The Christmas Capture of the Steamboat Bloomer

The 1862 Union Raid in Walton, Geneva, Holmes & Washington Counties

by Dale Cox

The Union raid came ashore at Four Mile Landing at today's
Freeport, Florida, on Christmas Day of 1862. 

The paddlewheel steamboat Bloomer was the object of a raid launched by the U.S. Army and Navy during Christmas week 1862.

The 130-ton sternwheel boat was built at New Albany, Indiana, in 1856, but operated on the Choctawhatchee River. She carried cargo and passengers to and from points as far up the river as Geneva, Alabama, providing transportation through Choctawhatchee Bay and Santa Rosa Sound to Pensacola.

Her owner decided not to risk his boat when the War Between the States or Civil War erupted in 1861, opting instead to rope her to the bank one-mile below Geneva.

The Bloomer's presence there soon attracted the attention of Acting Master E.D. Bruner of the U.S. Navy. He commanded the schooner USS Charlotte, which in late 1862 was stationed at East Pass near today's resort city of Destin, Florida.

East Pass near Destin, Florida, as seen on a rainy winter day.
The USS Charlotte was stationed here to prevent Southern
vessels from slipping through the Union blockade.

Bruner was debating how to capture the Bloomer when he was visited by Lt. James H. Stewart of the 91st New York Infantry. The army officer was scouting Choctawhatchee Bay with a small detachment of soldiers:

...He said he was “on a scout,” and remained with me five days, during which time we made a partial arrangement to ascend the Choctawhatchee River in company, he to furnish a detachment of soldiers and I to take the men under my command. On or about the 17th of December Lieutenant Stewart returned to East Pass with a detachment of 25 men and remained at my camp while I went to the Potomac for an extra boat, for transportation, and extra arms, etc. When I returned to the pass I received on board the schooner Charlotte Lieutenant Stewart and his command and proceeded up the bay to La Grange Bayou, 40 miles distant. I sent Master’s Mate Crissey with the Caroline in advance with orders to secure the pilot, which he had accomplished by the time we arrived. [1]

USS Charlotte sailed up to Four Mile Landing at Freeport
to put ashore the raiding party and its cannon.

The Charlotte sailed into LaGrange Bayou near present-day Freeport, Florida, on Christmas Eve of 1862. On the next morning, Christmas Day, the sailors and soldiers went ashore at Four Mile Landing. To support their movement, they also brought a boat howitzer ashore from the ship:

...I found when I arrived at the landing a number of horses and teams secured. I attached my gun to a team, loaded with provisions, and had everything ready by 3 o’clock, at which time we started. We traveled 16 miles before encamping. The next morning (Friday) at 6 o’clock we again started and traveled all day, encamping in the evening 17 miles from Geneva. At 3 o’clock p.m. I ordered a citizen volunteer to take a horse and proceed to ascertain if the route was clear before us, and also if the steamboat was afloat. Lieutenant Stewart and another person volunteered to accompany him. The scout returned in the evening and reported that everything was right and that Lieutenant Stewart had remained. [2]

The raiding party followed a road that led from Freeport up the west side of the Choctawhatchee River to Eucheeanna, then the county seat of Walton County. An unnamed correspondent from Marianna described the movement in a letter to the Montgomery Daily Mail:

Alexander L. McCaskill
State Archives of Florida.

...On Wednesday last they marched from “Four Mile Landing,” on the western boundary of Walton county, to the Court House, where they interfered with nothing; went a few miles further, arrested Hon. Mr. McCaskill, who was a member of our State Convention. [3]

The "Hon. Mr. McCaskill," seized by the raiders, was Alexander L. McCaskill. One of Walton County's delegates to the state secession convention, he was a Unionist farmer who voted against Florida's secession from the Union. His treatment at the hands of the raiders did not sit well with McCaskill,. After returning home, he enlisted in the 6th Alabama Cavalry, eventually rising to the rank of 1st lieutenant.

