whom they sought to enslave.

These fugitives had planted their gardens, and some of them had flocks
roaming in the wilderness; all were enjoying the fruits of their
labor, and congratulating themselves upon being safe from the attacks
of those who enslave mankind. But the spirit of oppression is
inexorable. The slaveholders finding they could not themselves obtain
possession of their intended victims, called on the President of the
United States for assistance to perpetrate the crime of enslaving
their fellow men. That functionary had been reared amid southern
institutions. He entertained no doubt of the right of one man to
enslave another. He did not doubt that if a man held in servitude
should attempt to escape, he would be worthy of death. In short, he
fully sympathised with those who sought his official aid. He
immediately directed the Secretary of War to issue orders to the
Commander of the "Southern Military District of the United States" to
send a detachment of troops to destroy "Blount's Fort," and to "_seize
those who occupied it and return them to their masters_."[1]

General Jackson, at that time Commander of the Southern Military
District, directed Lieut.-Colonel Clinch to perform the barbarous
task. I was at one time personally acquainted with that officer, and
know the impulses of his generous nature, and can readily account for
the failure of his expedition. He marched to the vicinity of the Fort,
made the necessary recognisance, and returned, making report that "the
fortification was not accessible by land."[2]

Orders were then issued to Commodore Patterson, directing him to carry
out the directions of the Secretary of War. He at that time commanded
the American flotilla lying in "Mobile Bay," and instantly issued an
order to Lieut. Loomis to ascend the Appalachicola River with two
gun-boats, "to seize the people in BLOUNT'S FORT, deliver them to
their owners, and destroy the Fort."

On the morning of the 17th Sept., A. D. 1816, a spectator might have
seen several individuals standing upon the walls of that fortress
watching with intense interest the approach of two small vessels that
were slowly ascending the river, under full-spread canvas, by the aid
of a light southern breeze. They were in sight at early dawn, but it
was ten o'clock when they furled their sails and cast anchor opposite
the Fort, and some four or five hundred yards distant from it.

A boat was lowered, and soon a midshipman an