: ', FKFSIDKNT OF TRF I.1KITKD STATE? from 4 '''March JfttH 10 Mnrrlt 4 tfl lli.il. BIOGRAPHY or ANDREW JACKSON, ^^ PRESIDENT OP THE UNITED STATES, FORMERLY MAJOR GENERAL IN THE ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES. BY PHILO A. GOODWIN, ESQ. HARTFORD. SILAS ANDRUS AND SON 1850. V f f 1 A. H .'> \ Entered according u> act ol Consrcss. in the vear 1833 by R, Hart Towner, in the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New York. PREFACE. THIS volume is not presented to the public in igno- rance of the fact, that at a period of high political excitement like the present, its reception by many will be rather ungracious. Of this, we are not disposed to complain, although it has been our studious endea- vor in the preparation of this work to avoid every thing obnoxious to the political opponents of Andrew Jackson ; unless, indeed, the defence of his public acts, interwoven with the detail of them, should produce this effect. It may be a matter of inquiry, why another volume, detailing the leading incidents in the life of an indi- dual so favorably and universally known as that of Andrew Jackson, should be added to the multiplicity of works that have already appeared upon the same subject. Under circumstances differing from those in which it appears before the public, an answer to the inquiry could not perhaps be satisfactorily made. But it will be recollected that the biographical details of his public life, of any note, heretofore published, ap- peared immediately after the termination of his bril- liant military career. The important advantages which the exercise of his talents and courage had achieved for IT PREPACK. his country in-the fortunate termination of the bordei wars with the savage nations on our southwestern frontier, and those of a still greater magnitude result- ing from his single triumph over our civilized foes, were then almost universally appreciated by his coun- trymen. They saw, they felt and acknowledged, that, the benefits his valor had won, were of no puerile or ordinary description, and with the fulness of their appreciation of them, their gratitude was commensu- rate. The mutterings of censure were indeed occa- sionally heard, but they were soon silenced by the light of truth and the wholesome rebuke cf public sentiment. But emotions of gratitude for favors re- ceived, are often weakened by time, or supplanted by interest or prejudice, which may account for the fact of subsequent attempts being made, to depreciate the merits of one of America's most distinguished sons, and of whom the nation may be justly proud. His acts, and the motives which prompted them, have been denounced, and before the tribunal of public opinion been subjected to the severest scrutiny and the strict- est investigation ; and his fame has passed the ordeal, with a lustre still brighter and more imperishable. Our object has been to present a history of his actions in the light in wlu'ch this investigation has placed them ; to what extent we have succeeded, an impar- tial public will decide. "When the community entertain different views of the conduct or motives of an individual, who has acted in a highly responsible capacity, it is extremely difficult to concentrate opinion by presenting a series of truths. Prejudice operates with peculiar force on one class, while the other, however well convinced of PREFACE. their error, are unwilling to be thought inconsistent, and, therefore, never acknowledge the falsity of the course of reasoning they have once adopted." We are not, therefore, unaware of our exposure to cen- sure, in the publication of this work, from those who may not subscribe to the character delineated of its subject. But the task has been begun and completed with purity of motive and honesty of purpose, and whatever animadversion may fall to our share, we trust will be met in a becoming spirit of forbearance. We have not the vanity to believe that any thing it contains will influence a solitary individual in his opinion of the merits or demerits of Andrew Jackson for the station he now occupies ; yet we have the satisfaction of reflecting, that the suspicion of being influenced by such a motive, can with no degree of justice be imputed to us, for its circulation, whatever it may be, will have only commenced before his poli- tical destiny will have been decided. For the imperfections of this work, our readers will undoubtedly exercise a proper degree of indulgence It is before them, and will have its day it will re- ceive its meed of approbation and censure, and be forgotten ; but the fame of the illustrious man, who is the subject of it his exalted patriotism his Ro- man virtue his unyielding firmness when surrounded by the most disheartening and inveterate difficulties his skill and energy in planning and completing the defence of his country, in the seasons of her great- est peril his daring courage in the day of battle his upright and fearless discharge of the highly re- sponsible duties appertaining to the presidency 0f this mighty communion of states, will live, as noble ex A2 VI PREFACE. amples, inspiring the love of glory and virtue, long after the present generation of men, their hopes and fears, their joys and sorrows, are mingled with the dust of buried ages. For the materials which compose this work, we have availed ourselves of every thing within our reach, whether furnished by friends or enemies. For the defence of several of General Jackson's public acts, we are indebted to an able writer of Virginia. A small portion of the detail is in the language of others who have heretofore written on the same subject, and which has been used without the usual mark of cre- dit; other characteristics, however, will readily dis- tinguish it. An appendix had been contemplated, for an amplification of some of the parts which consti- tute the body of the work: the extension of the volume, however, beyond its original design, has rendered it omission necessary. THE AUTHOR CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. *itroductory remarks Birth of Mr. Jackson His parentage War of the Revolution He engages in the war Is taken prisoner Re- sists the command of a British officer Mrs. Jackson Her virtues Her death Mr. Jackson an orphan Studies law Admitted to the har Removes to the South West Territory Appointed attorney , general Member of the Tennessee convention A representative in congress A senator in congress Judge of the supreme court Burr's conspiracy Charges against him refuted 1 CHAPTER II. Mr. Jackson a major general The war of 1812 Causes which led to it Indian hostilities General Harrison checks them The South- ern tribes Tecumseh appears among them Excites them to hos- tility The Creeks Their hostile preparations Acts of congress for raising volunteers General Jackson addresses the militia of his division His expedition to Natchez Disobeys the order of the se- cretary of war Is justified Creek war Massacre of Fort Mimms General Jackson marches against the Creeks Battle of Tallus- hatches General Jackson's and General Coffee's report of it. CHAPTER III. Tennessee forces Message of General White Fortress of Talladega Its danger General Jackson advances to its protection General White refuses to form a junction with him General Jackson crosses the Coosa Battle of Talladega Official report of it Consequen- ces of General White's conduct General Floyd Battle of Autous- see Official report of it Difficulties of General Jackson's situation Famine and mutiny among his troops His firmness Arrival of supplies Discontent of his troops continues Governor Blount His instructions General Jackson dismisses his corps New troops raised General Claiborne His victory upon the Alabama. . 52 Vlll CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. Newly raised troops They arrive at Fort Strother Join the forces of General Jackson He marches them to Talladega The enemy at Emuckfaw river General Jackson advances upon them Attacks them His official report of the battle Important results of his vic- tory Operations of the Georgia forces General Floyd's victory The Creeks fortify themselves at the Horse-Shoe General Jackson attacks them Defeats them His account of the battle He is cen- sured for his severity to the Creeks Causes which justified his treat- ment of them His vindication 69 CHAPTER V. General Jackson returns to Fort Williams Marches to the Hickory Grounds Prospects of the Creeks They sue for peace General Pinckney arrives at Fort Jackson Interchange of courtesies be- tween him and General Jackson General Pinckney assumes the command Disbands the troops General Jackson returns to Ten- nessee His reception there Is appointed to negotiate with the Creeks Eloquence of the Chiefs He concludes a peace with them Spanish aggressions Correspondence between General Jackson and Governor Manriquez General Jackson at Mobile Attack on Pert Bowyer Major Lawrence's report of it 90 CHAPTER VI. Importance of Fort Bowyer Inadequacy of its defence Arrival of General Coffee and Tennessee forces General Jackson marches to Pensacola The Spanish Governor's preparations for his reception General Jackson sends Major Pierre with a flag He is fired at from the forte General Jackson attacks and subdues the place Colonel Nicoll His proclamation Censure of General Jackson for his operations in the Spanish territory The legality and justice of his measures defended . 110 x CHAPTER VII. The safety of New Orleans menaced General Jackson commences his march for that place Defenceless situation of Louisiana Disaf- fection among the inhabitants General Jackson arrives at New Orleans Despondency of the people His exertions in their behali He addresses them, and makes preparations for defence Defec- tion of the French population Causes that led to the proclamation of martial law General Jackson proclaims it Defence of the mea- CONTENTS. IX sure Arrival of reinforcements Battle of the twenty-Uiird of De- cember Consequences resulting from it 120 CHAPTER VIII. Effects of the battle of the twenty-third Ladies of New Orleans Their patriotic exertions American lines of defence General Jack- son's exertions Loss of the schooner Caroline Battle of the 28th December Battle of the 1st January Repulsion of the enemy on that occasion Sir Edward Pakenham Discoveries made by time 138 CHAPTER IX. Belligerent preparations Arrival of Kentucky reinforcements Ope- rations of General Pakenham Advances upon the American works BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS Result of the battle Retreat of the army Fort St. Philips Major Overton's gallant defence of it Consequences of the victory of New Orleans General Jackson addresses his soldiers 147 CHAPTER X. Retrospection General Jackson appoints a day of thanksgiving Dr Dubourg's address to General Jackson His reply Generals Coffee, Carroll, and Adair Their merits General Jackson still continues to strengthen his measures of defence Treaty of peace between the United States and England General Jackson's farewell address to his army 165 CHAPTER XI. Recapitulation Facts relative to the proclamation of martial law Habeas Corpus Louallier Judge Hall Defence of General Jack- son's suspension of the writ of habeas corpus He is arrested His reasons showing cause why an attachment for contempt should not be heard against him Consequences that would result from a strict adherence to the civil code in seasons of peril 174 CHAPTER XII. General Jackson returns to Nashville Receives the congratulations of his countrymen He is appointed commander-in-chief of the southern military division of the United States Vote of thanks to him, from the Tennessee legislature Repairs to Washington Receives the congratulations of the citizens of Lynchburg at a public dinner- Returns to Nashville Proceeds from thence to New Orleans Grate X CONTENTS. fill reception from the inhabitant* He concludes a treaty with thr Indiana Issues a general order Defence of it 194 CHAPTER XIII. Causes that led to the Seminole war General Jackson invades Florida Is censured for it Defence of the measure His letter to the go- vernor of Georgia Detail of the causes which elicited it Destruc- tion of the Chehaw village, and its consequences. 204 CHAPTER XIV. General Jackson arrives at Fort St. Marks Captures it Censures of him for his operations in Florida Circumstances justifying his acts Arbuthnot and Ambrister Their agency in producing the Semi- nole war Justification of their punishment Detail of the particu- lars of the Seminole war as given by General Jackson. . . . 221 CHAPTER XV. General Jackson returns to Nashville His reception Cession of the Floridas to the United States General Jackson appointed governor of them Delicacy of his situation His proclamation to the people Spanish officers Colonel Callava His measures in relation to them justified 254 CHAPTER XVI. General Jackson resigns the government of the Floridas Is nomina- ted by the Tennessee legislature for the presidency Is elected to the senate of the United States Lafayette visits him at the Hermitage President elected by the house of representatives Mr. Adams chosen General Jackson again nominated Resigns his seat in the senate in consequence His address to the Tennessee legislature on that occasion Visits various towns in Tennessee His replies to addresses made to him by his fellow-citizens Receives an invitation to attend the celebration of the 8th January at New Orleans Des- cription of that celebration icirel -rv.^r^ 379 CHAPTER XVII. Violence of party spirit General Jackson elected president of the United States Death of Mrs. Jackson General Jackson declines the acceptance of invitations to public entertainments, on his way to Washington He repairs to the seat of government His reception Inauguration Inaugural address -His cabinet Removals from office Defence of the measure His first message to congress. 310 ANDREW JACKSON. 3 the rights of man on one part, and a determined and per- severing resistance of the oppressed on the other, and which terminated so gloriously, as is exhibited in the re vnlutionary struggle of our fathers. No portion of the colonies suffered more from British invasion, than the southern states. A considerable portion of them was for a time completely overrun, and subjected to the cruelties and indignities of a merciless soldiery. The eldest bro- ther of Andrew joined the army, and was killed at the battle of Stono. Andrew Jackson, with his only surviving brother, joined the American forces soon after, in defence of their country and their homes, the former being only fourteen years of age. The southern colonies were, at this period, extremely defenceless. Lord Cornwallis, the commander of the British forces, found but little resistance in the com- mission of his depredations, from those whose lives and liberties he was trampling in the dust ; consequently, he left the country, and proceeded to the north, in pur- suit of a more extensive field for the exercise of his ex- terminating propensities, taking the precaution, however, cf leaving behind him a band of his myrmidons, suf- ficiently numerous to awe the vanquished into subjection. On the departure of Cornwallis, the inhabitants of Wax- aw, who had been dispersed by his troops, ventured again to return and repair the ruins of the place, and take measures for their defence. Camden was at this period in the possession of Lord Rawdon, whose vigi- lance, worthy of a better cause, was awakened by news that the inhabitants of Waxaw, whom he supposed to have been effectually exterminated, were again preparing for defensive operations. It is well known, that in this con lest the Americans were considered as rebels, who had raised the standard of revolt, and set at defiance the su- 4 BIOGRAPHY OF premacy of their legitimate sovereign. That interchange of courtesies, usually practised by belligerent nations, was entirely dispensed with; consequently, the contest was maintained, on the part of Great Britain, with a spirit oi barbarity and cold-blooded extermination. Actuated by these principles, Lord Rawdon availed himself of the as- sistance of the American Tories, whom he dispatched with a detachment of British dragoons, under the command of Major Coffin, to the destruction of Waxaw. The inha- oitants were determined to defend themselves, though the prospect of ultimate success was nearly hopeless. They assembled, and were entrenching themselves in their church, when they were suddenly surprised by the British troops. Eleven of their number were taken prisoners and the residue escaped. Among the latter were Andrew Jackson, and his brother. They were captured, however, on the ensuing day, and an incident then occurred, which developed the germings of a spirit, which has since prompted its possessor to the accomplishment of deeds of noble daring. Every species of indignity was practised upon the American prisoners, and, with other ill-treat- ment, young Jackson was ordered to clean the boots of a British officer. He indignantly refused to obey the de- basing command, and demanded the treatment due to a prisoner of war. The officer, enraged at the boldness of the refusal, made a violent pass with his sword at the head of the youth, which he parried with his hand, and received it severe wound in consequence. This may, to many, seem a trifling incident ; but when we reflect that he was only fourteen years of age, and the prisoner of men who butchered their opponents with a recklessness unknown in the annals of modern warfare, his manly firmness and ex- alted sense of honor cannot, it is believed, fail to elicit the meed of admiration. ANDREW JACKSON. 6 The fate of his brother was mpre tragical. He was severely wounded upon the head, after being taken pri- soner ; and in this condition he was, with his brother Andrew, thrown into prison, and confined by the order of his captors in a separate cell. Here he remained neglected, his wounds undressed, shut out from the as- sistance and sympathy of a single individual who could have extended to him the hand of relief, till an exchange of prisoners took place, when he was returned to die under his mother's roof. The neglect of his wound while in prison, produced an inflammation of the brain, which terminated in death. We cannot here forbear pay- ing a small tribute to the memory of the excellent mother of Mr. Jackson. She had remained in Europe, till Bri- tish oppression threatened to overwhelm her family. She then, with her husband and children, sought an asylum on the American shores ; but even here the same oppress- ors followed her. A lone widow, in a land of strangers, she succeeded in rearing her children to the dawn of man- hood, only to see them fall by the hands of a merciless enemy. The last efforts of her life were spent in mitigating the sufferings, and extending relief to the prisoners who were captured in her neighborhood : but when she saw ner children fall those whom in the ardor of maternal affection she had so fondly nurtured the ties which bound her to earth were broken, and the grave closed upon her as it had done upon her murdered offspring. Mr. Jackson, at the age of fifteen, found himself alone in the world, a sad spectator of the desolations that had visited his family. Divorced from every living being with whom he could sympathize as a kinsman, he might speak in the emphatic language of the chieftain, the last of whose re- latives had been slain in battle, " that not a drop of hia blood ran in the veins of any living creature " The sud 1* fi BIOGRAPHY 07 den extinction of his family bore heavily upon him ; his sufferings and imprisonment had impaired his consti- tution ; and, to complete the measure of his misfortunes, he was violently seized with the small-pox, which near- ly terminated his life. .The vigor of his constitution, how ever, triumphed over the virulence of his disease, and re- stored him again to health. He succeeded to the patrimo- ny of his father, which, though small, would, with prudent management, have enabled him to complete his studies, and to enter upon the duties of mature life with many pecuniary advantages. But those endowments which serve to elevate men to distinction, are seldom found connected with talents of economy in money mat ters. At least, it was thus with Mr. Jackson. Ge nerous to u fault, he soon reduced his estate to a di minutiveness, which threw him at once upon the re- sources of his own mind, and compelled him to become the architect of his own fortunes. He resumed his li- terary pursuits at the age of sixteen, under the tutelage of Mr. M'Culloch, and endeavored, by severe applica- tion to his studies, to restore what he had lost by va rious interruptions. With him he completed the study of the languages, preliminary to his entrance at the university ; but the diminution of his pecuniary resources induced him to relinquish his original design of ac- quiring a classical education. At the age of seventeen he commenced the study of law at Salisbury, North Carolina, in the office of Spruce M'Kay, Esq. ; and completed it under the supervision of John Stokes, Esq., both lawyers of distinction, and was admitted a practi- tioner at the bar of that state in 1786. He practised in the courts of the state two years; but not finding pro- fessional prospects sufficiently nattering to induce him to remain, he resolved to push his fortunes in the west. . ANDREW JACKSON. 7 The present state of Tennessee was, at this period, territorial government of the United States, called the South West Territory, having been recently organized by Congress. The climate was salubrious, the soil was fertile, and it was rapidly advancing, from a wild region, to a state of civilization. Here we find Mr. Jackson in 1788. The honorable Judge M'Nairy was appointed judge of this territory in the fall of this year, and was accompanied by Mr. Jackson to Nashville, at which place they arrived in October, when the first court was holden. He here found himself among a people widely different in manners, customs, and habits, from those he had recently left. In the older states, when one generation of inhabitants has followed another in regular succession, there are always some distinguishing cha- racteristics in the whole population. But in the new states, an established character in the people would hardly be dis- coverable, if we except energy and personal independence. In those parts of the republic which have been settled for two centuries, a family, a monied, or a landed aristocracy, can always be discovered. The many become subser- vient to the few, and subjugate their minds to those who, by wealth or power, have obtained an ascendancy over them. In such a state of society, an insulated being like Andrew Jackson, without the influence of friends to aid him, or funds to procure them, could hardly hope, with the most exalted intellect, to arrive at a station either of emolument or profit. Circumstances are widely different in the new states. Drawn together from different sec- tions of an extensive country, by motives of interest, of power, or of fame, each individual may almost be said to make a province by himself. In such a situation, the most energetic character becomes the object of the greatest popular favor. Mr. Jackson was well calculated 8 BIOGRAPHY OF to move in this sphere of action. Without any extrinsic advantages to promote his advancement, he had solely to rely upon intrinsic worth, and decision of character, to enable him to rise rapidly. He commenced the practice of law in Nashville, at the age of twenty-one, and soon distinguished himself among his competitors. His stern .integrity, and unremitting attention to business, recom- mended him to the notice of government, and procured for him the appointment of Attorney General of the terri tory. This office he sustained for a considerable length of time, with much reputation to himself. The South West Territory, in 1796, was admitted a sovereign and independent state into the Union, and took the name of Tennessee. The people were then called upon to exercise a highly responsible act of self-government that of forming a constitution, as the supreme law of the state. Mr. Jackson was chosen a member of the con- vention, called to discharge this important duty. Although he had become known to the most distinguished citizens of the country, his exertions in this convention brought him into more universal notice, by the distinguished part he took upon this important subject. The course of his stu- dies had previously led him to the investigation of the science of government, from the earliest ages down to the period in which he lived. With the rise, progress, and termination of the ancient republics, he had made himself familiarly acquainted ; he had witnessed the ope- ration of the American constitution, and those of the different states, from their first establishment to the period in which he acted. With a mind thus prepared to meet the important discussion, he took lead in the debates upon the different articles of the proposed constitution. To tho?e who are acquainted with the constitution of the state of Tennessee, the precision with which the legislative, the ANDREW JACKrfON. C judiciary, and executive powers are designated ; the care manifested in securing to the people their civil rights the freedom allowed in the exercise of the rights of con- science, must be obvious, and much credit is due to Mr. Jackson, for his efforts in producing so desirable a result. As a proof of their approbation of his services, the people of Tennessee elected him their first representative in Congress. His popularity continued to increase, and in 1797 he was elected to the Senate of the United States. His congressional life was distinguished for a firm ad- herence to republican principles ; and in the senate, he troted for the repeal of the alien and sedition laws. His affairs in Tennessee requiring his attention, induced him '.o resign his seat in the senate before the session closed. He accordingly returned ; and soon after, contrary to his inclinations, he was appointed judge of the Supreme Court. After discharging its duties for a while, he re- signed the station, and retired to private life. It was during the recess between this period, and the commencement of Mr. Jackson's brilliant military career, that the Union was agitated by the development of the famous Burr conspiracy. Mr. Jackson has by no means escaped the missiles of malice and detraction, which are usually aimed at men of distinguished attainments. It was not until a recent period, that Mr. Jackson was accused ol being a participator in this conspiracy. This charge was most triumphantly refuted as soon as preferred ; and though it is not our intention to notice the many un- founded charges that have been exhibited against him, yet we should deem it the greatest injustice to our readers, as well as to our illustrious subject, should we fail here to record the ample proofs which so effectually wipe out the stain, which is intended to blot the fair escutcheon of a much injured patriot. Mr. Jackson was charged with the 10 BIOGRAPHY OF crime of treason of being connected with Aaron Burr in a conspiracy to sever the union of these states. Before we proceed with the evidence in refutation of this unprincipled calumny, we will premise that General Jackson, while in the Senate of the United States, became well acquainted with Col. Burr ; that then and long after, Col. Burr stood high in the favor and estimation of the republican party in the United States ; that he had ac- quired the good feelings of the West, by his great attention to its interests, and particularly of Tennessee, by his ac- tivity in procuring her admission into the Union ; and that up to the month of November, 1806, nothing like suspicion of treason, or of any project unfriendly to the peace or integrity of the United States, had any existence in this country ; though Mr. Jefferson, in his message of January 22nd, 1807, declared, " that he had received intimation that designs were in agitation in the Western country, unlawful and unfriendly to the peace of the Union, and that the prime mover in these, was Aaron Burr, hereto- fore distinguished by the favor of his country." The grounds of these intimations being inconclusive, the ob- jects uncertain, and the fidelity of the country known to be firm, the only measure taken was to urge the informants to use their best endeavours, to get further insight into the designs and proceedings of the suspected persons, and to communicate them to the President. A full development, however, of Burr's designs, soon became manifest. " It appeared that he contemplated two distinct objects, which might be carried on jointly or sepa- rately, and either one or the other, as circumstances should direct. One of these was the severance of the Union of these States by the Allegany Mountains ; the other an at- ack on Mexico. A third object was provided, merely ostensible, to wit, the settlement of a pretended purchase of a tract of country on the Washita, claimed by Baron ANDREW JACKSON. 11 Bastroph. This was to serve as the pretext for all his pre parations, an allurement for such followers as really wish- ed to acquire settlements in that country, and a cover un- der which to retreat in the event of a final discomfiture of both branches of his design." " He found at once, that the attachment of the Western Country to the union was not to be shaken ; that its disso- lution could not be effected with the consent of its inhabi- tants, and that his resources were inadequate, as yet, to effect ii by force. He took his course then at once, deter- mined to seize on New Orleans, plunder the bank there, possess himself of the military and naval stores, and pro- ceed on his expedition to Mexico, and to this object all his means and preparations were now directed. He collected from all the quarters where himself or agents possessed influence, all the ardent, restless, desperate, and disaffected persons, who were ready for any enterprise analogous to their characters. He seduced good and well-meaning citi- zens, some by assurances that he possessed the confidence of the government, and was acting under its secret patron- age; a pretence which procured some credit, from the state of our differences at that time with Spain, and others by of- fers of land in Bastroph's claim on the Washita." This was the state of the information, received- by President Jefferson, towards the close of November, 1806; and on the 27th of that month, in consequence of the re- ceipt of intelligence of the conspiracy by Gen. Wilkin- son's letter, he issued his proclamation. The President not being apprized at that time, that any boats were build- ing on the Cumberland river, the effect of this proclama- tion was for some time trusted to in the state of Tennessee ; but on the 19th of December, similar communications, and instructions, with those to the neighboring states were dispatched by express, to the governor and general officer of the Western Division of the state ; and on ths & BIOGRAPHY OF 23d of December, the confidential agent of the govem* ment left Frankfort for Nashville, to put into activity the means of that state also. Although some might suspect Colonel Burr to he en- gaged in schemes of pecuniary or personal aggrandize- ment, and might disapprove of them, and he might then have become a subject of suspicion, to some extent, yet no one suspected them to be in any degree hostile to the government of the United States ; and most persons in the West believed that his designs were countenanced, and in their execution would be supported by the government. This idea was supported by the existing state of our rela- tions with Spain, and the belief that a war with that power was impending a war which, at that time, would have been popular in the Western States. The charge against General Jackson, was made by Judge Williams of Tennessee ; who stated that sometime before Mr. Jefferson's proclamation, he was told by Ge neral Jackson, that if Williams would accept it, he might obtain the commission of captain in Burr's army ; and that at another time, he declared to him that he would find that a division of the United States had taken deep root ; and that he would find a number of the members of the House of Representatives deeply involved in the scheme. The lamentable inaccuracy of the statements of Mr. Williams, will, it is believed, appear abundantly manifest from the following well authenticated facts, in relation to the circumstances of General Jackson's situation, at the period of that conspiracy. We will introduce to our readers, General Jackson's letter to George W. Campbell, then a representative in Congress from Tennessee, dated January 15th, 1807, not because it is first in date of several proofs that will be presented, but because it contains a connected and con- tinuous relation of General Jackson's knowledge, and ANDREW JACKSON. 