House Doc. 225, read in full

SUMMARYHouse Doc. 225, read in full (Nov 7, 2026; Tito: "Dig deep"; follows P832). Source: the full 126-page document on ShareOK (University of Oklahoma; bitstream 6c4ffcd8), read through about two-thirds; the end of the Commissioner's report is still unread. STRUCTURE, Record: Poinsett (Secretary of War) to Speaker Polk, Feb. 26, 1839; Series A, 13 general orders; Series B, 62 letters; Series C, the Creek negro claims; Series D, the New Orleans court case; the registries. TAMPA IS THE HUB, Record: Jesup's orders from Tampa Bay (Apr.–Sept. 1837) send "captured negroes and Indian prisoners to New Orleans" and "Seminole negroes to Fort Pike"; from Fort Jupiter (Feb.–Apr. 1838) "Seminole negroes march to Tampa"; Gen. Taylor at Tampa (June 5, 1838): "Seminole Indians and negroes embarked for New Orleans," then "to their new homes west of the Mississippi"; Fort Brooke (Nov. 21, 1838): "Indians and Indian negroes for emigration." THE WRITER of the March 15, 1838 Fort Jupiter letter was Lt. W. G. Freeman, 4th Artillery, Assistant Superintendent of Seminoles: 149 negroes enrolled, including 10 citizens' slaves, and 483 Indians drawing rations. His March 1, 1838 list sent 5 Indians and 132 negroes to Tampa Bay, with "owners" written as Micanopy, Jumper, Harriet Bowlegs and others, and some entries written "Free." ABRAHAM, Record: Jesup's registry No. 96, "claims to be free," "The principal negro chief"; Jesup: "I have promised Abraham the freedom of his family if he be faithful to us." JESUP'S OWN WORDS, Record: "This you may be assured is a negro, not an Indian war" (to Gov. Schley, Dec. 9, 1836, Digital Library of Georgia); "The negroes control their masters" (to Gov. Call, Apr. 1837). PEOPLE AS PRIZE MONEY, Record: Jesup's order (Aug. 3, 1837) gave captured property to the capturing corps, divided by rank; Creek warriors fighting for the US were promised the "negroes" they took; Jesup "compromised with them by purchasing the negroes from them on account of the Government" for $8,000 ($5,700, $2,000 and $300 by battalion); $20 a head for citizens' negroes. The Creeks "refused the $8,000"; agent Nathaniel F. Collins pressed the claim; Commissioner Harris ordered delivery to Collins (May 9, 1838), except Abraham's family; Lt. Reynolds sent 33 west instead; Gen. Arbuckle reported they were "beyond the Missouri" and retrievable only by force; the claim was left to Creek treaty talks, unresolved. THE COURT CASE, Record: Heirs of Love v. Gaines (New Orleans, 1838) over 67 people valued at $67,000. The court held them "the property of prisoners of war," not prisoners; Gen. Gaines argued they were prisoners of war. Harris: "these negroes, which are the property of the Indians, are to be removed with them." John C. Casey (Seminole agent, Tampa Bay, July 11, 1838) listed the people held in New Orleans by family and claimed Seminole "owner": Harriet Bowlegs (King Bowlegs's daughter), Micco Potokee (about 22 people, from two women, Melinda and Dolly), Nelly Factor, Echo Fixico, the Pacheco estate

PATTERNthe US recorded these people four ways at once: free (Abraham "claims to be free"; entries marked "Free"), Seminole property (by town and chief), US prisoners of war (Gaines), and prize money (sold to and from the Creeks). The label moved to fit whoever wanted them; the "property" was family listed by mother and grandmother. With Tito's frame: prisoners of war, papered as property, shipped west from Tampa

OPENthe rest of Crawford's Feb. 22, 1839 report; the end of the Collins claim in the 1838–1845 Creek and Seminole talks; tracing the 33 "beyond the Missouri."