"Concentrate them on the Apalachicola River"

Apalachicola River at Chattahoochee,
Florida.

Andrew Jackson's plan for a Seminole homeland on the Apalachicola River

by Dale Cox

Chattahoochee, Florida - The Seminole Tribe of Florida and Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida have survived generations of war and are today synonymous with the Big Cypress and Everglades regions of South Florida. 

Their greatest tribulation began when the United States assumed control of Florida in 1821. Battered from the opening years of the Seminole War, the Seminole and Miccosukee were scattered and unsettled. Large and long-settled towns including Ekanachatte, Holms' Town, Tallahassee Talofa, and Miccosukee were in ashes. Newer but important communities including Boleck's (Bowleg's) Town and the large maroon (self-liberated and free Black) settlement under Nero had been destroyed. Fields cleared through years of labor lay fallow or were already occupied by new American settlers. Orchards and fish weirs lay untended. [1]

The new "owners" of Florida did not intend to continue a treaty signed years earlier by the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and Spain. It declared that only lands so far inland as the tidal influence on the rivers and creeks (or such as were transferred by treaty) should be open for settlement. All the rest of the interior belonged to the Native Americans, with the restriction that they could not sell or otherwise dispose of these lands without the consent of the King of Spain.

Since the United States clearly did not plan to abide by this agreement, four new schools of thought grew among the whites over what should be done with the Indians. The first called for the complete relocation of all Native Americans from Florida to the Creek Nation in Alabama and Georgia, despite the fact that the Treaty of Fort Jackson had just reduced Creek lands by more than 22 million acres. It also ended any claims that the Muscogee had to Florida by cutting them off from it. [2]

Early 19th-century painting of American Indians
catching and smoking sturgeon in the Apalachicola
River across from Aspalaga Bluff.
University of West Florida

A second option called for the mass removal - at government expense - of all of the American Indians in Florida to new homes west of the Mississippi River. Actually proposed by Thomas Jefferson for all Native people east of the Mississippi, this idea seemed logical to white thinkers who could not conceive that the Seminole and Miccosukee would not readily give up their lands if offered the opportunity to do so. 

The third option, supported by a bevy of early Florida leaders, suggested the drawing of an imaginary line across the peninsula at some point well below areas coveted for white settlement. All of the Indians would voluntarily remove [i.e., be forced] below the line. Despite their claims that the new "reservation" included vast areas of good land, there is plenty of evidence that promoters of the scheme knew that the region was sickly, swampy, and sandy.

Andrew Jackson
(Later in life.)
Library of Congress

The fourth option, proposed by none other than Andrew Jackson himself, is perhaps the most intriguing of all. Since it is the only one of the four that proposed leaving a large area of their original homeland in Seminole and Miccosukee hands - not to mention a significant area of rich agricultural and timber land - you might be interested in learning more about it. [3]

Jackson was acting as military governor of Florida when he proposed the idea of creating a massive land-stake for the Seminole and Miccosukee on the Apalachicola River. He viewed them as distinctly separate from the Muscogee or Creek Red Sticks that had come down into Florida during and following the Creek War of 1813-1814. These latter individuals, Jackson felt, should be required to return to the Creek Nation in Alabama and Georgia. The Seminole and Miccosukee, he suggested, should be left with good lands:

...As to those who have been born and raised within the Floridas, it is absolutely necessary that they should be collected at one point, and secured in their settlements by act of Congress, in case they cannot be prevailed upon to unite with the Creek nation, to which they originally belonged: this latter course is very desirable for their own safety, as well as dictated to us by sound policy. [4]

The general turned governor proposed that Congress provide an annuity to assist in the survival of the Indians and that efforts be made to encourage them to "embrace an agricultural life." Of course, Miccosukee, Ekanachatte, and other towns were noted for their massive fields and herds of cattle, horses, and other livestock until Jackson and his forces destroyed them during the fighting of 1817-1818. 

...Should the Indians prefer continuing within the Floridas, it will be expedient, for the safety of our frontier on the seacoast, to concentrate them on the Appalachicola river, immediately adjoining the southern boundary of Georgia and Alabama, on both sides of the river, and downward, so as to include a sufficient area for them. By this means a sufficient white population may be interposed between them and the seaboard, and afford a settlement strong enough to cover and protect St. Augustine and Pensacola, as well as the peninsula of Florida. [5]

Unlike anyone else proposing options for where the Native inhabitants of Florida should go, Jackson surprisingly held one distinction - he actually discussed his idea with some of the people for whom recommended leaving lands on the Apalachicola River:

...[Y]ou will see that the difficulty of collecting the native Indians of the Floridas to the point on the Apalachicola will not be great. They are rejoiced to hear that a country will be allowed [them] to live in at all - such have been their apprehensions of their future fate since the transfer of their country to the United States, excited, no doubt, by mischievous advisers; and they will be still more so to find that they will be fostered and protected by the American Government. [6]

19th-century paddlewheel steamer preparing to head
down the Chattahoochee and Apalachicola Rivers.

Jackson proposed that Congress immediately designate the large area for the Seminole and Miccosukee, instead of waiting for a treaty to be negotiated. He felt it made more sense to reserve these lands in Florida from the beginning before they could be settled, also pointing out that if the Indians concentrated on lands of their own, surveying the rest of the new territory would be easier. [7]

Jackson did not mention that he was personally familiar with the lands along the upper Apalachicola River because he had seen them himself during the spring of 1818. They were some of the richest in Florida and the area that he envisioned as a permanent home for the Seminole and Miccosukee included today's Jackson, Gadsden, and at least the northern halves of Calhoun and Liberty Counties.

