Casey's list from "Tampa Bay": 31 people of African descent claimed as Seminole "property," held in New Orleans (Tampa Bay, July 11, 1838)
Record: the document says itPattern: documents line upLens: our readingOpen: not yet proven
Year: 1838 · Places: Florida, Louisiana, Oklahoma & the Five Tribes, Africa
SUMMARYCasey's list from "Tampa Bay": 31 people of African descent claimed as Seminole "property," held in New Orleans (Tampa Bay, July 11, 1838) [Connections: Tampa Bay, Nov 5, 2026]
RECORDA letter headed "Tampa Bay Florida," signed "Jno. C. Casey, Actg. Sem. Agent," to Major Isaac Clarke, Quartermaster, New Orleans, reports his "minute inquiries about the ownership of the detained slaves" to help the district attorney and to protect Seminoles "in the possession of their rightful property." He lists named people detained in New Orleans under Seminole claimants: Harriett Bowlegs (Flora, Juba, Abby/Cumba, Noble, Jacob, Daly), Nelly Factor (Katy, described as "yellow," and her daughter, "black"), Micco Potokee (22 numbered entries descended from Melinda and Dolly), Echo Fixico (Silla/Scylla), plus a man named Louis said to belong to "the widow Pacheco's" estate. He says some "were brought in by the Creeks as prisoners," and others "came in voluntarily during the peace of Ft. Dade." He closes: "I have now accounted for 31." Casey states his own view that he "always urged their removal to Africa."
PATTERNThe removal agent at Tampa Bay sorted Black people living inside Seminole towns into owner lists, with skin-color notes ("yellow," "black"), while Creek forces hired by the Army captured some of them as "prisoners." HOSTILE
WITNESSCasey wrote as the government's removal agent, deciding who was property and whose
LENS (WW9)At Tampa Bay the agent wrote the people of the Seminole towns into ledgers by color: the paper made them property before it made them "Negro."
OPENCasey's count says 31 but his own lists total about 32; the outcome of the New Orleans detention; whether these families reached Indian Territory
SOURCECasey to Clarke, 11 July 1838 (transcription, RootsWeb), National Archives microfilm M234 (Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs), roll 290, frames 606–610.