In the Devil’s Garden: A Short Story about the Seminole War by Rickey Pittman

Fort Jupiter in the Everglades August 1840

Private Orin Allen of the 7^th Infantry came to attention before Captain Stephenson’s cabin. The door was open. “Sir!”

“Enter,” the captain said. The officer, sitting on his folding canvas stool, pulled on his clay pipe and exhaled. “Well, what is it?

“Private Monroe has returned from his patrol. He is with the surgeon.”

“Is he wounded?”

“Yes, sir. And he will need some clothes. I’ll fetch him what I can.”

“He has no clothes?  Where are the three men I sent with him?”

“He came back alone, sir. On foot.”

“When the surgeon’s done, send him to me to make his report.” Stephenson stood and stepped outside his small hut serving as officers’ quarters. He and a squad of twenty men had been sent to Fort Pleasant to serve as a distribution center of supplies to other outposts and then on to Fort Jupiter to scout the hammocks and streams for the Seminole. It was the sickly season, and half of his men suffered from malaria and could barely perform their duties. The heat and mosquitoes in this season were unbearable.  And now only one of his four best men had returned.

Their pine log fort was near that part of the Everglades called the Devil’s Garden. Stephenson thought that a fitting description. Sam Jones, also known as Abiaka the Devil, was hiding there. He and his Seminole were invisible, elusive, tough and elusive. Trailing every patrol he sent out, his troops were in constant danger from their sniping. His men well remembered the Dade Massacre and lived and worked in constant anxiety. He dreaded to hear Monroe’s report, but he was sure it would not be good news.

Private Allen, bracing Monroe, led him to the Lieutenant.  Monroe’s bare feet were swollen and steaked with cuts. Allen had managed to find him trousers and a cotton shirt. His face was blistered and sunburnt and his hair matted.

Captain Stephenson set his own stool down and said, “Sit here, private.”

Monroe sat down. “Thank you, sir.”

“Now, where are the other soldiers?”

“Dead, sir.”

“And the Creek guide?”

“He vanished. I assume he was captured too,”

“It was the Seminole? I suppose they took your firearms and the canoe.”

“Yes, sir.” With his hand he shielded his bloodshot eyes from the sun.

“How did you escape?”

“I didn’t escape. They let me go. They knew your name and wanted me to tell you what I saw.” Monroe wept fiercely. “I’m sorry, sir.”

Stephenson shook his head. “They let you go?  Do not weep, soldier. Stand it like a man and tell me what happened. Start at the beginning.”

Private Monroe said, “Yes, sir.”

*       *       *

“Your orders were to patrol the hammocks, looking for signs of Seminole activity and if lucky, to find the camp of Sam Jones. We disembarked when we reached a pine island and bivouacked the first night alongside the creek. When we woke in the morning, Private Finney was missing. Our Creek guide was also gone. We searched the surrounding area for them without success and marched on by compass.

Leaving the pine island, we marched a few miles, weaving and wading our way through scrub and cypress. We stopped for lunch and afterward Private Eldridge led our line of march. His pace was quick and soon he was out of sight. We marched on but never saw him again. Private Austin, Private Smith and I marched till dark and bivouacked on another pine island.

Around midnight, we were roughly awoken by several Seminole who marched us to Sam Jones’ camp, beating us along the way. Our rifles and cartridge pouches were stacked near a pile of booty—blankets, pots, and other items obviously taken from a plantation. The warriors shared a jug of whiskey and grew wilder and louder. I watched as my comrades were stripped and tied to a pine tree. They were scalped while still alive. Slivers of pine lightwood were stabbed into their flesh and set on fire. Torches were also set at their bare feet. Their screams and slow death inflamed the Seminole who danced wildly about them. Five or six hours later, my comrades mercifully died.

When they turned their attention to me, I was sure that I would be next. Like my comrades, I was stripped. An aged Indian walked to me. A negro warrior interpreted his words:  “I am Sam Jones. You have heard of me? I am going to spare your life so that you may return and tell your people what you have seen and tell them they will never find us.” He pointed to the charred bodies of my comrades. “Tell your Captain Stephenson that this fate awaits any who come looking for us. Now, go and tell them what you have seen—what you found in the Devil’s Garden.”

“It was dawn and they drove me from their camp. I started walking and somehow found my way back to the fort. I am sorry, Captain.” He started weeping again.

Captain Stephenson motioned to Private Allen. “Take him to the surgeon’s cabin so he can rest.”

The captain cursed under his breath. He cursed the government that had started this war. He cursed the Army and the leaders who had sent him to this post near the Devil’s Garden.

Private Allen returned. “Monroe is resting. Your orders, sir?”

