter of 1703-4, for the purpose of wiping away the stigma incurred by his dastardly retreat, so-called, from St. Augustine, we have a partial account in a letter from his own pen to Sir Nathaniel Johnson, his successor in the gubernatorial post. It was published the next May in the Boston News, and has been reprinted by Carroll in his Historical Collections. The precise military force in Florida at this time may be learned from the instructions given to Don Josef de Zuñiga, Governor-General in 1703, preserved by Barcia.
Some years afterwards Captain T. Nairns, an Englishman, accompanied a band of Yemassees on a slave hunting expedition to the peninsula. He kept a journal and took draughts on the road, both of which were in the possession of Herman Moll,[65] but they were probably never published, nor does this distinguished geographer mention them in any of his writings on his favorite science.
Governor Oglethorpe renewed these hostile demonstrations with vigor. His policy, exciting as it did much odium from one party and some discussion in the mother country, gave occasion to the publication of several pamphlets. Those that more particularly refer to his expedition against the Spanish, are three in number,[66] and, together with his own letters to his patrons, the Duke of Newcastle and Earl of Oxford,[67] and those of Captain McIntosh, leader of the Highlanders, and for some time a captive in Spain, which are still preserved in manuscript in the Library of the Georgia Historical Society,[68] furnish abundant information on the English side of the question; while the correspondence of Manuel de Montiano, Captain-General of Florida, extending over the years 1737-40, a part of which has been published by Captain Sprague[69] and Mr. Fairbanks,[70] but the greater portion still remaining inedited in the archives of St. Augustine, offers a full exposition of the views of their opponents.
A very important document bearing on the relations between the rival Spanish and English colonies, is the Report of the Committee appointed by the Commons House of Assembly of Carolina, to examine into the cause of the failure of Oglethorpe’s expedition. In the Introduction[71] are given a minute description of the town, castle and military condition of St. Augustine, and a full exposition of the troubles between the two colonies, from the earliest settlement of the English upon the coast. Coming from the highest source, it deserves entire confidence.
Besides these original authorities, the biographies of Governor Oglethorpe, by W. B. O. Peabody, in Sparks’ American Biography, by Thomas Spalding, in the publications of the Georgia Historical Society, and especially that by the Rev. T. M. Harris, are well worthy of comparison in this connection.
In the catalogue of those who have done signal service to American history by the careful collation of facts and publication of rare or inedited works, must ever be enrolled among the foremost Andres Gonzales Barcia. His three volumes of Historiadores Primitivos de las Indias Occidentales, are well known to every one at all versed in the founts of American history. His earliest work of any note, published many years before this, is entitled A Chronological Essay on the History of Florida.[72] He here signs himself, by an anagram on his real name, Don Gabriel de Cardenas z Cano, and is often referred to by this assumed title. In accordance with Spanish usage, under the term Florida, he embraced all that part of the continent north of Mexico, and consequently but a comparatively small portion is concerned with the history of the peninsula. What there is, however, renders it the most complete, and in many cases, the only source of information. The account of the French colonies is minute, but naturally quite one-sided. He is “in all points an apologist for his countrymen, and an implacable enemy to the Heretics, the unfortunate Huguenots, who hoped to find an asylum from persecution in the forests of the New World.”[73] The Essay is arranged in the form of annals, divided into decades and years, (Decadas, Años,) and extends from 1512 to 1723, inclusive. Neither this nor any of his writings can boast of elegance of style. In some portions he is even obscure, and at best is not readable by any but the professed historian. Among writers in our own tongue, for indefatigability in inquiry, for assiduity in collecting facts and homeliness in presenting them, he may not inaptly be compared to John Strype, the persevering author of the Ecclesiastical Memorials.
His work was severely criticised at its appearance by Don Josef de Salazar, historiographer royal to Philip V, “a man of less depth of research and patient investigation than Barcia, but a more polished composer.” He was evidently actuated in part by a jealousy of his rival’s superior qualifications for his own post. The criticism repays perusal. None of Salazar’s works are of any standing, and like many another, he lives in history only by his abuse of a more capable man.
