LS, signed twice, “Z. Taylor, Bt. B. General, U.S.A. Comd.” and “Z. Taylor,” one lightly lined page both sides, 7.5 x 9.5, September 16, 1839. Taylor writes to Colonel Davenport at Fort Lamson. In part: “I herewith enclose a copy of a communication … from the Secretary of War, relative to furnishing supplies for 300 men which the governor of Florida is authorized to raise…. I will have the supplies required in his Excellency’s estimate for Dead Man’s Bay and Fort Fanning placed at those points from this Depot as soon as practicable. Yours … transmitting a report from Lt. Woods of an affair with the Indians by a detachment of ‘I’ Coy. 6th Infy. has been received. It appears that these men behaved with great coolness, and deserve much credit for their gallantry and good conduct on that occasion….” After signing, Taylor adds a secretarially penned postscript bearing his own signature. Taylor sent the present communication in the midst of the Second Seminole War (1835–1842). Since the second decade of the century, when the federal government began to lay aggressive claim to parts of Florida under the terms of the Louisiana Purchase, the forced relocation of the Seminole Indians—who had been allied with Great Britain during the Revolution—had become an ever-intensifying “problem.” This second of the three protracted conflicts between the United States and the Seminoles (which, in total, extended nearly half a century, from 1817 to 1858) was the longest and most expensive of the Indian Wars. That Taylor found the soldiers’ “gallantry and good conduct” remarkable provides telling insight into the extraordinary brutality and bloodshed of the conflict, which decimated the soon-to-be-displaced Seminole population. Among the many injustices perpetrated against Native Americans by the federal government since colonial days, the Second Seminole War has now come to be recognized as one of the most infamous—and disgraceful. A hint of very subtle soiling and faint show-through, otherwise very fine, beautifully preserved condition. LOA John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and R&R COA.
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