In 1841, as Major General of the 6th Militia Division of Georgia, Levi J. Knight exercised local military authority over a vast area of the Georgia Frontier. General Knight’s home was near Cat Creek, a tributary of the Withlacoochee River, near present day Ray City, Berrien County, GA in the area then encompassed by Lowndes County. His commission was ordered by the Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Georgia Charles J. McDonald on December 11, 1840, just five months before Col. William J. Worth assumed command of the U.S. Army of Florida in the campaign to subjugate and remove the Native Americans to lands west of the Mississippi.
In his history of the Florida war, John T. Sprague, Worth’s aide-de-camp and later to be his son-in-law, vividly put the new commander’s problem this way: “Forty-seven thousand square miles in the territory of Florida, was occupied by an enemy by nature vindictive and revengeful, treacherous and subtle, striving for their rights, and for the soil made sacred by those superstitious influences which became part of an Indian’s nature, by his duty to the Great Spirit, and the injunctions of parents and prophets. Every hammock and swamp was to them a citadel, to which and from which they could retreat with wonderful facility. Regardless of food or the climate, time or distance, they moved from one part of the country to the other, in parties of five and ten; while the soldier, dependent upon supplies, and sinking under a tropical sun, could only hear of his foe by depredations committed in the section of the country over which he scouted the day before.” -John K. Mahon
Levi J. Knight’s Division of Georgia militia included companies which were well versed in the tactics of swamp warfare. For five years, the militia companies of Lowndes County and of the 6th Division had been sporadically called out to patrol the rivers and wetlands spanning Lowndes County, GA and Hamilton County, FL. These routes provided cover for Indian movements between the Okefenokee and other south Georgia swamps, and the Florida Territory.
The wave of violent engagements in Georgia began in 1836, when the US Army hired contractors to begin removing Indians from Georgia on what would become known as the “Trail of Tears.” Some Native Americans forcefully resisting removal to western lands moved across southwest Georgia making their way to the Florida Territory. In July 1836, then Captain Knight led a company against a band of Indians on the Alapaha River. The July 13, 1836 Skirmish at William Parker’s Place was followed July 15, 1836 by the Battle of Brushy Creek. In August, 1836 subsequent local actions were fought along Warrior Creek, Little River, Alapaha River, Cow Creek, Troublesome Ford, and Grand Bay. State militia officers in Lowndes County at the time of these engagements included Colonel Henry Blair, Captain Enoch Hall, Capt. Henry Crawford Tucker, Capt. Hamilton Sharpe (Lowndes County), Capt. Scriven Gaulden, Capt. John Pike (Lowndes County), Capt. Samuel E. Swilley, as well as Captain Levi J. Knight. In September, 1836, Gen. Jesup ordered Maj. Dearborn with about two hundred United States regulars, into Lowndes county, for the protection of that and the surrounding country against the depredations of Indians. Dr. Jacob Rhett Motte, a Harvard educated Army surgeon in Dearborn’s command journaled about their duty at Franklinville, GA in Lowndes County, GA and in Madison County, FL. In January, 1837, Dearborn’s force moved into North Florida. About February 23, 1837 Dr. Motte and the troops encamped at Warner’s Ferry on the upper Withlacoochee River, close to the boundary line between Georgia and Florida. On April 21, 1838, the family and the enslaved African Americans of circuit riding Methodist minister Tilmon Dixon Peurifoy were massacred by Indians near Tallahassee, FL. Attacks at Old Town on the Suwanee River and in Alachua County, FL were reported in the same news accounts. When Indians raiding from the swamp attacked and massacred travelers and nearby settlers, militia companies were again called up, first on local authority of the Lowndes County Committee of Vigilance and Safety, then on the authority of Governor Gilmer. Captain Knight’s independent company of mounted militia and Captain Tomlinson’s company were mustered into Colonel Rinaldo Floyd’s regiment. Knight, with a full company complement of seventy-five mounted men served in the “sudden emergency” from August 15 to October 15, 1838.
