~ 
 
LIFE 
 
 A N D R E W JACKSON, 
 
 PRESIDENT OF THE 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
 BY WILLIAM COBBETT, M.P. 
 
 FOR OLDHAM. 
 
 N E W-Y O R K : 
 HARPER & BROTHERS 82 CLIFF-STREET, 
 
 1834. 
 
THE LIFE 
 
 OK 
 
 ANDREW JACKSON. 
 
THE LIFE 
 
 ANDREW JACKSON. 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 FROM 1767 TO 1812. 
 
 1767. His birth and parentage 1781. Enters the American revo* 
 lutionary army Cruelty of a British officer Death of his 
 brother and mother His sufferings 1784. Studies the law in 
 North Carolina Continues there till 1788 1788. Settles in 
 Tennessee as a barrister Distinguishes himself in fighting 
 the Indians 1796. Chosen a member of the Tennessee con 
 ventionElected a member of congress 1797. Chosen a 
 senator of the congress 1798. Made major-general of Ten 
 nessee Resigns his seat in the senate 1799. Appointed a 
 judge of the supreme court Soon resigns and retires to his 
 farm, where he remains till the breaking out of the war, in 
 1812, between the United States and Great Britain. 
 
 1. ANDREW JACKSON was born on the 15th day of 
 March, 1767. His father (Andrew), the youngest 
 son of his family, emigrated to America from Ire 
 land during the year 1765, bringing with him two 
 sons, Hugh and Robert, both very young. Landing 
 at Charleston, in South Carolina, he shortly after 
 ward purchased a tract of land, in what was then 
 called the Waxsaw settlement, about forty-five miles- 
 above Carnden ; at which place the subject of this 
 history was born. Shortly after his birth, his father 
 B 
 
11 LIFE OF JACKSON. [cHAI*. 
 
 died, leaving three sons to be provided for by their 
 mother. She appears to have been an exemplary 
 woman, and to have executed the arduous duties 
 which had devolved on her with great faithfulness 
 and with much success. To the lessons she incul 
 cated on the youthful minds of her sons was, no 
 doubt, owing, in a great measure, that fixed opposi 
 tion to British tyranny and oppression which after 
 ward so much distinguished them. Often would 
 she spend the winter s evenings in recounting to 
 them the sufferings of their grandfather at the siege 
 of Carrickfergus, and the oppressions exercised by 
 the nobility of Ireland over the labouring poor; 
 impressing it upon them as a first duty, to expend 
 their lives, if it should become necessary, in defend 
 ing and supporting the natural rights of man. 
 
 2. Inheriting but a small patrimony from their 
 father, it was impossible that all the sons could re 
 ceive an expensive education. The two eldest were 
 therefore only taught the rudiments of their mother 
 tongue, at a common country school. But Andrew, 
 being intended by his mother for the ministry, was 
 sent to a flourishing academy at the Waxsaw meet 
 ing-house, superintended by Mr. Humphries. Here 
 he was placed on the study of the dead languages, 
 and continued until the revolutionary war, extending 
 its ravages into that section of South Carolina 
 where he then was, rendered it necessary that every 
 one should betake himself to the American standard, 
 seek protection with the enemy, or flee his country. 
 It was not an alternative that admitted of a tedious 
 deliberation. The natural ardour of his temper, 
 deriving encouragement from the recommendations 
 of his mother, whose feelings were not less alive on 
 the occasion than his own, and excited by those 
 sentiments in favour of liberty with which, by her 
 conversation, his mind had been early endued, 
 quickly determined him in the course to be pursued ; 
 and at the tender age of fourteen, accompanied by 
 
I.I ENTERS THE REVOLUTIONARY ARMY. 15 
 
 his brother Robert, he hastened to the American 
 camp, and engaged actively in the service of his 
 country. His oldest brother, who had previously 
 joined the army, had lost his life at the battle of 
 Stono, from the excessive heat of the weather and 
 the fatigues of the day. 
 
 3. Both Andrew and Robert were at this period 
 pretty well acquainted with the manual exercise, 
 and had some idea of the different evolutions of the 
 field, having been indulged by their mother in at 
 tending the drill and general musters of the neigh 
 bourhood. 
 
 4. The Americans, being unequal, as well from the 
 inferiority of their numbers as their discipline, to 
 engage the British army in battle, had retired before 
 it into the interior of North Carolina ; but when 
 they learned that Lord Cornwallis had crossed the 
 Yadkin, they returned in small detachments to their 
 native state. On their arrival they found Lord Raw- 
 don in possession of Camden, and the whole coun 
 try around in a state of desolation. The British 
 commander being advised of the return of the 
 settlers of Waxsaw, Major Coffin was immediately 
 despatched thither with a corps of light dragoons, 
 a company of infantry, and a considerable number 
 of tories, for their capture and destruction. Hear 
 ing of their approach, the settlers without delay ap 
 pointed the Waxsaw meeting-house as a place of 
 rendezvous, that they might the better collect their 
 scattered strength, and concert some system of 
 operations. About forty of them had accordingly 
 assembled at this point, when the enemy approached, 
 keeping the tories, who were dressed in the common 
 garb of the country, in front, whereby this little band 
 of patriots were completely deceived, having taken 
 them for Captain Nisbet s company, in expectation 
 of which they had been waiting. Eleven of them 
 were taken prisoners ; the rest with difficulty fled, 
 scattering and betaking themselves to the woods for 
 
16 LIFE OF JACKSON. [cHAP. 
 
 concealment. Of those who thus escaped, though 
 closely pursued, were Andrew Jackson and his 
 brother, who, entering a secret bend in a creek that 
 was close at hand, obtained a momentary respite 
 from danger, and avoided, for the night, the pursuit of 
 the enemy. The next day, however, having gone 
 to a neighbouring house for the purpose of procur 
 ing something to eat, they were broken in upon, and 
 made prisoners, by Coffin s dragoons and a party of 
 tories who accompanied them. Those young men, 
 with a view to security, had placed their horses in 
 the wood, on the margin of a small creek, and posted 
 on the road which led by the house a sentinel, that 
 they might have information of any approach, and. 
 in time to be able to elude it. But the tories, who 
 were well acquainted with the country and the 
 passes through the forest, had unfortunately passed 
 the creek at the very point where the horses and 
 baggage of our young soldiers were deposited, and 
 taken possession of them. Having done this, they 
 approached cautiously the house, and were almost 
 at the door before they were discovered. To esca pe 
 was impossible, and both were made prisoners. 
 Being placed under guard; Andrew was ordered, in, a 
 very imperious tone, by a British officer, to clean his 
 boots, which had become muddied in crossing the 
 creek. This order he positively and peremptorily 
 refused to obey ; alleging that he looked for such 
 treatment as a prisoner of war had a right to 
 expect. Incensed at his refusal, the officer aimed a 
 blow at his head with a drawn sword, which would 
 very probably have terminated his existence had he 
 not parried its effects by throwing up his left hand, on 
 which he received a severe wound, the mark of 
 which he bears to this hour. His brother, at the 
 same time, for a similar offence, received a deep cut 
 on the head, which subsequently occasioned his 
 death. They were both now taken to jail, where, 
 separated and confined, they were treated with 
 
X.] DEATH OF HIS BROTHER AND MOTHER. 17 
 
 marked severity, until a few days after the battle be- > 
 fore Camden, when, in consequence of a partial ex- s 
 change, effected by the intercessions and exertions 
 of their mother, and Captain Walker of the militia, 
 they were both released from confinement. Cap 
 tain Walker had, in a charge on the rear of the 
 British army, succeeded in making thirteen prisoners, 
 whom he gave in exchange for seven Americans, of 
 which number were these two young men. Robert, 
 during his confinement in prison , had suffered greatly ; 
 the wound on his head, all this time having never 
 been dressed, was followed by an inflammation of 
 the brain, which, in a few days after his liberation, 
 brought him to his grave. "To add to the afflictions 
 of Andrew, hi? mother, worn down by grief and her 
 incessant exertions to provide clothing and other 
 comforts for the suffering prisoners who had been 
 taken from her neighbourhood, expired in a few- 
 weeks after her son, near the lines of the enemy, in 
 the vicinity of Charleston. Andrew, the last and 
 only surviving child, confined to a bed of sickness, 
 occasioned by the sufferings he had been compelled 
 to undergo while a prisoner, and by getting wet on 
 his return from captivity ,.was thus left in the wide 
 world without a human being with whom he could 
 claim near relationship. The small-pox, about the 
 same time having made its appearance upon him, had 
 well-nigh terminated his sorrows and his existence. 
 5. Having at length recovered from his compli 
 cated afflictions, he entered upon the enjoyment of 
 his estate, which, although small, would have been 
 sufficient, under prudent management, to have com 
 pleted his education on the liberal scale which his 
 mother had designed. Unfortunately, however, he, 
 like too many young men, sacrificing future pros 
 pects to present gratification, expended it with 
 rather too profuse a hand. Coming, at length, to 
 foresee that he should be finally obliged to rely on 
 Jus own exertions for support and success in life, he 
 B 2 
 
18 LIFE OF JACKSON. [cHAP. 
 
 again betook himself, to his studies with increased 
 industry. He recommenced under Mr. M Culloch, 
 in that part of Carolina which was then called the 
 New Acquisition, near Hill s iron works. Here he 
 studied the languages, devoting a portion of his 
 time to a desultory course of studies. 
 
 6. His education being now completed, so far as 
 his wasted patrimony and the limited opportunities 
 then afforded in that section of the country would 
 permit, at the age of eighteen he turned his atten 
 tion to acquiring a profession, and preparing himself 
 to enter on the busy scenes of life. The pulpit, for 
 which he had been designed by his mother, was 
 now abandoned for the bar ; and, in the winter of 
 1784, he repaired to Salisbury, in North Carolina, 
 and commenced the study of law, under Spruce 
 M Cay, Esq., afterward one of the judges of that 
 state, and subsequently continued it under Colonel 
 John Stokes. Having remained at Salisbury until 
 the winter of 1786, he obtained a license from the 
 judges to practise law, and continued in the state 
 until the spring of 1788. 
 
 7. The observations he was enabled, during this 
 time, to make satisfied hyn that this state presented 
 few inducements to a young attorney ; and recol 
 lecting that he stood a solitary individual in life, 
 without relations to aid him in the onset, when in 
 numerable difficulties arise and retard success, he 
 determined to seek a new country. But for this 
 he might have again returned to his native state; 
 the death, however, of every relation he had had 
 wiped away all those endearing* recollections and 
 circumstances which warp the mind to the place of 
 its nativity. The western parts of the state of 
 Tennessee were, about this time, often spoken of 
 as presenting flattering prospects to adventurers. 
 He immediately determined to accompany Judge 
 M Nairy thither, who had been appointed, and was 
 going out, to hold the first supreme cotrt that had 
 
I.] SETTLES AT NASHVILLE. 19 
 
 ever sat in the state. Having reached the Holston, 
 they ascertained it would be impossible to arrive at 
 the time appointed for the session of the court ; 
 and therefore determined to remain in that section 
 of the country until fall. They recommenced their 
 journey in October, and passing through an exten 
 sive uninhabited country, reached Nashville in the 
 same month. It had not been Jackson s intention 
 certainly to make Tennessee the place of his future 
 residence ; his visit was merely experimental, and 
 his stay remained to be determined by the advan 
 tages that might be disclosed : but rinding, soon 
 after his arrival, that a considerable opening was 
 offered for the success of a young attorney, he de 
 termined to remain. To one of refined feelings, the 
 prospect before him was certainly not of an encou 
 raging cast. As in all newly-settled countries must 
 be the case, society was loosely formed, and united 
 by but few of those ties which have a tendency to 
 enforce the performance of moral duty and the right 
 execution of justice. The young men of the place, 
 adventurers from different sections of the country, 
 had become indebted to the merchants ; there was 
 but one lawyer in the country, and they had so con 
 trived as to retain him in their business ; the conse 
 quence was, that the merchants were entirely de 
 prived of the means of enforcing against those gen 
 tlemen the execution of their contracts. In this 
 state of things, Jackson made his appearance at 
 Nashville, and, while the creditor class looked to it 
 with great satisfaction, the debtors were sorely dis 
 pleased. Applications were immediately made to 
 him for his professional services, and on the morn 
 ing after his arrival he issued seventy writs. To 
 thos prodigal gentlemen it was an alarming circum 
 stance ; their former security was impaired ; but that 
 it might not wholly depart, they determined to force 
 him, in some way or other, to leave the country ; 
 and to effect this, broils and quarrels with him were 
 
f 
 
 20 LIFE OF JACKSON. [cHAP. 
 
 to be resorted to. This, however, was soon aban 
 doned ; satisfied, by the first controversy in which 
 they had involved him, that his decision and firm 
 ness were such as to leave no hope of effecting any 
 thing through this channel. Disregarding the oppo 
 sition raised to him, he continued, with care and 
 industry, to press forward in his professional course ; 
 and his attention soon brought him forward, and 
 introduced him to a profitable practice. Shortly 
 afterward, he was appointed attorney-general for 
 the district, in which capacity he continued to act 
 for several years. 
 
 8. Indian depredations being then frequent on the 
 Cumberland, every man, of necessity, became a 
 soldier. Unassisted by the government, the settlers 
 were forced to rely for security on their own bravery 
 and exertions. Although young, no person was 
 more distinguished than Andrew Jackson in defend 
 ing the country against these predatory incursions 
 of the savages, who continually harassed the fron 
 tiers, and not unfrequently approached the heart 
 of the settlements, which were thin, but not widely 
 extended. He aided alike in garrisoning the forts, 
 and in pursuing and chastising the enemy. 
 
 9. In the year 1796, having, by his patriotism, 
 firmness, and talents, secured to himself a distin 
 guished standing with all classes, he was chosen 
 one of the members of the convention for establish 
 ing a constitution for the state. His good conduct 
 and zeal for the public interest, and the republican 
 feelings and sentiments which were conspicuously 
 disclosed in the formation and arrangement of this 
 instrument, brought him more prominently to view ; 
 and, without proposing or soliciting, he was, in the 
 same year, elected a member of the house of rep- 
 reser atives, in congress, for the state of Tennes 
 see. The fo lowing year, his reputation continuing 
 to increase, and every bosom feeling a wish to raise 
 him to still higher honours ? he was chosen .a senator 
 
k] CHOSEN MAJOR-GENERAL. 21 
 
 of the United States congress, and took his seat on 
 the 22d day of November, 1797. About the middle 
 of April, business of an important and private na 
 ture imposed on him the necessity of asking leave 
 of absence, and returning home. Leave was granted, 
 and, before the next session, he resigned his seat. 
 He was but a little more than thirty years of age ; 
 and hence scarcely eligible by the constitution at 
 the time he was elected. The sedition law, about 
 which so much concern and feeling had been mani 
 fested through the country, was introduced into the 
 senate by Mr. Lloyd, of Maryland, in June, 1798, 
 and passed that body on the 4th of July following ; 
 hence the name of Jackson, owing to the leave of 
 absence which had been granted him in April, does 
 not appear on the journals. On the alien law, how 
 ever, and the effort to repeal the stamp act, he was 
 present, resting in the minority, and on the side of 
 the republican principles of the country. 
 
 10. The state of Tennessee, on its admission into 
 the Union, comprising but one military division, and 
 General Conway, who commanded it as major-gen 
 eral, dying about this time, Jackson, without being- 
 consulted on the subject, and without the least inti 
 mation of what was in agitation, was, as the consti 
 tution of the state directs, chosen by the field-offi 
 cers to succeed him ; which appointment he contin 
 ued to hold until May, 1814, when he was constituted 
 a major-general in the United States service, 
 
 11. Becoming tired of political life, for the in 
 trigues of which he declared himself unqualified, and 
 having for two years voted in the minority in con 
 gress, he resigned, after the first session, his seat in 
 the senate. To this measure he was strongly in 
 duced, from a desire to make way for General Smith, 
 who, he conjectured, would in that capacity be able 
 to render more important services to the government 
 than himself. His country, unwilling that his tal 
 ents should remain inactive and unemployed, again 
 
22 LIFE OF JACKSON. [cHAP. 
 
 demanded his services. Immediately after his re 
 signation, he was appointed one of the judges of the 
 supreme court of the state. Sensibly alive to the 
 difficult duties of this station, distrusting his legal 
 acquirements, and impressed with the great injury 
 he might produce to suitors by erroneous decisions, 
 he advanced to the office with reluctance, and in a 
 short time resigned, leaving it open for those who, 
 he believed, were better qualified than himself to 
 discharge its intricate and important duties. Unam 
 bitious of these distinctions and honours, which 
 young men are usually proud to possess, and finding 
 too that his circumstances and condition in life were 
 not such as to permit his time and attention to be 
 devoted to public matters, he determined to yield 
 them into other hands, and to devote himself to 
 agricultural pursuits ; and accordingly settled him 
 self on an excellent farm, ten miles from Nashville, 
 on the Cumberland river ; where, for several years, 
 he enjoyed all the comforts of domestic and social 
 intercourse. Abstracted from the busy scenes of 
 public life, pleased with retirement, surrounded by 
 friends whom he loved, and who entertained for 
 him the highest veneration and respect, and blessed 
 with an amiable and obedient wife, nothing seemed 
 wanting to the completion of that happiness which he 
 so anxiously desired while in office. 
 
It. I 7AR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 23 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 FROM THE BEGINNING OP 1812, TO THE MONTH OF MAY OF 
 THAT YEAR. 
 
 tie was roused from his retirement by the war with Great Britain 
 Assembles 2500 volunteers Descends the Mississippi 300 
 miles Encamps near the Natches, to be ready to defend that 
 part of the country from invaders The danger of invasion ap 
 pears to be removed Is ordered to give up his stores to the 
 regular army stationed there Refuses to comply with the 
 order Fulfils his compact with his volunteers, by taking them 
 back safely to their own homes. 
 
 12. THE repose of Jackson, and the pleasures de 
 rived from his farm, were now destined to be aban 
 doned for the duties of public life. After many years 
 of negotiation and entreaty with Great Britain y after 
 forbearance such as no country in the world ever 
 showed before, the congress, unanimously called 
 upon by the sound people of that country for the 
 purpose, declared war against Great Britain, on the 
 grounds clearly set forth in my " History of the Re 
 gency and Reign of George the Fourth," and particu 
 larly in the paragraph 297 of that history. 
 