Lt. Stewart went aboard the idle steamboat, untied it from its moorings and floated it out to the middle of the Choctawhatchee. He and the soldier who accompanied him then added planking to the pilothouse to fortify it against small arms fire.

Acting Master Bruner reached the boat on Saturday morning, December 27, to find that it could be placed in running order within 24-hours. His men immediately went to work:

The raiding party steamed the Bloomer down the Choctawhatchee
River, passing such points as the Cowford (seen here).

...At 8 o’clock a.m. everything was reported ready, but upon getting up steam a hole was found in one of the boilers, and we were obliged to let the steam go down again in order to repair it, which took until 3 o’clock p.m., when everything being ready we started. After running two and a half days in one of the very worst rivers I have ever been in, and expecting to be fired upon at any moment, we returned safely alongside the Charlotte. [4]

The capture of the Bloomer was a remarkable exploit, but its value soon caused tension between the soldiers and sailors who took part in the adventure. The army and the navy both claimed the vessel as a prize, with Lt. Stewart going so far as to accuse Bruner of cowardice during the raid:

...During the march of 41 miles Mr. Bruner was very earnest to return, as citizens said there were several companies of rebel cavalry in the neighborhood, but my officer refused to retreat. At 23 miles from the vessel they were assured that she was sunk, and Mr. Bruner insisted upon a retreat. My officer said he would have a piece of the steamer if he had to dive for it. [5]

Bloomer, mounted cannon on her decks, and put her to use along the coast of Northwest Florida. She later took part in the burning of the village of St. Andrews (now Panama City) on St. Andrew Bay and participated in the destruction of hundreds of saltworks along the Gulf Coast.

The road used by the Union raiding party passed by the crystal
clear spring at today's Ponce de Leon Springs State Park.

A judge ultimately settled the dispute in favor of the U.S. Navy, which purchased the

The steamboat's owner never regained possession of his vessel. She sank at East Pass in June 1865, but was raised by the navy and sold to S.P. Griffin & Company of Woolsey, Florida.* The Griffin firm renamed the boat Emma and used her until 1868 when she was sold to foreign interests. Her eventual fate is unknown.

The Christmas raid of 1862 penetrated more than 50 miles of Confederate territory without the firing of a shot. Modern communities along its route include Freeport, Eucheeanna, Ponce de Leon, Barker Store, and Geneva.

The map below shows the Junction of the Choctawhatchee and Pea Rivers at Geneva, Alabama. The capture site was one mile downstream.

REFERENCES:

[1] Acting Master E.D. Bruner to Commander Alexander Gibson, U.S. Navy, commanding Frigate Potomac, January 3, 1863, ORN.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Montgomery Daily Mail, January 4, 1863.

[4] Brig. Gen. Neal Dow, U.S. Army, to Rear-Admiral David G. Farragut, U.S. Navy, January 2, 1863, ORN.

The Battle of Ocheesee in Calhoun & Liberty Counties, Florida

The longest sustained fight of the Seminole Wars

by Dale Cox

Red Stick Creek warriors attack from the bank of the
Apalachicola River during the annual Scott 1817 Seminole
War Battle Reenactment. The attack at Ocheesee Bluff
looked similar to this.

The Native American army of the Prophet Josiah Francis launched a massive attack against three U.S. ships on the Apalachicola River on December 15, 1817 – 202 years ago today.

The morning of December 15 found 800-1,200 Red Stick Creek, Seminole, Lower Creek, Miccosukee, Yuchi, and Black Seminole warriors positioned on both sides of Florida’s Apalachicola River. Their location was a twisting section between Ocheesee Bluff in what is now Calhoun County and today’s Torreya State Park across the river in Liberty County. Provisioned with corn and other supplies captured at William Hambly’s plantation at present-day Blountstown, they were prepared for a battle that would prove to be the longest of the Seminole Wars.

The sloop Phoebe Ann and the schooners Little Sally and General Pike were ocean-going vessels with captains and crews accustomed to long voyages at sea. The latter of these was one of the supply vessels involved in the American attack on the Fort at Prospect Bluff or Negro Fort seventeen months before.