In the preface to his History of Florida, Mr. Williams informs us that he had in his possession “a rare and ancient manuscript in the Spanish language, in which the early history of Florida was condensed, with a regular succession of dates and events.” He adds, that the information here contained about the Catholic missions and the extent of the Spanish power had been “invaluable” to him. If this was an authentic manuscript, it probably dated from this period. Williams obtained it from Mr. Fria, an alderman of New York, and not understanding the language himself, had it translated. It is to be regretted that he has not imparted more of the “invaluable information” to his readers. The only passages which he quotes directly, induce me to believe that he was imposed upon by a forgery, or, if genuine, that the account was quite untrustworthy. Thus it spoke of a successful expedition for pearls to Lake Myaco, or Okee-chobee, which I need hardly say, is a body of fresh water, where the Mya margaratifera could not live. The extent of the Franciscan missions is grossly exaggerated, as I shall subsequently show. Rome at no time chartered a great religious province in Florida, whose principal house was at St. Augustine;[74] nor does Mr. Williams’ work exhibit any notable influx of previously unknown facts about the native tribes, though he says on this point, his manuscript was especially copious. On the whole, we need not bewail the loss, or lament the non-publication of this record.
The latest account of the Spanish colony during this period, is that by Captain Robinson, who visited the country in 1754. It is only a short letter, and is found appended to Roberts’ History of Florida.
In the language of the early geographers, however, this name had a far more extensive signification, and many books bear it on their title pages which have nothing to do with the peninsula. Thus an interesting tract in Peter Force’s collection entitled “A Relation of a Discovery lately made on the Coast of Florida,” is taken up altogether with the shores of South Carolina. The superficial and trifling book of Daniel Coxe, insignificant in everything but its title, proposes to describe the Province “by the Spaniards called Florida,” whereas the region now bearing this name, was the only portion of the country east of the Mississippi and south of the St. Lawrence not included in the extensive claim the work was written to defend. In the same category is Catesby’s Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands. This distinguished naturalist during his second voyage to America, (1722) spent three years in Carolina, “and in the adjacent parts, which the Spaniards call Florida, particularly that province lately honored with the name of Georgia.” How much time he spent in the peninsula, or whether he was there at all, does not appear.
No sooner had England obtained possession of her new colony than a lively curiosity was evinced respecting its capabilities and prospects. To satisfy this, William Roberts, a professional writer, and author of several other works, compiled a natural and civil history of the country, which was published the year of the cession, under the supervision of Thomas Jefferys, geographer royal.[75] It ran through several editions, and though it has received much more praise than is its proper due, it certainly is a useful summary of the then extant knowledge of Florida, and contains some facts concerning the Indians not found in prior works. The natural history of the country is mentioned nowhere out of the title page; the only persons who paid any attention worth speaking of to this were the Bartrams, father and son. Their works come next under our notice.
John Bartram was born of a Quaker family in Chester county, Pennsylvania, in 1701. From his earliest youth he manifested that absorbing love for the natural sciences, especially botany, that in after years won for him from no less an authority than the immortal Linnæus, the praise of being “the greatest botanist in the New World.” He was also the first in point of time. Previously all investigations had been prosecuted by foreigners in a vague and local manner. Bartram went far deeper than this. On the pleasant banks of the Schuylkill, near Philadelphia, he constructed the first botanic garden that ever graced the soil of the New World; here to collect the native flora, he esteemed no journey too long or too dangerous. After the cession, he was appointed “Botanist to His Majesty for both the Floridas,” and though already numbering over three-score years, he hastened to visit that land whose name boded so well for his beloved science. Accompanied only by his equally enthusiastic son William, he ascended the St. Johns in an open boat as far as Lake George, daily noting down the curiosities of the vegetable kingdom, and most of the time keeping a thermometrical record. On his return, he sent his journal to his friends in England under whose supervision, though contrary to his own desire, it was published.[76] It makes a thin quarto, divided into two parts paged separately. The first is a general description of the country, apparently a reprint of an essay by the editor, Dr. Stork, a botanist likewise, and member of the Royal Society, who had visited Florida. The second part is Bartram’s diary, enriched with elaborate botanical notes and an Introduction by the editor. It is merely the daily jottings of a traveller and could never have been revised; but the matter is valuable both to the naturalist and antiquary.
The younger Bartram could never efface from his memory the quiet beauty and boundless floral wealth of the far south. About ten years afterwards therefore, when Dr. Fothergill and other patrons had furnished him the means to prosecute botanical researches throughout the Southern States, he extended his journey to Florida. He made three trips in the peninsula, one up the St. Johns as far as Long Lake, a second from “the lower trading house,” where Palatka now stands, across the savannas of Alachua to the Suwannee, and another up the St. Johns, this time ascending no further than Lake George. The work he left is in many respects remarkable;[77] “it is written” said Coleridge “in the spirit of the old travellers.” A genuine love of nature pervades it, a deep religious feeling breathes through it, and an artless and impassioned eloquence graces his descriptions of natural scenery, rendering them eminently vivid and happy. With all these beauties, he is often turgid and verbose, his transitions from the sublime to the common-place jar on a cultivated ear, and he is too apt to scorn anything less than a superlative. Hence his representations are exaggerated, and though they may hold true to him who sees unutterable beauties in the humblest flower, to the majority they seem the extravaganzas of fancy. He is generally reliable, however, in regard to single facts, and as he was a quick and keen observer of every remarkable object about him, his work takes a most important position among our authorities, and from the amount of information it conveys respecting the aborigines, is indispensable to the library of every Indianologist.