 13. The government of the United States, during 
 the same year in which they declared the war, made 
 preparations for calling out volunteers for the de 
 fence of the country. Jackson, then happy on his 
 farm, in the neighbourhood of Nashville, which lies 
 about the middle of the fine state of Tennessee, 
 which is bounded to the north by Kentucky, to the 
 east by the Allegany mountains, to the south by the 
 states of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, and to 
 the west by the great river Mississippi, Jackson, 
 
24 LIFE OF JACKSON. 
 
 happy on his farm, in the midst of this fine and flour 
 ishing state, and retired, as he apparently thought r 
 for ever, from all public affairs, though only forty- 
 five years of age, retired, as he thought, for ever, 
 was again roused by the insults offered to his coun 
 try, by the wrongs inflicted upon her citizens, and 
 by the recollection, no doubt, of the death of his 
 mother, of the death of his brother Robert, of the 
 cause of those deaths ; and, if he could have for 
 gotten the horrid account of the injuries inflicted 
 upon the country of his father and his mother, there 
 was that scar on his hand, inflicted by a British offi 
 cer, who had aimed a blow at his life because he had 
 refused to clean the dirt off his boots ; there was 
 that scar to -keep his virtuous resentment alive, even 
 if he could have forgotten the wrongs of Ireland, 
 and the ruin and extermination of every relation in 
 the world. 
 
 14. Nevertheless, he did not seek a command in 
 the regular army which was about to be raised ; but 
 the congress, having passed an act, in February, and 
 another in July, 1812, authorizing the president (then 
 Madison) to accept of the services of fifty thousand 
 volunteers, he addressed the citizens of his division, 
 and twenty-five hundred flocked to his standard. 
 A tender of them having been made, and the offer 
 accepted, in November, 1812, he received orders to 
 place himself at their head and to descend the Mis 
 sissippi, for the defence of the lower country, which 
 was then supposed to be in danger. Accordingly, 
 on the 10th of December, 1812, those troops rendez 
 voused at Nashville, prepared to advance to the place 
 of their destination ; and although the weather was 
 then excessively severe, and the ground covered 
 with snow, no troops could have displayed greater 
 firmness. The general was everywhere with them, 
 inspiring them with the ardour that animated his 
 own bosom. The cheerful spirit with which they 
 submitted to hardships and bore privations, on the 
 
II.] DISOBEYS ORDERS. 25 
 
 very .onset of their military career, as well as the 
 order and subordination they so readily observed, 
 were happy presages of what was to be expected 
 when they should be directed to face an enemy. 
 
 15. Natches is a town on the banks of the Missis 
 sippi, full three hundred miles from Nashville, and 
 about a hundred miles from New-Orleans, which is 
 near the mouths of the Mississippi. Natches was 
 the place of rendezvous. He arrived there in the 
 month of January ; and, very soon afterward, there 
 took place a transaction which gave the government 
 of the United States a specimen of that inflexibility 
 of character in him which has since been so fully 
 developed, under circumstances of greater peril than 
 any other man has ever had to encounter. 
 
 16. Having procured supplies, and made the ne 
 cessary arrangements for an active campaign, they 
 proceeded, the 7th of January, 1813, on their jour 
 ney; and, descending the Ohio and Mississippi, 
 through cold and ice, arrived and halted at Natches. 
 Here Jackson had been instructed to remain until 
 he should receive further orders. Having chosen a 
 healthy site for the encampment of his troops, he 
 devoted his time, with the utmost industry, to train 
 ing and preparing them for active service. The 
 clouds of war, however, in that quarter, having blown 
 over, an order was received from the secretary of 
 war, dated the 5th of January, 1813, directing him, 
 on the receipt thereof, to dismiss those under his 
 command from service, and to take measures for 
 delivering over every article of public property 
 in his possession to Brigadier- general Wilkinson. 
 When this order reached his camp, there were one 
 hundred and fifty on the sick report, fifty-six of whom 
 were unable to raise their heads, and almost the 
 whole of them destitute of the means of defraying 
 the expenses of their return. The consequence of 
 a strict compliance with the secretary s order in 
 evitably would have been, that many of the sick must 
 
 C 
 
8 kiFE or JACKSON. [CHAP, 
 
 have perished, while most of the others, irom their 
 destitute condition, would, of necessity, have been 
 compelled to enlist in the regular army, under Gen 
 eral Wilkinson. Such alternatives were neither 
 congenial with their general s wishes nor such as 
 they had expected, on adventuring with him in the 
 service of their country ; he had carried them from 
 home, and r the fate of war and disease apart, it was 
 his duty, he believed, to bring them back. Whether 
 an expectation that, by this plan, many of them would 
 be compelled into the regular ranks, had formed any 
 part of the motive that occasioned the order for 
 their discharge at so great a distance from home, 
 cannot be known ; and it would be uncharitable to 
 insinuate against the government so serious and foul 
 an accusation, without the strongest evidence to sup 
 port it. Be this as it may, General Jackson could 
 not think of sacrificing or injuring an arrny that h?id 
 shown such devctedness to their country ; and he 
 determined to disregard the order, and march them 
 again to their homes, where they had been imbodied, 
 rather than discharge them where they would be ex 
 posed to the greatest hardships and dangers. To this 
 measure he was prompted, not only by the reasons 
 already mentioned, but by the consideration that 
 many of the troops under his command were young 
 men, the children of his neighbours and acquaint 
 ances, who had delivered them into his hands, as to a 
 guardian, who, with parental solicitude, would watch 
 over and protect their welfare. To have abandoned 
 them, therefore, at such a time, and under such cir 
 cumstances, would have drawn on him the merited 
 censure of the most deserving part of his fellow-citi 
 zens, and sensibly wounded his own generous feel 
 ings. Add to this, those young men who were con 
 fined by sickness, learning the nature of the order he 
 had received, implored him, with tears in their eyes, 
 not to abandon them in so great an extremity, re 
 minding him, at the same time, of his assurances 
 
II.] RESISTS THE GOVERNMENT. 27 
 
 that he would be to them as a father, and of the im 
 plicit confidence they had placed in his word. This 
 was an appeal which it would have been difficult for 
 the feelings of Jackson to have resisted, had it been 
 without the support of other weighty considerations , 
 but, influenced by them all, he had no hesitation ir 
 coming to a determination. 
 
 17. Having made known his resolution to the field- 
 officers of his division, it met, apparently, their ap 
 probation ; but, after retiring from his presence, 
 they assembled late at night, in secret caucus, and 
 proceeded to recommend to him an abandonment 
 of his purpose, and an immediate discharge of 
 his troops. Great as was the astonishment which 
 this measure excited in the general, it produced a 
 still higher sentiment of indignation. In reply, 
 he urged the duplicity of their conduct, and re 
 minded them, that although to those who pos 
 sessed funds and health such a course could pro 
 duce no inconvenience, yet to the unfortunate sol 
 dier, who was alike destitute of both, no measure 
 could be more calamitous. He concluded by telling 
 them that his resolution, not having been hastily 
 concluded on, nor bottomed on light considerations, 
 was unalterably fixed ; and that immediate prepara 
 tions must be made for carrying into execution the 
 determination he had formed. 
 
 18. He lost no time in making known to the sec 
 retary of war the resolution he had adopted, to dis 
 regard the order he had given, and to return his 
 army to the place where he had received it. He 
 painted in strong terms the evils which the course 
 pursued by the government was calculated to pro 
 duce, and expressed the astonishment he felt that 
 it should have originated with the once redoubted 
 advocate of soldiers rights. 
 
 19. General Wilkinson, to whom the public prop 
 erty was directed to be delivered, learning the de 
 termination which had been taken by Jackson, to 
 
28 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 march his troops back, and to take with them so 
 much of that property as should be necessary to 
 their return, in a letter of solemn and mysterious 
 import admonished him of the consequences which 
 were before him, and of the awful and dangerous 
 responsibility he was taking on himself by so bold a 
 measure. General Jackson replied, that his con 
 duct, and the consequences to which it might lead, 
 had been deliberately weighed and well considered, 
 and that he was prepared to abide the result, what 
 ever it might be. Wilkinson had previously given 
 orders to his officers to recruit from Jackson s army ; 
 they were advised, however, on their first appear 
 ance, that those troops were already in the service 
 of the United States, and that, thus situated, they 
 should not be enlisted ; and that he would arrest 
 and confine the first officer who dared to enter his 
 encampment with any such object in view. 
 
 20. The quarter-master, having been ordered to 
 furnish the necessary transportation for the convey 
 ance of the sick and the baggage to Tennessee, im 
 mediately set about the performance of the task ; 
 but, as the event proved, with not the least inten 
 tion of executing it. Still, he continued to keep up 
 the semblance of exertion; and the better to deceive, 
 the very day before that which had been appointed 
 for breaking up the encampment and commencing 
 the return march, eleven wagons arrived there by 
 his order. The next morning, however, when every 
 thing was about to be packed up, acting doubtless 
 from orders, and intending to produce embarrass 
 ment, the quarter-master entered the encampment, 
 and discharged the whole. He was grossly mis 
 taken in the man he had to deal with, and had now 
 played his tricks too far to be able to accomplish 
 the object which he had, no doubt, been instructed 
 to effect. Disregarding their dismissal, so evidently 
 designed to prevent his marching back his men, 
 General Jackson seized upon these wagons, yet 
 
It.J RETURNS WITH HIS VOLUNTEERS. 29 
 
 within his lines, and compelled them to proceed to 
 the transportation of his sick. It deserves to be 
 recollected that this quarter-master, so soon as he 
 received directions for furnishing" transportation, had 
 despatched an express to General Wilkinson ; and 
 there can be but little doubt, that the course of du 
 plicity he afterward pursued was a concerted plan 
 between him and that, general to defeat the design 
 of Jackson, compel him to abandon the course he 
 had adopted, and in this way draw to the regular 
 army, many of the soldiers, who, from necessity, 
 would be driven to enlist. In this attempt they 
 were fortunately disappointed. Adhering to his 
 original purpose, he successfully resisted every 
 stratagem of Wilkinson, and marched the whole of 
 his division to the section of country whence they 
 had been drawn, and dismissed them from service, 
 as he had been instructed. 
 
 21. To present an example that might buoy up the 
 sinking spirits of his troops, in the long and arduous 
 march before them, he yielded up his horses to the 
 sick, and, trudging on foot, he encountered all the 
 hardships that were met by the soldiers. It was at 
 a time of year when the roads were extremely bad, 
 and the swamps lying in their passage deep and 
 full ; yet, under these circumstances, he placed be 
 fore his troops an example of patience and hardship 
 that lulled to silence all complaints, and won to him, 
 still stronger than before, the esteem and respect of 
 every one. On arriving at Nashville, he communi 
 cated to the president of the United States the course 
 he had pursued, and the reasons that had induced 
 it. If it had become necessary, he had sufficient 
 grounds on which he could have justified his con 
 duct. Had he suffered General Wilkinson to have 
 accomplished what was clearly his intention, al 
 though it was an event which might at the moment 
 have benefited the service, by adding an increased 
 strength to the army, yet the example would have 
 C 2 
 
30 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP- 
 
 been of so serious and exceptionable a character, that 
 injury would have been the final and unavoidable re 
 sult. Whether the intention of thus forcing these men 
 to enlist into the regular ranks had its existence under 
 the direction of the government or not, such would 
 have been the universal belief; and all would have felt 
 a deep abhorrence at beholding the patriots of the 
 country drawn off from their homes under pretence 
 of danger ; while the concealed design was, by in 
 creasing their necessities at a distance from their 
 residence, to compel them to an act which they 
 would have abstained from under different circum 
 stances. His conduct, terrible as it first appeared, 
 was in the end approved, and the expenses incurred 
 directed to be paid by the government. 
 
 22. It may be prudent, and it is doubtless patri 
 otic, to smother this affair up in this manner in the 
 United States, and especially when the writer is a 
 member of the congress ; but I have no motive to 
 smother up a transaction so abominably unjust. 
 The truth is, that this odious attempt at a violation 
 of compact arose from the dirty em^y of General 
 Armstrong, the secretary at war, of Wilkinson, the 
 commanding general, and of all those officers of the 
 United States army who had not the courage to imi 
 tate, who had not the skill and perseverance to 
 rival, and who had not the honesty to acknowledge 
 the superior merit of Jackson. Every man whose 
 heart is the seat of justice will applaud him for 
 stubbornly resisting these crafty suggestions of envy ; 
 and it should be told here, that Armstrong, who gave 
 the order for this act of oppression, was disgraced 
 and degraded, not many months afterward, for his 
 scandalous neglect to prepare for the defence of the 
 city of Washington, where he was residing; and 
 that Wilkinson, who was appointed to put the order 
 into execution, and to supplant Jackson, was suffi 
 ciently disgraced, in less than two years from that 
 , on the confines of Canada. But there never 
 
III.] INDIAN CAMPAIGN, 1813. 31 
 
 was a man yet, in this world, whom every one kne\r 
 to be full of talent, full of zeal, and devotedly disin 
 terested to the cause of his country, there never 
 yet was such a man who was not hated and con 
 spired against by all the swarm of men of small 
 merit, and especially by every selfish and sham 
 patriot. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 FROM MAY, 1813, TO APRIL, 1814. 
 
 His Indian campaign Battle after battle Discontent in his 
 army after discontent Proof after proof of fortitude and 
 resolution, each meriting the admiration of all mankind. 
 
 22. JACKSON, having taken his volunteers safely 
 back to their own country, he discharged them, 
 there being little or no expectation of their being 
 wanted again. It ought to be observed, because it 
 will by-and-by be found to be of great importance, 
 that these volunteers had been engaged to serve one 
 year out of two, to be computed from the day of 
 rendezvous, unless sooner discharged ; that is to 
 say, they engaged to be at the command of the gov 
 ernment for the space of two years from the time 
 of the first rendezvous ; unless they should, before 
 the end of the two years, have performed one year s 
 service. I beg the reader to bear this in mind, for 
 he will, by-and-by, find it leading to perils such as 
 no man but Jackson ever encountered ; or, at any 
 rate, such as no man but Jackson ever overcame. 
 
 23. There was, at this time (May, 1813), no ap 
 pearance that British hostility would bear against 
 ,any part of Louisiana, in which New-Orleans is 
 .-situated. But the repose of Jackson and his vol- 
 
32 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 vmleers was not of long duration ; for the savages, 
 instigated by an impostor who went among them, 
 calling himself a prophet, Avho gave them assurances 
 of the aid and protection of Great Britam, whose 
 power and riches he represented as without bounds ; 
 the savages thus instigated, these wretches, of sev 
 eral different nations, as they are called, made in 
 cursions into the states of Tennessee, Kentucky, 
 and other parts, committing murders and cruelties 
 most horrible ; they slaughtered women and children 
 with the most savage barbarity. It was absolutely 
 necessary to punish these bloody monsters : and, 
 therefore, first the government of Tennessee, and 
 afterward the general government, authorized war 
 and an infliction of punishment on these monsters; 
 and all eyes were turned upon Jackson to put an 
 end to this horrible warfare. 
 
 24. He therefore called upon his volunteers, who 
 had followed him to the Natches in the spring of 
 the year ; and he appointed the 4th of October 
 (1813) for them to meet him, armed and equipped 
 for active service. He immediately commenced 
 war upon these murderous savages ; and here I 
 must desire the English reader to prepare himself 
 for a series of transactions wholly incredible, were 
 they not attested by piles of official documents, the 
 authenticity of which no man can dispute. It 
 would be useful to the English government, the 
 English parliament, and bands of paper-money 
 makers, who are looking to legal tender ; it would 
 be useful to them to look minutely at the trans 
 actions of this Indian campaign ; for, having looked 
 at them, they will perceive that it is madness to 
 suppose that all the combinations of banks, and 
 bankers, and merchants can ever drive this brave 
 and inflexibly virtuous man from his purpose. 
 
 25. Before I lay before the reader the details of 
 this campaign, it will be useful to give a short de 
 scription of the geography of the scene. The great 
 
HI.] INDIAN CAMPAIGN, 1813. 33 
 
 river Mississippi, which comes down from fifteen or 
 sixteen hundred miles, then is joined by the Ohio, 
 and carries it along with it five or six hundred miles, 
 down to its mouths, which empty themselves in the 
 Gulf of Mexico; this great river bounds to the 
 westward the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Mis 
 sissippi, and runs through the state of Louisiana. 
 The nations of savages, called by various names, 
 Creeks, Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Bayous, 
 and God knows what besides, live in the woods and 
 fastnesses in these states, or in those on the west 
 ern side of the Mississippi ; therefore, to leave the 
 people of the United States exposed to the toma 
 hawks of these bloody monsters would have been 
 scandalous indeed. Jackson was the man chosen 
 to chastise them ; and in the wonderful details 
 which 1 am now about to lay before the reader, it 
 will be seen that not another man that we have 
 ever heard of would have been capable of perform 
 ing this duty with success ; and when the reader 
 has gone through these details, and has afterward 
 witnessed the glorious defence of New-Orleans, he 
 will still recur to this Indian campaign as the most 
 glorious exploit of this wonderful man ; a campaign 
 meriting greater praise than ten thousand lives like 
 that of Wellington, and yet a campaign which was 
 never yet heard of in England ; this country of 
 learning, of literature, of researches, and of know 
 ledge of all sorts ; this country which has poured 
 out travellers to penetrate into every part of the 
 United States, but which has never sent one to dis 
 cover and send home an account of tkfs campaign. 
 With these preliminary remarks I enter upon the 
 details of this campaign. I need not bespeak the 
 reader s wonder and admiration ; for the man who 
 will not admire here is hardly worthy of the name 
 of man. 
 
 26. These multiplied outrages at length attracted 
 the attention of the general government, and appli- 
 
34 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 cation was made, through their agent (Colonel 
 Hawkins), to the principal chiefs of the nation, 
 who, desirous of preserving their friendly relations 
 with the United States, resolved to punish the mur 
 derers with death, and immediately appointed a 
 party of warriors to carry their determination into 
 execution. No sooner was this done, than the 
 spirit of the greater part of the nation, which from 
 policy had been kept, in a considerable degree, dor 
 mant, suddenly burst to a flame, and kindled into 
 civil war. 
 
