Remarkable Slip Bill

[African Americana]: [Slavery]: [Restitution]:

28th Congress, 1st Session. H.R. 398.... A Bill for the Relief of the Heirs and Legal Representatives of Antonio Pacheco, Deceased... [caption title].

Washington DC: June 7, 1844. Broadside, 12.25 x 7.75 inches. Light tanning, shallow marginal chips and some fraying to left and right edges. Very good. Item #5887

An unrecorded slip-bill printing of a House Resolution with a phenomenal back story involving an erudite, elusive, and resourceful Florida slave. The slip bill, authored by Howell Cobb, U.S. Representative from Georgia, stipulates that the Secretary of the Treasury pay the sum of five hundred dollars to the heirs and representatives of Antonio Pacheco, a former resident of Florida, the sum "being the price of a slave named Lewis, which was sent out by the United States with the Seminole Indians, and lost to his owners." That's where the plot thickens. The slave is now known to history as Luis Fatio Pacheco, born in 1800 to enslaved parents on the "New Switzerland" plantation in Florida, which was surrounded by a mix of Europeans, Africans, and Native Americans. As such, Luis became fluent in several languages, including Seminole, which later made him a valuable asset.

After a conflict with his owner, Luis attempted to escape slavery in 1824 by fleeing to Spanish fisheries on Florida's Gulf Coast, but he was captured by U.S. military authorities the following year. Skilled as he was in languages and literacy by the military, Luis was sold in 1832 to Antonio Pacheco, a Cuban merchant. After Antonio's death, Luis became the property of Pacheco's widow. When tensions began to ratchet up again between American military forces and the Seminole tribe, a U.S. Army officer made a deal to rent Luis from the Pacheco estate at the rate of $25 a month to take advantage of his services as an interpreter. In December 1835 Luis was accompanying a troop detachment led by Major Frances L. Dade in a march to reinforce Fort King near the present-day city of Ocala, Florida. Evidently that day, Luis was assigned as a scout; he has said to have attempted to warn Dade of a possible ambush by the Seminoles, which went unheeded by the commander. The result is today known as the Dade Massacre, in which Dade and most of his men were killed.

According to the narrative provided by Luis, who spoke Seminole, he explained to the warriors that he was a slave and successfully pleaded for his life. Luis lived with the Seminoles as a captive for nearly two years before again managing to escape. In September 1837, Luis surrendered to the U.S. Army at Fort Peyton near St. Augustine. Soon after he was accused of collaborating with the Seminoles in the Dade Massacre. In 1841 negotiations between the US government and Seminole leader Coacoochee, the Native American leader claimed Luis as his property, captured in war. Coacoochee was permitted to take Luis, together with other Black Seminoles, to Oklahoma for resettlement. This event led to the claim by Anthony Pacheco‘s heirs for restitution of a lost slave. The Joint Committee on Claims approved the claim. Luis's story eventually became a focal point in the abolitionist argument against slavery, and in 1858 Ohio representative Joshua R. Giddings published a book portraying Luis as a hero against the system. In any case, the question of whether or not Luis betrayed Dade has never been completely resolved.

Price: $1,350