13 conduct, with regard to Colonel Burr ; a plain and manly narration, containing in itself a vindication, which must prove satisfactory and conclusive to every honest and well constituted mind ; from which, sophistry and incre- dulity will alike shrink back, foiled and overcome ; and which, when supported in all material points, by other direct evidence which will be given, must carry convic- tion to every honest and unprejudiced heart. The following is a copy of a letter from Andrew Tackson, to G. W. Campbell, January 15th, 1807. " Sir, The late denunciation of Aaron Burr as a trai- tor, has excited great surprise, and general indignation. Still, from the opinion possessed of the accuser, many there are who wait for the proof, before they will pro- nounce him guilty of the charge. One thing is general- ly believed, that if Burr is guilty, Wilkinson has parti- cipated in the treason. The public mind has been agi- tated from various reports of Burr having been met, at the mouth of Cumberland river, with 100 boats, and 1000 armed men ; and it was stated as a fact, that the Captain at Massac, and all the men, were going with him. Subse- quent reports stated they had gone. An express which I started on the receipt of the Secretary of War's letter, of the ult. has returned, and states that Burr left Massac, on the 3d ult., in company with ten boats, six men on board ther than were represented by himself. " The particulars here detailed, are founded on papers now in my possession, written at the time, and in my awn handwriting. Injthe month of December, 1806, Colonel Burr returned to Tennessee, where he was met coolly by those who before had acted very differently to- wards him. He perceived it, and remarked it to me; my reply in substance to him was, that suspicions rested against him, and until they were removed nothing differ- ent was to be expected. " At the Clover Bottom, nine miles from Nashville, where I then did business, and which was the nearest point on the river to where his boats were, there was a tavern ; and to this place Colonel Burr came and re- mained about a week, until he had gotten every thing in readiness for his departure down the river. On his first irrival in Tennessee, on his last visit in December, Ge- neral Jackson was absent from home; having returned within a few days afterwards, the general came in com- pany with General Overton, to the Clover Bottom, where Colonel Burr resided. An interview took place between ihem and Colonel Burr, at which they informed him of the suspicions and distrust that were entertained against him. Burr repelled them, and expressed deep regret that there should be any such ; and remarked, that he could and would be able to satisfy every dispassionate mind, that his views and objects were friendly to the government, and such as he had represented them to be. In a few days after, he left the country. 20 BIOGRAPHY OF " A son of Colonel Hays, about seventeen years of age. as has been represented, nephew to Mrs. Jackson, wenl along. His father had become reduced in his circum- stances ; had been personally known to Colonel Burr, during the revolution ; and his son a young man of pro mise. It had been proposed to the old gentleman, that he should take him, and aid him in his education, which was consented to by his father. General Jackson gave him letters to Governor Claiborne, and instructed yoimg Mr. Hays, as I understood at the time, that should he discover Colonel Burr's views to be at all inimical to the United States, or adverse to the designs of government, to leave him, and place himself under the protection and care of Governor Claiborne. " Between General Jackson and myself, there has always existed confidence and friendship ; and there was nothing ever perceived in him by me, that could induce the be- lief, that there was any man in the country who would go further, and make greater sacrifices, to defend and main- tain the integrity of the Union. On all occasions, his conduct and declarations have stamped upon my mind this conviction. JOHN COFFEE." The following is the testimony of Colonel Edward Ward : " Nashville, September 2, 1828. " At the request of the chairman of the Nashville Com mittee, I make the following statement. That General Thomas Overton, deceased, informed me within a few days after the occurrence, that so soon as the rumor reached this country, that Colonel Aaron Burr had trea- sonable designs against our government, he (General Overton) and General A. Jackson waited on Colonel Burr, who was then, I think, at Clover Bottom, and in- formed him of the rumor, and required of him to state to them what were his views or designs. This answer was ANDREW JACKSON. 21 made, as he said, on the honor of a gentleman : ' That he had no views inimical to the government, none but what were known to the government and viewed with complai- sance.' And as well as my memory serves me, showed them a commission in blank, with Mr. Jefferson's signa- ture to it. EDWARD WARD." This testimony requires no commentary : it is full and decisive. " To show what views were expressed by Colonel Burr to General Jackson, and others, so early as the spring of 1806, and to explain beyond the reach of dispute, the time, nature, and import of any possible conversation which General Jackson may have held with Judge Wil- liams, in relation to a commission, connected with any de- signs, or views of Colonel Burr, we will give extracts from a letter, written by the latter to General Jackson, dated 34th March, 1806, Washington city. " After speaking of some general political subjects, and of the strong probability of a rupture with Spain, * If these apprehensions (says he) should be justified by events, a military force on our post would be requisite, and that force might come from your side of the moun- tains. It is presumed that West-Tennessee could not spare more than two regiments. I take the liberty of recommending to 3 r ou, to make out a list of officers, from colonel down to ensign, for one or two regiments. If you will transmit to me this list, I will, in case troops should be called for, recommend it to the Department of War, and I have reason to believe, that on such an occasion, my advice would be listened to.' General Coffee says, that in consequence of letters from Colonel Burr, to Ge- neral Robertson and others, of similar import, a meet- ing was held in Nashville by General Robertson, General lackson, and others of the most resoectable men, and a as*, mace out of susn enterprising- young men. as it was 22 BIOGRAPHY OF believed, would serve the country^ well, in the impending contest with Spain. " This brings us naturally to the consideration of Judg< William's statements and here we cannot forbear to re mark, on the danger and folly of attempting to bereave a man of his fame, and charge upon him one of the foulest crimes known to the law, upon loose, vague recollections of a casual conversation, said to have taken place up- wards of twenty years ago, without any statement of the conversation in context with it ; without any date, except with reference to a range of nine months of time ; with- out any relation of the circumstances, which led to an insulated remark, so strange and incredible, if taken in the sense attempted to be attached to it by Judge Williams ; statements made by a man, who, by his own admissions, his own showing, and yet more by what we shall show, is subject to the most inaccurate recollection ; when the change, or omission, or addition of a single word, or the nature of the preceding or succeeding remarks, would entirely change the whole meaning and sense of what is stated to have been said." The investigating committee, in order that ample jus- tice might be done to Judge Williams' mind, consistency, and conduct, republished all that was written or published in relation to this conversation and to General Jackson ; and also what had been published to be the substance of the letter written by him to his friend in Virginia. Upon this they remarked, " that taking the whole of these documents, we have some data from which to esti mate correctly, how far the clearness of Judge Williams' mind, and the impartiality of his feelings, qualify him for deposing accurately and fairly. We will look at them, first, with a view to the question, how much reli- ance is to be reposed in the accuracy and fairness of his statements and memory ; and then, in prosecution of the ANDREW JACKSON. 23 same inquiry, produce some additional evidence. Se- condly ; we shall show the extreme improbability, from Williams' own statement, that General Jackson ever could have made any propositions to him, in reference to any illegal or treasonable project ; and lastly, the fallacy of the inferences which his pretended friends attempt to deduce from what he has said ; and shew what Judge Williams has really stated as General Jackson's conver- sation with him, and what the conversation (if indeed there ever was one of any such nature) related to. In his letter to Mr. Kerr, Judge Williams says, the conversation occurred upon his examination by General Jackson, then a Judge, as to his fitness to receive a license to practise law ; but when he discovered by the records of the State that it would be proved, General Jackson was not, and had not, been a Judge for several years before this time, the conversation is divested of this circumstance in his subsequent statements. In the letter to Mr. Kerr, Judge Stewart is said to have heard this conversation as to the offer of a commission ; but, when Judge Stewart, not only does not recollect any such conversation, but is sure none such was held in his presence, the scene of the conversation is then recollected by Judge Williams to have been a solitary ride from General Jackson's to Nash- ville. In his letter to General Jackson, Williams says, " General Jackson in reference to that conspiracy, or what was afterwards called by others a conspiracy, said to me that I could, if I would accept it, obtain a commission of captain." In his last statement, however, made and published in the Knoxville Enquirer of August 6th, 1828, he says, " in riding from General Jackson's house to Nashville, near the Clover-Bottom, he spoke to me in relation to a commission in Burr's army," leaving out the material idea of a reference to what was afterwards, as he says, called a conspiracy ; showing thereby that 24 BIOGRAPHY OF in these statements, Judge Williams does not pretend to detail with accuracy, the words or terms used in the con- versation, but only the generaljmpressions, and that those impressions are indefinite and very vague, and are the mere floating and broken reminiscences of a feeble and shattered memory. Judge Williams says, that from th best of his recollection, Mr. Smith, Mr. Curry and Dr. Watkins, among others, were present when Burr's effigy was burnt. Mr. Smith says he was not present either at the ball, or at the burning of the effigy. Mr. Curry says that he was not present at the ceremony of burning Colo- nel Burr's effigy, and considered it a disgraceful act ; and he also says in confirmation of Judge Williams' feeble- ness of memory, and the probable recentness of his pro sent, impressions that ' Mr. Williams called on me fre- quently after Burr became an object of suspicion, and con- versed freely on the subject, and, as I then thought, with- held nothing ; yet he never told me that General Jackson wanted to enlist him to fight the Spaniards, nor ever men- tioned his name as connected with, or knowing to any ol Burr's schemes.' These and other discrepancies and con- tradictions, are mentioned, not to shew any wilful or cor- rupt mis-statement on the part of Judge Williams, but to shew how little credence or trust can be placed on the re- collections of a memory, mistaken in so many circum- stances, and persons, and things, when it comes to detail a conversation, in which a single word would wholly trans- form its meaning and construction. But to dispose ol Judge Williams, and to shew what degree of confidence was due to what he related, either as to facts or the conver- sations of others whether this want of confidence arose from great unsoundness of memory or other cause and also to shew how far Judge Williams' feelings as to Gene- ra 1 Jaekson entitled him to the character of a cool and im- part 1 .?., wnnesa , ana a.so in former emendation o f Jud^f ANDREW JACKSON. 25 Williams' candour and consistency, the investigating com- mittee called the attention of every American citizen to the following extract of a publication of Judge Williams, dated M'Minnville, June 28th, 1828. " State also if you please, Mr. Editor, that in the towri of M'Minnville, there lives a man by the name of Theo- doric Burton a man of truth and respectability, as I have heard here. He states that in 1805, he was one ol Burr's men, and was mustered into service at the Clo- ver Bottom, with arms in their hands that above seventy- five men signed the list of enrolment at the same time with himself that at that time General Jackson and Colo- nel Burr were on the ground, and that Patton Anderson was his captain. Burton says, when the men under An- derson separated, it was under an agreement, as to the time when they were to march off with Burr, as his men and that before that time came round the matter bursted. This is a condensed view of what Burton says ; who re- fuses to give a written statement. NATH. W. WILLIAMS." The attention of the American people was then call- ed to compare this statement of Judge Williams with that of Mr. Burton, the gentleman referred to in the above extract ; and we now make the same request of our readers. " M'Minnville, Warren County, Tennessee, September 6th, 1828. To the Editors of the Republican. Gen- tlemen : In as much as Nathaniel W. Williams, in i. late newspaper publication, has taken the liberty to advert to my name, and to give me as authority for facts in rela- tion to General Jackson and Colonel Burr, which I never stated to him or any one else, and which in truth I never heard of before ; it is due to my character, humble as it may be. and to General Jackson, the destruction of whose onvare ana nones: reoutation he seeks, to declare to the 26 BIOGRAPHY OF world that I was never mustered into Colonel Burr's ser- vice at the Clover Bottom, or any where else, nor did 1 ever so state to Judge Williams. " When Colonel Burr, was in this country, many years ago, (the particular year or season of the year, is not now within my recollection, I resided with Major Oilman Dick- son,) Patton Anderson passed through the neighborhood, and was engaged in recruiting a company, as he said, for the purpose of making a settlement in the Washita coun- try. Being a young man, I was prevailed upon by Major Dickson and Patton Anderson, to join the company, and did actually enroll niyself under Anderson. I knew not how many men were engaged besides myself, nor do I remember any one of my acquaintances or neighbors who did join the company. Here, however, the matter ended. I was never mustered into service at the Clover Bottom, nor did I ever receive any arms, as I am made to say most untruly by Judge Williams, to whom I de- Ciare I never made so unfounded an assertion ; nor did I ever see any military parade of any company of persons, whatever, at the Clover Bottom, or any where else, at the time referred to, and as stated by the Judge. " So far from wishing, or intending, from any thing and every thing I know on the subject of Colonel Burr and his alleged conspiracy, or in any conversation with Judge Williams, to condemn General Jackson, or to connect his name with any scheme, unfriendly to the government, I wish to be understood as declaring to the world that I be- lieve him to be an injured patriot, in many things in nothing more cruelly, than in the attempt to make him a conspirator. It is right and proper to add, that when Judge Williams heard of my complaints, occasioned by his unauthorized use of my name ; he wished to avoid the censure that awaited him, by begging me'not to give this statement, but to leave to him to exonerate himself, by cor ANDREW JACKSON. 2? reeling his publications. I leave the world to form their opinions of such conduct. THEODORIC BURTON." After this comparison, and after the concluding re- marks and facts exhibited in Mr. Burton's letter, we might securely consign Judge Williams, his mind, his memory, his accuracy, and his credit, to be estimated as our rea- ders may think meet and proper. But we now submit to the good sense of all reflecting men, the extreme improbability, that under the circum- stances related by Judge Williams, any treasonable or il- legal proposition could have been made to him by Gene ral Jackson ; a proposition, pregnant with the most fearful and dangerous consequences to the projector ; made with- out any previous ascertainment of the man's views or feelings to whom it was addressed ; without any promise or even request of secrecy or concealment; without ex- planation or development of the means to be employed, or the objects to be attained ; made in a casual and care- less conversation, made to a young man of much less than mediocrity of intellect, and who had nothing to bring in aid of such a high and dangerous enterprise, but want of talent and want of prudence contains a series of impro- babilities, which amount to absolute certainty, and which the most credulous and prejudiced, we believe, must reject. But when we come to examine what Judge Williams relates of this conversation, we find that if any such ever did occur, it must naturally and necessarily be refer- red to the legal, fair views and publicly avowed of Colonel Burr ; in the two regiments spoken of in his letters to General Jackson, General Robertson, and others, to be or- ganized and commissioned by the government : to the force and arms to be employed by the United States, in the an- ticipated war with Spain ; to the list of young men spoken of in Colonel Burr's letters, and which was to be laid be- fore the Secretary of War : in short, to, the armed force, SS BIOGRAPHY OF at the head of which, Colonel Burr held out the belief, he was to be placed by government, in the event of a war with Spain. Judge Williams does not pretend that Ge- neral Jackson disclosed to him any treasonable or illegal projects ; does not pretend that the offer spoken of, was preceded by any conversation or communications by Ge- neral Jackson, of any traitorous or illegal conspiracy against the peace or integrity of the United States. If such communications had been made to Judge Williams, and he had failed to reveal them instantly to the proper authorities, he would stand an infamous and avowed trai- tor in heart, and unworthy the confidence of any honest, man or true citizen. But he does not say any such plans or plots were communicated to him; in justice to Judge Williams, and in comformity with truth, we must say, none such ever were. In his letter to General Jackson of September 27th, 1828, Williams says, sometime before Jefferson's procla- mation, in riding from General Jackson's house to Nash- ville, General Jackson, in reference to that conspiracy, or what was afterwards called by others a conspiracy, said to me " that I could, if I would accept it, obtain a commission of captain." This is the only one of Judge Williams' several statements, in which he uses any term even implying wrong or illegality ; the word conspiracy, and the only words attributed to General Jackson are, " General Jackson said to me, I could, if I would accept it, obtain a commission of captain." He says that this was said by General Jackson in reference to that con- spiracy. What conspiracy ? Did it refer to any previous conversation developing a conspiracy ? Judge Williams does not say so. No state of facts then existed even in his mind, to which the term conspiracy was by him then attached ; but it was what was afterwards by others called so This is not left to reasoning, nowever lon^lusiveand ANDREW JACKSON. 29 satisfactory that may be, for in his subsequent and mature statement, published, as he avows, from a sense of duty, he says, " in riding from General Jackson's house to Nashville, near the Clover Bottom, he spoke to me in re- lation to a commission in Burr's army," and this was some time in the spring or fall of 1806. Here the offer and conversation is in reference io " Burr's army," what army, and for what objects ? Beyond all question, the army spoken of by Burr, in his letter to General Jackson of March, 1806 ; the officers to be commissioned by the Secretary of War, and to be employed against Spain. We now dismiss Judge Williams. We shall now briefly recapitulate the most material facts and circumstances, proved by the foregoing testimo- ny. 1st. That General Jackson only received and treated Colonel Burr, as a generous and hospitable gentleman would receive and treat a guest and acquaintance, who then, and long had, held a distinguished rank as a states- man and man of talents, in the estimation of the great re- publican party in the United States ; who had recently held the second office in the government, and with whom the honorable and the good might associate without re- proach, and as a man, in Mr. Jefferson's language, " here- tofore distinguished by the favor of his country." 2. That General Jackson communicated to the govern- ment and its officers, fully and explicitly, so soon as he had information of any kind. 3. That Colonel Burr never did communicate to Gene- ral Jackson, any designs treasonable or hostile to the go- vernment of the United States ; but always avowed designs consistent with its interest, and averred by him, to be sup- ported by its countenance and authority. 4. That the first public suspicions as to the legality of Colonel Burr's projects, were allayed, and to a great de- gree destroyed, by the investigations in Kentucky in the 30 BI06RAPHY OF beginning of December, 1806, by the finding of the grand jury ; which was evidently calculated to have this effect, and which effect is proved by Mr. Jefferson's message ot January 22d, 1807, to have been produced, where he tsays, " In Kentucky the premature attempt to bring Burr to justice without sufficient evidence for his convic- tion, has produced a popular impression in his favor, and a general disbelief of his guilt." 5. That after suspicions had been excited against Colo- nel Burr, or after the letters to Governor Claiborne, Ge- neral Smith, and Doctor Dickson, Colonel Burr never was invited to General Jackson's house ; but that, when in the State of Tennessee, in the month of December, 1806, he remained, not at General Jackson's, but at a tavern, at the Clover Bottom, several miles distant, near which his boats were ; and he was received with a marked change of manners and coldness by Jackson and others ; and an interview was sought with Burr by Jackson, and had in the presence of several gentlemen, when Burr most solemnly avowed his innocence, and disavowed all objects hostile to the Union of government ; and that the presi- dent's proclamation was not received at Nashville, until the 27th of December, 1806, five days after Colonel Burr's departure with only two boats. 6. That from the unhappy inaccuracy of Judge Wil- liams' memory and recollections, no reliance can be placed on his statements ; but that if any such reliance could be given, it is shown that the offer and conversation he speaks of, related above, was to the public, well known and legal objects held out and spoken of by Colonel Burr. We do not feel perfectly sure, that in the course we have pursued, in the refutation of these charges, we shall not be considered by some, as manifesting a want of pro- per trust in the enlightened intelligence, and the noble ,md confiding natures of the American people ; and whe- ANDREW JACKSON. 31 ther it might not be thought a more than sufficient answer to the base surmises, the unworthy suspicions, and the feebly labored arguments, which have been circulated with so much industry, to point with emphasis to a long life devoted to the service of his country : his boyhood given to the war of the revolution, and to the achievement of her independence ; his mature manhood to the honest and faithful discharge of all the duties of her highest civil employments ; and his late years, when age might claim an exemption from toil and danger, when his accusers were to be found in the courts and palaces of kings, or reposing in the lap of ease and luxury, he was only to be found in the wilderness and on the field of battle ; only in the pursuit or in the face of the enemies of his country, exposed to every peril, to every privation, to every suffer- ing, before which the coward or the traitor's heart would have quailed or been subdued. This might be relied on as a sufficient reply to the charge, that General Jackson was tainted with treason, that he was leagued and con- nected with traitors and enemies to his country. And how ill-timed and ungraciously, this charge comes at this late day ! There was a time of all others, when if true, or u colored by the semblance of truth, it should have been urged and loudly trumpeted : in the dark and stormy period of 1813 and 1814, when treason was much spoken of and much feared ; when a severance of the Union was not darkly hinted at, but boldly spoken of in the capitol ; not about to be effected by two empty flat boats, and haL a dozen unarmed men, but urged, countenanced, and sup ported, by the most powerful nation on the earth, then our foe, and hanging on all our coasts and frontiers, with her victorious and numerous fleets and armies : then was the time when traitors should have been denounced, when Jackson, if suspected, should have been handled with in- famy, and all por.-er and confidence withheld from him 32 BIOGRAPHY OF then, when he was to take command of one division ol the armies of the United States, to be invested with unli- mited military power, should he have been held up as shrouded in suspicion, and unworthy to be trusted. But did a whisper, a murmur, then, of doubt or distrust break forth ? All looked to him as a father and friend, with whom in that fearful hour, the safety of the nation and its highest powers, could be deposited with the utmost secu- rity. But having proofs, we deemed it best to present them, which not only positively and directly disprove this charge, in all its forms, and expose the propagators of it to shame and confusion, but will shed additional lustre on the endowments both of the head and heart of this dis- tinguished benefactor of his country ; and prove the truth of that elevated and manly sentiment expressed to his friends, in reference to this subject, when loose scraps and notes written in haste many years ago, and long for- gotten, were raked up and published : " I recollect them not, but this I do know, and avow, that never in all my life did I entertain even a thought that I would not cheer- fully submit to the judgment of the American people, and tend or fall by their decision." ANDREW JACKSON. 33 CHAPTER II. Afr. Jackson a Major-General The war of 1812 Causes which led to it Indian hostilities General Harrison checks them The Southern tribes Te- cumseh appears among them excites them to hos- tility The Creeks their hostile preparations Acts of Congress for raising volunteers General Jackson addresses the militia of his division His expedition to Natchez Disobeys the order of the Secretary of War Is justified Creek war Mas- sacre of Fort Mimms General Jackson marches against the Creeks Battle of Tallushatches Gen. Jackson 1 s and General Coffee' s report of it. IN 1812, Mr. Jackson was still Major- General of the militia of the state of Tennessee ; an appointment which he received at the time of the admission of that state into the Union. This period, so dark and ominous for the prosperity of our republic, must be vivid in the recollec- tion of every American reader. Great Britain had been for a series of years in the habit of violating the dearest rights of our citizens, till roused, at length, they caught the spirit which prompted those " Who fought and won at Bennington, And bled at Bunker Hill;" and stood forth in their might to assert and maintain those invaluable privileges, which had been planted and nur- tured by their fathers' blood. A brief sketch of the causes which led to the war in I*' 84 BIOGRAPHY Of which General Jackson took so distinguished a part, may not be inappropriate, in order to give the reader a clear idea of the motives which actuated him in the prosecution of the arduous and responsible duties of his elation. Unavailing had been the attempts of Great Britain to rivet the chains of bondage upon us by her odious system of legislation ; vain had been her efforts to awe us into subjection by her military prowess ; and at last with the greatest reluctance, a reluctance which necessity alone was able to overcome, was she brought to acknowledge our independence. This mortified her extremely, and induced her, to vent her spleen, by tolerating her subjects in the practice of wanton aggressions upon the rights and immunities of the American people, from that period to our last contest with that nation. She saw that the con- federation which held the states together, during a contest with an implacable enemy, would be relaxed and broken in a time of peace. She hoped that civil dissensions would divide and weaken us, and produce a train of cir- cumstances which might serve to bring us again under her subjection. To use the language of one who has written forcibly upon this subject, " It was happy for America that she possessed, at this moment, a galaxy of sages and patriots, who held a powerful influence over the minds of their fellow-citizens. By their exertions, a spirit of compromise and accommodation was introduced, which terminated in our present glorious compact. By this event, Great Britain lost, for a time, the opportunity of tampering with the states, of fomenting jealousies, ana of governing by division. Her policy was changed; it became a favorite idea, that our growth should be re- pressed, and so many impediments thrown in our way, as to convince us that we had gained nothing by becoming free. We soon experienced the effects of her disappointment. Contrary to express stipulation, she refused to surrender ANDREW JACKSON. 35 the western parts, and, at the same time, secretly insti- gated the savages to murder the frontier settlers." Spain was, at this very moment, practising her intrigues, to draw off the western states from the confederacy, of which there is little doubt England would soon have availed her- self. " We also came in contact with Britain on the ocean ; our commerce began to flourish ; and on the breaking out of the French war, she found in us formidable rivals. In order to put a stop to this competition, she called into life the odious and almost obsolete rule of '56, which is a pal- pable violation of the law of nations. The spirit of this rule is to prevent the neutral from enjoying any commerce which would not, at the same time, be open to the belli- gerent ; in other words, to permit no neutral. The orders in council which followed in 1793, were barely tolerable, compared with those of November sixth, which were secretly circulated among the British cruisers, au- thorizing them to capture ' all vessels laden with the produce of any of the colonies of France, or carrying provision or supplies to the said colony,' which swept, at once, the greater part of our commerce from the ocean. This produced great dissatisfaction among the American people. They were clamorous for war, which the firm- ness of Washington alone prevented. The orders in council were modified a little by those issued in 1795 and '98 ; but the same vexations and abuses continued. To these aggressions were added the violations of our com- mercial and maritime rights, by the impressment of our seamen, and hostile attacks upon our ships. The con- sequences that followed, are familiar to every American reader. " While the public mind was in a state of ferment, from our disputes with England and France, our frontiers were threatened with an Indian war from the instigations 36 BIOGRAPHY OF of the former. The United States have frequently been charged with cruel violence and injustice to the Indians. That \ve had encroached upon their hunting grounds, cannot be denied, *but this was the necessary consequence of the increase in our population ; but the great differ- ence between us and other nations, in relation to Indian lands, is, that instead of taking them without ever acknowledging the right of the Indians, we have en- deavored to obtain them by fair purchase. The United States were the first to respect the Indian territorial right, as they were the first to abolish the slave trade and domes- tic slavery ; for, as a nation, we have forbidden it. " There existed, at this period, a celebrated Indian warrior, who had been always remarkable for his enmity to the whites, and who, like Pontiac, had formed the design of uniting all the different tribes, in order to oppose an effectual barrier to the further extension of the settle- ments. Tecumseh was a formidable enemy ; he resorted to every artifice to stir up the minds of the Indians against us. Of an active and restless character, he visited the most distant nations, and endeavored to rouse them by his powerful eloquence. He also assailed the superstitious minds of his countrymen, by means of his brother, a kind of conjuror, called *the prophet.' He had received assurances from the British of such assist- ance as would enable him to carry his plans into execution. In the year 1811, a council was held by Governor Har- rison, of Indiana, at Vincennes, and at which Tecun.^oh attended, to remonstrate against a purchase lately mauo from the Kickapoos and some other tribes. In a strain of wonderful eloquence, the orator inveighed against the encroachments of the Americans, gave a faithful history of the progress of the settlements, from the first com- mencement on the Delaware, to the moment at which he spoke. When answered by Harrison, he grasped his ANDREW JACKSON. 37 .