TAYLOR, ZACHARY, President. Autograph letter signed ("Z. Taylor") as Colonel, to Major General T.S. Jesup, Fort Basinger, [Florida], 25 March 1838. 3 1/2 pages, 4to, 250 x 195mm. (10 x 7 7/8 in.), addressed in Taylor's hand on page 4, 2 tiny holes, red wax seal remnants, otherwise in fine condition.

Details
TAYLOR, ZACHARY, President. Autograph letter signed ("Z. Taylor") as Colonel, to Major General T.S. Jesup, Fort Basinger, [Florida], 25 March 1838. 3 1/2 pages, 4to, 250 x 195mm. (10 x 7 7/8 in.), addressed in Taylor's hand on page 4, 2 tiny holes, red wax seal remnants, otherwise in fine condition.

"THEY OUGHT TO BE PUT TO DEATH IN SOME WAY AS A TERROR TO OTHERS OF THEIR NATION"

A superb letter in which Taylor sets out in harsh detail his plan for suppressing the Seminoles in Florida: "...[A]rrangements have been made to forward the Indians & negroes in question to Tampa without a moments delay...Your plan of sending those people to Fort Pike as soon as it is convenient...I consider a most excellent one...I regret to hear of the recent murders committed near Fort Lauderdale, & am satisfied you have fixed on the real perpetrators, the Seminoles...[N]o relyance can be placed on their promises or engagements. Could the perpetrators...be gotten hold of, they ought to be put to death in some way as a terror to others of their nation...

"If this war cannot now be closed in a few months...by negotiations through the agency of the chiefs...it may continue for many years, in that event a small but efficient force should carry it on, barely sufficient to prevent those small people from cultivating the soil, & cutting off their supplies of clothing & ammunition, which must be done by mounted troops...and a small force of Inf[antr]y...to protect them from the attacks & depredations of the enemy; a war of this kind if properly conducted would after a while drive the whole of the Indians from the country..."