The mood of the Florida war changed sharply when Colonel Worth took charge of it. Worth was raised a Quaker, but had eschewed the Quaker principles to become a career military man. He was a veteran of the War of 1812, and a former commander of West Point.
William Jenkins Worth, as a colonel in 1841 was in command of U.S. forces in the Florida Territory during the Second Seminole War.
Considered one of the handsomest men in the army, Worth was of middle height, had a martial bearing, a trim figure, and the appearance of physical strength. He showed to best advantage when mounted, for he was one of the finest of horsemen. During combat he radiated confidence. Could he have remained forever on the battlefield there probably would not have been a more famous officer in the service. Unfortunately he had a petty streak mingled with overweening vanity, which cropped up when he was not in a fight. Rash and impetuous, he often said and did things he regretted afterward. His mind was intense and narrow; he was self-centered. … Yet in spite of this quality, or perhaps because of it, Worth was a capable soldier who drove hard… -John K. Mahon
Worth embarked on a radical campaign. Previously the Army of Florida had spent the summer months “lying in camp feeble and discouraged, in the vain hope the negotiation and the proffers of peace would end a mode of life disgusting to the soldier, and degrading to the intellect and habits of man.”
The season of the year was a …formidable obstacle. Summer operations had heretofore failed. The past gave no encouragement. The troops sunk under the debility arising from exposure to noonday suns, constant rains, cool nights, turbid water, and the heavy marches through deep sand. Defeat discouragement, and disease, marked too sadly and plainly the effect of military operations, at the same time proving the complete triumph of the enemy.” –John T. Sprague
While the sweltering Florida summer prostrated the Army, it was the Indian’s power. Each summer the Indians planted and harvested their crops in concealment, and restocked their stores for the coming months of warfare. Now, for the first time in the Florida War, Worth would keep troops active in the field year round. Even through the sickly summer months, even if the climate put soldiers health and lives at risk, Worth’s army would relentlessly pursue the Indians. With nearly 5000 regular Army troops in the field, Worth discharged the active companies of Georgia and Florida militia.
Worth’s instructions to his commanders were simple, “Find the enemy, capture, or exterminate.” If the enemy could not be found, the tactics were to dislodge the bands of Indians from their strongholds in the Florida swamps and to destroy every resource or crop in the field that could be located. Soon bands of haggard Indians, their provisions destroyed, were turning themselves in for deportation.
A large number of the Indians were sent to the West. They now appeared discouraged, especially as their provisions had been destroyed, and their swampy fastness invaded. Yet for several months they maintained a kind of guerilla warfare, ravaging the remote borders, shooting the unguarded traveler, and harassing the soldiery. The Americans suffered greatly from sickness, especially yellow fever and dysentery, brought on by the heat. Many died of sheer exhaustion. – Indian Wars of the United States.
By the fall of 1841, the newspapers were full of praise for the way Colonel William Jenkins Worth was conducting the war against the Seminoles.
General Levi J. Knight, General Thomas Hilliard and Governor C. J. McDonald were not as satisfied with the protection afforded the Georgia frontier. Only two companies of federal troops were positioned along the Georgia line to protect settlers and prevent combatant Indians from moving into the state, which Governor McDonald had repeatedly warned the War Department would result from Colonel Worth’s successes in the Florida Territory. Both companies of federal dragoons were stationed on the east side of the Okeefenokee Swamp, along the St. Mary’s River, one at Fort Moniac, the other at Trader’s Hill, GA.
Indian attacks on white settlers continued to occur along the southern frontier of Georgia and just south of the state line. In the assessment of the settlers of Lowndes County, GA and other border counties, the federal troops detailed to protect the Georgia border were entirely insufficient.
The Indians continued their raids and depredations, and many Floridians and Georgians ascribed their success to the inability of the regulars to handle Indian warfare. Indeed the grand jury of Madison County in Florida issued a presentment setting forth that proposition. Veteran hunters were required to do the job, the jurors found, not the kind of men who entered the army. The solution of course was militia. Properly officered and free of party spirit —which, by the way, was ruining the country— militiamen could end the war. Naturally the regular officers disagreed with such opinions. They believed that the Floridians [and Georgians] were frequently frightened by imaginary Indians, and that the object in criticizing the army was not so much to end the war as to get themselves on the federal payroll.
