Читать книгу History of Jacksonville, Florida and Vicinity, 1513 to 1924 - T. Frederick Davis - Страница 11

Gradually the Seminoles were driven southward in advance of the white man as settlement in the peninsula of Florida increased. Finally the desire arose to get rid of the Seminoles altogether and they were enticed into an agreement to emigrate to the West and occupy lands in what is now Indian Territory. Some of the chiefs, among them the famous Osceola, did not enter into this agreement to emigrate, and when the time came for them to go they refused. The attempt to force the removal brought on the Seminole war, which developed into the longest and most disastrous Indian war in the history of the United States.

In the summer of 1835, it was known that the Indians were on the verge of outbreak, but everyone thought the war would be of short duration and after a few skirmishes the Indians would be so badly punished they would be glad to emigrate to the West. A prolonged war was simply out of the question from the view-point of the whites. Planters went about their farm operations as usual and trade with the interior continued unabated. In the fall there were ominous mutterings of coming trouble, still the popular belief was that it would not last long. Short-time volunteers were called for to frighten the Indians into agreeing to emigrate.

The war opened December 29, 1835, when Osceola and twenty followers shot and killed General Wiley Thompson and others at Fort King, now Ocala, and Major Dade's command was massacred in Sumter County, near the present town of Bushnell, two separate events on the same day. The news of these disasters spread through the country like wildfire. People everywhere in the interior abandoned their homes and collected in the towns for protection. Many of them came to Black Creek and on to Jacksonville. Trade with the interior gradually ceased, and although it was expected that hostilities would be confined to the middle portion

of the peninsula, the stoppage of trade with the interior, a large portion of which was handled through Jacksonville, was perceptibly felt in business circles here.

The Block House

The Governor of Florida issued a proclamation to the people advising them to build block houses in every community, as a means of protection against the Indians. One was built in Jacksonville, probably in 1836, at the northeast corner of Ocean and Monroe Streets. This structure was one of the famous buildings here and is mentioned in nearly every account of the early town. It was a structure of logs, large square room raised high above the ground on a pedestal-like base. It was entered through a door in the floor, by means of a ladder .. In the event of attack, the ladder could be drawn up and the opening closed. Portholes were provided on all sides, and also in the floor, through which to shoot. . The object of the overhanging construction was to prevent its being set on fire, since in trying to fire the house an Indian could be shot from overhead. The block house stood at what was then the frontier of the town. All north and west of it was barren waste. Every rumor of Indians in this section caused the timid residents to seek its protection at dark. Sentries did guard duty at night and "many an amusing scene could they relate, caused by the electric imagination of the weak-nerved when it came their turn to go on post". During its fifteen years of existence the block house served the community well, first as a fort and then as a place for holding religious services.

Jacksonville was a supply depot during the war, sub-commissary to the chief post at Middleburg. The government built a long one-story wooden building on the south side of Bay Street, between Main and Laura, near Laura, as a storage for supplies. This was popularly called the "government building". It was built high above the marsh, for that region was then nothing more than marsh land, and along the Bay Street side a raised sidewalk furnished an entrance. This building stood for many years.

Attacks by the Indians

In the summer of 1836, roving bands of Indians attacked and destroyed several plantations along the lower St. Johns, among them those of Colonel Hallowes and Mr. Travers. They also appeared here and there in Western Florida, between the Suwanee River and Tallahassee. The settlements in the Black Creek country and on the east side of the St. Johns above Jacksonville had, many of them, been broken up, although a few planters who had been kind to the Seminoles, remained on their farms and were never molested.

On September 15, 1836, a band of Indians attacked the house of a Mr. Higginbotham seven miles west of Jacksonville, but they were driven off by members of the household, who barricaded themselves in the house and fired at the Indians. After the Indians left, Mr. Higginbotham rode post-haste to Jacksonville to give the alarm, and Major Hart and twelve men immediately went in pursuit. Major Hart's party found all well at the Higginbotham home and pushed on down the trail toward the Tallahassee road. When they reached the Fleming Johns farm they found the house a heap of smoking ruins in which were the charred remains of Mr. Johns. Several miles farther on, at Mr. Sparkman's, they found Mrs. Johns, severely wounded, but still alive. Mr. and Mrs. Johns were attacked at 10 o'clock in the forenoon, while they were in the yard of their home, and although Mr. Johns was shot through the chest, both he and his wife managed to reach the house and close the door. The Indians broke open the door and shot Mr. Johns dead. They dragged his wife to the door and told her to go, but at that moment an Indian shot her through the arm and neck. She fell through the doorway, but they dragged her back into the house and with a large butcher knife scalped her. They then plundered the house and set fire to it. Mrs. Johns, though greatly weakened from loss of blood, managed to crawl out of the burning house after the Indians left. Fainting from weakness at frequent intervals, she at last reached a nearby swamp, got some water, and lay down to die. Here searchers found her at 2 p. m. They took her on a horse and conveyed her to a neighbor's, Mr. Sparkman's, several miles away. She was later removed to Jacksonville and placed in a comfortable boarding house, where medical attendance and humane attention soon relieved her of much of her physical suffering and she finally recovered.

An Englishman persuaded Mrs. Johns to go to Washington to apply for a pension. Her likeness was taken and hung in the capitol. She was afterward exhibited, but the Englishman ran off with the money. Mrs. Johns then returned to Savannah where she married a man named Mathas. Some years later Mathas was stabbed by a crazy man and died in Savannah. Mrs. Mathas returned to Florida and died here in 1874.