By 1860, Jackson and Gadsden would prove to be among the most agriculturally productive counties in the state. According to census data collected that year, the two counties were among the seven most productive in Florida, with farms valued at more than $2.7 million dollars ($101.6 billion today). [8]

History, of course, shows that Andrew Jackson's recommendation for a Seminole and Miccosukee nation on the upper Apalachicola River was not accepted. The Treaty of Moultrie Creek (1823) instead condemned the vast majority of Native Americans in Florida to difficult lives on new lands in the central and southern reaches of the territory. Desperation for game and resentment at seeing white settlers occupying better lands nearby led to cattle raids and confrontations. Tensions rose.

Fort Gibson, Oklahoma
Where army officers tricked the
Seminole exploring party.

Trickery followed as an exploring party of Seminoles went west to look at proposed new lands in what is now Oklahoma. Before their leaders and warriors in Florida could even consider the matter, the U.S. Government claimed that these explorers had agreed for the entire tribe to go west. They said that they had not and the Seminole and Miccosukee people in Florida told U.S. officials that the explorers lacked such authority in the first place. The United States turned deaf ears to this position and fighting exploded. Men, women, and children died by the thousands. 

The U.S. Government likewise moved against the Muscogee (Creek) people in Alabama. Claiming that its powerful army could not protect them from settlers intruding on Creek lands and unscrupulous land speculators determined to swindle them at every turn, officials told the Creeks that they could either go west at federal expense or remain behind and live on under the laws of the states on small individual plots as required by the Indian Removal Act of of 1830.  That act, championed by Andrew Jackson himself, led to the forced removal of most Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Muscogee (Creek) by 1837. Only the Seminole and Miccosukee held out in significant numbers.

What might have happened had the U.S. Government accepted Andrew Jackson's 1821 recommendation that a large area of land be titled to the Florida tribes on the upper Apalachicola River? 

Sylvania Marker in Jackson County
The lands proposed for the Seminole
and Miccosukee instead became
home to some of the largest bastions
of slavery in Antebellum Florida.

It is an interesting thought to ponder. They still would have received annual payments from the U.S. Government as they did on the much poorer lands later assigned them in Central and South Florida under the Treaty of Moultrie Creek, but they would have owned by legal title - not just moral right and treaty - most if not all of four agriculturally or timber rich North Florida counties. 

The most important navigable waterway connecting a vast agricultural region of Alabama and Georgia to the Gulf of Mexico passed right through the center of these lands. In fact, the City of Apalachicola which soon developed at the mouth of the Apalachicola River was one of the three busiest ports anywhere on the Gulf prior to the Civil War.

With richer farms and some of Florida's top timberlands, the story of the Seminole and Miccosukee people from 1821 to 1835 might have developed in a much different way. Jackson likely would have regretted giving legal title to so much prime Florida real estate (prime in the 19th-century, that is) to them. Land given by treaty, as all Native Americans know, is easy to take away. Land given by legal title, however, is not so easy to take.

From his expansionist perspective, Andrew Jackson clearly rethought the wisdom of giving legal title for large areas of land to Indian nations before he pushed the Indian Removal Act of 1830. By then the concept was to title small pieces of land to individual Native American heads of households. These could more readily be swept up by land speculators and swindlers. Not so when an entire tribe owns all of its land by title in one giant block.

Andrew Jackson was no longer a powerful general in 1821, however, and had not started his rise to the Presidency. The country's political leaders found it easy to ignore his suggestion. His proposed home for the Seminole and Miccosukee people instead became part of the Territory of Florida's third county when Jackson County was created and named for him on August 12, 1822. At that time Jackson County extended from the Choctawhatchee River to the Suwannee.

One can only wonder whether he remembered his idea for a Seminole and Miccosukee homeland on the Apalachicola at all nine years later when the Indian Removal Act of 1830 became law.

To learn more about the years before and immediately after Jackson County was established, please consider my book: The History of Jackson County, Florida: The Early Years.

References

[1] For a history of the beginning of the Seminole War era, please see Fowltown: Neamathla, Tutalosi Talofa & the first battle of the Seminole Wars by this writer.

[2] These various options are discussed in numerous letters of time.

[3] Gov. Andrew Jackson to Sec. of State John Quincy Adams, Oct. 16, 1821, H. Doc. No. 513, 17th Congress, 1st Session.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Census of Agriculture, Florida 1860, USDA Census of Agriculture Historical Archive.

Pensacola's Ghost in Yellow

A haunting reminder of Spain's last days in Florida.

by Dale Cox

A living history event at Historic Pensacola Village
in downtown Pensacola, Florida.

The sad story of the "Ghost in Yellow" is about a young woman named Felice who was so devoted to her country that she shed her own blood rather than accept Florida's transfer to the United States.

The story revolved around an old home near Plaza Ferdinand in Pensacola and was written for a newspaper by Ruby G. Powell in 1906. She repeated it as told by her grandmother:

...She was a Spanish girl. Years ago—nearly a hundred years, when this house was not much more than a frame structure, partly log—and there were only a few like it, for we had to have the lumber sawed by hand—my grand mother had a ward—Felice. Her father was a Spanish officer at the garrison at St. Marks; he died there and she was left in my grandmother’s charge. She was a devout Catholic and a loyal Spaniard, high strung and emotional. Felice had a lover at St. Marks, a dashing cavalaier, strikingly handsome in his glittering uniform and clinkering silver spurs. [1]

The garrison or fort at St. Marks referenced in the passage was the Spanish fort of San Marcos de Apalache. It is preserved at the state park of the same name at St. Marks, Florida.

