The first American military expedition to the Everglades winds up a dismal failure. WILLIAM COOLEY; BROWARD'S LEGEND PART TWO Coope r Kirk grew up in Broward County, attended local public schools, and served in the By Cooper Kirk arm ed forces of th e United State s during W orld War II. He is a graduate of the University of Miami and obtained his Ph.D. in history from Phase One of William Cooley's Florida career Florida State University. A married man with a ended with the horrible New River massacre of his fa m ily. he is a mem ber ofthe many historical and household by hostile Seminole Indian allies on cultural organizations, teaches at Piper High January 6, 1836. For the next year and a half School and is County Historian. official duties and private undertakings required his presence in a myriad of locations. He operated from Key West northward to military camps near Jacksonville, westward to the Suwannee River and southward along the Gulf of Mexico to the Keys. A whirlwind of activities threw him into almost every conceivable situation in a territory largely un­ stoic sufferer became a cause celebre to South known and unexplored by Americans. That he Floridians because of his losses and refusal to survived through it all is astonishing enough; that succumb to them. he enhanced his reputation and sphere of Cape Florida Lighthouse keeper John L. influence simultaneously is almost miraculous. Dubose shared responsibility with Cooley in a News of the Cooley massacre threw the subordinate status because of his official position inhabitants of the South Florida mainland and on the cape, although he hardly seemed the man keys into a near panic condition. In a matter of to defend terror-stricken refugees. Bereft of his hours a dozen or more whites, their families and family and possessions, Cooley had only his life to slaves from New River and Miami River crowded lose while Dubose had a family and twenty slaves onto Key Biscayne near the Cape Florida to protect. The transplanted South Carolinian, Lighthouse to await an anticipated onslaught by an after serving as United StatesCollector of Customs undetermined number of rampaging Indians at St. Augustine,where he acquired a well-merited whose slaughter of the defenseless Cooley reputation for knowledge of wrecking operations household spread from lip to lip. The refugees had along the east Florida coast, became the first Cape escaped with only the clothes on their backs Florida Lighthouse keeper and Inspector of because time did not permit the bundling together Customs in late 1825. Conditions were cramped as of even a little food. Leadership of the motley band James Wright, Richard H. Fitzpatrick's Miami devolved upon Cooley because of his position as River plantation overseer, added fifty to sixty justice of the peace. Subsequently, the less than slaves to Dubose's. 24 The white settlers took stock of their From this brig he returned with two brass cannons desperate situation as they fearfully contemplated and ample balls, armaments considered capable of an imminent assault by a band of blood-th irsty repelling an Indian invasion. The cannons Indians possibly. numbering two hundred. Investi­ furnished the main firepower of the militia kept in gation soon revealed the scarcity of arms, a high state ofreadiness by daily, fatiguing drills. ammunition and food necessary for sustenance Sheer weariness, rather than fear, took its toll during a potential long-term siege by an Indian as the defenders remained at their posts night and force well-supplied from Cooley's trading post. day. A "correspondent" of the Charleston Dubose scarcely contributed to the refugees' Mercury wrote from the island on January 14, sense of security as he pointed out the suscepti­ revealing the peril faced by the embattled bility of the wooden portions of the lighthouse and refugees and their hosts. He believed that the the flimsy nature of the outbuildings to Indian islanders had made the best preparation possible attempts to fire them. His arguments clinched the to prevent the enemy from lan ding, "but our matter. feeble force will be nothing if they succeed in Late on January 10 the settlers and slaves effecting a landing. We are nearly worn out and scrambled aboard Cooley's recently acquired large exhausted from having been compelled to keep schooner and upon several smaller craft and set watch every night." Imperiled as they were, the out to sea. They headed for the safety of Indian defenders' vigilance heartened women and chil­ Key, located well off the mainland one hundred dren as they scrounged for wood, cooked and miles north of Key West and a few miles southeast spoke cheering words. Danger of another sort of Lower Matecumbe Key. Heavy seas soon from the north, however, threatened the islanders rendered the vessels well-nigh helpless and only and seaborne commerce. They surmised that