A very interesting natural history of the country is that written by Bernard Romans.[78] This author, in his capacity of engineer in the British service, lived a number of years in the territory, traversing it in various directions, observing and noting with care both its natural features and the manners and customs of the native tribes. On the latter he is quite copious and is one of our standard authors. His style is discursive and original though occasionally bombastic, and many of his opinions are peculiar and bold. Extensive quotations from him are inserted by the American translator in the Appendix to Volney’s View of the United States. He wrote various other works, bearing principally on the war of independence. A point of interest to the bookworm in his History is that the personal pronoun I, is printed throughout as a small letter.
A work on a contested land title, privately printed in London for the parties interested about the middle of this period,[79] might possess some little interest from the accompanying plan, but in other respects is probably valueless. There is a manuscript work by John Gerard Williams de Brahm, preserved in the library of Harvard College, which “contains some particulars of interest relative to Florida at the period of the English occupation.”[80] Extracts from it are given by Mr. Fairbanks, descriptive of the condition of St. Augustine from 1763 to 1771, and of the English in the province. This De Brahm was a government surveyor, and spent a number of years on the eastern coasts of the United States while a British province.
Among the many schemes set in motion for peopling the colony, that of Lord Rolls who proposed to transport to the banks of the St. Johns the cypriennes and degraded femmes du pave of London,[81] and that of Dr. Turnbull, are especially worthy of comment. The latter collected a colony from various parts of the Levant,—from Greece, from Southern Italy, and from the Minorcan Archipelago—and established his head quarters at New Smyrna. The heartless cruelty with which he treated these poor people, their birth-place and their fate, as well as the fact that from them most of the present inhabitants of St. Augustine receive their language, their character, and the general name of Minorcans, have from time to time attracted attention to their history. Besides notices in general works on Florida, Major Amos Stoddard in a work on Louisiana[82] sketches the colony’s rise and progress, but he is an inaccurate historian and impeachable authority. It is the only portion of his chapter on the Floridas of any value. In 1827, an article upon them was published in France by Mr. Mease,[83] which I have not consulted, and a specimen of their dialect, the Mahonese, as it existed in 1843, in the Fromajardis or Easter Song, has been preserved by Bryant, and is a curious relic.[84]
During this period few books were published on Florida and none whatever in the land of the regainers of the territory. The first traveller who has left an account of his visit thither is Johann David Schöpf,[85] a German physician who had come to America in 1777, attached to one of the Hessian regiments in the British service. At the close of the war he spent two years (1783-4) in travelling over the United States previous to returning home, a few weeks of which, in March, 1784, he passed in St. Augustine. He did not penetrate inland, and his observations are confined to a description of the town, its harbor and inhabitants, and some notices of the botany of the vicinity—for it was to natural history and especially medical botany that Schöpf devoted most of his attention during his travels. The difficulties of Spain with the United States in regard to boundaries gave occasion for some publications in the latter country. As early as 1797, the President addressed a message to Congress “relative to the proceedings of the Commissioner for running the Boundary Line between the United States and East and West Florida,” which contains a resumé of what had been done up to that date.
Andrew Ellicott, Commissioner in behalf of the United States, was employed five years in determining these and other boundaries between the possessions of our government and those of His Catholic Majesty. He published the results partially in the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, and more fully several years afterwards in a separate volume.[86] They are merely the hasty notes of a surveyor, thrown together in the form of a diary, without attempt at digestion or connection; but he was an acute and careful observer, and his renseignements on the topography of East Florida are well worth consulting. Among the notable passages is a vivid description of the remarkable meteoric shower of November 12, 1799, which he encountered off the south-western coast of Florida, and from which, conjoined with the observations of Humboldt at Cumana, and others, the periodicity of this phænomenon was determined by Palmer, of New Haven.
A geographical account of Florida is said to have appeared at Philadelphia about this time, from the pen of John Mellish,[87] but unless it forms merely a part of the general geography of that author, I have been able to find nothing of the kind in the libraries of that city.