(.nahawk, in a fit of phrenzy, and boldly charged the American governor with having uttered what was false; the warriors who attended him, twenty or thirty in num- ber, followed his example ; but Harrison had fortunately posted a guard of soldiers near, who put a stop to their fury. " Towards the close of the year, the frontier settlers had become seriously alarmed ; every thing on the part of the Indians appeared to indicate approaching hostilities. Gov. Harrison resolved to march towards the prophet's town, with a body of Kentucky and Indiana militia, and the fourth United States regiment, under command of Colonel Boyd, to demand satisfaction of the Indians, and to put a stop to their hostile designs. In the month of November, having approached within a few miles of the prophet's town, the principal chiefs came out with offers of peace and submission, and requested the governor to encamp for the night, as it was then too late to enter upon business It was not long before this was discovered to be a treacher- ous artifice. At four o'clock in the morning, the camp was furiously assailed, and after a bloody and doubtful contest, the Indians were finally repulsed, with the loss of one hundred and eighty killed and wounded on our part, and a still greater number on theirs. A number of valuable officers fell on this occasion. Harrison, after this, destroyed the prophet's town, and having established forts, returned to Vincennes." Tecumseh fled to the southern tribes, upon the Alabama, early in 1812, to inspire the savages there to act in con- cert with their red brethren of the north. But, nothing had so powerful effect in exciting the hostilities of the Creek, Alabama, and Seminole Indians, against the bor- derers of the South- West Territory, as the promises, bribery, and corrupting influence of British and Spanish emissaries. With their hereditary hatred against '.he 38 BIOGRAPHY OF Americans, added to the enthusiasm excited by Tecumseh, and the liberal aid of the British and Spanish govern- ments, these powerful tribes, at the commencement of the last war, were prepared to extend over our western frontiers all the devastation and horrors of savage hos- tility. The states of Tennessee and Georgia, from their vicinity to the extensive country inhabited by the Creeks, were more immediately exposed to Indian ravages. Familiar ized to their unrelenting barbarity, the citizens of these states were fully aware, that nothing but a war of exter- mination against the Creeks, would protect their own settlements on the frontiers from destruction, and their families from inhuman butchery. Tecumseh had, by his arU his eloquence, and his assumed divinity, infused into the Creek nation the most deadly hatred against the Ame- ricans. He addressed himself to their pride, by reminding them of the ancient power of the savages, and the bouna- ess extent of their territory. He aroused their vengeance against us, as the people who had reduced their numbers, and diminished their greatness. He censured them for their conformity in any respect to the Americans, and oxhorted them upon the fearful penalty of the displeasure of the Great Spirit, to return to their original savage habits. The instigations of a master spirit, such as was Tecumseh, produced a powerful effect upon the tribes of ihe south. A complete concert was established between nil the southern tribes, and a general concert between them and the northern ones. War clubs were every where dis- tributed ; but the most profound secrecy enjoined. Such was the situation of jour national relations, when the acts of Congress of the 6th February, and July, 1812, authorizing the President to accept the services of fifty thousand volunteers, were promulgated. On receipt of intelligence relating to the passage of these acts, General ANDREW JACKSON. 39 Jackson published an energetic address to the militia of his division, which drew two thousand five hundred of them to his standard, and without delay he made a tender of their services to the government, which tender was accepted. The detachment having been embodied and organized, was ordered to proceed by water to New- Orleans. Subsequently to his departure, General Jackson was ordered to halt near Natchez, and in compliance with it, he took a position in the neighborhood of that city. Here, while attending to the health and discipline of the corps, he received a laconic mandate from the War Department, commanding him to dismiss his volunteers, and deliver all public property in his possession to General Wilkinson, then commanding the military district in which they were stationed. This order he disobeyed, and, for so doing, he has been most grievously reproached. But a detail of the circumstances, we doubt not, will convince our readers, that his justification is complete. " It is first to be noticed, that as all men have some degree of fallibility and some degree of discretion, and as the imperfections of language, and the interposition of dis- tance, give ample scope for both, it may well happen, that the non-execution of an order is the best possible mode of obeying the government. When an officer receives an order, which the exercise of a sound discretion convinces him would not have been issued, had the condition of the circumstances in which it was to operate been known to the authority from which it proceeded, the spirit of his duty comes in direct opposition to the letter of his order. Obedience, in such a case, consists not in a blind submis- sion to the words, but in a zealous fulfilment of the inten- tions of the government. The order of the Emperor, it is true, authorized Grouchy to continue his unprofitable con- test with the Prussians, but the spirit of his duty required 40 BIOGRAPHY OF his presence and exertions at Waterloo. By disregarding the signal which recalled him from fight, Lord Nelson fulfilled the wishes of his government, shook the throne of Denmark, and shattered the confederacy of the northern powers. Nothing car be more obvious than the distinc- tion between nominal and real obedience, and it is singular that this should have escaped the attention of General Jackson's accusers. They seem to forget that an order may be obscure, and therefore liable to misconstruction ; and that it may contain imperfections of date or expression, which bring into doubt its genuineness. In the case now considered, all these causes operated against a strict ex- ecution of the order. General Jackson could not be easily convinced that it was the intention of the President, after accepting the service of his volunteers, and removing them six hundred miles from their homes, in an inclement sea- son, pregnant with disease ; and beyond a vast wilderness filled with hostility, to deprive them of food to save them from hunger to strip them of tents to cover them from the weather and of arms to defend them from the sa- vages. " Yet, on the 15th of March, he received the duplicate of the order to which we have already adverted, requiring him 'to consider his troops as dismissed from public ser- vice, and to deliver over to General Wilkinson all articles of public property which may have been put into their pos- session' not leaving the men a mouthful of food in the hands of the detachment a musket or cartridge in the possession of the corps a single tent or wagon, or the smallest accommodation for their sick, of whom there were more than one hundred and fifty. He received another copy of the same order, which was dated near a month earlier, before General Armstrong, whose signature it bore, had come into the War Department, containing variations of expression, which made it appear not to be ANDREW JACKSON. 41 an exact copy. However, he determined to obey it with as much exactness and as little delay as possible. He saw that its declaratory part effected itself; he and his detachment were dismissed the service of the United States. The order was not a direction to disband ; but a notification of dismissal, so far effected itself, and required in no degree the agency of General Jackson. Its man- datory clause, relating to public property, and admitting of some exceptions, he conceived it his duty, both to the government and to his men, not to carry into full execution. Viewing ours as a just and paternal government, he con- sidered his detachment much as the law considers a pre- termitted child, and determined to do that for his men which the government had, it appeared, forgotten to do. In a letter to the governor of Tennessee, under whose authority the order of the Secretary had replaced him, he says, ' I have, however, from the necessity of the case, determined to keep some of the tents, and to march the men back in as good order as possible ; and I will make every sacrifice to add to their comfort. I have required of the contractor here twenty days' rations, which will take my men to Colbert's ; and I must trust in Providence and your exertions, to furnish them with supplies from there to Nashville.' To General Wilkinson, who had enclosed the order, he says : ' I have had the honor of receiving your letter of the 8th inst. with its enclosures, containing directions for me to deliver over the public property to you, which is in the possession of my detachment. The order will be complied with, except a small reservation of tents for the sick, and some other indispensable articles. I acknowledge the order was unexpected ; but I coincide with you in sentiment, that those who are bound, must obey.' " Let our readers recollect, that the law under which the services of this corps had been accepted, made the arms 4* BIOGRAPHY OF and accoutrements of the soldier, his private property ai his discharge operating like a bounty on enlistments and that of course General Jackson had no right to apply it to this species of military property, and that he only sus pended its execution so far as to retain a few tents and other articles indispensable to the care of the sick, until he could get his corps through the wilderness, which was already the scene of those Indian murders that soon brought on the Creek war ; that to effect this honorable and patriotic purpose, he borrowed five thousand dollars of a merchant in Natchez ; that the government itself sanctioned his proceedings ; that this chivalric corps con- tained the Coffees and the Carrols, who fought where- ever they could find a foe, and the Lauderdales and the Donelsons who fell with so much glory ; and also thai the tender of this corps had been accepted by government in August, that they had been assembled in December, had embarked on the Cumberland in January, that after voyaging, often through floating ice and stormy weather, more than one thousand miles, they had encamped near Natchez, on the 21st of February, and that had General Jackson then, through fear of " indignity," disbanded his troops, and left them uncovered, unfed, undefended, victims to disease, to want, and to murder ; the patriots of Tennessee would have been justly disgusted with a ser- vice, which, when inspired with gratitude and affection for their faithful leader, they adhered to with such zeal and triumphant efficacy ; and the American people would be apt to conclude, that more moderation on the part o! General Jackson, would have been mean spirited ; would have betrayed a want of that sensibility to the claims oi friendship, and neighborhood, and fellowship, which he so ardently felt, which did him so much honor as a man, and were so fortunate in the event to his country. It appears, then that so far from deserving censure for the ANDREW JACKSON. 43 modified execution of the order in question, which was so abundantly justified by the circumstances of the case, was approved by the government, and sanctioned by events ; he merits the praise of prudence and generosity, and is entitled to the gratitude of his country, for that seasonable and enlightened independence, which had the effect of attaching to him and to her the materials of future safety and honor. General Jackson having overcome all opposition in as- suming the bold position, already spoken of, and so high- ly justifiable, as the circumstances we have detailed abun- dantly prove, broke up his camp, and commenced the march of his corps to Tennessee. Nothing could exceed the fortitude and perseverance of this patriotic band and their intrepid leader, during their march of five hundred miles through deep morasses, and unbroken forests, exposed to every hardship and privation. General Jackson animated and encouraged his troops by his example, resigned his horse to assist in conveying the sick, and marched on foot in the ranks with his soldiers, partook with them their meagre diet, and was unremitting in his endeavors to mi- tigate their sufferings and soften their hardships. At the close of his march, he disbanded his men, who returned to their respective homes. The Creeks, as our readers will recollect, for some months previous to these transactions, had manifested a spirit of hostility to the United States. Our situation in regard to them was now of a nature which excited much alarm among the borderers of Georgia, Tennessee and, Mississip- pi. In consequence of. the threatening appearances to the south, and the hostilities which already prevailed with the Indians inhabiting the Spanish territory, Governor Mitch- ell, of Georgia, was required by the Secretary of War, to detach a brigade to the Oakmulgee river, for the purpose of covering the frontier e-snements of the state. Governor 44 BIOGRAPHY O> Holmes of the Mississippi territory, was at the same time ordered to join a body of militia to the volunteers under General Claiborne, then stationed on the Mobile. In the course of the summer, the settlers in the vicinity of that river, became so much alarmed from the hostile deport- ment of the Creeks, that the greater part abandoned their plantations, and sought refuge in the different forts, while the peace party amongst the Creeks had, in some places, shut themselves up in forts, and were besieged by their countrymen. Hostilities were commenced by one of the most shock- ing massacres that can be found recorded in the an- nals of savage warfare. The borderers, from an imper- fect idea of their danger, had adopted an erroneous mode of defence, by throwing themselves into small forts or sta- tions, at great distances from each other, on the various branches of the Mobile. Early in August it Avas ascer- tained that the Indians intended to make an attack upon all these stations, and destroy them in detail. The first place of contemplated attack was fort Mimms, in which the greatest number of inhabitants had been collected. Towards the latter part of August, information was brought that the Indians were about to make an attack on this fort, but unfortunately too little attention was paid to the warn- ing. During the momentary continuance of the alarm, some preparations were made for defence, but it seems that it was almost impossible to rouse them from their un- fortunate disbelief of the proximity of their danger. The fort was commanded by Major Beasley, of the Mississippi territory, a brave officer, with about one hundred volun- teers under his command. By some fatality, notwith standing the warnings he had received, he was not surfi ciently on his guard, and suffered himself to be surprised on the 30th of August, at noonday. The sentinel had scarcely time to notify the approach of the Indians, when ANDREW JACKSON. 45 they iihsKt d with a terrific yell towards the gate, which was open ; the garrison was instantly under arms, and the commander, with some of his men flew, towards the gale in order to close it, and if possible expel the enemy; but he soon ft 11 mortally wounded. After a desperate conflict, the gate was finally closed ; but a number of In- dians had taken possession of a block-house, from which they were expelled after a bloody contest. The assault was still continued for an hour, on the outside of the picK- ets ; the port holes were several times carried by the assail- ants, and retaken by those within the fort. The Indians withdrew for a moment, apparently disheart- ened by their loss, but on being harangued by their chie f Weatherford, with all the fervour of Indian eloquence they returned with augmented fury to the attack cut away the gate with their axes forced the pickets pos- sessed themselves of the area of the fort, and compelled the besieged to take refuge in the houses. Here they made a gallant resistance, but the Indians at length setting fire to the roofs, their situation became one of utter hope- lessness. A more horrible scene of carnage than that which followed the possession of this fortress by the savages ne- ver appeared upon the records of human butchery. The agonizing shrieks of the women and their helpless chil- dren were unavailing ; not a soul was spared by these monsters ; from age to infancy, they became the victims o/ indiscriminite massacre ; and some to avoid a worse fate- rushed into the flames. A few only escaped by leaping over the pickets while the Indians were engaged in the work of death. About two hundred and sixty persons, of all ages and sexes, perished. The panic caused at the other outposts, or stations, by this dreadful catastrophe, can scarcely be described ; the wretched inhabitants, fear ing, a similar fate abandoned their retreats of fancied se- curity in the middle of the night, and effected their es 46 BIOGRAPHY OF cape to Mobile after the endurance of every species of suffering. The dwellings of the borderers were burnt, and their cattle destroyed. On the receipt of this disastrous intelligence, the in- habitants of Tennessee, though not in immediate danger, adopted the most energetic measures to protect the border- ers, and avenge the massacre at fort Mimms. The legis- .ature of the state convened towards the close of Septem- ber, and authorized Governor Blount to call into immedi- ate service three thousand five hundred of the militia, and voted a large sum for their support. The legislature, and indeed the whole population of Tennessee, fixed their hopes upon General Jackson. The confidence of all in him was unlimited. It had long been his opinion, that the only effectual mode of warfare against the savages, was to carry war into the heart of their country. General Wayne many years since, and General Harrison more recently, had evinced the correctness of this opinion. The legislature accorded with him in sentiment, and the command of the intended expedition devolved upon him. He was ordered by Governor Blount to call out two thou- sand militia, and to rendezvous at Fayctteville. A part ol this detachment consisted of the Tennessee volunteers, who had the preceding spring returned from Natchez. Upon the fourth of October, 1813, the day appointed, the troops promptly repaired to the place of rendezvous. Colonel Coffee, in the mean time, had raised five hun- dred mounted volunteers, and was authorized to augment his force by adding to it the volunteer mounted riflemen who might offer their services. On the 7th of October, General Jackson repaired to the rendezvous of Fayetteville, and with his corps commenced his march for the Creek Country. Colonel Coffee proceeded with his cavalry and mounted riflemen towards the frontiers, and stationed him- self near Huntsville. In the Creek nation were many ANDREW JACKSON. 47 natives in amity with the United States. From them, im- portant information was obtained, and essential service was rendered by them to our troops. On the 8th, Colonel Coffee informed General Jackson by express, that from information derived from Indian runners, the hostile Creeks were collecting in great force ; and intended simultane ously to attack the frontiers of Georgia and Tennessee. General Jackson, on the 10th, put his corps in motion, and by great exertions reached Huntsville the same day, a. distance of forty miles. Colonel Coffee had reached the Tennessee river, and General Jackson overtook him the next day, and united with his regiment upon the bank of the river. He then dispatched Colonel Coffee with his mounted corps to explore the Tombigbee river, while he encamped his own division upon the Tennessee, and com- menced vigorous operations in preparing them for active service. In the camp of General Jackson the commissa- ry department was very defective, and he depended upon various contractors for casual rather than regular supplies of provisions. On investigation, an alarming deficiency was found to exist. Nothing will damp a soldier's spirit like a discovery of this nature. Men who will meet death with iron nerve amid the din of battle, will shrink from the approach of famine. General Jackson, by measures the most efficient, and by entreaties the most urgent, endea- vored to procure a supply. Undaunted himself, he set an example of cheerfulness before his followers, and for a time dispelled their apprehensions. At this critical period, information was received that the Creeks were embodied near the Ten Islands on the Coosa. Collecting what provisions could be obtained, he commenced his march upon the 18th, for Thompson's Creek. His route led through a wild and mountainous region, which was nearly impervious to the passage of his army. He arrived there on the 22d, and remained 48 BIOGRAPHY OF until certain information was received that the Creeks would soon commence operations upon the Coosa. Colo- nel Dyer had been previously sent with a detachment to attack the village of Littafutchee, on a branch of the Coosa. He took the place with a trifling loss on his part, and brought back with him twenty-nine prisoners of the hostile Creeks. The scouting parties now began to bring in prisoners, and cattle, and corn taken from the enemy. The main body of the army was encamped about thirteen miles from Tallushatches, where the Creeks in large num- bers had assembled with hostile preparations, and had ta- ken a position at that place, situated on the opposite shore of the Coosa. General Coffee was dispatched early in November, with nine hundred cavalry and mounted riflemen, to at- tack the Creeks in the encampment. He forded the Coosa under the direction of an Indian guide, and advanced on Tallushatches. The Creeks were aware of his approach and prepared to meet it. They struck the war-drum, sung the war-song, and by their savage war-whoops, gave notice that they were prepared for battle. Within a short distance of the village, they charged upon our troops with a boldness seldom displayed by Indians. They were repulsed, and after the most obstinate resistance, in which they would receive no quarters, they were slain almost to a man, and their women and children taken prisoners. Nearly two hundred of their warriors fell in this battle ; the loss of the Tennesseans, five killed and thirty wounded. The following is the official report of this action : GEN. JACKSON TO GOV. BLOUNT. Camp at Ten Islands, Nov. 4th, 1813. Governor Blount, Sir We have retaliated for the destruction of Fort Mimms. On the 2d inst., I detached General Coffee with a part of his brigade of cavalry and mounted rifle- ANDREW JACKSON. 49 men, to destroy Tallushatches, where a considerable forco of the hostile Creeks were concentrated. The general executed this in style. A hundred and eighty-six of the enemy were found dead on the field, and eighty taken prisoners, forty of whom have been brought here. In the number left, there is a sufficiency but slightly wounded to take care of those who are badly. I have to regret that five of my brave fellows have been killed, and aoout thir- ty wounded ; some badly, but none I hope mortally. Both officers and men behaved with the utmost bravery and deliberation. Captains Smith, Bradley, and Winston, are wounded, all slightly. No officer is killed. So soon as General Coffee makes his report, I shall enclose it. If we Tiad a sufficient supply of provisions, we should in a very short time accomplish the object of the expedition. I have the honor to be, with great respect, yours, &c. ANDREW JACKSON. The following is General Coffee's report of the battle of- Tallushatches, alluded to in the letter to Governor Blount : BRIG. GEN. COFFEE TO MAJ. GEN. JACKSON. Camp at Ten Islands, Nov. 4Z&, 1813. Major General Jackson, Sir I had the honor yesterday, of transmitting you a short account of an engagement that took place be- iween a detachment of nine hundred men from my bri gade, with the enemy at Tallushatches town ; the particu- lars whereof I beg leave herein to recite to you. Pursu- ant to your order of the 2d, I detailed from my brigade of cavalry and mounted riflemen, nine hundred men and officers, and proceeded directly to the Tallushatches towns, and crossed Coosa river at the Fish- Dam ford, three or four miles above this place. I arrived within one and a half miles of the town, distant from this place southeast eignt miles, on the morning of the 3d, at which place I divided 5 50 BIOGRAPHY OF my detachment into two columns, the right composed of the cavalry commanded by Colonel Allcorn, to cross over a large creek that lay between us and the towns : the left column was mounted riflemen, under the command of Co- lonel Cannon, with whom I marched myself. Colonel Allcorn was ordered to march up on the right, and encir- cle one half of the town, and at the same time the left would form a half circle on the left, and unite the head of the columns in front of the town ; all of which was perform- ed as I could wish. When I arrived within half a mile of the town, the drums of the enemy began to beat, min- gled with their savage yells, preparing for action. It was after sunrise an hour, when the action was brought on by Captain Hammond's and Lieutenant Patterson's companies, who had gone on with the circle of alignment for the pur- pose of drawing out the enemy from their buildings, which had the most happy effect. As soon as Captain Hammond exhibited his front in view of the town, which stood in an open woodland, and gave a few scattering shot, the enemy formed and made a violent charge on him ; he gave way as they advanced, until they met our right column, which gave them a general fire and then charged ; this changed the direction of charge completely ; the enemy retreated firing, until they got around and in their buildings, where they made all the resistance that an overpowered soldier could do ; they fought as long as one existed, but their destruction was very soon completed ; our men rushed up to the doors of the houses, and in a few minutes killed the last warrior of them; the enemy fought with savage fury, and met death, with all its horrors, without shrinking or complaining : not one asked to be spared, but fought as long as they could stand or sit. In consequence of their flying to their houses, and mixing with their families, our men, in tilling the males, without intention killed and wounded a few of the squaws and children, which wa ANDREW JACKSON. 51 regretted by every officer and soldier of the detachment, but which could not be avoided. The number of the enemy killed, was one hundred and eighty six that Avere counted, and a number of others kill- ed in the weeds not found. I think the calculation a rea- sonable one, to say two hundred of them were killed ; and eighty -four prisoners, of women and children, were taken ; not one of the warriors escaped to carry the news, a cir- cumstance unknown heretofore. We lost five men killed, and forty-one wounded, none mortally, the greater part slightly, a number with arrows ; this appears to form a very principal part of the enemy's arms for warfare every man having a bow with a bundle of arrows, which is used after the first fire with the gun, until a leisure time for loading offers. It is with pleasure I say that our men acted with deliberation and firmness ; notwithstanding our numbers were superior to those of the enemy, it was a cir- cumstance to us unknown, and from the parade of the enemy we had every reason to suppose them our equals in num- ber ; but there appeared no visible traces of alarm in any, but on the contrary all appeared cool and determined, and no doubt when they face a foe of their own, or superior number, they will show the same courage as on this oc- casion. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, sir, your obedient servant, JOHN COFFEE, Brig. Gen. of Cavalry and Riflemen. Major General Jackson. 555 BIOGRAPHY OF CHAPTER III. Tennessee forces Message to General White Fort' ress of Talladega Its danger General Jackson advances to its protection General White refuses to form a junction with him General Jackson crosses the Coosa Battle of Talladega Official report oj it Consequences of General White's conduct Gen Floyd Battle of Autoussee Official report of it Difficulties of General Jackson's situation Famine and mutiny among his troops His firmness Arri- val of supplies Discontent of his troops continues Governor Blount His instructions General Jack- eon dismisses his corps New troops raised General Claiborne His victory upon the Alabama. THE Tennessee forces, at the commencement of the campaign in the Creek nation, in 1813, consisted of two divisions ; one of West Tennessee, commanded by General Jackson the other of East Tennessee, commanded by General Cocke. Major General Thomas Pinckney, of the United States' army, was commander-in-chief of the military district in which these troops were organized. The decisive victory at Tallushatches, and the total dis- comfiture of the savages of that station, induced General Jackson to adopt the most efficient measures for prosecuting the encouraging success the army had there met with, by more important operations. To accomplish these, he sent an express, on the 4th of November, to Brigadier Genera. ANDREW JACKSON. 53 White, of General Cocke's division, who was only twenty- five miles distant, ordering him, with the troops under his command, to form a junction with him at Fort Strothei; which he had established as a depot. His object in form ing this junction, was to augment his forces to such ar amount, as to enable him to proceed with confidence ir. attacking the enemy, and leave a force in the rear sufficient to protect the sick and guard the baggage. Although he had twice before sent similar orders, not a word of intelli- gence was received from him. He delayed until the 7th inst., when he dispatched another express. On the same day, information was received by General Jackson, that a fortress of friendly Indians at Talladega, thirty miles distant from Fort Strother, was in imminent danger of total destruction by the hostile party, who had assembled about them in great numbers. They had es- poused the cause of the Americans ; and, of course, had excited the vindictive malice and savage ferocity of their brethren. The runners, dispatched by the friendly Creeks, urged General Jackson to relieve them from their perilous situation. The same sentiment that induced General Jackson to hazard his reputation in protecting his country- men at Natchez, led him, without hesitation, to extend his aid to those natives, who had adhered to our inter ests with so much fidelity. He commenced his march at twelve o'clock in the evening. He dispatched another express to General White to repair that night to For" Strother, and protect it in his absence. To his great sur- prise, he received a message from him, that he had, agree- ably to his order, commenced a march to Fort Strother, but that he had received counter orders from Gen. Cocke, to join him at Chatuga Creek ; and that he should obey him ! It would be difficult to conceive a more embarrassing situation than that in which General Jackson was now placed ; his rear unprotected and exposed to the ravages 5* 54 BIOGRAPHY OF of the enemy in his front the war-shout had sounded, ana a reaction of the bloody tragedy of fort Mimms was impend- ing over the defenceless inhabitants of Talladega. Not a moment was to be lost ; his decision was instantly taken and he urged on his troops to their defence with his wonted energy. They crossed the river that very night, each horseman carrying a foot soldier behind him, though the Coosa is here six hundred yards wide. The whole night was consumed in this operation ; yet the army continued to march with unabated ardof , and by the next evening arrived within six miles of the enemy. The following is the result of the battle, as officially reported : GEN. JACKSON TO GOV. BLOUNT. Camp Strother, near Ten Islands of Coosa, November llth, 1813. Sir I am just returned from an excursion which I took a few days ago, and hasten to acquaint you with the result. Late on the evening of the 7th inst. a rumor arrived from the friendly party at Lashley's fort, (Talladega,) distant about thirty miles below us, with the information that the nostile Creeks, in great force, had encamped near the place, and were preparing to destroy it ; and earnestly entreated that I would lose no time in affording them relief. Urged by their situation, as well as by a wish to meet the enemy as soon as an opportunity would offer, I determined jpon commencing my march thither, with all my disposa- ble force, in the course of the night ; and immediately dispatched an express to General White, advising him of my intended movement, and urged him to hasten to this encampment by a forced march, in order to protect it in my absence. I had repeatedly written to the general to form a junction with me as speedily as practicable, and a few days before had received his assurance, that on the 7th he would join me. I commenced crossing the river at Ten Islands, leaving behind me my baggage- wagons, and what ANDREW JACKSON. 