chiefs who had gone to
visit the country to which the Seminoles were to remove), and freely
submitting and assenting to said treaties in all their provisions.
This paper received the signatures of eight principal chiefs, among
them Fueta Susta Hajo and eight subchiefs. Five of the principal
chiefs, Jumper among them, stood aloof and would not sign. Miconopy,
who was absent, sent word by Jumper that he would not abide by the
treaty. Upon this the agent said he would no longer regard Miconopy as
a chief, and said his name should be stricken from the council of the
nation. This action on the part of the agent was arbitrary and wholly
unauthorized, and was severely censured by General Cass, Secretary of
War.

On August 11th the mail carrier Dalton was met by a party of Micosukee
Indians six miles from Fort Brooke and killed. The body was found a
few days afterward, and General Clinch immediately sent a demand for
the surrender of the murderers, but they eluded capture by seeking
refuge in the "Old red sticks" in the neighborhood of Ouithlacoochee.
This murder, it was claimed, was in retaliation for the killing of an
Indian in the previous June.

On August 19, 1835, at the request of Holata Amathla and twenty-five
others, a council of the Seminoles was convened. At the request of the
other chiefs Holata Amathla opened the council, saying they had come
to talk about matters of great interest. He referred to the treaty of
Payne's Landing, the visit to the West of the seven chiefs, and the
promises that had been made; stated that the Seminoles wanted their
separate agent, and paid a high compliment to General Thompson, who,
he said, had always told them the truth. The speech was forwarded to
Washington, but no notice was taken of it. This nonaction on the part
of the authorities at Washington served to intensify the distrust and
suspicions of the Indians as to the good faith of the Government, and
caused many of those who had expressed a willingness to move to join
the ranks of those who objected to doing so. Hostilities soon
commenced. The Long Swamp and Big Swamp Indians commenced pillaging.
Three of them were caught and subjected to exceedingly cruel treatment
by the white settlers. Many outrages were perpetrated on both sides.
The Indians were notified to bring in all their cattle, ponies, and
hogs to be turned over to a United States agent and appraised, the
owners to be paid on their arrival across the Mississippi. Six