In Camden County, GA, Aaron Jernigan wrote a letter to Governor McDonald August 31, 1841, regarding the placement of the federal troops in Georgia.
“I do not think it any protection to the exposed part of the state…The officers and men being unacquainted with the country, and having no guide, it causes them to render but little service to the country…Fear of the Indians, and their attacks down in Florida, have driving the more exposed families from their homes, while others offer their farms at reduced prices, with a view of leaving. I must therefore request your excellency to call into the service of the state at least two companies of volunteers. The safety of the exposed citizens of Georgia requires it. The citizens here have little disposition to turn out for a second term of service, and seldom move but in defence of their own families, owing to the failure to receive pay for their services of last fall...”
Jernigan was an experienced “Indian Fighter” and well familiar with the Georgia Frontier. He led his company of Stewart County militia at the Battle of Shepherd’s Plantation, four miles above Roanoke, GA, in June, 1836. In July 1836 his company pursued a band of Indians into Chickasawhatchee Swamp and participated in the battle there. In January 1841 while scouting south of the Okefenokee Swamp between Fort Moniac and Fort Taylor, Jernigan’s company surprised and trailed three warriors six miles into a swamp called “‘Impassable Bay,’ probably one of the most thick and boggy swamps in any part of our country” about 18 miles below the Georgia line in present day Osceola National Forest. Overtaking the Indians, shots were fired killing one warrior. Jernigan personally killed another, “Jernigan fired, and the Indian fell mortally wounded, but still attempting to rise, the Captain mounted him with his knife, and soon ended the struggle.” A third Indian was wounded but escaped. Jernigan took as trophies “two very fine rifles, almost new; a very splendid silver mounted “Bowie knife,” supposed to have belonged to some officer who was killed by them; several pounds of balls, and two horns of the finest rifle powder, containing two pounds each, and lastly, not least, their scalps, being by far the best prize, I think,” according to a report sent by Captain Henry E. W. Clark to his Excellency Charles J. McDonald, Governor of Georgia.
Governor McDonald replied to Captain Jernigan on Sept 14, 1841:
Executive Department
Milledgeville, September 14, 1841
Sir: Yours of the 31st August has this moment been received, from which I am surprised to hear that the Georgia frontier is still in an unprotected condition, the forces stationed there by the commanding officer in Florida, being inadequate to the purpose. From the strongest assurance of Colonel Worth, that ample protection should be given to this section of Georgia, I had hoped that before this a sufficient military force had been provided, to inspire the people with confidence, that they might remain at their homes without the slightest apprehension of danger.
You will, without delay, organize your company, and call on Captain Sweat to join you with his company, and adopt such immediate measures to prevent the depredation you apprehend from an incursion of the Indians. You will scour the whole exposed district; and I must confide in your judgement in regard to the necessity for the continuance of the force. You will have supplies furnished at the lowest possible cost.
I have the honor to be your obedient servant,
Charles J. McDonald
Governor McDonald followed up with a letter to Colonel Worth, forwarding the intelligence from Captain Jernigan and requesting supplies for the Georgia Militia companies he had ordered into the field.
Executive Department
Milledgeville, September 15, 1841.
Sir: I have the honor to enclose to you the copy of a letter received yesterday from Captain Jernigan, by which I am informed of the state of alarm existing among the inhabitants of the section of Georgia which has been so long subject to the hostile incursions of Indians from Florida. A sense of insecurity on the part of the people, together with the late hostile demonstrations of the Indians in Florida, on their usual rout to Georgia, is well calculated to give rise to the state of things described in Captain Jernigan’s letter. I presume that the unprecedented sickness that has been prevailing in Florida has prevented you from sending as great a force for the protection of this district of the country as you intended when you addressed me in your letter of the 24th of July. But, be the cause what it may, I cannot consent to permit the people of this State to be exposed to the depredations of the Indians, and have ordered out two companies of mounted men for their protection. I must ask you to supply them with the necessary forage and subsistence as long as it is necessary to retain them in the service.