The young woman Felice loved her country above all else, but she was filled with dread for Florida's role in its future:

Life from the time when Felice roamed the streets of the
Spanish town is recreated at Historic Pensacola Village.

Gov. Callava, the Spanish governor, was very kind to this young orphan girl, who lived at my grandfathers. He had befriended her soldier; had promised him a commission and many acres of land in Florida, if they would make their hole here. But Felice had strange forebodings.

“Florida, it is not for my people; it is for the Americans,” she would say, and often, after returning home from a visit and talk to the governor, her face was troubled, and she was very quiet for hours at a time, crooning over some strange old Spanish songs as she plied her needle between the rows of beautiful drawnwork for which she was so skilled. Her face grew sadder each day, after it was known that Spain had signed the treaty ceding Florida to the United States.

When a transport would come up from St. Marks, bringing soldiers to be taken back to Spain, Felice would kiss her crucifix, murmuring, in broken tones, "Ay de las vencidas," (woe to the vanquished) while her tears would overflow and drop on her work. [2]

The young woman's fatal date with destiny came on July 17, 1821. United States troops marched into Pensacola from their camp just outside town to meet their Spanish counterparts for a ceremony marking the official change of flags. 

The Lavalle House, seen here, stood in Pensacola at the
time of the transfer of Florida from Spain to the United States.

Andrew Jackson had twice captured the city at the head of conquering armies. This time he came as military governor to accept possession of West Florida from Spain under the terms of the Adams-Onis Treaty. 

Felice watched from her window as he arrived in fulfillment of his duties:

But that her country had given up Florida—their own ‘land of flowers,’ theirs in its kindred warmth of climate, theirs by right of discovery, and glory of conquest—had given it up for a paltry consideration of money and claims, cut her to the heart.

As the Spanish flag touched the ground and our own was raised aloft, the band burst into a new and patriotic air. There was no cheering; the Spanish faces were stolid, stony as ever; they relaxed not a muscle, but Felice made the sign of the cross, and turned from the window with a sob. That night my grandmother sent a servant to call her to supper, and she was found at her mirror, seated in front of the low dressing table. She wore a yellow dress. A single red rose pinned on her left shoulder, gave the needed touch—her national colors. Her long hair hung down as if she were about to comb it out, but buried deep in her heart was a stiletto, her hand still clutched the handle tensely, and the warm blood dyed the front of her gown. She was dead, but her blood could not avail to save Florida for Spain. [3]

The flag of Spain flies from the front of the Lavalle House
at Historic Pensacola Village. The colors of this flag were
reproduced in Felice's death scene.

Felice's feet never set foot on Florida soil after the colony became an American territory. Still, her spirit continued to linger in the old house that stood somewhere in the heart of today's downtown Pensacola. 

Ms. Powell's grandmother, who recited the story, told of seeing her in around 1896:

I, myself, have seen her once. ‘Twas Christmas, ten years ago. She sat over in that corner, combing out her hair. I could see her yellow dress as plainly as I see you, and could even see the stiletto glisten in her breast. [4]

She did not try to speak to the ghost, fearing that she would disappear as soon as she did so. 

Felice gained no love for the United States after her death, and her ghost even associated itself with the Confederate soldiers who occupied Pensacola in 1861-1862. One sighting of her occurred on either November 22, 1861, or January 1, 1862, when the thunder of cannon fire shook Pensacola Bay:

A display at Plaza Ferdinand in Pensacola shows what
archaeologists found beneath the surface. Traces of the city's
old Spanish fortifications run beneath this grassy lawn.

When my father and husband were quartered here, with their company of soldiers during the blockade of the civil war, they were awakened one night by the firing of cannon, and rushing from their beds, to seize their guns, almost stumbled upon a women dressed in yellow, seated in front of the fireplace, combing out her hair. My father knew at once who it was, but Mac started toward her. ‘What the,’ he began, but he had hardly gotten the words out of his mouth when she seemed suddenly to disappear through the walls. The story leaked out, in some way, and soon every soldier in Pensacola knew about the ghost in yellow, and some even declared that they saw her moving around the men when the cannonading was heaviest. [5]

The specter made another appearance when Union forces occupied Pensacola on May 10, 1862:

...On the day that the federals got possession of the city, several of them came in the house, intending to burn it. They, too, saw the ghost in yellow, knowing that all the refugees had fled, and that there were no women and children in Pensacola, they were very much started at the apparition. But one, an Irishman, braver than his companions, put out his hand to touch her, when she seemed to crumble, and not a trace of her was left. The soldiers were so frightened that they fled, and not one could be induced to go near the house again. [6]

The fate of the Ghost in Yellow is unknown. Perhaps she survived the eventual demolition of the house to which she was attached and continues to roam the streets and sidewalks of downtown Pensacola. If so, she is no doubt comforted by the efforts of the University of West Florida and other entities to preserve and protect the old city's rich Spanish history.

A great way to learn about Pensacola's history is by visiting Historic Pensacola. The complex features "four museums, tours, & more!" Click here for more information: www.historicpensacola.org.

References

[1] Ruby G. Powell, "The Ghost in Yellow," The Weekly True Democrat, December 28, 1906, reprinted from the Florida Times-Union, December 25, 1906.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ibid.

