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and scouring the country, returned on the 4th of April to Fort Brooke; Generals Clinch and Eustis, the former accompanied by General Scott, reached Fort Brooke by different routes the following day.

The 14th of April the three columns left Tampa and again renewed operations. The center, after penetrating to the forks of the Withlacoochee, was to communicate with the right and then return to Fort Brooke. The right and left marched back to their former stations, Forts Doane and Volusia, where the militia were detached preparatory to their discharge from the service.

So formidable were the preparations for this campaign, that the Indians from the first declined to give or receive battle. At its conclusion General Scott, in his official report to the Adjutant-General, dated the 30th of April, explained as follows, the nature of the opposition he had met and his views as to the future conduct of the war:

On our side, so far, nothing of importance has been achieved. I am more than ever persuaded that the whole force of the enemy, including the negroes, does not exceed 1,200 fighting men; it is probably something less. Of that force I am equally confident that not 500 have, at any time since the commencement of hostilities, been brought within the same 10 miles square. In all our operations within the last thirty days, we have not found a party of more than perhaps 130, but parties of from 10 to 30 have been encountered almost everywhere. No Indian woman, child, or negro, nor the trace of one, has been seen in that time. Those noncombatants (it has been evident to us all) have been removed beyond the theater of our operations. They were, no doubt, even while the parley was going on with General Gaines, of the 7th of March, moving off to the southeast, beyond Pease Creek and Lake Tohopkelika, and in that almost inaccessible region they are now concealed. That officer, it is said, caused Powell and his chiefs to be informed, by way of inducing them to agree to accept the Withlacoochee as a temporary boundary, that large armies were approaching which would fill up the Indian country or crush everything in the way. The wily chiefs profited by the information-sent off their families and dispersed their warriors into small parties. In this way Powell expects to make good his threat, viz, "That he would protract the war three years.'

To end it (in less time) I am now persuaded that not less than 3,000 regular troops are indispensable-2,400 foot and about 600 horse. The country to be scoured and occupied requires that number. I have no particular desire to conduct the operations of the new forces. That is a duty which I shall neither solicit nor decline.

Of the above force-3,000 good troops (not volunteers)-500 will be necessary to garrison five posts for the deposit of supplies; say one on the St. Johns, 7 miles below Lake George; one up the Pease Creek, say 15 miles above Charlotte Harbor; one at Tampa Bay; one 12 miles from the Gulf of Mexico, up the Withlacoochee, and one on the same river, near the Fort King road, with 160,000 rations deposited at Tampa Bay and 30,000 or 40,000 at each of the other posts. Five columns with haversacks and a few 1-horse carts may operate securely and with every prospect of success, at least to the north and west of Charlotte Harbor. For the country below additional means will be wanted, viz, 2 or 3 steamers of a light draft of water and 50 or 60 barges of different sizes, capable of carrying from 10 to 50 men each.

I give these items in order, if approved, that the necessary appropriations may be asked at once. I beg leave to add, in haste, that new regiments, or regiments of recruits, would be worth little or nothing in this war. I will therefore earnestly recommend that the companies of the old regiments be extended to 80 or 90 privates each. Recruits mixed up with the old soldiers in June or July would become effective by the 1st of December; and I repeat that operations can not be carried on by any troops whatever in this peninsula except between the 20th of November and the end of April. The intermediate period is too hot or too sickly to be endured. «

The expression "3,000 good troops (not volunteers)" soon brought General Scott into trouble. This induced him, on the 20th of May, to write to the Adjutant-General of the Army as follows:

The contrast made by me in a few words between regulars and volunteers, in my letter to you of the 30th ultimo, being published, I am of course delivered over to the hostility of the whole body of the militia. Now, no one entertains for the vol

a American State Papers, vol. 7, pp. 278, 279.

unteers who have recently been under my command from South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, and Alabama a more cordial and sincere respect than I do. There are hundred and hundreds of them whom I should be most happy to call friends. They have patriotism, honor, intelligence, and individual courage; but in masses but little of the latter quality. They would, however, I have no doubt, even fight in masses with desperation in defense of their own neighborhoods and homes. But in a distant war like this I utterly deny their efficiency after the zeal of the first week or two has subsided. On this subject there are many wholesome but most unpalatable truths to be told. Exceptions, however, are to be made, I acknowledge. Who shall tell those truths? I know of no commander who has ever yet had the hardihood. Shall I do it? Believing the good of my country calls for it at my hands, if leisure and strength permit, it shall be done. My sacrifice will be inevitable.

*

*

What I meant to state at the conclusion of my last letter was this: The troops called for by me came into the field at too late a period generally, to enable me to prosecute the war to a conclusion."

Four days previous to this letter, he was authorized by the Secretary of War to turn over the command in Florida to General Clinch, or to the officer next in rank, and to resume the command of his department.