Captain Stephenson wiped his face with a handkerchief, his mind struggling to make a decision. Send another patrol to find Sam Jones? He shook his head. He couldn’t afford to lose any more men. Send a dispatch to Fort Brooke or Fort King for help? Help, if sent at all, would likely not arrive in a timely fashion.  He looked at the tired eyes of Private Allen. He was a young man, barely nineteen. “Tell Sergeant Moore to select eight men to patrol near the Fort and see if there’s any sign the Seminole are nearby. Saddle my horse as I’ll go with them myself. Then tell the cook to slaughter one of the beeves we took from the Seminole.”

Allen saluted. “Sir.”

That evening after “Scott Tattoo,” Stephenson drank two whiskeys and lay down. Like other nights, his sleep and dreams were troubled. That night’s dream saw Sam Jones slip silently through the darkness to his cabin. Jones entered, knife drawn. In the light of the burning piece of lightwood in Jones’ hand,  he could see his eyes—black, cold, and hard. Sam Jones wrinkled face showed an evil smile—the smile of a devil. Stephenson tried to rise from his cot, but he could not. He felt his heart pounding, his breath growing shallow, and his mind crying out, Don’t burn me . . .

He woke with a start, pushed aside his mosquito netting, found the whiskey jug, opened the cabin door,  stared into the darkness, and sat on his camp stool. The devil didn’t come that night, but he knew that someday, maybe the next day he was on patrol,  the devil would come and find him and he, like the men he had sent out on patrol, would indeed burn in the Devil’s Garden.

Note about the author: Rickey Pittman is a Seminole War reenactor, songwriter featured on his CD, Songs of the Seminole War. To order the CD, email the author at rickeyp at bayou.com. He is currently working on his historical novel about the Seminole, Death in the Little Winter Moon. This short story is one of the novel’s early chapters.  

A Cross and a Cairn

Dunning, Perthshire, Scotland 1657

She lit a tallow candle in the carved turnip and placed it on a small table by the hearth. The candle and the hearth caused shadows to dance like lost spirits across the whitewashed stone walls. She opened the cottage door to take a look outside. Highland winds from the moors and mountains swept red rowan leaves across the stone path leading into town. Barefoot, she stepped outside her cottage, drawing her tartan cloak tighter about her to warm her. The position of the stars and moon indicated dawn would soon be approaching and with the new day would come news of the town meeting the bishop had called. She knew what they had discussed—the Scottish Witchcraft Act. The bishop had preached plainly that he knew that she, Maggie Wall, was a witch and should be punished in accord with the 1563 law that made the practice of witchcraft or consulting with witches a capital offense.

That was why the village women had stopped coming to her for healing. All except for Bronwynn, the little girl who came to town once a week with her father. While her father marketed his dirks and sgian-dcubhs, Bronwyn would play plainly-clappy or peeves beds with the other girls. Then she would always slip away to Maggie’s cottage at the edge of town for porridge. Bronwynn would ask to go with her to gather plants. The child had an insatiable curiosity and amazing memory. And there were other things Bronwynn did and said that made Maggie wonder about her.

As the day dawned, Maggie watched the sutlers and farmers stream into Dunning and set up their products for sale. Bronwynn and her father Angus were with them, sacks of merchandise on their backs. As they passed her, Angus said, “Good morn, my Bonnie lass!”

“”Madainn mhath to you too, sir,” Maggie replied. You handsome, Scott, she thought.

Bronwynn  waved and blew her a kiss. “I’ll come see you soon, Maggie!”

Later, Maggie heard Bronwynn’s tap on her door. “Come in, child.” Maggie was writing out a love-charm for a young lady to help her attract a young man. She set the parchment and quill pen down. Bronwynn slipped in and asked, “What are you writing?”

“A charm for Fionna.”

“She is not a bonnie lass, so I believe she will need your help.” As usual, Bronwynn circled the cottage, looking at each of the drying plants hanging from a rope on the back wall, and stopping at the hearth. “I love the smell of peat,” she said. She laughed when she saw the carved face on the turnip candle holder. I’m going to be like you someday, Maggie.”

“What makes you say that, Bronwynn?

“Like you, I’ve got second sight.”

In a way, Maggie was not surprised. There had been too many signs—too many questions, the look in her eyes. And now, she posses an da shealladh, the gift of second sight, the gift of premonitions of the future.

“Do you like what you see in the future, Bronwynn?”

“Yes, and no. What have you seen about your future, Maggie?” Bronwynn picked up an agate lapidary, slipped it under Maggie’s pillow on her small bed and said, “If the stone be good.”

