Notes on the Floridian Peninsula; its Literary History, Indian Tribes and Antiquities

Among the many schemes set in motion for peopling the colony, that of Lord Rolls who proposed to transport to the banks of the St. Johns the cypriennes and degraded femmes du pave of London,[81 - He did not meet with that success which attended a similar experiment in Canada, so amusingly described by Baron de La Hontan. For some particulars of interest consult Bartram, Travels, p. 94, seq., Vignoles, Obs. on the Floridas, p. 73.] and that of Dr. Turnbull, are especially worthy of comment. The latter collected a colony from various parts of the Levant,—from Greece, from Southern Italy, and from the Minorcan Archipelago—and established his head quarters at New Smyrna. The heartless cruelty with which he treated these poor people, their birth-place and their fate, as well as the fact that from them most of the present inhabitants of St. Augustine receive their language, their character, and the general name of Minorcans, have from time to time attracted attention to their history. Besides notices in general works on Florida, Major Amos Stoddard in a work on Louisiana[82 - Sketches, Historical and Descriptive, of Louisiana, vol. I, 8vo., Ch. II. Philadelphia, 1812.] sketches the colony’s rise and progress, but he is an inaccurate historian and impeachable authority. It is the only portion of his chapter on the Floridas of any value. In 1827, an article upon them was published in France by Mr. Mease,[83 - Notice sur le Colonie Greque établie à New Smyrna (Floride) dans l’année, 1768. Societe de Geographie, T. VII., p. 31. (Koner.)] which I have not consulted, and a specimen of their dialect, the Mahonese, as it existed in 1843, in the Fromajardis or Easter Song, has been preserved by Bryant, and is a curious relic.[84 - G. R. Fairbanks, Hist. and Antiqs. of St. Augustine, Ch. XVIII. See also for other particulars, Bartram, Travels, p. 144, and note, Vignoles, Obs. on the Floridas, p. 72, J. D. Schöpf, Reise– nach, Ost-Florida, B. II., s. 363, 367, seq., who knew Turnbull personally and defends him.]

§ 5.—The Second Spanish Supremacy. 1780-1821

During this period few books were published on Florida and none whatever in the land of the regainers of the territory. The first traveller who has left an account of his visit thither is Johann David Schöpf,[85 - Reise durch einige der mitlern und südlichen Vereinigten Nordamerikanischen Staaten nach Ost-Florida und der Bahama-Inseln. 2 Th., 8vo., Erlangen, 1788.] a German physician who had come to America in 1777, attached to one of the Hessian regiments in the British service. At the close of the war he spent two years (1783-4) in travelling over the United States previous to returning home, a few weeks of which, in March, 1784, he passed in St. Augustine. He did not penetrate inland, and his observations are confined to a description of the town, its harbor and inhabitants, and some notices of the botany of the vicinity—for it was to natural history and especially medical botany that Schöpf devoted most of his attention during his travels. The difficulties of Spain with the United States in regard to boundaries gave occasion for some publications in the latter country. As early as 1797, the President addressed a message to Congress “relative to the proceedings of the Commissioner for running the Boundary Line between the United States and East and West Florida,” which contains a resumé of what had been done up to that date.

Andrew Ellicott, Commissioner in behalf of the United States, was employed five years in determining these and other boundaries between the possessions of our government and those of His Catholic Majesty. He published the results partially in the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, and more fully several years afterwards in a separate volume.[86 - The Journal of an Expedition during the years 1796-1800, for determining the Boundaries between the United States and the Possessions of his Catholic Majesty in America, 4to., Philadelphia, 1814.] They are merely the hasty notes of a surveyor, thrown together in the form of a diary, without attempt at digestion or connection; but he was an acute and careful observer, and his renseignements on the topography of East Florida are well worth consulting. Among the notable passages is a vivid description of the remarkable meteoric shower of November 12, 1799, which he encountered off the south-western coast of Florida, and from which, conjoined with the observations of Humboldt at Cumana, and others, the periodicity of this phænomenon was determined by Palmer, of New Haven.

