José Callava

José Callava
Occupation	Governor, Spanish West Florida Spanish military officer

José Callava was the Spanish governor of Spanish West Florida at the time of Spain's transfer of the territory to the United States in 1821. Callava was an officer in the Spanish military who had been rapidly promoted due to his service in the Peninsular War; he became a colonel and governor before the age of 40.

James Parton's Life of Andrew Jackson describes Callava:

He was a Castilian, of a race akin to the Saxon, of light complexion, a handsome, well-grown man, of dignified presence and refined manners.

Post-transfer

After the transfer, Callava remained for a time in Pensacola. James Parton's Life of Andrew Jackson describes Callava's time after the transfer:

After the surrender of his town to General Jackson, he still retained, as he supposed, the office of Spanish commissioner, and continued to reside in the place, to superintend the embarkation of artillery, and other unfinished business. With the officers of the fourth regiment, which formed the American garrison of Pensacola, he was a favorite, and was frequently invited by them to entertainments. Nor were the American ladies in the town averse to the society of the handsome Castilian; though most of them found it difficult to converse with a gentleman whose ignorance of the English language was as complete as their ignorance of Spanish.

Jackson jails Callava

Dispute over documents

Shortly after the transfer of power, a descendant of Nicholas Vidal appeared before Henry M. Brackenridge, whom Jackson had appointed alcalde (a sort of magistrate and administrator) regarding land bequeathed by Vidal to her family but occupied by Forbes & Company (the successor to Panton, Leslie and Company). She went on to say that Spanish governors had ruled that the land be returned to the Vidal family, but would not enforce the ruling. Pleading for Brackenridge's help, she stated that documents relevant to the situation were in the custody of Lieutenant Domingo Sousa, an aide to Colonel Callava, and that the documents were intended to be carried away to Havana. According to the woman, Sousa would allow the documents to be copied; however, the Vidal family was unable to afford the expense of having copied the several hundred pages. Under the Adams-Onís Treaty, such documents were to be surrendered to the United States; thus Brackenridge set out to retrieve them.

Brackenridge involved Jackson, whom issued an order to Brackenridge, as well as to George Walton, Secretary of the Florida Territory, and John Miller, Clerk of the County Court. The order read:

Gentlemen, having been officially informed that there are a number of papers or documents in the possession of an individual of the name of Domingo Sousa, of a public nature, and which belong to the office of the Alcalde of this town, although not delivered with the other documents relating to private property, you are hereby authorized and instructed to proceed to the dwelling of the said Domingo Sousa, and to make a demand of all such papers or documents as may be in his possession. In case the said Sousa should refuse to exhibit and deliver the same, you will immediately report the fact to me in writing.

The three appeared at Sousa's home and relayed the order to him; however, Sousa claimed that the documents in his possession "belonged to the military tribunal and to the revenue department, and had no connection with private property." He did, however, permit the three men to examine the boxes of documents, and while most of the documents were of the character Sousa claimed, the documents relating to the Vidal estate were indeed found among them. However, Sousa refused to surrender the documents, stating that he could not do so without permission from Colonel Callava. At that point, Brackenridge, Walton, and Miller left Sousa's home, whereafter Sousa and a servant moved the documents to the home of Colonel Callava.

Brackenridge, Walton, and Miller reported back to Jackson, whom then issued another order:

Colonel Robert Butler, of the army of the United States, and Colonel John Miller, clerk of the county of Escambia, are hereby commanded forthwith to proceed to seize the body of the said Domingo Sousa, together with the said papers, and bring him and them before me, at my office immediately, to the end that he then and there answer such interrogatories as may be put to him; and to comply with such order and decree touching the said documents and records, as the rights of the individuals may require and the justice of the case demand.

Sousa was brought in, and when he stated that he had moved the documents to Colonel Callava's home, Jackson ordered that Sousa be taken under military escort to Callava, to retrieve the documents, and that if he was unable to, that Sousa be imprisoned in the calaboose until such time the documents were produced. Sousa interrupted Callava at dinner with members of the American fourth regiment, and after explaining the situation to him, Callava sent Bernardo Prieto, another aide, to Jackson, with the message that Sousa, as his subordinate, had no authority to produce the documents, and suggesting that Jackson take up the matter in writing with Callava himself. Callava returned home, having taken ill with indigestion; at the same time, Sousa was taken by his military escort to the calaboose and imprisoned.

All of this incensed Jackson, who ordered Colonel George Brooke of the fourth regiment to dispatch an officer and twenty men to Callava's home; the troops were accompanied by Mr. Brackenridge, Dr. Bronaugh, and Colonel Butler. At this point, the exact events are unclear, as the account of the Americans and Callava's account differ.