55 ever might retard my progress, and encamped that night within six miles of the fort I had set out to relieve. At midnight, I had received by an Indian runner, a letter from General White, informing me that he had received my order, but that he had altered his course, and was on his march backward to join Major General Cocke, near the mouth of the Chatuga. I will not now remark upon tht strangeness of this manoeuvre ; but it was now too late tc change my plan, or make any new arrangements ; and, between three and four o'clock, I recommenced my march to meet the enemy, who were encamped within a quartei of a mile of the fort. At sunrise we came within half a mile of them, and having formed my men, I moved in order of battle. The infantry were in three lines the militia on the left, and the volunteers on the right. The cavalry formed the two extreme wings, and were ordered to advance in a curve, keeping their rear connected with the advance of their infantry lines, and enclose the enemy in a circle. The advanced guard, whom I sent forward to bring on the engagement, met the attack of the enemy with great intrepidity ; and, having poured upon them four or five very galling rounds, fell back, as they had been previously ordered, to the army. The enemy pursued, and the front line was now ordered to advance and meet him ; but, owing to some misunderstanding, a few com- panies of militia, who composed a part of it, commenced a retreat. At this moment, a corps of cavalry, com- manded by Lieut. Colonel Dyer, which I had kept as a reserve, was ordered to dismount and fill up the vacancy occasioned by the retreat. This order was executed with a great deal of promptitude and effect. The militia, see- ing this, speedily rallied ; and the fire became general along the front line, and on that part of the wings which was contiguous. The enemy, unable to stand it, began to retreat ; but were met at every turn, and repulsed in 56 BIOGRAPHY 0V every direction. The right wing chased them, with a most destructive fire, to the mountains, a distance of about three miles , and, had I not been compelled, by the faux pas of the militia, in the outset of the battle, to dismouut my reserve, I believe not a man of them would have escaped. The victory was, however, very decisive : two hundred and ninety of the enemy were left dead; ..nd there can be no doubt but many more were killed who were not found. Wherever they ran, they left behind traces of blood ; and it is believed that very few will return to their villages in as sound a condition as they left them. I was compelled to return to this place to protect the sick and wounded, and get my baggage on. In the engagement, we lost fifteen killed, and eighty-five wounded ; two of whom have since died. All the officers acted with the utmost bravery, and so did all the privates, ex- cept that part of the militia who retreated at the commence- ment of the battle and they hastened to atone for their error. Taking the whole together, they have realized the high expectations I had formed of them, and have fairly entitled themselves to the gratitude of their country. ANDREW JACKSON. His Excellency Willie Blount, Nashville. The following completes the account of the battle of Talladega : Camp Strother, near Ten Islands, 15th November, 1813. You will perceive, from the draft which I shall send you, that, had there been no departure from the original order of battle, not an Indian could have escaped ; and, even as the battle did terminate, I believe that no impartial man can say that a more splendid victory has in any instance attended our arms, on land, since the commence- ment of the war. The force of the enemy is represented oy themselves to have been ten hundred and eighty ; and it ANDREW JACKSON. 57 does not appear from their fire and the space of ground which they occupied, that their number can have been less. Two hundred and ninety-nine were left dead on the ground; and no doubt many more were killed who were not found. In a very few weeks, if I had a sufficiency of supplies, I am thoroughly convinced, I should be able to put an end to the Creek hostilities. Too much praise cannot be bestowed upon the advance, led on by Col. Carrol, for the spirited manner in which they commenced and sustained the attack ; nor upon the reserve, commanded by Lieut. Colonel Dyer, and com- posed of Captains Smith's, Morton's, Axurn's, Edwards', and Hammond's companies, for the gallantry with which they met and repulsed the enemy. In a word, officers of every grade, as well as the privates, realized the high expectations I had formed of them, and merit the gratitude of their country. I should be doing injustice to my staff, composed of Majors Reid and Scarcy ; my aids, Col. Sitler, and Major Anthony, adjutant, and assistant adjutant general , Colonel Carrol, inspector general : Major Strother, topo- grapher ; Mr. Cunningham, my secretary ; and Colonel Stokey D. Haynes, quarter master general ; not to say that they were every where in the midst of danger, circulating my orders. They deserve and receive my thanks. I have the honor to be, &c. ANDREW JACKSON. General Jackson's plan of operation was very much frustrated by the refusal of General White to form a junction with him, or to repair to the protection of Fort Strother, in his absence ; and compelled him to relinquish his intention of immediately extending the war into the Indian territories, and bringing our contest with the Creeks to a speedy conclusion. It protracted hostilities with a people who prosecute their quarrels with the most '- BIOGRAPHY OF unrelenting and bloody barbarity, and who, of all others should be promptly taught to respect our rights. It has been previously stated, that the Creeks had de- termined to attack the frontiers of Georgia and T< nnessee, simultaneously. Measures, equally efficient with those adopted by the executive, and legislature of Tennessee, were adopted by the executive and legislature of Georgia. His Excellency, Peter Earley, governor of that state, upon the 8th November, 1813, communicated to the Sen- ate and House of Representatives, the information he had received of savage depredations ' and murders upon the frontiers. The legislature promptly authorized the go- vernor to cause the frontiers to be put in a state of defence, and to send a competent force into the heart of the Creek country. As the forces of Georgia acted in concert with those of Tennessee under the command of General Jack- son, a brief detail of them may not be deemed uninterest- ing. The Georgia militia were commanded by Brigadier General Floyd. He met the enemy at Autoussee, upon the banks of the Tallapoosa river, and gave them battle, and the following is his description of it : " Having received information that numbers of the hostile Indians were assembled at Autoussee, a town on the southern bank of the Taliapoosa, about eighteen miJes from the Hickory Ground, and twenty above the junction of that river with the Coosa, I proceeded to its attack, with nine hundred and fifty of the Georgia militia, accompanied by between three and four hundred friendly Indians. Having encamped within nine or ten miles ot the point of destination the preceding evening, we re- sumed the march a few minutes before one on the morning of the twenty-ninth, and, at half past six were formed for action in front of the town. Booth's battalion composed the right column, and marched from its centre ; Watson's battalion composed ANDREW JACKSON. 59 the left, and marched from its right ; Adams' rifle com- pany, and Merriwether's, under Lieutenant Hendon, were on the flanks ; Captain Thomas' artillery marched in front of the right column on the road. It was my intention to have completely surrounded the enemy, hy deploying the right wing of my force on Can- leebee creek, at the mouth of which, I was informed, the town stood, and resting the left on the river bank, below .he town ; but, to our surprise, as the day dawned, we perceived a second town about five hundred yards below that which we had first viewed, and were preparing to attack. The plan was immediately changed ; three com- panies of infantry, on the left, where wheeled into echelon, and advanced to the low town, accompanied by Merri- wether's rifle company ; and two troops of light dragoons, under the command of Captains Irwin and Steele. The residue of the force approached the upper town, and the battle soon became general. The Indians pre- sented themselves at every point, and fought with the desperate bravery of real fanatics. The well directed fire, however, of the artillery, added to the charge of the bayonet, soon forced them to take refuge in the outhouses, thickets, and copses, in rear of the town ; many, it is believed, concealed themselves in caves, previously formed for the purpose of secure retreat, in the high bluff of the river, which was thickly covered with reeds and brush wood. The Indians of the friendly party, who accom- panied us on the expedition, were divided into four com- panies, and placed under the command of leaders of their selection. They were, by arrangement entered into the day previous, to have crossed the river above the town, and been posted on the opposite shore, during the action, foi the purpose of firing on such of the enemy as might attempt to escape, or keep in check any reinforcement which might probably be thrown in from the neighboring 60 BIOGRAPHY OF town ; but, owing to the difficulty of the ford, and coldness of the weather, and the lateness of the hour, this arrange- ment failed, and their leaders were directed to cross Can- lubee creek, and occupy that flank, to prevent escapes from the Tallassee town. Some time after the action com- menced, our red friends thronged in disorder in the rear of our lines. The Cowetams, under M'Intosh, and the Lookaubatchians, under the Mad Dog's Son, fell in on our flanks, and fought with an intrepidity worthy of any troops. At nine o'clock, the enemy was completely driven from the plain, and the houses of both towns wrapped in flames. As we were then sixty miles from any depot of provisions, and our five days' rations pretty much reduced, in the heart of an enemy's country, which, in a few moments, could have poured from its numerous towns, hosts of its fiercest warriors as soon as the dead and wounded were properly disposed of, I ordered the place to be abandoned, and the troops to commence their march to Chatahauchie. It is difficult to determine the strength of the enemy, but from the information of the chiefs, which it is said can be relied upon, that at Autoussee, warriors from eight towns were assembled for its defence, it being their be- loved ground, on which they proclaimed no white man could approach without inevitable destruction. It is dif- ficult to give a precise account of the loss of the enemy ; but from the number which were lying scattered over the field, together with those destroyed in the towns, and many slain on the bank of the river, which respectable officers affirm they saw lying in heaps at the water's edge, where they had been precipitated by their surviv- ing friends, Their loss in killed, independent of their wounded, must have been at least two hundred, among whom were the Autoussee and Talassee kings ; ana from the circumstance of their making no efforts to molest ANDREW JACKSON. 61 jur return, probably greater. The number of buildings burnt, some of a superior order for the dwellings of savages, and filled with valuable articles, is supposed to be four hundred. Adjutant General Newman rendered important ser- rices during the action, by his cool and deliberate cou- rage. My aid, Major Crawford, discharged with promp- titude the duties of a brave and meritorious officer. Major Pace, who acted as field aid, also distinguished himself; both these gentlemen had their horses shot under them. Doctor Williamson, hospital surgeon, and Doctor Clopton, were prompt and attentive in the dis- charge of their duty towards the wounded, during the action. Major Freeman, at the head of Gwin's troop of caval- ry, and part of Steele's, made a furious and successful charge upon a body of Indians, sabred several, and com pletely defeated them. Captain Thomas and his compa- ny, Captain Adams' and Lieutenant Hendon's rifle com- panies, killed a great many Indians, and deserve particu- lar praise : Captain Barton's company was in the hottest cf the battle, and fought like soldiers. Captains Myric, Little, King, Broadnax, Cleveland, Joseph T. Cunning- ham, and Lee, with their companies, distinguished them- selves. Brigadier General Shackleford was of great ser- vice in bringing the troops into action ; and Adjutant Broadnax, and Major Montgomery, who acted as assistant adjutant, showed great activity and courage. Major Booth used his best endeavors in bringing his battalion 10 action, and Major Watson's battalion acted with con- siderable spirit. Gwin's, Patterson's, and Steele's troops of cavalry, wherever an opportunity presented, charged with spirit. Lieutenent Strong had his horse shot, anc. narrowly escaped, and Quartermaster Fennell displayec the greatest heroism, and miraculously escaped, though 6 BIOGRAPHY ju 62 badly wounded, after having his horse shot from under him. The topographical engineer was vigilant in his endeavours to render service. The troops deserve the highest praise for their fortitude in enduring hunger, cold, and fatigue, without a murmur, having marched one him dred and twenty miles in seven days. The friendly Indians lost several killed and wounded the number not exactly known." This was an important victory ; two kings, and two hundred warriors fell a much larger number were wounded their villages were depopulated their houses demolished, and the fanatic spell, which urged them on to deeds of bloody daring, was broken ; and on " their beloved ground, on which they proclaimed no white man could approach without inevitable destruction," they saw their warriors fall before the prowess of our arms, and their dwellings wrapped in conflagration. While these interesting events were transpiring, Ge- neral Jackson was encountering great difficulties in con- sequence of famine and mutiny* among his corps at Fort Strother. After the battle of Talladega, as has been be- fore stated, the defenceless condition of his rear compelled him to fall back on that fortress. Here his troops were compelled to submit to all the horrors of starvation. Their whole stock of provisions consisted only of a few cattle taken from the enemy, or purchased from the Che- rokees. In these circumstances, General Jackson made every exertion to alleviate the distresses of his soldiers He covered his table with offals and acorns from the fo- rest, and partook of no better fare than the most humble of his corps. Great discontent, however, was produced among bis troops by the privations and hardships of their situation, which at length broke out in open mutiny. They were clamorous to break up the campaign, and re- turn home ; to effect this they were even encouraged by ANDREW JACKSON. 03 many of the subordinate officers. General Jackson saw the vast importance of maintaining his post and army entire till supplies shou-ld arrive. He knew that the hopes of the borderers of Georgia and Tennessee rested upon him ; he knew that they had watched his operations with intense anxiety, and hailed his triumphant victories with the most heartfelt gratitude and delight ; he knew that if the campaign were to end here, that all his former successes would bo rendered worse than useless, and in- stead of guarantying' security to the frontiers, would on- ly serve to whet the savage vengeance of the enemy, and impel them to the perpetration of more revolting scenes of havock and bloodshed. Impelled by these momentous considerations, General Jackson resorted to every persuasive expedient to allay the discontent of his troops. He reminded them of the past the unshaken fortitude they had displayed in their hazardous expedition to Natchez the daring courage they had manifested upon the plains of Tallushatches and Talladega the exposure of their families and kindred to the horrors of savage butchery. But all his efforts were unavailing. Could he have said to them, Yonder is you enemy ; charge, and by one decisive victory put an end to this contest ; every soldier Avould have folloAved his commander to battle, and yielded the best blood of his heart, rather than behold the proud banner of his country dishonored. But to sit down and patiently wait for the arrival of uncertain supplies, with the prospect of starva- tion before them, was not so congenial with the ardent tem- peraments of the brave Tennesseans. Every pacific ex- pedient on the part of General Jackson having been ex- hausted, he was at length compelled to resort to force. When, therefore, the militia revolted openly, and were about to abandon the camp, he drew up the volunteers under arms, with orders to prevent their departure. This 64 BIOGRAPHY OF display of resolution overawed the militia, and they re turned to their tents. The volunteers, however, were themselves disaffected, and soon prepared to follow the example, which, a short time previous, they had been instrumental in preventing the militia from executing. But the general had antici pated their measures, and prepared to counteract them As they were about to leave the camp, the militia opposed them, and expressed their determination of enforcing their stay, if necessary, at the point of the bayonet. This movement produced the same effect upon the volunteers, as theirs of a similar nature had before done upon the militia, and like them, they returned again to their tents. The cavalry, however, were in a condition which silenced every objection to their departure ; their forage was en- tirely exhausted, and they had no prospect of obtaining more. General Jackson therefore permitted them to re- turn home, on condition they would rejoin him if neces- sity required. Mutiny, however, continued to exist in the minds of his troops, notwithstanding all his endeavours to suppress it. He promised that if supplies did not arrive in two days, he would abandon his position, and march his army to the settlements. But nothing would satisfy the volun teers. And he was compelled to allow one regiment to depart, with a stipulation to return after they should havt satisfied their most pressing wants. The militia display ed more firmness, and waited till the two stipulated day.s had elapsed, but the supplies did not arrive. They re- quired of the general a redemption of his pledge, and he could not refuse. In the bitterness of his mortification, he exclaimed that if but two men would abide with him, he would never abandon the fort. Captain Gordon and one hundred more immediately proposed to remain and protect the position. Leaving this garrison behind, the ANDREW JACKSON. 65 army prepared for its march homeward. Scarcely had the troops left Fort Strother, when they were met by a convoy of the long expected commissaries' stores. This was rather an unwelcome sight to the troops, whose minds were fixed upon home. After some resistance, which was overcome by a most signal display of firmness and energy by General Jackson, they returned to Fort Strother. That the reader may have a clearer idea of the diffi- culties of General Jackson's situation, and the courage requisite to surmount them, we present an extract from a letter written by a gentleman who was an actor in the scenes he describes. " Since the battle of Tallushatches and Talladega, the irmy of General Jackson has crumbled to pieces. The whole of his volunteer infantry are returning home in- sisting that their time of service expired on the 10th or this month, being the anniversary of their rendezvous at Nashville. The General, however, did not discharge them ; the decision is left with the governor of Tennes- see. What he will do, is not yet known. The universal impression, however, is, that they will be discharged. Yet nothing is more clear than that they have not served twelve months and they were, by law, to serve twelve months in a period of two years, unless sooner discharged. The General's force now at fort Strother, Ten Islands oi Coosa, may amount to about fifteen hundred men, chiefly drafted militia. Of these, nearly the whole will be en- titled to discharge about the fourth of the ensuing month. It is supposed that not more than one hundred and fifty, or two hundred, who are attached to the General person- ally, and will remain through motives of affection, will be left with him after that day. Doubtless you know that the brigade of cavalry volunteers and mounted rifle- men under the command of General Coftee, were some 6* 06 BIOGRAPHY OF time since ordered into the settlements to recruit their norses for a few days, and procure new ones. About half, perhaps eight hundred, appeared at the day and place of rendezvous ; but of these not more than six hundred would consent to go on after the 10th. About half of this 'ast number were of the old volunteer cavalry, the rest mounted men newly raised. The first will certainly re- turn with the volunteer infantry, their term commencing and expiring together. The last claim a discharge at the expiration of three months from the day they were mus- tered into service ; which must be nearly out. We may say, then, that all these are gone too. Yet General Jack- son has very recently received an order from General Pinckney, to garrison and maintain every inch of ground he gains. And although all active exertions of the cam- paign seem to be paralised, I still hope this may, and will be done. General Cocke is now in East Tennessee, en- deavoring to collect a new levy ; as to his success we know nothing. General Roberts, from West Tennessee, passed through our country three days ago, and has just crossed the river with about two hundred and tifty men Colonel Carroll, inspector-general of this army, arrived to-day with a force of five or six hundred, and four com- panies are proposed to be sent from this county. How long these men are to serve, I know not not longer, I fancy, than three months. I trust, however, that this sys- tem of short service, wretched as it is inefficient, and ex- pensive above all others, will yet enable Jackson to occu- py till spring the ground he has won. Perhaps the re- turn of moderate weather, and great efforts meanwhile, may collect around his banner, an army sufficient to effect the complete discomfiture and prostration of the Creek power. This, however, will be every day a work of greater difficulty. The English have already appeared in force at Pensacola, seven sail having troops on board, ANDREW JACKSON. 67 besides two bomb vessels. Orleans will be menaced. Mobile is considered in great danger. The force on the Tombigbee waters, and the 3d regiment ascending the Alabama, will be called to its defence. This gives the Creeks breathing time, and lessens the force destined to crush them. Augustine, too, will doubtless be occupied by British troops ; and from these points, arms, ammuni- tion, and perhaps men and leaders, will be pushed up to the aid of the Upper and Middle Creeks. The Seminoles and the runaway negroes among them, may be turned loose upon the sea-coast of Georgia." The discontent of the troops was but little abated after their return to Fort Strother. The arrival of a sufficient supply of stores, obviated the necessity for food ; yet the minds of the soldiers having been once fixed upon the prospect of quitting the toils and privations of military life, could not easily be brought to relinquish the favorite idea of returning to their homes. The troops remon- strated against their detention, whilst the general resorted to every expedient to induce them, to remain. He ad dressed a letter to the governor of Tennessee for instruc lions ; and in his reply the governor, in consequence 01 the disaffection of the troops, and the reluctance they manifested at remaining, was induced to recommend an abandonment of the expedition. General Jackson no longer attempted to detain his men, but dismissed the discontented. A few only of his original army, " good men and true," remained behind with their general, to prosecute the war which had been so gloriously com- menced. The governor of Tennessee was soon aware of the error into which he had been led, by recommending an abandonment of the expedition, and affected by the expos- tulations of General Jackson, and the difficulties which 31'rrounded him. he set himself vigorously to work in 68 BIOGRAPHY OF applying a remedy. He ordered a levy of twenty-five hundred men from the second division, to assemble at Fayetteville on the twenty-eighth of January, to serve for a period of three months. Brighter prospects now began to dawn upon General Jackson, and after encountering the most appalling difficulties with an energy and decision, which compelled even his enemies to acknowledge, " that he made the most extraordinary efforts, and that it is no more than charitable to believe that he was actuated by the love of his country, while acting in opposition to her laws." The forces under the command of General Claiborne, General Floyd, and General Jackson, acted in concert in th cers of the British forces, were daily in the receipt or every information from the city of New Orleans, which they might require in aid of their operations, for the com- pletion of the objects of the expedition ; that they were perfectly acquainted with the situation of every part of our forces, the manner in which the same was situa- ted, the number of our fortifications, their strength, posi- tion, &c. He furthermore stated, that the above inform- ation was received from persons in the city of New Or- leans, from whom he could, at any hour, procure every information necessary to promote his majesty's interest." So sensible, indeed, were all the faithful citizens, and every prominent authority in New Orleans, of the necessi- ty of removing all obstructions to the enforcement of the paramount law of nature, that even the legislature, weak and undecided as it was on most occasions, and disposed to promote division rather than remove it, evinced some little patriotism, and passed an act laying an embargo, although they had no power under the constitution to re- gulate or restrain commerce ; and this the governor sanc- tioned, and the citizens acquiesced in. In this case the legislature acted wisely ; they acted on the principles of self-preservation, recognized in the preamble to the con- stitution "to provide for the common defence;" and did that for their constituents, which congress, to whom they had delegated the power, would, if they could, have done for them. The legislature also passed a law, closing the courts of justice for four months, which the governor as- sented to, and the judiciary solemnly approved. Judge Hall himself, of whom we shall have occasion hereafter to speak, discharged, without bail or recognizance, per- sons committed and indicted for capital offences against the United States, concurring with the other departments of power, in their conviction of the legal necessity of su- ANDREW JACKSON. 129 perseding the less essential and elementary provisions of the law, by the great law of self-defence. It is much to be lamented, that these prominent autho- rities should have afterwards receded from these patriotic endeavors, and instead of lending their effective and im- portant aid to General Jackson, in his endeavors to save their city from destruction, and their country from disgrace, they should be found sowing the seeds of disaffection among his troops, and embarrassing his operations by le- gislative enactments, and judicial decisions, and by these means compel him to adopt a system of regulations which have rendered him obnoxious to censure, though the cir- cumstances under which he acted afford him a complete justification. From this state of things, the most energetic mea- sures were necessary to insure the safety of the country. Supplies and arms must be procured, troops must be raised, intelligence must be prevented from reaching the enemy; and a source of danger, to which we have before alluded, was to be guarded against, and which the com- manding officer was justified in believing to exist. Before his arrival at New Orleans, as we have before seen, the governor of the state had confidentially advised him, that disaffection existed to an alarming degree, par- ticularly amongst the French population in the state ; and that the legislature was not free'from suspicion. With the impression which this notice was calculated to pro- duce, on his arrival for the first time in the country, un- acquainted with the language spoken by a majority of the people, he thought himself obliged to assume such powers as alone could defeat the schemes of disaffection, if it ex- isted, and to provide the means of defence which the go- vernment had neglected totally to do. This could not be done while the civil power was suffered to perform its usual functions ; and he, took, after severe deliberation, 130 BIOGRAPHY OF the decisive step of proclaiming martial law. He knew the responsibility he incurred ; he knew to what he ex- posed himself; and if ever there was an act of deliberate self-devotion, it was the one for which he has been re- proached, as an unjustifiable assumption of powers. Had he fashioned his conduct to suit the taste and win the applause of those who have censured him, he might have had generals and attorney generals, barristers and merchants from the city, capering about his lines, discou- raging his men, disconcerting his measures, and scamper- ing away from the enemy. He chose rather to have citi- zen soldiers, and to make those who owned the prize con- tended for, share in the toil and danger of its protection. A rich and testy dealer in cotton, who looked as if " but for those vile guns he would himself have been a soldier," accosted the general, who Avas piling up cotton bales against Wellington's invincibles, and requested that he " would appoint a guard for his cotton." " Certainly," replied the general, " your request shall "be complied with : here, sergeant ! give this gentleman a musket and ammunition, and station him in the line of defence ; no one can be better qualified to guard the cotton, than the owner of it." Thus the dealer was dealt with. This commanding spirit, evinced by the cotton dealer, and the considerations to which an allusion has been previously made, and confirmed by the example of other authorities, and by the pressure of the moment, suggested to General Tackson the prudence of comprehending New Orleans itself in his camp ; of taking the city he was to defend under his protection. The measure was discussed with many eminent citizens, and was approved by others. It was advised and adopted distinctly on the ground of pub' lie necessity, of which all were convinced, and none even now can doubt. If the noted Louallier, of whom we shall have occasion hereafter to speak, under the influence ol ANDREW JACKSON. 131 tne royalist Blanque, and the officious judge, (whose fault is atoned by the fact that he soon repented it, and he died the sincere friend of General Jackson,) brought with- out necessity and upon a secondary principle, the civil authority into collision with the military power, when ex erted from necessity, and for the primary objects of the constitution, it was no fault of General Jackson. It is not the first time that enactments, provided for the liberty of the citizen, have been found temporarily incompatible with the safety of the state. Hence the well known maxim of the civil law Inter arma silent leges. It is not the only conflict that has or can be found between separate provisions, or between the end or details of our constitu- tion. Treaties, when approved by the senate and ratified by the president, are declared to be the supreme laws oi the land, and yet the house of representatives claim, and justly too, the right of disregarding this supreme law, and of interposing their power over the bills of revenue. The right of property is secure under the constitution, and yet in certain cases a military officer may seize thn means of subsistence or of transportation, leaving only a fair compensation to the owner, on the just ground of ne- cessity. The trial by jury is the birthright of the citi- zen, and a dearer right than that secured by the habeas corpus, and yet the judicial power sets this right at defi- ance, and punishes for contempt, without the intervention of a jury, upon the ground of legal necessity. In viola- tion of the same right, our legislative bodies punish ar- bitrarily any citizen who may attempt an abuse of then- dignity or privileges. The truth is, these anomalies must be tolerated even in our fair and effective system, on the ground of necessity. They are essential to the principles they seem to oppose. The inconsistency of military power with the spirit of our institutions, arises from thi j nature of things not from the character of this or 132 BIOGRAPHY OF that commander from the opposite characters of peace and war, and the adverse dispositions of mind on which the conditions of society are founded. Force is the prin- ciple of war equity the spjrit of peace. These two ele- ments, however, elaborated by civilization, or ramified into consequences, cannot be divested of their original discordance. The prudence of our magistrates, and the patriotism of our citizens, have in most instances prevent- ed their collision. Every thing considered, General Jack- son was persuaded that the country would be lost, unless he sacrificed himself, and risked what he valued infinitely more than life risked his reputation for patriotism, and regard to the constitution of his country, for its preserva- tion. He did this deliberately. He knew the risk ; God knew his purpose, and his own conscience approved it. Having taken this important step, General Jackson incessantly engaged himself in erecting fortifications, and disciplining his soldiers for defence. Fort St. Philips was selected as an eligible position, and Major Overton was appointed to the command of it. The naval force near New Orleans, consisted of small gun-vessels, under the command of Captain Patterson. On the 21st of December, General Coffee arrived with thirteen hundred Tennesseans ; and about the same time Colonel Hinds came with a hundred and eighty of the Mississippi dragoons, and was soon followed by General Carroll with the remainder of the reinforcements from Tennessee. These brave men had marched a distance of eight hundred miles under the endurance of privations and hardships, which they met with a spirit of fortitude that redounded to their immortal honor, and gave an ear- nest of future success. The Kentucky troops, raised by the order of Governor Shelby, and commanded by General Thomas, had not yet arrived. At length the storm which had been gathering, and ANDREW JACKSON. 