 27. It was not difficult for the friends of those 
 murderers who had been put to death, to prevail on 
 others, who secretly applauded the acts for which 
 they suffered, to enter warmly into their resent 
 ments against those who had been concerned in 
 bringing them to punishment. An occasion, as 
 they believed, was now presented, which fully 
 authorized them to throw aside all .those injunc 
 tions of secrecy, with regard to their hostile inten 
 tions, which had been imposed on them by Tecum- 
 seh and their prophets. This restraint, which 
 hitherto they had regarded with much difficulty, 
 they now resolved to lay aside, and to execute at 
 once their insatiate and long-projected vengeance, 
 not only on the white people, but on those of their 
 own nation who, by this last act of retaliatory 
 justice, had unequivocally shown a disposition to 
 preserve their friendship with the former. The 
 cloak of concealment being now thrown aside, the 
 war-clubs* were immediately seen in every section 
 of the nation, but more particularly among the nu- 
 
 * Instruments used by the Indian tribes on commencing hos 
 tilities ; and which, when painted red, they consider a decla 
 ration of war. They are formed of a stick, about eighteen 
 inches in length, with a strong piece of sharp iron affixed at 
 the end, and resemble a hatchet. They use them principally 
 in pursuit, and after they have been able to introduce confusion 
 iato the ranks of an enemy.. 
 
III.} INDIAN CAMPAIGN, 1813. 35 
 
 merous hordes residing near the Alabama. Bran 
 dishing these in their hands, they rushed, in the first 
 instance, on those of their own countrymen who 
 had shown a disposition to preserve their relations 
 with the United States, and obliged them to retire 
 towards the white settlements, and place themselves 
 in forts, to escape the first ebullition of their rage. 
 Encouraged by this success, and their numbers, 
 which hourly increased, and infatuated to the highest 
 degree by the predictions of their prophets, who as 
 sured them that " the Great Spirit" was on their 
 side, and would enable them to triumph over all 
 their enemies, they began to make immediate pre 
 parations for extending their ravages to the white 
 settlements. Fort Minims, situated in the Tensaw 
 settlement in the Mississippi territory, was the first 
 point destined to satiate their cruelty and ven 
 geance. It contained, at that time, about one hun 
 dred and fifty men, under the command of Major 
 Beasley, besides a considerable number of women 
 and children, who had betaken themselves to it for 
 security. Having collected a supply of ammunition 
 from the Spaniards at Pensacola, and assembled 
 their warriors to the number of six or seven hun 
 dred, the war party, commanded by Weatherford, a 
 distinguished chief of the nation, on the 30th of 
 August, 1813, commenced their assault on the fort; 
 and having succeeded in carrying it, put to- death 
 nearly three hundred persons, including women and 
 children, with the most savage barbarity. The 
 slaughter was indiscriminate ; mercy was extended 
 to none ; and the tomahawk, at the same stroke, 
 often cleft the mother and the child. But seventeen 
 of the whole number in the fort escaped to bring 
 intelligence of the dreadful catastrophe. This mon 
 strous and unprovoked outrage no sooner reached 
 Tennessee than the whole state was thrown into a 
 fernjent, and nothing was thought or spoken of but 
 retaliatory vengeance. Considerable excitement 
 
36 LIFE OF JACKSON. [cHAP. 
 
 had already been produced by brutalities of earlier 
 date, and measures had been adopted by the governor, 
 in conformity with instructions from the secretary 
 of war, for commencing a campaign against them ; 
 but the massacre at Fort Mimms, which threatened 
 to be followed by the entire destruction of the Mo 
 bile and Tombigbee settlements, inspired a deep and 
 universal sentiment of solicitude, and an earnest wish 
 for speedy and effectual operations. The anxiety 
 felt on the occasion was greatly increased, from an 
 apprehension that General Jackson would not be 
 able to command. He was the only man known in 
 the state who was believed qualified to discharge 
 the arduous duties of the station, and who could 
 carry with him the complete confidence of his sol 
 diers. He was at this time seriously indisposed, 
 and confined to his room with a fractured arm ; but 
 although this apprehension was seriously indulged, 
 arrangements were in progress, and measures in 
 dustriously taken, to prepare and press the expe 
 dition with every possible despatch. 
 
 28. A numerous collection of respectable citizens, 
 who convened at Nashville on the 18th of Septem 
 ber, 1813, for the purpose of devising the most 
 effectual ways and means of affording protection to 
 their brethren in distress, after conferring with the 
 governor and General Jackson, who was still con 
 fined to his room, strongly advised the propriety of 
 marching a sufficient army into the heart of the 
 Creek nation ; and accordingly recommended this 
 measure with great earnestness to the legislature, 
 which, in a few days afterward, commenced its 
 session. That body, penetrated with the same sen 
 timents which animated the whole country, imme 
 diately enacted a law, authorizing the executive to 
 call into the field thirty-five hundred of the militia r 
 to be marched against the Indians; and to guard 
 against all difficulties, in the event the general 
 government should omit to adopt them into their 
 
III.] INDIAN CAMPAIGN, 1813. 37 
 
 service, three hundred thousand dollars were voted 
 for their support. 
 
 29. Additional reasons were at hand why active 
 operations should be commenced with the least 
 possible delay. The settlers were all fleeing to the 
 interior, and every day brought intelligence that 
 the Creeks, collected in considerable force, were 
 bending their course towards the frontiers of Tennes 
 see. The governor now issued an order to General 
 Jackson, who, notwithstanding t-he state of his health, 
 had determined to assume the command, requiring 
 him to call out, and rendezvous at Fayetteville, in the 
 shortest possible time, two thousand of the militia 
 and volunteers of his division, to repel any invasion 
 that might be contemplated. Colonel Coffee, in 
 addition to five hundred cavalry already raised and 
 under his command, was authorized and instructed 
 to organize and receive into his regiment any 
 mounted riflemen that might make a tender of their 
 services. 
 
 30. Having received these orders, Jackson hast 
 ened to give them effect ; and with this object, and 
 with a view to greater expedition, appealed to those 
 volunteers who, with him, had heretofore descended 
 the Mississippi to Natches. He urged them to 
 appear at the place designated for the rendezvous 
 on the 4th of October, 1813, equipped and armed 
 for active service. He pointed out the imperious 
 necessity which demanded their services, and urged 
 them to be punctual ; for that their frontiers were 
 threatened with invasion by a savage foe. " Al 
 ready are large bodies of the hostile Creeks march 
 ing to your borders, with their scalping-knives un 
 sheathed, to butcher your women and children : 
 time is not to be lost. We must hasten to the 
 frontier, or we shall find it drenched in the blood 
 of our citizens. The health of your general is re 
 stored he will command in person." In the mean 
 time until this force could be collected and organ* 
 
 D 
 
38 LIFE OF JACKSON* [cHAP, 
 
 ized, Colonel Coffee, with the force then under his 
 command, and such additional mounted riflemen as 
 could be attached at a short notice, was directed to 
 hasten forward to the neighbourhood of Huntsville, 
 and occupy some eligible position for the defence 
 of the frontier, until the infantry should arrive ; 
 when it was contemplated, by the nearest possible 
 route, to press on to Fort St. Stephen, with a view 
 to the protection and defence of Mississippi. 
 
 31- Every exertion was now made to hasten the 
 preparations for a vigorous campaign. Orders were 
 given to the quarter-master to furnish the necessary 
 munitions, with the proper transportation ; and to 
 the contractors, to provide ample supplies of pro- 
 wsions. The day of their rendezvous being ar 
 rived, and the general not being sufficiently recov 
 ered to attend in person, he forwarded by his aid- 
 de-camp, Major Reid, an address, to be read to the 
 troops, accompanied by an order for the establish 
 ment of the police of the camp. In this address 
 he pointed to the unprovoked injuries that had 
 been so long inflicted by this horde of merciless 
 and cruel savages, and entreated his soldiers to 
 evince that zeal in the defence of their country 
 which the importance of the moment so much re 
 quired. " We are about to furnish these savages 
 a lesson of admonition; we are about to teach 
 them that our long forbearance has not proceeded 
 from an insensibility to wrongs, or an inability to 
 redress them. They stand in need of such warn 
 ing. In proportion as we have borne with their in 
 sults and submitted to their outrages, they have 
 multiplied in number and increased in atrocity. But 
 the measure of their offences is at length filled. 
 The blood of our womn and children, recently 
 spilt at Fort Mimms, calls for our vengeance ; it 
 must not call in vain. Our borders must no longer 
 be disturbed by the war-whoop of these savages, and 
 the cries of their suffering victims. The torch that 
 
in.] INDIAN CAMPAIGN, 1813. 39 
 
 has been lighted up must be made to blaze in the 
 heart of their own country. It is time they should 
 be made to feel the weight of a power which, be 
 cause it was merciful, they believed to be impotent. 
 But how shall a war so long forborne, and so loudly 
 called for by retributive justice, be waged 1 Shall 
 we imitate the example of our enemies, in the dis 
 order of their movements and the savag>eness of 
 their dispositions * Is it worthy the character of 
 American soldiers, who take up arms to redress the 
 wrongs of an injured country, to assume no better 
 model than that furnished them by barbarians ? No, 
 fellow-soldiers ; great as are the grievances that 
 have called us from our homes, we must not permit 
 disorderly passions to tarnish the reputation we 
 shall carry along with us : w-e must and will be vic 
 torious; but we must conquer as men who owe 
 nothing to chance, and who, in the midst of victory, 
 can still be mindful of what is due to humanity ! 
 
 32. " We will commence the campaign by an 
 inviolable attention to discipline and subordination. 
 Without a strict observance of these, victory must 
 ever be uncertain, and ought hardly to be ex 
 ulted in even when gained. To what but the entire 
 disregard of order and subordination are we to 
 ascribe the disasters which have attended our arms 
 in the north during the present war ? How glorious 
 will it be to remove the blots which have tarnished 
 the fair character bequeathed us by the fathers of 
 our revolution ! The bosom of your general is full 
 of hope. He knows the ardour which animates 
 you, and already exults in the triumph which your 
 strict observance of discipline and good order will 
 render certain." 
 
 33. For the police of his camp, he announced the 
 following order : 
 
 " The chain of sentinels will be marked, and the 
 sentries posted, precisely at ten o clock to-day. 
 * No sutler will be suffered to sell spirituous 
 
40 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 liquors to any soldier, without permission in writing 
 from a commissioned officer, under the penalties 
 prescribed by the rules and articles of war. 
 
 " No citizen will be permitted to pass the chain 
 of sentinels, after retreat-beat in the evening, until 
 reveille in the morning. Drunkenness, the bane of 
 all orderly encampments, is positively forbidden, 
 both in officers and privates : officers, under the 
 penalty of immediate arrest; and privates, of being 
 placed under guard, there to remain until liberated 
 by a court-martial. 
 
 " At reveille-beat, all officers and soldiers are to 
 appear on parade, with their arms and accoutre 
 ments in proper order. 
 
 " On parade, silence, the duty of a soldier, is 
 positively commanded. 
 
 " No officer or soldier is to sleep out of camp, 
 but by permission obtained." 
 
 34. These rules, to those who had scarcely yet 
 passed the line that separates the citizen from the 
 soldier, and who had not yet laid aside the notions 
 of self-sovereignty, had the appearance of too much 
 rigour ; but the general well knew that the expedi 
 tion in which they were embarked involved much 
 hazard, and that, although such lively feelings were 
 manifested now, yet when hardships pressed, these 
 might cease. He considered it much safer, there 
 fore, to lay before them, at once, the rules of con 
 duct to which they must conform ; believing that 
 it would be more difficult to drive licentiousness 
 from his camp than to prevent its entrance. 
 
 35. Impatient to join his division, although his 
 health was far from being restored, his arm only be 
 ginning to heal, the general, in a few days afterward, 
 set out for the encampment, and reached it on the 
 7th of October, 1813. Finding, on his arrival, that 
 the requisition was not complete, either in the num 
 ber of men or the necessary equipments, measures 
 were instantly taken to remedy the deficiency. 
 
III.] INDIAN CAMPAIGN, 1813. 41 
 
 Orders were directed to the several brigadiers in his 
 division to hasten immediately their respective 
 quotas, fully equipped for active operations. 
 
 36. Circumstances did not permit him to remain 
 at this place long enough to have the delinquencies 
 complained of remedied, and the ranks of his army 
 filled. Colonel Coffee had proceeded with his 
 mounted volunteers to cover Huntsville, and give 
 security to the frontiers, where alarm greatly pre 
 vailed. On the night of the 8th, a letter was re 
 ceived from him, dated two days before, advising 
 that two Indians, belonging to the peace party, had 
 just arrived at the Tennessee river, from Chinnaby s 
 fort, on the Coosa, with information that the war 
 party had despatched eight hundred or a. thou 
 sand of their warriors to attack the frontiers of 
 Georgia ; and, with the remainder @f their forces, 
 were marching against Huntsville, or Fort Hampton. 
 In consequence of this intelligence, exertions were 
 made to hasten a movement. Late on the follow 
 ing night another express arrived, confirming the 
 former statement, and representing the enemy, in 
 great force, to be rapidly approaching the Tennes 
 see. Orders were now given for preparing the 
 line of march, and by nine o clock the next day 
 the whole division was in motion. They had not 
 proceeded many miles, when they were met with 
 intelligence that Colonel Gibson, who had been sent 
 out by Coffee to reconnoitre the movements of the 
 enemy, had been killed by their advance. A strong 
 desire had been manifested to be led forward ; that 
 desire was now strengthened by the information 
 just received ; and it was with difficulty their emo 
 tions could be restrained. They accelerated their 
 pace, and before eight o clock at night arrived at 
 Huntsville, a distance of thirty-two miles. Learn 
 ing here that the information was erroneous which 
 had occasioned so hasty a movement, the general 
 encamped his troops ; having intended to march 
 D2 
 
42 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 them that night to the Tennessee river, had it been 
 confirmed. The next day the line of inarch was 
 resumed. The influence of the late excitement was 
 now visible in the lassitude which followed its re 
 moval. Proceeding slowly, they crossed the Ten 
 nessee, at Ditto s landing, and united in the evening 
 with Colonel Coffee s regiment, which had pre 
 viously occupied a commanding bluff on the south 
 bank of the river. From this place, a few days 
 afterward, Jackson detached Colonel Coffee, with 
 seven hundred men, to scour the Black Warrior, a 
 stream running from the north-east, and emptying 
 into the Tombigbee ; on which were supposed to 
 be settled several populous villages of the enemy. 
 He himself remained at this encampment a week, 
 using the utmost pains in training his troops for ser 
 vice, and labouring incessantly to procure the ne 
 cessary supplies for a campaign, which he had de 
 termined to carry directly into the heart of the 
 enemy s country. Towards the latter object his 
 industry had been employed, and his attention in 
 variably directed, from the time the expedition was 
 projected. 
 
 37. With General Cocke, who commanded the 
 division of East Tennessee militia, an arrangement 
 had been made the preceding month, in which he 
 had engaged to furnish large quantities of bread 
 stuff, at Ditto s landing. The facility of procuring 
 it in that quarter, and the convenient transportation 
 afforded by the river, left no doubt on the mind 
 of Jackson but that the engagement would be punc 
 tually complied with. To provide, however, against 
 the bare possibility of a failure, and to be guarded 
 against all contingencies that might happen, he had 
 addressed his applications to various other sources. 
 He had, on the same subject, written in the most 
 pressing manner to the governor of Georgia, with 
 whose forces it was proposed to act in concert ; to 
 Colonel Meigs, agent to the Cherokee nation of In- 
 
III.] INDIAN CAMPAIGN, 1813. 43 
 
 dians ; and to General White, who commanded the 
 advance of the East Tennessee troops. Previously 
 to his arrival at Huntsville, he had received assur 
 ances from the two latter that a considerable supply 
 of flour, for the use of his army, had been pro 
 cured, and was then at Hiwassee, where boats were 
 ready to transport it. From General Cocke himself, 
 about the same time, a letter was received, stating 
 that a hundred and fifty barrels of flour were then 
 on the way to his encampment ; and expressing a 
 belief that he should be able to procure, and for 
 ward on immediately, a thousand barrels more. 
 With pressing importunity, he had addressed him 
 self to the contractors, and they had given him as 
 surances, that on his crossing the Tennessee, they 
 would be prepared with twenty days rations for his 
 whole command ; but finding, on his arrival at Dit 
 to s, that their preparations were not in such for 
 wardness as he had been led to expect, he was 
 compelled for a time to suspend any active and 
 general operations. Calculating, however, with 
 great confidence, on exertions which he had been 
 promised should be unremitting, and on the speedy 
 arrival of those supplies, descending the river, 
 which had been already unaccountably delayed, he 
 hoped, in a few days, to be placed in a situation to 
 act efficiently. While he was encouraged by these 
 expectations, and only waiting their fulfilment, that 
 he might advance, Shelocta, the son of Chinnaby, 
 a principal chief among the friendly Creeks, arrived 
 at his camp, to solicit his speedy movement for the 
 relief of his father s fort, which was then threatened 
 by a considerable body of the war party, who had 
 advanced to the neighbourhood of the Ten Islands, on 
 the Coosa. Influenced by his representations, and 
 anxious to extend relief, Jackson, on the 18th, gave 
 orders for taking up the line of march on the fol 
 lowing day, and notified the contractors of this ar 
 rangement, that they might be prepared to issue, 
 
44 LIFE OF JACKSON. [cHAP. 
 
 immediately, such supplies as they had on hand : 
 but, to his great astonishment, he then, for the first 
 time, was apprized of their entire inability to supply 
 him while on his march. Having drawn what they 
 had in their power to furnish, amounting to only a 
 few days rations, they were deposed from office, 
 and others appointed, on whose industry and per 
 formance he believed he might more safely rely. 
 The scarcity of his provisions, however, at a mo 
 ment like the present, when there was every ap 
 pearance that the enemy might be met, and a blow 
 stricken to advantage, was not sufficient to wave 
 his determination already taken. The route he 
 would have to take to gain the fort lay for a 
 considerable distance up the river : might not the 
 boats, long expected from Hiwassee, and which 
 he felt strongly assured must be near at hand, 
 be met with on the way ? He determined to pro 
 ceed; and having passed his army and baggage- 
 wagons over several mountains of stupendous size, 
 and such as were thought almost impassable by foot- 
 passengers, he arrived, on the 22d of October, at 
 Thompson s creek, which empties into the Tennes 
 see, twenty-four miles above Ditto s. At this place 
 he proposed the establishment of a permanent de 
 pot, for the reception of supplies to be sent either 
 up or down the river. Disappointed in the hopes 
 with which he had ventured on his march, he re 
 mained here several days, in expectation of the 
 boats that were coming to his relief. Thus har 
 assed at the first onset, by difficulties wholly unex 
 pected, and which, from the numerous and strong 
 assurances received, he could by no means have 
 calculated on ; fearing, too, that the same disregard 
 of duty might induce a continuance, he lost no time 
 in opening every avenue to expedient, th* the 
 chances of future failure might be diminished To 
 General Flournoy, who Commanded at Mobile, he 
 applied, urging him to procure bread-stuff, and 
 
III.] INDIAN CAMPAIGN, 1813. 45 
 
 it forwarded up the Alabama by the time he should 
 arrive on that river. The agent of the Choctaws, 
 Colonel M Kee, who was then on the Tombigbee, 
 was addressed in the same style of entreaty. Ex 
 presses were despatched to General White, who, 
 with the advance of the East Tennessee division, 
 had arrived at the Look-out mountain, in the Chero 
 kee nation, urging him, by all means, to hasten on 
 the supplies. The assistance of the governor of 
 Tennessee was also earnestly besought. To facili 
 tate exertion, and to assure success, every thing 
 within his reach was attempted : several persons of 
 wealth and patriotism, in Madison county, were so 
 licited to afford the contractors all the aid in their 
 power ; and to induce them more readily to extend 
 it, their deep interest immediately at stake was 
 pointed to, and their deplorable and dangerous situa 
 tion, should necessity compel him to withdraw his 
 army, and leave them exposed to the mercy of the 
 savages. 
 