I have the honor to be your obedient servant.
Charles J. McDonald.
Captain Jernigan again wrote from Camden County to Governor McDonald on October 1 to report an Indian attack three miles below the Georgia line.
It was on the 26th of September last Moses Barber, of Florida, was attacked near his dwelling by a party of eleven Indians, was fired on by them, and badly wounded, though he made his escape into his dwelling, defending himself against their firing. They burnt his outhouses during the night, as the attack was made about the going down of the sun. On the next day there was a party of four men assembled themselves for the purpose of going to the relief of Mr. Barber; not knowing the number of Indians, they proceeded on within a mile of Mr. Barber’s house; the Indians arose from each side of the road, and fired upon them, killing two and wounding the third, and killing his horse from under him. The fourth made his escape without any injury, and assisted the wounded one by taking him on his horse. These depredations were committed about three miles from the Georgia line. As soon as the news reached me, I immediately mounted my horse and proceeded to Fort Moniac, to procure a force to pursue them, which was dispatched with as little delay as possible. I volunteered my services to go with them as a guide, and to trail off the Indians. There were four other men in my neighborhood who volunteered their services also, to proceed to the place where they had done their work of havoc, and took their trail, and followed it for two days; but, they having one day the start of us, we could not overtake them. Their course was for the nation, and on their way back they fell in with three other men, killing one and wounding another, who made his escape; the third escaped unhurt.
Scant newspaper accounts of the attack on Moses Barber’s place published in the Savannah Daily Republican indicate the Indians took provisions from the Barber homestead including “some cattle and about 20 bushels of corn.” The two killed in the “party of four” who went to Barber’s aid were Jonathan Thigpen and a Mr. Hicks. For two days Captain Jernigan and the squad of men from Fort Moniac trailed the Indians who were apparently making their way south in the direction of Garey’s Landing (now Middleburg, FL). By September 29, 1841 the fleeing Indians had made their way 30 miles below the Georgia line to Horse Hole Branch, about nine miles north of Black Creek, FL where crossed trails with three white men; Mr. Bleach, Mr. Penner were killed and a third unidentified man escaped.
General Thomas Hilliard, Brigadier General, 2nd Brigade, 7th Division reported to the Governor from Waresboro, GA in early October,
Dear Sir: The people of this county have again become alarmed at the appearance of Indian signs on the Okefenokee swamp. Some of the inhabitants have left their homes, for fear of being attacked by them, whose forces are daily increasing.
This last intelligence received from the inhabitants adjacent to the Okefenokee swamp leads me to believe that the Indians have again returned to that swamp. Under this impression, I have requested Captain Sweat to call out his company, for the purpose of giving relief to the exposed inhabitants, and to scour the country effectually. He is now upon that duty. Should it become necessary, I will call out another company.
I am apprehensive that Captain Sweat’s company will not be sufficient to protect the exposed country.
Please write me on the subject at as early time as may suit your convenience.
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Thomas Hilliard.
On October 6, 1841, James A. Sweat’s company of Ware County Militia was called out. Captain Sweat immediately informed the Governor, “Indian signs have been discovered in several places around the Okefenokee swamp, in this county, causing considerable alarm among the inhabitants.” By October 11, 1841, Captain Sweat’s company was garrisoning Fort Floyd. Fort Floyd, erected and occupied by federal troops from 1838 to 1839, had been reactivated. Fort Floyd was located on the Blackshear Road near the northeast corner of the Ware County side of the Okefenokee swamp. Like Captain Jernigan, Captain Sweat found the local inhabitants, who had not been compensated for previous support of the militia in the field, where unwilling to extend credit to the State for their goods or militia service.
Headquarters, Fort Floyd
October 11, 1841.
