Border Etiquette

While John Horse inspired fantasies of racially inherited servility in Cora Montgomery, other residents of the frontier were too familiar with his record to fall prey to such visions. As a well-armed black leader, John Horse was often subject to derision and violence. One of his most dangerous brushes with the Americans took place late in 1851. Duval had contracted Warren Adams, an experienced slave catcher, to recover the Black Seminoles. Adams’ reputation temporarily soared when he seized John Horse in November, after the black leader was wounded in a bar fight in Piedras Negras.

Coacoochee located his friend in the Eagle Pass jail. He agreed to ransom John Horse for $500 and a promise to Adams that he and John would deliver a quantity of fugitive slaves. Coacoochee paid the ransom in gold coins that were covered in blood. When a medical examiner told Adams that the blood was human, the notorious slave-catcher fled the region.