The year 1836 closed with the Indians holding their own everywhere. They overran the country, killing express riders, attacking wagon trains, and burning farm houses, and as a result no operations, except those of a military nature, were carried on in the country districts. The comparatively extensive trade that Jacksonville had enjoyed with the interior was entirely destroyed, and on account of the public unrest such enterprises as were contemplated were abandoned. Instead of being a small affair that would terminate with a display of force and a few volleys from the troops, the war wore on for seven years. As time went by, however, the field of operations receded from this section and went farther and farther southward.

Panic of 1837

In 1830, there began an era of extravagant speculation and reckless enterprise in the United States. Population was increasing and production was increasing even faster than population. As the means of communication between producer and consumer were decidedly inadequate, a universal need was felt for transportation facilities that would insure quick delivery at moderate prices. The popular demand for railroad and canal construction became so great that conservatism and good judgment were swept aside. States, cities, and towns all over the country were drawn into the whirl of enthusiasm, and many of them made large bond issues to carry on the work of construction. Naturally business in all lines became inflated, and when such is the case a crisis is inevitable. An over production in the cotton crop of 1836 caused a drop in prices and hastened the panic that had its beginning in 1837. During the hard times that followed many of the States had to resort to extraordinary measures to pay the interest on their debts, and some actually repudiated their debts and refused to pay. The States had issued bonds in the aid of the construction of railroads and canals, and in the South especially subscribed to bank stock for the purchase of which they also issued bonds. Therefore, many bank failures occurred when the crash came. Florida had a better excuse for repudiating her debts than the other States, as the disastrous Indian war, which was still going on, had cleaned out her treasury. Jacksonville had experienced the inflation and she was feeling the result. The ambitious enterprises that had been planned were abandoned.

There was, though, another side to it for Jacksonville. Besides the army officers and troops that came to the State, the war drew many people here, desirable citizens and adventurers alike, for there is something about a new country like Florida was at that time, that lures people. The adventurers did not settle and left when peace was at last restored, while a number of good people stayed and made this their permanent home. The effects of the panic gradually wore away and the zone of hostilities receded until the town returned to almost normal business conditions, despite the fact that roving bands of Indians still made an occasional attack upon some outlying settlement. Trade with nearby points was resumed and gradually extended to the interior.

Some light is thrown upon the conditions in this section in letters from Mandarin about this period; the following are excerpts:

Mandarin, March 13, 1839.

***But I must broach the, all absorbing, all exciting theme – the mulberry. I thought when at New York I had made a good contract, but it has proved far otherwise, for I found much to my surprise that the fever was raging higher here than at Hartford or New York, for not only had some of the mulberry planters returned from travelling at the North, but several Northern men had come here to buy mulberry and plant here to avail themselves of our climate; so instead of finding plenty of opportunities for buying cheap, as I had every reason to expect, I found only buyers riding through the country in search of it. This was a double disappointment, for in the first place I had formed a plan * * * to purchase up all the mulberry in my neighborhood as soon as I arrived and with my own take it to New York and make quite a speculation with it * * *. I have barely time to say that I have sold what I could spare and reserved enough to make a great number this season, but such was my fear that something might occur to reduce the price * * * that I sold them too soon and did not get more than half as much as I might soon after, for such is the rage for planting that they have risen to the enormous price of 3 cents an eye for cuttings. The Davenports have shipped a great quantity. One lot of trees at St. Augustine sold for $50,000.

Mandarin, July 10, 1840.

* * * The unaccountable or rather abominable circumstances of the war, keeping me out of the possession of my place and the total failure of the mulberry market, deprives me of all resources for the present.

* * * Neither can I do anything at improving my orange grove without exposing myself to danger, for Indians are bolder than ever. They have dispersed themselves into small parties and prowl about like wild beasts. They have committed murders near us upon the public roads that have been travelled in safety until this season and the prospect never has been darker than the present for its termination. There is no way to account for this state of things, but by the political condition of our country, being on the eve of a presidential election. * * *

(Near) Mandarin, Jan'y. 1, 1842.

*** You will doubtless think I had some cause for melancholy reflections when I tell you that I was but little better than a guard for protection – the Indians came into the very neighborhood of Mandarin,

murdered one family and plundered and burnt out three, and that I had just gotten settled at my place again after spending 2 or 3 months' time and some money. This is the third time I have been obliged to

abandon my place and sacrifice time, money, and everything but my life. * * * In all former wars with the Indians they never were known to come into Mandarin settlement before. And during this war of more than six years they never have come nearer than Julington Creek (to my neighbor, Mott, adjoining me); therefore at this late period when this part of the country had been so long quiet the inhabitants of Mandarin thought no more of Indians than if there were none in the Territory, but now their fears are as great or greater than at any time since the war broke out. It had been long reported and was generally believed that the troops had gotten almost all the Indians out of the Territory and that the war would soon be terminated. But alas! we have just experienced another cruel disappointment and there is no more security or prospect for its termination than at its commencement. * * * I have barely room to say that the creeping, skulking Indians never would have ventured into Mandarin settlement but that there are no troops within 100 miles (20 or 30 except); they were all taken south in pursuit of Sam Jones and his warriors. I hear that troops are on their way to be stationed near us for our protection. If so I may return to my place, for all that return to reoccupy their places are now furnished with provisions till the next crop season. * * *