INCREASE OF RAW TROOPS.

On the 8th of March, 1836, General Cass, Secretary of War, pursuant to a resolution of the Senate, forwarded, with his approval, a recommendation of the General in Chief, that the number of artillery regiments be increased from four to five, and the infantry from seven to nine; the regiments to have eight companies each, the aggregate enlisted, including the regiment of dragoons, which was to be retained unaltered, to be 9,955. Lest this project should not be approved, he stated that

The proposed augmentation of the noncommissioned officers, privates, and musicians may be so distributed as not to require any change in the number of the regiments or in the grades of the officers, by simply adding a given number to each company.

Instead of adopting a policy so obviously humane and economical, Congress, by the act of May 23, 1836, authorized the President to accept the services of 10,000 volunteers, infantry and cavalry, "to serve six or twelve months, unless sooner discharged." In imitation of the system of 1792, they were to furnish their own clothes, and, if cavalry, their own horses. Although under the Constitution these troops were to constitute a national force as distinct from the militia as the Regular Army, their organization was made dependent on the good wil! of governors who were empowered to appoint all the officers. The third section of the law, copying the phraseology of previous legislation, provided that when companies, battalions, brigades, or divisions of militia already organized should tender their voluntary service, they should continue to be commanded by the officers holding commissions at the time of such tender. The prepossession of Congress in favor of raising new regiments, instead of filling up old ones, was not limited to volunteers.

The sixth section created a regular regiment of dragoons, with the same organization as the one already in service, and which, under the seventh section, was to be disbanded whenever the public interest would permit.

The last section prescribed that so much of the act as related to volunteers should continue in force for two years from and after its passage.

@ American State Papers, vol. 7, pp. 298, 299.
American State Papers, vol. 6, p. 158.

CREEK CAMPAIGN

This campaign, though brief, was marked, like all our wars, by an unnecessary sacrifice of life and property, the inevitable result of a bad military policy.

On the 18th of May, Governor Schley of Georgia, who had already supplemented the deficiency of Government troops by sending two regiments to Florida, wrote to General Scott:

The Creek Indians are in a state of open war, killing and destroying everything in their way. They have crossed to the Georgia side of the Chattahoochee and burnt Roanoke, and an attack on Columbus is daily expected. All the white people of the nation who have not been murdered have fled to Georgia. The people on our frontier are in a wretched condition, their lives and property being at the mercy of the savages. The militia of the adjoining counties have been called out almost en masse, and I have been making exertions to get troops to the field, but the want of proper organization of the militia makes this a difficult task. I am endeavoring for the present to defend Georgia, and as soon as I can obtain a sufficient force, I intend to carry the war into the enemy's country.

I should have written you immediately on hearing of these difficulties, but did not know until now where to address you. If you can spare any United States troops for this service they will be acceptable, and I should be glad if you can send an officer to muster the militia I have furnished, and shall furnish, into the service of the United States. If your presence is not necessary in Florida, I shall be very glad to see you on the line of the Chattahoochee. We know so little of military matters and the economy of an army, that your presence will be quite acceptable.«

Two days previous to the date of this letter, General Scott had been authorized to turn over the command in Florida, and, as information had reached the War Department that hostilities were meditated by the Creeks, he was directed to give his attention to that quarter, with authority to assume command and to call on the governors of Alabama and Georgia for such militia as he might want."

He was also notified that General Fenwick had been ordered to go to the Creek country with six companies of artillery.

On the 19th of May, General Jesup was assigned, as a brevet majorgeneral, to the command of the United States troops, and of such militia as might, at his discretion, be called into service against the Creeks. He was also ordered to serve under General Scott should the latter proceed to the new theater of war.

The two officers met at Augusta and traveled together to Columbus, where they arrived on the 30th of May.

Here General Scott encountered difficulties similar to those at the outset of his Florida campaign. The governors of Alabama and Georgia had ordered a large number of militia into the field without arms and adequate supplies.

In reference to arms the ordnance officer at Mount Vernon Arsenal wrote to General Scott June 14:

The governors of Alabama and Florida have completely exhausted my stock of arms and ammunition; they each had unlimited authority from the Secretary of War to call for whatever they wanted, and I was directed to issue accordingly. Governor Clay has drawn from this depot the following ordnance and ordnance stores, to wit: Four 6-pounders, complete; 6,800 muskets, complete; 157,000 buckshot and ball cartridges; 307 6-pounder canister; 105 6-pounder strapped shot; 9,700 flints; 1,492 sets of infantry accouterments; 50 yards of slow-match; 1,000 priming tubes; 133 portfires.

