1818 executions of British subjects by American general Andrew Jackson
1848 illustration of the trial of Ambrister
The Arbuthnot and Ambrister incident occurred in April 1818 during the First Seminole War when American general Andrew Jackson invaded Spanish Florida and his troops detained two British subjects, Alexander Arbuthnot and Robert Ambrister. They were later tried by court-martial, found guilty of aiding the Native Americans against the United States, and executed. This prompted protests from the British and Spanish governments and condemnation as a violation of the conventions of war.
Alexander George Arbuthnot was a Scottish merchant and translator who had been present in Florida since 1803 and occasionally served as a diplomatic go-between for various polities in the region.
History
Arbuthnot and Ambrister were charged with aiding the Seminole, Red Sticks, and maroons against the United States. According to Samuel J. Watson, Jackson "lacked clear authority or jurisdiction under the law or in his position as a field commander" but had them "tried by court-martial, essentially as stateless persons and presumably unlawful combatants or spies, and they were executed at St. Marks without any reference to higher authority in Washington. (Federal law required presidential review in such cases.) Eighteen days passed between the initial capture and the court-martial; Jackson advised the War Department of the prisoners but conveniently neglected to explain what he intended to do with them...he reported the executions after the fact, on May 5, in the same report that announced his intention to occupy Pensacola." Pensacola was then a Spanish dominion and its occupation by Jackson, again according to Watson, had been specifically forbidden by both the executive and legislative branches.
Jackson's actions triggered short-lived protests from the British and Spanish governments and an investigation by the United States Congress. Congressional reports found fault with Jackson's handling of the trial and execution of Arbuthnot and Ambrister, but Congress chose not to censure the popular general.
Jackson's execution of Arbuthnot, Ambrister and the Muscogee and Seminole leaders Josiah Francis and Homathlemico was perceived, both in Britain and elsewhere, as an act of barbarity violating the conventions of warfare.
↑British and foreign state papers Volume 6, pg 434 Ambrister's Commission 'Whereas, I have thought fit to send a Detachment of the Royal Marine Corps to the Creek Nations, for the purpose of training to arms, such Indians and others as may be friendly to, and willing to fight under, the Standard of His Majesty: I ..appoint you as an Auxiliary Second Lieutenant, of such Corps of Colonial Marines...Given under my hand and seal, at Bermuda, this 25th day of July, 1814'
↑British and foreign state papers Volume 6, p. 483, Memorial to R C Ambrister mentions that he and Nicolls sailed 'to Apalachicola, from whence he proceeded to the Creek Nation, where he served until those Forces were disbanded, upon the termination of hostilities with the Americans, when he returned to the said island of New Providence' and disembarked there from the Carron on 6 May 1815
↑Belko, William (2011). America's Hundred Years' War. University Press of Florida. pp.81–90. ISBN978-0-8130-3525-3.
↑Niles' weekly register, Baltimore, 3 October 1818, No. 6, Vol. XV, pp. 270-281
Bibliography
Watson, Samuel J. (2012). Jackson's Sword: The Army Officer Corps on the American Frontier, 1810–1821. Modern War Studies. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. ISBN978-0-7006-1884-2. LCCN2012027879. OCLC788282695.
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. OCLC1862429 - pp.133–147.
British Foreign Office. British and foreign state papers Volume 6, 1818-1819. Piccadilly, London: James Ridgway, 1835.
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. OCLC10329123 - "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. ISBN0-8117-0113-1.
Hoefer, Jean Chrétien Ferdinand. 1862. Nouvelle biographie générale depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu'à nos jours, Paris: Didot. OCLC73261929 - 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 war, and the execution of Arbuthnot and Ambrister, London, Printed for J. Miller, 1819. OCLC16068670 - pp.196–312.
Rush, Richard. 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. OCLC12492949 - 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.
