Not long afterward, however,
the gang was broken up, partly through the services of Creek and Catawba
Indians who hunted the maroons for the prices on their heads.[34] The
Seminoles, on the other hand, gave asylum to such numbers of runaways as to
prompt invasions of their country by the United States army both before
and after the Florida purchase.[35] On lesser occasions raids were made by
citizen volunteers. The swamps of the lower Santee River, for example, were
searched by several squads in 1819, with the killing of two negroes, the
capture of several others and the wounding of one of the whites as the
result.[36]
[Footnote 34: _Georgia Colonial Records_, XII, 325, 326; _Georgia Gazette_
(Savannah), Oct. 19, 1786; _Massachusetts Sentinel_ (Boston), June 13,
1787; _Georgia State Gazette and Independent Register_ (Augusta), June 16,
1787.]
[Footnote 35: Joshua R. Giddings, _The Exiles of Florida_ (Columbus, Ohio,
1858).]
[Footnote 36: Diary of Dr. Henry Ravenel, Jr., of St. John's Parish,
Berkeley County, S.C. MS. in private possession.]
More frequent occasions for the creation of vigilance committees were the
rumors of plots among the blacks and the reports of mischievous doings by
whites.
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