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CHAPTEE VI
GOVERNOR MITCHELL APPOINTED TO SUCCEED COLONEL HAWKINS AS
INDIAN AGENT—RESIGNS THE EXECUTIVE CHAIK—WILLIAM RABUN,
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE, TAKES THE OATH OF OFFICE AND Is
SHORTLY THEREAFTER ELECTED BY THE LEGISLATURE FOE A FULL
TERM—His ADMINISTRATION Is DISTURBED BY AN UPRISING OF THE
SEMINOLES—KINSMEN OF THE GEORGIA CREEKS—THE WHOLE OF
UPPER FLORIDA AN ASYLUM FOR LAWLESS CHARACTERS, RUNAWAY
SLAVES, FREE-BOOTERS AND MURDERERS—THE SEMINOLES REFUSE TO
SURRENDER THESE CRIMINALS TO THE GEORGIA AUTHORITIES—MAJOK-
GENERAL GAINES, IN COMMAND OF A BODY OF UNITED STATES TROOPS,
ARRIVES ON THE BORDER—BUT FINDS THE SITUATION DIFFICULT—
His FORCE INADEQUATE—INDIANS ATTACK A PASSING BOAT—FORT
SCOTT—FORT GAINES—GENERAL JACKSON EN ROUTE TO FLORIDA—
DOES NOT STOP AT THE BORDER—INVADES THE TERRITORY OF A
POWER WITH WHICH THIS COUNTRY Is AT PEACE—SACRIFICES
DIPLOMACY TO THE STERN DEMANDS OF A CRITICAL SITUATION—EXE
CUTES Two BRITISH SUBJECTS-—ARBUTHNOT AND AMBRISTER—MATTERS
STILL FURTHER COMPLICATED—THE SECRETARY OF WAR FAVORS A
COURT-MARTIAL—BUT JACKSON'S POPULARITY WITH THE MASSES Is
INCREASED—IN THE END SPAIN CEDES FLORIDA TO THE UNITED
STATES—GENERAL JACKSON'S MARCH THROUGH GEORGIA, KNOWN AS
THE JACKSON TRAIL—PLACES AT WHICH HE STOPPED—CONTROVERSY
BETWEEN GENERAL JACKSON AND GOVERNOR RABUN RELATIVE TO AN
INDIAN VILLAGE, CHEHAW, DESTROYED BY STATE TROOPS—THIS VIL
LAGE BELONGED TO A TRIBE OF FRIENDLY INDIANS—ITS DESTRUCTION
A MOST UNFORTUNATE BLUNDER.
To succeed Colonel Hawking as Indian agent for all the tribes south
of the Ohio River, President Monroe appointed Governor David B.
Mitchell, who was then occupying the executive chair. Governor
Mitchell, on account of his long experience in dealing with the Indians,
seemed to be the logical man for this important work; and, resigning the
governorship, on November 4, 1817, he entered at once upon his duties
as resident agent. William Rabun, president of the Senate, thereupon
took the oath as governor and was duly elected within a few days there
after by the Legislature for a full term of two years.
Governor Rabun's administration was disturbed by a sanguinary
uprising of the Seminoles on the state's southern border. These Indians
were kinsmen of the Georgia Creeks, and for years they had been making
predatory raids upon the property of settlers in the lower part of the
state. Since the overthrow of the Creeks at Horse Shoe Bend, in 1814,
when most of the scattered remnants took refuge among the Florida,
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