THE WAR CONTINUED—PEACE DECLARED.

General Jessup assumes command of the Army—Number of Troops in the Field—His Advantages—His energetic Policy—Orders Crawford to the Withlacoochee—Capture of fifty two Women and Children—They are held as plunder¹ by the Creeks—Wild Cat and Louis attack Fort Mellon—Severe Battle—Allies retire with their dead and wounded—Death of Captain Mellon—Our loss in killed and wounded—Caulfield’s Expedition to A-ha-popka Lake—Capture of nine Women and Children—Expedition to Big Cypress³ Swamp—Capture of twenty-five Women and Children—General Jessup seeks Negotiation⁴—Abram and Alligator⁵ meet him preparatory to a more general Council—Several Chiefs agree upon terms of Capitulation—Difficulty in regard to Exiles—Jessup yields—Express Stipulation⁶ for their Safety—Indians and Exile come into Tampa Bay—Are Registered for Emigration—General Jessup discharges Militia⁷ and Volunteers—Transports prepared—He declares the War at an end, and asks to be relieved from active duty.

On the eighth of December, 1836, Major General Jessup joined General Call at Volusi, and relieved that officer from the further command of the army in Florida. He had now eight thousand troops in the field well provided in all the material of war. They were in fine spirits, and he was in all respects prepared to push the campaign with energy. He had all the advantages which experience of the previous campaign had furnished, and endeavored to profit by it. He was careful to order no large body of troops, nor any artillery⁸, into the uninhabited portions of the country. He employed only light troops for such purposes. His first attention was directed to the settlements of Exiles on the Withlacoochee who had up to that time defied our army. They had been the object of frequent attacks, and the scene of as frequent defeats. He directed a

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