A geographical account of Florida is said to have appeared at Philadelphia about this time, from the pen of John Mellish,[87 - A Description of East and West Florida and the Bahama Islands, 1 Vol. 8vo. Philadelphia, 1813. (Bib. Univ. des Voyages.)] but unless it forms merely a part of the general geography of that author, I have been able to find nothing of the kind in the libraries of that city.

The article on Florida in the important work on America of Antonio de Alcedo,[88 - Geographical and Historical Dictionary of America and the West Indies; translated, with valuable additions, by G. R. Thompson, 5 vols., 4to, London, 1812.] derives some importance from the list of Spanish governors it contains, which, however, is not very perfect; but otherwise is of little service.

Serious difficulties between the Seminole Indians[89 - An account of this tribe by Major C. Swan, who visited them in 1791, has been published by Schoolcraft in the fifth volume of the Hist. and Statistics of the Indian Tribes.] and the whites of Georgia, occurred at an early date in this period arising from attempts of the latter to recapture fugitive slaves. These finally resulted in the first Seminole war, and attracted the attention of the general government. The action taken in respect to it may be found in the Ex. Doc. No. 119, 2d Session, XVth Congress, which contains “the official correspondence between the War Department and General Jackson; also that between General Jackson and General Gaines, together with the orders of each, as well as the correspondence between the Secretary of the Navy and Commodore Patterson, and the orders of the latter officer to Sailing-Master Loomis, and the final report of Sailing-Master Loomis and General Clinch;”[90 - Giddings, Exiles of Florida, p. 39, note.] also in two messages of the President during 1818, on the Seminole war, one of which contains the documents relative to Arbuthnot and Ambruster, the Cherokees, Chocktaws, &c., and in the speeches of the Hon. Robert Poindexter, and others. Dr. Monette and Mr. Giddings, in their historical works, have also examined this subject at some length.

Two accounts of the fillibustering expeditions that resulted in the forcible possession of Amelia Island by Captain MacGregor, have been preserved; one, “the better of the two,” by an anonymous writer.[91 - Narrative of a Voyage to the Spanish Main by the ship Two Friends, the Occupation of Amelia Island by McGregor, Sketches of the Province of East Florida, and Anecdotes of the Manners of the Seminole Indians, 8vo., London, 1819.Memoir of Gregor McGregor, comprising – a Narrative of the Expedition to Amelia Island. By M. Rafter. 8vo., Stockdale, 1820. (Rich.)] They are both rare, and neither have come under my inspection.

An important addition to our knowledge of East Florida during this period, is contained in the entertaining Letters of Dr. William Baldwin.[92 - Reliquiæ Baldwinianæ; Selections from the Correspondence of the late Wm. Baldwin, M. D., compiled by Wm. Darlington, M. D. 12mo. Phila., 1843.] This gentleman, a surgeon in the United States Navy, and a devoted lover of botany, compelled to seek safety from a pulmonary complaint by taking refuge in a warm climate during the winter months, passed portions of several years, commencing with 1811, in East Florida and on the confines of Georgia, occupying himself in studying the floral wealth of those regions. He recorded his observations in a series of letters to Dr. Muhlenberg of Lancaster, and to the subsequent editor of his Remains, Dr. William Darlington, of West Chester, Pa., well known from his works on the local and historical botany of our country, and whom I have already had occasion to advert to as the editor of the elder Bartram’s Correspondence. While those to the former have no interest but to the professed botanist, his letters to the latter are not less rich in information regarding the condition of the country and its inhabitants, than they are entertaining from the agreeable epistolary style in which they are composed, and the thanks of the historian as well as the naturalist are due to their editor for rescuing them from oblivion. It was the expectation of Dr. Baldwin to give these observations a connected form and publish them under the subjoined title,[93 - Notices of East Florida, and the Sea Coast of the State of Georgia; in a series of Letters to a Friend in Pennsylvania. With an Appendix, containing a Register of the Weather, and a Calendarium Floræ. The friend here referred to was Dr. Wm. Darlington. The materials for the Calendarium are preserved in the letters to Dr. Muhlenberg.] but the duties of his position and his untimely death prevented him from accomplishing this design. As far as completed, comprising eight letters, twenty pages in all, this work is appended to the Reliquiæ.