 38. While these measures were taking, two run 
 ners, from Turkey-town, an Indian village, des 
 patched by Path-killer, a chief of the Cherokees, ar 
 rived at the camp. They brought information that 
 the enemy, from nine of the hostile towns, were 
 assembling in great force near the Ten Islands ; and 
 solicited that immediate assistance should be af 
 forded the friendly Creeks and Cherokees in their 
 neighbourhood, who were exposed to such imminent 
 danger. His want of provisions was not yet reme 
 died; but distributing the partial supply that was on 
 hand, he resolved to proceed, in expectation that 
 the relief he had so earnestly looked for would in a 
 little while arrive, and be forwarded to him. To pre 
 pare his troops for an engagement, which he fore 
 saw was soon to take place, he thus addressed them : 
 
 39. " You have, fellow-soldiers, at length pene 
 trated the country of your enemies. It is not to be 
 believed that they will abandon the soil that im- 
 
46 LIFE OF JACKSON. JCHAP. 
 
 bosoms the bones of their forefathers, without 
 furnishing you an opportunity of signalizing your 
 valour. Wise men do not expect, brave men will 
 not desire it. It was not to travel unmolested 
 through a barren wilderness that you quitted your 
 families and homes, and submitted to so many pri 
 vations ; it was to avenge the cruelties committed 
 upon our defenceless frontiers by the inhuman 
 Creeks, instigated by their no less inhuman allies; 
 you shall not be disappointed. If the enemy flee 
 before us, we will overtake and chastise him ; we 
 will teach him how dreadful, when once aroused, is 
 the resentment of freemen. But it is not by boast 
 ing that punishment is to be inflicted, or victory 
 obtained. The same resolution that prompted us 
 to take up arms must inspire us in battle. Men 
 thus animated > and thus resolved, barbarians can 
 never conquer ; and it is an enemy barbarous in 
 the extreme that we have now to face. Their re 
 liance will be on the damage they can do you while 
 you are asleep, and unprepared for action : their 
 hopes shall fail them in the hour of experiment. 
 Soldiers who know their duty, and are ambitious to 
 perform it, are not to be taken by surprise. Our 
 sentinels will never sleep, nor our soldiers be un 
 prepared for action ; yet, while it is enjoined upon 
 the sentinels vigilantly to watch the approach of 
 the foe, they are at the same time commanded not 
 to fire at shadows. Imaginary danger must not de 
 prive them of entire self-possession. Our soldiers 
 will lie with their arms in their hands ; and the 
 moment an alarm is given, they will move to their 
 respective positions without noise and without con 
 fusion; they will be thus enabled to hear the 
 orders of their officers, and to obey them with 
 promptitude. 
 
 40. " Great reliance will be placed by the enemy on 
 the consternation they may be able to spread through 
 oar ranks by the hideous yells with which they 
 
II1] INDIAN CAMPAIGN, 1813. 47 
 
 commence their battles ; but brave men will laugh 
 at such efforts to alarm them. His not by bellow- 
 ing s and screams that the wounds of death are in 
 flicted You will teach these noisy assailants how 
 weak are their weapons of warfare, by opposing 
 them with the bayonet ; what Indian ever with 
 stood its charge ? what army, of any nation, ever 
 withstood it long: ? 
 
 41. " Yes, soldiers, the order for a charge will 
 be the signal for victory. In that moment, your 
 enemy will be seen fleeing in every direction before 
 you. But in the moment of action, coolness and 
 deliberation must be regarded ; your fires made 
 with precision and aim ; and when ordered to 
 charge with the bayonet, you must proceed to the 
 assault with a quick and firm step ; without trepi 
 dation or alarm. Then shall you behold the com 
 pletion of your hopes in the discomfiture of your 
 enemy. Your general, whose duty, as well as in 
 clination, is to watch over your safety, will not, to 
 gratify any wishes of his own, rush you unnecessarily 
 into danger. He knows, however, that it is not in 
 assailing an enemy that men are destroyed ; it is 
 when retreating and in confusion. Aware of this, 
 he will be prompted as much by a regard for your 
 lives as your honour. He laments that he has been 
 compelled, even incidentally, to hint at a retreat when 
 speaking to freemen and to soldiers. Never, until 
 you forget all that is due to yourselves and your 
 country, will you have any practical understanding 
 of that word. Shall an enemy wholly unacquainted 
 with military evolutions, and who rely more for vic 
 tory on their grim visages and hideous yells than 
 upon their bravery or their weapons shall such an 
 enemy ever drive before them the well-trained 
 youths of our country, whose bosoms pant for glory, 
 and a desire to avenge the wrongs they have re 
 ceived 1 Your general will not live to behold such 
 a spectacle ; rather would he rush into the thickest 
 
48 LIFE OF JACKSON. [cHAP. 
 
 of the enemy, and submit himself to their scalping- 
 knives : but he has no fears of such a result. He 
 knows the valour of the men he commands, and 
 now certainly that valour, regulated as it will be, 
 will lead to victory. With his soldiers he will face 
 all dangers, and with them participate in the glory 
 of conquest." 
 
 42. Having thus prepared the minds of his men, 
 and brought to their view the kind of foe with 
 whom they were shortly to contend, and having 
 also, by his expresses, instructed General White to 
 form a junction with him, and to hasten on all the 
 supplies in his power to command, with about six 
 days rations of meat, and less than two of meal, 
 he again put his army in motion to meet the enemy. 
 Although there was some hazard in advancing into 
 a country where relief was not to be expected, with 
 such limited preparation, yet, believing that his con 
 tractors, lately installed, would exert themselves to 
 the utmost to forward supplies, and that amid the 
 variety of arrangements made all could not fail, 
 and well aware that his delaying longer might be 
 productive of many disadvantages, his determina 
 tion was taken to set out immediately in quest of 
 the enemy. He replied to the Path-killer, by his 
 runners, that he should proceed directly for the 
 Coosa, and solicited him to be diligent in making 
 discoveries of the situation and collected forces of 
 the savages, and to give him, as early as possible, 
 the result of his inquiries. 
 
 43. " The hostile Creeks," he remarked to him, 
 " will not attack you until they have had a brush 
 with me; and that, I think, will put them out of the 
 notion of fighting for some time." 
 
 44. He requested, if he had, or could any how 
 procure, provisions for his army, that he would send 
 them, or advise where they might be had : " You 
 shall be well paid, and have my thanks into the bar 
 gain. I shall stand most in need of corn-meal, but 
 
Ill,] INDIAN CAMPAIGN, 1813. 49 
 
 shall be thankful for any kind of provisions, and 
 indeed for whatever will support life." 
 
 45. The army had advanced but a short distance 
 when unexpected embarrassments were again pre 
 sented. Information was received, by which it was 
 clearly ascertained that the present contractors, who 
 had been so much and so certainly relied on, could 
 not, with all their exertions, procure the necessary 
 supplies. Major Rose, in the quarter-master s depart 
 ment, who had been sent into Madison county to 
 aid them in their endeavours, having satisfied him 
 self, as well from their own admissions as from 
 evidence derived from other sources, that their 
 want of funds, and consequent want of credit, ren 
 dered them a very unsafe dependence, had returned, 
 and disclosed the facts to the general. He stated 
 that there were there persons of fortune and in 
 dustry who might be confided in, and who would 
 be willing to contract for the army if it were neces 
 sary. Jackson lost no time in embracing this plan, 
 and gave the contract to Mr. Pope, upon whose 
 means and exertions, he hoped, every reliance 
 might be safely reposed. To the other contractors 
 he wrote, informing them of the change that had 
 been made, and the reasons which had induced it. 
 
 46. " I am advised," said he, " that you have 
 candidly acknowledged you have it not in your 
 power to execute the contract in which you have 
 engaged. Do not think I mean to cast any reflec 
 tion very far from it. I am exceedingly pleased 
 with the exertions you have made, and feel myself 
 under many obligations of gratitude for them. The 
 critical situation of affairs when you entered into 
 the contract being considered, you have done all 
 that individuals in your circumstances could have 
 performed. But you must be well convinced, that 
 any approbation which may be felt by the com 
 mander of an army for past services ought not to 
 become, through kindness to you, the occasion of 
 
 E 
 
50 LIFE OF JACKSON. [cHAF 
 
 that army s destruction. From the admissions yoi 
 have been candid enough to make, the scarcity 
 which already begins to appear in the camp, and the 
 difficulties you are likely to encounter in effecting 
 your engagements, I am apprehensive I should b( 
 doing injustice to the army I command were 1 1( 
 rely for support on your exertions great as I knov 
 them to be. Whatever concerns myself I ma) 
 manage with any generosity or indulgence I please 
 but in acting for my country I have no such dis 
 cretion. I have therefore felt myself compellec 
 to give the contract in which you are concerned t( 
 another, who is abundantly able to execute it ; 01 
 condition he indemnifies you for the trouble yoi 
 have been at." 
 
 47. This arrangement being made, the arm] 
 continued its march, and having arrived within 
 few miles of the Ten Islands, was met by old Chin 
 naby, a leading chief of the Creek nation, am 
 sternly opposed to the war party. He brough 
 with him, and surrendered up, two of the hostil< 
 Creeks who had lately been made prisoners by hi; 
 party. At this place it was represented that the} 
 were within sixteen miles of the enemy, who wer< 
 collected to the number of a thousand to oppos< 
 their passage. This information was little relie( 
 on T and afterward proved untrue. Jackson con 
 tinued his route, and in a few days reached the 
 islands of the Coosa, having been detained a day 01 
 the way for the purpose of obtaining small suppliei 
 of corn from the neighbouring Indians. This ac 
 quisition to the scanty stock on hand, while i 
 afforded subsistence for the present, encouraged his 
 hopes for the future, as a means of temporary re 
 sort should his other resources fail. 
 
 48. Jn a letter to Governor Blount from thi; 
 place, speaking of the difficulties with which hf 
 was assailed, he observes : " indeed, sir, we hav< 
 been very wretchedly supplied scarcely two ra 
 
HI.] INDIAN CAMPAIGN, 1813. 51 
 
 tions in succession have been regularly drawn; yet 
 we are not despondent. While we can procure an 
 ear of corn apiece, or any thing that will answer 
 as a substitute for it, we shall continue our exer 
 tions to accomplish the object for which we were 
 sent. The cheerfulness with which my men sub 
 mit to privations, and are ready to encounter dan 
 ger, does honour to them and to the government 
 whose rights they are defending. 
 
 49. " Every means within my power for procuring 
 the requisite supplies for my army I have taken, and 
 am continuing to take. East, west, north, and south 
 have been applied to with the most pressing soli 
 citation. The governor of Georgia, in a letter 
 received from him this evening, informs me that a 
 sufficiency can be had in his state ; but does not 
 signify that he is about to take any measures to 
 procure it. My former contractor has been super 
 seded : no exertions were spared by him to fulfil 
 his engagements ; yet the inconveniences under 
 which he laboured were such as to render his best 
 exertions unavailing. The contract has been offered 
 to one who will be able to execute it : if he accepts 
 it, my apprehensions will be greatly diminished." 
 
 50. On the 28th of October, 1813, Colonel Dyer, 
 who, on the march to the Ten Islands, had been 
 detached from the main body, with two hundred 
 cavalry, to attack Littafutchee-town, on the head 
 of Canoe creek, which empties into the Coosa 
 from the west, returned, bringing with him twenty- 
 nine prisoners, men, women, and children, having 
 destroyed the village. 
 
 51. The sanguine expectations indulged on leaving 
 Thompson s creek, that the advance of the East 
 Tennessee militia would hasten to unite with him, 
 was not yet realized. The express heretofore di 
 rected to General White had not returned. Jack 
 son, on the 31st of October, 1813, despatched an 
 other, again urging him to effect a speedy junction, 
 
62 LIFE OF JACKSON. [cHAP. 
 
 and to bring with him all the bread-stuff it should 
 be in his power to procure ; feelingly suggesting to 
 him, at the same time, the great inconvenience 
 and hazard to which he had been already exposed 
 for the want of punctuality in himself and his com 
 manding general. Owing to that cause, and the 
 late failures of his contractors, he represented his 
 army as placed, at present, in a very precarious 
 situation, and dependent, in a great measure, for 
 support on the exertions which they might be 
 pleased to make ; but assured him, at the same time , 
 that, let circumstances transpire as they might, he 
 would still, at every risk, endeavour to effect his 
 purpose ; and, at all events, was resolved to hasten, 
 with every practicable despatch, to the accomplish 
 ment of the object for which he had set out. Be 
 lieving the co-operation of the East Tennessee 
 troops essential to this end, they were again in 
 structed to join him without delay ; for he could 
 not conceive it to be correct policy, that troops 
 from the same state, pursuing the same object, 
 should constitute separate and distinct armies, and 
 act without concert, and independently of each 
 other. He entertained no doubt but that his order 
 would be promptly obeyed. 
 
 52. The next evening, a detachment which had 
 been sent out the day before returned to the camp, 
 bringing with them, besides some corn and beeves, 
 several negroes and prisoners of the war party. 
 
 53. Learning now that a considerable body of 
 the enemy had posted themselves at Tallushatchee, 
 on the south side of the Coosa, about thirteen 
 miles distant, General Coffee was detached with 
 nine hundred men (the mounted troops having been 
 previously organized into a brigade, and placed 
 under his command) to attack and disperse them. 
 With this force he was enabled, through the direc 
 tion of an Indian pilot, to ford the Coosa at the 
 Fish-dams, about four miles above the islands and 
 
III.] INDIAN CAMPAIGN, 1813. 53 
 
 having encamped beyond it, very early the next 
 morning proceeded to the execution of his order. 
 Having arrived within a mile and a half, he formed 
 his detachment into two divisions, and directed 
 them to march so as to encircle the town, by uni 
 ting their fronts beyond it. The enemy, hearing 
 of his approach, began to prepare for action, which 
 was announced by the beating of drums, mingled 
 with their savage yells and war-whoops. An 
 hour after sunrise, the action was commenced 
 by Captain Hammond s and Lieutenant Patterson s 
 companies of spies, who had gone within the circle 
 of alignement for the purpose of drawing the In 
 dians from their buildings. No sooner had these 
 companies exhibited their front in view of the town, 
 and given a few scattering shot, than the enemy 
 formed, and made a violent charge. Being com 
 pelled to give way, the advance-guard were pursued 
 until they reached the main body of the army, 
 which immediately opened a general fire, and 
 charged in their turn. The Indians retreated, firing, 
 until they got around and in their buildings, where 
 an obstinate conflict ensued, and where those who 
 maintained their ground persisted in fighting as long 
 as they could stand or sit, without manifesting fear 
 or soliciting quarter. Their loss was a hundred and 
 eighty-six killed ; among whom were, unfortunately, 
 and through accident, a few women and children. 
 Eighty-four women and children were taken prison 
 ers, towards whom the utmost humanity was shown. 
 Of the Americans, five were killed and forty-one 
 wounded. Two were killed with arrows, which on 
 this occasion formed a principal part of the arms 
 of the Indians ; each one having a bow and quiver, 
 which he used after the first fire of his gun, until 
 an opportunity occurred for reloading. 
 
 54. Having buried his dead, and provided for his 
 wounded, General Coffee, late in the evening of 
 the same day, united with the main army, bringing 
 E 2 
 
54 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 with him about forty prisoners. Of the residue, a 
 part were too badly wounded to be removed, and 
 were therefore left with a sufficient number to take 
 care of them. Those which he brought in re 
 ceived every comfort and assistance their situation 
 demanded, and, for safety, were immediately sent 
 into the settlements. 
 
 55. From the manner in which the enemy fought, 
 the killing and wounding others than their warriors 
 was not to be avoided. On their retreat to their vil 
 lage, after the commencement of the battle, they re 
 sorted to their block-houses and strong log-dwell 
 ings, whence they kept up resistance, and reso 
 lutely maintained the fight. Thus mingled with 
 their women and children, it was impossible they 
 should not be exposed to the general danger ; arid 
 thus many were injured, notwithstanding every 
 possible precaution was taken to prevent it. In 
 fact, many of the women united with their warriors, 
 and contended in the battle with fearless bravery. 
 
