Alexander George Arbuthnot. A trader from Montrose, Scotland born 1748. Emigrated to Florida in 1803 to trade with the Seminole Indians and represent their cause to the English, spy on the Americans for the Seminoles. Arbuthnot had a store near St Augustine on the Spanish/Florida border; its exact location is unknown and the area has now been greatly developed. On 26 April 1818, Arbuthnot and Robert Christy Ambrister were tried for aiding hostile Indians by an army court (presided over by General Edmund Gaines). They were found guilty on some charges but not guilty of spying. The tribunal members determined that Ambrister should be flogged on his bare back and then serve 12 months in chains; Andrew Jackson determined Ambrister should be shot. Shortly afterwards they were captured. The trader then sent a word of warning to his Indian friends under Chief Bowlegs: "The main drift of the Americans is to destroy the black population of Suwannee. Tell my friend Boleck, that it is throwing away his people to attempt to resist such a powerful force as will be down on Suwannee." Jackson's men found the letter and other papers when they attacked the Suwannee. These papers were dangerous materials for General Jackson[1]. Historian John Mahon stated that they threw, "some doubt on the official American position that the cause of the trouble rested solely on the Indians and their European abettors. Arbuthnot, for example, painted a clear (and we now know credible) picture of how filibusters from Georgia incited the war by settling on Spanish and Seminole lands in Florida, while launching raids into the colony for cattle and slaves".[2] Ambrister was shot by firing squad and Arbuthnot was hanged from the masthead of his schooner, the Chance 29 April 1818. Jackson was much criticised for the execution on Spanish land which caused consternation in Washington and uproar in London. Congressmen did not probe too deeply into the causes of the Seminole war, but under international pressure they did pass a resolution condemning the executions. The incident caused trouble for Jackson throughout his life. Francis the Prophet and Homotehemucho (aka Micco Homollimico or Homathlemico) and two others were hanged by Jackson at about the same time. Alexander is thought to have been son of Dr Thomas Arbuthnot of Balglassie and of Arbuthnottshaugh. Alexander married Mary Ann (maiden name unknown) and had sons John James Arbuthnot and R Arbuthnot.
Notes
References
- Poulson's American Daily Advertiser Philadelphia 23 February 1819
- Congressional Research Service Report: Military Tribunals (2004).
- The Journal of Southern History, Vol. 34, No. 4 (Nov., 1968), pp. 565-575. A Note on the First Seminole War as Seen by the Indians, Negroes, and Their British Advisers, J. Leitch Wright, Jr .
- Film: Distant Drums (1951).
- john horse. (the Black Seminole web site)
- Son of the South.
- encarta. (Article on Andrew Jackson)
- First Seminole War.
- The Passions of Andrew Jackson.
- Great Epochs in American History.
- USA History.
- Global Security.
