Asseola was persuaded to come
in, to a council. The flags of truce were hoisted by the Americans, and
Asseola, carrying a flag of truce in his hand, and accompanied by other
chiefs and about 50 warriors, came in to talk. On their arrival, they
were surrounded by bayonets, and made prisoners by the orders of the
Federal Government, who, despairing of subduing the Indians, had
recourse to this shameful breach of faith. The proud spirit of Asseola
could not endure confinement: he died in prison. Other chiefs were
kidnapped in the same traitorous manner; but, severe as the loss must
have been to the Indians, it did not appear to discourage them. The war
was still carried on by those who were left, and, indeed, is still
continued; for the ranks of the Indians are said to be filled up by
runaway slaves, and some of the Creek Indians who have not yet quitted
Georgia. On the 25th of December 1837, a severe battle was fought
between the Indians and the American troops, at a spot between Pease
Creek and the Big Cypress Swamps; on this occasion the Americans lost
Colonels Thompson and Guntry, with twenty-eight killed, and one hundred
and eleven wounded. Since that I am not aware that any important combat
has taken place; but it is certain that the Seminoles, notwithstanding
the loss of their leaders, still hold out and defy the whole power of
the United States.

It is asserted in the American papers that the loss of lives on the
American side, from the enemy and from disease, amounts to between two
and three thousand men, and that the expenses of the war are now
estimated at 30,000,000 of dollars. How far these calculations may be
correct I cannot pretend to say, but it is notorious that a handful of
Indians, estimated, at the commencement of the war, at about 1,900, have
contended against armies of four or five times their number, commanded
by gallant and able officers; that this small band of Indians,
notwithstanding their losses from the weapons of the enemy, and their
still greater losses from breach of faith, have now for four years held
out against the American Government, and have contrived to _subsist_
during that period; and that the retreat of their wives and families has
never been discovered, notwithstanding the Americans have a friendly
portion of the Seminoles acting with them. Indeed, if we are to believe
the American statements, the war is almost as far from its conclusion
now as it was at its commencemen