133 of which General Jackson and his little band had calm- ly awaited the approach, burst over them. The little na- val force at New Orleans after a most gallant defence, fell into the hands of the enemy, and facilitated their opera- tions ; an outpost, which guarded one of the principal inlets, was surprised, and advancing through an uninha- bited and uninhabitable country, the enemy was within seven miles of the city, on the banks of the river, before he was discovered. This was at two o'clock in the af- ternoon of the 23d December, one of the shortest days in the year. All the disposable force from different points was immediately collected. Before the sun had set, fif- teen hundred men, the greater part of whom were militia, some of whom Avere armed only with pikes, were on their march, with a perfect knowledge that they were about to attack, in the open field, three times their number, of the best disciplined, the best appointed troops in the world They advanced as gaily, and cheerfully, as if they were going to a convivial feast, and before it was well night, they were in the midst of the enemy's camp. The remains of the gallant little navy, a single schooner, under the brave Patterson, who himself took command of this small force, poured destruction into the ranks of the enemy. This was the signal of attack for the army on land. The following is a description of the battle, as detailed '.o James Monroe by General Jackson : The loss of our gun-boats near the pass of the Rigolets, having given the enemy command of Lake Borgne, he was enabled to chose his point of attack. It became there- fore an object of importance, to obstruct the numerous bayous and canals, leading from that laeen defeated, and with a loss ; but the loss was to be re- paired by expected reinforcements. Their numbers still much more than quadrupled all the regular forces w'lich the respondent could command ; and the term of sei vice of his most efficient militia force was about to expire. De- feat, to a powerful and active enemy, was more likely to operate as an incentive to renewed and increased exertion, than to inspire them with despondency, or to paralyze their efforts. A treaty, it is true, had been probably sigi ed ; yet it might not be ratified. Its contents had not tr ins- pired, and no reasonable conjecture could be formed, that it would be acceptable. The influence which the account of its signature had on the army, was deleterious in the extreme, and showed a necessity for increased enei gy, instead of a relaxation of discipline. Men, who had shown themselves zealous in the preceding part of the campaign, now became lukewarm in the service. Those whom no danger could appal, and no labor discourage, complained of the hardships of the camp. When the enemy were no longer immediately before them, they thought themselves oppressed, by being detained in ser- vice. Wicked and weak men, who, from their situation ANDREW JACKSON. 185 in life, ought to have furnished a better example, secretly encouiaged this spirit of insubordination. They affected to pity the hardships of those who were kept in the field they fomented discontent, by insinuating that the merits of those to whom they addressed themselves, had not been sufficiently noticed or applauded ; and to so high a degree had the disorder at length risen, that at one period, only fifteen men and one officer, out of a whole regiment, sta- tioned to guard the very avenue through which the enemy had penetrated into the country, were found at their post. At another point equally important, a whole corps, on which the greatest reliance had been placed, operated upon by the acts of a foreign agent, suddenly deserted their post. " If trusting to an uncertain peace, the respondent had revoked his proclamation, or ceased to act under it, the fatal security, by which we were lulled, might have de- stroyed all discipline, have dissolved all his force, and left him without any means of defending the country against an enemy, instructed, by the traitors within our own bosom, of the time and place at which he might safely make his attack. In such an event, his life might have been offered up, yet it would have been but a feeble expia- tion, for the disgrace and misery, into which, by his cri- minal negligence, he had permitted the country to be plunged. " He thought peace a probable, but by no means a cer- tain event. If it had really taken place, a few days must bring the official advice of it ; and he believed it better to submit, during those few days, to the salutary restraints imposed, than to put every thing dear to ourselves and country at risk, upon an uncertain contingency. Admit the chances to have been a hundred or a thousand to one in favor of the ratification, and against any renewed at- tempts of the enemy, what should we say or think of the 16* 186 BIOGRAPHY OF prudence of the man, who would stake his life, his for- tune, his courfcry, and his honor, even with such odds in his favor, against a few days' anticipated enjoyment of the blessings of peace ? The respondent could not bring himself to play so deep a hazard ; uninfluenced by the clamors of the ignorant and designing, he continued the exercise of that law which necessity had compelled him to proclaim ; and he still thinks himself justified, by the situation of affairs, for the course which he adopted and pursued. Has he exercised this power wantonly or im- properly ? If so, he is liable ; not, as he believes, to this honorable court for contempt, but to his government for an abuse of power, and to those individuals whom he has in- jured, in damages proportioned to that injury. " About the period last described, the consul of France, who appears, by Governor Claiborne's letter, to have embarrassed the first drafts, by his^laims in favor of pre- tended subjects of his king, renewed his interference ; his certificates were given to men in the ranks of the army; to some who had never applied, and to others who Avished to use them as the means of obtaining an inglorious ex- emption from danger and fatigue. The immunity derived from these certificates not only thinned the ranks, by the withdrawal of those to whom they were given, but pro- duced the desertion of others, who thought themselves equally entitled to the privilege ; and to this cause must be traced the abandonment of the important post of Chef Menteur, and the temporary refusal of a relief ordered to occupy it. " Under these circumstances, to remove the force of an example which had already occasioned such dangerous consequences, and to punish those who were so unwilling to defend what they were so ready to enjoy, the respondent issued a general order, directing those French subjects who had availed themselves of the consul's certificates, to ANDREW JACKSON. 167 remove out of the lines of defence, and far enough to avoid any temptation of intercourse with our enemy, whom they were so scrupulous of opposing. This measure was resorted to, as the mildest mode of proceeding against a dangerous and increasing evil ; and the respondent had the less scruple of his power, in this instance, as it was not quite so strong as that which Governor Claiborne had exercised, before the invasion, by the advice of his attor- ney general, in the case of Colonel Coliel. " It created, however, some sensation discontents were again fomented, from the source that had first pro- duced them. Aliens and strangers became the most vio- lent advocates of constitutional rights, and native Ameri- cans were taught the value of their privileges, by those who formerly disavowed any title to their enjoyment. The order was particularly opposed, in an anonymous publication. In this, the author deliberately and wick- edly misrepresented the order, as subjecting to removal, all Frenchmen whatever, even those who had gloriously fought in defence of the country : and after many dan- gerous and unwarrantable declarations, he closes, by call- ing upon all Frenchmen to flock to the standard of theil consul thus advising and producing an act of mutiny and insubordination, and publishing the evidence of our weakness and discord to the enemy, who were still in our vicinity, anxious, no doubt, before the cessation of hos- tilities, to wipe away the late stain upon their arms. To have silently looked on such an offence, without making any attempt to punish it, would have been formal surren- der of all discipline, all order, all personal dignity, and public safely. This could not be done ; and the respon- dent immediately ordered the arrest of the offender. A writ of habeas corpus was directed to issue for his en- largemem . The very case which had been foreseen, the very contingency on which martial law was intended to 188 BIOGRAPHY OF operate, had now occurred : the civil magistrate seemed to think it his duty to enforce the enjoyment of civil rights, although the consequences which have been de- scribed would probably have resulted. An unbending sense of what he seemed to think his station required, induced him to order the liberation of the prisoner. This, under the respondent's sense of duty, produced a conflict which it was his wish to avoid. No other course remained, than to enforce the princi- ples which he had laid down as his guide, and to suspend the exercise of this judicial power, wherever it interfered with the necessary means of defence. The only way ef- fectually to do this, was to place the judge in a situation in which his interference could not counteract the mea- sures of defence, or give countenance to the mutinous dis- position that had shown itself in so alarming a degree. Merely to have disregarded the writ, would but have in- creased the evil ; and to have obeyed it, was wholly repug- nant to the respondent's ideas of the public safety, and to his own sense of duty. The judge was therefore confined, and removed beyond the lines of defence. " As to the paper mentioned in the rule, which the re- spondent is charged with taking and detaining, he answers, that when the writ was produced by the clerk of this ho- norable court, the date of its issuance appeared to have been altered from the 5th to the 6th. He was questioned respecting the apparent alteration, and acknowledged it had been done by Judge Hall, and not in the presence ol the party who made the affidavit. This material altera- tion, in a paper that concerned him, gave the respondent, as he thought, a right to detain it for further investigation, which he accordingly did ; but gave a certified copy, and an acknowledgment that the original was in his posses- sion. " The respondent avows, that he considered this altera ANDREW JACKSON. 189 tion in the date of the affidavit, as it was then explained to him by the clerk, to be such evidence of a personal, not judicial, interference, and activity, in behalf of a mar. charged with the most serious offence, as justified the idet then formed, that the judge approved his conduct, and sup- ported his attempts to excite disaffection among the troops. " This was the conduct of the respondent, and these 'the motives which prompted it. They have been (airly and openly exposed to this tribunal, and to the world, and would not have been accompanied by any exception or waiver of jurisdiction, if it had been deemed expedient to give him that species of trial, to which he thinks himself entitled, by the constitution of his country. The powers which the exigency of the times forced him to assume, have been exercised exclusively for the public good ; and by the blessing of God, they have been attended with un- paralleled success. They have saved the country ; and whatever may be the opinion of that country, or the de- crees of its courts, in relation to the means he has used, he can never regret that he employed them." This defence requires no comment. At a subsequent day he attended to receive sentence, and when the judge, trembling at the murmurs of the indignant crowd, hesi- tated to pronounce it, " Fear not," said the illustrious pri- soner, waving the multitude to silence with his hand " fear not, your honor ; the same arm w T hich repelled the invasion of the enemy, shall protect the deliberations of this court." The sublime humility of the patriot general did not end here. The ladies of New Orleans, whose persons had been saved from terror and pollution, not by the habeas corpus, but by his valor, contributed a fund to discharge the fine. But they found he had an- ticipated them had paid one thousand dollars out of his small fortune, the whole of which he had pledged to th back of New Orleans, to raise money for its defence, and 100 BIOGRAPHY OF when their gratitude would force the contribution upon him, he preserved his independence, and displayed his humanity, by requesting that the money should be ap- plied to the relief of the widows and orphans of the brave citizens who had fallen in the campaign. Could Washington himself have have shown greater respect to the laws, or greater fidelity to the country? It has been said that Washington never refused to com- ply with the civil process. But he was a dictator, and who ever dared to oppose the civil process against his power ? Did he not execute deserters without even a military trial ? Did he not punish mutineers by decima- tion and instant death ? Did he not forage in New Jersey as in an enemy's country in each case on the ground of necessity ? He did, and his conscience and his country both approved him : while General Jackson, acting with less rigor, under equal necessity, is denounced as " the agent of illegal enormities." General Jackson retired from the court ; and, in spite of his exertions, he was borne in triumph through the streets to his lodgings by the grateful citizens. He seized the first interval, which the expression of their applause would permit, to address them. He told them, that two great lessons might be learned from the events which had hap- pened since he had been among them. The first was, however inadequate might be the apparent means, never to despair of their country ; never to refuse any sacrifice that might be necessary for its preservation ; and when ever the danger was past, to submit cheerfully to the ope ration of the laws, even when they punished acts which were* done to preserve them. That, for his own part, he Knew that what he had done could only be justified by necessity ; and to prevent that necessity from becoming the pretext for oppression, it was perhaps right that he who resorted to it should undergo the penalty of the lav , ANDREW JACKSON. 191 and find his indemnity in the approbation of his own con- science, and the evidence that his acts were done only to serve his country. Thus ended this memorable trial, and it is a subject of regret that many of his countrymen are still to be found, who condemn General Jackson for the measures he adopted from the dictation of the sternest necessity, for raising the reputation of his country, and defending one of its fairest cities from the horrors of assault, by a vic- tory as splendid as any recorded in history. There are many yet, who depreciate the consequences of this vic- tory ; who would tear from the brows of the brave men who gained it, the laurels which their courage and pa- triotism have won ; who would blot the bright page of our history in which the achievement is recorded, and would porsuade the people of the United States that in saving a populous city from plunder, the wives and daugh- ters of its inhabitants from violation, its churches from being profaned, and a whole state from the humiliation of conquest, the brave men who effected it, and the leader by whose courage, energy, and skill, they were animated and directed, had done nothing to deserve the gratitude of their country ; and that the United States had gained neither honor nor advantage from a victory that will pre- serve the name of the chief who obtained it, ages after those of his detractors shall cease to be remembered. Nor is it enough to snatch from him the honors he has already won the means of acquiring them in future must be destroyed every power exercised by a com- mander in defence of his country, must be called an of- fence every act of discipline must be considered a viola- tion of personal liberty mutiny, desertion, insubordina- tion of every kind, must be punished at the hazard of be- ing proclaimed a tyrant and murderer. The wretch, who, when called upon to defend his country in the hour 192 BIOGKAPHV OF of extreme danger, meanly abandons his post, and set? the authority of his officer at defiance the three times pardoned deserter the instigator and associate of the savage, who butchers unprotected women and children the savage, himself who executes this work of destruction are held up to public commiseration as suffering martyrs, because they were made to pay the penalty of their crimes. If these objections are to have effect, and be con- sidered valid, where is the commander, who will dare to enforce discipline, or exercise any powers necessary for the defence of his country : for where is there one that may not be called an invasion of civil rights 1 If he en- camp his army on the highway, it obstructs its free use ; if he turn aside into a neighboring field, it is trespass ; if be burn a house to save a retreat, it is arson ; if he seizes provisions to feed his famishing troops, it is robbery ; if he punish a deserter, it is murder ; if he prevent judges and lawyers and sheriffs from taking his sentinels from their posts, by writs of habeas corpus, it is a violation of constitutional right ; and if he will not suffer a printer, in a besieged town, to publish intelligence to the enemy, and excite disobedience in his camp, it violates the sacred liberty of the press! The only mode for those who hold this doctrine, is to contrive some means by which they may clear the country of an invading enemy, by a writ of forcible entry, and make him give up his post by an ejectment. The censures of General Jackson on this ground, are too absurd even for ridicule, and show that the authors of them despise the understanding of those to whom they are addressed. Thig authentic detail, we think, cannot fail of convin- cing our readers, that, in the prosecution of this glorious campaign in Louisiana, the commanding general united prudence to energy humanity to the highest exertion o, courage a creative genius to provide resources, \vith ANDREW JACKSON. 193 wisdom in their employment courtesy with dignity, in his intercourse with the enemy to whom he was opposed ; that, in the moment of triumph and success, his reli- gion attributed them to the interposition of Heaven as the great cause, and his modesty and justice acknowledged his brave companions in arms as the means by which they were attained ; and that he cheerfu/ly submitted to the laws of his country, when their operation punished him for acts by which those laws and the constitution were preserved.* * Livingston's Address. 17 194 BIOGRAPHY OF CHAPTER XII. General Jackson returns to Nashville Receives the con- gratulations of his countrymen He is appointed com mander-in-chief of the southern military division oj the United States Vote of thanks to him, from the Tennessee legislature Repairs to Washington Re- ceives the congratulations of the citizens of Lynchburg at a public dinner Returns to Nashville Proceeds from thence to New Orleans Grateful reception from the inhabitants He concludes a treaty with the Indians Issues a general order Defence of it. GENERAL JACKSON bade adieu to the grateful citizens of New Orleans, and commenced his journey to Nash ville. During his journey, he was received in all the places through which he passed, with every demonstra- tion of regard, and greeted as one who had done the most signal services for his countrymen, in protecting then, from the horrors of foreign invasion. He arrived at Nash- ville on the 18th of May, 1815, and was received with very flattering indications of respect by his fellow-citizens The disbanding of the army, after the declaration of peace, took place. Ten thousand troops were all that constituted the standing army of the United States, which consisted of two divisions, the northern and southern. General Jackson was appointed commander-in-chief of the southern division. His appointment to this command was received with universal approbation. His ability to command had been proved, by his numerous successes ANDREW JACKSON. 195 over the most warlike nation of savages, and the best ap- pointed armies in the world, under the most disadvanta- geous circumstances. He established his head-quarters at Nashville, where he continued to receive the flattering indications of the gratitude of his countrymen. From various legislatures he received votes of thanks, expressing, in appropriate terms, their approbation of his services. The legislature of Tennessee were among the first to manifest their re- gard for the character and achievements of General Jackson. They passed a vote of thanks, and presented him with a gold medal. They also presented elegant swords to Generals Coffee and Carroll, his gallant asso dates. Toward the close of the autumn of 1815, he re- paired to the seat of government. On his journey thither, he was received with those acclamations, which a grate- ful people ever bestow upon a distinguished benefactor Although in time of war, he avoided all parade and cere- monies inconsistent with the demands of duty ; yet he felt no disinclination, at this period, to a compliance with the wishes of his countrymen, to mingle with them at the convivial board, and reciprocate their civility and hospi tality. A public dinner was given him at Lynchburg, in Vir- ginia, at which THOMAS JEFFERSON, the sage of Monticello, was present. The hilarity and good feel- ing exhibited on this occasion, was indicative of the high estimation in which these two distinguished patriots were held by their countrymen. It was on this occasion that Mr. Jefferson gave his celebrated toast, " HONOR AND GRATITUDE TO THE MAN WHO HAS FILLED THE MEASURE OF HIS COUNTRY'S GLORY." On his arrival at Washington, he was re- ceived with much cordial affability by the president, and the heads cf the several departments of government. 196 BIOGRAPHY OF After a short sojourn in Washington, he returned ag-ain to Nashville. In the spring 01 1816, General Jackson repaired to New Orleans, the scene of his brilliant military opera- tions. Nothing could exceed the joy of the inhabitants, on receiving again into their city the distinguished pro- tector of their dearest rights from carnage and violation. After the mutual congratulations of their meeting were past, he reviewed the troops at that station, and finding them unhealthy, resolved to have them removed to the Alabama territory, which was soon after effected. The most exposed part of the southern division, was that which bordered on the Spanish provinces of Florida, which was inhabited by the Alabama and Seminole In- dians. General Jackson was aware that the stationing of American troops upon their borders, would tend to re- strain their barbarity ; and their aggressions could be more promptly punished. Subsequent events showed the wisdom of this measure. After regulating and stationing the army in the south ern section of his division, General Jackson, inaccord ance with previous instructions, entered into negotiations with the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Cherokee, and Creek nations. The object of the negotiation, was to obtain from them the absolute relinquishment of all the claim they pretended to have to lands within the limits of the United States, and which had previously been ceded by them. This measure evinced the moderation of the American government toward the natives. Although the territory had before been obtained, first by conquest, aftir a sanguinary war, occasioned by the savages themselves, and afterwards by treaty with them, by which they ac- knowledged their gratitude to the government for permit ting them to retain any territory, yet, to pacify them com- plete.y, for the diminution of their limits, and to extin- ANDREW JACKSON gnish their title, General Jackson concluded a treaty with them, the particulars of which are well known to the public. This important measure accomplished, he repaired to Huntsville, in the state of Mississippi, and published an order which was sanctioned by the government, by which all citizens of the United States, were enjoined to abstain from all encroachments upon Indian lands, and ordered such as had, to be removed in a limited number of days. In October, 1816, he returned to his head-quarters at Nashville. In the spring of 1817, he issued the follow- ing general order to his division : " The commanding general considers it due to the principles of subordination, which ought, and must exist in an army, to prohibit the obedience of any order ema- nating from the department of war, to officers of this divi- sion, who have reported and been assigned to duty, unless coming through him, as the proper organ of communica- tion. The object of this order, is to prevent the recur- rence of a circumstance, which removed an important officer from the division without the knowledge of the commanding general, and indeed, when he supposed that officer engaged in his official duties, and anticipated hourly the receipt of his official reports, on a subject of great importance to his command ; also to prevent the topographical reports from being made public through the medium of the newspapers, as was done in the case alluded to, thereby enabling the enemy to obtain the be- nefit of all our topographical researches, as soon as the general commanding, who is responsible for the division. Superior officers, having commands assigned them, are held responsible to the government, for the character and conduct of that command ; and it might as well be justi- fied in an officer, senior in command, to give orders to a guard on duty, without passing that order through the 17* 198 BIOGRAPHY OF officer of that guard, as that the department of war should countermand tht arrangements of commanding generals, without giving their order through the proper channel. To acquiesce in such a course, would be a tame surrender of i.iilitary rights and etiquette ; and at once subvert the established principles of subordination and good order. Obedience to the lawful commands of superior officers, is constitutionally and morally required : but there is a chain of communication that binds the military compact, which, if broken, opens the door to disobedience and disrespect, and gives loose to the turbu- lent spirits, who are ever ready to excite mutiny. All physicians, able to perform duty, who are absent on fur- lough, will forthwith repair to their respective posts. Commanding officers of regiments and corps, are ordered to report specially all officers absent from duty, and their cause of absence." For issuing this general order, General Jackson has received much severe animadversion. The circumstan- ces explaining and justifying this measure, are the follow- ing : While General Jackson was in the service of the United States, it occurred several times, and at seasons of the greatest pressure, that officers to whom he had as- signed important duties, were silently withdrawn from their posts by orders from some subaltern in the line, stationed as a deputy in the adjutant and inspector gene- ral's office at Washington. On the 1st of October, 1814, for example, just a fortnight after the first attack on Fort Bowyer, and while the whole British armament was hovering between Mobile and New Orleans, an order was issued from the war department, signed John R. Bell, deputy inspector general, directing Colonel Sparks, and the officers of the second regiment, including the gal- lant Major Lawrence, to proceed forthwith on the re- cruiting service ! This order was received while Gene- ANDREW JACKSON. 199 ral Jackson was effecting the timely expulsion of the British from Pensacola, and had left Mobile in the charge of Colonel Sparks, and Fort Bowyer in that of Major Lawrence. With commendable prudence, these officers declined obedience, and remained at their posts. General Jackson complained of it to the government, pointed out the serious consequences that might have been produced by it, and suggested the propriety of communicating, in future, all orders to his subordinates through him, inas- much as his capacity to defend the extensive and defence- less line of territory committed to his charge, would be destroyed, if the officers on whose vigilance and exertions he depended, were removed from their stations without his knowledge. This representation received no effectual attention from the government, and the anomalous practice it condemned continued at intervals to prevail. A forcible instance oc- curred in the person of Major Long, who, having report- ed himself under a regular order to General Jackson for duty, was directed by him to the upper Mississippi, for the purpose of sketching the topography of a district in that quarter, upon which a contest with the Indians was then apprehended. The next thing the general heard of his engineer, was, while he was anxiously expecting his report, (through a newspaper in New York,) that the major had sometime since established himself in that city, in obedience to an order from the war department. On the 4th March, 1817, General Jackson appealed to Mr. Monroe (the president) on the subject, reiterated his formor reasons against the irregularity, and deprecated with much earnestness its prevalence in his division, when no emergencies of war existed to require it, and when his head-quarters were at Nashville, a point of con- venient distribution for orders directed by mail to the va- rious military stations in the south and west. This com- 200 BIOGRAPHY OF munication, like the former, proving ineffectual, and de- termined no longer to have more responsibility than power, he took measures to bring the subject before the government, in a way thai would admit of no further ne- glect. On the 22d of April, he issued the general order which has been presented to our readers, forbidding the officers of his division to obey any order from the war depart- ment, which did not pass through the office of his adju- tant general. About two months after this, the president still declining any decision on the matter, and suffering it to fester by delay, an order was issued from the war department, to General Ripley, then in command at New Orleans ; which, in compliance with General Jackson's general order, he did not obey. Finding one of his of- ficers involved in difficulty by an act of military subordi- nation and fidelity, General Jackson immediately assumed an attitude which none but a martinet can fail to admire- In a letter to the president, of the 12th August, 1817, he referred to his former communications on this subject, and to the cases which had produced them repeated the substance of his general order, and stated the dilemma of General Ripley, and with his characteristic spirit and honor, thus relieved him from all responsibility : " This has given rise to proper disobedience of General Ripley, to the order of the department of war above alluded to, for which I hold myself responsible." He adds, " In the view I took of this subject" on the fourth of March, I had flattered myself you would coincide, and had hoped to receive your answer before a recurrence of a similar in- fringement of military rule rendered it necessary for me to call your attention thereto. None are infallible in their opinions, but it is nevertheless necessary, that all should act agreeably to their convictions of right. My convictions in favor of the course I have pursued are ANDREW JACKSON. 201 strong, and, should it become necessary, I will willingly meet a fair investigation before a military tribunal. The good of the service, and the dignity of the commission I hold, alone actuate me. My wishes for retirement have already been made known to you ; but, under existing cir- cumstances, my duty to the officers of my division forbids it, until this subject is fairly understood." The final de- cision, when it came, was, that orders to inferiors should pass through the commanding officer of the division, al- ways thereafter, unless in case of necessity ; thus admit- ting a principle contended for by General Jackson, and terminating a practice, which, under the aspect of legal authority, was subversive of discipline, injurious to ser- vice, and repugnant to justice. It is true that by the constitution, the president is com- mander-in-chief of the army, and that, by a custom almost equivalent to law, the orders of the secretary are consi dered the orders of the president, and that, among the illegitimate descendants of this custom, was the practice of confiding the power of the department to lieutenants of the line, whose enormous deviations from propriety, as in the order to Colonel Sparks, brought it into question and disrepute. But the president is commander-in-chief, only in the same sense in which the general is comman- der of his division, and has no stronger claim to the obe- dience of the general, than the latter has to the obedience of the colonel ; and his orders, whether issued under his sign manual, or through the secretary of war, or the im- posing instrumentality of a subaltern, are to be restrained by the laws of congress and the principles of the constitu- tion. No man will contend, that his authority in the army is absolute that he can of his own accord inflict capital punishment on a soldier can make a lieutenant command a captain a colonel a general, or exact duty from either without allowing him his proper rank. Now 202 BIOGRAPHY OF the essence of rank consists in the superiority of com mand, which it confers ; and any order of the president making an inferior disobey the orders of his superior, is a derogation of the rank of that superior, and produces a disorder, the removal of which necessarily exposes to dis- turbance, in a similar and equivalent degree, the authority of the president over the superior. The order to Colonel Sparks required a direct and vio- lent disobedience to General Jackson's command, as that to Major Long effected it. To have rendered these orders entirely legal and expedient, they should have been communicated through the commanding general. They would then have preserved the just equality between re- sponsibility and power, which the nature of delegated authority requires. And instead of causing one act of obedience, and one of disobedience, they would have pro- duced two acts of perfect obedience, through agents re- lated in due subordination to each other. The course pursued by the government, moreover, involved the sig- nal injustice of fixing publicly the proportion of General Jackson's power and responsibility, upon which propor- tion, it must be presumed, he consented to assume the latter ; and then privately r , and without his knowledge, reducing the former below that proportion, by a proceed- ing much in the nature of an ex post facto law. The silence and hesitation persevered in, respecting his re- monstrances, while they tended to produce an impression that the reasons he advanced were not disapproved, cre- ated a strong demand for the decisive measures he adopt- ed, and the fact which is but too apparent that the irregu- larity he complained of, was calculated, if continued, to disappoint th3 department, as well as the general, as it might be retorted by the latter in various perplexing ways, furnishes another strong objection to it. Its only excuse is a complete justification of it, where it can be ANJ/REW JACKSON. 