The Battle of Ocheesee was fought on the Apalachicola River
in Calhoun and Liberty Counties, Florida. The battlefield is
seen here from Ocheesee Bluff.

The ships were slowly making their way up the Apalachicola River with cargoes of ammunition, regimental clothing, and other supplies for the 4th and 7th Regiments of U.S. Infantry. The men of these units comprised the bulk of the garrison at Fort Scott on today's Lake Seminole. They had marched overland from Fort Montgomery and Camp Montpelier in Alabama, but the majority of their heavy supplies was sent by ship. The Prophet Francis was determined to stop the necessities from getting through.

The Prophet's strategy reflected lessons learned from the Creek War of 1813-1814. Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson penetrated the heart of the Creek Nation and defeated the Red Stick forces at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, thanks to a long and tenuous supply line. Francis recognized that U.S. troops were helpless without their supplies and moved to cut off the main fighting force at Fort Scott from resupply. He planned to starve out the garrison and force its retreat.

Warriors rained down fire on the U.S. vessels from the top of
Ocheesee Bluff. The large tree at the top was toppled by
Hurricane Michael in October 2018.

The site for the main attack on the Apalachicola River was carefully chosen. The river flows around two sharp bends between Ocheesee Bluff and today's Torreya State Park. The high bluffs in the park offered sweeping views of the entire scene, while the surface of Ocheesee Bluff on the west bank was just high enough for warriors to fire down into the ships as they attempted to pass. The alignment of the bends allowed warriors to fire from all four directions.

The vessels were moving upstream by warping. This means that they sailed in a zigzag course so their sails could catch just enough wind to keep moving. The alignment of the river bends, however, allowed rifles and muskets to be aimed at the decks and rigging from all four directions. If the sailors could not work the sails, the ships would be dead in the water.

In addition to their crews, the Little Sally and Phoebe Ann carried a 110 man escort under Maj. Peter Muhlenberg. A son of Gen. Peter He was a seasoned veteran of heavy fighting on the Canadian border during the War of 1812 and was the son of Gen. Peter Muhlenberg, the famed "fighting parson" of the American Revolution. His soldiers were primarily drawn from the 4th Regiment, although 40 men from the 7th had come down on a keelboat with Lt. Richard W. Scott in late November. 

The keelboat Aux Arc ("Ozark") fires her swivel gun during
this year's reenactment of the Scott Battle of 1817. A similar
boat took part in the Battle of Ocheesee.

Scott was dead now, along with 34 men, 6 women, and 4 children. (Please see The Scott Battle of 1817).

The 40 men of his original command were still with Muhlenberg. Another 40 men were ordered from Fort Scott to assist the unfortunate lieutenant but passed the scene of his defeat in the darkness without seeing anything. They informed the men on the ships of the outbreak of war and of their failure to find Scott's command. Maj. Muhlenberg kept them and their keelboat to strengthen his force, which now numbered around 190 men.

The three vessels reached William Hambly's store at Spanish Bluff (today's Neal Landing at Blountstown, Florida) late on December 13, 1817. They arrived just hours after a Red Stick Creek and Seminole force under the Fowltown war chief Chenubby attacked the settlement, capturing Hambly and his guest Edmund Doyle, and killing the U.S.-allied chief William Perryman. (Please see A Battle of Blountstown, Florida).

The signs were ominous, but Muhlenberg knew that the supplies onboard the ships - especially the ammunition - were desperately needed at Fort Scott. He continued slowly upriver, reaching the spot selected by the Prophet Francis for his attack on the morning of December 15, 1817:

Warriors firing from Ocheesee Bluff and other points around
a double bend of the Apalachicola River were able to pin
down the supply ships trying to sail upstream to Fort Scott.