Sir: I have the honor to inform your excellency that on Saturday last, while on a scout near the Okefenokee swamp, at a place called the Cowhouse, I discovered considerable Indian signs, most of which were quite new. The trails were mostly leading into the Okefenokee swamp. Having at the same time sent a detachment from my company, I was not able to pursue them to any advantage; but, as soon as I can procure suitable rations for that purpose, I intend to give them a chase.
In relation to our supplies, we get corn, beef, &c., from the inhabitants, on the credit of the State, on which we find some difficulty to obtain it. Your excellency will please advise the most suitable mode to procure supplies. Many of the inhabitants part from their corn, &c., with much reluctance, in consequence of the delay which attended the collection of former claims upon the Government.
I have the honor to be your obedient servant,
James A. Sweat, Captain.
By October 13, at the urging of Georgia governor McDonald, Secretary of War John Canfield Spencer ordered that the two Georgia militia companies in the field (Jernigan’s Company and Sweat’s Company) be “mustered into the service of the United States,” although this action was not communicated to McDonald for another two weeks.
An Army memo dated October 17, 1841 detailed the position of regular U.S. troops defending the Georgia frontier. Col. Worth and garrison commanders were convinced these forces were adequate to protection for the settlers in north Florida and South Georgia.
U.S. Army memo on the position of troops defending the Georgia Frontier, October 17, 1841
Oct. 17, 1841
Memorandum exhibiting the disposition of the troops proximate to the Georgia borders
At Traders Hill 1 Compy of Dragoons
At Fort Moniac 1 Compy of Dragoons
At Thigpens/South prong of St. Mary’s river 1 Compy of Dragoons
At Norths station 1 Compy of Dragoons
At Natural bridge on Santa Fe 1 Compy of Dragoons
At Fort White on Santa Fe 1 Compy of Dragoons
At Fort Macomb on Suwannee 1 Compy of Dragoons
At Fort Pleasant 2 — ” — of infy
At Ft. Hamilton / on Bellamy road 1 — ” — of infy [infantry]
. near the Ocilla
at Ft. R. Gamble / 28 miles east of 2 — ” — of infy [infantry]
. TallahasseeActive scouting has been kept up from Fort Moniac and Traders hill during the summer & until late in Septr. without discovering any Indian Signs. On the 30th of that month the commanders of those stations reported signs of indians & that troops were actively engaged in pursuit of the enemy.
Head Qrs. Ay of Fla. Tampa
Octo 17, 1841
In General Knight’s assessment these federal garrisons were entirely inadequate, which might be understood given their remoteness from the watershed routes into Lowndes County. Troupville, the county seat of government in 1840, was situated on the Withlacoochee River.
- Traders Hill, GA, 1 Company of Dragoons, was situated on the St. Mary’s River east of the Okefenokee Swamp, approximately 100 miles by road from Troupville, GA.
- Fort Moniac, 1 Company of Dragoons, on the St. Mary’s River south of the Okefenokee, approximately 75 miles from Troupville
- Thigpens/South prong of St. Mary’s river 1 Company of Dragoons, on Deep Creek, in the Florida Territory about 6 miles south of the Georgia line, about 110 miles from Troupville.
- North’s station, 1 Company of Dragoons, at Blount’s Ferry on the Suwannee River at or near the Georgia line, approximately 55 miles from Troupville
- Natural bridge on the Santa Fe River, 1 Company of Dragoons, on the Bellamy Road, approximately 85 miles south of Troupville, GA in the Florida Territory
- Fort White, at a steamboat landing on the Santa Fe River, 1 Company of Dragoons, in the Florida Territory about 85 miles south of Troupville and 10 miles west of Natural Bridge.
- Fort Macomb on Suwannee River, 1 Company of Dragoons, approximately 70 miles due south of Troupville, GA, 30 miles west of Fort White.
- Fort Pleasant, 2 Companies of infantry, at the crossing of the Econfina River, about 65 miles southwest of Troupville, GA
- Fort Hamilton, on Bellamy road near the Aucilla River, 1 Company of infantry, about 55 miles southwest of Troupville.