The cession of Florida to the United States, naturally excited considerable attention, both in England and our own country, manifested by the appearance of several pamphlets, the titles of two of the most noteworthy of which are given below.[94 - J. L. Rattenbury. Remarks on the Cession of Florida to the United States of America, and on the necessity of acquiring the Island of Cuba by Great Britain. Second edition, with considerable additions, printed exclusively in the Pamphleteer. London, 1819.Memoir upon the Negotiations between Spain and the United States, which led to the Treaty of 1819; with a Statistical Notice of Florida, 8vo., Washington, 1821.]

Numerous manuscripts pertaining to the history of the colony are said to have been carried away by the Catholic clergy at the time of the cession, many of which were deposited in the convents of Havana, and probably might still be recovered.

§ 6.—The Supremacy of the United States. 1821-1858

No sooner had the United States obtained possession of this important addition to her territory, than emigrants, both from the old countries and from the more northern States, prepared to flock thither to test its yet untried capabilities. Information concerning it was eagerly demanded and readily supplied. In the very year of the cession appeared two volumes, each having for its object the elucidation of its geography and topography, its history, natural and civil.

One of these we owe to William Darby,[95 - A Memoir of the Geography, and Natural and Civil History of East Florida, 8vo., Philadelphia, 1821.] an engineer of Maryland, not unknown in our literary annals as a general geographer. It is but a compilation, hastily constructed from a mass of previously known facts, to satisfy the ephemeral curiosity of a hungry public. As far as is known of his life, the author never so much as set foot in the country whose natural history he proposes to give, and he will err widely who hopes to find in it that which the pretentious title-page bids him expect.

A much superior work is that of James Grant Forbes.[96 - Sketches of the History and Topography of Florida, 8vo., New York, 1821.] This gentleman was a resident of the territory, and had ample opportunities for acquiring a pretty thorough knowledge of its later history, both from personal experience and from unpublished documents. He is consequently good authority for facts occurring during the British and later Spanish administrations. Though at the time of publication the subject of considerable praise, his work has since been denounced, though with great injustice, as “a wretched compilation from old works.”[97 - Compare the North Am. Review, Vol. XIII., p. 98, with the same journal, Vol. XXVI., p. 482. (Rich.)]

The next year a little book appeared anonymously at Charleston.[98 - Notices of East Florida, with an Account of the Seminole Nation of Indians. By a recent Traveller in the Province. Printed for the Author. 8vo. Charleston, 1822. pp. 105.] The writer, apparently a physician, had travelled through Alachua county, and ascended the St. Johns as far as Volusia. It consists of a general description of the country, a diary of the journey through Alachua, and an account of the Seminole Indians with a vocabulary of their language. Some of his observations are not without value.

The next work in chronological order was written by Charles Vignoles, a “civil and topographical engineer,” and subsequently public translator at St. Augustine. In the Introduction he remarks, “The following observations on the Floridas have been collected during a residence in the country; in which period several extensive journeys were made with a view of obtaining materials for the construction of a new map, and for the purpose now brought forward.” He notices the history, topography, and agriculture, the climate and soil of the territory, gives a sketch of the Keys, some account of the Indians, and is quite full on Land Titles, then a very important topic, and adds to the whole a useful Appendix of Documents relative to the Cession.[99 - Observations on the Floridas. 8vo. New York, 1823. pp. 197.] Vignoles is a dry and uninteresting composer, with no skill in writing, and his observations were rather intended as a commentary on his map than as an independent work.

Energetic attempts were shortly made to induce immigration. Hopes were entertained that a colony of industrious Swiss might be persuaded to settle near Tallahassie, where it was supposed silk culture and vine growing could be successfully prosecuted. When General Lafayette visited this country he brought with him a series of inquiries, propounded by an intelligent citizen of Berne, relative to the capabilities and prospects of the land. They were handed over to Mr. McComb of that vicinity. His answers[100 - Answers of David B. McComb, Esq., with an accompanying Letter of General Lafayette. 8vo. Tallahassie, 1827. See the North Am. Review, Vol. XXVI., p. 478.] are tinged by a warm fancy, and would lead us to believe that in middle Florida had at last been found the veritable Arcadia. Though for their purpose well suited enough, for positive statistics it would be preferable to seek in other quarters.