The article on Florida in the important work on America of Antonio de Alcedo,[88] derives some importance from the list of Spanish governors it contains, which, however, is not very perfect; but otherwise is of little service.
Serious difficulties between the Seminole Indians[89] and the whites of Georgia, occurred at an early date in this period arising from attempts of the latter to recapture fugitive slaves. These finally resulted in the first Seminole war, and attracted the attention of the general government. The action taken in respect to it may be found in the Ex. Doc. No. 119, 2d Session, XVth Congress, which contains “the official correspondence between the War Department and General Jackson; also that between General Jackson and General Gaines, together with the orders of each, as well as the correspondence between the Secretary of the Navy and Commodore Patterson, and the orders of the latter officer to Sailing-Master Loomis, and the final report of Sailing-Master Loomis and General Clinch;”[90] also in two messages of the President during 1818, on the Seminole war, one of which contains the documents relative to Arbuthnot and Ambruster, the Cherokees, Chocktaws, &c., and in the speeches of the Hon. Robert Poindexter, and others. Dr. Monette and Mr. Giddings, in their historical works, have also examined this subject at some length.
Two accounts of the fillibustering expeditions that resulted in the forcible possession of Amelia Island by Captain MacGregor, have been preserved; one, “the better of the two,” by an anonymous writer.[91] They are both rare, and neither have come under my inspection.
An important addition to our knowledge of East Florida during this period, is contained in the entertaining Letters of Dr. William Baldwin.[92] This gentleman, a surgeon in the United States Navy, and a devoted lover of botany, compelled to seek safety from a pulmonary complaint by taking refuge in a warm climate during the winter months, passed portions of several years, commencing with 1811, in East Florida and on the confines of Georgia, occupying himself in studying the floral wealth of those regions. He recorded his observations in a series of letters to Dr. Muhlenberg of Lancaster, and to the subsequent editor of his Remains, Dr. William Darlington, of West Chester, Pa., well known from his works on the local and historical botany of our country, and whom I have already had occasion to advert to as the editor of the elder Bartram’s Correspondence. While those to the former have no interest but to the professed botanist, his letters to the latter are not less rich in information regarding the condition of the country and its inhabitants, than they are entertaining from the agreeable epistolary style in which they are composed, and the thanks of the historian as well as the naturalist are due to their editor for rescuing them from oblivion. It was the expectation of Dr. Baldwin to give these observations a connected form and publish them under the subjoined title,[93] but the duties of his position and his untimely death prevented him from accomplishing this design. As far as completed, comprising eight letters, twenty pages in all, this work is appended to the Reliquiæ.
The cession of Florida to the United States, naturally excited considerable attention, both in England and our own country, manifested by the appearance of several pamphlets, the titles of two of the most noteworthy of which are given below.[94]
Numerous manuscripts pertaining to the history of the colony are said to have been carried away by the Catholic clergy at the time of the cession, many of which were deposited in the convents of Havana, and probably might still be recovered.
No sooner had the United States obtained possession of this important addition to her territory, than emigrants, both from the old countries and from the more northern States, prepared to flock thither to test its yet untried capabilities. Information concerning it was eagerly demanded and readily supplied. In the very year of the cession appeared two volumes, each having for its object the elucidation of its geography and topography, its history, natural and civil.
One of these we owe to William Darby,[95] an engineer of Maryland, not unknown in our literary annals as a general geographer. It is but a compilation, hastily constructed from a mass of previously known facts, to satisfy the ephemeral curiosity of a hungry public. As far as is known of his life, the author never so much as set foot in the country whose natural history he proposes to give, and he will err widely who hopes to find in it that which the pretentious title-page bids him expect.
A much superior work is that of James Grant Forbes.[96] This gentleman was a resident of the territory, and had ample opportunities for acquiring a pretty thorough knowledge of its later history, both from personal experience and from unpublished documents. He is consequently good authority for facts occurring during the British and later Spanish administrations. Though at the time of publication the subject of considerable praise, his work has since been denounced, though with great injustice, as “a wretched compilation from old works.”[97]
The next year a little book appeared anonymously at Charleston.[98] The writer, apparently a physician, had travelled through Alachua county, and ascended the St. Johns as far as Volusia. It consists of a general description of the country, a diary of the journey through Alachua, and an account of the Seminole Indians with a vocabulary of their language. Some of his observations are not without value.