On Monday morning the transports were attacked by Indians from both sides of the river with a heavy fire of small arms. We returned their fire, the firing has continued ever since. We have lost two men killed and thirteen wounded, most of them severely. Whether we have injured them any I am not able to say. We are now compelled to remain here, as it is impossible for us to carry out a warp, as a man cannot shew himself above the bulwarks without being fired on. [i]

One of the severely wounded men died within the next few days.

The three vessels could not move forward or backward. Warriors were firing from all directions, and the sailors could not work the rigging and sails. The anchors were dropped, and the soldiers fired back as best they could.

The Phoebe Ann and Little Sally often sailed in pirate-infested waters and were undoubtedly armed with at least swivel cannon for their protection. A few small cannonballs have been found in the battlefield area, so the guns were undoubtedly used when possible. 

This massive old live oak atop Ocheesee Bluff likely survived
the Battle of Ocheesee. It later stood in the yard of the historic
Gregory House which can be visited today on the opposite
side of the river in Torreya State Park.

It was a chaotic scene. War cries and shouts from the warriors filled the air as the rattle of musket and rifle fire was punctuated by the occasional boom of a cannon. The sound of lead balls striking the bulwarks and masts of the ships was constant, as were the groans and cries of the wounded soldiers: 

…I can assure you that our present situation is not the most Pleasant not knowing how soon or whether we are to receive succor from above, the wounded are but in a bad situation owing to the vessels being much crowded, and it is impossible to make them any ways comfortable on board. Not having other means to communicate to you, I am compelled to dispatch the keel boat with instructions to make the best of his way to Fort Scott. I hope to hear from you soon with instructions how I am to proceed in my present situation. [ii] 

The keelboat was fitted with a protective cover before it left Fort Scott. This allowed Capt. J.J. Clinch and his men to break through the ring of fire and escape upriver by using their oars. The two larger ships had no such protection and were destined to remain engaged in the most prolonged continuous battle of the Seminole Wars.

The Battle of Ocheesee continued for two weeks to come.

The best places to see the battlefield are from Ocheesee Landing in Calhoun County and Torreya State Park across the river in Liberty County. The landing is at the east end of Ocheesee Landing Road off FL-69 between Blountstown and Grand Ridge, Florida. The state park is at 2767 NW Torreya Park Road in Bristol, Florida.

There are no interpretive signs to tell the story, but the fighting took place between the clearly visible bends of the river (see the map below). Ocheesee Bluff is also the site of a noted "ghost town" and was the county seat for one of Florida's lost counties! Click play to learn more:

  Editor's Note: Please consider these books by historian Dale Cox to learn more about the Battle of Ocheesee and the Seminole War in 1817-1818:

References:

[i] Maj. P. Muhlenburg to Lt. Col. Matthew Arbuckle, December 17, 1817, Adjutant General, Letters Received, National Archives.

[ii] Ibid.

A Battle at Blountstown, Florida

The Seminole War attack at Blunt's Town and Spanish Bluff

by Dale Cox

The Apalachicola River as seen from "Spanish Bluff," the site
of today's Neal Landing at Blountstown, Florida.

A battle on the banks of the Apalachicola River 202 years ago today marked the end of a remarkable Lower Creek chief.

The Prophet Josiah Francis and other Red Stick Creek, Seminole, Miccosukee, and Maroon (Black Seminole) leaders made clear their disavowal of an attempt by Atasi Mico, William Perryman, George Perryman, Johnson, and the white trader Edmund Doyle to open peace negotiations with U.S. Army officers at Fort Scott on the Georgia frontier. (Please see Earthquake shakes peace effort on the Apalachicola River).

They did so by attacking the Spanish Bluff home of William Hambly, where Doyle and others had taken shelter:

…On the 13th instant, Hambly and Doyle were made prisoners by this party, and, I presume, killed, and their property of every description taken possession of. The chief, William Perryman, who had gone down with a party to protect Hambly and Doyle, was killed, and his men forced to join the opposite party. All of the Indians on the Chattahoochee, below Fort Gaines, who are not disposed to go to war, I fear will be compelled to remove above for security.[i]

William Hambly's home and trading store overlooked the
Apalachicola River at Spanish Bluff. The site is now a
popular recreation spot in Calhoun County.

