in no hurry; and I noticed that all their guns were leaning against a tree.  I beckoned to the sergeant, who advanced rapidly with his escort, and told him to secure the rifles, which he proceeded to do.  Coacoochee pretended to be very angry, but I explained to him that his warriors were tired and mine were not, and that the soldiers would carry the guns on their horses.  I told him I would provide him a horse to ride, and the sooner he was ready the better for all.  He then stripped, washed himself in the pond, and began to dress in all his Indian finery, which consisted of buckskin leggins, moccasins, and several shirts.  He then began to put on vests, one after another, and one of them had the marks of a bullet, just above the pocket, with the stain of blood.  In the pocket was a one-dollar Tallahassee Bank note, and the rascal had the impudence to ask me to give him silver coin for that dollar.  He had evidently killed the wearer, and was disappointed because the pocket contained a paper dollar instead of one in silver.  In due time he was dressed with turban and ostrich-feathers, and mounted the horse reserved for him, and thus we rode back together to Fort Pierce.  Major Childs and all the officers received him on the porch, and there we had a regular “talk.”  Coacoochee “was tired of the war.”  “His people were scattered and it would take a ‘moon’ to collect them for emigration,” and he “wanted rations for that time,” etc., etc.

All this was agreed to, and a month was allowed for him to get ready with his whole band (numbering some one hundred and fifty or one hundred and sixty) to migrate.  The “talk” then ceased, and Coacoochee and his envoys proceeded to get regularly drunk, which was easily done by the agency of commissary whiskey.  They staid at Fort Pierce daring the night, and the next day departed.  Several times during the month there came into the post two or more of these same Indians, always to beg for something to eat or drink, and after a full month Coacoochee and about twenty of his warriors came in with several ponies, but with none of their women or children.  Major Childs had not from the beginning the least faith in his sincerity; had made up his mind to seize the whole party and compel them to emigrate.  He arranged for the usual council, and instructed Lieutenant Taylor to invite Coacoochee and his uncle (who was held to be a principal chief) to his room to take some good brandy, instead of the common commissary whiskey.  At a signal agreed on I was to go to the quarters of Company A, to dispatch the first-sergeant and another man to Lieutenant Taylor’s room, there to seize the two chiefs and secure them; and with the company I was to enter Major Childs’s room and secure the remainder of the party.  Meantime Lieutenant Van Vliet was ordered to go to the quarters of his company, F, and at the same signal to march rapidly to the rear of the officers’ quarters, so as to catch any who might attempt to escape by the open windows to the rear.