- Fort Robert Gamble, 28 miles east of Tallahassee, 2 Companies of infantry, on Welaunee Creek, about 10 miles west of Fort Hamilton and about 55 miles southwest of Troupville, GA
.
A fort in the Florida Territory, Second Seminole War
Certainly across the state line from Lowndes County, GA the citizens of Hamilton County in the Florida Territory were alarmed. Hamilton County stretches from the Suwanee River on the east and south to the Withlacoochee river on the west, and includes the confluences of the Withlacoochee and Alapaha rivers with the Suwannee. These watersheds provided routes for Indians moving from the Florida Territory into Georgia.
In the first district of Hamilton County, the settlers had gathered up in a stockade at Livingston’s Ferry, which crossed the Suwannee River five miles south of the junction with the Withlacoochee, about 45 miles south of Troupville, GA. Families who remained outside a fortified enclosure were risking their lives.
Overstreet Murders
Jacob Crosby, recalled events of 1841 in a memoir published May 26, 1885 in the Athens Banner Watchman.
The only hostile gun ever fired by the Indians within the boundaries of the county [Hamilton County, FL], was in the first district on the Alapaha river, near its junction with the Suwannee. George Overstreet, with his family, had been living in the stockade at Livingston’s ferry, situated at the foot of the shoals below where Ellaville has been built up since that time.
Mr. Overstreet found the morals of the people in the stockade growing so bad he determined to take the chances of a life in the forest with all its risks and inconveniences, rather than remain. He moved up the Suwannee into the neighborhood of the place where Mrs. Bird is now living, about five miles west of the lower Suwannee spring. Here he remained by a short time, being satisfied that the Indians were near him and watching for an opportunity to attack him.
He moved again, crossed the Suwannee and settled on the Alapaha, a mile or two from Zipperer’s ferry. He built a new double pen house, and had completed one end of it, in which he and his family slept, the other end being in an unfinished condition; his family cooked and eat their meals in an older house that stood near.
On the 11th of October, 1841, [October 17, 1841] Mr. Overstreet and his family had supper in early evening, and had gone into the new house to prepare for going to rest; his family was composed of himself, wife, several children, a nephew and Dr. Ragland.
Mrs. Overstreet had one of her little ones in her lap, the remainder of the family was seated around the fire, but [Silas] Overstreet [1830-1895], who was then a buckie-lad of a fellow, quite unlike the man he has grown to be since. He was in a sort of loft of a place, and was amusing himself with a hatchet, when the Indians fired a volley of rifles and arrows through the cracks of the house. Two of the children were killed, the one in its mother’s lap and one other.
Mr. Overstreet caught up his rifle and ran out doors and attempted to fire into the squad of savages, but the gun snapped which made the Indians run off and during their absence he ran back into the house and told his family to run for their lives. Mrs. Overstreet found the child in her lap was dead and laid on her bed and taking another of her little ones in her arms ran out with the rest of her family; in the entry they were met by the Indians, who fired another volley at them wounding her with an arrow in the arm; near the shoulder joint and [Silas] Overstreet with an arrow in the thigh. Dr. Raglan was hit in four places but all ran out into the dark; Mr. Overstreet would snap his gun at the Indians and keep them backed off until his family got off without further injury. Dr. Raglan and Mr. Overstreet’s nephew were together all night and being cold the little fellow smuggled up close to the old man all he could to keep warm, and when they found the little boy’s clothing were so bloody everybody thought he was covered with wounds, be he had not been injured. Mrs. Overstreet pulled the arrow out of her arm, and Dr. Overstreet attempted to get rid of his, but left the arrow head in his thigh, where it remained five months, but was finally taken out by Dr.[Henry] Briggs of Troupville.
[Silas] Overstreet concealed himself and family in a tree top, that had fallen until morning; during the night the Indians passed so near their place of concealment that they were heard very distinctly talking, but they passed without discovering them. Dr. Raglan and the little boy lay in a sink until morning.