Spanish Bluff touched the river where Neal Landing Park is located today at Blountstown, Florida. The town of the Tuckabatchee chief John Blunt stood nearby, and it is from this community that Blountstown takes its name. The modern city was founded at Spanish Bluff but later relocated to the higher ground where it stands today.

The killing of William Perryman by the Prophet’s party marked the end of that chief’s remarkable career of leadership among the Lower Creeks and Seminoles. The leader of Tellmochesses, a Eufaula town on the west side of the Chattahoochee River near Parramore Landing in present-day Jackson County, Florida, he was the son of the well-known Lower Creek/Seminole leader Thomas Perryman and the grandson of the British trader Theophilus Perryman.

William Perryman came of age as a chief and warrior during the American Revolution when he led warriors from the Perryman towns to St. Augustine to fight alongside the British against the American Patriots in Georgia. He and his men were engaged in numerous skirmishes and battles across Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia during the Revolution, and he was recognized with the rank of captain by the British Army.

William Perryman was the brother-in-law of the
adventurer and pirate William Augustus Bowles.

William Augustus Bowles married William Perryman’s sister during his first sojourn among the Lower Creeks. The two brothers-in-law got along well enough at first, and warriors from Tellmochesses were among the fighters who supported the adventurer. Some even crewed his “privateer” (i.e., pirate) ships.

This changed, however, when Bowles threatened the life of Thomas Perryman during a minor dispute. William responded to this action with uncharacteristic anger and signed an agreement with the Spanish at San Marcos de Apalache (Fort St. Marks) to help capture the adventurer. He remained on good terms with the Spanish after that, supplying them with beef from his extensive herds and providing them with intelligence about events in the Creek Nation.

William Perryman was called “Indian Will” by Col. Andrew Ellicott, the U.S. Commissioner of Limits, who arrived in the area in 1799 to survey the permanent boundary between Spanish Florida and the claimed territory of the United States. He warned Ellicott of a planned attack by Creek and Seminole warriors. Led by the chief of Tallassee, they were angry that the Americans and Spanish were dividing their lands.

William Perryman was one of the Lower Creek and Seminole chiefs who went to Pensacola in 1813 to plead for military support from Great Britain. A British warship was in port, and they sent a message by him to the governor in the Bahamas. The Creek War of 1813-1814 was underway, and the chiefs feared that the growing war would spread to them.

The battle took place in the area of today's Neal Landing Park
on the Apalachicola River at Blountstown, Florida.

This was the request that brought British forces to the Apalachicola River in 1814. They built forts at Prospect Bluff (the "Negro Fort") and just below the forks of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers. William and Thomas Perryman joined an alliance that supported Great Britain during the last days of the War of 1812.

William’s leadership role grew in 1815 with the death of his father. He and his followers stayed neutral when U.S. forces came down from Fort Gaines to build Fort Scott and attack and attack the Negro Fort during the summer of 1816. His brother – George Perryman – even served as caretaker at Fort Scott when the military withdrew that winter.

Perryman formed an alliance with the United States after the destruction of the Negro Fort. He provided intelligence to U.S. officers at Fort Gaines, and his name frequently appears in military reports from 1817.

The chief was involved in a plot to public flog Neamathla during a council at Fort Scott in August 1817. He believed that the Fowltown chief was endangering all of the towns of the area by confronting the army. Neamathla did not appear, and the plan was dashed.

Blountstown was founded at Spanish Bluff but later moved up
the hill to its present site. This historical marker notes the site
of the "old" courthouse which stood near Neal Landing.

In a last-ditch effort to restore peace after the U.S. raids on Fowltown and the Native American retaliation at the Scott Battle of 1817, William and George Perryman accompanied Edmund Doyle and the chief Johnston to Fort Scott on December 10, 1817. The negotiation failed.

The Prophet Francis and other principal leaders were not consulted about the Fort Scott council. This likely contributed to the attack that followed at Spanish Bluff on December 13, 1817.