Old U.S. Road played a key role in Jackson County's history

A section of the Old U.S. Road west of Greenwood, Florida.

By Dale Cox

The "Old U.S. Road" leads from north to south through Jackson County, Florida. It has been a prominent feature on the local landscape since 1836 and parts of it are still in daily use.

Florida was still a wilderness when President Andrew Jackson signed an Act of Congress into law establishing the road on July 2, 1836. The Second Seminole War (1835-1842) and the Creek War of 1836-1837 raged across the Deep South.

Jackson believed that federal money should be spent only on infrastructure projects that benefited the people of more than one state or territory. The proposed new road did that. It began at Daleville, Alabama (west of present-day Dothan), and ran south across the border to Marianna on the Chipola River. From Marianna, the road continued south to St. Joseph (Port St. Joe) on St. Joseph Bay and then east to its southern end at Apalachicola.

Two Alabama and four Florida counties can be found along the original route today.

The primary purpose for federal involvement in building the road was to provide a reliable and safe route for delivery of mail to the growing Florida cities of Marianna, St. Joseph and Apalachicola. Bid for delivery were let by the postal service in 1836 and the contractor was required to have mail deliveries up and running by February 1, 1837.

Provisions outlined by the U.S. Postal Service required that mail be carried between Marianna and Daleville, a distance of around 60-miles, once each week. This was done by means of stage coaches that also provided transportation for any passengers so inclined.

A second line of stages connected Marianna with St. Joseph and Apalachicola on the Gulf of Mexico. Deliveries along this section of the road were required twice weekly, despite the longer distance of more than 90-miles.

Much of the road was likely built over existing trails, as it was completed with remarkable speed. By the time President Jackson signed a second appropriation of $20,313 for the project on March 3, 1837, much of the route was done.

The Creek and Seminole Wars, however, slowed things down a bit. A new outbreak of fighting spread south through Alabama into Northwest Florida in the early months of 1837. Battles took place in modern Russell, Barbour, Pike, Dale, and Geneva Counties in Alabama, as well as across the line in almost all the counties of Northwest Florida. Work on roads and bridges was delayed as able-bodied men took the field as volunteers and militia.

Outbreaks of fighting continued in today's Jackson, Calhoun, Gulf, and Franklin Counties until 1844, but lessened in severity and work resumed on the new road in the summer and fall of 1837. The mail deliveries between Marianna and St. Joseph finally picked up speed in November of that year, nine months behind schedule. Construction crews, however, did not complete the total project until 1838.

The road became the primary north-south artery connecting three of the most important cities in Florida. Apalachicola, of course, emerged as a major commercial center at the mouth of the Apalachicola River and eventually became the third busiest port on the Gulf Coast behind New Orleans and Mobile. St. Joseph exploded almost overnight to become the largest city in Florida. Marianna, in turn, became the small but politically-powerful seat of the third most populated county in Florida.

Yellow Fever outbreaks, hurricanes, and war between North and South changed this dynamic over the decades to come, but for several years after its completion the U.S. Road was one of the most important transportation arteries in Florida.

Sections of the original route remain in use today. North of Marianna, a long segment of modern paved road that more or less follows the 1837 right of way extends from Grangeburg (Grangerburg) in Houston County, Alabama, across the border into Florida and west of the modern communities of Malone and Greenwood. It dead-ends at Caverns Road just around the curve from Florida Caverns State Park.

The original road continued straight across but Jackson County rerouted it in the late 19th century. By turning east on Caverns Road then south on Old U.S. Road, you can reconnect with the original route where it picks up again just south of the intersection of Meadowview and Old U.S. Roads.

The original then continued to a wooden bridge that carried travelers across the Chipola River into Marianna. It was located at the foot of Jackson Street. Brick and stone piers visible there are often mistaken for ruins of this original bridge, but they date from later times.

South of Marianna, the original road followed today's FL-73 to its intersection with FL-71. The latter highway approximates the route south to St. Joseph from where the road turned east to Apalachicola.

You can learn more about the early roads and trails of Jackson County in Dale Cox's book 
The History Of Jackson County, Florida: The Early Years.
 
To follow the original route of the Old U.S. Road from Grangeburg to Marianna, please use the map below:

Andrew Jackson's 250th Birthday: His march through Jackson, Calhoun & Holmes Counties in Florida

Andrew Jackson as he appeared late in life.
(Matthew Brady photo, Courtesy Library of Congress)

Andrew Jackson, the 7th President of the United States, would have turned 250 years old today. In the Florida county that bears his name, however, the anniversary will pass quietly.

Jackson County has no events planned to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Jackson's birth.

The only part of Florida to touch two other states - Alabama and Georgia - Jackson County was established just three years after Old Hickory made his only visit to the area. He came through in 1818 during the closing phase of the First Seminole War.

Florida was still a Spanish colony in 1818, but the borderlands had been the scene of open warfare since U.S. troops attacked the Creek Indian village of Fowltown in Decatur County, Georgia. The Battle of Fowltown was really two separate events that took place on November 21 and 23, 1817. The action was the first battle of the Seminole Wars.

Creek, Seminole and maroon (Black Seminole) warriors retaliated on November 30, 1817, by attacking a U.S. Army supply boat on the Apalachicola River at Chattahoochee, Florida. The first U.S. defeat of the Seminole Wars, the action is remembered today as the Scott Massacre of 1817 and ended with the deaths of around 34 men, 6 women and 4 children.

