The Illinois free trader. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1840-1841, 1840-11-20
From the Knickerbocker for October.
The Conspiracy of Neamathla.--An Anthem.
tic Sketch.
ny WASHINGTON IRVING,

. VAL, and other commissioners on the par
$ of the United States, concluded treat,
# with the chiefs and warriors of the Flori
Ga Indians, by which the latter, for Ger
: tain considerations, coded all claims tt
o the whole territory, excepting distric
IN the eastern part, to which they wer,
y to remove, and within which they wer,
to reside for twenty years. Several o
the chiefs signed the treaty with grea
reluctance but none opposed it more
; strongly than NEAMATHLA, prime pal chic
of the Mickasookies, fierce and warlike
people, many of them Creeks by origin
who lived about the Mickasookie lake
Neamaihla had always been active in
those depredations on the frontiers 81
Georgia, which had brought vengeance
and ruin on the Semnoles. He was a
remarkable man; upward of sixty years
of age, about six feet high, with a fine
eye, and a strongly marked countenancc,
over which he possessed great command.
His hatred of the white men appeared to
be mixed with contempt: on the common
people he looked down with infinite
scorn. He seemed unwilling to acknow-
ledge any superiority Of rank or dignity
III Governor Duyal, claiming to associate
with him on terms of equality, as two
great chieftains. Though he had been
prevailed upon to sign the treaty, his
heart revolted at it. In one Of his frank
conversations with Governor Duval, he
observed: "This country belongs TO the
red man; and if | had the number of war
riors at my command that this nation
once had, | would not leave white man
on my lands. | would extcrminate the
whole. | can say this to you, for You
can understand me- you are man but
| would not say it to your people
They'd cry out was a savage, and
would take my life. They cannot ap-
preciate the feelings of man that loves
| his country"
As Florida had but recently been erect
ed into Territory, every thing as yet
was in rude and simple style. The Gov
ernor, to make himself acquainted with
the Indians, and to be near at hand to
keep an eye upon them, fixed his resi-
dence at Tallahassee, near the Fowel
towns, inhabited by the Mickasookies.
His government palace for time was a
mere log house, and he lived on hunters
fare. The village of Neamathla was but
about three miles off, and thither the
Governor occasionally rode, to visit the
old chieftaiD. In one of these visits he
found Neamathla seated in his wigwam,
in the centre Of the village, surrounded by
his warriors. The Governor had brought
him some liquor as a present, but it
mounted quickly into his brain, and made
him boastful and belligerent. The theme
ever uppermost in his mind was the treaty
with the whites. 1T was true he said,
'the red men had made such treaty,
but the white men had not acted up to it.
The red men had received none of the
money and the cattle that had been prom
ised them: the treaty, therefore, was at
all end, and they did not mean to be
bound by it,
Governor Duval calmly represented to
him that the time appointed in the treaty
for the payment and delivery of the mo-
ney and cattle had not yet arrived. This
the old chieftain knew full well, but he
chose, for the moment, to pretend ignor-
ance. He kept on drinking and talking,
his voice growing louder and louder, until
| it resounded all over the village. He
held in his hand long knife, with which
he had been rasping tobacco; this he
KEEP! nourishing backward and forward,
as he talked, by wy of giving effect to
his words, brandishing it at times within
an inch of the Governors throat. He
concluded his TRADE by repeating, that
'the country belonged to the red men,
and that sooner than give it up, his bones
and the bones Of his people should bleach
upon its soil
Duval saw that the object of all this
buster was to see whether he could be
inundated. He kept his eye, therefore,
fixed steadily on the chief, and the mo-
ment he concluded with this menace,
seized him by the bosom Of his hunting
shirt, and clenching his other fist:
Il We heard what you have sad,' re-
piled he. You have made a treaty, yet
you say your homes shall bleach before
you comply with it. AS sure as there is
a sun in heaven, your bones shall bleach,
if you do not fulfil every article Of that
treaty! | II let you know that ] am
first here, and will see that you do your