March 5, 1841: Coacoochee has come in for a parley with Colonel William J. Worth. The chief is greeted by his daughter, who had been captured by the army months earlier. The girl gives her father a present, gunpowder and lead she had scavenged from around the fort. (Sprague, 259)
The whites dealt unjustly by me. I came to them, they deceived me; the land I was upon I loved, my body is made of its sands; the Great Spirit gave me legs to walk over it; hands to aid myself; eyes to see its ponds, rivers, forests, and game; then a head with which I think. The sun, which is warm and bright as my feelings are now, shines to warm us and bring forth our crops, and the moon brings back the spirits of our warriors, our fathers, wives, and children. The white man comes; he grows pale and sick, why cannot we live here in peace? I have said I am the enemy to the white man. I could live in peace with him, but they first steal our cattle and horses, cheat us, and take our lands. The white men are as thick as the leaves in the hammock; they come upon us thicker every year. They may shoot us, drive our women and children night and day; they may chain our hands and feet, but the red man’s heart will be always free. I have come here in peace, and have taken you all by the hand; I will sleep in your camp though your soldiers stand around me like the pines. I am done; when we know each other’s faces better I will say more.