Outraged over the Scott attack but unconcerned over the U.S. raids on Fowltown, President James Monroe had Secretary of War John C. Calhoun order Major General Andrew Jackson to the frontier. Jackson was authorized to invade Spanish Florida to "punish" those responsible for the attack on Lt. Richard W. Scott's command.

The site of Fort Scott as it appears today.

The commander of all U.S. troops in the South, Jackson was at the zenith of his military career in 1818. He had defeated Red Stick Creek forces at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend and the British at the Battle of New Orleans in 1814-1815. He reached Fort Scott at today's Lake Seminole on the evening of March 9, 1818, and assumed command of the troops there on the next morning.

The first phase of Jackson's Florida campaign saw him march into Spanish Florida and battle the Native American alliance at the Battles of Miccosukee, Econfina and Old Town while also capturing the Spanish fort of San Marcos de Apalache. He executed the Creek Indian leaders Josiah Francis and Homathlemico while also capturing and ordering the executions of two British subjects, Alexander Arbuthnot and Robert C. Ambrister.

The general was at Fort Gadsden, the fort he had built on the site of the earlier "Negro Fort" or Fort at Prospect Bluff, when he decided to march into West Florida. Reports had reached him that Creek refugees were being fed and supplied by the Spanish at Pensacola.

Click here to see a great first person interpretation of Andrew Jackson by Billy Bailey of Florida Caverns State Park.

Jackson left Fort Gadsden with an army of 1,092 men and two cannon and marched back up the Apalachicola River to what is now Torreya State Park. Boats had been prepositioned there by soldiers from Fort Scott and the general crossed his army over to Ocheesee Bluff in today's Calhoun County on May 9, 1818. The crossing of so many men was dangerous and took all day to complete.

The next morning, guided by the Creek chief John Blunt for whom present-day Blountstown is named, the army turned northwest and entered the county that now bears his name. The following is excerpted from my book, The History of Jackson County, Florida: The Early Years:

Jackson Blue Spring, where Gen. Jackson's army camped on
May 10, 1818 while marching through West Florida.

The army turned to the northwest on the morning of May 10th and crossed into Jackson County. Their route led them across the approximate site of Grand Ridge to Blue Spring where they camped for the night. Captain Hugh Young, Jackson’s topographer, called the spot “Big Spring,” a name that it held for a number of years. He described it as being “forty yards in diameter and of considerable depth with a rock bottom and a clean rapid current.” 

The soldiers in Jackson’s army marveled at the beauty and richness of the surrounding countryside. Young himself kept careful records of the quality of the lands through which they marched. 

The army continued forward on the morning of May 11, 1818. Crossing the hills between Blue Spring and the Chipola River, they reached the Natural Bridge of the Chipola River in today's Florida Caverns State Park by noon. It was here that a supposed incident involving Andrew Jackson took place. 

The Natural Bridge of the Chipola River is seen at left. The
sink into which the river descends to begin its underground
journey is at the center of the photo.

According to the oft-recited legend, Jackson’s army was moving forward in two columns. One column, led by the general himself and guided by John Blunt, crossed the river at the natural bridge. The second column, maching more to the north, was forced to halt and build rafts so the men and artillery could get across the river. Jackson’s column reached the planned rendezvous point west of the river and the general, known for his temper, supposedly became irate when the second column failed to appear on schedule.

When the bedraggled men of the flanking column finally trudged into camp, legend holds that Jackson berated their officers, demanding to know the reason for the delay. His temper soared even higher when they explained the reason for their lateness. The general had seen no river. The legend holds that it was not until John Blunt explained the phenomenon of the natural bridge that Old Hickory could be placated.

It is a fascinating little story and one of the few about Andrew Jackson that survive in the county today. Mrs. Janie Smith Rhyne, a Jackson County writer and historian of the 20th century, even memorialized the event in poem:

“About first candle-light he spied

His draggled cavalcade

Emerging from the northward swamp –

No sooner seen than sprayed

With oaths as hot as shrapnel shells.

They pled, ‘We built a raft

To cross the river;’ Jackson yapped

‘No river there, you’re daft!’

‘I crossed no stream.’ ‘Then come;’ they led

Him to Chipola’s bank.

He saw, and spat another oath;

Then all his mind seemed blank.” 

The "River Rise" where the Chipola River resurfaces after
flowing beneath the Natural Bridge. It is also part of Florida
Caverns State Park in Marianna, Florida.

There seems to be more legend than truth about the story. Captain Young, Jackson's topographer, did not record it in his journal. He wrote instead that the men were well aware that they were crossing a natural bridge and even offered his own opinion as to how it had been formed:

The Natural Bridge is in the center of a large swamp and appears to be a deposit of earth on a raft or some similar obstruction. The passage is narrow and the creek, with a rapid current, is visible both above and below. 

Young, of course, was mistaken about the formation of the bridge. It is really formed by the sudden disappearance of the Chipola River down a sink and into a series of limestone passages. It flows underground for a short distance before rising back to the surface. Nineteenth century loggers cut a canal across the top of the feature to allow them to float timber across to downstream mill. The logging run takes away a bit of the original appearance of the bridge, but it is still quite visible today.

The absence of any mention of the legendary natural bridge incident in Young’s account is curious. A careful examination of his memoir, however, shows that the legend probably grew from an incident at the Natural Bridge of the Econfina River near present-day Perry, Florida. Jackson and the main body of his army crossed over that bridge but had to wait for a second column to catch up. When the soldiers arrived, they explained that it had been necessary for them to build rafts to cross a river.  