Arrest of Callava

The official report

The official report, as signed by Dr. Bronaugh and Colonel Butler, reads:

	We proceeded to the house of Colonel Callava, who was absent, but again returning to his house shortly after we found him accompanied by a number of Spanish officers clothed with their side arms, and Mr. John Innerarity in the porch. The demand was formally made of the documents enumerated in your order and peremptorily refused, when he was informed that his refusal would be considered as setting at defiance the authority exercised by you as Governor of the Floridas in the execution of the laws; and they were again demanded, and the consequences of refusal on his part enumerated, but in which refusal he still persisted, and we were about taking our leave to prepare for the final execution of your order when Colonel Callava declared that if we would furnish him with a copy of the memorandum setting forth the documents required he would deliver them to us, to which we assented. The alcalde, H. M. Brackenridge, accordingly waited on him with a copy of the memorandum herewith accompanied, and informed him that he would call in two hours for the reception of the documents as promised. We proceeded at the appointed time and found the gate and front part of the house closed. The former we opened by removing a bar, and on reaching the latter a considerable stir seemed to be made in the house. We knocked several times without receiving any answer, when admittance was demanded in the name of the Governor in three instances, still without reply. The guard was then ordered to advance and form in front of the house, and part detached to the rear, when it was discovered that the back door was open, and several Spanish officers, with Mr. Innerarity, were in the porch. We inquired for Colonel Callava, to which we were answered they did not know where he was. Lights were procured, and the rooms searched, when Colonel Callava was found on his bed, divested of his coat. Demand was then made of the documents, agreeably to his promise, and to our astonishment they were still refused, and several attempts were made on his part to show that he was not amenable to the laws; to which he was answered that the Governor was, in the execution of the laws, bound to demand the papers, as they appertained to the rights and property of individuals resident in Pensacola, and that formal complaint had been made that they were improperly withheld, and that the Governor knew no distinction between Colonel Callava and any other man under his government. We then proposed that Colonel Callava should deliver the papers, and he should have our receipt for them, which was also refused. We then again demanded them, reiterating our sentiments, that his refusal would he viewed as an act of open mutiny to the civil authority exercised in the Floridas, and that he must expect the consequences. He persisted to refuse, and the officer of the guard was ordered to take him and his steward Fullarat into custody and bring them before your excellency, which is now done. We would add, in conclusion, that Colonel Callava repeatedly asserted that he would not be taken out of his house alive, but he seemed to act without much difficulty when the guard was ordered to prime and load. A corporal and three men were detached to remain and guard the house of Colonel Callava, and to prevent the removal of the boxes which had contained the documents, and which Mr. Brackenridge recognized in the bed-room.
—James Parton's Life of Andrew Jackson, p. 622-624

Callava's account

Callava's account of the events differs:

	After these officers returned to me, now at my own house, the same three persons came with a determined and brief message that I must not make any pretensions to official situation or other considerations — the papers, or go with them. I was surrounded by my officers, and other persons of character, whose countenances I saw filled with pain and surprise to see me in the sad state of suffering and unable to remain tranquil. Till then I knew not of what papers they spoke, as I had not entered upon an inquiry, nor had they given me an opportunity of doing so; and I answered them that I was unable to go out of my house. I intreated that they would, at least, give me an abstract of what papers and of what class those were which they demanded, and I would inform Don Andrew Jackson that I was sick. Without giving me any answer they went away, and I laid myself on the bed. An hour afterwards one of the three presented himself in my house, and gave me an abstract, witten on a half sheet of paper, in the English language, and signed Alcalde Brackenridge. I took it; I told him that I should have it translated, and should reply to it; he went away; I gave it to the interpreter at that hour, which was nine at night, and sought repose on the bed; but, a while after, and without further preliminaries, a party of troops, with the commissioners, assaulted the house, breaking the fence, (notwithstanding the door was open), and the commissioners entered my apartment; they surrounded my bed with soldiers with drawn bayonets in their hands, they removed the mosquito net, they made me sit up, and demanded the papers, or they would use the arms against my person. It ought to be remarked that, of the three, only one spoke and understood a little of the Spanish language; he was the only interpreter, and I neither speak nor understood one word of English, and thus I neither knew what he said to his companions respecting what I answered, nor did they know what was asked me. I had to do with him alone, and he was one who had gone and returned with them in all their visits. Some officers and other persons who had accompanied me from the house of [Colonel] Brooke, and who had not yet retired, and were seated in the gallery of the house, leaving me to repose, entered the room, and I answered, in their presence, that the note had not yet been returned translated, but that this was of no consequence; that there were all the boxes containing papers, my trunks and all my house; that, since force had once openly been used in their demand, they there had every thing at their disposal without any resistance on my part; but that, before they should proceed to take what they thought fit, I represented to them that now, since my person was not secure as a free man, and in a free country, in the asylum of my house, and in the dead of the night, and that what ought to be preserved to my nation was not respected in my official situation and character, I laid these things before the government of the United States, and took refuge under their laws, and hoped that they would respect both. They did not proceed to search for papers, nor did they move any further question about them when they now saw them at their disposal; but they ordered the troops to carry arms, leave me alone, and send from my house those who assisted and accompanied me. This they did, and to one who appeared desirous to interpret in English what I had said for their better understanding, they intimated, with threats, that he should be silent as soon as he had begun, and I continued alone sitting on the bed, and they in the apartment looking at each other. In fine, a short while after one of the three went out, and returned accompanied with an officer, who, placing himself before me, told me I was a prisoner, and ordered me to dress myself. I answered that I was so, but that he would have the goodness to observe that I was so sick that I ought not to be taken out of my house at that hour. He made no answer to the interpreter, and remained silent; but one of the three deliberately ordered me to dress. I dressed in my uniform, was going to put on my sword, but, upon reflection, thought it better to deliver it to the officer. I did so, and one of the three took it from his hand and threw it upon the chimney, and in this manner I was conducted through the streets among the troops.
—James Parton's Life of Andrew Jackson, p. 624-627