The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1841-07-31
Correspondence Of the s.dl.onian.
ST. AUGUSTINE, Fa., July Is, 1871.

Il &.
| #& 7 ST. AUGUSTINE, Fa., July is, 1S4l.
| Taos. ALLEN, Esq,
Dear Sir,--I see, by the papers from the North,
that you are swelterng with the heat while here the
intensity Of the suns rays is tempered by delicious
and bracing breeze which commences daily about
8 o'clock in the morning and continues through the
whole day and part of the night rendering this place,
SO far as this climate is concerned pleasant sum
mer as il is winter residence. 4 .-lls s,
| You of course aware that Col. Worth, who has
the command Of the Army in Florida now, has com
menced active operations against the Indians, and
sent out the troops in small bodies to beat up the
quarters Of the enemy, and harass them as much
as possible. In doing this, he is fully aware
that he and the whole army exposing themselves
to sickness, which must inevitably follow to greater
or less extent indeed, this has already commenced
as out Of 5000 troops there are now one thousand,
possibly more on the sick list. But notwithstanding
| this, the Secretary of War and Col Worth both
knowing that the country are sick and tired Of this
war, and expect il to be brought to successful close
as soon possible, seem to be determined that the
public expectation shall not be disappointed I'm
quesonaby the plan now adopted and put in execu-
ton is the right one; that is to divide the troops into
small bodies, each company Of infantry to be accom-
panied by few Dragons to scour the country In
front and flank and thus scatter over large space
and harass the Indians As to taking killing them
that is out of the question would as soon think of
taking or killing many wolyes-they are quite as
difficult to be surprised caught shot by troops
as SO many "varmint," and quite hard to "trail,"
when once you have started them The fact is, that
every hammock is to them fortress into these they
will dodge and hide, while to troops they are al
most impenetrable. Start body of them, too, and
they will scatter in every direction, no two going to-
gether for half miIe that in very short time you
lose all trace Of them, and ten to one, half of them
have got round into your rear and in the very last
place you would think Of looking for them.
How then" you exclaim, :" is it possible ever to
rout them QUIT" Precisely by the plan now adopted
The Indians have rest and sleep as well as white
men, and they must have food too and although they
can find much in the hammocks and in the streams
to live upon, yet they must have some leisure to
gather and prepare this food such as the Coontie
root the Arrow root, the pth of the Palmetto, fish,
game, &C.; but if they kept constantly disturbed
and driven about from swamp to swamp without ces-
saton they must after while tire out and be starved
out. Col. Worth is gallant and energetic officer
and think the Administration has shown its wis
dom, not only in the plan of operations but in the
selection of young officer as the commander "Old
men for council; young men for action"-and action
is what is required to close this war. a.y ..a
l have often heard the remark made, that Gov
eminent had better give up the Territory at once
to the Indians that it is not worth the money the
has already cost If this done, these very men
would be the first to cry shame upon the Govern
ment for suffering themselves to be whipped by
handful Of savages, and we should be the laughing
stock of the whole world the Indians included Such
proposition is too ridiculous to be answered. and
mention it only to say that the value Of Florida is
very much moderated by those who never having
been in the country of course know more about it
than who live here. The truth is, there is good
deal of poor land here but there is also great deal
of very rich land. There is no richer land than the
hammocks. There is large amount of live oak in
the Territory, and that does not grow on poor land
But there is much land here which you at the North
would consider poor because it is sandy and light
that will produce as good corn and as much to the
acre as can be raised ordinarily, in New England, or
even in Pennsylvania; and finer garden vegetables,
such as cabbages radshes, beans, peas, cucumbers,
melons, &c., &c., would not wish to see than have
seen raised on this kind of sandy SOIL Formerly the
pine woods or sandy plains were filed with extensive
herds Of CATTLE and will be so again. ere long, but
these herds have all been destroyed by the troops and
by the Indians, to prevent them from falling into each
others hands. ~s' "s.#
1t has been said that the people Of Florida are get
ting rich by this war; and that therefore they do not
want it brought to close This assertion is so far
from being true that the very reverse is the fact The
citizens of Florida have suffered immensely, and are
still suffering by this war. Many of them, indeed
most of them, in East Florida have been impoyersh
ed, and some almost beggared by it it has broken up
their plantations, prevented them from raising their
crops, driven them into the towns, and compelled
them to dispose of their property to procure subsist
ence. Of course where little is raised, and an army
is to be fed in addition to the mouths before in the
country provisions of all kinds must be enormously
high, especially all kinds of fresh provisions yegea
bles chickens, butter &c. and such is the fact here
The mouths are to be filed while the hands are ne
cessarily idle. Does this look like getting rich? Let
those who think so come here and buy their provis
ions awhile, and see. No. sir the people of Florida
pray earnestly that this may be closed and they
have confidence that it will be- since the present
Administration have taken it in hand; in that prayer
heartily join, and of that confidence partake.-l
Millions have been squdndered here, but not for the
benefit Of the citizens at large; some few may have
partaken Of 'the spoils" but those were fayorites
for that this Administration is not accountable thew
have reduced the expenditure, while they have in
creased the efficiency Of the operations
Sincerely yours. @esa
DIR. A. BABER.--We perceive, by the Washington
correspondent Of the Charleston Courier thai this