In 1826, there was an Institute of Agriculture, Antiquities, and Science organized at Tallahassie. At the first (and, as far as I am aware, also the last) public meeting of this comprehensive society, Colonel Gadsden was appointed to deliver the opening address.[101 - Oration delivered by Colonel James Gadsden to the Florida Institute of Agriculture, Antiquities and Science, at its first Public Anniversary, Thursday, Jan. 4th, 1827. See the North Am. Review, Vol. XXV., p. 219.] This was afterwards printed and favorably noticed by some of the leading journals. Apparently, however, it contained little at all interesting either to the antiquarian or scientific man, but was principally taken up with showing the prospect of a rapid agricultural developement throughout the country.

Neither were general internal improvements slighted. A project was set on foot to avoid the dangerous navigation round the Florida Keys by direct transportation across the neck of the peninsula—a design that has ever been the darling hobby of ambitious Floridians since they became members of our confederacy, and which at length seems destined to be fulfilled. Now railroads, in that day canals were to be the means. As early as 1828, General Bernard, who had been dispatched for the purpose, had completed two levellings for canal routes, had sketched an accurate map on an extended scale, and had laid before the general government a report embracing a topographical and hydrographical description of the territory, the result of his surveys, with remarks on the inland navigation of the coast from Tampa to the head of the delta of the Mississippi, and the possible and actual improvements therein.[102 - Message of the President in relation to the Survey of a Route for a Canal between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean; with the Report of the Board of Internal Improvement on the same, with a general map annexed, February 28, 1829. A flowery article of ten pages may be found on this in the Southern Review, Vol. VI., p. 410.] Notwithstanding these magnificent preparations, it is unnecessary to add, the canal is still unborn.

One great drawback to the progress of the territory was the uncertainty of Land Titles. During the Spanish administration nearly the whole had been parcelled out and conferred in grants by the king. Old claims, dating back to the British regime, added to the confusion. Many of both had been sold and resold to both Spanish and American citizens. In the Appendix to Vignoles, and in Williams’ View of West Florida, many pages are devoted to this weighty and very intricate subject. Some of these claims were of enormous extent. Such was that of Mr. Hackley, which embraced the whole Gulf coast of the peninsula and reached many miles inland. This tract had been a grant of His Catholic Majesty to the Duke of Alagon, and it was an express stipulation on the part of the United States, acceded to by the king, that it should be annulled. But meanwhile the Duke had sold out to Mr. Hackley and others, who claimed that the king could not legally dispossess American citizens. A pamphlet was published[103 - Titles and Legal Opinions on Lands in East Florida belonging to Richard S. Hackley, 8vo., Fayetteville, (N. Car.,) 1826, pp. 71. See the North American Review, Vol. XXIII., p. 432. Hackley’s grant is laid down on Williams’ Map.] containing all the documents relating to the question, and the elaborate opinions of several leading lawyers, all but one in favor of Mr. Hackley. After a protracted suit, the Gordian knot was finally severed by an ex post facto decree of His Majesty, that a crown grant to a subject was in any case inalienable, least of all to a foreigner.

The work of Col. John Lee Williams just mentioned,[104 - A View of West Florida, embracing its Topography, Geography, &c., with an Appendix treating of its Antiquities, Land Titles, and Canals, and containing a Chart of the Coast, a Plan of Pensacola, and the Entrance of the Harbor. 8vo. Phila., 1827, pp. 178.] though ostensibly devoted to West Florida takes a wider sweep than the title page denotes. Its author went to Florida in 1820, and was one of the commissioners appointed to locate the seat of government. While busied with this, he was struck with the marked deficiency of all the then published maps of the country, “and for my own satisfaction,” he adds, “I made a minute survey of the coast from St. Andrew’s Bay to the Suwannee, as well as the interior of the country in which Tallahassie is situated.” A letter from Judge Brackenridge, alcalde of St. Augustine, principally consisting of quotations from Roberts, is all that touches on antiquities. Except this, and some accounts of the early operations of the Americans in obtaining possession, and the statements concerning Land Titles, the book is taken up with discussions of proposed internal improvements of very local and ephemeral interest.