The next work in chronological order was written by Charles Vignoles, a “civil and topographical engineer,” and subsequently public translator at St. Augustine. In the Introduction he remarks, “The following observations on the Floridas have been collected during a residence in the country; in which period several extensive journeys were made with a view of obtaining materials for the construction of a new map, and for the purpose now brought forward.” He notices the history, topography, and agriculture, the climate and soil of the territory, gives a sketch of the Keys, some account of the Indians, and is quite full on Land Titles, then a very important topic, and adds to the whole a useful Appendix of Documents relative to the Cession.[99] Vignoles is a dry and uninteresting composer, with no skill in writing, and his observations were rather intended as a commentary on his map than as an independent work.
Energetic attempts were shortly made to induce immigration. Hopes were entertained that a colony of industrious Swiss might be persuaded to settle near Tallahassie, where it was supposed silk culture and vine growing could be successfully prosecuted. When General Lafayette visited this country he brought with him a series of inquiries, propounded by an intelligent citizen of Berne, relative to the capabilities and prospects of the land. They were handed over to Mr. McComb of that vicinity. His answers[100] are tinged by a warm fancy, and would lead us to believe that in middle Florida had at last been found the veritable Arcadia. Though for their purpose well suited enough, for positive statistics it would be preferable to seek in other quarters.
In 1826, there was an Institute of Agriculture, Antiquities, and Science organized at Tallahassie. At the first (and, as far as I am aware, also the last) public meeting of this comprehensive society, Colonel Gadsden was appointed to deliver the opening address.[101] This was afterwards printed and favorably noticed by some of the leading journals. Apparently, however, it contained little at all interesting either to the antiquarian or scientific man, but was principally taken up with showing the prospect of a rapid agricultural developement throughout the country.
Neither were general internal improvements slighted. A project was set on foot to avoid the dangerous navigation round the Florida Keys by direct transportation across the neck of the peninsula—a design that has ever been the darling hobby of ambitious Floridians since they became members of our confederacy, and which at length seems destined to be fulfilled. Now railroads, in that day canals were to be the means. As early as 1828, General Bernard, who had been dispatched for the purpose, had completed two levellings for canal routes, had sketched an accurate map on an extended scale, and had laid before the general government a report embracing a topographical and hydrographical description of the territory, the result of his surveys, with remarks on the inland navigation of the coast from Tampa to the head of the delta of the Mississippi, and the possible and actual improvements therein.[102] Notwithstanding these magnificent preparations, it is unnecessary to add, the canal is still unborn.
One great drawback to the progress of the territory was the uncertainty of Land Titles. During the Spanish administration nearly the whole had been parcelled out and conferred in grants by the king. Old claims, dating back to the British regime, added to the confusion. Many of both had been sold and resold to both Spanish and American citizens. In the Appendix to Vignoles, and in Williams’ View of West Florida, many pages are devoted to this weighty and very intricate subject. Some of these claims were of enormous extent. Such was that of Mr. Hackley, which embraced the whole Gulf coast of the peninsula and reached many miles inland. This tract had been a grant of His Catholic Majesty to the Duke of Alagon, and it was an express stipulation on the part of the United States, acceded to by the king, that it should be annulled. But meanwhile the Duke had sold out to Mr. Hackley and others, who claimed that the king could not legally dispossess American citizens. A pamphlet was published[103] containing all the documents relating to the question, and the elaborate opinions of several leading lawyers, all but one in favor of Mr. Hackley. After a protracted suit, the Gordian knot was finally severed by an ex post facto decree of His Majesty, that a crown grant to a subject was in any case inalienable, least of all to a foreigner.
The work of Col. John Lee Williams just mentioned,[104] though ostensibly devoted to West Florida takes a wider sweep than the title page denotes. Its author went to Florida in 1820, and was one of the commissioners appointed to locate the seat of government. While busied with this, he was struck with the marked deficiency of all the then published maps of the country, “and for my own satisfaction,” he adds, “I made a minute survey of the coast from St. Andrew’s Bay to the Suwannee, as well as the interior of the country in which Tallahassie is situated.” A letter from Judge Brackenridge, alcalde of St. Augustine, principally consisting of quotations from Roberts, is all that touches on antiquities. Except this, and some accounts of the early operations of the Americans in obtaining possession, and the statements concerning Land Titles, the book is taken up with discussions of proposed internal improvements of very local and ephemeral interest.
