The Beaufort tribune and Port Royal commercial. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1877-1879, 1877-03-08
IN THE EVERGLADES.
A Story Of the Seminole War in Florida.
The Deadly swamp. r.

lN
4 Story Of the Seminole War in Florida--.
The Deadly swamp. r- .fa...t
The exploration of the everglades of
Florida bring to light many incidents of
the long and terrible Seminole war.
Beyond the "Mules' Wallow" there is
a marsh about which the most remark
able stories are narrated. It is called
Feather Bed Bay" No wild animal
when chased by the hunter was ever
known to cross it; the baying of the
hounds might force the deer little way
from the frmer earth, but it would then
become alarmed with its rapid sinking
and struggle out even into the jaws of
death" Under the tread of any living
thing upon the treacherous tussocks the
whole surface of the marsh will tremble
as if it were merely floating scum on a
hidden depth of water. As one surveys
it's tall furze and tufted grass, traversed
by the quivering undulations produced
by the breeze, and ponders on the fright
full stories of the lives which have been
smothered in the unfathomable slime,
his wonderment at the application of the
name of "Feather Bed Bay" ceases. 1t
was comparatively unknown to the whites
until one battle took place. The Indians,
in retreating, hoped by their superior
lightness of foot to cross the Feather
Bed Bay" before they were overtaken.
They would have avoided it had they not
been pressed very hotly, and by boldly
attaining the other shore they thought
that the whites would be induced to at
tempt to follow them. But the trepida-
ton of the moment prevented the safe
passage upon which they had reckoned.
The surface Of the bay shook under 80
many moccasined feet, and warrior after
warrior sunk in the slime, his last breath
gurging up Like the croak of the frog at
twilight. To add to the horror of the
scene, which even to the heated whites
was repulsive, Indian women, whom run
ners had warned of the nearing struggle
as they sat. fishing on the margin OF
"Sink O. Pinhooks," appeared on the
further side of "Feather Bed Bay"
wringing their hands and tearing their
hair with terror as their husbands,
brothers, lovers and fathers struggled
with the strange cyclops. Some OF them
even flung themselves with long re-
sounding and long remembered shrieks
into the fatal pool of mire and disap.
peared with their defenders. Stalwart
warriors, whose coppery flesh seemed to
have assumed a redder hue from having
been painted with the blood of the whites,
painfully struggled back to the shore,
with eyes glaring, tongues protrudlng
and faces streaked with sweat and gore.
There the whites, with the passion OF re-
venge grimly burning in their eyes, stood
firing at the figures which were attempt
ing to reach the other side; and those
who struggled back, affrighted with
death in SO sickening form, were. given
their quietus by blows inflicted with, the
butts of their, ,muskets. Their bodies
were thrust back into the mire and never
seen more.
Fifty of the savages passed " Feather
Bed Bay" either by treading the tus-
socks with superior quickness and agili-
ty or by running aro md it with their ut
most speed The latter example was
followed by many of the whites, who re-
sumed the pursuit, after preventing the
escape from the mire Of two braves wao
toiled nearly shoulder deep to the edge.
Some of the whites here turned back,
but others, forgetting discipline and not
hearing the voice of command, pressed
on in hot pursuit. The night had fallen
and the sound of breaking vines and
shrubs and the splashing Of the water in
the morasses as the fugitives swept
through was all that guided the soldiers.
On, on, they went; the faint light OF the
moon only served to confuse all neither
objects, and the vistas of pine and cy-
press assumed strange aspects as they
sped along. There was q sort of intoxl-
cation in the wildness, weirdness and un-
certainty of the hunt. There was dam
ger Of ambush by wild beasts as well as
by sayages They heard the snarl of the
panther over their heads frequently as
! they passed into the dense jtangle OF the
palmetto hammocks or "tight eye"
iungles. But they were men who had
cause to thirst for the blood Of the
Seminoles, and they knew during these
hours of night only of the now near,
now distant, sound of their footsteps
nd hated voices; sometimes the sobs OF
the querulous squaws, sometimes the
defying yells of the fiend like warriors.
Judging by the position of the moon,
they went eastward from the Sink O.
Pinhooks," where there stood few de-
serted wigwams, crossed several streams
and GO thicks," and finally approached a
large island in the midst of great ex-
panse of water and forest. The island
was densely and closely shaded with
magnolias, bays and live oaks, and a
great camp fire in the center cast about
a wonderful glow, which disclosed to
them circle of many wigwams. The
Indians stood at bay and renewed the
fight. But they were surprised by the
sudden apparition of their pursuers,
who, they supposed, had been baftied by
the tortuous and tangled way which they
had led them. The soldiers dashed in
upon them and killed sqlaw, but they
we're quickly surrounded by more In
dians than they had expected to .encounl-
ter, and could only cut their, way back
into the morass, from which they main
tanned an occasional fire at the figures
which ventured out of the wigwams.
They related that some of these were
negroes. They then plunged backward
the way that they had come, and about
sunrise found themselves at the Lower
Pinhook Sink. sHFa- -.5;.
Two Odd Dreams. a -r-
An exchange tells q story of gentle