Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. I.djvu/335

ANDREW JACKSON 277 be no doubt that, whatever the president s intention may have been, or how far it may have been cor rectly interpreted by Rhea, the general honestly considered himself authorized to take possession of Florida on the ground that the Spanish govern ment had shown itself incompetent to prevent the denizens of that country from engaging in hos tilities against the United States. Jackson acted upon this belief with his accustomed promptness. He raised troops in Tennessee and neighboring states, invaded Florida in March, 1818, captured St. Marks, and pushed on to the Seminole head quarters on the Suwanee river. In less than three months from this time he had overthrown the Indians and brought order out of chaos. His measures w r ere praised by his friends as vigorous, while his enemies stigmatized them as high-handed. In one instance his conduct was open to serious question. At St. Marks his troops captured an aged Scotch trader and friend of the Indians, named Alexander Arbuthnot; near Suwanee, some time afterward, they seized Robert Ambrister, a young English lieutenant of marines, nephew of the gov ernor of New Providence. Jackson believed that these men had incited the Indians to make war upon the United States, and were now engaged in aiding and abetting them in their hostilities. They were tried by a court-martial at St. Marks.