s to me the
proper course, upon important questions, is to treat directly with the
tribe itself; and if they depute their chiefs, or any other individual
to act for them, we must either recognise such authority or abandon the
object in view."

In June 1835, Asseola, the chief of Micosukees, who did not appear at
the council, but who was the most determined opponent of the treaty,
came in to complain of the treatment his people had received from some
white men, one of them having been wounded. He received no redress, and
saying something offensive to the agent, he was thrown into prison. To
obtain his release he promised to sign the treaty, at least, so it is
said, and that he did sign it; but this must be considered only as an
Indian stratagem: he had been imprisoned without any cause, and it is to
be presumed that he thought himself justified in escaping by a
corresponding fraud on his own part. The month after this occurrence,
some of the tribe of Asseola murdered a government mail-carrier.

The Indians made one more effort: they called a council, and offered to
remove to the west of the Mississippi, provided they had lands and an
agent for themselves; but this was sternly refused by the government,
who sent back as an answer, that their great father, General Jackson,
had been "made very angry." The attacks and depredations upon the
Indians were now more frequent, and the majority of them determined upon
resistance. Only six chiefs, out of all who had signed the treaty,
acted to their word and brought in their cattle, etcetera, for the
government agent, to be sold previous to their migration. Five of their
chiefs removed to the protection of Brooke's Fort, as they feared that
the Seminoles would punish them for their revolt. One of them, Charley
Amathla, was preparing to follow the others, when Asseola and two other
chiefs went to his house and insisted that he should not remove his
people. Charley Amathla replied that he had already pledged his word
that he would abide by the promise which he made to their great father,
and that if his life paid the forfeit, he felt bound to adhere to that
promise. He said he had lived to see his nation a ruined and degraded
people, and he believed that their only salvation was in removing to the
West: that he had made arrangements for his people to go, and had
delivered to the agent all their cattle, so that he had no excuse now
for not complying with his engagements. One