HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.
![handle is hein.usccsset/usconset37782 and id is 1 raw text is: [86]
Views of the Minority ofthe Committee on Miltary .9fairs, on the sub-
ject of the Seminole War, and the trial and execution ofArbuthnott
and Armbrister.
JANUARY 12, 1819.
Presented by Mr. Johnson, of Kentucky, read, and referred to a committee of the
whole House on the state of the Union.
The Committee to whom was referred so much of the President's mes-
sage as relates to the Seminole war, and the proceedings in the trial
of Alexander Arbuthnott, and Robert C. Armbrister,
RIEPORT:
That general Jackson, in a short, though sanguinary war, with
the Creek nation of Indians, brought them to terms of peace; and in
the summer of 1814, a treaty was concluded with them, wherein
they ceded to the United States, a territory embracing several mil-
lions of acres of land; the effect of this cession was, the cutting off
the Indian establishments between the settlements of the United
States, in Georgia and Alabama, and the Spanish territory. 'This
object being obtained, future peace and safety to our citizens in that
quarter, were confidently anticipated; but, contrary to these just ex-
pectations, it was discovered that a hostile disposition was still en-
tertained by the Seminole tribes of that nation, aided by fugitive ne-
groes, and instigated by foreign incendiaries. It having been re-
presented to the government, that murders had been committed upon
our defenceless citizens, general Gains was ordered, in the summer
of 1817, with a considerable force, to take a station in that section,
for their protection. General Gains, was directed to keep within
the territorial limits of the United States, and abstain from every
attempt to cross the Florida line; but to demand of the Indians the
perpetrators of the crimes thus committed, in order that punishment
might be inflicted upon the guilty, without involving the innocent,
and without a general rupture with these deluded savages. The fact
of such murders having been ascertained, attended with aggravating
circumstances of rapine and cruelty, general Gaines, in confor-
mity with his orders, made the demand. The savages, through the
deceptive representations of foreign incendiaries, were led to be-
lieve that the strength of the United States was not sufficient to](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.usccsset/usconset37782&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)