From “Twasinta’s Seminoles” (Canto I, XXXVII)
The scout at eve to Mickasukie came;
The stories of Twasinta were his boast,—
A stately chief, Palmecho was his name,
Had numerous herds and fields, and had a host
Of servants in the vale from Tampa’s coast.
A proud descendant of a House of Spain,
Distinguished as a patron, gen’rous most,
Whoever sought his roof, sought not in vain,
And he who tarried once, must shelter there again.
From Twasinta's Seminoles; or, Rape of Florida (Nixon-Jones Printing Co., 1885) by Albery A. Whitman. This poem is in the public domain.
Albery Allson Whitman
Albery Allson Whitman was born into slavery on May 30, 1851, on a farm near Munfordville, Kentucky, in Hart County, what Whitman called “the Green River country.” He had at least one sibling, a sister. His mother died in 1862, and his father died soon after emancipation, leaving Whitman an orphan at age twelve. He remained on the farm where he was born and continued to labor there until he moved, first to Louisville, Kentucky, then to Cincinnati. He later relocated to Troy, Ohio, where he worked and, for five months, attended grammar school.