The Indians sacked their house and burned it; in moving the bed out in the yard to get the ticking they took the little dead child out that was killed in Mrs. Overstreet’s lap, the other was burned in the house. The next day when Mr. Overstreet and his neighbors returned they found the bones of the dead child, the bones having been eaten by the hogs; some of the bones of the other child were recovered from the burned building and Mr. Overstreet preserved them carefully until the death of his wife, when he buried all in the same grave…
A month after the event, an account was published in the St. Augustine News. The story was picked up by newspapers all over the country.
St. Augustine News
Nov 13, 1841
INDIAN MURDERS.
Mineral Springs. (Fla.) Oct. 21, 1841.
To the Editors of the News:
Sir-I here hasten to give you an account of recent murders committed by your savage foes, on the family of one of our most respectable citizens. On Sunday night (17th inst.) between the hours of 7 and 8 o’clock, the house of Mr. George Overstreet, distant 10 miles from this place, and on the West bank of the Suwannee river, in Hamilton County, was fired on by a party of Indians, supposed to number about fifteen. Two of Mr. G. Overstreet’s children were killed, and his wife and two children wounded. Two of Mr. Silas Overstreet’s children were in the house at the time but escaped unhurt. Dr. Raglin, who was also in the house at the same time, is mortally wounded, have received three balls in his body. He immediately fled from the house, but from the loss of blood, was unable to proceed more than three hundred yards, where he secreted himself until morning. Mr. Overstreet, his lady, and two wounded children fled, and made good their escape. Mrs. O. and her two children who are wounded were shot with arrows. This is the most conclusive proof that the ammunition of the Indians must be nearly exhausted. The Indians plundered the house then applied the torch, burning it to the ground, with the lifeless bodies of Mr. O’s, two children in it. Mr. O. who was well situated in life, and who had every thing comfortable around him, is now with his wounded wife and two children, thrown upon the world with scarcely a change of clothes.1838 map detail showing locations of Franklinville, GA and Micco Town, FL
In pursuing the Indians it was found that they had crossed the Withlacoochee above where Ellaville [FL] is, on rafts made with logs; they made good their escape into the swamps of Madison county.
According to the Madison County, Florida Genealogical News, the perpetrators of the Overstreet murders were lynched.
A pursuing party, headed by Robert Dees, was formed to trail the Indians. The party trailed the Indians into Madison County, where they were re-enforced by General William Bailey [1790-1867] and his company of Militia. A scout sent out by Bailey captured eight Indians and two white men who had accompanied the party that had attacked the Overstreet home… The eight captured Indians were killed by the scouting party.
“The old diary from which the above it taken, states that every one of the volunteer soldiers was anxious
to shoot the captured Indians. It was Mr. Dees who did the hanging. He tied one end of the rope around the
Indian’s neck, and would throw the other end over a limb, and would draw him up like a bucket of water from a well, holding him in this fashion until everyone had had a chance to shoot the savage. When every member of the party had taken a shot, the Indian was let down and another drawn up in the same manner.”
The two white men, Stephen Yomans and Jack Jewell, were returned to Fort Jackson, where they were tried, convicted, and sentenced to hang.
Jacob Crosby reflected on the hanging of Yomans and Jewell.
Stephen Yomans and Jack Jewell were hanged by a convention of the citizens of Madison and Jefferson counties, presided over by General William Bailey, of Jefferson, for [im]personating Indians and committing robbery and murder on the highway. They admitted their guilt with the rope around their necks. The justice of the execution of these men was conceded by all at the time, but many years afterwards, Gen. Bailey was the democratic candidate for Governor, and, was opposed by Thomas Brown, who raised the cry of regulation, and defeated the General. It may have been right, but I think until now that Gen. Bailey ought to have been elected, if hanging Yomans and Jewell was all his opponents could charge against him.
Other settlers were suspected of collusion with the Indians.
There was much hard talk among the people before the close of the war against the Charles family who lived at Charles’ ferry on the Suwannee, during the entire seven years war with the Seminoles, within the territory occupied by the Indians the family was never interfered with by the Indians and that circumstance gave rise to severe criticism.