All the details of any value that it contains he subsequently incorporated in his Civil and Natural History of the Territory,[105] published ten years later. Most of the intervening time he spent in arduous personal researches; to quote his own words, “I have traversed the country in various directions, and have coasted the whole peninsula from Pensacola to St. Mary’s, examining with minute attention the various Keys or Islets on the margin of the coast. I have ascended many of the rivers, explored the lagoons and bays, traced the ancient improvements, scattered ruins, and its natural productions by land and by water.” Hence the chief value of the work is as a gazetteer. The civil history is a mere compilation, collected without criticism, and arranged without judgment; an entire ignorance of other languages, and the paucity of materials in our own, incapacitated Williams from achieving anything more. Nor can he claim to be much of a naturalist, for the frequent typographical errors in the botanical names proclaim him largely debtor to others in this department. His style is eminently dry and difficult to labor through, and must ever confine the History to the shelf as a work of reference, and to the closet of the painful student. Yet with all its faults—and they are neither few nor slight—this is the most complete work ever published concerning the territory of Florida; it is the fruit of years of laborious investigation, of absorbing devotion to one object, often of keen mental and bodily suffering, and will ever remain a witness to the energy and zeal of its writer.
As little is recorded about this author pioneer, I may perhaps be excused for turning aside to recall a few personal recollections. It had long been my desire to visit and converse with him about the early days of the state, and with this object, on the 9th of November, 1856, I stopped at the little town of Picolati, near which he lived. A sad surprise awaited me; he had died on the 7th of the month and had been buried the day before my arrival. I walked through the woods to his house. It was a rotten, ruinous, frame tenement on the banks of the St. Johns, about half a mile below the town, fronted by a row of noble live oaks and surrounded by the forest. Here the old man—he was over eighty at the time of his death—had lived for twenty years almost entirely alone, and much of the time in abject poverty. A trader happened to be with him during his last illness, who told me some incidents of his history. His mind retained its vigor to the last, and within a week of his death he was actively employed in various literary avocations, among which was the preparation of an improved edition of his History, which he had very nearly completed. At the very moment the paralytic stroke, from which he died, seized him, he had the pen in his hand writing a novel, the scene of which was laid in China! His disposition was uncommonly aimable and engaging, and so much was he beloved by the Indians, that throughout the horrible atrocities of the Seminole war, when all the planters had fled or been butchered, when neither sex nor age was a protection, when Picolati was burned and St. Augustine threatened, he continued to live unharmed in his old house, though a companion was shot dead on the threshold. What the savage respected and loved, the civilized man thought weakness and despised; this very goodness of heart made him the object of innumerable petty impositions from the low whites, his neighbors. In the words of my informant, “he was too good for the people of these parts.” During his lonely old age he solaced himself with botany and horticulture, priding himself on keeping the best garden in the vicinity. “Come, and I will show you his grave,” said the trader, and added with a touch of feeling I hardly expected, “he left no directions about it, so I made it in the spot he used to love the best of all.” He took me to the south-eastern corner of the neat garden plot. A heap of fresh earth with rough, round, pine sticks at head and foot, marked the spot. It was a solemn and impressive moment. The lengthening shadows of the forest crept over us, the wind moaned in the pines and whistled drearily through the sere grass, and the ripples of the river broke monotonously on the shore. All trace of the grave will soon be obliterated, the very spot forgotten, and the garden lie a waste, but the results of his long and toilsome life “in books recorded” will live when the marbles and monumental brasses of many of his cotemporaries shall be no more.
The next event that attracted general attention to Florida was the bloody and disastrous second Seminole war, which for deeds of atrocious barbarity, both on the part of the whites and red men, equals, if it does not surpass, any conflict that has ever stained the soil of our country.
The earliest work relative to it was published anonymously in 1836, by an officer in the army.[106] He gives an impartial account of the causes that gave rise to the war, the manifold insults and aggressions that finally goaded the Indians to desperation, and the incidents of the first campaign undertaken to punish them for their contumacy. It is well and clearly written, and coming from the pen of a participant in many of the scenes described, merits a place in the library of the historian.
The year subsequent, Mr. M. M. Cohen of Charleston, issued a notice of the proceedings in the peninsula.[107] He was an “officer of the left wing,” and had spent about five months with the army, during which time it marched from St. Augustine to Volusia, thence to Tampa, and back again to St. Augustine. The author tells us in his Preface, “our book has been put to press in less than thirty days from its being undertaken;” a statement no one will be inclined to doubt, as it is little more than a farrago of vapid puns and stale witticisms, hurriedly scraped together into a slim volume, and connected by a slender string of facts. An account of the imprisonment of Oceola and the enslavement of his wife, has been given by the same writer,[108] and has received praise for its accuracy.