“You are a quick learner,” Maggie said. “About me, I’ve seen very little. But I do see a young woman living in this outage. She’s barefoot and dressed in a peasant blouse and a tartan skirt. I’m not sure what means, but I think you are that girl. What does your gift say about me?”

“They are going to burn you for being a witch, Maggie. Tonight. And I and my father will be the only ones to weep for you. I think my father loves you, Maggie. Since my mother died he’s been very lonely.” Bronwynn stepped up to Maggie and hugged her tightly, sobbing. But you will always be remembered in Scotland. Always, but especially in my heart.”

Maggie opened the door and saw the bishop and his entourage approaching. “Go now, Bronwynn.” She kissed Bronwynn on the head, and when she did, in her own second sight, she saw the post she would soon be tied to, the branches piled about it and saw the bishop’s hand lighting the fire.

Bronwynn wept as she left the cottage and begged her father to not leave town. She watched as Maggie was drawn and chained to the post, her clothes torn, the crowd taunting and jeering,  The fire was lit and as the smoke and flames rose, Bronwyhnn closed her eyes and saw in her second site a monument in Dunning with a twenty-foot cairn, a tall cross on top and gifts of pennies, feathers, shells, fluffy stuffed animals and tiny sea candles strewn about it. On a large flat stone plague someone had written in white letters: MAGGIE WALL. BURNT HERE AS WITCH IN 1657. She saw this monument as clear as day. And as the site shifted, she saw herself as a young woman living in Maggie’s cottage. And she saw a frowning cowled priest dragging her by the arm toward her death fire.  The face of Maggie rose as a spectre in her mind’s shadows and she heard Maggie whisper, “Don’t be afraid.”

  I love Florida and especially Florida history. I just finished a read of a wonderful memoir, Totch: A Life in the Everglades with a foreword by Peter Matthiessen.  Loren G. “Totch” Brown is now a literary and personal hero of mine. His wilderness adventures in the Ten Thousand Islands are the sort of tales that would certainly inspire any youngster who dreams of hunting, fishing, camping, and exploring nature. Totch is a natural storyteller who makes his life in the Glades as a child and adult exciting through his text, maps, and photos. It is a book I wish I had read when I was an Eagle Scout, desiring to participate in Ross Allen’s Weekend Survival Course where you were could only take a mosquito bar, canteen, knife, and axe.  You can read about that survival course HERE.

I learned a great deal from reading Totch’s memoir and also found it very entertaining. Here’s a YouTube video where you can learn more about this interesting character.

Here’s a glossary of terms and words I learned or thought interesting:

1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. buttonwood – a tree often used for firewood.
               2. machineel – a poison tree
               3. Chokoloskee – means “old home” in Seminole language.
               4. Bird wardens – hired by the Audubon Society at $35 a month to stop plume hunters.
               5. Shotgun shells – made of paper in older days instead of plastic.
               6. curlew – white ibis, also called Chokoloskee chicken.
               7. sweet bay – leaves from this tree used to make tea.
               8. swamp angels – mosquitos
               9. firehunting – a way of hunting raccoons.
               10. types of fishing nets: cast net, drift net, sink net
               11. thunder mug: a chamber pot
               12. trees: tamarind, mastic,
               13. types of bananas: ladyfingers, apples, dwarfs, and horse bananas
               14. swamp cabbage: hearts of palms,
               15. Gators catch birds to eat by knocking it off an overhanging limb with their tail. They make 3 different sounds: grunt, blowing sound, and bellow.
               16. pit pan – basically a rather crude and quickly built small utility boat that could be hauled overland from one body of water to another when needed by one man.

            I hope you enjoyed this blog entry on Totch Brown!

Here’s a free ebook for you: If you would like a free PDF version of my Stories of the Confederate South (no longer in print), you may download it from my blog, or message me and I’ll send it to you. As you may know, I had 5 books published with Pelican Publishing, but when they sold the company to Aracadia publishing, they dumped in the trash all my books that were about the War Between the States. I was only able to save some copies of Jim Limber, Stonewall Jackson, and Confederate ABC, but none of my Stories of the Confederate South. I was furious at the idea that Pelican would rather trash books that had helped keep them in business rather than allow authors to retrieve those books. I retained all rights to my books, so I encourage you to share this book freely with anyone who has an interest in the War Between the States. I also have a study guide that goes with the book I can send you. Let me hear from you.

