PEOPLE: Americans like Native American David Moniac are proof positive courage in the face of America’s enemies makes people stronger
AGN.News Team
April 17, 2023
BALDWIN COUNTY, AL (AGN.News) – David Moniac (1802-1836) was an American military officer. He was the first Native American graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York in 1822.
David Moniac was the first cadet to enter West Point from the new state of Alabama. He was the son of a prosperous Creek merchant name Samuel Moniac and Elizabeth Weatherford who were mixed-race Creek.
David Moniac’s Alabama family background
Moniac was born into his mother’s clan, the Wind Clan of the Creek nation, which gave him social status. He grew up in Montgomery County, Alabama near present day Pintlala, 15.6 miles south of the state capital, Montgomery.
Moniac’s father, who was more assimilated into European American ways, and served with U.S. forces in the Creek War which lasted one year, two weeks, and four days from July 22, 1813 – August 9, 1814.
After these war-related events had subsided with the Fort Jackson Treaty, the federal government began encouraging native tribes to assimilate into European American culture. This assimilation created what became known as the Five Civilized Tribes.
The Fort Jackson Treaty included a provision for the education of the Creek people. His father’s military service enabled David Moniac to get an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1817.
David Moniac’s military service to America
U.S. Representative, John Crowell, who became the local Indian agent, undoubtedly played an important role in David Moniac getting his appointment.
Getting the appointment was just the beginning of the process. Moniac had to prepare for the entrance exam and classes. For this, he turned to John McLeod, a tutor in Washington, D.C. Moniac studied hard and worked hard to graduate.
He graduated from West Point in 1822 and served for five months as a Brevet Second Lieutenant in the Sixth Infantry. At this time West Point was graduating more officers than the army could use because of cuts in the armed services.
President James Madison (1751-1836) encouraged army officers to resign. Hence, David Moniac resigned his commission on December 31, 1822 and returned to Alabama and settled in Baldwin County.
David Moniac returned to Alabama
There he developed a cotton plantation and raised thoroughbred race horses. He married Creek woman name Mary Powell, cousin of Billy Powell.
As a child, Billy Powell migrated to Florida with his family and became a member of the Seminole people in Florida. He became known as Chief Osceola of the Seminole Indians. Osceola County, home to Disney World in Florida, is name after him as well as counties in Iowa and Michigan.
David and Mary Moniac raised several children among whom was a son, David A. Moniac, who served as sheriff of Baldwin County, Alabama. Sheriff Moniac is buried in the Old Methodist Church cemetery in Daphne, Alabama.
David Moniac and Second Seminole War
In 1836, fourteen years after Moniac graduated from West Point, his country called him back into military service as part of the Alabama militia to suppress an uprising of displaced Creek.
Members of the Creek did not want to move to Indian Country west of the Mississippi River under the Indian Removal Act which became law on May 28, 1830.
In August 1836, Moniac was commissioned as a captain of the Creek Mounted Volunteer Regiment. This volunteer unit of Creek warriors was lead by white officers on leave from their regular units. Captain Moniac was the only Native American officer in the unit.
The regiment patrolled and fought several engagements with the Seminole in Florida. Moniac performed his service to America with West Point precision and for that he was promoted to the rank of Major.
Moniac and his Creek volunteers were now part of a force of over 2500 soldiers assigned to destroy the stronghold of Seminole Chief Jumper, lead by Chiefs Osuchee and Yaholooche with about 600 warriors. This engagement is known as the Battle of Wahoo Swamp.
With the Seminole warriors’ back against the Withlacoochee River, Major David Moniac ran ahead to determine how deep the water was and to encourage his men to cross the moving water. Moniac was shot dead by the Seminoles.
U.S. Army continued the fight
The Seminoles had defeated an earlier force in 1835 at the nearby Dade’s Massacre site. This time the U.S. Army forces dislodged the entrenched Seminoles but was not able to advance in the swamp. They chose not to pursue the Seminoles through the swamp.
Chief Osceola continued his attacks on vulnerable Army detachments and outposts until he and 81 of his followers came in voluntarily for peace talks under a flag of truce at Fort Peyton.
Treachery disgraced Major Moniac
Osceola was tricked into coming into the fort under orders of General Thomas Jesup. He was wrongly captured through treachery on October 21, 1837.
Osceola was imprisoned at Fort Marion, seven miles southwest of St. Augustine, Florida in December 1837. He was later moved to Fort Moultrie on Sullivans Island, outside Charleston South Carolina.
What General Jesup and the administration did to Osceola has been described as “one of the most disgraceful acts in American military history”.
Osceola’s capture by deceit caused a national uproar. General Jesup’s treacherous act was condemned by members of Congress and vilified by the international press. Jesup suffered a loss of reputation that lasted for the rest of his life.
Jesup’s treachery cast a long shadow of doubt over the men who fought and died in battle to bring an end to the Second Seminole War in Florida.
Adding insult to injury, as Osceola was dying, he made one last request of the attending physician, Doctor Frederick Weedon.
He asked the doctor to make sure his body was returned to Florida for burial so he may rest in peace. Shortly thereafter Osceola passed away on January 30, 1838.
Rather than fulfill that request, Doctor Weedon cut off Osceola’s head, buried his decapitated body, displaying it in his drug store until 1843.
One of his friends, the American surgeon Valentine Mott (1785-1865), accepted it into his cabinet of heads until his death on April 26, 1865. It was lost after he died.
Major Moniac’s death saved many lives
If anything good came out of this treachery was the fact that Dr. Valentine Mott (1785-1865) had six sons. One of those sons, Dr. Alexander Brown Mott (1816-1889) became a surgeon and an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Alexander Brown Mott (1816-1889) had a son name Dr. Valentine Mott (1852-1918). This Dr. Mott went to Paris and studied under Dr. Louis Pasteur and became the first medical professional to introduce rabies vaccine into the United States.
This rabies vaccine has saved tens of thousands of lives across the U.S., Canada, and beyond.
Since nine year old Joseph Meister (1879-1940), the first person to get the vaccine, was vaccinated in 1885 by Louis Pasteur millions of lives around the world have been saved.
Joseph Meister went on to become a caretaker of the Pasteur Institute until his death on June 24, 1940 at the age of 64.
Finally, while the betrayal of trust and treachery of October 21, 1837 led to a succession of treacherous acts, the untold good connected to those participants has resulted in a herculean mountain of good.
Thanks to courageous Americans, like Native American David Moniac, who died fighting against disease, illness, and America’s enemies foreign and domestic, we’re enjoying the benefits of the positive change coming from those encounters.
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