Page 48 - a-history-of-columbia-county-florida-(1996)-edward-f-keuchel

A History of Columbia County Florida (1996) Edward F. Keuchel 37/340

A History of Columbia County, Florida

He was finally able to gather a majority of the chiefs and
warriors to a meeting at Paynes’ Landing on the Oklawaha on May
9, 1832. According to the resultant treaty, the Seminoles would
leave Florida within three years. The tribe was to receive grants of
around $80,000 for the 4,032,490 acres of land given to them under
the Treaty of Moultrie Creek. In Indian territory in the West the
Seminoles would become a part of the Creek nation and share the
Creek’s allotment. This provision completely ignored the hatreds
between the Creeks and Seminoles. This was somewhat remedied
when a delegation of Seminole leaders went to the new Indian
territory to look over their proposed new lands. At a treaty signed
at Fort Gibson on March 28,1833, it was agreed that the Seminoles
would receive their own tract separate from the Creeks, and that
the Indians would emigrate. Upon returning to Florida the seven
chiefs who made the trip faced an angry council opposed to the
transfer and led by the young, belligerent Osceola.
On April 9, 1834, the Senate ratified both the Treaty of
Paynes’ Landing and the Treaty of Fort Gibson. Pressure mounted
for the emigration of the Indians to commence. Wiley Thompson
was appointed Indian agent and superintendent of the emigration.
General Duncan Clinch was in charge of U.S. troops in the
territory. Early in January, 1835, the Jacksonville Courier re­
ported that about half of the Indians favored emigration, but the
remaining half were preparing to fight. One chief was reported to
say that he had one hundred and fifty kegs of good powder which
he would use before leaving.11 For the most part the Indians
stalled, and it was not until April, 1835, that Thompson, working
out of Fort King near present Ocala, succeeded in obtaining a
favorable reply from the chiefs. Osceola became increasingly
hostile towards the whites in the region of Fort King, and was
finally arrested, put in chains, and imprisoned for six days for

11 Jacksonville Courier, cited in Niles Register, Vol. XLVII, January 31,1835, p.
374.
36

www.LakeCityHistory.com LCH-UUID: 02905885-C4E0-4A35-9DAE-804ED8349EC9