The real incident at the Econfina Natural Bridge was somehow claimed by the early settlers of Jackson County and relocated to the Natural Bridge of the Chipola. A number of the soldiers in Jackson’s army came back to settle Jackson County and it is possible that their descendants remembered their story about and natural bridge incident and assumed they were talking about the one at Florida Caverns.

Kelly Banta of Florida Caverns State Park (L) discusses the
history of the remarkable caves with historian Dale Cox (R)
in a scene from a coming documentary.

A second legend about Jackson’s passage through Jackson County appears to have more of a basis in truth. 

Local tradition holds that Creek and Seminole families watched his crossing of the natural bridge from hiding places in the caves and rock shelters of Florida Caverns State Park. Native American families still living in both Jackson County and Oklahoma preserve strong oral tradition about the incident. A representative of one family described in 2007 how older members of the family would take children to the area of the natural bridge and point out caves in which their ancestors said they had hidden while the soldiers marched past.  

One such cave is today's Old Indian Cave. This cave was once called the Natural Bridge Cave and is located in a commanding outcrop of limestone from which the natural bridge is clearly visible. The multiple entrances to the large cavern would have provided hidden places from which Creek and Seminole families could have seen the troops marching past.

Click here to watch a video exploration of Old Indian Cave at Florida Caverns State Park.

Beautiful formations at Florida Caverns State Park.

After crossing the natural bridge, Jackson’s army continued on past Blue Hole Spring and Rock Arch Cave before turning to the northwest again and marching out of what is now Jackson County near present-day Graceville. The trail they followed took them through some of the fine farmlands between the Chipola River and Holmes Creek. The country was impressive and they knew that once the Seminole War was over, the area would be wide open for settlement. Men from the Williams and other families returned to the Chipola River country even before Florida was transferred from Spain to the United States. 

Jackson’s topographer, Captain Hugh Young, clearly had the future settlement of the area in mind as he recorded his observations of the country through which the army passed. Describing the area below and around present-day Grand Ridge, for example, he noted that it was “good pine land with reddish soil.” With regard to the land west of the Chipola River through which the army marched, he wrote that it was “excellent land” with a “mixed growth of oak, pine and hickory with several sinks affording abundance of excellent water.” 

Curry Ferry, where Jackson's army crossed the
Choctawhatchee River, remains a Holmes County landmark.

The U.S. Army crossed Holmes Creek near present-day Graceville and then marched along the old Pensacola - St. Augustine Road through what is now Holmes County. Jackson crossed the Choctawhatchee River at Curry Ferry Landing and then continued on westward to Pensacola and eventually the Presidency.

Click here to watch a video on the history of Curry Ferry in Holmes County, Florida.

Although he spent only a few days passing through Jackson, Calhoun and Holmes Counties, Andrew Jackson played a pivotal role in the settlement of the area. His march gave rank and file military men a chance to scout the countryside. Many came back within two years to clear fields and build homes, ignoring the fact that the land in question still belonged to the Creek Nation and that Florida was still a Spanish colony. 

It was not until 1823 - one year after Jackson County was established by the Florida Territory's Legislative Council - that Native American leaders signed the Treaty of Moultrie Creek and gave up their rights to most of the lands that form the county today.

To learn more about the First Seminole War, please enjoy this video and be sure to check out the books at the bottom of the page:

Please click here to learn more about Florida Caverns State Park:  https://www.floridastateparks.org/park/Florida-Caverns.

#69 The Natural Bridge of the Chipola River (100 Great Things about Jackson County, Florida)

Natural Bridge of the Chipola at Florida Caverns State Park

The fascinating Natural Bridge of the Chipola River is #69 on our list of 100 Great Things about Jackson County, Florida.

Please click here to see the complete list as it is unveiled.

A prominent but often overlooked geological feature of Florida Caverns State Park, the Natural Bridge of the Chipola is the largest such feature in Jackson County and possibly even all of Northwest Florida. It has served as a place for humans to cross the Chipola River for thousands of years.

The Natural Bridge is created by a deep sink that causes the river's water to swirl down into a series of underground passages. The swift currents and darkness of the natural sink has prevented divers from exploring it to any great extent. It remains as mysterious as it is remarkable.

Another view of the Natural Bridge

After plunging into the sink and flowing through a myriad of underground passages, the river emerges again about 1/4 mile downstream to continue its passage south through Jackson County.

The large number of prehistoric American Indian sites on each side of the Chipola within the park indicates that early human beings likely used the Natural Bridge as a place for crossing over the river. Artifacts found at Florida Caverns by archaeologists demonstrate that the first humans to enter the vicinity were ancient Paleo hunters who came thousands of years ago in pursuit of large animals such as mastodons (giant prehistoric elephant-like creatures).

Every major phase of human occupancy from that time to our own time is represented in the park and each has made use of the Natural Bridge.

Andrew Jackson marker at the Natural Bridge

The first recorded crossings were made by the Spanish, who passed over the bridge in 1674, 1675, 1677 and 1693.  The U.S. army of Major General Andrew Jackson crossed the Natural Bridge during the First Seminole War, its topographer mistakenly describing nearby Blue Hole Spring as the rise of the river from its underground channel.

Early settlers used the old trail over the Natural Bridge to reach the Chipola Settlement communities around Webbville and Baker Creek. The bridge tended to flood during heavy Spring rains, however, so by the mid-1820s the crossing point had been rerouted upstream a short distance to Christoff's Ferry. After Marianna was founded in 1827, the primary road was moved again and a ferry established near the site of today's U.S. 90 bridge.