All the details of any value that it contains he subsequently incorporated in his Civil and Natural History of the Territory,[105 - The Territory of Florida; or Sketches of the Topography, Civil and Natural History of the Country, the Climate and the Indian Tribes, from the First Discovery to the Present Time. 8vo. New York, 1837.] published ten years later. Most of the intervening time he spent in arduous personal researches; to quote his own words, “I have traversed the country in various directions, and have coasted the whole peninsula from Pensacola to St. Mary’s, examining with minute attention the various Keys or Islets on the margin of the coast. I have ascended many of the rivers, explored the lagoons and bays, traced the ancient improvements, scattered ruins, and its natural productions by land and by water.” Hence the chief value of the work is as a gazetteer. The civil history is a mere compilation, collected without criticism, and arranged without judgment; an entire ignorance of other languages, and the paucity of materials in our own, incapacitated Williams from achieving anything more. Nor can he claim to be much of a naturalist, for the frequent typographical errors in the botanical names proclaim him largely debtor to others in this department. His style is eminently dry and difficult to labor through, and must ever confine the History to the shelf as a work of reference, and to the closet of the painful student. Yet with all its faults—and they are neither few nor slight—this is the most complete work ever published concerning the territory of Florida; it is the fruit of years of laborious investigation, of absorbing devotion to one object, often of keen mental and bodily suffering, and will ever remain a witness to the energy and zeal of its writer.

As little is recorded about this author pioneer, I may perhaps be excused for turning aside to recall a few personal recollections. It had long been my desire to visit and converse with him about the early days of the state, and with this object, on the 9th of November, 1856, I stopped at the little town of Picolati, near which he lived. A sad surprise awaited me; he had died on the 7th of the month and had been buried the day before my arrival. I walked through the woods to his house. It was a rotten, ruinous, frame tenement on the banks of the St. Johns, about half a mile below the town, fronted by a row of noble live oaks and surrounded by the forest. Here the old man—he was over eighty at the time of his death—had lived for twenty years almost entirely alone, and much of the time in abject poverty. A trader happened to be with him during his last illness, who told me some incidents of his history. His mind retained its vigor to the last, and within a week of his death he was actively employed in various literary avocations, among which was the preparation of an improved edition of his History, which he had very nearly completed. At the very moment the paralytic stroke, from which he died, seized him, he had the pen in his hand writing a novel, the scene of which was laid in China! His disposition was uncommonly aimable and engaging, and so much was he beloved by the Indians, that throughout the horrible atrocities of the Seminole war, when all the planters had fled or been butchered, when neither sex nor age was a protection, when Picolati was burned and St. Augustine threatened, he continued to live unharmed in his old house, though a companion was shot dead on the threshold. What the savage respected and loved, the civilized man thought weakness and despised; this very goodness of heart made him the object of innumerable petty impositions from the low whites, his neighbors. In the words of my informant, “he was too good for the people of these parts.” During his lonely old age he solaced himself with botany and horticulture, priding himself on keeping the best garden in the vicinity. “Come, and I will show you his grave,” said the trader, and added with a touch of feeling I hardly expected, “he left no directions about it, so I made it in the spot he used to love the best of all.” He took me to the south-eastern corner of the neat garden plot. A heap of fresh earth with rough, round, pine sticks at head and foot, marked the spot. It was a solemn and impressive moment. The lengthening shadows of the forest crept over us, the wind moaned in the pines and whistled drearily through the sere grass, and the ripples of the river broke monotonously on the shore. All trace of the grave will soon be obliterated, the very spot forgotten, and the garden lie a waste, but the results of his long and toilsome life “in books recorded” will live when the marbles and monumental brasses of many of his cotemporaries shall be no more.

The next event that attracted general attention to Florida was the bloody and disastrous second Seminole war, which for deeds of atrocious barbarity, both on the part of the whites and red men, equals, if it does not surpass, any conflict that has ever stained the soil of our country.