 56. Measures were now taken to establish a per 
 manent depot on the north bank of the river, at the 
 Ten Islands, to be protected by strong picketing and 
 block-houses ; after which, it was the intention of 
 Jackson to proceed along the Coosa to its junction 
 with the Tallapoosa, near Avhich it was expected the 
 main force of the enemy was collected. Well 
 knowing that it would detach much of the strength 
 of his army to occupy, in his advance, the different 
 points necessary to the safety of his rear, it was de 
 sirable to unite, as soon as possible, with the troops 
 from the east of Tennessee ; to effect this, he again, 
 on the 4th, despatched an express to General White, 
 who had previously, with his command, arrived at 
 Turkey-town, a Cherokee village about twenty-five 
 miles above, on the same river, urging him to 
 unite with him as soon as possible, and again en 
 treating him on the subject of provisions; to bring 
 with him such as he had on hand, or could procure ; 
 
HI.] INDIAN CAMPAIGN, 1813. 55 
 
 and, if possible, to form some certain arrangement 
 that might ensure a supply in future. 
 
 57. Anxious to proceed, and to have his army ac 
 tively and serviceably employed, which he believed 
 would be practicable as soon as a junction could be 
 effected, he again, on the morning of the 7th of No 
 vember, 1813, renewed his application to General 
 White, who still remained at Turkey-town. 
 
 58. As yet no certain intelligence was received 
 of any collection of the enemy. The army was 
 busily engaged in fortifying and strengthening the 
 site fixed on for a depot, to which the name of Fort 
 -Strother had been given. Late, however, on the 
 evening of the 7th November, a runner arrived from 
 Talladega, a fort of the friendly Indians, distant 
 about thirty miles below, with information that the 
 enemy had that morning encamped before it in great 
 numbers, and would certainly destroy it unless im 
 mediate assistance could be afforded. Jackson, con 
 fiding in the statement, determined to lose no time 
 in extending the relief which was solicited. Un 
 derstanding that General White, agreeably to his 
 order, was on his way to join him, he despatched a 
 messenger to meet him, directing him to reach his 
 encampment in the course of the ensuing night, and 
 to protect it in his absence. He now gave orders 
 for taking up the line of march, with twelve hundred 
 infantry and eight hundred cavalry and mounted 
 gun men ; Leaving behind the sick, the wounded, 
 and all his baggage, with a force which was deemed 
 sufficient for their protection, until the reinforce 
 ment from Turkey-town should arrive. 
 
 59. The friendly Indians, who had taken refuge 
 in this besieged fort, had involved themselves in their 
 present perilous situation from a disposition to pre 
 serve their amicable relations with the United States. 
 To suffer them to fall a sacrifice from any tardiness 
 of movement would have been unpardonable ; and 
 unless relief were immediately extended, it might 
 
56 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 arrive too late. Acting under these impressions, 
 the general concluded to move instantly forward to 
 their assistance. By twelve o clock at night, every 
 thing was in readiness ; and in an hour afterward 
 the army commenced crossing the river, about a 
 mile above the camp, each of the mounted men 
 carrying one of the infantry behind him. The river 
 at this place was six hundred yards wide, and it being 
 necessary to send back the horses for the remain 
 der of the infantry, several hours were consumed 
 before a passage of all the troops could be effected. 
 Nevertheless, though greatly fatigued and deprived 
 of sleep, they continued the march with animation, 
 and by evening had arrived within six miles of 
 the enemy. In this march Jackson used the utmost 
 precaution to prevent surprise : marching his army, 
 as was his constant custom, in three columns, so 
 that, by a speedy manoeuvre, they might be thrown 
 into such a situation as to be capable of resisting an 
 attack from any quarter. Having judiciously en 
 camped his men on an eligible piece of ground, he 
 sent forward two of the friendly Indians and a white 
 man, who had for many years been detained a cap 
 tive in the nation, and was now acting as inter 
 preter, to reconnoitre the position of the enemy. 
 About eleven o clock at night they returned, with in 
 formation that the savages were posted within a 
 quarter of a mile of the fort, and appeared to be in 
 great force ; but that they had not been able to 
 approach near enough to ascertain either their num 
 bers or precise situation. Within an hour after this, 
 a runner arrived from Turkey-town, with a lettei 
 from General White, stating, that after having taken 
 up the line of march, to unite at Fort Strother, 
 he had received orders from General Cocke to 
 change his course and proceed to the mouth of Cha- 
 tauga creek. It was most distressing intelligence : 
 the sick and wounded had been left with no other 
 calculation for their safety and defence than that 
 
HI.] INDIAN CAMPAIGN, 1813. 57 
 
 this detachment of the army, agreeably to his re 
 quest, would, by advancing upon Fort Strother, 
 serve the double purpose of protecting his rear and 
 enable him to advance still farther into the enemy s 
 country. The information which was now received 
 proved that all those salutary anticipations were at 
 an end, and that evils of the worst kind might be 
 the consequence. Intelligence so disagreeable, and 
 withal so unexpected, filled the mind of Jackson 
 with apprehension of a serious and alarming charac 
 ter ; and dreading lest the enemy, by taking a dif 
 ferent route, should attack his encampment in his 
 absence, he determined to lose no time in bringing 
 him to battle. Orders were accordingly given to 
 the adjutant-general to prepare the line, and by four 
 o clock in the morning the army was again in mo 
 tion. The infantry proceeded in three columns ; 
 the cavalry in the same order, in the rear, with 
 flankers on each wing. The advance, consisting of 
 a company of artillerists with muskets, two companies 
 of riflemen, and one of spies, marched about four hun 
 dred yards in front, under the command of Colonel 
 Carroll, inspector-general, with orders, after com 
 mencing the action, to fall back on the centre, so as to 
 draw the enemy after them. At seven o clock, having 
 arrived within a mile of the position they occupied, 
 the columns were displayed in order of battle. Two 
 hundred and fifty of the cavalry, under Lieutenant- 
 colonel Dyer, were placed in the rear of the centre, 
 as a corps-de-reserve. The remainder of the mounted 
 troops were directed to advance ori the right and 
 left, and, after encircling the enemy, by uniting the 
 fronts of their columns, and keeping their rear rested 
 on the infantry, to face and press towards the cen 
 tre, so as to leave them no possibility of escape. 
 The remaining part of the army was ordered to move 
 up by heads of companies ; General Hall s brigade 
 occupying the right, and General Roberts the left. 
 60. About eight o clock, the advance, hainng 
 
58 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 arrived within eighty yards of the enemy, who were 
 concealed in a thick shrubbery that covered the 
 margin of a small rivulet, received a heavy fire, 
 which they instantly returned with much spirit. 
 Falling in with the enemy, agreeably to their in 
 structions, they retired towards the centre, but not 
 before they had dislodged them from their position. 
 The Indians, now screaming and yelling hideously, 
 rushed forward in the direction of General Roberts 
 brigade, a few companies of which, alarmed by their 
 numbers and yells, gave way at the first fire. Jack 
 son, to fill the chasm which was thus created, di 
 rected the regiment commanded by Colonel Brad 
 ley to be moved up, which, from some unaccountable 
 cause, had faileii to advance in a line with the others, 
 and now occupied a position in rear of the centre : 
 Bradley, however, to whom this order was given by 
 one of the staff, omitted to execute it in time, al 
 leging he was determined to remain on the emi 
 nence which he then possessed until he should be 
 approached and attacked by the enemy. Owing to 
 this failure in the volunteer regiment, it became ne 
 cessary to dismount the reserve, which, with great 
 firmness, met the approach of the enemy, who were 
 rapidly moving in this direction. The retreating 
 militia, somewhat mortified at seeing their places so 
 promptly supplied, rallied, and, recovering their for 
 mer position in the line, aided in checking the ad 
 vance of the savages. The action now became 
 general along the line, and in fifteen minutes the In 
 dians were seen flying in every direction. On the 
 left they were met and repulsed by the mounted 
 riflemen ; but on the right, owing to the halt of Brad- 
 ley s regiment, which was intended to occupy the 
 extreme right, and to the circumstance of Colonel 
 Allcorn, who commanded one of the wings of the 
 cavalry, having taken too large a circuit, a consid 
 erable space was left between the infantry and the 
 cavalry, through which numbers escaped. The fight 
 
III.] INDIAN CAMPAIGN, 1813. 59 
 
 was maintained with great spirit and effect on both 
 sides, as well before as after the retreat commenced; 
 nor did the pursuit and slaughter terminate until the 
 mountains were reached, at the distance of three 
 miles. 
 
 61. Jackson, in his report of this action, bestows 
 high commendation on the officers and soldiers, 
 " Too much praise," he observes in the close of it, 
 u cannot be bestowed on the advance, led by Colonel 
 Carroll, for the spirited manner in which they com 
 menced and sustained the attack ; nor upon the re 
 serve, commanded by Lieutenant-colonel Dyer, for 
 the gallantry with which they met and repulsed the 
 enemy. In a word, officers of every grade, as well 
 as privates, realized the high expectations I had 
 formed of them, and merit the gratitude of their 
 country." 
 
 62. In this battle, the force of the enemy was one 
 thousand and eighty, of whom two hundred and 
 ninety-nine were left dead on the ground ; and it is 
 believed that many were killed in the flight, who 
 were not found when the estimate was made. Prob 
 ably few escaped unhurt. Their loss on this occa 
 sion, as stated since by themselves, was not less 
 than six hundred : that of the Americans was fifteen 
 killed, and eighty wounded, several of whom after 
 ward died. Jackson, after collecting his dead and 
 wounded, advanced his army beyond the fort, and 
 encamped for the night. The Indians who had 
 been for several days shut up by the besiegers, thus 
 fortunately liberated from the most dreadful appre 
 hensions and severest privations, having for some 
 time been entirely without water, received the army 
 with all the demonstrations of gratitude that sav 
 ages could give. Their manifestations of joy for 
 their deliverance presented an interesting and af 
 fecting spectacle. Their fears had been already 
 greatly excited, for it was the very day when they 
 were to have been assaulted, and when every sou] 
 
60 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 within the fort must have perished. All the pro 
 visions they could spare from their scanty stock 
 they sold to the general, who, purchasing- with his 
 own money, distributed them among the soldiers, 
 who were almost destitute 
 
 63. It was with great regret that Jackson now 
 found he was without the means of availing himself 
 fully of the advantages of his victory ; but the con 
 dition of his posts in the rear, and the want of pro 
 visions (having left his encampment at Fort Strother 
 with little more than one day s rations), compelled 
 him to return ; thus giving the enemy time to re 
 cover from the consternation of their first defeat, and 
 to re-assemble their forces. 
 
 64. The cause which prevented General White 
 from acting in obedience to his order, and arriving at 
 the Ten Islands at a moment when it was so import 
 ant, and when it was so confidently expected, was as 
 yet unknown ; the only certainty upon the subject 
 was, that for the present it wholly thwarted his 
 views, and laid him under the necessity of returning. 
 This mystery, hitherto inexplicable, was some time 
 after explained, by a view of the order of General 
 Cocke, under which White, being a brigadier in his 
 division, chose to act, rather than under Jackson s. 
 General Cocke stated to him, he had understood 
 Jackson had crossed the Coosa, and had an engage 
 ment with the Indians. " I have formed a council 
 of officers here, and proposed these questions : 
 Shall we follow him] or cross the river, and proceed 
 to the Creek settlements on the Tallapoosa ? Both 
 were decided unanimously that he should not be 
 followed, but that we should proceed in the way 
 proposed." He remarked, that the decision had met 
 his entire approbation; and directed White forth 
 with to unite with him at his encampment, where 
 he should wait, fortifying it strongly for a depot 
 until he should arrive. " If," said he, " we follow 
 General Jackson and his army, we must suffer for 
 
III.] INDIAN CAMPAIGN, 1813. 61 
 
 supplies ; nor can we expect to gain a victory. Let 
 us then take a direction in which we can share some 
 of the dangers and glories of the field. You will 
 employ pilots, and advise me which side of the river 
 you will move up." In this, as in every other mea 
 sure, it seemed to be the studied aim of Cocke to 
 thwart the views and arrest the successes of Jack 
 son ; and perhaps jealousy, in no inconsiderable de 
 gree, was the moving spring to his conduct. Both 
 were major-generals, from the state of Tennessee, 
 sent on the same important errand, to check an in 
 solent foe, who had practised the most cruel and 
 unprovoked outrages. Which of them should share 
 the " dangers and glories of the field," or obtain its 
 laurels, was not so important to the country as by 
 acting in concert and harmony, endeavouring to ac 
 complish the grand object of terminating the war, 
 and restoring tranquillity to the frontiers. National, 
 and not individual, advancement was the object in 
 carrying an army into the field ; and the best and 
 most effectual means of securing this, every officer, 
 acting on liberal principles, should have constantly 
 held in view : the interest and repose of the country, 
 not their individual advancement, was the end to be 
 attained. 
 
 65. Having buried his dead with all due honour, 
 and provided litters for the wounded, he reluctantly 
 commenced his return march on the morning suc 
 ceeding the battle. He confidently hoped, from the 
 previous assurances of the contractors, that by the 
 time of his return to Fort Strother sufficient supplies 
 would have arrived there ; but, to his inexpressible 
 uneasiness, he found that not a particle had been 
 forwarded there since his departure, and that what 
 had been left was already consumed. Even his pri 
 vate stores, brought on at his own expense, and upon 
 which he and his staff had hitherto wholly subsisted, 
 had been in his absence distributed among the sick 
 by the hospital surgeon, who had been previously 
 F 
 
62 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP* 
 
 instructed to do so if their wants should require it. 
 A few dozen biscuits, which remained on his return, 
 were given to hungry applicants, without being 
 tasted by himself or family, who were probably not 
 less hungry than those who were thus relieved. A 
 scanty supply of indifferent beef, taken from the 
 enemy or purchased of the Cherokees, was now the 
 only support afforded. Thus left destitute, Jack 
 son, with the utmost cheerfulness of temper, re 
 paired to the bullock-pen, and of the offal there 
 thrown away, provided for himself and staff what he 
 was pleased to call, and seemed really to think, a 
 very comfortable repast. Tripes, however, hastily 
 provided in a camp, without bread or seasoning, can 
 only be palatable to an appetite very high whetted ; 
 yet this constituted for several days the only diet at 
 head-quarters, during which time the general seemed 
 entirely satisfied with his fare. Neither this nor 
 the liberal donations by which he disfurnished him 
 self to relieve the suffering soldier, deserves to be 
 ascribed to ostentation or design : the one flowed 
 from benevolence, the other from necessity, and a 
 desire to place before his men an example of pa 
 tience and suffering, which he felt might be neces 
 sary, and hoped might be serviceable. Of these 
 two imputations no human being, invested with rank 
 and power, was ever more deservedly free. Char 
 ity in him is a warm and active propensity of the 
 heart, urging him, by an instantaneous impulse, to 
 relieve the wants of the distressed, without regard 
 ing, or even thinking of, the consequences. Many 
 of those to whom it was extended had no concep 
 tion of the source that supplied them, and believed 
 the comforts they received were, indeed, drawn 
 from stores provided for the hospital department. 
 
 66. On this campaign, a soldier one morning, with 
 a wo-begone countenance, approached the general, 
 stating that he was nearly starved, that he had no 
 thing to eat, and could not imagine what he should do. 
 
HI.] INDIAN CAMPAIGN, 1813. 63 
 
 He was the more encouraged to complain, from per 
 ceiving that the general, who had seated himself at 
 the root of a tree, waiting the coming up of the rear 
 of the army, was busily engaged in eating some 
 thing. The poor fellow was impressed with the be 
 lief, from what he saw, that want only attached to 
 the soldiers ; and that the officers, particularly the 
 general, were liberally and well supplied. He ac 
 cordingly approached him with great confidence of 
 being relieved ; Jackson told him that it had always 
 been a rule with him never to turn away a hungry 
 man when it was in his power to relieve him. " 1 
 will most cheerfully," said he, "divide with youwhatl 
 have ;" and putting his hand to his pocket, drew forth 
 a few acorns, from which he had been feasting, add 
 ing, it was the best and only fare he had. The 
 soldier seemed much surprised, and forthwith cir 
 culated among his comrades that their general was 
 actually subsisting upon acorns, and that they ought 
 hence no more to complain. From this circum 
 stance was derived the story heretofore published 
 to the world, that Jackson, about the period of his 
 greatest suffering, and with a view to inspirit them, 
 had invited his officers to dine with him, and pre 
 sented for their repast water and a tray of acorns. 
 
 67. But while General Jackson remained wholly 
 unmoved by his own privations, he was filled with 
 solicitude and concern for his army. His utmost 
 exertions, unceasingly applied, were insufficient to 
 remove the sufferings to which he saw them ex 
 posed -, and although they were by no means so great 
 as were represented, yet were they undoubtedly such 
 as to be sensibly and severely felt. Discontents, 
 and a desire to return home, arose, and presently 
 spread through the camp ; and these were still 
 further imbittered and augmented by the arts of a 
 few designing officers, who, believing that the cam 
 paign would now break up, hoped to make them 
 selves popular on the return, by encouraging and 
 
64 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 taking part in the complaints of the soldiery. It is 
 a singular fact, that those officers who pretended on 
 this occasion to feel most sensibly for the wants of 
 the army, and who contrived most effectually to in 
 stigate it to revolt, had never themselves been with 
 out provisions ; and were, at that very moment, en 
 joying in abundance what would have relieved the 
 distresses of many, had it been as generously and 
 freely distributed as were their words of advice and 
 condolence. 
 
 68. During this period of scarcity and discontent, 
 small quantities of supplies were occasionally for 
 warded by the contractors, but not a sufficiency for 
 present want, and still less to remove the apprehen 
 sions that were entertained for the future. At 
 length, revolt began to show itself openly. The of 
 ficers and soldiers of the militia, collecting in their 
 tents and talking over their grievances, determined 
 to yield up their patriotism and to abandon the 
 camp. To this measure there were good evidences 
 for believing that several of the officers of the old 
 volunteer corps exerted themselves clandestinely, 
 and with great industry, to instigate them ; looking 
 upon themselves somewhat in the light of veterans, 
 from the discipline they had acquired in the expedi 
 tion to the lower country, they were unwilling to be 
 seen foremost in setting an example of mutiny, and 
 wished to make the defection of others a pretext for 
 their own. 
 
