and the invasion became from a military standpoint a sheer farce. The
Seminoles were utterly unprepared for war, and their villages were
taken possession of, one by one, without opposition. At St. Marks the
Indians fled precipitately, and the little Spanish garrison, after a
glimpse of the investing force, asked only that receipts be given for
the movable property confiscated. The Seminole War was over almost
before it was begun.

But Jackson was not in Florida simply to quell the Seminoles. He was
there to vindicate the honor and establish the sovereignty of the
United States. Hence there was further work for him to do. The British
instigators of lawlessness were to be apprehended; the surviving
evidences of Spanish authority were to be obliterated. Both objects
Jackson attained with characteristic speed and thoroughness. At St.
Marks he made Arbuthnot a prisoner; at Suwanee he captured another
meddler by the name of Ambrister; and after a court-martial he hanged
one and shot the other in the presence of the chieftains whom these
men had deceived into thinking that Great Britain stood ready to come
to the red man's relief. Two Indian chiefs who were considered
ringleaders he likewise executed. Then, leaving St. Marks in the
possession of two hundred troops, Jackson advanced upon Pensacola, the
main seat of Spanish authority in the colony.

From the Governor, Don José Callava, now came a dignified note of
protest; but the invader's only reply was an announcement of his
purpose to take possession of the town, on the ground that its
population had encouraged the Indians and given them supplies. On May
24, 1818, the American forces and their allies marched in, unopposed,
and the commander coolly apprised Callava that he would "assume the
government until the transaction can be amicably adjusted by the two