203 shown, and a marked condemnation of it, where it cannot be shown ; viz. necessity. To this fair adjustment ana full redress, General Jackson brought this abuse in the service, and for the spirit and judgment he displayed on that occasion alone, ne reserves the gratitude of the army, and the respect of his fellow-citizens. 204 BIOGRAPHY OT CHAPTER XI I/. Causes thct ltd to the Seminole war General invades Florida /* censured for it Defence of tht measure His letter to the governor of Georgia De- tail of the causes which elicited it Destruction oj the Chehaw village, and, its consequences. OUR readers will recollect that in the month of August, 1814, while a war existed between the United States and Great Britain, to which Spain had formally declared her- self neutral, a British force, not in the fresh pursuit of a defeated and flying enemy, not overstepping an imagi- nary and equivocal boundary between their own territo- ries, and those belonging, in some sort, as much to their enemy as to Spain ; but approaching by sea, and by a broad and open invasion of the Spanish province, at a thousand miles, or an ocean's distance from any British territory, landed in Florida, took possession of Pensacola, and the fort of Barrancas, and invited by public procla- mations all the runaway negroes, all the savage Indians, all the pirates, and all the traitors to their country, whom they knew, or imagined to exist, within reach of their summons, to join their standard, and wage an extermina- ting war against the portion of the United States, imme- diately bordering upon this neutral, and thus violated territory of Spain. The land commander of this British force, it will be recollected, was the famous Colonel Ni- choll, of proclamation memory, who, driven from Pensa- cola by the approach of General Jackson, actually left, to be blown up, the Spanish fort of Barrancas, when he ANDREW JACKSON. 205 found it could not afford him protection ; and evacuating that part of the province, landed at another, established himself on the Apalachicola river, and there erected a fort, from which to sally forth with his motley tribe of black, white, and red combatants, against the defenceless borders of the United States, in that vicinity. A part of this force consisted of a corps of colonial marines, levied in the British colonies, in which George Woodbine was a captain, and Robert Christie Ambrister was a lieute- nant. As between the United States and Great Britain, this transaction would have been buried in the same grave of oblivion, with other transactions of that war, had the hos- tilities of Colonel Nicholl terminated with the war. But he did not consider the peace which ensued between the United States and Great Britain, as having put an end, either to his military occupations, or to his negotiations with the Indians against the United States. Several months after the ratification of the treaty of Ghent, he re- tained his post, and his party-colored forces, in military array. By the ninth article of that treaty, the United States had stipulated to put an end, immediately after its ratification, to hostilities with all the tribes or nations of Indians, with whom they might be at war at the time of the ratification, and to restore to them all the possessions which they had enjoyed in the year 1811. This article had no application to the Creek Nation, with whom the United States had already made peace, by a treaty con- cluded on the ninth day of August, 1814, more than four months before the treaty of Ghent was signed. Yet Co- lonel Nicholl not only affected to consider it as applying to the Seminoles of Florida, and the outlawed Red SUCKS, whom he had induced to join him there, but actually per suaded them that they were entitled, by virtue of the treaty of Ghent, to all the lands which had belonged to the 18 206 " BIOGRAPHY OF Creek nation, within the United States, in the year 1811, and that the government of Great Britain woald support them in that pretension. He asserted also this doctrine in a correspondence with Colonel Hawkins, then the agent of the United States with the Creeks, and gave him notice in their name, with a mockery of solemnity, that they had concluded a treaty of alliance, offensive and de fensive, and a treaty of navigation and commerce, with Great Britain, of which more was to be heard after it should be ratified in England. Colonel Nicholl then vacuated his fort, and took with him the white portion of his force, and embarked for England with several ol the wretched savages, whom he 'was thus deluding to their fate, among whom was the prophet Francis or Hil- lis Hadjo, and left the fort, amply supplied with military stores and ammunition, to the negro department of his ailies. It afterwards was known by the name of the Ne- gro Fort. Colonel Hawkins immediately communicated to our government the correspondence betAveen him and Nichoh, upon which, Mr. Monroe, then secretary of state, address- ed a letter to Mr. Baker, the British charge d'affaires at Washington, complaining of Nicholl's conduct, and showing that his pretence, that the ninth article of the treaty of Ghent could have any application to his Indians, was utterly destitute of foundation. Copies of the same correspondence were transmitted to the minister of the United States, then in England, with instructions to re- monstrate with the British government against these pro- ceedings of Nicholl, and to show how incompatible they were with the peace which had been concluded between the two nations. These remonstrances were accordingly made, first in personal interview with Earl Bathurst and Lord Castlereagh, and afterwards in written notes ad- dressed successively to them, together with extracts from ANDREW JACKSON. 207 the dispatches of the American ministers to the secretary of state, reporting what passed at those interviews. Lord Bathurst, in the most unequivocal manner, confirm- ed the facts, and digavowed the misconduct of Nicholl ; declared his disapprobation of the pretended treaty of alli- ance, offensive and defensive, which he had made, assured the American minister that the British government had refused to ratify that treaty, and would send back the In- dians, whom Nicholl had brought with him, with advice to make their peace on such terms as they could obtain. Lord Castlereagh confirmed the assurance that the treaty would not be ratified ; and if at the same time that these assurances were given, certain distinctions of public no- toriety were shown to the prophet Hillis Hadjo, and he was actually honored with a commission as a British of- ficer, it is to be presumed that these favors were granted him as rewards of past services, and not as encourage ment to expect any support from Great Britain, in a con tinuance of savage hostilities against the United States ; all intention of giving any such support having been re- peatedly and earnestly disavowed. The negro fort, however, abandoned by Colonel Ni- choll, remained on the Spanish territory, occupied by the banditti to whom he had left it, and held by them as a post from whence to commit depredations, outrages, and murders, and as a receptacle for fugitive slaves and male- factors, to the great annoyance both of the United States and of Spanish Florida. In the year 1817, Alexander Arbuthnot, of the Island of New Providence, a British subject, first appeared as an English trader in Spanish Florida, and as the succes- sor of Colonel Nicholl in the employment of instigating the Seminole and outlawed Red Stick Indians to hostili- ties against the United States, by reviving the pretence that they were entitled to all the lands which had been - 1* fc *+ M 208 BIOGRAPHY OF ceded by the Creek nation to the United States, in Au- gust, 1814. As a mere Indian trader, the intrusion of this man into a Spanish province was contrary to the po- licy observed by all the European powers in this hemi- sphere, and by none more rigorously than by Spain, of excluding all foreigners from intercourse with the Indians within their territories. It must be known to the Spanish government whether Arbuthnot had a Spanish license for trading with the Indians in Spanish Florida, or not ; but they also know that Spain was bound by treaty to re- strain by force all hostilities on the part of those Indians, against the citizens of the United States ; and it is for them to explain, how, consistently with those engage- ments, Spain could, contrary to all the maxims of her or- dinary policy, grant such a license to a foreign incendiary, whose principal if not his only object, appears to have been, to stimulate those hostilities which Spain had ex- pressly stipulated by force to restrain. In his infernal instigations he was but too successful. No sooner did he make his appearance among the Indians, accompanied by the prophet Hillis Hadjo, returned from his expedition to England, than the peaceful inhabitants on the borders of the United States were visited with all the horrors of savage war ; the robbery of their property, and the bar barous and indiscriminate murder of woman, infancy, and age. After the repeated expostulations, warnings, and offers of peace, through the summer and autumn of 1817, on the part of the United States, had been answered only by renewed outrages, and after a detachment of 40 men, under Lieutenant Scott, accompanied by seven women, had been waylaid and murdered by the Indians, orders \vere given to General Jackson, and an adequate force was placed at his disposal, to terminate the war. It was ascertained, that the Spams forct ii. Florida was inade ANDREW JACKSON. 209 quate for the protection even of the Spanish territory it- self, against this mingled horde of lawless Indians and negroes ; and although their devastations were committed within the limits of the United States, they immediately sought refuge within the Florida line, and there only were to be overtaken. The necessity of crossing the line was indispensable ; for it was from beyond the line that the Indians made their murderous incursions within that of the United States. It was there that they had their abode ; and the territory belonged in fact to them, al- though within the borders of the Spanish jurisdiction. Of all the sins that have been laid to General Jackson's charge, none have been branched out into the crimina- ting counts of an indictment, and reiterated with more spiteful tautology, than those relative to his conduct of the Seminole war. It has been said, in relation to it, that " he invaded a neutral country in defiance of orders, and in violation of that provision of the constitution, which intrusts the power of peace and war to the president oi the United States." How far the invasion of Florida was in defiance oj orders, may be determined by reference to the following documentary abstract. On the 9th of December, 1817, the secretary of war ordered General Gaincs, " should the Indians assemble in force on the Spanish side of the line, and persevere in committing hostilities, within the li- mits of the United States, in that event, to exercise a sound discretion, as to the propriety of crossing the line for the purpose of attacking' them, and breaking up their towns." On the 16th December, he writes to the same : '* Should the Seminole Indians still refuse to make repa- ration for their outrages and depredations on the citizens of the United States, it is the wish of the president, that you consider yourself at liberty to march across the Flo- rida line, and attack them within its limits." Soon after 18* 210 BIOGRAPHY OF this last order, the president received intelligence of the massacre of Mrs. Garrett and her family, and the shock- ing butchery of Lieutenant Scott and his detachment of forty men. Under the melancholy impression of these events, he had recourse to the well known energy and talent of General Jackson, and called upon him to repair to the scene of danger, and " terminate the conflict." The first order he received, dated the 26th December, 1817, recited " the increasing display of hostile inten- tions by the Seminole Indians," and authorized him to call on the executives of the adjoining states, for a mili- tary force sufficient " to beat the enemy." It also in- formed him, that General Gaines, his second in com- mand, had been directed " to penetrate from Amelia Island through Florida to the Seminole towns. With this \'n v you may be prepared to concentrate your force, and to adopt the necessary measures,, to terminate the conflict." It cannot be disputed that these orders, not only authorized General Jackson, but actually command- ed him, to invade Florida. He is informed that since the orders authorizing Ge- neral Gaines to " march across the Florida lines, and at- tack the Indians within its limits," were issued, the go- vernment had learnt "their increasing display of hostile intentions," in the murder of Mrs. Garrett and family, and Lieutenant Scott and his men, and therefore General Gaines had been " directed to penetrate from Amelia Island, through Florida, and co-operate in an attack on the Seminole towns, if his force were sufficient for that offensive operation ; and that with this view" he himself was expected " to concentrate his force and adopt the ne- cessary measures to terminate the conflict." With whal view then, would we ask, was General Jackson " to con- centrate his force and adopt his measures ?" The only answer that can be made is, with the view of " penetrating ANDREW JACKSON. 211 into Florida," and carrying on within its limits such mili- tary operations as would be " necessary to terminate the conflict." What justification, rather what apology, can be offered by General Jackson's accusers, against the in- dignation of the American people, and the reproaches of truth, for declaring that this act of his was in " defiance of orders ?" The orders themselves correspond with the act, and the act conforms to the interpretation given to the orders by the government that issued them. On the 25tli of March, 1818, the president, in a message to con- gress, adverting to the course and spirit of the Indian hos- tilities, says, " General Jackson was ordered to the theatre of action, charged with the management of the war, and vested with the powers necessary to give it effect." And on the 13th May following, the secretary of war writes to Governor Bibb, " General Jackson is vested with full powers to conduct the war in the manner he may judge best." Now how could General Jackson's discretion, which was intrusted with these full powers, fail to deter- mine on crossing the Florida line, in order to comply with his instructions, to " beat the enemy," and to " ter- minate the conflict," when that enemy was situated within the limits of Florida ? It was totally impossible. As this act of General Jackson was authorized and commanded by the president of the United States, whom, as a major general in the service, he was bound to obey, it is no part of his defence to disprove the allegation of its being a violation of a provision of the constitution. This charge, were it sustainable, would evidently miss Gene- ral Jackson and hit Mr. Monroe. But it was debated in the house of representatives with intense eagerness for about three weeks ; was discussed by thirty-two members, and enforced by all the boasted management and eloquence of Mr. Clay, and yet was decided in the negative by a vote of one, hundred to seventy. We have only to remark, 212 BIOGRAPHY OF that the entrance of the American army into Florida, and their provisional assertion of our belligerent rights, in the place of the abused or the derelict authority of Spain, was no violation of neutrality, much less an act of war, but strictly defensive ; authorized by the principle of self- preservation, which is derived from the law of nature it- self; is recognized by the law of nations, and conduces to their mutual safety ; and under the obligations of which, the president, to whom the constitution commits the de- fence of the nation, and the assertion of its rights, was bound to prosecute the war with the Seminole Indians to a speedy and successful issue. The right of self-defence, belonging to the nation, and committed to the president, carried with it a right to the means of its exercise. The inability of the Spanish authorities, or their unwillingness to preserve towards us the general obligations of neutrality, or to comply with the positive obligations of a treaty, binding them to restrain the Indians within their limits from hostilities against the citizens of the United States, brought General Jackson's military operations in Florida strictly within the number of these means. But whether regarded as they relate to the constitution of this country, or as they affected the rights of Spain, they are equally insufficient to inculpate General Jackson. He acted, like other commanders, under the orders of his government, and these order" he executed with his usual energy and address. He was not respon- sible for their nature, or for the extent of operations which they commanded, and therefore needed no defence. Presuming that our readers are convinced that the invasion of Florida by General Jackson was not in " defiance of orders," or a violation of any provision of the constitution, we will proceed in the detail of the subse- quent events of this memorable campaign. Soon after the arrival of General Jackson in Georgia, preparatory to ANDREW JACKSON. .1,3 his expedition into Florida, a highly impolitic measure adopted by the governor of that state elicited censure from General Jackson. His accusers assert, that a " spi- rit of domination, fiery misrule, and impetuosity of tem- per," is displayed, in his celebrated letter to Governor Ra- bun, where he is made to say, " When I am in the field, you have no authority to issue a military order." The un- fairness of the extract, and the circumstances which eli- cited the expression from General Jackson, will appear in the following detail of events : " When General Jackson assumed the direction of the Seminole war, he found General Gaines near Hartford, in Georgia, at the head of the contingent force of that etate, which he speedily put into motion. Advancing with his raw force of one thousand men, in the direction of Fort Scott, he passed on rude rafts and scarcely practi- cable routes, the fenny swamps, and flooded rivers of that region, impelled by the energy of his character, and the hope of finding the supplies which had been ordered there, at Fort Early. But when he reached that place, the dan- ger of famine was not abated, there being only a barrel and a half of flour, and a few bushels of corn, in the fort. In the neighborhood lived a small tribe of Indians, the Chehaws, whose friendship, though doubted, now proved sincere. To these sons of the forest, in his extremity, he applied, desiring them to bring in such supplies of corn, peas, and potatoes, as they could spare, and promising liberal pay for them. They immediately brought a small supply, and on the general's encamping near their vil- lage, which lay directly in his route to Fort Scott, their aged chief, Howard, the survivor of many wars with the kings of the forest and the foes of his tribe, received him as a brother, and the simple-hearted community emptied, almost to exhaustion, to relieve the wants of their guests, the small stock of food which had been collected for their 214 BIOGRAPHY OF subsistence through the winter. Enthusiasm succeeding their kindness the few warriors of the village joined the American standard, and it was only in compliance with Jackson's request, that the grandson of Howard, a youth of eighteen, was left to assist that patriarch of the woods, in attending to the old men, women, and children. Thus, confiding in the honor of General Jackson, and in the faith of the United States, the Chehaw villagers were left in complete exposure. But what had they to apprehend, or what had General Jackson to apprehend for them ? To the commanding officer of the small garrison left at Fort Early, he had given instruction to consider the Chehaws as friends, and there was no power behind him that could be dangerous to the allies of the United States. Having clasped the right hand of Howard in friendship, marshalled the warriors of the tribe, and assured the women of peace and protection, who, with their " young barbarians," wit- nessed his departure, he hastened onward to the theatre of war. Where the lion walks harmless, the wolf prowls most ferociously. A Captain Wright, of the Georgia militia, upon some false information, conceived and communicated to the governor the impression, that after the march of General Jackson from the vicinity of Hartford, hostilities had been committed on that section of the frontier by the Phillimees and Oponees subordinate or rather incorpo- rated septs of the Chehaw tribe. The governor, on this erroneous representation, issued a very inconsiderate cr- der, empowering the Captain to march at the head of two companies of cavalry, and such infantry as could be drawn from the garrison of Fort Early, against the supposed ag- gressors. It was in vain that the commanding officer there assured Captain Wright of the friendship and innocence of the Chehaws, and informed him of their recent aid and hospitality to General Jackson. But why prolong the ANDREW JACKSON. 215 ditadful recital ? The governor's party had the power and the will to destroy. They burst like a tempest on the devoted village. Helpless age and unresisting infancy they confounded in one torrent of destruction. The bay- onet, red with the blood of the infant, was plunged into the breast of the mother. The aged Howard, supported by his grandson, advanced with a white flag, and was shot with that emblem of faith and peace in his feeble hand. The same cruel volley dispatched his grandson the village was given to the flames the women and chil- dren to the edge of the sword, or they fled from instant slaughter, in terror and exile, to famine. Wider scenes of desolation have indeed been spread on the face of the globe, when Hyder descended like a thunder-cloud from the mountains of Mysore, upon the plains of the Carnatic or when Turreau left La Vendee shrouded in soli- tude and ashes. But a deeper stain of dishonor, or a more intense visitation of wo, was never seen or inflicteji, than at the secluded village, of the Chehaws. The mas- sacre of Wyoming was mercy to it, and the revenge of Brandt far less cruel than this amity of the United States. It violated, at one blow, humanity, friendship, and the faith of treaties the obligations of justice, gratitude, and honor and involved in its consequences the disgrace of the na- tion, the murder of our citizens, and the probable renewal of the war, which was then almost concluded. Against this shameful outrage, the heart of Jackson arose, and he resented it with indignation, but not without dignity ; complaining to the executive of the United States, and re- monstrating with that of Georgia. To the former he says, (7th May, 1818,) " The outrage which has been commit- ted on the superannuated warriors, women, and children of' the Chehaws, whose sons were then in the field, in the service of the United States, merits the severest chastise- ment. The interference, too, of the governor of Georgia 216 BIOGRAPHY OF with the duties imposed on me, claims the early attention of the president. All the effects of my campaign may by this one act be destroyed, and the same scenes of massacre and murder with which our frontier settlements have been visited, again repeated." To the latter, (7th May,) after referring to the massacre as " base and cowardly," and to an inclosed copy of General Glascock's letter detailing it, he observes, " That a governor of a state should make war against an Indian tribe at perfect peace with and un der the protection of the United States, is assuming a re sponsibility that I trust you will be able to excuse to the United States, to which you will have to answer ;" and he adds, " you, as governor of a state within my military divi- sion, have no right to give a military order when I am in the field." This last is the phrase which General Jack- son's accusers have " torn from its context," and repeated with an aggravating abbreviation, and in alarming italics. " When I am in the field you have no right to issue a military order." Now, although the negation may at first appear too general, yet the context plainly limits it to the field of command on which Jackson was then em- ployed. It obviously was not his intention to say that the governor had no right to regulate the militia concerns of his state, or to order out quotas in the service of the Uni- ted States ; but that he had no right, as governor of Geor- gia, to interfere with his duties, by operations extraneous to the sovereignty of the state, and hostile to the Indians at peace with and under the protection of the United States. In this he was perfectly right, and evinced a disposition to preserve rather than to disturb the harmony so desirable between the states and the general government. The power of making war is vested exclusively by the consti tution in the federal government, and the equivalent duty imposed on it of guarantying the integrity and indepen dence of the severa- states This duty, the fraerai go ANDREW JACKSON. 217 vernment was then in the act of discharging in favor of the state of Georgia ; and yet, acccording to General Jackson's accusers, the governor of Geogria was to in- terrupt its military operations, and to murder its friends and allies, without the voice of remonstrance or admo- nition. Let us suppose, for a moment, that after Ge- neral Brown had concluded a friendly agreement with the Buffalo Indians, and with their supplies of provisions and men, had invaded Canada, Governor Tompkins had come on his track, burnt the friendly village, and destroyed or dispersed its inhabitants. Would it have been an un- pardonable offence in General Brown to remonstrate against that outrage, and to inform Governor Tompkins that he had transcended his authority ? Would it have displayed a " dangerous spirit of domination," or an ho aorable feeling of justice and humanity? And would ii have exposed General Brown to the suspicion and exe- cration of his fellow citizens, or entitled him to their ap- probation and support ? The acquaintance of those with history who accuse General Jackson should remind them that the taking of Saguntum, while in alliance with the Romans, was the immediate cause of the second Punic war, and that the destruction of that city excited a digni- fied resentment in the Roman people, which defeat after defeat, and slaughter after slaughter, could not subdue, and gave a moral interest as well as a political force to the vengeful expression of the elder Cato, " delenda es Carthago." Not to mention other examples of feeling repugnant to the sentiments with which they contemplate the sensibility of General Jackson for the fate of the Che- haws, the pride which on a late occasion England took in stretching forth her power as an aegis over her " ancient ally," may be cited when Mr. Canning, as the organ of his country, declared to the nations in a tone of generous defiance, that when the march of foreign conquest touched 19 218 BIOGRAPHY OF the frontiers of Portugal, it must stay its haughty step. Yet while we admire the spirit of the Roman people and of the English statesman, we are persuaded to believe that when our own patriot protested against an outrage on humanity, a violation of faith, and a usurpation of autho- rity, acquiescence in which would have stained with dis- grace our common sense, our common nature, and our common country, he displayed a " fiery misrule of tem- per," and " a dangerous spirit of domination." It may, perhaps, be within the extensive circle of their sophistry to contend that the governor of Georgia, as the head of a sovereign state, had a right to make war on the Indians, the right of war being an incident inse- parable from sovereignty. Waiving the constitutional pact between the states and the federal government, and the laws of congress placing the Indian tribes under the control and keeping of the United States, which would at once defeat this course of argument, it will be enough to observe, that even if the governor had the right of waging this war, he was bound to prosecute it according to the law of nations and the usages of war. These would have rendered it his duty to ascertain first, whether the injury he complained of was really committed by the Chehaws and if it were, secondly, whether the authori- ties of that tribe would make, or refuse proper repara- tion. This is the practice of all civilized states is that of the United States and was exemplified in the late dis- turbance with the Winnebagoes. So that, conceding the right of war to the governor, his violation of the laws and usages of war to the injury of the Chehaws, justly exposed him to the remonstrances of General Jackson, who, as an officer of the United States, the guest of the venerable Howard, and the commander of the Chehaw warriors, was in strict alliance with that tribe, and bound to protect it. The fact is, that the governor of Georgia ANDREW JACKSON. 219 was, for a time, so infatuated, as to consider his official dignity invaded, and his power encroached upon by this remonstrance of the general, and under that impression wrote a letter to him, reminding him of Georgia's "bleed- ing frontier," and taunting him with affecting " a military despotism." The fact is, too, that this, his letter, made its gasconading appearance in a Georgia journal, before it was received by the general, and fell into disreputable oblivion soon after. And the probability is, that the ge- neral's accusers, who, though prodigal in charges, are penurious in proofs, have been guided to this buried slan- der by a sense for defamation as keen and creditable as that which leads certain winged gnostics to the carcasses of the dead. But it has as little truth as fragrance. For from the time the Georgia brigade encamped on the Oak- inulgee, and under the conduct of General Jackson, march- ed by the way of Fort Early to Fort Scott, up to the close of the war, the southern frontier of that state could neither have bled nor been exposed. A thousand men, either sta- tioned on that frontier, or penetrating from it into the In- dian country, naturally bore off any thing like hostility ; and accordingly General Jackson met with no opposition until he reached the Mickasuky towns, at least 150 miles south of Hartford. Besides, the Tennessee contingent, consisting also of 1000 men, had marched on 14th of Feb. from Fayetteville, in Tennessee, under the command of Colonel Hayne, of the United States army, and after reaching Fort Mitchell, on their way to join General Jack- son at Fort Scott, had information that their rations, which had given out, could not be replenished in the direction of Fort Scott, filed off to the left, and by a route nearly pa- rallel to the advance of Jackson, had passed into Georgia, at Hartford ; where Colonel Hayne with 400 men re- mained for the protection of that frontier, until after the period at which Governor Rabun represented it to be 220 "fclOGRAPHY OF "bleeding." There could therefore have been no real cause, as there was no possible justification, for the attack on the Chehaws ; and of this the governor himself was soon sensible, for in a letter of the llth May, from Mill- edgeville, General Glascock says to General Jackson, " I had an interview with the agent and the governor, and they have concluded that a talk will immediately be held with the chiefs of that place ascertain the amount of property destroyed, and make ample reparation for the same. This is at once acknowledging the impropriety of the attack, and not in the least degree throwing off the stigma that win be attached to the state." ANDREW JACKSON. 221 CHAPTER XIV. General Jackson arrives at Fort St. Marks Captures it Censures of him for his operations in Florida Cir- cumstances justifying his acts Arbuthnot and Ambris- ter Their agency in producing the Seminole war Justification of their punishment Detail of the particu- lars of the Seminole war as given by General Jackson. WHILE the unfortunate affair of the Chehaws was transpiring, General Jackson was proceeding in the direc- tion of Fort St. Marks. Its situation was in the interior of Florida, on a river of the same name ; and had long been the scene of the most nefarious designs, and the starting point from which marauders, depredators, and murderers, had taken their departure. This place he captured, and from it he directed his operations against the Seminoles yet unsubdued. As every act of General Jackson during this campaign has been made the subject of the severest animadversion, we have been necessitated to incorporate the detail of it with a defence of his measures, and to render that defence acceptable to our readers, we have availed ourselves of the masterly productions of the wri- ter alluded to in our preface, whose admirable defences of General Jackson's public acts on various occasions, we have often made our readers familiar with in the course of this volume. General Jackson is charged with having " decoyed and slaughtered the Indians while at St. Marks." The subject of this charge is indissolubly connected 19* 222 BIOGRAPHY OF with the crimes and fate of Arbuthnot and Ambrister, and blends itself intimately with General Jackson's ope- rations in Florida. But the scene of these transactions is so remote and obscure covered by untravelled wilder- nesses, unmeasured swamps, and undefined jurisdictions the characters upon which they operate so notorious and yet so unknown, their allegiance so diversified, and their motives so various, that the attention of ever a fair in- quirer is often bedimmed and confounded in their study, as the strongest eye is mocked in pursuing the even chang- ing reflection from agitated water. In their present state of indigestion, they form a mass of rubbish, behind which every scribbler who chooses to revile General Jackson, and hopes to delude the public, entrenches himself. The dramatis persona engaged in the catastrophe which Jackson is accused of producing, were Lieut. Col. Nicholl, of the British artillery Woodbine, an Eng- lish adventurer - of fine address and desperate morals, trainer of hostile Indians, with the title if not the rank of captain, and in that respect, adjunct and successor of Nicholl Arbuthnot, a Scotchman, who had left his wife in Europe, married a colored one in the West Indies, and with a son by the former taken a trading position in Florida, got himself elected chief of the Indians at war with the United States, and as such had sanctioned the butchery of Lieutenant Scott and his party Ambrister, a half officer and half buccanier, who, with the commis- sion of " auxiliary lieutenant of colonial marines," given by Admiral Cochrane during the war with this country, was taken three years after the peace, leading the Indians and fugitive negroes in the battle against the troops of the United States. Hambly and Doyle, subjects of Spain, agents of a commercial firm in Pensacola, driving the Indian trade in an establishment on the Apalachicola, and favorers of peace Cook, clerk to Arbuthnot, also in fa- ANDREW JACKSON. 