Thanks Edward. That's sort of along the lines of my thinking. It seems just sort of obvious that if someone with authority over some place that has some US troops in it, and that someone is in the US Army, the US should give them an answer when there was a huge problem he needed help with. This was in Dec., 1860. There was ample time for the US to do something if they so wished.
On the one who resigned and joined the Rebs. He was, more than most, aware of the fickle hand of US government. His father had been the agent in St Augustine for the Seminole. When it became clear he was showing more interest in the Seminole interest than that of the US, he was 'removed'. The Seminole gave him a huge tract of land and he had a plantation. Of course, the ownership may have been in question once the Indian Wars were over. I need to do more research but the father, Indian Agent, is buried in St Augustine. Soooo, the son was aware the US government was not as upstanding as it advertised.

Pam