born May 15, 1788, Charleston, S.C., U.S.
died Dec. 26, 1858, Charleston
U.S. soldier and diplomat.
He was appointed an officer in the U.S. Army in 1812. He established military posts in Florida in 1820 and supervised the forced removal of Seminole Indians to reservations in southern Florida in 1823. In 1832 he negotiated a treaty for the removal of the Seminoles to the West, and he served in the war that followed the refusal of some Seminoles to leave Florida (see Seminole Wars ). From 1840 to 1850 he was president of a South Carolina railroad. In 1853 he was appointed U.S. minister to Mexico and was instructed to buy land from Mexico for a southern railroad route (see Gadsden Purchase ).