 69. Jackson, apprized of their determination to 
 abandon him, resolved to oppose it, and at all hazard 
 to prevent a departure. In the morning, when they 
 were to carry their intentions into execution, he 
 drew up the volunteers in front of them, with posi 
 tive commands to prevent their progress, and com 
 pel them to return to their former position in the 
 camp. The militia, seeing this, and fearing the con 
 sequences of persisting in their purpose, at once 
 abandoned it, and returned to their quarters without 
 
HI.] INDIAN CAMPAIGN, 1813. 65 
 
 further murmuring, extolling, in the highest terms, 
 the unalterable firmness of the general. 
 
 70. The next day, however, presented a singular 
 scene. The volunteers, who the day before had 
 been the instruments for compelling the militia to 
 return to their duty, seeing the destruction of those 
 hopes on which they had lately built in turn began 
 themselves to mutiny. Their opposition to the de 
 parture of the militia was but a mere pretence to es 
 cape suspicion, for they silently wished them suc 
 cess. They now determined to move off in a body, 
 believing, from the known disaffection in the camp, 
 that the general could find no means to prevent it. 
 What was their surprise, however, when, on at 
 tempting to effectuate their resolves, they found the 
 .same men whom they had so lately opposed occu 
 pying the very position which they had done the day 
 previous for a similar purpose, and manifesting a 
 Jixed determination to obey the orders of their gen 
 eral ! All they ventured to do was to take the ex 
 ample through ; and, like them, move back in peace 
 and quietness to their quarters. This was a curious 
 change of circumstances, when we consider in how 
 short a time it happened ; but the conduct of the 
 militia, on this occasion, must be ascribed to the in 
 genuity and management of the general, and to the 
 gratification they felt in being able to defeat the 
 views of those who had so lately thwarted their 
 own. To this may be also added the consciousness 
 all must have entertained, that the privations of 
 which they complained were far less grievous than 
 they had represented them ; by no means sufficient 
 to justify revolt, and not greater than patriots might 
 be expected to bear without a murmur, when ob 
 jects of such high consideration were before them. 
 But, anxious to return to their families and kindred, 
 wearied of their difficulties and sufferings, and de 
 sirous to recount the brilliant exploits of their first 
 , they seized with eagerness every pretext for 
 F2 
 
66 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 exoneration, and listened with too much docility to 
 the representations of those who were influenced by 
 less honourable feelings. Having many domestic 
 considerations to attend to, the first ebullition of 
 resentment being cooled, and the first impulse of 
 curiosity gratified, there were no motives to retain 
 them in the field but a remaining sense of honour, 
 and a fear of disgrace and punishment should they 
 abandon their post without a cause. But although 
 these motives were sufficient for the present, those 
 who were governed by them did not cease to wish 
 that a more plausible apology might offer for dis 
 pensing with their operation. The militia contin 
 ued to show a much more obedient and patriotic 
 disposition than the volunteers; who, having adopted 
 a course which they discovered must finally involve 
 them in dishonour, if it should fail, were exceed 
 ingly anxious for its success, and that it might have 
 the appearance of being founded on justice. On 
 this subject the pretensions of the cavalry were cer 
 tainly much better established; as they were en 
 tirely without forage, and without the prospect of 
 speedily obtaining any. They petitioned, therefore, 
 to be permitted to return into the settled parts of the 
 country, pledging themselves, by their platoon and 
 field-officers, that if sufficient time were allowed to 
 recruit the exhausted state of their horses, and to 
 procure their winter clothing, they would return to 
 the performance of their duty whenever called on-- 
 The general, unable from many causes to prosecute 
 the campaign, and confiding in the assurance given, 
 granted the prayer of their petition, and they imme 
 diately set out on their return. 
 
 71. About this time, General Jackson s prospect 
 of being able to maintain the conquests he had made 
 began to be cheered by letters just received from 
 the contractors and principal wagon-master, stating 
 that sufficient supplies for the army were then on 
 the road, and would shortly arrive ; but discontents, 
 
HI.] INDIAN CAMPAIGN, 1813. 67 
 
 to an alarming degree, still prevailed in his camp. 
 To allay them, if possible, he hastened to lay before 
 the division the information and letters he had re 
 ceived ; and, at the same time, invited the field and 
 platoon officers to his quarters, to consult on the 
 measures proper to be pursued. Having assembled 
 them, and well knowing that the flame of discontent 
 which had so lately shown itself was only for the 
 present smothered, and might yet burst forth in se 
 rious injury, he addressed them in an animated 
 speech, in which he extolled their patriotism and 
 achievements ; lamented the privations to which 
 they had been exposed, and endeavoured to reani 
 mate them by the prospect of speedy relief, which 
 he expected with confidence on the following day. He 
 spoke of the immense importance of the conquests 
 they had already made, and of the dreadful conse 
 quences that must result, should they be now aban 
 doned. " What," continued he, " is the present situ 
 ation of our camp T A number of our fellow-soldiers 
 are wounded, and unable to help themselves. Shall it 
 be said that we are so lost to humanity as to leave 
 them in this condition ? Can any one, under these 
 circumstances and under these prospects, consent 
 to an abandonment of the camp ! of all that we 
 have acquired in the midst of so many difficulties, 
 privations, and dangers ? of what it will cost us so 
 much to regain 1 of what we never can regain. 
 our brave wounded companions,who will be murdered 
 by our unthinking, unfeeling inhumanity ? Surely 
 there can be none such ! No : we will take with 
 us, when we go, our wounded and sick. They 
 must not shall not perish by our cold-blooded in 
 difference. But why should you despond? I do 
 not, and yet your wants are not greater than mine. 
 To be sure we do not live sumptuously : but no one 
 has died of hunger, or is likely to die ; and then 
 how animating are our prospects ! Large supplies 
 are at Deposit, and already are officers despatched 
 
68 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 to hasten them on. Wagons are on the way; a 
 large number of beeves are in the neighbourhood ; 
 and detachments are out to bring them in. All 
 these resources surely cannot fail. I have no wish 
 to starve you none to deceive you. Stay content 
 edly ; and if supplies do not arrive within two days, 
 we will all march back together, and throw the 
 blame of our failure where it should properly lie ; 
 until then we certainly have the means of subsist 
 ing ; and if we are compelled to bear privations, let 
 us remember that they are borne for our country, 
 and are not greater than many perhaps most 
 armies have been compelled to endure. I have 
 called you together to tell you my feelings and my 
 wishes 4 this evening think on them seriously, and 
 let me know yours in the morning." 
 
 72. Having retired to their tents, and deliberated 
 on the measures most proper to be adopted in this 
 emergency, the officers of the volunteer brigade 
 came to the conclusion that " nothing short of 
 marching the army immediately back to the settle 
 ments could prevent those difficulties and that dis 
 grace which must attend a forcible desertion of the 
 camp by his soldiers." The officers of the militia 
 determined differently, and reported a willingness 
 to maintain the post a few days longer, that it might 
 be ascertained whether or not a sufficiency of pro 
 visions could really be had. " If it can, let us pro 
 ceed with the campaign ; if not, let us be marched 
 back to where itcan be procured." The general, who 
 greatly preferred the latter opinion, nevertheless, to 
 allay excitement, was disposed to gratify those who 
 appeared unwilling to submit to further hardships ; 
 and with this view ordered General Hall to march 
 his brigade to Fort Deposit ; and, after satisfying 
 their wants, to return, and act as an escort to the 
 provisions. The second regiment, however, unwill 
 ing to be outdone by the militia, consented to re- 
 main ; and the first proceeded alone. On this o.c.ca* 
 
HI.] INDIAN CAMPAIGN, 1813. 69 
 
 sion he could not forbear to remark, that men for 
 whom he had ever cherished so warm an affection, 
 and for whom he would at all times have made any 
 sacrifice, desiring" to abandon him at a moment 
 when their presence was so particularly necessary, 
 filled him with emotions which the strongest lan 
 guage was too feeble to express. " I was prepared," 
 he continued, " to endure every evil but disgrace ; 
 and this, as I never can submit to myself, I can give 
 no encouragement to in others." 
 
 73. Two da}rs had elapsed since the departure ef 
 the volunteers, and supplies had not arrived. The 
 militia, with great earnestness, now demanded a 
 performance of the pledge that had been given 
 that they should be marched back to the settlements, 
 Jackson, on giving them an assurance that they 
 should return if relief did not reachr them in two 
 days, had indulged a confidence that it would cer 
 tainly arrive by that time ; and now, from the infor 
 mation he had received, felt more than over certain 
 that it could not be far distant. Having, however, 
 pledged himself, he could use no arguments or en 
 treaties to detain them any longer, and immediately 
 took measures for complying with their wishes and 
 the promise he had made them. This was to him a 
 moment of the deepest dejection. He foresaw how 
 difficult it would be ever to accomplish the object 
 upon which his heart was so devoutly fixed, should 
 he lose the men who were now with him ; or even 
 to regain the conquests he had made, if his present 
 posts should fall into the hands of the enemy. 
 While thus pondering on the gloomy prospect, he 
 lifted up his hands and exclaimed, with a look and 
 manner which showed how much he felt, " If only 
 two men will remain with me, I will never abandon 
 this post." Captain Gordon, of the spies, face 
 tiously replied, " You have one, general, let us look 
 if we can t find another;" and immediately, with a 
 zeal suited to the occasion, undertook, with some 
 
70 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 of the general staff, to raise volunteers ; and hi a 
 little while succeeded in procuring- one hundred and 
 nine, who declared a determination to remain and 
 protect the post. The general, greatly rejoiced 
 that he would not be compelled to an entire aban 
 donment of his position, now set out towards De 
 posit with the remainder of the army, who were 
 given distinctly to understand, that on meeting sup 
 plies, they were to return and prosecute the cam 
 paign. This was an event which, as it had been 
 expected and foretold, soon took place. They had 
 not proceeded more than ten or twelve miles, when 
 they met a hundred and fifty beeves ; but a sight 
 which gave to Jackson so much satisfaction was to 
 them the most disagreeable and unwelcome. Their 
 faces being now turned towards home, no spectacle 
 could be more hateful than one which was to 
 change their destination. They were halted ; and, 
 having satisfied their hungry appetites, the troops, 
 with the exception of such as were necessary to 
 proceed with the sick and wounded, were ordered 
 to return to the encampment he himself intending 
 to see the contractors, and establish more effectual 
 arrangements for the future. So great was their 
 aversion to returning that they preferred a violation 
 of their duty and their pledged honour. Low mur- 
 murings ran along the lines, and presently broke 
 out into open mutiny. In spite of the order they 
 had received, they began to revolt, and one company 
 was already moving off in a direction towards 
 home. They had proceeded some distance before 
 information of their departure was had by Jackson. 
 Irritated at their conduct, in attempting to violate 
 the promise they had given, and knowing that the 
 success of future operations depended on the result, 
 the general pursued, until he came near a part of 
 his staff and a few soldiers, who, with General 
 Coffee, had halted about a quarter of a mile ahead. 
 He ordered them to form immediately across the 
 
III.] INDIAN CAMPAIGN, 1813. 71 
 
 road, and to fire on the mutineers if they attempted 
 to proceed. Snatching up their arms, these faithful 
 adherents presented a front which threw the desert 
 ers into affright, and caused them to retreat precipi 
 tately to the main body. Here it was hoped the 
 matter would end, and that no further opposition 
 would be made to returning. This expectation was 
 not realized ; a mutinous temper began presently to 
 display itself throughout the whole brigade. Jack 
 son, having left his aid-de-camp, Major Reid, en 
 gaged in making up some despatches, had gone out 
 alone among his troops, who were at some distance ; 
 on his arrival he found a much more extensive mu 
 tiny than that which had just been quelled. Almost 
 the whole brigade had put itself into an attitude for 
 moving forcibly off. A crisis had arrived ; and, 
 feeling its importance, he determined to take no 
 middle ground, but to triumph or perish. He was 
 still without the use of his left arm, but, seizing a 
 musket, and resting it on the neck of his horse, he 
 threw himself in front of the column, and threat 
 ened to shoot the first man who should attempt to 
 advance. In this situation he was found by Major 
 Reid and General Coffee ; who, fearing, from the 
 length of his absence, that some disturbance had 
 arisen, hastened where he was, and, placing them 
 selves by his side, awaited the result in anxious ex 
 pectation. For many minutes the column pre 
 served a sullen, yet hesitating attitude, fearing to 
 proceed in their purpose, and disliking to abandon 
 it. In the mean time, those who remained faithful 
 to their duty, amounting to about two companies, 
 were collected and formed at a short distance in ad 
 vance of the troops and in rear of the general, with 
 positive directions to imitate his example in firing 
 if they attempted to proceed. At length, finding no 
 one bold enough to advance, and overtaken by those 
 fears which in the hour of peril always beset per 
 sons engaged in what they know to be a bad cause, 
 
72 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 they abandoned their purpose, and turning quietly 
 round, agreed to return to their posts. It is very 
 certain, that but for the firmness of the general at 
 this critical moment, the campaign would have been 
 broken up, and most probably not commenced again. 
 
 74. Shortly after the battle of Talladega, the Hil- 
 labee tribes, who had been the principal sufferers on 
 that occasion, applied to General Jackson for peace ; 
 declaring their willingness to receive it on such 
 terms as he might be pleased to dictate. His de 
 cision had been already returned, stating to them 
 that his government had taken up arms to bring to 
 a proper sense of duty a people to whom she had 
 ever shown the utmost kindness, but who, never 
 theless, had committed against her citizens the most 
 unprovoked depredations ; and that she would lay 
 them down only when certain that this object was 
 attained. " Upon those," continued he, " who are 
 friendly, I neither wish nor intend to make war ; but 
 they must afford evidences of the sincerity of their 
 professions ; the prisoners and property they have 
 taken from us, and the friendly Creeks, must be re 
 stored ; the instigators of the war, and the murder 
 ers of our citizens, must be surrendered ; the latter 
 must and will be made to feel the force of our re 
 sentment. Long shall they remember Fort Mimms, 
 in bitterness and tears." 
 
 75. Having stated to General Cocke, whose di 
 vision was acting in this section of the nation, the 
 propositions that had been made by the Hillabee 
 clans, with the answer he returned, and urged him 
 to detach to Fort Strother six hundred of his men, 
 to aid in the defence of that place during his ab 
 sence, and in the operations he intended to resume 
 on his return, he proceeded to Deposit and Ditto s 
 Landing, where the most effectual means in his 
 power were taken with the contractors for obtaining 
 regular supplies in future. They were required to 
 furnish immediately thirty days rations at Fort 
 
III.] INDIAN CAMPAIGN, 1813. 73 
 
 Strother, forty at Talladega, and as many at the 
 junction of the Coosa and Tallapoosa ; two hun 
 dred packhorses and forty wagons were put in re 
 quisition to facilitate their transportation. Under 
 standing now that the whole detachment from Ten 
 nessee had by the president been received into the 
 service of the United States, he persuaded himself 
 that the difficulties he had heretofore encountered 
 would not recur, and that the want of supplies 
 would not again be a cause of impeding his opera 
 tions. He now looked forward, with sanguine ex 
 pectations, to the speedy accomplishment of the 
 objects of the expedition. 
 
 76. The volunteers who were at Deposit began 
 to manifest the same unwillingness to return to 
 their duty that the militia had done, and were about 
 to break out into the same spirit of mutiny and re 
 volt ; but were restrained by an animated address 
 of the general, who, having assembled them to 
 gether, painted in the most glowing colours all the 
 consequences that were to be apprehended, if, from 
 any defalcation of theirs, the campaign should be 
 abandoned or ineffectually prosecuted. By this 
 means he succeeded once more in restoring quiet 
 ness to his troops. 
 
 77. He now set out on his return to Fort Stro 
 ther, and was delighted to find, by the progress of 
 the works, the industry that had been used in his 
 absence. But the satisfaction he felt, and the hopes 
 he began to cherish, were of short continuance. 
 Although he had succeeded in stilling the tumult 
 of the volunteers, and in prevailing on them to re 
 turn to their posts, it was soon discovered he had 
 not eradicated their deep-rooted aversion to a fur 
 ther prosecution of the war. Nothing is more 
 difficult than to reanimate men who have once lost 
 their spirits, or inspire with new ardour those in 
 whom it has lately become extinct. Even where 
 the evils which produced the change are removed, 
 
 G 
 
74 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 apologies will be sought, and pretexts seized, for 
 justifying and preserving the present tone of mind. 
 The volunteers, who had so lately clamoured about 
 bread, now, when they were no longer hungry, be 
 gan to clamour, with equal earnestness, about their 
 term of service. Having lately made an effort to 
 forsake the drudgery of the field, and failed, they 
 were disposed to avail themselves of any pretexts, 
 seemingly plausible, to obtain success. They in 
 sisted that the period for which they had undertaken 
 to act would end on the 10th of December, that 
 being the termination of a year from the day they 
 had first entered into service ; and although they 
 had been a great part of the time disengaged, and 
 unemployed, that recess was nevertheless to be 
 taken into the computation. Jackson replied that 
 the law of congress under which they had been 
 tendered and accepted, requiring one year s service 
 out of two, could contemplate nothing less than an 
 actual service of three hundred and sixty-five days ; 
 and, until that were performed, he could not, unless 
 specially authorized, undertake to discharge them. 
 But as this was a question not likely to be settled 
 by argument, and as the consequences were easily 
 to be foreseen if they should persist in their de 
 mands, the general began to think of providing 
 other means for a continuance of the campaign, 
 that, even in the worst extreme, he might not be 
 unprepared to act. Ordering General Roberts to 
 return, and fill up the deficiencies in his brigade, he 
 now despatched Colonel Carroll and Major Searcy, 
 one of his aids-de-camp, into Tennessee, to raise 
 volunteers for six months, or during the campaign ; 
 writing, at the same time, to many respectable char 
 acters, he exhorted them to contribute all their 
 assistance to the accomplishment of this object. 
 To a letter just received from the Reverend Gideon 
 Blackburn, assuring him that volunteers from Ten 
 nessee would eagerly hasten to his relief, if they 
 
in.] INDIAN CAMPAIGN, 1813. 75 
 
 knew their services were wanted, he replied, 
 " Reverend Sir, Your letter has been just re 
 ceived : I thank you for it ; I thank you most sin 
 cerely. It arrived at a moment when my spirits 
 needed such a support. 
 
