FRONTIERSMAN AND SOLDIER 255 



was now ordered to the frontier. He wrote at once 

 to President Monroe, " Let it be signified to me 

 through any channel (say Mr. John Rhea) that the 

 possession of the Floridas would be desirable to the 

 United States, and in sixty days it will be accom- 

 plished." Mr. Rhea was a representative from Ten- 

 nessee, a confidential friend of both Jackson and 

 Monroe. The President was ill when Jackson's letter 

 reached him, and does not seem to have given it due 

 consideration. On referring to it a year later he could 

 not remember that he had ever seen it before. Rhea, 

 however, seems to have written a letter to Jackson, 

 telling him that the President approved of his sugges- 

 tion. As to this point the united testimony of Jack- 

 son, Rhea, and Judge Overton seems conclusive. 

 Afterward Mr. Monroe, through Rhea, seems to have 

 requested Jackson to burn this letter, and an entry on 

 the general's letter-book shows that it was accordingly 

 burnt, April 12, 1819. There can be no doubt that, 

 whatever the President's intention may have been, or 

 how far it may have been correctly interpreted by 

 Rhea, the general honestly considered himself author- 

 ized to take possession of Florida on the ground that 

 the Spanish government had shown itself incompetent 

 to prevent the denizens of that country from engaging 

 in hostilities against the United States. Jackson 

 acted upon this belief with his accustomed prompt- 

 ness. He raised troops in Tennessee and neighbour- 

 ing states, invaded Florida in March, 1818, captured 

 St. Mark's, and pushed on to the Seminole headquar- 

 ters on the Suwanee River. In less than three 

 months from this time he had overthrown the Indians 

 and brought order out of chaos. His measures were 



