A territorial act to provide for establishing a seat of government in the territory of Florida, adopted by the second legislative council held at St. Augustine and approved June 24, 1823, provided that the governor shall appoint two commissioners, one from the territory known as East Florida and one from that known as West Florida, who were to "meet at St. Marks on the Gulf of Mexico, on the first day of October next, and thence proceed carefully to explore and examine all that section of country embraced between the Ocklockney river on the east and the Suwannee river on the west and between the northern boundary line of said territory and the Gulf of Mexico, and to select the most eligible and convenient situation for the seat of government. The commissioners were required to report their action to the governor, and if they did not agree, the governor was authorized "to decide in favor of the situation selected by either commissioner." "The situation thus selected shall thenceforth constitute the seat of government for the territory of Florida." The governor appointed Dr. W. H. Simmons of St. Augustine and J. L. Williams of Pensacola. The site selected in November, 1823, for the seat of government was then in Gadsden county and is described as being the "county of Gadsden, situated about a mile southwest from the deserted fields of Tallahassee, about a mile south of the Oke-lock-o-ny and Tallahassee trails, at a point where the old Spanish road is intersected by a small trail running southwestwardly." It seems that the name "Tallahassee" was applied to a section in which were several villages extending between the present limits of the city of Tallahassee and Lake Lafayette then called Tallahassee Pond. Neamathla was chief of the new Tallahassee town, just east of the present city. Chexico was chief of the old Tallahassee town located on the south side of Lake Lafayette of then Tallahassee Pond. An act of congress approved May 24, 1824, granted to the Territory of Florida "one entire quarter section of land for the seat of government in that territory, to be located previously to the sale of the adjacent lands, under the authority of the governor thereof, at the point selected for the permanent seat of government for said territory." Governor Duval had on March 4, 1824, by proclamation stated that the place which had been selected for the seat of government was "situated about a mile southwest from the deserted fields of Tallahassee, about a mile south of the Okelockony and Tallahassee trails, at a point where the Old Spanish road is intersected by a small trail running southwestwardly." There appears to be no official record showing it, but the circumstances all indicate that under the act of congress Governor Duval selected to be surveyor as the quarter section of land for seat of government purposes the area lying immediately north and west of the intersection of the Old Spanish road and the trail running southwestwardly, which intersection is the only definite description given relative to the place selected for the seat of government. Why Selected. The location selected for the territorial seat of government was chosen because (1) it is about midway between the eastern and western extremities of the then Territory of Florida, St. Augustine being on the Atlantic coast and Pensacola being on the Gulf coast near the Perdido river; (2) at that time the port of St. Marks being at the junction of the Wakulla and St. Marks rivers near Apalachee bay on the Gulf coast, about twenty miles south of the location selected for the seat of government, was an export trading point for the country between the Apalachicola and Suwannee rivers as well as for Georgia to the north; (3) the location is a succession of red clay hills with many clear pure streams, lakes and waterfalls, the fertile soil sustaining in luxurious growth a variety of large hard wood and other valuable and useful trees with abundant grasses and flora; (4) at that time the immense area of the peninsular portion of the territory was little known and contained comparatively few white settlements. The territorial statute, approved December 11, 1824, enacted that the place selected for the seat of government shall "be known by the name of Tallahassee." To the ancient Indian inhabitants who preceded the Seminoles the name 'Tallahassee' had a significance that probably could not be fully appreciated. A Spanish town called San Luis located two miles west of the city of Tallahassee, where the place known as Fort San Luis now is, was destroyed with other Spanish towns by invaders from South Carolina in the early part of the Eighteenth century and the Indians then inhabiting the country were scattered. This was more than a hundred years before Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson commanding a military force was sent by the United States government into the Florida territory to punish the Indians for their depredations along the Alabama and Georgia borders and proper action upon the Spanish authorities an imperative demand that the treaty relations between the United States and Spain relative to the protection of American personal and property rights on the border be observed and enforced. It was during this expedition that Andrew Jackson subdued the Indians in this section of Florida and took possession of St. Marks and Pensacola which forts were subsequently restored to Spain and later covered by the treaty of cession by which both East and West Florida became the property of the United States. It is quite probable that Andrew Jackson with his troops passed over the land now covered by the city of Tallahassee, because he drove the Indians from the locality just east of the present city of Tallahassee where the deserted fields of the Tallahassee towns were found in locating the seat of government, and the old fields are referred to in describing the point selected. The Fowl Towns consisted of a number of small villages extending into the interior north of St. Marks. It seems that in 1823 there was an Indian town called Tallahassee on the south side of Lake Lafayette then called Tallahassee pond; Chexico was its chief. A new Tallahassee village of which Neamathla was chief, was perhaps in the neighborhood of the Ross place, three miles east of Tallahassee. Old Tallahassee Fields. The old Tallahassee field that were deserted upon Jackson's invasion in 1818 were probably west of Neamathla's village and a mile or more east of the city of Tallahassee's original limits. It was after a visit to Neamathla in his village that the commissioners W. H. Simmons and J. L. Williams selected the location for the seat of the territorial government that was approved by Governor Duval and was by statute called Tallahassee comprising originally the S.E. 1-4 of Section 36 Townships 1, North Range 1 West. On July 4, 1825, the United States issued a patent conveying the west half of Township 1, North Range 1 East to General Lafayette. One quarter section of the township, viz: the S.W. 1-4 Section 31, had already been selected for seat of government purposes, but it was relinquished by the governor of the territory, and other lands in lieu thereof were granted to the territory. Governor Duval's home was established in section 6, T. 1 S. R. 1 East in 1824. A portion of that section is now within the Tallahassee city limits. The "Water Falls" referred to in the grants of lands for the territorial seat of government were located just south of the Seaboard railroad track not far from the electric light plant of Tallahassee. Col. Robert Butler had a mill at the "Water Falls." Later the location