 78. " I left Tennessee with an army, brave, I be 
 lieve, as any general ever commanded. I have seen 
 them in battle, and my opinion of their bravery is 
 not changed. But their fortitude on this too I re 
 lied has been too severely tested. Perhaps 1 was 
 wrong in believing that nothing but death could 
 conquer the spirits of brave men. I am sure I was ; 
 for my men, I know, are brave ; yet privations have 
 rendered them discontented : that is enough. The 
 expedition must nevertheless be prosecuted to a 
 successful termination. New volunteers must be 
 raised, to conclude what has been so auspiciously 
 begun by the old ones. Gladly would I save these 
 men from themselves, and ensure them a harvest 
 which they have sown; but if they will abandon it 
 to others, it must be so. 
 
 79. " You are good enough to say, if I need your 
 assistance, it will be cheerfully afforded : I do need 
 it greatly. The influence you possess over the 
 minds of men is great and well-founded, and can 
 never be better applied than in summoning volun 
 teers to the defence of their country, their liberty, 
 and their religion. While we fight the savage, who 
 makes war only because he delights in blood, and 
 who has gotten his booty when he has scalped his 
 victim, we are, through him, contending against an 
 enemy of more inveterate character and deeper 
 design who would demolish a fabric cemented by 
 the blood of our fathers, and endeared to us by all 
 the happiness we enjoy. So far as my exertions 
 can contribute, the purposes both of the savage 
 and his instigator shall be defeated ; and so far as 
 yours can, I hope I know they will be employed. 
 
76 LIFE OF JACKSON, [CHAP. 
 
 I have said enough. I want men, and want them 
 immediately." 
 
 80. Anxious to prosecute the campaign as soon 
 as possible, that by employing his troops actively 
 he might dispel from their minds those discontents 
 so frequently manifested, he wrote to General Cocke, 
 desiring and urging him to unite with him imme 
 diately at the Ten Islands, with fifteen hundred 
 men. He assured him that the mounted men, who 
 had returned to the settlements for subsistence, and 
 to recruit their horses, would arrive by the 12th of 
 the month. He wished to commence his operations 
 directly, "knowing they would be prepared for it, 
 and well knowing they would require it. I am 
 astonished," he continued, " to hear that your sup 
 plies continue deficient. In the name of God, what 
 are the contractors doing, and about what are they 
 engaged 1 Every letter I receive from Governor 
 Blount assures me I am to receive plentiful supplies 
 from them, and seems to take for granted, notwith 
 standing all I have said to the contrary, that they 
 have been hitherto regularly furnished. Consid 
 ering the generous loan the state has made for 
 this purpose, and the facility of procuring bread- 
 stuffs in East Tennessee, and the transporting them 
 by water to Fort Deposit, it is to me wholly unac 
 countable that not a pound has ever arrived at that 
 place. This evil must continue no longer it must 
 be remedied. I expect, therefore, and through you 
 must require, that in twenty days they furnish at 
 Deposit every necessary supply." 
 
 81. While these measures were taking, the volun 
 teers, through several of their officers, were press 
 ing on the consideration of the general the expira 
 tion of their service, and claiming to be discharged 
 on the 10th of the month. From the colonel who 
 commanded the second regiment he received a 
 letter, dated the 4th of December, 1813, in which 
 was attempted to be detailed their whole ground of 
 
III.J INDIAN CAMPAIGN, 1813. 77 
 
 complaint. He began by stating, that painful as it 
 was, he nevertheless felt himself bound to disclose 
 an important and unpleasant truth : that, on the 
 10th, the service would be deprived of the regiment 
 he commanded. He seemed to deplore, with great 
 sensibility, the scene that would be exhibited on that 
 day, should opposition be made to their departure ; 
 and still more sensibly, the consequences that 
 would result from a disorderly abandonment of the 
 camp. He stated they had all considered them 
 selves finally discharged on the 20th of April. 1813, 
 and never knew to the contrary until they saw his 
 order of the 24th of September, 1813, requiring 
 them to rendezvous at Fayetteville on the 4th of 
 October, 1813 ; for the first time, they then learned 
 that they owed further services, their discharge to 
 the contrary notwithstanding. " Thus situated, 
 there was considerable opposition to the order ; on 
 which the officers generally, as I am advised, and I 
 know myself in particular, gave it as an unequivocal 
 opinion that their term of service would terminate 
 on the 10th of December, 1813. 
 
 82. " They therefore look to their general, who 
 has their confidence, for an honourable discharge 
 on that day ; and that, in every respect, he will see 
 that justice be done them. They regret that their 
 particular situations and circumstances require them 
 to leave their general at a time when their services 
 are important to the common cause. It would be 
 desirable," he continued, " that those men who have 
 served with honour should be honourably dis 
 charged, and that they should return to their fami 
 lies and friends without even the semblance of dis 
 grace ; with their general they leave it to place them 
 in that situation. They have received him as an 
 affectionate father, while they have honoured, re 
 vered, and obeyed him ; but, having devoted a con 
 siderable portion of their time to the service of their 
 country, by which their domestic concerns are 
 G2 
 
78 LIFE OF JACKSON. [dlAP. 
 
 greatly deranged, they wish to return, and attend to 
 their own affairs." 
 
 83. Although this communication announced the 
 determination of only a part of the volunteer bri 
 gade, he had already abundant evidence that the 
 defection was but too general. The difficulties 
 which the general had heretofore been compelled 
 to encounter, from the discontents of his troops; 
 might well induce him to regret that a spirit of in 
 subordination should again threaten to appear in his 
 camp. That he might, if possible, prevent it, he 
 hastened to lay before them the error and impro 
 priety of their views, and the consequences in 
 volved, should they persist in their purpose. 
 
 84. " 1 know not," he observed, " what scenes 
 will be exhibited on the 10th instant, nor what 
 consequences are to flow from them here or else 
 where ; but as I shall have the consciousness that 
 they are not imputable to any misconduct of mine, 
 I trust I shall have the firmness not to shrink from a 
 discharge of my duty. It will be well, however, 
 for those who intend to become actors in those 
 scenes, and who are about to hazard so much on the 
 correctness of their opinions, to examine before 
 hand, with great caution and deliberation, the 
 grounds on which their pretensions rest. Are they 
 founded on any false assurances of mine, or upon 
 any deception that has been practised towards them? 
 Was not the act of congress under which they are 
 engaged directed, by my general order, to be read, 
 and expounded to them before they enrolled them 
 selves ? That order will testify, and so will the re 
 collection of every general officer of my division. 
 It is not pretended, that those who now claim to be 
 discharged were not legally and fairly enrolled under 
 the act of congress of the 6th of February, 1812. 
 Have they performed the service required of them 
 by that act, and which they then solemnly under 
 took to perform ] That required one year s service 
 
III.] INDIAN CAMPAIGN, 1813. 79 
 
 out of two, to be computed from the day of ren 
 dezvous, unless they should be sooner discharged. 
 Has one year s service been performed ? This 
 cannot be seriously pretended. Have they then 
 been discharged I It is said they have, and by me. 
 To account for so extraordinary a belief, it may be 
 necessary to take a review of past circumstances. 
 
 85. " More than twelve months have elapsed 
 since we were called upon to avenge the injured 
 rights of our country. We obeyed the call ! In 
 the midst of hardships, which none but those to 
 whom liberty is dear could have borne without a 
 murmur, we descended the Mississippi. It was be 
 lieved our services were wanted in the prosecution 
 of the just war in which our country was engaged, 
 and we were prepared to render them. But though 
 we were disappointed in our expectations, we estab 
 lished for Tennessee a name which will long do 
 her honour. At length, we received a letter from 
 the secretary of war directing our dismission. You 
 well recollect the circumstances of wretchedness 
 in which this order was calculated to place us. By 
 it we were deprived of every article of public prop 
 erty; no provision was made for the payment of 
 our troops, or their subsistence on their return 
 march ; while many of our sick, unable to help 
 themselves, must have perished. Against the 
 opinion of many, I marched them back to their 
 homes before I dismissed them. Your regiment, at 
 its own request, was dismissed at Columbia. This 
 was accompanied with a certificate to each man, ex 
 pressing the acts under which he had been enrolled, 
 and the length of the tour he had performed. This 
 it is which is now attempted to be construed a final 
 discharge ; but surely it cannot be forgotten by any 
 officer or soldier, how sacredly they pledged them 
 selves, before they were dismissed or received that 
 certificate, cheerfully to obey the voice of their 
 country if it should re-summon them into service ; 
 
80 LIFE OF JACKSON. [dlAP. 
 
 neither can it be forgotten, I dare hope, for what 
 purpose that certificate was given ; it was to secure, 
 if possible, to those brave men who had shown such 
 readiness to serve their country, certain extra 
 emoluments, specified in the seventh section of the 
 act under which they had engaged, in the event 
 they were not recalled into service for the residue 
 of their term. 
 
 86. " Is it true, then, that my solicitude for the in 
 terest of the volunteers is to be made by them a 
 pretext for disgracing a name which they have ren 
 dered illustrious 1 Is a certificate designed solely 
 for their benefit, to become the rallying word for 
 mutiny 1 strange perversion of feeling and of rea 
 soning ! Have I really any power to discharge men 
 whose term of service has not expired ? If I were 
 weak or wicked enough to attempt the exercise of 
 such a power, does any one believe the soldier 
 would be thereby exonerated from the obligation he 
 has voluntarily taken upon himself to his govern 
 ment ? I should become a traitor to the important 
 concern which has been intrusted to my manage 
 ment, while the soldier, who had been deceived by 
 a false hope of liberation, would be still liable to re 
 deem his pledge; I should disgrace myself, with 
 out benefiting you. 
 
 87. "I can only deplore the situation of those 
 officers who have undertaken to persuade their men 
 that their term of service will expire on the 10th. 
 In giving their opinions to this effect, they have 
 acted indiscreetly, and without sufficient authority. 
 It would be the most pleasing act of my life to re 
 store them with honour to their families. Nothing 
 would pain me more than that any other sentiments 
 should be felt towards them than those of gratitude 
 and esteem. On all occasions, it has been my 
 highest happiness to promote their interest, and 
 even to gratify their wishes, where, with propriety, 
 it could be done. When in the lower country, be- 
 
III.] INDIAN CAMPAIGN, 1813. 81 
 
 lieving that, in order for their dismissal, they had 
 been improperly treated, I even solicited the govern 
 ment to discharge them, finally, from the obligations 
 into which they had entered. You know the answer 
 of the secretary of war, that neither he nor the 
 president, as he believed, had the power to discharge 
 them. How, then, can it be required of me to do so t 
 88. "The moment it is signified to me by any 
 competent authority, even by the governor of Ten 
 nessee, to whom I have written on the subject, or 
 by General Pinckney, who is now appointed to the 
 command, that the volunteers may be exonerated 
 from further service, that moment I will pronounce 
 it, with the greatest satisfaction. I have only the 
 power of pronouncing a discharge, not of giving it 
 in any case : a distinction which I would wish 
 should be borne in mind. Already have I sent to 
 raise volunteers, on my responsibility, to complete 
 a campaign which has been so happily begun, and 
 thus far so fortunately prosecuted. The moment 
 they arrive, and I am assured that, fired by our ex 
 ploits, they will hasten in crowds, on the first inti 
 mation that we need their services, they will be 
 substituted in the place of those who are discon 
 tented here; the latter will then be permitted to 
 return to their homes, with all the honour which, 
 under such circumstances, they can carry along 
 with them. But I still cherish the hope, that their 
 dissatisfactioii and complaints have been greatly ex 
 aggerated. I cannot, must not believe that the 
 volunteers of Tennessee, a name ever dear to 
 fame, will disgrace themselves, and a country which 
 they have honoured, by abandoning her standard, 
 as mutineers and deserters ; but should I be dis 
 appointed, and compelled to resign this pleasing 
 hope, one thing I will not resign my duty. Mutiny 
 and sedition, so long as I possess the power of 
 quelling them, shall be put down ; and even when 
 left destitute of this, I will still be found, in the last 
 
82 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 extremity, endeavouring- to discharge the duty I owe 
 my country and myself." 
 
 89. To the platoon officers, who addressed him on 
 the same subject, he replied with nearly the same 
 spirited feeling; but discontent was too deeply 
 fastened, and by designing men had been too art 
 fully fomented, to be removed by any thing like 
 argument or entreaty. At length, on the evening 
 of the 9th of December, 1813, General Hall hastened 
 to the tent of Jackson, with information that his 
 whole brigade was in a state of mutiny, and making 
 preparations to move forcibly off. This was a 
 measure which every consideration of policy, duty, 
 and honour required Jackson to oppose; and to 
 this purpose, he instantly applied all the means he 
 possessed. cHe immediately issued the following 
 general order : " The commanding general being 
 informed that an actual mutiny exists in his camp, 
 all officers and soldiers are commanded to put it 
 down. The officers and soldiers of the first brigade 
 will, without delay, parade on the west side of the 
 fort, and await further orders." The artillery com 
 pany, with two small field-pieces, being posted in 
 the front and rear, and the militia, under the com 
 mand of Colonel Wynne, on the eminences, in ad 
 vance, were ordered to prevent any forcible departure 
 of the volunteers. 
 
 90. The general rode along the line, which had 
 been previously formed agreeably to his orders, and 
 addressed them, by companies, in a strain of impas 
 sioned eloquence. He feelingly expatiated on their 
 former good conduct, and the esteem and applause 
 it had secured them ; and pointed to the disgrace 
 which they must heap upon themselves, their 
 families, and country, by persisting, even if they 
 could succeed, in their present mutiny. He told 
 them, however, they should not succeed but by 
 passing over his body ; that even in opposing their 
 mutinous spirit, he should perish honourably by 
 
111.] INDIAN CAMPAIGN, 1813. 83 
 
 perishing at his post, and in the discharge of his 
 duty. " Reinforcements," he continued, " are pre 
 paring to hasten to my assistance ; it cannot be long 
 before they will arrive. I am, too, in daily expecta 
 tion of receiving information whether you may be 
 discharged or not until then, you must not and 
 shall not retire. I have done with entreaty, it has 
 been used long enough. I will attempt it no more. 
 You must now determine whether you will go or 
 peaceably remain ; if you still persist in your deter 
 mination to move forcibly off, the point between us 
 shall soon be decided." At first they hesitated : 
 he demanded an explicit and positive answer. They 
 still hesitated, and he commanded the artillerist to 
 prepare the match ; he himself remaining in front 
 of the volunteers, and within the line of fire, which 
 he intended soon to order. Alarmed at his apparent 
 determination, and dreading the consequences in 
 volved in such a contest, " Let us return," was 
 presently lisped along the line, and soon after deter 
 mined upon. The officers now came forward and 
 pledged themselves for their men, who either nodded 
 assent or openly expressed a willingness to retire 
 to their quarters, and remain without further tumult, 
 until information were had or the expected aid 
 should arrive. Thus passed away a moment of the 
 greatest _oeril, and pregnant with important conse 
 quences. 
 
 91. This matchless and ever memorable scene, the 
 reader will observe, took place on the 10th of De 
 cember, 1813 ; the volunteers having formed their 
 first rendezvous, as he will recollect, on the 10th of 
 December, 1812. One year had certainly expired ; but 
 there had not been a year s service ; for they had 
 not been in service from the 1st of May to the 10th 
 of October, 1813 ; so that there remained five months 
 of the year s service to come. NThe general was 
 right in his construction of the bargain ; but, besides 
 this, to have forsaken the campaign in such a man- 
 
84 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 ner would have been ruinous in the extreme : the 
 savage enemy, not yet subdued, but exasperated to 
 the last degree, would have assailed the unprotected 
 frontiers, and have .drenched in the blood of the de 
 fenceless citizens. 
 
 92. This difficulty got over was by no means the 
 last which he had to encounter : discontents were 
 everlastingly rising up in his army ; the governor of 
 Tennessee recommended him to abandon his enter 
 prise ; he had to reject this advice with scorn. One 
 general retired with his brigade ; opposition after 
 opposition he met with from different officers, yet 
 he proceeded on to assault the blood-thirsty enemy, 
 in spite of every impediment, though he had to im 
 prison officers, to hang a militia soldier, and to do 
 things which it appears almost to require credu 
 lity unbounded to believe to be true. Finally, how 
 ever, he succeeded : he subdued the savage tribes ; 
 he reduced them to sue for pardon and for peace ; 
 he concluded a treaty with them ; took them out of 
 the hands of the more crafty and more powerful 
 enemy of America ; and cleared the way for a battle, 
 single-handed, with the British, on the Gulf of Mex 
 ico, and finally at New- Orleans. 
 
IV.] PERFIDY OF TUB SPANIARDS. 85 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 FROM APRIL, 1814, TO DECEMBER, 1814. 
 
 Perfidious conduct of the Spanish governor of Pensacola 
 Jackson s remonstrance Nicholls s proclamation Defeat of 
 the British at Fort Bowyer, by Major Lawrence Reduction 
 of Pensacola, and retreat of the British Jackson s arrival at 
 New-Orleans Preparations made by the British for the re 
 duction of New-Orleans. 
 