Canal cut across the bridge during the 1800s.

From around 1820 until after the War Between the States (or Civil War), the Natural Bridge of the Chipola was an important port facility for the farmers and planters in a large area of Jackson County.  Wooden pole boats were used to float cargoes of cotton, timber and other commodities down the Upper Chipola to the bridge.  A warehouse there stored these cargoes until they could be loaded onto barges on the south side of the Natural Bridge for the journey on down the Chipola to the port cities of St. Joseph (today's Port St. Joe) and Apalachicola.

A ditch or canal was cut across the bridge during the 1800s to allow timber to be floated past the natural obstacle. Water continues to flow swiftly through this cut today.

Many visitors to Florida Caverns State Park cross over the Natural Bridge without ever noticing it. The road to Blue Hole Spring passes over it. Just look for the canoe launch area on your right and you will know you are there.  A marker erected by the state stands adjacent to the bridge and details the passage of Andrew Jackson's army.

The Natural Bridge of the Chipola is #69 on our list of 100 Great Things about Jackson County, Florida.

Andrew Jackson and the Natural Bridge - Part Two

We continue tonight with the story of Andrew Jackson and the Natural Bridge of the Chipola River.

This article is part two of a series of excerpts from The History of Jackson County, Florida: Volume One, a new book published this year.

(Excerpt)

From Fort Gadsden, Jackson’s army swept east through much of the Big Bend region of Florida. He destroyed the Seminole towns of Tallahassee Talofa (“Old Field Town”) and Miccosukee and defeated a large force of Seminole, Creek and African American warriors at the Battle of Miccosukee on April 1, 1818. Turning south, he marched to the coast and forced the surrender of the Spanish fort of San Marcos de Apalache (Fort St. Marks). There he captured a Scottish trader named Alexander Arbuthnot as well as the Creek Prophet Josiah Francis and the Red Stick chief Homathlemico. Arbuthnot was accused of inciting the war, while Francis and Homathlemico were old enemies of Jackson’s from the Creek War. Both of the chiefs were summarily hanged, but Arbuthnot was held as a prisoner.

Three prisoners of the Indians were also found in the fort. William Hambly and Edmund Doyle, the traders captured at Spanish Bluff, had been turned over to the Spanish for safe keeping by their captors. With them was found a Georgia militiaman named Duncan McKrimmon. He had been captured by some of Francis’ warriors near Fort Gadsden and was on the verge of being executed when the prophet’s daughter, Milly Francis, intervened on his behalf and convinced his captors to spare his life. She later became known as the “Creek Pocahontas” and was authorized a special medal of honor and pension by the U.S. Congress in recognition of her act of mercy.

Jackson then turned east for the Suwannee, to attack the large village of Chief Boleck (also called “Bowlegs”) near what is now Suwannee Old Town. En route, however, his scouts discovered a large force of Red Sticks under the chief Peter McQueen at the Natural Bridge of the Econfina River (Note: Not to be confused with Econfina Creek). McQueen was attacked and his warriors all but annihilated in a bloody one-sided confrontation. More than 100 women and children were captured, including Mrs. Stewart, the captive survivor of Scott’s Massacre.

The army pushed on to Suwannee Old Town, where another sharp battle took place. Boleck’s village was destroyed, but most of its inhabitants managed to escape across the Suwannee River to safety. Two British interlopers, however, were not so fortunate. Sending out parties to round up any warriors that might be hiding in the area, Jackson managed to capture a schooner that had tied up near the mouth of the Suwannee. On board were Peter Cook and Robert Ambrister. Cook was a clerk to Alexander Arbuthnot, the trader captured at Fort St. Marks, while Ambrister had been a lieutenant in the British Marines and a subordinate to Colonel Nicolls and Major Woodbine during the War of 1812.

Jackson took them back to St. Marks where a military trial was convened. Cook agreed to testify for the prosecution, as did Hambly and Doyle. Arbuthnot and Ambrister were found guilty and executed by order of the general.

Believing the war was now virtually over, Jackson ordered most of his men back to Fort Scott for discharge and then returned in person to Fort Gadsden. Upon arriving there, however, he received intelligence that Spanish authorities in Pensacola were providing arms and supplies to Red Stick warriors. Assembling a force of 1,092 men and two pieces of artillery, he marched back up the east side of the Apalachicola River and on May 9, 1818, crossed over to Ocheesee Bluff.

The army turned to the northwest on the morning of May 10th and crossed into Jackson County. Their route led them across the approximate site of Grand Ridge to Blue Spring, where they camped for the night. Captain Hugh Young, Jackson’s topographer, called the spot “Big Spring,” a name it would hold for a number of years. He described it as being “forty yards in diameter and of considerable depth with a rock bottom and a clean rapid current.”

The soldiers in Jackson’s army marveled at the beauty and richness of the surrounding countryside. Young himself kept careful records of the quality of the lands through which they marched.

(End of Excerpt)

Copies of The History of Jackson County, Florida: Volume One are available at Chipola River Book and Tea in downtown Marianna (on the same block as the Gazebo Restaurant, across the street from the Battle of Marianna monument). You can also order the book online by clicking here.

Andrew Jackson and the Natural Bridge - Part One

The Natural Bridge of the Chipola River, seen here, is one of the most significant historic sites in Jackson County.

Now part of Florida Caverns State Park, the bridge is a place where the Chipola River sinks underground for a short distance before rising again and continuing down to eventually merge with the Apalachicola.