Rickey Pittman, Bard of the South.  Email:  rickeyp at bayou.com

storiesconfedsouth

Study Guide for Stories of the Confederate South1

Today marked my third reading of the historical novel Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, and it was just as overwhelming as my first reading. The pages were marked with previous penciled notes in the margins and underlinings.  McCarthy’s vocabulary is amazing and many words kept my hands busy going from text to dictionary to the reader’s guide pictured below. It was my writer friend Billy Dunn who first introduced me to McCarthy by loaning me one of McCarthy’s novels. Since then, I’ve joined the Cormac McCarthy Society and read every novel of his twice. This novel is likely my favorite, as I love reading about America’s West. I would like very much to create an online course focused on McCarthy and his novels.  For now, this recommendation will have to do,

I’ve been performing music every month at MacFarlane’s Celtic Pub in Lake Charles, Louisiana. There’s always been a good crowd, they have great food, and a cool facility. I’ve included a flier of my next performance there.

The name MacFarlane caught my attention and I did some study into Clan MacFarlane. Here’s some things I’ve learned: They are a highland clan, originally near Loch Lomund. Their motto is “This I’ll defend.” Known to be such effective night raiders of cattle, the full moon was known as MacFarlane’s Lantern. They even had a piping march devoted to the cattle raids titled, “To Lift the Cows We Shall Go!” On the Civil War Sailors & Soldiers System, I found the names of many MacFarlanes who served for both the Confederacy and Union Armies. I found the clan’s website HERE and another HERE.

The Faerie Flag of the Clan MacLeod

An ancient Scottish legend adapted and retold by Rickey Pittman

One evening, the chief of the MacLeod clan walked along the windy beach on the Isle of Skye. His heart was heavy because he had recently buried his wife. Also a seer, a wise woman, prophesied that longships would soon come, full of fierce, berserk Norsemen—wild men who came only to kill, steal, and destroy. “Let them come,” he said. He fiercely whispered the clan McLeod motto: “We will hold fast!”

         The wind howled, and as he looked out at the white-capped waves, he wondered if the MacLeod Maidens, known as Riders of the Sea and the Choosers of the Slain, would return with the next storm to claim the souls of more MacLeod warriors when they were in battle or on the sea.

         He walked on till he came to the Faerie Hill. There, looking directly at him was the most beautiful maiden he had ever seen, with long red hair and green eyes full of mystery and meaning. She held out her hand. He took it and from that moment, he fell madly in love with her. It was truly love at first sight.

         “I am Fionna, from the land of the faeries,” she said.

         “I am McLeod, of the clan McLeod.” They walked together arm and arm. Then, McLeod asked her to marry him.

         “I must ask permission from the King of the Faeries. Will you go with me to the Otherworld?”

         McLeod knew that few who ventured into the faerie kingdom ever returned. Poets had at times journeyed there to drink of the well of inspiration, and though they had returned, they were never the same. Some had withdrawn into silence, others had gone mad. Yet, in spite of the danger, MacLeod knew he would go.  “Yes,” he said. “I will go.”

         They walked on in the gray and deepening twilight and stepped into the Faerie Kingdom. Beautiful music filled the air. They came to the King of the Faeries, who studied MacLeod. “You are not afraid?”

“No,” said MacLeod. “I am MacLeod, of the Isle of Skye. I have come to ask for the hand of Fionna.”

The king of the faeries nodded. “I have heard of you, MacLeod. You are known to be a brave warrior and generous man.  But the answer is no.”

“You don’t understand, my king.  I cannot live without her.”

“Nor I without him,” Fionna said.

The king said softly, “Then come here and live with her forever.”

MacLeod almost blurted out his true feelings—that he would do anything, agree to anything, if he could only be bound to Fionna.  But then he remembered his clan—the many septs and families depending on his leadership, his guidance, and his protection. “I must return. Many depend on me. I must think of them.”

“You are indeed a noble chieftan,” the king said. “Return then, but Fionna must stay.”

“Why?” McLeod asked.

“Because you are only mortal and you will break her heart. She loves you too much. She could not bear to watch you age and die.”

Fionna wept. The king of the faeries waved his hand and the music stopped. He looked into the bold, blazing eyes of MacLeod.

“I will allow you to hand-fast on one condition. She can only stay with you a year and a day. Then she must return. Do you agree? If not, you may leave with my blessing, but you will never see Fionna again.”

“We agree,” Fionna and MacLeod said together.

“This is my wedding present to you.” The king motioned to an faerie who handed MacLeod a beautiful gold-embroidered cloak. “This cloak will one day be a great blessing to you and a symbol of your clan.”

Fionna and MacLeod returned and lived happily together at Dunvegan Castle. Fionna gave birth to a son, and MacLeod had never been happier.

