s who had
command there for eighteen months, on entering upon the administration
of the Government I found the Territory of Florida a prey to Indian
atrocities. A strenuous effort was immediately made to bring those
hostilities to a close, and the army under General Jesup was reenforced
until it amounted to 10,000 men, and furnished with abundant supplies
of every description. In this campaign a great number of the enemy
were captured and destroyed, but the character of the contest only
was changed. The Indians, having been defeated in every engagement,
dispersed in small bands throughout the country and became an
enterprising, formidable, and ruthless banditti. General Taylor, who
succeeded General Jesup, used his best exertions to subdue them, and was
seconded in his efforts by the officers under his command; but he too
failed to protect the Territory from their depredations. By an act
of signal and cruel treachery they broke the truce made with them by
General Macomb, who was sent from Washington for the purpose of carrying
into effect the expressed wishes of Congress, and have continued their
devastations ever since. General Armistead, who was in Florida when
General Taylor left the army by permission, assumed the command, and
after active summer operations was met by propositions for peace, and
from the fortunate coincidence of the arrival in Florida at the same
period of a delegation from the Seminoles who are happily settled west
of the Mississippi and are now anxious to persuade their countrymen to
join them there hopes were for some time entertained that the Indians
might be induced to leave the Territory without further difficulty.
These hopes have proved fallacious and hostilities have been renewed
throughout the whole of the Territory. That this contest has endured so
long is to be attributed to causes beyond the control of the Government.
Experienced generals have had the command of the troops, officers and
soldiers have alike distinguished themselves for their activity,
patience, and enduring courage, the army has been constantly furnished
with supplies of every description, and we must look for the causes
which have so long procrastinated the issue of the contest in the
vast extent of the theater of hostilities, the almost insurmountable
obstacles presented by the nature of the country, the climate, and
the wily character of the savages.

The sites for marine hospitals on the rivers and lakes which I was