In 1836, when the war was at its height, an Indian boy was taken prisoner by a party of American soldiers near Newnansville. Contrary to custom his life was spared, and the next year he was handed over to the care of an English gentleman then resident in the country. From his own account, drawn from him after long persuasion, his name was Nikkanoche, his father was the unhappy Econchatti-mico, and consequently he was nephew to the famous chief Oceola, (Ass-se-he-ho-lar, Rising Sun, Powell.) His guardian removed with him to England in 1840, and the year after his arrival there, published an account of the parentage, early days, and nation of his ward,[109] the young Prince of Econchatti, as he was styled. It forms an interesting and pleasant little volume, though I do not know what amount of reliance can be placed on the facts asserted.
An excellent article on the war, which merits careful reading from any one desirous of thoroughly sifting the question, may be found in the fifty-fourth volume of the North American Review, (1842,) prepared with reference to Mr. Horace Everett’s remarks on the Army Appropriation Bill of July 14, 1840, and to a letter from the Secretary of War on the expenditure for supporting hostilities in Florida.
Though the above memoirs are of use in throwing additional light on some points, and settling certain mooted questions, the standard work of reference on the Florida war is the very able, accurate, and generally impartial History,[110] of Captain John T. Sprague, himself a participant in many of its scenes, and officially concerned in its prosecution. Few of our local histories rank higher than this. With a praiseworthy patience of research he goes at length into its causes, commencing with the cession in 1821, details minutely its prosecution till the close in December, 1845, and paints with a vigorous and skillful pen many of those thrilling adventures and affecting passages that marked its progress. A map of the seat of war that accompanies it, drawn up with care, and embracing most of the geographical discoveries made by the various divisions of the army, adds to its value.
Commencing his history with the cession, Captain Sprague does not touch on the earlier troubles with the Seminoles. These were never properly handled previous to the late work of the Hon. J. B. Giddings, entitled, “The Exiles of Florida.”[111] These so-called exiles were runaway slaves from the colonies of South Carolina and Georgia, who, quite early in the last century, sought an asylum in the Spanish possessions, formed separate settlements, and, increased by fresh refugees, became ever after a fruitful source of broils and quarrels between the settlers of the rival provinces. As they were often protected, and by marriage and situation became closely connected with the Lower Creeks, they were generally identified with them in action under the common name of Seminoles. Thus the history of one includes that of the other. The profound acquaintance with the transactions of our government acquired by Mr. Giddings during a long and honorable public service, render his work an able plea in the cause of the people whose wrongs and sufferings have enlisted his sympathy; but unquestionably the fervor of his views prevents him from doing full justice to their adversaries. He attaches less weight than is right to the strict legality of most of the claims for slaves; and forgets to narrate the inhuman cruelties, shocking even to the red men, wreaked by these maroons on their innocent captives, which palliate, if they do not excuse, the rancorous hatred with which they were pursued by the whites. Including their history from their origin till 1853, the second Seminole war occupies much of his attention, and the treatment both of it and the other topics, prove the writer a capable historian, as well as an accomplished statesman.
It is unnecessary to specify the numerous reports of the officers, the official correspondence, the speeches of members of Congress, and other public writings that illustrate the history of the war, which are contained in the Executive Documents. But I should not omit to mention that the troubles in Florida during the last few years have given occasion to the publication of the only at all accurate description of the southern extremity of the peninsula in existence.[112] It was issued for the use of the army, from inedited reports of officers during the second Seminole war, and lays down and describes topographically nine routes to and from the principal military posts south of Tampa Bay.
The works relating to St. Augustine next claim our attention. Of late years this has become quite a favorite rendezvous for casual tourists, invalids from the north, magazine writers, et id omne genus, whence to indite letters redolent of tropic skies, broken ruins, balmy moonlight, and lustrous-eyed beauties. Though it would be lost time to enumerate these, yet among books of general travel, there are one or two of interest in this connection. Among these is an unpretending little volume that appeared anonymously at New York in 1839.[113] The author, a victim of asthma, had visited both St. Augustine and Key West in the spring of that year. Though written in a somewhat querulous tone, it contains some serviceable hints to invalids expecting to spend a winter in warmer climes.
Neither ought we to pass by in silence the Floridian notes of the “Hon. Miss Amelia M. Murray,”[114] who, it will be recollected, a few years since took a contemptuous glance at our country from Maine to Louisiana, weighed it in the balance of her judgment, and pronounced it wanting in most of the elements of civilization. She went on a week’s scout into Florida, found the charges exorbitant, the government wretchedly conducted, and the people boors; was deeply disappointed with St. Augustine and harbor because an island shut out the view of the ocean, and at Silver Spring found nothing more worthy of her pen than the anti-slavery remark of an inn-keeper,—who has himself assured me that she entirely misconstrues even that.