A year and a day later, MacLeod was walking in the evening with Fionna, who carried their son. Fionna had worn her wedding cloak. Stopping on a footbridge near the Faerie Hill where they had first met, Fionna looked into the distance and said, “It is time for me to return, my husband.”

MacLeod was stunned. In his months of happiness, he had forgotten their vow. 

“No,” MacLeod said. “Stay as a mortal. Grow old with me and our son.”

Fionna said,  “I must return, my love. The Faerie Kingdom is calling me, and that music is greater than even my love for you.”

As tears streamed down her face, she handed their child to MacLeod. “Take care of our son. Promise me you’ll never let him cry. As he grows, tell him about his mother, and about how much she loves him. Goodbye, my husband.”  Then she turned and ran to the Faerie Hill and vanished in the twilight.

Five years later, their son became ill. As he shivered with fever, he cried softly. MacLeod was beside himself. He stretched himself on the floor and wept until he fell asleep. 

That night in the Faerie Kingdom, Fionna heard her son crying and it broke her heart. She appeared by his bedside, held him and comforted him.  She whispered magical words, kissed his forehead, and laid the gold-embroidered cloak across him. 

The next morning, MacLeod was overjoyed to find his son well. Then he spotted his wife’s cloak on the bed. 

“Where did you get this?” MacLeod asked. 

“Mother left it. She said it has magical powers. She said, ‘I give it to the MacLeod clan forever. You may use the cloak only three times.  Wave it in the air and the Faerie Kingdom will come to your aid. Guard it well. If anyone but a MacLeod ever touches it, it will turn to dust and vanish.’ ”

The cloak became known as the Faerie Flag and was the most treasured possession of the MacLeod clan. The MacCrimmons, the clan pipers for the MacLeods for thirteen generations, wrote many songs about the beautiful Lady McLeod and her magical faerie cloak. 

Years later, Macleod took the cloak with him on a Crusade to the Holy Land. The cloak was tied to a flagpole and became the banner of his knights and it led them to many victories. 

Once, a hermit sheltered MacLeod in a cave. The hermit warned MacLeod that an evil spirit would appear in the form of a beautiful woman. The she-devil would attempt to kill him and take Fionna’s cloak. That same evening, a woman did appear while he was sleeping and tried to strangle him. MacLeod stabbed her with his dagger. Before she died, she revealed the names of the future MacLeod clan chieftains.

When MacLeod returned home, he locked the cloak in a box. Since then, the clan has only used two of the three magical promises—once in a battle when they were outnumbered, and once in time of plague and famine.

In World War II, MacLeod pilots carried pictures of the Faerie Flag in their wallets for protection. Not one of those pilots was lost in the war.

         A portion of the cloak still exists, displayed in a room of Dunvegan Castle. The fragile, faded yellow silk cloth rests in a glass case, looking as if it’s ready to crumble into dust if touched by human hands. Sometimes late at night, the ghostly, beautiful music of a piper can be heard coming from that room.

The Faerie Flag remains a symbol of the clan MacLeod and a reminder of an ancient promise given by the mysterious folk of the faerie kingdom.

I had not been a Christian long when I enrolled in the two-year study at White’s Ferry Road School of Preaching, the churches of Christ version of a seminary. There, I was immersed in intense Biblical studies, reading, Christian apologetics, historical facts, and memory work designed to mold me into a Church of Christ (Campbellite) evangelist.

I learned much more than I intended in this fine school and I’ll always be grateful for my instructors’ rigorous instruction that made the scriptures come alive as together we absorbed the sparks and breathed the inspired air. Though some of my fellow students held on to the King James version, and some gravitated to the New American Standard version, the instructors and the majority of the students in WFRSOP used the 1901 American Standard Version. I purchased my hardback Bible and had it leather-bound by a man in West Monroe who specialized in binding Bibles. My name was embossed in gold leaf on the cover. With the same Bible pictured here below my essay title, I began my journey through the Old and New Testaments.

I still remember the excitement, the epiphanies, and the serendipities of those early days of Bible study and I read this Bible every day of my early preacher life from cover to cover numerous times and even memorized several books of the Bible and many long passages. In the years that followed, I read several other translations from start to finish– Moffatt, New International Version, New American Standard, Revised Standard, New Revised Standard, the Living Bible, the King James version, and the New King James version. Though I enjoyed and gained insights from these versions, the version that really held my heart was this ragged American Standard.

While this version in its heyday was popular with a few congregations, schools, and Biblical scholars, it was never popular with the masses. Yet, it was the Bible of my spiritual beginning and the Bible of my current spiritual awakening. I’m looking at this same Bible again tonight, studying the marked, notated, and highlighted verses, with some loose pages in the middle, and I’ll continue my journey.