Exactly what happened that day is not known. William Perryman and his warriors left their town near today's Parramore Landing in Jackson County, Florida, after the failed peace effort at Fort Scott and went down to Spanish Bluff. They planned to escort William Hambly and Edmund Doyle to safety, but the Prophet struck before they could complete their mission.

Hambly later described his experience: 

…[O]n the 13th of December last, when on my plantation on the Apalachicola, I was made a prisoner of by a party of Seminole Indians, and taken up to the Ocheesee Bluffs in company with Mr. Doyle, who was made a prisoner with me; they kept us here three days, during which time they were busily engaged with some transports which were then ascending the river to Fort Scott; from thence they took us to Mekosukee, where the Indians informed me that they had been told by the commandant of St. Marks, that war was declared between Spain and the United States. From this place we were carried to the Suwanee, when Kenhagee [i.e., Cappachimico], principal chief of the Seminoles, told me that we had been taken and robbed by order of Arbuthnott, and taken there to be tried by him. [ii]

The U.S. Army later executed the Bahamian trader Alexander Arbuthnot on charges that he conspired to kill Hambly and Doyle. The Maroon (Black Seminole) chief Nero intervened to save their lives, taking them to the Spanish fort of San Marcos de Apalache instead. 

The Fowltown war chief Chenubby led the attack on Hambly's home. He also took part in the Scott Battle on November 30, 1817. [iii]

The raid on Spanish Bluff provided the Prophet’s forces with a large quantity of food, which they used to sustain themselves during their coming attack on the U.S. supply ships on the Apalachicola. That siege – remembered today as the Battle of Ocheesee Bluff – began on December 15, 1817.

Editor's Note: Learn more about the battles on the Apalachicola River in 1817 from Dale Cox's books The Scott Battle of 1817 and Fort Scott, Fort Hughes & Camp Recovery. Just click the links for ordering information. 

Visit the site of the battle and see a great view of the Apalachicola River at Neal Landing in Blountstown, Florida:

References:

[i] Lt. Col. Matthew Arbuckle to Major General Edmund P. Gaines (dated Fort Scott), December 20, 1817, American State Papers – Military Affairs, Vol. 1, pp. 689-690.

[ii] Certificate of William Hambly, July 24, 1818, National Archives.

[iii] William Hambly and Edmund Doyle to Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson, May 2, 1818, National Archives.

Earthquake shakes peace effort on the Apalachicola River

The ground trembles beneath the feet of peace emissaries.

by Dale Cox

USGS map showing that Intensity IV and V
earthquakes were felt well into Florida during
the New Madrid events of 1811-1817.

The New Madrid Earthquakes traditionally played a role in the coming of the Creek War of 1813-1814. It is a little known fact that an earthquake also shook the borderlands of Southwest Georgia, Southeast Alabama, and North Florida during the early stages of the Seminole Wars. It happened on the night of December 10, 1817:

Earthquake! – The shock of an Earthquake was distinctly felt in Milledgeville (Geo.) on Wednesday night, the 10th inst. about 11 o’clock. A gentleman recently from Columbia, in this State, informs that a slight shock was also experienced there, at exactly the same time. – Charleston City Gazette, December 25, 1817.

Experts believe that the quake was a strong aftershock of the massive New Madrid Earthquakes of 1811-1812. It was felt from its center point in the Mississippi River valley somewhere between Memphis, Tennessee, and the forks of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers all the way to the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean.  A strange noise also accompanied the tremor:

Massive Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee was created by the
New Madrid Earthquakes of 1811-1812.
The 1817 quake was an aftershock.

Between 11 and 12 o’clock on the night of Wednesday, an earthquake was felt in this town [i.e., Knoxville, TN] – the shock continued about half a minute, and violently shook the houses and furniture, arousing many that were asleep. It was accompanied by a rumbling noise, which many think was of longer duration than the noise accompanying the quakes at this season five years ago, though the shock was not so violent. The undulation was from west to east. – American Beacon, January 2, 1818 (republishing a letter from Knoxville dated December 1817).

