402 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 73 
were scattered among several towns, but as these, with but few 
exceptions, received new names from each new location, it is prac- 
tically impossible to trace them. 
From notes gathered by myself and the statements of early writers 
it is evident that this Mikasuki element was one of the most impor- 
tant, if not the most important, among the Seminole. It is also 
evident that there was before the outbreak of the final Seminole 
war a certain amount of friction and mutual jealousy between them 
and the Muskogee Seminole, founded partly, no doubt, on differences 
in speech and customs. Thus, in a letter written by William P. 
Duval to Col. Thomas L. McKenney, general superintendent of 
Indian affairs, and dated Tallahassee, April 5, 1826, we find the 
following disparaging notice: 
The Mickasuky tribe I must except from this general [commendatory] remark. 
They are, and ever have been, the most violent and lawless Indians in all the South. 
They have set their own chiefs at defiance, killing their hogs and cattle, and pillaging 
their plantations. There are about two hundred of these Indians that never can be 
managed but by force. Three times have they attempted to put to death their head 
chief, because he has endeavored to restrain their excesses. 
All the chiefs, in open council, have denounced them; and have assured me that, 
if the Government will afford them assistance, they will punish these outlaws of 
their nation and bring them into their boundary. I have seen many of them on 
the Suwanee and Ocilla Rivers; they are actually raising crops in the neighborhood 
of the whites, although I furnished them with provisions two months since, when they 
all promised immediately to go into the boundary. Not one has gone, nor will they 
move unless compelled. I have been upwards of two months in the woods, regulating 
and bringing the Indians to order; and have completely succeeded, except with the 
Mickasuky tribe. The inhabitants are greatly exasperated at the injuries they have 
sustained from this tribe, and the worst consequences ma) be expected. I acknowl- 
edge I can do nothing more without force. No confidence can be placed in this tribe, 
and the orderly Indians complain as much of them as the whites. They have most 
wantonly killed up the cattle and hogs of the nation, and will continue to do so. In 
fact, their own people have suffered as much from their depredations as our citizens. 1 
On the other hand, John Hicks, chief of at least a part of the 
Mikasuki, is represented by Cohen as the most influential and far- 
sighted man among the Seminole and a supporter of the emigration 
idea. 2 His death was followed almost immediately by the ascendency 
of the party opposed to emigration and the outbreak of the Seminole 
war. Cohen is also authority for the statement that the Ocklawaha 
tribe or band represented the last element of Yamasee Indians, and 
he is probably correct, since the Yamasee are placed near Ocklawaha 
River on several maps of a slightly earlier period. He adds that 
they were noticeably darker than the other Seminole. 3 On the list 
of towns given in 1823 appears one called " Yumersee," located " at the 
i Am. State Papers, Indian Affairs, n, p. 694. 
J Cohen, Notices of Florida, p. 6-1 et seq. 
a Ibid., p. 33. 
