Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1885-05-22
AN AMERICAN GENERAL OF
THE OLUEN TIME.

We have been much interested in read
ing a letter which Mr.. VIM. l. Stout, of
this county, obtained recently while On a
visit to Florida from R. G.. Robertson,
a grandson of General Zachary Taylor,
residing in that State. 1t was written
to the Generals brother just after "Old
Rough and Ready" bad ended cam
paign against the Seminole Indians in
August, 1888. The old soldier orthOgra-
ply and grammar were as bad as bis fight
ing qualities were good, and the general
tenor of his letter shows how little he ex-
pected the great elevation which came to
him in after life and which must have
seemed to him like dream. He dates
his letter from Fort Brooke. Fla. and
commences it my dear Sir" His sue
cessful campaign which had just closed is
thus described
'Taking into consideration the excitement
of mind and body, no one could have laboured
more assidnously than I have done since I
have been in Florida. took the field in No
vember, soon after getting here, and continued
in the prairies swamps and hammocks of this
miserable country and climate in search of
the enemy, and most actively employed until
the 26th of May, when I returned here with
800 OF the hostiles who had surrendered to
me, and 80 negroes, and when Mrs Taylor
Joined me on the LIST of June, seven days after,
from Baton Rouge as soon as could get the
Indians and negroes referred to shipped for
their new home west of the Mississippi, I
again left here on the 9th of June with most
of the troops under my command for Fort
Heilman.'
The old General complains that the
killing or capturing of the Indians is made
harder by their hiding in the impenetrable
swamps and hammocks, instead of gather
ing in "villages" where he could get at
them. They were also fleet of foot and
would not come out and fight, but pre-
ferred to leave the little American army
to be dealt with by the climate which
was more deadly than their srifes and
scalping knives" Here is his description
of what Florida consisted of:
sIf nature has made them feeter of foot
than the white man, it has also given them
country where they leave no tracks when they
fly 1t is our misfortune and net our fault
that we cannot overtake them. This unfortu-
nate war may yet continue for many years
unless the government employ the blood
hound to aid the troops in ferreting them out.
The hammocks are sunken or overlooked
lands, at short intervals scattered over the
whole country, particularly along the water
courses, of various extent frequently fifty
miles in length, and occasionally fifteen to
twenty miles wide, covered with bushes and
vines of various kinds, SO thick, mostly ever
greens, that in many places you caDnotsee five |
steps ahead interspersed with lakes and |
,wamps, impossible to footmen unacquainted |
N fact more difficult to penetrate than the
strongest canebrake ever met with"
In noting the fact of his promotion to
,he brevet rank of Brigadier General and
assignment to the full command 10 Flori-
la he seems to take very little pride in it,
indeed. he says:
81 can assure you that my days or dreams of
mbition, if they ever existed are passed, and
10Th age and inclination admonishes me and
induces me to sigh for ease, quiet and retire
nent, and snug little farm with hundred
r two acres with comfortable buildings and
Their necessary improvements, is all look
onward to and are the extent of my wishes"
How little did the old man think that
welve years after, he would be President,
nd Commander. in Chief of the Army
nd Navy of the United States And as
tile could he foresee the future of Flori-
a, for he says:
s'It is the most miserable country I have
yer seen, and even if one succeeded in driv-
lg the Indians from it, it would not be set
ed, in all possibility, by the whites, for sew I
al centuries" I
The old soldier, like many far better !
of his day and of later day, &C