Atrocities

Officers were more tired of the war than ever. After Coacoochee's surrender, they endorsed another peace plan, which Major Ethan Allen Hitchcock sent to Washington. President Tyler carefully read the plan and then politely rejected it: "If peace, as suggested by Major Hitchcock, could be negotiated, leaving [the Seminoles] a portion of the country, the tide of white population would roll in and do more service than an army." Hitchcock was disillusioned, but after a week of ruminating on Washington politics, he concluded that the petty actions of men were nothing compared to eternal truths:

"What appeared great has diminished. Generals and great men are pygmies. Principles, laws of Nature, truth -- these alone seem grand." -- from the diary of Ethan Allen Hitchcock