The earliest work relative to it was published anonymously in 1836, by an officer in the army.[106 - The War in Florida; being an Exposition of its Causes and an accurate History of the Campaigns of Generals Gaines, Clinch and Scott. By a late Staff Officer. 8vo. Baltimore, 1836, pp. 184.] He gives an impartial account of the causes that gave rise to the war, the manifold insults and aggressions that finally goaded the Indians to desperation, and the incidents of the first campaign undertaken to punish them for their contumacy. It is well and clearly written, and coming from the pen of a participant in many of the scenes described, merits a place in the library of the historian.

The year subsequent, Mr. M. M. Cohen of Charleston, issued a notice of the proceedings in the peninsula.[107 - History of the Florida Campaigns. 12mo. Charleston, 1837.] He was an “officer of the left wing,” and had spent about five months with the army, during which time it marched from St. Augustine to Volusia, thence to Tampa, and back again to St. Augustine. The author tells us in his Preface, “our book has been put to press in less than thirty days from its being undertaken;” a statement no one will be inclined to doubt, as it is little more than a farrago of vapid puns and stale witticisms, hurriedly scraped together into a slim volume, and connected by a slender string of facts. An account of the imprisonment of Oceola and the enslavement of his wife, has been given by the same writer,[108 - In the Quarterly Anti-Slavery Magazine. (Giddings, Exiles of Florida, p. 99, note.)] and has received praise for its accuracy.

In 1836, when the war was at its height, an Indian boy was taken prisoner by a party of American soldiers near Newnansville. Contrary to custom his life was spared, and the next year he was handed over to the care of an English gentleman then resident in the country. From his own account, drawn from him after long persuasion, his name was Nikkanoche, his father was the unhappy Econchatti-mico, and consequently he was nephew to the famous chief Oceola, (Ass-se-he-ho-lar, Rising Sun, Powell.) His guardian removed with him to England in 1840, and the year after his arrival there, published an account of the parentage, early days, and nation of his ward,[109 - A Narrative of the Early Days and Remembrances of Oceola Nikkanoche, Prince of Econchatti, a young Seminole Indian. Written by his Guardian. 8vo. London, 1841, pp. 228.] the young Prince of Econchatti, as he was styled. It forms an interesting and pleasant little volume, though I do not know what amount of reliance can be placed on the facts asserted.

An excellent article on the war, which merits careful reading from any one desirous of thoroughly sifting the question, may be found in the fifty-fourth volume of the North American Review, (1842,) prepared with reference to Mr. Horace Everett’s remarks on the Army Appropriation Bill of July 14, 1840, and to a letter from the Secretary of War on the expenditure for supporting hostilities in Florida.

Though the above memoirs are of use in throwing additional light on some points, and settling certain mooted questions, the standard work of reference on the Florida war is the very able, accurate, and generally impartial History,[110 - The Origin, Progress, and Conclusion of the Florida War. 8vo. New York, 1848.] of Captain John T. Sprague, himself a participant in many of its scenes, and officially concerned in its prosecution. Few of our local histories rank higher than this. With a praiseworthy patience of research he goes at length into its causes, commencing with the cession in 1821, details minutely its prosecution till the close in December, 1845, and paints with a vigorous and skillful pen many of those thrilling adventures and affecting passages that marked its progress. A map of the seat of war that accompanies it, drawn up with care, and embracing most of the geographical discoveries made by the various divisions of the army, adds to its value.

Commencing his history with the cession, Captain Sprague does not touch on the earlier troubles with the Seminoles. These were never properly handled previous to the late work of the Hon. J. B. Giddings, entitled, “The Exiles of Florida.”[111 - The Exiles of Florida; or, the Crimes Committed by our Government against the Maroons, who fled from South Carolina and other Slave States, seeking Protection under Spanish Laws. 8vo. Columbus, (Ohio,) 1858.] These so-called exiles were runaway slaves from the colonies of South Carolina and Georgia, who, quite early in the last century, sought an asylum in the Spanish possessions, formed separate settlements, and, increased by fresh refugees, became ever after a fruitful source of broils and quarrels between the settlers of the rival provinces. As they were often protected, and by marriage and situation became closely connected with the Lower Creeks, they were generally identified with them in action under the common name of Seminoles. Thus the history of one includes that of the other. The profound acquaintance with the transactions of our government acquired by Mr. Giddings during a long and honorable public service, render his work an able plea in the cause of the people whose wrongs and sufferings have enlisted his sympathy; but unquestionably the fervor of his views prevents him from doing full justice to their adversaries. He attaches less weight than is right to the strict legality of most of the claims for slaves; and forgets to narrate the inhuman cruelties, shocking even to the red men, wreaked by these maroons on their innocent captives, which palliate, if they do not excuse, the rancorous hatred with which they were pursued by the whites. Including their history from their origin till 1853, the second Seminole war occupies much of his attention, and the treatment both of it and the other topics, prove the writer a capable historian, as well as an accomplished statesman.