Ambrose Cook lived on Cook’s hammock during the entire time the war lasted and when the Indians left after the war, he disappeared also and many were of the opinion he went away with them.
In Lowndes County, GA, Levi J. Knight, Major General of the Sixth Division State Militia, learned of the Overstreet murders five days after the attack. General Knight ordered Captain Solomon W. Morgan and Captain John J. Johnson to take their militia companies into the field. He immediately fired off a letter to Governor McDonald.
Lowdnes County, October 23, 1841
Sir: I this day received information, through Captain John J. Johnson, an experienced officer who served under General Nelson and Captain Morgan, who has a volunteer company organized for the purpose of entering the Florida service, that several of George Overstreet’s family had been murdered by Indians on the 17th instant, ten miles below the Georgia line, and from their trail, proceeded up the river, supposed to be about fifteen or twenty in number. Signs of them were found by Captain Morgan and others, above Micco, five miles below the line in the Alappaha swamp, yesterday. Believing they have continued up into the State in this county, I issued orders to Captains Johnson and Morgan to take a detachment of twenty-five men each, and proceed immediately in search of them, and report to me immediately if any signs are to be found in this State between the Suwannee and Alappaha. As there are no forces in the field in that section, I have thought proper to order these companies to protect that section until your excellency shall have an opportunity to cause forces to be sent, or orders for these companies, or one of them to remain and defend it.
Very respectfully, your excellency’s obedient and very humble servant,
Levi J. Knight, Maj. Gen.
His Excellency Charles J. McDonald.
Within days, General Knight was receiving reports from Captain Morgan that signs of an Indian band had been found along the Alapaha River. Morgan intended to search for the Indians and asked after what provisions he should expect and where he should take up station.
Letter to General KNIGHT.
Lowndes County, October 28, 1841.
SIR: In obedience to your order, I collected a part of my company, and proceeded down the river in search of the Indians. In the river swamp, immediately at the Georgia line, I found considerable signs about two or three days old. On Monday last, several Indians were seen at Mr. Duncan’s about eight miles below this line; and on Tuesday last, Mr. Lee’s son saw several at or near his father’s house. Mr. Lee lives immediately on the line, and on the Alappaha swamp. I believe there is a good number of Indians in this neighborhood ; a trail of some ten or fifteen Indians we found bearing towards Suwanoochee creek, in a northeast direction from the Alappaha river, three miles below the line. All the families in this section are assembled together for protection. I will start tomorrow with a full company in search of them. Captain Johnson is gone to Centreville to meet the United States paymaster, and will not go himself. I expect some of his men will go under his lieutenant. I would be glad you would issue orders where to station, and what we must do for provisions.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
SOLOMON W. MORGAN, Captain.
General Knight’s reply was that the men were not being called up for a definite period of service, and should provision themselves.
ORDERS.
Captain J. J. Johnson.
Lowndes County, November 1, 1841.
As the Indians are in your neighborhood, you· will proceed with your company to search with energy the swamps between Alappaha and Okefenokee swamp until further orders; the men will furnish their own provisions, forage, &c. I have written to his excellency, enclosing copies of your letters. As I am not advised what forces are in the field for the protection of the Georgia frontier, I do not know whether or not your company will be wanted longer than till other forces can be sent.
Respectfully yours,
Levi J. Knight, Major GeneralN. B.· The same was sent to Captain Morgan.
The Georgia Militia companies in the field continued to report signs of Indian presence in and around the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia and the Florida Territory, but were not mustered into service. Nor were the militia companies of Florida.
Governor McDonald, of Georgia, had a list of grievances against the U.S. Army. The people of Florida charged the Federal Government with maladministration of the war effort. Governor Richard Keith Call was removed from office for his criticism of the conduct of the war. The removal of Governor Call did not silence criticism, however.
The war dragged on through 1841 with no apparent end in sight. The Overstreet murders were not to be the last of Indian attacks on the Georgia Frontier.
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