Of the above, 6,000 muskets, the 4 pieces of ordnance, and a due proportion of other stores were shipped to Montgomery, and the balance were ordered to Clai

@ American State Papers, vol. 7, p. 311.
American State Papers, vol. 7, p. 310.

borne for the troops called out by the governor, and to be rendezvoused at Irwinton, Barbour County, in this State."

June 12 General Scott wrote to the Adjutant-General:

We have on this frontier about 3,300 Georgia volunteers and drafts; the former contain a large portion of the chivalry, intelligence, and property of the State. Of this force we have not as yet been able to arm more than a third. Muskets in sufficient numbers are approaching, but no accouterments, except the 1,800 that I ordered from St. Augustine and Picolata. Without these, which I expect from the Ockmulgee in six days, it would have been utterly impossible to have equipped the Georgians for the field, for there were no accouterments in any of the southern arsenals.

In six or eight days, then, I hope to be able to arm and equip the whole of the Georgia forces; and, as a respectable number of the regular troops may be expected here by that time, I shall not lose a moment in commencing active operations.

The lack of arms at so critical a junction, can only be ascribed to the shortsighted economy which ever prompts Congress to defer preparations for war, till hostilities are actually begun.

Its effect at this time, was to compel the Government to support in idleness, thousands of troops who were impatient for action, while life and property went wholly unprotected. June 14 General Scott wrote to the Adjutant-General:

We are still held in a state of inactivity from the nonarrival of arms, ammunition, etc.

* *

*

Nearly all the Georgians ordered out by the governor-a little more than 3,000are already on the frontier, but, as I have before reported, by far the greater number of the companies have come without arms and accouterments.

* * *

The first company of regulars (Monroe's) arrived yesterday, and a detachment of four or six, under Major Lomax, may be expected the day after to-morrow. Other detachments will follow at intervals of a day or two, and the whole, including marines, may be expected in a week. I have not, however, all-important as I deem those regulars, been waiting for them. The volunteers can not march without arms, accouterments, and ammunition. ©

June 16 he issued order No. 8:

All the troops of the Georgia Line will hola tnemselves in readiness to take the field the moment the arms and ammunition, now daily expected, shall arrive.d

June 21 he wrote to the Adjutant-General:

A thousand muskets arrived here last night and have been issued to as many troops this morning, who will immediately commence the march for a point on the Chattahoochee, say the mouth of the Cowaggee Creek, below the enemy.e

While General Scott was thus delayed, events in Alabama, contrary to his instructions, moved with greater rapidity.

On the 12th of June, General Jesup, whom he had assigned to the command, advanced against the Creeks at the head of a mixed force of 2,300 militia and Indians, and, without delivering a battle, received the submission of the principal chiefs. On the 21st of June he arrived at Fort Mitchell, on the Chattahoochee, and four days later reported to the Secretary of War:

I consider the war at an end. My operations have broken the power of the hostile chiefs, dissolved their formidable confederacy, and given entire security to the country.f

@American State Papers, vol. 7, p. 321.
American State Papers, vol. 7, p. 326.
CAmerican State Papers, vol. 7, p. 328.
@American State Papers, vol. 7, p. 329.
eAmerican State Papers, vol. 7, p. 333.
ƒ American State Papers, vol. 7, p. 348.

A misunderstanding having arisen between General Scott and General Jesup, the former, by direction of the President (General Jackson), was ordered to Washington, "in order that an inquiry be had into the unaccountable delay in prosecuting the Creek war and the failure of the campaign in Florida." a

On the 7th of July, General Scott relinquished the command to Gen eral Jesup.

The number of troops employed in the Creek campaign was:

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The Indian warriors at the beginning, were estimated by General Scott at from 3,000 to 5,000.

OPERATIONS IN FLORIDA.

After the departure of General Scott and the resignation of General Clinch, the command of the troops in this department, pending the arrival of General Jesup, devolved on Governor Call. In September, with a force mainly consisting of Tennessee mounted volunteers and Florida militia, he moved to the Withlacoochee, but the Indians, as in the preceding campaign, did not risk an engagement. The remaining operations of the year were too insignificant to be mentioned. On the 8th of December, General Jesup assumed command, relieving Governor Call.

NUMBER OF TROOPS EMPLOYED IN 1836.

The troops mustered into service in 1835-36 were:

Militia and volunteers

Class of troops.

Creek Indians organized and mustered as volunteers, summer of 1836.
Total

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These figures include the 698 militia and volunteers employed to prevent Indian hostilities on the Southwestern frontier. The remainder nearly all served in the Seminole and Creek Wars, the number of mounted volunteers and militia being 13,127.a

a American State Papers, vol. 7, p. 337.
American State Papers, vol. 7, p. 951.

c Report of Adjutant-General, American State papers, vol. 6, p. 1061.
d American State Papers, etc.

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