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John Benwell - An Englishman's Travels in America
although his little estate, situated at Mardyke Enclosure, some short distance from the town, was greatly
injured, and some six or eight people were crushed to death by the falling trees and ruins of houses.
CHAPTER VI.
"Before us visions come
Of slave-ships on Virginia's coast,
Of mothers in their childless home,
Like Rachel, sorrowing o'er the lost;
The slave-gang scourged upon its way.
The bloodhound and his human prey." - WHITTIER.
Florida produces oranges, peaches, plums, a species of cocoa-nut, and musk and water-melons in
abundance. The more open portions of the country are dotted over with clumps of gnarled pines, of a
very resinous nature, white and red oak, hiccory, cedar, and cypress, and is in general scantily clad with
thin grass, fit only for deer to browse upon. The dreary sameness of the interior of this desolate country is
distressing to the traveller; and the journey from one settlement to another, through pine-forests, seems
almost interminable.
One morning, a short time prior to my intended departure for Tallahassee, I was roused before daybreak
by a rifle-shot, which was instantly followed by the cry of "Guard, turn out!" and much hubbub. As this
was no unusual occurrence, from the constant apprehension we were in of an attack by the Indians on the
stockade, and as it had several times occurred before during my stay, I resolved to lie and listen awhile
before I rose. The earnest conversation and the noise of horses soon after satisfied me it was only a
friendly arrival. I, however, felt anxious to obtain intelligence as to the success of a treaty then pending
between the United States Government and the Indians; the favourable termination of which would not
only render my return to Tallahassee more safe, but put a stop, perhaps for ever, to those constant scenes
of blood and depredation that were by this time become quite sickening to me. This feeling was much
enhanced at the time by the express between Fort Andrews and Deadman's Bay, being shot by a party of
the common enemy. The body of this poor fellow was never found, but traces of blood were to be seen
near the spot where he had been attacked; and the saddle and bridle of his horse were found cut into a
thousand pieces; the probability being that he was wounded and taken prisoner, doubtless to be tortured
to death, a practice common with all Indian tribes in time of war.
On my proceeding to a house used as officers' quarters, outside the stockade, I found the stir had been
caused by the arrival of two companies of light-horse soldiers from St. Marks, escorting several couples
of bloodhounds, to aid the army, operating in that part of Florida, to exterminate the Indians. These dogs
were very ferocious, and, on approaching the leashmen, who had them in charge, they opened in full yell,
and attempted to break loose. The dogs had just arrived from Cuba with their keepers, their importation
having been caused by the supposition, that, like the Maroons in Jamaica, who, for nearly thirty years,
defied the colonists there, the Indians would be terrified into submission. This, however, turned out to be
erroneous; for, on their first trial, the Indians killed several, and the scheme was very properly abandoned
a short time after.
Such barbarous means were very unjustifiable, although many (to use the language of the Earl of
Chatham, when deprecating a similar course in the English House of Lords) considered that every means
that God and nature had placed in their hands, were allowable in the endeavour to bring to a close a war
that had cost the Federal Government an immense amount of blood and treasure. I am of opinion,
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