Alexander George Arbuthnot
Encyclopedia
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...
invaded Spanish Florida
Spanish Florida
Spanish Florida refers to the Spanish territory of Florida, which formed part of the Captaincy General of Cuba, the Viceroyalty of New Spain, and the Spanish Empire. Originally extending over what is now the southeastern United States, but with no defined boundaries, la Florida was a component of...
and captured and executed two British subjects charged with aiding Seminole
Seminole
The Seminole are a Native American people originally of Florida, who now reside primarily in that state and Oklahoma. The Seminole nation emerged in a process of ethnogenesis out of groups of Native Americans, most significantly Creeks from what is now Georgia and Alabama, who settled in Florida in...
and Creek Indians against the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Jackson's actions triggered short-lived protests from the British and Spanish governments and an investigation by the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
. Congressional reports found fault with Jackson's handling of the trial and execution of Alexander George Arbuthnot and Robert C. Ambrister, but Congress chose not to censure the popular general.
It may be of general interest to students of the incident that the real name of "Robert C. Ambrister" was Robert Chrystie Armbrister (1797-1818). A British subject and a native of Nassau in the Bahamas, Armbrister was the youngest son of the South Carolina-born Loyalist, James Armbrister (1757/58-1833) who was then a Lieutenant Colonel in the colonial militia of the Bahamas. Young R.C. Armbrister had served in the British Royal Navy as a volunteer and as a Midshipman between 1809 and 1813, when he returned to the Bahamas. During 1814-1815 he served in the Spanish Floridas as an auxilliary 2ndLt of the battalion of the British Corps of Colonial Marines
Corps of Colonial Marines
Corps of Colonial Marines were raised from former slaves as auxiliary units of the Royal Marines for service in the Americas: Two of these units were raised and subsequently disbanded...
commanded by Brevet Major Edward Nicolls
Edward Nicolls
General Sir Edward Nicolls, KCB was an Irish officer of the Royal Marines. Known as "Fighting Nicolls", he had a distinguished career, was involved in numerous actions, and often received serious wounds. For his service, he received medals and honours, reaching the rank of General...
of the Royal Marines.Discharged from the military in Nassau in 1815, the former Marine Lieutenant returned to Spanish Florida in 1817 with his fellow former Marine, Captain George Woodbine, and the Scottish soldier of fortune, Gregor Macgregor
Gregor MacGregor
Gregor MacGregor was a Scottish soldier, adventurer, land speculator, and colonizer who fought in the South American struggle for independence. Upon his return to England in 1820, he claimed to be cacique of Poyais...
.
Alexander (George) Arbuthnot (born in Montrose, Scotland, in 1748) was an older man, a Scottish merchant, translator, and diplomatic go-between, on occasion, who had been present in the Floridas since 1803.The executions of Arbuthnot, Armbrister, and at least two prominent Creek-Seminole leaders upon the demonstrated instructions of General Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...
, was perceived as an act of barbarity outside the existing conventions of warfare, both in Great Britain and elsewhere beyond the confines of the United States.
Further reading
- Aubigné, Guillaume Merle d'; Chinard, Gilbert. 1935. La vie américaine de Guillaume Merle d'Aubigné; extraits de son journal de voyage et de sa correspondence inédite, 1809-1817, Paris, E. Droz; Baltimore, Johns Hopkins Press. - Pp. 133-147.
- Gales, Joseph. 1834-1856. The debates and proceedings in the Congress of the United States; with an appendix containing important state papers and public documents, and all the laws of a public nature; Washington, Gales and Seaton. - "Seminole War", Pp. 367-374.
- Heidler, David and Jeanne Heidler. Old Hickory's War: Andrew Jackson and the Quest for Empire. Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books, 1996. ISBN 0811701131.
- Hoefer, Jean Chrétien Ferdinand. 1862. Nouvelle biographie générale depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu'à nos jours, Paris : Didot. - Pp. 153-154
- Narrative of a voyage to the Spanish Main in the ship "Two friends"; the occupation of Amelia island by McGregor, etc.--sketches of the province of East Florida; and anecdotes illustrative of the habits and manners of the Seminole Indians: with an appendix containing a detail of the Seminole Indians: with an appendix, containing a detail of the Seminole war, and the execution of Arbuthnot and Ambrister, London, Printed for J. Miller, 1819. - Pp. 196-312.
- Rush, RichardRichard RushRichard Rush was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was the second son of Benjamin Rush, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and Julia Rush. He entered the College of New Jersey at the age of 14, and graduated in 1797 as the youngest member of his class...
. 1845. Memoranda of a residence at the court of London comprising incidents official and personal from 1819-1825, including negotiations on the Oregon question, and other unsettled questions between the United States and Great Britain, Philadelphia : Lea & Blanchard. - Chapters iv & v. - Wright, J. Leitch, Jr. "A Note on the First Seminole War as Seen by the Indians, Negroes, and Their British Advisers". The Journal of Southern History 34, no. 4 (November 1968), 565-575.