223 vor of peace Francis or Hillis Hadjo, chief of the pro- phets of the Creek Nation, appointed by Tecumseh in his insurrectional visit to the southern tribes in the fall of 1812, an inveterate enemy of the United States, had re- fused to unite with his countrymen in the capitulation of Fort Jackson, abandoned his country, and at the head of the outlawed Red Sticks, had taken refuge and protection with the Seminoles in Florida, instigated them to rapine and murder, and had witnessed and encouraged the mas sacre of Lieutenant Scott and his party Hemithlimaco, a Red Stick chief, the principal warrior of the prophet, and principal perpetrator of that massacre. The motives and liabilities of these men were as va- rious as their names and nations. The motive of Nicholl was success in his profession and service to his country, stained with the design of debasing the chivalry of war, by the employment of savage associates. To this Wood- bine added, and in a predominating degree, the infamous desire of plunder and profit. Lucre was the sole object of Arbuthnot, and his means for procuring it were saga- cious and unscrupulous proposing to acquire an influ- ence over all the surrounding Indian tribes, by means of it to disturb their existing relations with their civilized neighbors, both as to territory and trade, and to engross the entire profits of the latter. A mixed and unprincipled thirst for gain and for fame, seems to have actuated Am- brister. Interest, which incited Arbuthnot and Ambrister to produce confusion, made Hambly and Doyle anxious to preserve peace. Cook was engaged to be married to a girl in New Providence, and felt therefore un inordinate at- tachment to life, and little disposition to run the hazards of his employer, Arbuthnot. The " self-exiled' prophet, loving his country less than he hated her enemies, was filled with revenge for the disasters of the Creek war, for the loss of influence which they had occasioned him, for 224 BIOGRAPHY OF the severities which his refusal to submit to the capitula tion of Fort Jackson had occasioned him, and for the "ex- emplary punishment" denounced against him by the or- der of the secretary of war, (16th January, 1818,) which was committed for execution to General Jackson. He was further stimulated by the pride of character, which a late visit to England, and a flattering reception from the prince regent, had inspired, and by the hope of reviving the hostile spirit of the Creeks, and regaining his former influence and possessions. With a hatred to the United States equally passionate and fierce, Hemithlimaco was infuriated by a natural thirst for carnage, superstitious re- verence for the prophetical dignity of Francis, and habit- ual eagerness to execute his most brutal purposes. The agency of these individuals, impelling, moderat- ng, or counteracting each other, and deriving more or less encouragement and aid from the Spanish authorities, had kept up a state of hesitating war, but unremitting robbery and bloodshed, on our southern frontier, ever since the ter- mination of the Creek war, in August, 1814. In its least offensive but most dangerous form, it was repelled by Ge- neral Jackson, when he dislodged the British armament from Pensacola, in November of'that year. We have be- fore attempted to show how, with more than a mother's care, a patriot's fire, and a statesman's foresight, on the first intelligence of its appearance there, he flew unor- dered to the protection of Mobile, and fortified and gar- risoned Fort Bowyer. How, while he awakened by dis- patches the vigilance of the cabinet, just composed after the capture of Washington he roused the patriotism of the people, and calling on Coflfee and his volunteers with a voice in which they heard the trump of fame, he forced the British to abandon Pensacola, and the Spaniards to maintain their neutrality. How, after securing the left flank of his extensive line of defence, penetrable by rivers, ANDREW JACKSON. 225 and accessible by bays, he passed with incredible expedition to the banks of the Mississippi, with little other aid from the government than stale intelligence and diplomatic di rections, with arms, flints, and money, collected by him self, with raw, unfurnished, and inferior forces, he van quished both in attack and defence, the most formidable veterans of Europe, and surpassed in skill and courtesy, her renowned and accomplished generals. Since the peace with England, these lawless disturbances had been continued by forays of rapine and murder, principally on the southern borders of Georgia, which, after some move- ments of troops, many talks with the Indians, and much diplomacy with Spain, were persevered in until the fall of 1817 murder and military execution were committed on our unsuspecting soldiers and helpless women and chil- dren. Public opinion now appealed to the government, and the government to General Jackson. He took the field, and with that unerring aim of judgment and courage, which, like the noble instinct of the mastiff, springs right at the heart, he penetrated and destroyed the sources of this cruel and infamous war, with the utmost possible ex- pedition and the least practicable bloodshed. Without provisions, and with a force of only 1000 raw militia and Indians, to whom too he was a stranger, he entered Flo- rida, built Fort Gads'iea, routed the Indians at Micasuky, found in their village near 300 old scalps, and on the pro- phet's red pole 50 frosh ones, most of them recognized by the ha ; r to have belonged to the unfortunate party of Lieu- tenant Scott. Here, ascertaining from the prisoners that a part of the enemy had fled to St. Marks, and also as- certaining the criminal complicity of the commandant, he formed a determination to prevent any further abuse of Spanish neutrality and American rights, and took posses- sion of that fortress where he found " the advocate for peace," Arbuthnot, who, with the innocent and vacant 226 BIOGRAPHY OF look peculiar to his countrymen when they meditate shrewd and dangerous designs, sat an unconcerned guest at the table of the commandant. From St. Marks, dis- covering that the remnant of the routed Indians and ne- groes had retreated down the west coast of East Florida, in the direction of Woodbine's grand depot of Virginia and Georgia runaway slaves, he pursued and overtook them near the Econfinnah swamp, where some were kill- ed, many taken, and the only woman Avho escaped death from the murderers of Lieutenant Scott, recaptured. The enemy retreating to the Suwancy were not allowed time to renew their strength or courage, but were again at- tacked and routed, with such a loss and dispersion, that the victors hoped they had finished the war. On this occasion Ambrister was made prisoner. The army returned to St. Marks, where the general, having received information from the governor of Alabama, that a large body of hostile Indians who had been committing fresh murders on the Alabama, were assembling near Pensacola, and were there freely admitted and constantly furnished with means of subsistence and war, he deter- mined to cut off this last head of the Hydra to supply any defect of will or power that might exist on the part of the governor to observe his neutrality, and to occupy that place for a time also. Marching by the Ocheesee Bluffs, he was confirmed in his intention by finding the navigation of the Escambia occluded to his supplies. He therefore proceeded, and entering Pensacola on the 24th of May, he took Fort Barrancas on the 27th having, in his short campaign of three months, and with an undis- ciplined force, varying from one to two thousand, overrun a country larger than Italy forced a Parthian enemy three times to action, and though once inferior in numbers, thrice defeated him ; without any materials for a military bridge, having passed rivers as large and as deep as the - ANDREW JACKSON. 227 Po or the Adige without other subsistence frequently than acorns, raw hides and water, having marched more than 800 miles ; with scarce any artillery, having taken by force or intimidation three fortresses, and with little more than the energies of his own great mind terminated forever this savage, servile, and piratical war. It was a subject of glory to Pompey the Great, that after having worsted Sertorius, he should agree to conduct the war against the pirates. When General Jackson undertook the Seminole war, he had defeated the best troops, and among the finest generals of Europe, and terminated the most glorious campaign of the age. Yet he is found as ardent and persevering against these hordes of savages and slaves, as sincerely devoted to the country, as any young aspirant for fame, little dreaming that in the oosom of that country, ingratitude was to hatch a brood of vam- pires ! During these operations, it happened that the prophet Francis and his instrument Kenhagee, king of the Mis- sissukian, in whose town the 350 scalps were found, had, after the murder of Lieutenant Scott and his party, seized Hambly and Doyle, at the instigation of Arbuthnot, under whose authority as chief, and that of Francis, they were tried in council and sentenced to be tortured to death, for their friendship to the United States. From this wretched fate they were rescued by the spirited interference of a negro, Nero, the commander of 60 other negroes in the service of the hostile chief Bowlegs, and were by his agency conveyed, as prisoners of Arbuthnot, and his In- dians, to St. Marks, for safe keeping. Here they were re- ceived by the commandant as prisoners, and here they saw numerous evidences of the participation of the Spa- nish authorities in the Seminole war, but escaping in a ca- noe, they were taken up by Lieutenant M'Keever, of the United States navy, in the adjacent hay. With a sort 01 228 BIOGRAPHY OF dramntic coincidence, it came to pass that the thirst for blooc navmg risen in the breast of the prophet and his warrioi Himithlimaco, they soon repented the rescue of Hambly and Doyle, and came to St. Marks in quest of them, just after they had made their escape. With the ferocious per- severance of wolves, they pursued their flight along the coast, hoping that weather or weariness would force them ashore, and soon descried a vessel at anchor, with British colors flying at the mast head. After some reconnoiter- iug they went aboard, were conducted into the cabin where they found Hambly and -Doyle, who immediately identi- fying them as the murderers of Lieutenant Scott and his party, and their own captors and tormentors, they were put in irons by Lieutenant M'Keever. These circum- stances being all made known to General Jackson, by a ma^s of proof and undisputed notoriety, in conformity with the order of the secretary of war " to inflict exem- plary punishment on the authors of the atrocities" com- mitted on Lieutenant Scott's party, and Mrs. Garrett's fa- mily, he had them hung, in accordance with the principles of the law of nations, and in obedience to the dictates of numanity, which their atrocities had outraged, and to which the terror and example of their fate was a just sa- crifice, and proved a salutary propitiation. The reader will see that the only decoying was prac- ticed by Lieutenant M'Keever, and before he can agree to censure that, it must be shown that our naval officers had no right to use such stratagems as the officers of other nations practice, although the colors of all nations are fur- nished them for this express purpose. These Indians were taken by stratagem and surprise as Andre was, and like that unfortunate officer, who never violated a feeling of humanity, they were " slaughtered" that is, they were hung. In this punishment, as justice, humanity, and the law of nations were satisfied, it is to be observed that they ANDREW JACKSON. 229 being out of the United States, our own laws were not concerned. Had they been brought within our limits all their crimes must have gone unpunished for they had not violated our municipal, cr maritime, or martial laws. But the law of nations vests the right of retaliation in the commanding general, and the imbecility or dishonor of the. Spanish authorities having justified the assertion of our belligerent rights, it was the duty of General Jackson to fulfil the instructions of his government and bring these murderers to punishment. Let us now come to the case of Arbuthnot. From the recaptured American woman, who was the sole remain- ing survivor of Lieutenant Scott's party- from Cook, his clerk from Phenix, his acquaintance from letters and papers found in a vessel of his, captured in the mouth of the Suawney, and others obtained from the Indians by our agent, it was proved incontestibly that " this advocate for peace," by misrepresenting the terms of the treaty of Ghent the conduct of the American and the intentions of the British government, had incited in time of peace the Seminole Indians to hostilities against the United States. That to aid those hostilities, he had applied in behalf of the Indians, to various functionaries of Britain for supplies, and to disguise them for protection. That he had furnished them with intelligence and ammunition., for military purposes, and had given them advice and or- ders in the management of the war. That he had directed the seizure and presided at the condemnation of Hambly and Doyle in consequence of their being " the advocates for peace" with the United States. That he had instigated and countenanced the massacre of Lieutenant Scott and his party, consisting of about forty American citizens. That as an Indian chief, he had permitted our gallant officers to be assassinated, our brave soldiers to be butch- ered and their helpless wives to be murdered, or with moro 90 230 BIOGRAPHY OF horrible cruelty spared to see their infants " taken by the heels and their brains dashed out against the sides of the boat." And that when one of the two women wno had been spared (the wife of an American Serjeant) was from pregnancy no longer able to keep up with the march of her captors, this " advocate for peace" ordered her to be put to death, and that accordingly she was bayoneted through the womb ! From the same and other sources of proof it was demonstrated that Ambrister had not only in- stigated the Indians to war against the United States, but had actually joined them with a party of runaway negroes and led them in battle having used his commission as a British officer (a nation with which we were at peace) to promote his pernicious influence among them, and having endeavored by force to convert a Spanish fortress into a place of savage hostility against the United States. These are the men whose crimes had destroyed so ma- ny innocent lives, for the sake of otter-skins and runaway slaves, and whose punishment is lamented with such dig- nified sorrow by the enemies of General Jackson. The evidence against them satisfied a court of gallant and in- telligent officers of their guilt satisfied the representa- tives and the government of the nation and convinced the courts of Spain and of England of the justice of their punishment. And yet because it is too voluminous and intricate to be readily examined, they found upon it im- putations, which with the rancorous, have the retributive property of injustice, and though aimed at the reputation of another, will only affect their own. Should the preceding brief sketch and defence of Gene- ral Jackson's conduct, in the Seminole war, prove unsa- tisfactory to our readers, we beg leave to invite their perusal of the following detail of the particulars of that campaign as given by the general 11 his reports ID he ANDREW JACKSON. 231 secretary of war. Tf, however, this addition should be deemed superfluous, the reader will easily avoid it by proceeding forthwith to the commencement of the next chapter. On the 25th of March, 1818, the general reports as follows : " On the 9th instant, I reached Fort Scott, with the brigade of Georgia militia, 900 bayonets strong, and some of the friendly Creeks, who had joined me on my march a few days before ; where, finding but one quart of corn per man, and a few poor cattle, which, added to the live pork I brought along, would give us three days rations of meat, determined me at once to use this small supply to the best advantage. Accordingly, having been advised by Colonel Gibson, quartermaster general, that he would sail from New Orleans on the 12th February, with the supplies ; and beinij also advised, that two sloops with provisions were in the bay, and an officer had been des- patched from Fort Scott, in a large keel boat, to bring up a part of their lading ; and deeming that the preservation of those supplies v . ould be to preserve the army, and enable me to prosecute the campaign, I assumed the command on the morning of the 10th, ordered the live stock slaughtered aud issued to the troops, with one quart of corn to each man, and the line of march to be taken up at 12 meridian. Having to cross the Flint river, and it being very high, combined with some neglect in re- turning the boats during a very dark night, I was unable to move from the opposite bank until nine o'clock on the morning of the llth, when I took up my line of march down the east bank of the river for this place, touching the river as often as practicable, looking for the provision coat which was ascending, and which I was fortunate enough to meet on the 13th instant, when I ordered an extra ration to the troops, they not having rtcei ed a full one of meal or flour since their arrival at F\, n Early BIOGRAPHY OF On that day, my patroles captured three prisoners, and found some hidden corn. On the morning of the 14th, I ordered the boat down the river to this place, whilst I descended by land, and reached here without interruption on the morning of the 16th. The eligibility of this spot, as a depot, determined me, and I immediately directed my aid-de-camp, Lieutenant Gadsden of the engineer corps, to furnish a plan for, and superintend the erection of, a fortification. His talents and indefatigable zeal dis- played in the execution of this order, induced me to name 't Fort Gadsden, to which he is justly entitled. " On my arrival here, 1 immediately despatched the boat to the bay for the balance of provisions known to be there, and to ascertain whether the flotilla, in charge of Colonel Gibson, had reached there ; and which returned on the 19th, with the unpleasing intelligence that nothing had been heard from the flotilla from New Orleans, since it was seen passing Fort Bowyer. I immediately put the troops on half rations, and pushed the completion of the fort for the protection of the provisions, in the event 'of their arrival, intending to march forthwith to the heart of the enemy, and endeavor to subsist upon him. In the mean time, I despatched Major Fanning, of the corps of artillery, to take another look into the bay ; whose return, on the morning of the 23d, brought the information that Colonel Gibson, with one gun-boat and three transports, and others in sight, were in the bay. On the same night, I received other information, that no more had arrived. I am, therefore, apprehensive that some of the smaller vessels have been lost, as one gun-boat went to pieces, and another when last spoken had one foot water in her hold. All of the vessels had been spoken after a gale which dispersed them. A north and northwest wind has prevailed for six days, but has fortunately changed this morning. I am now awaiting a boat from the bay (which ANDREW JACKSON. 333 is expected to-day) to complete eight days rations for my troops, upon which I mean to march. " From information received from Pensacola and New Orleans, I have no doubt but that St. Marks is in posses- sion of the Indians. The governor of Pensacola informed Captain Call, of the 1st infantry, (now here) that the In- dians had demanded arms, ammunition, and provisions, or the possession of the garrison of St. Marks, of the com- mandant, and that he presumed possession would be given from inability to defend it. The Spanish govern- ment is bound by treaty to keep the Indians at peace with us ; they have acknowledged their incompetency to do this, and, are consequently bound, by the law of nature and nations, to yield us all facilities to reduce them. Under this consideration, should I be able, I will take possession of the garrison as a depot for my supplies, should it be found in the hands of the Spanish garrison they having supplied the Indians ; but if in the hands of our enemy, I will possess it for the benefit of the United. States, as a necessary position for me to hold, to give peace and security to this frontier, and put a final end to Indian warfare in the south. " Finding it very difficult to supply Fort Crawford, on the Conecuh river, by land, I have ordered the supplies for that garrison, by water, and writteij to the governor of Pensacola, that if he interrupts them during the pre- sent Indian war, I shall view it as aiding our enemy, and treat it as an act of hostility, and stated to him the pro- priety, under existing circumstances, of his affording all facilities to put down their own, as well as our enemies and that oul governments, whilst negotiating, can take this subject under consideration ; but in the mean time our provisions must pass to Fort Crawford, without in terruption. " In mine of the 14th February from Hartford, I m 234 BIOGRAPHY OF formed you of the measures adopted to procure supplies, and in my last of the 26th, from Fort Early, I informed you of their situation. To those communications I beg leave to refer you. I have only to add, that I left Fort Early for Fort Scott, and subsisted my troops on ground pease, corn, and some pork, that I could occasionally pro- cure from the Indians, with some pork that-1 had on foot, the whole subsistence for man and horse, not costing five hundred dollars. Of all the supplies purchased for the relief of Fort Scott, and the support of the Georgia mili- tia, not one pound was received until I passed Fort Scott. I said in my last, that blame rested somewhere ; the cause of those failures, will in due time, be a subject of investigation, and Colonel Brearly has been arrested on the application of General Gaines. " By some strange fatality, unaccountable to me, the Tennessee volunteers have not yet joined me. Th<2y promptly left their homes, and through the inclement weather, reached Fort Mitchell, where I had ordered them supplies, and where Colonel Hayne, who led them, met my instructions to pass by Fort Gaines, where he would get a supply of corn, that would enable him to reach Fort Scott ; but the idea of starvation Lad stalked abroad; a panic appears to have spread itself every where, and he was told that they were starving at Forts Gaines and Scott, and was induced to pass into Georgia for supplies. His men and officers, as reported to me, were willing to risk the worst of consequences, on what they had, to join me ; however they have been marched from their sup- plies, to a country stripped of them, when every consi- deration should have induced his advisers to have urged him on to secure the supplies in the bay, and preserved themselves and Fort Scott from starvation. I have a hope that they will join me before I reach St. Marks, or the towns ; this would be desirable, as the troops or- ANDREW JACKSON. 236 dered from New Orleans to protect the supplies, have not reached the bay, and leaving garrisons at Forts Scott and Gadsden weakens my force much, the whole effective strength of the regular being but three hundred and sixty privates. " In mine of the 26th ult. from Fort Early, informed you that despatches received by General Gaines on the 19th ultimo from the commanding officer at Fort Scott, induced him to set out that night for Fort Scott, to prevent its abandonment, of in mv last communication ANDREW JACKSON. 243 to you, who promised to use her influence in having M' Queen captured and delivered up, has not been heard of. From signs discovered on the opposite shore of the St. Marks river, I am induced to believe, that the Indian party is still in this neighborhood. A detachment will be sent out to reconnoitre the country, to receive them as friends, if disposed to surrender, or inflict merited chas- tisement, if still hostile. " I shall leave this in two or three days for Fort Gads- den, and after making all necessary arrangements for the security of the positions occupied, and detaching a force to scour the country west of the Appalachicola, I shall proceed direct for Nashville. My presence in this coun- try can no longer be necessary. The Indian forces have been divided and scattered, cut off from all communica- tion with those unprincipled agents of, foreign nations, who had deluded them to their ruin. They have not the power, if the will remains, of again annoying our fron- tier." From Fort Gadsden, 5th May, 1818, he writes : " I returned to thus post with my army on the evening of the 2d instant, and embrace an early opportunity of furnishing you a detailed report of my operations to the east of the Appalachicola river. In the several commu- nications addressed you from Hartford, Fort Scott, and this place, I have stated the condition of the army on my assuming the immediate command ; the embarrassment occasioned from the want of provisions ; the privations of my troops on their march from the frontiers of Georgia ; and the circumstances which compelled me to move di- rectly down the Appalachicola river, to meet with and protect the expected supplies from New Orleans. These were received on the 25th March, and on the next day I was prepared for active operations. For a detailed ac- count of my movements from that period to this day, you 244 BIOGRAPHY OF are respectfully referred t.o the report prepared by my adjutant general, accompanied with Capt. Hugh Youngs topographical sketch of the route and distance performed. This has been principallya war of movements: the enemy, cut off from their strong holds, or deceived in the promised foreign aid, have uniformly avoided a general engage- ment. Their resistance has generally been feeble ; and in the partial rencounters, into which they seem to have been involuntarily forced, the regulars, volunteers, and militia, under my command, realized my expectations ; every privation, fatigue, and exposure, was encountered with the spirit of soldiers, and danger was met with a de- gree of fortitude calculated to strengthen the confidence I had reposed in them. " On the commencement of my operations, I was strong- ly impressed with a belief, that this Indian war had been excited by some unprincipled foreign or private agents. The outlaws of the old Red Stick party had been too severe- ly convinced, and the Seminoles were too weak in numbers to believe, that they could possibly, alone, maintain a war with even partial success against the United States. Firmly convinced, therefore, that succor had been pro- mised from some quarter, or that they had been deluded into a belief that America dare not violate the neutrality of Spain, by penetrating to their towns, I early determined to ascertain these facts, and so direct my movements, as to undeceive the Indians. After the destruction of the Mickasukian villages, I marched direct for St. Marks : the correspondence between myself and the Spanish com- mandant, in which I demanded the occupancy of that fortress with an American garrison, accompanies this. It had been reported to me, direct from the governor of Pensacola, that the Indians and negroes, unfriendly to the United States, had demanded of the commandant of St. Marks a supply of ammunition, munitions of war, &c. ION. 245 threatening in the event of a noncompliance to take pos- session of the fort, x The Spanish commandant acknow- ledged the defenceless state of his fortress, arid his inabi- lity to defend it ; and the governor of Pensacola expressed similar apprehensions. The Spanish agents throughout the Floridas had uniformly disavowed having any con- nexion with the Indians, and acknowledged the" obliga- tions of his catholic majesty, under existing treaties, to restrain their outrages against the citizens of the United States. Indeed they declared that the Seminole Indians were viewed as alike hostile to the Spanish government, and that the will remained, though the power was want- ing, to inflict merited chastisement on this lawless tribe. It was, therefore, to be supposed, that the American army, impelled by the immutable laws of self-defence, to penetrate the territory of his catholic majesty, to fight his battles, and even to relieve from a cruel bondage, some of his own subjects, would have been received as allies, hailed as deliverers, and every facility afforded to them to terminate speedily and successfully this savage war. Fort St. Marks could not be maintained by the Spanish force garrisoning it. The Indians and negroes viewed it as an asylum, if driven from their towns, and were preparing to occupy it in this event. It was necessary to anticipate their movements, independent of the position being deemed essential as a depot, on which the success of my future operations measurably depended. In the spirit of friendship, therefoie, I demanded its surrender to the army of the United States, until the close of the Seminole war. The Spanish commandant required time to reflect ; it was granted ; a negotiation ensued, and an effort made to protract it to an unreasonable length. In the conversations between my aid-de-camp, Lieutenant Gadsden, and the Spanish commandant, circumstances transpired, convicting him of a disposition to favor ihe 21 5846 BIOGRAPHY OF Indians, and of having taken an active part in aiding and abetting them in this war. I hesitated, therefore, no longer, and as I could not be received in friendship, ] entered the fort by violence. Two light companies of the 7th regiment infantry, and one of the 4th, under the com- mand of Major Twiggs, was ordered to advance, lower -he Spanish colors, and hoist the star spangled banner, on the ramparts of Fort St. Marks. The order was executed promptly, no resistance attempted on the part of the Span- ish garrison. The duplicity of the Spanish commandant of St. Marks, in professing friendship towards the United States, while he was actually aiding and supplying her savage enemies ; throwing open the gates of his garrison to their free access ; appropriating the king's stores to their use ; issuing ammunition and munitions of war to them ; and knowingly purchasing of them property plun- dered from the citizens of the United States, is clearly evinced by the documents accompanying my correspon- dence. In Fort St. Marks, as an inmate in the family of the Spanish commandant, an Englishman, by the name of Arbuthnot, was found. Unable satisfactorily to explain the objecfs of his visiting this country, and there being a combination of circumstances to justify a suspicion that his views were not honest, he was ordered in close con- finement. The capture of his schooner, near the mouth of Suwaney river, by my aid-de-camp, Mr. Gadsden, and the papers found on board, unveiled his corrupt transac- tions, as well as those of a Captain Ambrister, late of the British colonial marine corps, taken as a prisoner near Bowlegs' town. Those individuals were tried, under my orders, by a special court of select officers ; legally con victed as exciters of this savage and negro war, legally condemned, and most justly punished for their iniquities The proceedings of the court martial in this case, with *he volume of testimony, justifying their condemnat ->n, ANDREW JACKSON. 