In 1818, the army of General Andrew Jackson crossed the bridge on its way to attack the Spanish city of Pensacola. The march provided many of Jackson's men with their first view of the area they would soon return to settle. It also provided Jackson County with one of its most fascinating legends, the story of Andrew Jackson and the Natural Bridge.

The following is excerpted from my new book, The History of Jackson County, Florida: Volume One. Signed copies of the book can be purchased in Marianna at Chipola River Book and Tea (on the same block as the Gazebo restaurant, across from the Battle of Marianna monument). It can also be ordered online by clicking here. I post additional parts of this story over coming days:

Excerpt from Chapter Two: Andrew Jackson and the Natural Bridge

A fascinating legend about the First Seminole War can still be heard at Florida Caverns State Park near Marianna. The story revolves around Andrew Jackson’s march through Northwest Florida during the spring of 1818 and his crossing of the Chipola River at the natural bridge in the park.
According to the oft-recited legend, Jackson’s army was moving forward in two columns. One column, led by the general himself and guided by the chief John Blunt, crossed the river at the natural bridge. The second column, moving by a route more to the north, was forced to halt the river and build rafts so the men and artillery could get across. Jackson’s column reached the planned rendezvous point west of the river and the general, known for his temper, supposedly became irate when the second column failed to appear on schedule.
When the bedraggled men finally trudged into camp, it is said that Jackson berated their officers, demanding to know the reason for the delay. His temper supposedly soared even higher when they explained the reason for their lateness, as he had seen no river. The legend holds that it was not until John Blunt explained the phenomenon of the natural bridge that Jackson could be placated.
It is a fascinating little story and one of the few that survive about Andrew Jackson in the county that today bears his name. Mrs. Janie Smith Rhyne, a Jackson County writer and historian of the 20th century, even memorialized the event in poem:

“About first candle-light he spied
His draggled cavalcade
Emerging from the northward swamp –
No sooner seen than sprayed

With oaths as hot as shrapnel shells.
They pled, ‘We built a raft
To cross the river;’ Jackson yapped
‘No river there, you’re daft!’

‘I crossed no stream.’ ‘Then come;’ they led
Him to Chipola’s bank.
He saw, and spat another oath;
Then all his mind seemed blank.”

There is some basis of truth behind the legend. Andrew Jackson did cross the Natural Bridge of the Chipola during the First Seminole War. It was part of his only visit to the county that would later be named in his honor.

Leaving Fort Scott on March 11, 1818, Jackson invaded Spanish Florida with an army of around 3,000 men. The size of this force grew as he advanced due to the arrival of two regiments of Tennessee militia and Colonel William McIntosh’s 900 U.S. Creek Auxiliaries. Pushing down the east side of the Apalachicola River through what are now Gadsden and Liberty Counties, Jackson paused briefly at Alum Bluff just north of Bristol when his men sighted supply boats coming up the river. The army was on the verge of starvation when the vessels hove into sight.

Replenished with provisions, the men continued down the east bank until they arrived at Prospect Bluff where the “Negro Fort” had stood until its destruction two years earlier. The ruins of the fort could still be seen and the site was scattered with debris including rusted muskets that, when cleaned, would still fire.

Here Jackson ordered his engineer, Lieutenant James Gadsden, to design and construct a new fort that could serve as a base for his operations in Florida. Gadsden used the surviving water battery of the destroyed fort to construct a new work that stood immediately on the face of the bluff overlooking the river. Pleased with the lieutenant’s efforts, the general named the new post Fort Gadsden in his honor.

(More coming in future posts...)

Excerpt from New Book: "The History of Jackson County"

The 19th century U.S. soldier shown here was Captain Hugh Young, a topographer or mapmaker assigned to the army of General Andrew Jackson when it marched through what is now Jackson County in 1818.

Young wrote one of the earliest American accounts of the Jackson County area and his description of the area helped attract many early settlers to the region.

The following is an excerpt from the new book, The History of Jackson County, Florida: Volume One. You can obtain information on how to order the book by clicking here.

Excerpt:

"The army turned to the northwest on the morning of May 10th and crossed into Jackson County. Their route led them across the approximate site of Grand Ridge to Blue Spring, where they camped for the night. Captain Hugh Young, Jackson’s topographer, called the spot “Big Spring,” a name it would hold for a number of years. He described it as being “forty yards in diameter and of considerable depth with a rock bottom and a clean rapid current.”

"The soldiers in Jackson’s army marveled at the beauty and richness of the surrounding countryside. Young himself kept careful records of the quality of the lands through which they marched.

"The army continued forward on the morning of May 11, 1818. Crossing the hills between Blue Spring and the Chipola River, they arrived by around midday at the natural bridge. It was here that the supposed incident involving Andrew Jackson took place, but Captain Young did not record it in his journal. Instead, he wrote that the men were well aware that they were crossing a natural bridge and even offered a theory as to how it had been formed:

"'The Natural Bridge is in the center of a large swamp and appears to be a deposit of earth on a raft or some similar obstruction. The passage is narrow and the creek, with a rapid current is visible both above and below.'

"Young, of course, was mistaken about the formation of the bridge. It is actually created by the sudden disappearance of the Chipola River into a series of limestone passages. It flows underground through these for a short distance, before rising back to the surface. Nineteenth century loggers cut a canal across the top of the feature to allow them to float timber across to a downstream mill, taking away some of the unique appearance of the natural bridge, but it can still be seen today."

I will post additional excerpts from the new book over the days to come.