It is unnecessary to specify the numerous reports of the officers, the official correspondence, the speeches of members of Congress, and other public writings that illustrate the history of the war, which are contained in the Executive Documents. But I should not omit to mention that the troubles in Florida during the last few years have given occasion to the publication of the only at all accurate description of the southern extremity of the peninsula in existence.[112 - Memoir to accompany a Military Map of Florida South of Tampa Bay, compiled by Lieutenant J. C. Ives, Topographical Engineer. War Department, April, 1856. 8vo. New York, 1856, pp. 42.] It was issued for the use of the army, from inedited reports of officers during the second Seminole war, and lays down and describes topographically nine routes to and from the principal military posts south of Tampa Bay.

The works relating to St. Augustine next claim our attention. Of late years this has become quite a favorite rendezvous for casual tourists, invalids from the north, magazine writers, et id omne genus, whence to indite letters redolent of tropic skies, broken ruins, balmy moonlight, and lustrous-eyed beauties. Though it would be lost time to enumerate these, yet among books of general travel, there are one or two of interest in this connection. Among these is an unpretending little volume that appeared anonymously at New York in 1839.[113 - A Winter in Florida and the West Indies. 12mo. New York, 1839.] The author, a victim of asthma, had visited both St. Augustine and Key West in the spring of that year. Though written in a somewhat querulous tone, it contains some serviceable hints to invalids expecting to spend a winter in warmer climes.

Neither ought we to pass by in silence the Floridian notes of the “Hon. Miss Amelia M. Murray,”[114 - Letters from the United States, Canada and Cuba. New York, 1856.] who, it will be recollected, a few years since took a contemptuous glance at our country from Maine to Louisiana, weighed it in the balance of her judgment, and pronounced it wanting in most of the elements of civilization. She went on a week’s scout into Florida, found the charges exorbitant, the government wretchedly conducted, and the people boors; was deeply disappointed with St. Augustine and harbor because an island shut out the view of the ocean, and at Silver Spring found nothing more worthy of her pen than the anti-slavery remark of an inn-keeper,—who has himself assured me that she entirely misconstrues even that.

Two works devoted to the Ancient City, as its inhabitants delight to style it, have been published. One of these is a pleasant little hand-book, issued some ten years since by the Rev. Mr. Sewall, Episcopalian minister there.[115 - Sketches of St. Augustine, with a View of its History and Advantages as a Resort for Invalids. By R. K. Sewall. 8vo. New York, 1848, pp. 69.] He prepared it “to meet the wants of those who may desire to learn something of the place in view of a sojourn, or who may have already come hither in search of health,” and it is well calculated for this purpose. A view of the town from the harbor, (sold also separately,) and sketches of the most remarkable buildings increase its usefulness. A curious incident connected with this book is worth relating for the light it throws on the character of the so-called Minorcans of St. Augustine. In one part Mr. Sewall had inserted a passage somewhat depreciatory of this class. When the edition arrived and this became generally known, they formed a mob, surrounded the store where it was deposited, and could only be restrained from destroying the whole by a promise that the obnoxious leaf should be cut from every volume in the package. This was done, and the copy I purchased there accordingly lacks the thirty-eighth and thirty-ninth pages. An action on their part that calls to mind the ancient saw, “’Tis the tight shoe that pinches.”