help, the timely arrival of a large schooner, attracted by if it ar rived, must come over th ree hu ndred miles their distress signals, prevented the refugees from southward from St. Augustine. being plunged into a watery grave. Late the next On the night of January 14 the Steamboat afternoon as they stepped ashore at Indian Key Champion, bound from St. Augustine to Key the rescued and the rescuers gave thanks, mindful West, passed the deserted Cape Florida Light­ of the frightening conditions they had endured house only to note the great hazard posed to aboard a vessel designed for one third its recent shipping. For some months an extraordinarily human cargo. swift current of three to four knots had driven Security on Indian Key recently had been numerous commercial and passenger ships onto tightened. For one or two days prior to the the Florida Reef. Only the daring and skill of the refugees' arrival several boatloads of Indians had wreckers prevented total loss of cargoes and appeared there and when questioned by the passengers. Never before in memory had sea­ suspicious islanders, denied any knowledge of the farers stood so greatly in need of the reassuring Cooley household murders, stating they only and directive light of the Cape Florida Lighthouse. wished to purchase some lead and powder. The bare mention of returning to the Quickly the islanders ordered them off empty­ lighthouse made brave and wizened settlers and handed, convinced that the Indians had lied up to seamen blanch. Nameless terror arose from lack of their teeth. Soon, upwards of two hundred whites knowledge regarding the size and intentions of the and slaves from the mainland and adjacent keys Indian bands thought to be roaming the southeast had flocked to the twelve-acre Indian Key, a Florida mainland. If the Indians struck, would principality of the notorious wrecker-merchant there occur a repetition of the Cooley massacre, Jacob Housman, who occupied the island not by further pillage and destruction of property? fee simple but simply through the sufferance of The position of lighthouse keeper went the United States government. For protection begging among men intent on preserving their against any imminent Indian attack Housman own tortured existence until Cooley arrived at Key already had formed a militia force consisting of West on January 16 aboard the Steamboat forty to fifty able-bodied islanders and seamen Champion and volunteered to take the dangerous who now hastily threw up wood and rock assignment. This threw young William A. fortifications. Whitehead, the former New Jerseyite who served Immediately upon his arrival at the key, as United States Collector of Customs at Cooley noted the desperate situation confronting Key West, into an extremely awkward situation. the islanders who were destitute of the means to He did not possess the legal authority to make an prevent a determined Indian attempt to land in appointment reserved for his superiors in Wash­ force. He returned through heavy seas to the ington. Besides, the lighthouse was in Dubose's brigantine Gil Bias, beached near Hillsboro Inlet. bailiwick. Mastering his trepidation, three days 25 later he appointed Cooley as temporary lighthouse plantation on the day of the massacre. Further keeper. As he wrote his superior Stephen J. inspection revealed that the houses of his nearest Pleasanton, United States Superintendent of neighbors had been "ramsacked-the furniture Lighthouses, Dubose would not return as long as destroyed-beds ripped open, etc." Upon taking one Indian was reported on the mainland. Cooley, inventory, Cooley listed his principal losses of armed to the teeth, returned to the lighthouse with provisions as: "21 gallons of Madiera wine and a hastily assembled guard of five men and barrels of corn, sugar, rice, grits, pork, beef and maintained a twenty-four hour vigil. coffee." Other material losses included eighty Either from foolhardiness or heroism, but hogs, fowls , sheep and horses, one keg of powder, within days of his appointment Cooley returned to over two hundred pounds of lead, $700 worth of the abandoned New River Settlement only to dry goods, $480 in specie, and one Negro slave discover that the hostiles had removed everything woman. Property losses included his home and of value that had not been taken from his furniture, outhouses, slave quarters, processed Copy of Alexander Patterson's Bill of Sale of Seminole Indians, Patsy was the object of slave woman Patsy to Cooley for $450, dated Cooley's search at Tampa Bay in 1837 when December 20, 1834. In 1837 she was he incurred the wrath of General Jesup. described as "aged about thirty-five, of a Monroe County, Florida Records, Deed dark color, and about five feet five inches Book A. high, slender made." Captured by the 26 coontie, coontie mill and machinery, tools, then served until the arri val of John W.