FRONTIERSMAN AND SOLDIER 261 



without any delay occasioned by the agents of Spain, but should 

 I be disappointed in my expectation of the friendly dispositions 

 of the agents of Spain, or should my supplies be interrupted by 

 them, I SHOULD VIEW IT AS AN ACT OF WAR AND TREAT IT ACCORD- 

 INGLY. I received in answer to this friendly letter a positive 

 declaration that my provisions should not pass ; the supplies were 

 by the Governor seized at Pensacola under a demand of transit 

 duties, and my whole army thereby made subject to starvation, 

 and which I never got until I entered Pensacola. I proceeded 

 against Muckasookey, routed and dispersed the enemy, taking 

 some prisoners from whom I learned that the Indians received all 

 their supplies of ammunition from Ft Marks thirty miles distant, 

 and that the noted and notorious Francis the prophet and his 

 party had retired to St. Marks with all his booty taken from Ft 

 Scott ; and Inchqueen and his party had retired there also that 

 the ballance of the Indians had fled to the negroes on the Sewan- 

 ney [Suwanee] river. I was also informed by the Governor of 

 Pensacola, through captains Call and Gordon, that he expected 

 Ft Marks was in the hands of the Indians and negroes, as they 

 had made demand of large supplies which the commander was not 

 able to comply with, and he was unable to defend the fort. As 

 soon as I had collected the corn and cattle for the supply of my 

 troops, I marched on Ft Marks when I reached there I found 

 that Francis and party had been in the fort, that the garrison 

 had been supplied with the cattle stolen from our frontier, that our 

 public stores were the granaries of our enemy, and that the Indians 

 had been supplied with all of munitions of war by the comman- 

 dant and that the notorious Arbuthnot was then in the garrison. 

 I demanded possession of the garrison to be possessed by my 

 troops during the war, and untill Spain could reinforce it with as 

 many troops as would insure the safety of our frontier and a ful- 

 fillment of the treaty with the U States on the part of Spain. This 

 was refused me. I saw across St. Marks river the smoke of my 

 enemy ; delay was out of the question. I seized Arbuthnot in the 

 garrison and took possession of it. The noted Francis, who had 

 just returned with a brigadier general's commission, a good rifle 

 and snuff-box presented by the Prince Regent, had been captured 

 the day before with four of his followers by Capt. McKeever whose 

 vessell they had visitted, mistaking it for a vessell expected from 