Another and later work that enters into the subject more at length, has recently appeared from the competent pen of G. R. Fairbanks,[116 - The History and Antiquities of the City of St. Augustine, Florida, comprising some of the most Interesting Portions of the Early History of Florida. 8vo. New York, 1858.] a resident of the spot, and a close student of the chronicles of the old colony. The rise and progress of the settlements both French and Spanish are given in detail and with general accuracy, and though his account of the former is not so finished nor so thoroughly digested as that of Sparks, consisting of little more than extracts linked together, we have no other work in our language so full on the doings of the subjects of His Catholic Majesty in Florida, and the gradual growth of the Ancient City. It thus fills up a long standing hiatus in our popular historical literature.

Numerous articles on Florida have appeared in various American periodicals, but so few of any value that as a class they do not merit attention. Most of them are flighty descriptions of scenery, second-hand morsels of history, and empty political disquisitions. Some of the best I have referred to in connection with the points they illustrate, while the Index of Mr. Poole, a work invaluable to American scholars, obviates the necessity of a more extended reference.

Those that have appeared in the serials of Europe, on the other hand, as they mostly contain original matter, so they must not be passed over so lightly.

Though not strictly included among them, the article on Florida prepared by Mr. Warden for that portion of L’Art de Verifier les Dates called Historical Chronology of America, will come under our notice here. In a compendium parading such a pretentious title as this we have a right to expect at least an average accuracy, but this portion bears on its face obvious marks of haste, negligence, and a culpable lack of criticism, and is redeemed by nothing but a few excerpts from rare books.

Little attention has ever been paid to the natural history of the country, least of all by Americans. The best observer of late years has been M. de Castelnau, who, sent out by the Academie des Sciences to collect and observe in this department, spent in Middle Florida one of the seven years he passed in America. While the Seminole war was raging, and a mutual slaughter giving over the peninsula once more to its pristine wilderness, in the gloomy hammocks of the Suwannee and throughout the lofty forests that stretch between this river and the Apalachicola, this naturalist was pursuing his peaceful avocation undisturbed by the discord around him. In April, 1842, after his return, he submitted to the Academy a memoir on this portion of his investigations.[117 - Memoire sur la Floride du Milieu, Comptes-Rendus, T. XIV., p. 518; T. XV., p. 1045.] It is divided into three sections, the first a geographical description, the second treating of the climate, hygienic condition, geology, and agriculture, while the third is devoted to anthropology, as exhibited here in its three phases, the red, the white, and the black man. In one passage,[118 - Comptes Rendus, XV., p. 1047.] speaking of the history of the country, this author remarks that M. Lakanal “has, during his long sojourn at Mobile, just on the confines of Florida, collected numerous documents relative to the latter country; but the important labors of our venerable colleague have not yet been published.” As far as I can learn, these doubtless valuable additions to our history are still inedited.

The subjoined list of some other articles published in Europe is extracted from Dr. W. Koner’s excellent catalogue.[119 - Repertorium ueber die – auf dem Gebiete der Geschichte erscheinenen Aufsätze, u. s. w. Berlin, 1852.]

1832. De Mobile, Excursion dans l’Alabama et les Florides. Revue des Deux Mondes, T. I., p. 128.

1835. Beitrage zur Näheren Kenntniss von Florida. Anal. der Erdkunde, B. XII., s. 336.

1836. Castelnau, Note sur la Source de la Riviére de Walkulla dans la Floride. Soc. de Geographie, II. ser., T. XI., p. 242.

1839. David, Aperçu Statistique sur la Floride Soc. de Geog., II., ser., Tom. XIV., p. 144.

1842. Castelnau, Note de deux Itineraires de Charleston à Tallahassie. Soc. de Geog. T. XVIII., p. 241.

1843. Castelnau, Essai sur la Floride du Milieu. Annales de Voyages, T. IV., p. 129.

1843. De Quatrefages, La Floride. Revue des Deux Mondes, nouv. ser., T. I., p. 774.

§ 7.—Maps And Charts

Though the need of a good history of the most important maps and charts of America, enriched by copies of the most interesting, cannot but have been felt by every one who has spent much time in the study of its first settlement and growth, such a work still remains a desideratum in our literature. As a trifling aid to any who may hereafter engage in an undertaking of this kind, and as an assistance to the future historian of that portion of our country, I add a brief notice of those that best illustrate the progress of geographical knowledge respecting Florida.