347 presents scenes of wickedness, corruption, and barbarity, at which the heart sickens, and in which, in this enlighi- ened age, it ought not scarcely to be believed that a Christian nation would have participated ; and yet the British government is involved in the agency. If Ar buthnot and Ambrister are not convicted as the authori- zed agents of Great Britain, there is no room to doubt, but that that government had a knowledge of their as- sumed character, and was well advised of the measures which they had adopted to excite the negroes and Indians in East Florida, to war against the United States. I hope the execution of these two unprincipled villains will prove an awful example to the world, and convince the government of Great Britain, as well as her subjects, that certain, if slow, retribution awaits those unchristian wretches, who, by false promises, delude and excite an Indian tribe to all the horrid deeds of savage war. " Previous to my leaving Fort Gadsden, I had occa- sion to address a communication to the governor of Pen- sacola, on the subject of permitting supplies to pass up the Escambia river to Fort Crawford. This letter, with a second from St. Marks, on the subject of some United States clothing, shipped in a vessel in the employ of the Spanish government, to that post, I now enclose, with his reply. The governor of Pensacola's refusal of my de- mand, cannot but be viewed as evincing a hostile feel- ing on his part, particularly in connexion with some cir- cumstances reported to me from the most unquestionable authority. It has been stated, that the Indians at war with the United States, have free access into Pensacola ; that they are kept advised from that quarter of all our movements ; that they are supplied from thence with am- munition and munitions of war, and that they are now collecting in large bodies to the amount of 4 or 500 war- riors in that city. That inroads from thence have lately 348 BIOGRAPHY OF been made on the Alabama, in one of which 18 settlers fell by the tomahawk. These statements compel me to make a movement to the west of the Appalachicola, and should they prove correct, Pensacola must be occupied with an American force, and the governor treated according to his deserts, or as policy may dictate. I shall leave strong garrisons in Fort St. Marks, Fort Gadsden, and Fort Scott ; and in Pensacola, should it become necessary .o possess it. " It becomes my duty to state it as my confirmed opi- nion, that so long as Spain has not the power, or will, to enforce the treaties by which she is solemnly bound to preserve the Indians within her territory at peace with the United States, no security can be given to our south- ern frontier without occupying a cordon of posts along the sea shore. The moment the American army returns from Florida, the war hatchet will be again raised, and the same scenes of indiscriminate murder, with whic b our frontiej settlers have been visited, will be repeated. So long as the Indians within the territory of Spain are exposed to the delusions of false prophets, and the poison of foreign intrigue ; so long as they can receive ammu- nition, munitions of war, &c., from pretended traders, or Spanish commandants, it will be impossible to restrain their outrages. The burning of their towns, the destroy- ing of their stock and provisions, will produce but tempo- rary embarrassments ; resupplied by Spanish authorities, they may concentrate or disperse at will, and keep up a lasting predatory warfare against the frontiers of the Uni- ted States, as expensive as harassing to her troops. The savages, therefore, must be made dependent on us, and cannot be kept at peace without being persuaded of the certainty of chastisement being inflicted on the commis- sion of the first offence " I trust, therefore that the measures which have been ANDREW JACKSON. 249 pursued will meet the approbation of the president of the United States. They have been^adopted in pursuance of your instructions, under a firm conviction that they alone were calculated to insure ' peace and security to the southern frontier of Georgia.' " From Fort Montgomery, June 2d, 1818, he writes : " In a communication to you of the 5th of May, I de- tailed at length the operations of my army up to that pe- riod. Leaving a strong garrison of regulars in Forts Scott and Gadsden, I resumed my march, with a small detachment of the 4th regiment of infantry, one company of artillery, and the effectives of the Tennessee volunteers, the whole not exceeding twelve hundred men, to fulfill my intentions, communicated to you, of scouring the country west of the Appalachicola river. On the 10th of May, my army crossed that river at the Ochesee village, and after a fatiguing, tedious, and circuitous march of 12 days, misled by the ignorance of our pilots, and exposed to the severest of privations, we finally reached and ef- fected a passage over the Escambia. On my march, on the 23d of May, a protest from the governor of Pensaco- la was delivered me by a Spanish officer, remonstrating, in warm terms, against my proceedings, and ordering me and my forces instantly to quit the territory of his catholic majesty, with a threat, to apply force, in the event of a non-compliance. This was so open an indica- tion of a hostile feeling on his part, after having been early and well advised of the object of my operations, that I hesitated no longer on the measures to be adopted. 1 marched for, and entered Pensacola, with only the show of resistance, on the 24th of May. The governor had previously fled to Fort Carlos de Barrancas, where it was said he had resolved upon a most desperate resistance A correspondence ensued between us, detailing at length my motives for wishing, and demanding, that Pensacol? 250 BIOGRAPHY OF and its dependencies be occupied with an American gar rison. The package, marked B, are documents substan tiating.the charges, in part, against the conduct of the Spanish governor, having knowingly and willingly ad- mitted the savages, avowedly hostile to the United States, within the town of Pensacola. The peaceable surrender of the fort at the Barrancas was denied. I marched for, and invested it, on the evening of the 25th of May, and on the same night, pushed reconnoitering parties under its very guns. On the morning of the 26th, a military reconnoisance was taken ; and on the same night, a lodg- ment was made, under a fire from the Spanish garrison, by Captain Gadsden, of the engineers, aided by Captains Call and Young, on a commanding position, within three hundred and eighty-five yards of the Spanish work, and a nine pounder mounted. A howitzer battery was simul- taneously established on the capitol, and within seven hundred and sixty yards of the fort, at day light on the 27th. The Spanish garrison opened their artillery on our batteries ; a parley was soundecf, a flag sent in, and the surrender of Fort Carlos de _Barrancas again de- manded ; the favorable positions obtained were pointed out, and the inutility of resistance urged. Anxious to avoid an open contest, and to save the effusion of blood, the same terms previously offered, were again tendered. They were rejected, and offensive operations recommen- ced. A spirited and well directed fire was kept up the greater part of the morning, and at intervals during the afternoon. In the evening, a flag was sent from the Spanish commandant, offering to capitulate, and a sus- pension of hostilities was granted, until 8 o'clock next day, when articles of capitulation were signed and agreed to. The terms are more favorable than a conquered ene- my would have merited ; but, under the peculiar circum- stances of the case, my object obtained, there was no ANDREW JACKSON. 251 naotive for wounding the feelings of those, whose military pride or honor had prompted to the resistance made The articles, with but one condition, amount to a com- plete cession to the United States, of that portion of the Floridas hitherto under the government of Don Jose Masot. " The arrangements which I have made to secure Pensacola, and its dependencies, are contained in the ge- neral orders. I deemed it most advisable to retain, for the present, the same government to which the people nad been accustomed, until such time as the executive of the United States may order otherwise. It was necessary however, to establish the revenue laws of the United States, to check the smuggling which had been carried on successfully in this quarter, for many years past, and to admit the American merchant to an equal participation in a trade, which would have been denied under the par- tial operations of the Spanish commercial code. Captain Gadsden Avas appointed by me collector, and he has or ganized and left the department in the charge of officers, on whom the greatest confidence may be reposed. " Though the Seminole Indians have been scattered, and literally so divided and reduced, as no longer to be viewed as a formidable enemy ; yet as there are still many small marauding parties, supposed to be concealed in the swamps of the Perdido, Choctawhatchey, and Cha pouley, who might make occasional and sudden inroads on our frontier settlers, massacring women and child- ren, I have deemed it advisable to call into service for six months, if not sooner discharged, two companies of vo- lunteer rangers, under Captains M'Gird and Boyles, with instructions to scour the country between the Mobile and Appalachicola rivers, exterminating every hostile party who dare resist, or will not surrender, and remove with their families above the 31st degree of latitude. 252 BIOGRAPHY OF " The Semino e war may now be considered as at a close, tranquillity again restored to the southern frontiei of thejLJnited States, and as long as a cordon of military posts is maintained along the Gulf of Mexico, America has nothing to apprehend from either foreign or Indian hostilities. Indeed sir, to attempt to fortify, or protect an imaginary line, or to suppose that a frontier on the 31st degree of latitude, in a wilderness, can be secured by a cordon of military posts, while the Floridas lie open to an enemy, is visionary in the extreme. " Under this firm belief, I have bottomed all my opera- tions. Spain had disregarded the treaties existing with the American government, or had not power to enforce them. The Indian tribes within her territory, and which she was bound to keep at peace, had visited our citizens with all the horrors of savage war ; negro bri- gands were establishing themselves, when and where they pleased ; and foreign agents were openly and know- ingly practicing their intrigues in this neutral territory. " The immutable principles therefore of self-defence, justified the occupancy of the Floridas, and the same principles will warrant the American government in hold ing it, until such time as Spain can guaranty, by an adequate military force, the maintaining her authority within the colony. " At the close of a campaign which has terminated so honorably and happily, it gives me pleasure to express my approbation, generally, of the officers and soldiers ol every species of corps, which I have had the honor to command. The patience with which they endured fa- tigue, and submitted to privations, and the determination with which they encountered, and vanquished every dif- ficulty, is the strongest indication of the existence of that patriotic feeling, which no circumstances can change, and of that irresistible ardor in the defence of his country ANDREW JACKSON. 263 which will prove her strength and bulwark under any experience. I should do violence to my feelings, if I did not particularly notice the exertions of my quartermaster general, Col. George Gibson, who, under the most em- barrassing circumstances, relieved the necessities of my army, and to whose exertions was I indebted for the sup- plies received. His zeal and integrity, in this campaign, as well as in the uniform discharge of his duties since his connexion with my staff, merits the approbation and gra- of his country." 22 254 BIOGRAPHY OT CHAPTER XV. General Jackson returns to Nashville His reception-^ Cessitn of the Floridas to the United States General Jackson appointed governor of them Delicacy of his situation His proclamation to the people Spanish of- ficers Colonel Callava His measures in relation to them justified. HAVING closed the Seminole campaign, General Jack- son prepared to leave Florida for Nashville. He arrived there in June, and was received by his fellow-citizens with their accustomed cordiality and respect. From this period till the summer of 1821, nothing occurred particu- larly worthy of remark. In August of that year, Florida was by treaty to be ceded to the United States. By act of congress of the 3d March of the same year, the presi dent was authorized to appoint a governor of East and West Florida, and the person so appointed was vested with all the military, civil, and judicial powers, exercised by the existing government of the same. In -virtue of this act, Mr. Monroe, on the 10th of March, commission- ed General Jackson, and vested him with " all the power and authority heretofore exercised by the governor and captain general and intendant of Cuba, and by the gover nors of East and West Florida." At the time designated, General Jackson proceeded to Florida, and commenced the duties of his appointment. What were the extent of the powers given him is un- known, because they were undefined, and are believed to ANDREW JACKSON. 255 be limited by the absolute and undisputed will of the go- vernor himself. But the general has not left to conjec- ture his own opinions of those powers, nor of the manner in which they were exercised ; for in a case which came before the judiciary for decision, during the administra- tion of his government, and excited much interest, before the opinion of the court was pronounced on the question of jurisdiction, Governor Jackson, according to Mr. H. Niles, made several remarks worthy of himself, and which deserved to be recorded ; but that the following was so perfectly characteristic, that, as the editor of a public jour- nal, he should have been inexcusable in withholding it from his readers. And it does indeed do honor to the lofty patriotism of the American hero. He said. " I am clothed with powers) that no one, under a republic, ought to possess, and which I trust will never again be given to any man. Nothing will afford me more happiness than to learn that congress, in its wisdom, shall have distribu- ted them properly, and in such manner as is consonant to our earliest and dearest impressions ; yet as I hold these powers by the authority of an act of congress, and commissioned from the president of the United States, it therefore becomes my imperious duty to discharge the sacred trust imposed on me, according to my best abilities, even though the proper exercise of the powers given might involve me in heavy personal responsibilities. I has been my fortune to be thus circumstanced, in my va- rious relations as a public servant ; yet I never have, nor never will I, Shrink from the discharge of my public duties, from any apprehension of personal responsibility. The delicacy of General Jackson's situation, as gover- nor of Florida, are discoverable from the foregoing ex- tract. Several acts of General Jackson while he was governor of Florida have rendered him obnoxious to cen- sure ; particularly his proclamation requiring the Spanish 256 BIOGRAPHY OF officers to leave Pensacola, and his prompt and justifiu ble proceedings in the case of Colonel Callava. The persons banished were not citizens of Florida. They were Spanish officers, who, by the treaty negotiated by Mr. Adams, were required to leave the territory. By the courtesy of Governor Jackson, they were permitted to re- main in Pensacola after the period designated by the trea- ty for their departure, and the cause of the order, com- manding them to leave the territory, was a contempt of the judicial character of Governor Jackson in the case of Callava. We regret that our limits will not admit of transferring to these pages the letter of Governor Jackson to the se- cretary of state, explanatory of his measures in the cases under consideration. The following proclamation, how- ever, made by him to the citizens of Florida, is full of in- terest, as is also the subjoined defence of Governor Jack- son by Mr. Adams, then secretary of state, in his letter to Don Joaquin d'Anduaga, and although it is a somewhat lengthy detail, yet our readers will recollect that brevity is a sin of which Mr. Adams was never guilty, and we believe that on a perusal of his admirable defence of Go- vernor Jackson, they will not wonder at our disinclination to curtail a production which does him honor. Governor Jackson's proclamation to the citizens of the Floridas is as follows : " The temporary organization of the government of these provinces, according to the act of congress of the last session, and to the powers conferred 6n me, by the president of the United States, I have the satisfaction to announce, is now complete. If it possess imperfections, or defects, the reflecting man will make due allowance, when he considers, that its duration will be but short, and that it is the best that circumstances would permit, taking into view the difficulties I have had to encounter. Where ANDREW JACKSON. 257 the rule or law is certain, I have considered it my duty to follow it strictly, but where this has not been the case, I have endeavored to make the best provisions, in my power, believing that government of some kind was ab- solutely necessary. It is my sincere hope, that this sub- ject will attract the earliest attention of the congress of the United States, and that the inhabitants of these provinces will be relieved from the state of uncertainty and doubt, which at this moment must necessarily prevail. " In the organization of the present temporary govern- ment, and its execution, I have kept steadily in view the securing to the inhabitants of the Floridas all the privi- leges and immunities guarantied to them by the treaty. " The principal of these is the protection of their per- sons, property, and religion, until they shall be incorpo- rated into the union, and become entitled to all the privi- leges and immunities of citizens of the United States. " In performing this important part of my functions, I have- endeavored to pursue the spirit of our political in- stitutions. I have made no discrimination of persons ; my house has been surrounded by no guards ; no one has been kept at a distance by repulsive formalities ; all have had free admission, and found a ready ear when they re- quired my aid for the protection of their rights. "" The American government, at the same time that it is the freest, is perhaps the strongest in the world ; be- cause the most wealthy and most powerful in society are as weak in opposition to it, as the most humble and ob- scure. It knows no distinction between an ex-governor and a peasant. In the course of my short administra- tion, one case has unfortunately occurred, which required the exertion of that authority, which is no respecter of persons. " That the necessity should have existed has occasioned me po'fi and regret ; and especially as it has been misun- 22* 258 BIOGRAPHY OF derstood by some of the inhabitants of this country, from a want of a sufficient acquaintance with the facts of the case, as well as with the character and principles of our government. It was my duty, under the treaty, exercis- ing the government in the Floridas, to secure to the in- habitants all the evidence of their right of property. The improper conduct of the captain general of Havana, in withholding documents, or archives of this nature, from an agent expressly sent to receive them, increased the ne- cessity of vigilance on my part. It was made known to me, by satisfactory evidence, that there Avere documents of this character in the hands of an individual here, and that these documents were necessary to establish the right of property in this country. " The fact ascertained, my duty was clear, and no alter- native was left me. " That individual was ordered to surrender them, so that in pursuance of the second article of the treaty, and of my proclamation, the inhabitants might be secured in their right of property. The individual thus ordered to deliver them, instead of obeying, as he ought, the com- mands of the government, under which he was protected, and which could know no superior, excepting the congress or president of the United States, shifted them into the hands of the person who lately administered the govern- ment of this province, and who had been authorized by the captain general to surrender the country agreeably to the stipulations of the treaty. This person, whether from misapprehension or from worse motives, considered him- self not responsible for any act of his to the government of the Floridas, and appeared entirely insensible to the im propriety of not having made a delivery of these documents of his own accord. Whatever diplomatic privileges he might have been entitled to, these privileges had ceased upon the surrender of this country, and he was not known ANDREW JACKSON. 260 ie *te, or recognized as having any other rights than those of n common individual. It was not enough for him to con&jder himself a public agent of the king of Spain, and reside hr,re for the purpose of transacting official business with the agents of the United States, but it was necessary that he should have made known the object and purpose of his stay ; had he done so, he would have been informed at once by me, that my own functions having ceased as commissioner, no one but the president of the United States had any power to give him permission to remain here as a diplomatic agent, enjoying the privileges of a foreign minister. The natural consequences of his conduct are too well known, and need not be detailed. " With the exception of this solitary instance, I feel the utmost confidence in saying that nothing has occurred, notwithstanding the numerous cases in which I have been called upon to interpose my authority, either in a judicial or executive capacity, to occasion any thing like distrust, discontent, or want of confidence ; and I cheerfully take this occasion to express my satisfaction, with the peaceful, obedient, and orderly conduct of all those, whose allegi- ance has been transferred to the United States, by the ces- sion of the country. It is true, the recent occurrence, connected with the one referrec .o, has compelled me to take measures I conceived necessary for the character, dignity, and harmony of the government I administer and which at the same time, were the mildest the circum- stances would admit. I allude to the conduct of a num- ber of Spanish officers, remaining here after the cession, without my permission, but which would certainly not have been withheld from them, so long as they demeaned themselves respectfully to the existing authorities, and re- frained from any improper interference with the measures of the government. This respect is due from foreign officers in all countries their situation is materially dif- 260 BIOGRAPHY OF ferent from that of other aliens, and their conduct oughv therefore to be more circumspect. In the United States, those are severely punished, who are guilty of writing in a libelous manner of proceedings in courts of justice. For what tends to bring the judiciary into disrepute, shakes the public confidence in that part of the government that is looked upon as the most sacred depository of individual rights. Hence, in both these points o,f view, without no- ticing the singular conduct of the Spanish officers, acting as if they considered themselves a distinct and separate body an imperium in imperio they were guilty of great indiscretion and impropriety in publishing a most inde- cent libel against the judiciary proceedings of the highest tribunal in the Floridas. Had I consulted my personal feelings, having entertained a favorable opinion of some of them, and enmity to none, I should have been disposed to have suffered the act to sink into oblivion. But the dignity and honor of the government forbade that conduct so outrageous should pass unnoticed. I might appeal to those very persons, and ask what would be the conse- quences if a band of American officers should offer such an insult to the government of a Spanish province? But the inhabitants of the Floridas may rest assured that what- ever may be the impropriety or imprudence of some, it will have no effect upon my feelings towards the rest the innocent will not be confounded with the guilty, and all will continue to experience the same protection and respect for their rights which has heretofore been extend- ed, provided they demean themselves with that propriety which becomes every good citizen and subject : and should any of them, under the influence of momentary passion or feeling, be dissatisfied with the measures I have pursued, on a return of their sober judgment, I feel confident they will be compelled to approve." The following is Mr. Adams' defence of General ANDREW JACKSON. 2(J1 Jackson's administration of the government of the Flori das, in his letter to Don Joaquin d'Anduagua : " In the letters which I had the honor of writing you, on the 2d of November, and 31st of December last, you were informed that a definitive answer to the complaints against certain proceedings of General Andrew Jackson, while governor of Florida, which were contained in a letter to this department from Don Hilario de Rivas y Sal- mon, before your arrival in this country, and in your let- ters of the 18th and 22d of November, would be given af- ter the substance of those complaints should have been made known to General Jackson, and his explanations of the motives and considerations by which he had been go- verned in adopting the measures complained of, should have been received. " In performing this promise, I am commanded by the president of the United States to repeat the assurance of his deep regret, that the transactions, which formed the subject of these complaints, should ever have occurred, and his full conviction, upon a review of all the circum- stances which have attended them, that they are attributa- ble entirely to the conduct of the governor and captain ge- neral of Cuba, and of the subordinate officers of Spain, in evading and refusing the fulfillment of the most express and positive stipulations of the treaty, both of evacuating the province within six months from the exchange of the ratifications of the treaty, and of delivering the archives and documents relating directly to the property and sove- reignty of the provinces. "At the time of the exchange of the ratifications of the treaty, your predecessor, General Vives, delivered an order from his catholic majesty to the captain general and go- vernor of the island of Cuba, and of the Floridas, inform- ing him of the cession to the United States of that part of the provinces of which he was the governor, that was 2(52 mk BIOGRAPHY OF situated on this continent, and instructing him as fol lows : "' I command you, and ordain, that, after the informa- tion which shall be seasonably given you by my ministei plenipotentiary and envoy extraordinary at Washington, of the ratifications having been exchanged, you proceed, on your part, to make the proper dispositions, in order that, at the end of six months, counting from the, date of the exchange of the ratifications, or sooner if possible, the Spanish officers and troops may evacuate the territories of both Floridas, and that possession of them to be given to the officers or commissioners of the United States, duly authorized to receive them. You shall arrange, in proper time, the delivery of the islands adjacent and dependent upon the two Floridas, and the public lots and squares, vacant lands, public edifices, fortifications, barracks, and other buildings, which are not private property ; as also the archives and documents which relate directly to the property and sovereignty of the same two provinces, by placing them at the disposal of the commissaries or officers of the United States, duly authorized to receive them.'' " This order, thus clear and explicit, was dispatched, to- gether with letters from General Vives, to the governor of Cuba and the Floridas, notifying him of the exchange of the ratifications of the treaty, by Col. James G. Forbes, who was commissioned, 'as agent and commissary of the United States, to deliver to him the royal order, to ar- range and concert with him, conformably to instructions committed therewith, the execution of the above stipula- tions, and to receive from the said governor and from any and every person possessed of the said archives and do- cuments, all and every one of the same, and to dispose thereof in the manner prescribed by his instructions.' Colonel Forbes' authority, thus, was to receive the docu- ments and archives, and to concert and arrange with the ANPREW JACKSON. 363 governor of the Floridas, the delivery of those provinces, which General Jackson was commissioned to receive, take possession of, and occupy, and of which he was fur- ther commissioned to be the governor, when surrendered to the United States. " The royal order was delivered by Colonel Forties to the governor of the Floridas, at the Havana, on the 23d of April, 1821. There has been shown by that governor no cause or reason which could justly have required him to delay the delivery of the documents and archives, aid the arrangements for the delivery of the provinces, beyond the term of a single week. There were twenty boxes of those archives and documents ; the whole, or with very few exceptions the whole of which, ought by the posi- tive stipulation of the treaty, and by the express order of the king of Spain, to have been immediately delivered to Colonel Forbes. Not one of them was delivered to him ; nor has one of them been delivered to this day. " The orders for the surrender of the provinces were delayed from day to day, notwithstanding the urgent and continual solicitations of Colonel Forbes, for the term of six weeks, at the end of which, to avoid further indefinite procrastination, he was compelled to depart without re- ceiving the archives and documents, but, with repeated promises of the governor, that they should be transmitted to this government promises which have remained to this day unperformed. " The orders for the delivery of the provinces themselves, were not only thus unreasonably withheld, but when made out, though not furnished to Colonel Forbes till the last week in May, were made to bear date on the fifth of that month : nor were they prepared conformably to the stipu- lation of the treaty, or to the royal order of his catholic majesty ; for, instead directing the surrender to be made to the commissioners or officers of the United States, duly 264 BIOORAPHV OF authorized to receive them, the instruction to the comman ders in East and West Florida was to deliver those res- pective provinces to Colonel Forbes himself, who had from the United States no authority to receive them. And al- though expressly advised of this fact by Colonel Forbes, with the request that the orders of delivery might be amended, and made conformable to the treaty, and to the royal command, Governor Mahy did not so amend it, but reduced Colonel Forbes to the alternative of submitting to further delays, or of departing with an imperfect and ambiguous order of delivery of West Florida, authoriz- ing its surrender to the legally constituted authorities of the United States, (that is, as Governor Mahy well knew, to General Andrew Jackson,) only, in case of any accident happening to Colonel Forbes, when he still affected to con- sider, notwithstanding his own express declaration to the contrary, as the commissioned agent of the United States to that effect. " The twenty boxes of documents and archives, whicK were at the Havana, as has been mentioned, had been transmitted thither from Pensacola ; and contained all the most important records of property in West Florida. The possession of them was in the highest degree important to the United States, not only as the vouchers of indivi- dual property, but as protecting guards against the im- posture of fraudulent grants. " The same persevering system of withholding docu- ments which it was their duty to deliver, has marked, I am deeply concerned to say, the conduct of both the commanders of East and West Florida, who were charged, respective- ly, to deliver those provinces to the United States. It is to this cause, and to this alone, as appears from a review of all the transactions of which you have complained, that must be traced the origin of all those severe measures which General Jackson himself was the first, while deem ANDREW JACKSON. 265 ing them indispensable to the discharge of his own official duties, to lament. Charged as he was with the trust of receiving the provinces in behalf of the United States, of maintaining their rights of property within them, of guard- ing them to the utmost of his power from those frauds to which there was too much reason to apprehend they would be liable, and to which the retention of the documents gave so great and dangerous scope ; intrusted, from the necessity of the case, during the interval of time, while the general laws of the United States remained unextended to the provinces, with the various powers which had, un- til that time, been exercised by the Spanish governors, and which included the administration of justice between individuals ; it was impossible that he should not feel the necessity of exercising, under circumstances thus exas- perating and untoward, every. authority committed to him by the supreme authority of his country, to preserve in- violate, so far as on him depended, the interests of tha* country, and the sacred obligations of individual right. "In the proceedings connected with the delivery of the province, he had as little reason to be satisfied with the conduct of Colonel Callava, as with that of the captain general. On a plea of indisposition, that officer had, on the day of the surrender, evaded the performance of a solemn promise, which General Jackson had considerec. an indispensable preliminary to the act ; and afterwards the colonel positively declined its fulfillment. He had, however, completed the surrender of the province with which he had been charged. He had declined producing to General Jackson any credential as a commissioner for performing that act ; but had informed him that he should make the surrender as the commanding officer of the pro- vince, by virtue of orders from his superior. This ser- vice had been consummated ; and Colonel Callava, whom General Jackson had formerly notified that he had closed 23 266 BIOGRAPHY OF with him his official correspondence forever, was bound, by the special stipulations of the treaty, to have evacuated, as one of the Spanish officers, the province, before the 22