Two works devoted to the Ancient City, as its inhabitants delight to style it, have been published. One of these is a pleasant little hand-book, issued some ten years since by the Rev. Mr. Sewall, Episcopalian minister there.[115] He prepared it “to meet the wants of those who may desire to learn something of the place in view of a sojourn, or who may have already come hither in search of health,” and it is well calculated for this purpose. A view of the town from the harbor, (sold also separately,) and sketches of the most remarkable buildings increase its usefulness. A curious incident connected with this book is worth relating for the light it throws on the character of the so-called Minorcans of St. Augustine. In one part Mr. Sewall had inserted a passage somewhat depreciatory of this class. When the edition arrived and this became generally known, they formed a mob, surrounded the store where it was deposited, and could only be restrained from destroying the whole by a promise that the obnoxious leaf should be cut from every volume in the package. This was done, and the copy I purchased there accordingly lacks the thirty-eighth and thirty-ninth pages. An action on their part that calls to mind the ancient saw, “’Tis the tight shoe that pinches.”
Another and later work that enters into the subject more at length, has recently appeared from the competent pen of G. R. Fairbanks,[116] a resident of the spot, and a close student of the chronicles of the old colony. The rise and progress of the settlements both French and Spanish are given in detail and with general accuracy, and though his account of the former is not so finished nor so thoroughly digested as that of Sparks, consisting of little more than extracts linked together, we have no other work in our language so full on the doings of the subjects of His Catholic Majesty in Florida, and the gradual growth of the Ancient City. It thus fills up a long standing hiatus in our popular historical literature.
Numerous articles on Florida have appeared in various American periodicals, but so few of any value that as a class they do not merit attention. Most of them are flighty descriptions of scenery, second-hand morsels of history, and empty political disquisitions. Some of the best I have referred to in connection with the points they illustrate, while the Index of Mr. Poole, a work invaluable to American scholars, obviates the necessity of a more extended reference.
Those that have appeared in the serials of Europe, on the other hand, as they mostly contain original matter, so they must not be passed over so lightly.
Though not strictly included among them, the article on Florida prepared by Mr. Warden for that portion of L’Art de Verifier les Dates called Historical Chronology of America, will come under our notice here. In a compendium parading such a pretentious title as this we have a right to expect at least an average accuracy, but this portion bears on its face obvious marks of haste, negligence, and a culpable lack of criticism, and is redeemed by nothing but a few excerpts from rare books.
Little attention has ever been paid to the natural history of the country, least of all by Americans. The best observer of late years has been M. de Castelnau, who, sent out by the Academie des Sciences to collect and observe in this department, spent in Middle Florida one of the seven years he passed in America. While the Seminole war was raging, and a mutual slaughter giving over the peninsula once more to its pristine wilderness, in the gloomy hammocks of the Suwannee and throughout the lofty forests that stretch between this river and the Apalachicola, this naturalist was pursuing his peaceful avocation undisturbed by the discord around him. In April, 1842, after his return, he submitted to the Academy a memoir on this portion of his investigations.[117] It is divided into three sections, the first a geographical description, the second treating of the climate, hygienic condition, geology, and agriculture, while the third is devoted to anthropology, as exhibited here in its three phases, the red, the white, and the black man. In one passage,[118] speaking of the history of the country, this author remarks that M. Lakanal “has, during his long sojourn at Mobile, just on the confines of Florida, collected numerous documents relative to the latter country; but the important labors of our venerable colleague have not yet been published.” As far as I can learn, these doubtless valuable additions to our history are still inedited.
The subjoined list of some other articles published in Europe is extracted from Dr. W. Koner’s excellent catalogue.[119]
1832. De Mobile, Excursion dans l’Alabama et les Florides. Revue des Deux Mondes, T. I., p. 128.
1835. Beitrage zur Näheren Kenntniss von Florida. Anal. der Erdkunde, B. XII., s. 336.
1836. Castelnau, Note sur la Source de la Riviére de Walkulla dans la Floride. Soc. de Geographie, II. ser., T. XI., p. 242.
1839. David, Aperçu Statistique sur la Floride Soc. de Geog., II., ser., Tom. XIV., p. 144.
1842. Castelnau, Note de deux Itineraires de Charleston à Tallahassie. Soc. de Geog. T. XVIII., p. 241.
1843. Castelnau, Essai sur la Floride du Milieu. Annales de Voyages, T. IV., p. 129.
1843. De Quatrefages, La Floride. Revue des Deux Mondes, nouv. ser., T. I., p. 774.