The Diplomat  
Abraham agreed to meet Jesup at Fort Dade, a depot erected near the site of the Seminoles' greatest military
victory, which had taken place just fourteen months earlier. Major
Thomas Childs described the scene in a letter to his wife:
"Monday was a day of great anxiety with us, for fear Abraham would not come in; but, about three o'clock, our apprehensions were dispelled by his black majesty walking into camp, with a white flag, which, with great grace and dignity, he stuck into the ground … before the General's tent."
Abraham appeared calm, but he later admitted that he was scared to death. He had been up all of the night before smoking some tobacco that Jesup had sent him as a gift. He passed the entire evening wondering if the general meant to kill him. It did not allay his fears in the morning when, as he walked to the general's tent, he overheard a soldier ask, "Is that the negro they are going to hang?"
  
Sources:
Childs 2: 374, 3: 283, A&NC 4: 378. ©
Part 2, War: l |