The shock was felt at Fort Scott on the Flint River in Southwest Georgia and along the Apalachicola River in Florida. The Prophet Josiah Francis, who was assembling an army of more than 1,000 warriors for an attack on two United States supply ships, may have seen it as an omen. It definitely served notice that the Seminole War was about to spread.

The earthquake also signaled the entry of a new state to the Union. Mississippi became one of the United States on December 10, 1817.

The earthquake tossed boats on the Apalachicola River
when it struck on December 10, 1817.

There was an important conference at Fort Scott on the same day. Several of the Lower Creek chiefs in alliance with the U.S. Army appeared at the fort with an offer of peace from one of the most influential Red Stick chiefs. The U.S. raids on Fowltown and the Native American retaliation at the Scott Battle of 1817 threatened to engulf the borderlands with blood and fire. The Atasi Mico (Autossee Mico) made one last attempt to stop the war from spreading:

A proposition has been made by the Hostile Chiefs through the friendly chiefs Perriman and Johnston for peace. As evidence of their desire for peace, they say they will not permit their warriors to fire on our vessels ascending the river, that they will send on board the vessels the woman they took from Lieut. Scott’s command. - Lt. Col. Matthew Arbuckle to Commanding Officer of the Supply Boats on the Apalachicola River, December 10, 1817)

The Apalachicola River as seen from Spanish Bluff, where
William Hambly lived in 1817.

The circumstances of the proposition received from the chiefs are difficult to fully ascertain. It followed a discussion held between the Atasi Mico and Edmund Doyle, an employee of John Forbes & Company. Atasi Mico was a Red Stick Creek who had evacuated into Florida with his surviving followers after the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814. Doyle was the storekeeper in charge of the trading post at Prospect Bluff on the lower Apalachicola River.

The meeting between the two likely took place at or near Spanish Bluff in what is now Calhoun County, Florida. Doyle had sought shelter there at the home of his friend and sometimes coworker William Hambly after hearing of the Battle of Fowltown. Atasi Mico was among the chiefs and warriors gathering at nearby Ocheesee Bluff under the leadership of the Prophet Josiah Francis for a planned attack on two U.S. ships making their way up the Apalachicola River with supplies for Fort Scott.

The Jim Woodruff Dam stands where the Chattahoochee
and Flint Rivers joined to form the Apalachicola in 1817.

The details of the discussions are not known. Still, Atasi Mico did authorize Doyle to go with the neutral chiefs William Perryman, George Perryman, and Johnston to see Lt. Col. Matthew Arbuckle. He had assumed command at Fort Scott on the departure of Maj. Gen. Edmund P. Gaines after the latter was ordered to the St. Marys River.

The meeting took place at Fort Scott on December 10, 1817, and the lieutenant colonel was quick to tell Johnston and the Perryman brothers that he had not authorized Doyle to make an overture to the Native American force:

I have understood that Mr. Doyle has had a talk with Ottossee Micko about making peace. I did not ask Mr. Doyle to make this, or any other Talks with the hostile Indians, but I shall be glad if the talk has enduced them to wish for peace, as their Great Father the President of the United States, has always wished for peace with them. - Lt. Col. Matthew Arbuckle, Talk delivered on the 10th of Decr. 1817 to three Indian Chiefs, December 10, 1817.

Arbuckle outlined the U.S. Army’s position on what had happened at Fowltown. He touched on the real truth of the war by telling the chiefs that “the army did not come here to make war on the Indians, but expected their assistance in getting the negroes belonging to the white people who are in their country.” He also asked that “some offenders should be given up.”

The peace initiative failed.

For the Prophet Josiah Francis, who commanded the American Indian army that was gathering on the Apalachicola for an attack on the army's supply boats, the earthquake likely was an omen. The war expanded dramatically over the days that followed.

Editor's Note: You can learn more about the First Seminole War in these books by Dale Cox: