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482 GEORGIA-AND GEORGIANS
But General Jackson himself was soon en route to Florida. Impa
tient for an opportunity to drive out the Spanish, Jackson had written
to President Monroe in 1817: "Let it be signified to me through any
channel that the possession of Florida by the United States would be
desirable and in sixty days it will be accomplished." * But when this
letter came to hand, President Monroe was ill, and for some reason the
general's letter was not answered for a year. Jackson, however, in some
way, managed to get the impression that he was secretly, if not openly,
supported by the authorities in Washington. His orders in 1818 were
to take command in Georgia. But there loomed before the mind of
General Jackson a more ambitious object. Accordingly, he began to
move southward, bent not so much on subduing the Seminoles as on
taking Florida from the Spaniards.
Early in March, 1818, we find Jackson on the border. Though Flor-
.ida was at this time a province of Spain, the Tenneseean did not hesitate
to invade the territory of a power with which his own government was
at peace. Nor did he stop short of reducing two of its most important
towns, St. Mark's and Pensacola. His pretext was that the Seminoles
had received aid from these towns, both of which were disturbing cen
ters. To suppress lawlessness on the border, it was necessary to adopt
vigorous measures; and there was no other way of getting at the root
of the trouble, to General Jackson's mind at least, save in a sacrifice of
diplomacy to the stern demands of a critical situation. Spain was
unable to police her territory or to keep the Indians in control. Conse
quently, there was only one alternative, if the Seminoles were to be
crushed, viz., to invade Florida. While on the peninsula, Jackson or
dered the execution of two British subjects, Alexander Arbuthnot and
Robert Ambrister, both of whom were charged with inciting the Indians.
There was no positive proof to this effect, but Jackson felt that he could
not afford to take chances. Here he gave offense to another country with
which we were then at peace—England. John Quincy Adams was the
only member of President Monroe's cabinet who undertook to defend
Jackson's course in Florida. All the others criticized it severely; and
John C. Calhourt, the secretary of war, favored a court-martial. Em
barrassing diplomatic entanglements, of course, followed Jackson's im
petuous conduct; but in the end both England and Spain were quieted.
There had been, in fact, but little fighting in Florida; what there was
fell almost entirely to the friendly Indians, and not an American soldier
was killed.! As a result of the first Serniriole war, Jackson was more
than ever a popular hero; and there was little criticism of his conduct
on the floor of Congress. Moreover, the Spanish government, finding
the possession of Florida an embarrassment, under existing conditions,
was willing to negotiate for its relinquishment; and, in 1819, as we
shall see later, this rich peninsula was annexed to the United States.
General Jackson's march through Georgia, en route to subdue the
Florida Seminoles, has been the subject of much controversy and of no
little erroneous speculation; but as traced by official documents on file
in the War Department at Washington, the Jackson trail ran through
* '' Life of Andrew Jackson," W. G. Brown, p. 90.
t "Life of Andrew Jackson," W. G. Brown, p. 90.