 93. HE was now (spring of 1814) appointed to be 
 a major-general in the service of the United States. 
 The protection of the coast near the mouths of the 
 Mississippi was intrusted to him ; and his first at 
 tention was turned to the comfort, the encourage 
 ment, the protection which the savages received 
 from the Spanish governor and Spanish author 
 ities in the fortress of Pensacola, which is situated 
 on the Gulf of Mexico, at about a hundred miles dis 
 tance from New-Orleans, about thirty miles from 
 the frontiers of the state of Alabama, and about a 
 hundred miles from the main fastness of the Creek 
 Indians. His opinion was, that the savages were 
 always receiving assistance from the Spanish gar 
 rison, and from the British, through the means of 
 that garrison ; and he was persuaded that, finally, 
 the British would assail New-Orleans by means of 
 preparations made at Pensacola. On his way to the 
 south, he learned that about three hundred British 
 troops had landed, and were fortifying themselves 
 at no great distance from Pensacola. In this state 
 of things, he endeavoured to prevail upon the Spanish 
 governor to desist from all acts injurious to the 
 United States. The Spanish governor shuffled at 
 first, and afterward lied as boldly as a harlot or a 
 H 
 
86 LIFE OF JACKSON. [cHAP. 
 
 valet-de-chambre. By this time, and before this time, 
 the news had been received of the fail of Napoleon, 
 and of his banishment to Elba. This event had in 
 spired with new villany, and new courage, every 
 villain upon the face of this earth. This Spanish 
 garrison was, in fact, a rendezvous for the British : 
 it was a rendezvous for the savages enemies of the 
 United States. Captain Gordon, sent by Jackson to 
 see what was passing, in the month of August (1814), 
 reported to the general, that he had seen from fifty 
 to two hundred officers and soldiers, a park of 
 artillery, about five hundred savages under the drill 
 of British officers, and dressed in the English uni 
 form. He wrote to the government, and remon 
 strated with it upon the subject of its timidity in per 
 mitting this. The secretary at war, that same 
 Armstrong that we have mentioned before, in the 
 2d chapter, coincided with him in opinion upon this 
 point, and, indeed, authorized him to attack Pensa- 
 cola; but, though this letter bore date of the 18th 
 of July, 1814, it was never received by Jackson until 
 the 11 th of January, 1815; that is to say, nine days 
 after the British army had been partly slaughtered, 
 and partly driven into the sea, before New-Orleans ! 
 After writing this letter, this same Armstrong took 
 care to leave the city of Washington totally deprived 
 of all defence. It is impossible to believe that there 
 was not treason here ; at the very least it was a 
 contrivance to have in reserve the grounds of throw 
 ing the blame of failure upon Jackson. 
 
 94. Mobile is a fort belonging to the Americans, 
 at the head of a little bay in the Gulf of Mexico, 
 and in the territory of Alabama. To the Mobile he 
 repaired. There he learned that the approach of a 
 great British force might be expected ; and that the 
 final object was the capture of the city of New-Or 
 leans. At this time (August, 1814) Colonel Nicholls, 
 of the British army, arrived at Pensacola, whence 
 he issued a proclamation to the southern and west- 
 
IV.] PROCLAMATION OF COLONEL NICHOLLS. 87 
 
 ern inhabitants of the United States ; and from that 
 garrison he issued his proclamation, every word and 
 every syllable of which ought to be remembered for 
 ages by the people of England, as well as the people 
 of America. 
 
 Proclamation of Colonel Nicholls to the Southern and Western 
 Inhabitants. 
 
 Natives of Louisiana ! on you the first call is made, to 
 assist in liberating from a faithless, imbecile government your 
 paternal soil : Spaniards, Frenchmen, Italians, and British, 
 whether settled or residing for a time in Louisiana, on you 
 also I call, to aid me in this just cause. The American 
 usurpation in this country must be abolished, and the lawful 
 owners of the soil put in possession. I am at the head of a 
 large body of Indians, well armed, disciplined, and com 
 manded by British officers a good train of artillery, with 
 every requisite, seconded by the powerful aid of a numerous 
 British and Spanish squadron of ships and vessels of war. 
 Be not alarmed, inhabitants of the country, at our approach ; 
 the same good faith and disinterestedness which have dis 
 tinguished the conduct of Britons in Europe accompany them 
 here ; you will have no fear of litigious taxes imposed on you 
 for the purpose of carrying on .an unnatural and unjust war ; 
 your property, your laws, the "peace and tranquillity of your 
 country, will be guarantied to you by men who will suffer no 
 infringement of theirs ; rest assured that these brave red men 
 only burn with an ardent desire of satisfaction for the wrongs 
 they have suffered from the Americans ; to join you in lib 
 erating these southern provinces from their yoke, and drive 
 them into those limits formerly prescribed by my sovereign. 
 The Indians have pledged themselves in the most solemn 
 manner not to injure, in the slightest degree, the persons or 
 properties of any but enemies. A flag over any door, whether 
 Spanish, French, or British, will be a certain protection ; nor 
 dare any Indian put his foot on the threshold thereof, under 
 penalty of death from his own countrymen ; not even an 
 enemy will an Indian put to death, except resisting in arms ; 
 and as for injuring helpless women and children, the red men, 
 by their good conduct and treatment to them, will (if it be 
 possible) make the Americans blush for their more inhuman 
 conduct, latelv on the Escambia, and within a neutral territory, 
 
88 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 Inhabitants of Kentucky, you have too long borne with 
 grievous impositions the whole brunt of the war has fallen 
 on your brave sons ; be imposed on no longer, but either range 
 yourselves under the standard of your forefathers, or observe a 
 strict neutrality. If you comply with either of these offers, 
 whatever provisions you send down will be paid for in dollars, 
 and the safety of the persons bringing it, as well as the free 
 navigation of the Mississippi, guarantied to you. 
 
 Men of Kentucky, let me call to your view (and I trust 
 to your abhorrence) the conduct of those factions which hur 
 ried you into this civil, unjust, and unnatural war, at a time 
 when Great Britain was straining every nerve in defence of 
 her own and the liberties of the world when the bravest of 
 her sons were fighting and bleeding in so sacred a cause 
 when she was spending millions of her treasure in endeavour 
 ing to pull down one of the most formidable and dangerous 
 tyrants that ever disgraced the form of man when groaning 
 Europe was almost in her last gasp when Britons alone 
 showed an undaunted front basely did those assassins en 
 deavour to stab her from the rear ; she has turned on them, 
 renovated from the bloody but successful struggle Europe 
 is happy and free, and she now hastens justly to avenge the 
 unprovoked insult. Show them that you are not collectively 
 unjust ; leave that contemptible few to shift for themselves ; 
 let those slaves of the tyrant send an embassy to Elba, and 
 implore his aid ; but let every honest, upright American 
 spurn them with united contempt. After the experience of 
 twenty-one years, can you longer support those brawlers for 
 liberty who call it freedom when themselves are free 1 Be 
 no longer their dupes accept of my offers every thing I 
 have promised in this paper I guaranty to you on the sacred 
 honour of a British officer. 
 
 Given under my hand, at my head-quarters, Pensacola, 
 this 29th day of August, 1814. 
 
 EDWARD NICHOLLS. 
 
 95. T am aware that the reader will laugh at this 
 " sacred honour of a British officer," who says, that 
 he is " coming at the head of a large body of savages," 
 and who tells them that he will " free them from 
 litigious taxes" I wonder whether we in England 
 
IV.] REDUCES PENSACOLA. 89 
 
 are now paying taxes to keep this Colonel Nicholls 
 and his family. However, here is this man of 
 " sacred honour" telling the Americans that his 
 " head-quarters" are at Pensacola, though the scoun 
 drel Spaniard pleaded his neutrality. 
 
 96. The first act of hostility here, on the part of the 
 British, was on a fort called Fort Bowyer, on the Mo 
 bile. On the 15th of September, 1814, Nicholls and 
 Woodbine approached by land, while several vessels 
 approached by sea, mounting altogether ninety guns. 
 This expedition ended in the blowing up of one of 
 the English ships, greatly damaging another, and 
 sending off the proclamation-maker with the loss 
 of one of his ships, and, as was said, one of his eyes. 
 Major Lawrence commanded in the American fort. 
 His brave band consisted Q? only one hundred and 
 thirty men ; while the force oi the British was, as 
 we have seen, ninety guns by sea, while Nicholls 
 and Woodbine assaulted the fort by land, with a 
 twelve-pound howitzer, and several hundreds of 
 marines, sailors, and savages. This was an affair 
 singularly honourable to Major Lawrence and his 
 men. The disparity of force was incredible ; and 
 this disgraceful beating at the outset must have had 
 a considerable effect upon the enemy. Jackson 
 was, however, resolved to break up the rendezvous 
 of Pensacola; and on the 6th of November, 1814, 
 he marched against it, demolished all its defences 
 and protections, drove out the British and the 
 savages, and taught Nicholls and the Spanish gov 
 ernor that, though Bonaparte was banished to Elba, 
 there was still one country left which was not to be 
 insulted with impunity by the satellites of des 
 potism. 
 
 97. Having given the haughty and insolent foe a 
 foretaste of that which was to come, he repaired to 
 that which was to be the grand scene of action. 
 He arrived at the city of New-Orleans on the 1st 
 of December, 1814. News had been received of the 
 
 H2 
 
90 LIFE OF JACKSON. [cHAP. 
 
 approach of a British fleet. The first intelligence 
 of this sort was received on the 4th of December. 
 Cochrane, who commanded the British fleet, and 
 who had the celebrated Sir George Cockburn under 
 him, had collected all their forces together, after 
 they had been beaten off from before Baltimore, and 
 had sailed off for New-Orleans, whither Nicholls had 
 been sent before to prepare the way for the procla 
 mation, which we have just seen issued from his 
 head-quarters at Pensacola. They were to be 
 joined, as they afterward were, by a strong body of] 
 the " heroes of the Peninsula." Their force alto 
 gether was prodigious : ships of the line, frigates, 
 sloops of war, fire-ships, great numbers of furnaces 
 to heat red-hot shot, Congreve rockets, all manner 
 of materials for sapping, and mining, and blowing 
 up : an expedition costing, in all probability, more 
 than a million of pounds sterling in the fitting out. 
 There were eleven thousand regular " heroes 
 of the Peninsula ;" there were four generals, two 
 admirals, at the least; twelve thousand, at the 
 least, of seamen and marines, artillery in abun 
 dance, of all sorts ; perhaps a hundred gun-boats 
 and barges ; and every expense ready to be incurred 
 for the employment of persons of all sorts ; besides 
 numerous bands of savages ready to come in, if the 
 attack had succeeded Here, after all, there was 
 nothing equal to the perils of the Indian campaign ; 
 but there was quite enough to daunt any man that 
 .ever lived, except the man who had to face all this. 
 
V.] DEFENCE OF NEW-ORLEANS. 91 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 FROM THE, 1ST OF DECEMBER, 1814, TO MARCH, 1815. 
 
 Defence of New-Orleans Jackson is beset with traitors and 
 spies Arms not sent to him Enemy lands on the 23d De 
 cember He marches in the night and drives them back 
 Divers smaller engagements The traitors in the assembly 
 and in the town conspire against him Defeats the British 
 with great slaughter, 8th January Drives them out of the 
 country His farewell address to his army The sneaking 
 account given by the British government of this important 
 transaction. 
 
 98. WE have seen that Jackson, having received 
 intelligence which made him believe, and quite cer 
 tain indeed, that the intention of the British was to 
 get possession of the mouths of the Mississippi, of 
 the whole state of Louisiana, and particularly of that 
 rich prize the city of New-Orleans, crammed with 
 sugar, coffee, flour, cotton, and all sorts of merchan 
 dise, repaired thither, that is to say, to the city itself, 
 on the 1st of December, 1814. On the 6th of Decem 
 ber, he received certain intelligence that alarge British 
 force was off the port of Pensacola, destined against 
 New-Orleans ; that it amounted to about eighty 
 vessels, and that more than double that number 
 were momentarily looked for to form a junction with 
 those already arrived ; that there were in this fleet 
 vessels of all descriptions, contrived for the most 
 deadly purposes, with a large body of land troops. 
 That Admiral Cochrane had the command, and that 
 his ship, the Tonnant, was then (4th December) lying 
 off Pensacola. 
 
 99. The hour now arrived, then, in which was to 
 be tried the naked courage of undisciplined Ameri- 
 
92 LIFE OF JACKSON. fcHAP. 
 
 cans against the best that Great Britain was able 
 to produce, with every advantage to boot. With 
 out stopping to relate the preliminary movements, 
 and all the preparations for attack made by the 
 British, I come at once to the beginning of the 
 fighting, which took place on the 23d of December, 
 when, in the evening, the British made a landing, 
 and when Jackson resolved, at all events, to march 
 and give them battle. I must stop here, however, to 
 observe on something much more interesting than 
 the mere fighting: it is not mere fighting that will 
 depict to us the true character of a general and a 
 statesman. Here Jackson had to contend against 
 difficulties and dangers of every description. The 
 comparatively small number, and the want of dis 
 cipline, of his troops, I do not reckon among his 
 difficulties ; but treason, in every quarter and corner 
 of the city and the state which he had to defend ; 
 spies continually communicating with the enemy ; 
 base and cowardly French and Spanish merchants, 
 and paper-money makers, all puffed up with exulta 
 tion at the triumph of the despots of Europe and 
 the banishment of Napoleon to Elba (events which 
 had just taken place), and all full of the hope and 
 expectation that Jackson and his army would be 
 cut to pieces (it being to be observed, that this state 
 of Louisiana had been purchased from the French 
 by the Americans no longer before than in the year 
 1811) ; newspaper traitors endeavouring to sow dis 
 content in his army, and when he imprisoned the 
 author, a traitor judge found to order his release on 
 a habeas corpus, whereupon he imprisoned the trai 
 tor judge ; but, above all things, a want of arms, 
 owing to the scandalous neglect of officers of the 
 federal government, which made it perilous for him 
 to suffer communication between even his own lines, 
 it being absolutely necessary for him to keep from 
 the enemy a knowledge of his unarmed and destitute 
 situation. These things, much more than the force 
 
V.] DEFENCE OF NEW-ORLEANS. 93 
 
 of the enemy, and all their immense means of 
 attack, rendered his situation perilous. Driven to 
 the extremity of proclaiming martial law, and of 
 enforcing it with the utmost severity ; there was he, 
 with his handful of faithful men, who had come 
 down to him, unarmed and unprovided, a distance of 
 five hundred miles ; with faithful generals and 
 brother-officers, to be sure : but with a people to 
 defend who were ready to stab him in the back, 
 while a powerful invading army was coming at him 
 in front ; and even with a legislative assembly pro 
 posing to capitulate with the enemy, and to surrender 
 themselves, their city, and their state to the mercy 
 of that enemy. 
 
 100. It was with all these difficulties and dangers 
 staring him in the face that he boldly proceeded on 
 to the deliverance of his country ; and now we are 
 going to enter on the most interesting details of his 
 proceedings in effecting this deliverance. 
 
 101. On the 23d of December, as has been before 
 related, the enemy made a landing ; and Jackson, 
 wanting to gain time to complete his lines, and also 
 thinking it of importance to give the enemy a taste 
 of the difficulties which he would have to overcome, 
 determined to proceed to attack the enemy in the 
 night of the 23d of December. Generals Coffee and 
 Carroll were ordered to proceed immediately from 
 their encampment, and join him with all haste. 
 Although four miles above, they arrived in the city 
 in less than two hours after the order had been 
 issued. These forces, with the seventh and forty- 
 fourth regiments, the Louisiana troops, and Colonel 
 Hind s dragoons, from Mississippi, constituted the 
 strength of his army, which could be carried into 
 action against an enemy whose numbers, at this 
 time, could only be conjectured. It was thought 
 advisable that General Carroll and his division should 
 be disposed in the rear, for the reason that there 
 was no correct information of the force landed 
 
94 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 through Villery s canal, and because Jackson feared 
 that this probably might be merely a feint intended 
 to divert his attention, while a much stronger and 
 more numerous division, having already gained some 
 point higher on the lake, might, by advancing in his 
 absence, gain his rear, and succeed in their designs. 
 Uncertain of their movements, it was essential he 
 should be prepared for the worst, and by different 
 dispositions of his troops be ready to resist, in 
 whatever quarter he might be assailed. Carroll, 
 therefore, at the head of his division, and Governor 
 Claiborne, with the state militia, were directed to 
 take post on the Gentilly road, which leads from 
 Chef Menteur to New-Orleans, and to defend it to 
 the last extremity. 
 
 102. Alarm pervaded the city. The marching 
 and countermarching of the troops, the proximity of 
 the enemy, with the approaching contest, and un 
 certainty of the issue, had excited a general fear. 
 Already might the British be on their way and at 
 hand before the necessary arrangements could be 
 made to oppose them. To prevent this, Colonel 
 Hayne, with two companies of riflemen and the Mis 
 sissippi dragoons, was sent forward to reconnoitre 
 their camp, learn their position and their numbers, 
 and if they should be found advancing, to harass and 
 oppose them at every step until the main body 
 should arrive. 
 
 103. Every thing being ready, General Jackson 
 commenced his march, to meet and fight the veteran 
 troops of England. An inconsiderable circumstance 
 at this moment evinced what unlimited confidence 
 was reposed in his skill and bravery. As his troops 
 were marching through the city, his ears were 
 assailed with the screams and cries of innumer 
 able females, who had collected on the way, and 
 seemed to apprehend the worst of consequences. 
 Feeling for their distresses, and anxious to quiet 
 them, he directed Mr. Livingston, one of his aids* 
 
V,] DEFENCE OF NEW-ORLEANS. 95 
 
 de-camp, to address them in the French language. 
 " Say to them," said he, " not to be alarmed : the 
 enemy shall never reach the city." It operated like 
 an electric shock. To know that he himself was 
 not apprehensive of a fatal result inspired them 
 with altered feelings ; sorrow was ended, and their 
 grief converted into hope and confidence. 
 
 104. The general arrived in view of the enemy a 
 little before dark. Having previously ascertained 
 from Colonel Hayne, who had been sent in advance, 
 their position, and that their strength was about two 
 thousand men,* he immediately concerted the mode 
 of attack, and hastened to execute it. Commodore 
 Patterson, who commanded the naval forces on this 
 station, with Captain Henly, on board the Caroline, 
 had been directed to drop down, anchor in front of 
 their line, and open upon them from the guns of the 
 schooner; this being the appointed signal, when 
 given, the attack was to be waged simultaneously 
 on all sides. The fires from their camp disclosed 
 their position, and showed their encampment, formed 
 with their left resting on the river, and extending at 
 right angles into the open field. General Coffee, 
 with his brigade, Colonel Hind s dragoons, and 
 Captain Seal s company of riflemen, was ordered to 
 oblique to the left, and, by a circuitous route, avoid 
 their pickets, and endeavour to turn their right 
 wing; having succeeded in this, to form his line, 
 and press the enemy towards the river, where they 
 would be exposed more completely to the fire of the 
 Caroline. The rest of the troops, consisting of the 
 regulars, Ploache s city volunteers, Daquin s coloured 
 troops, the artillery under Lieutenant Spotts, sup 
 ported by a company of marines commanded by 
 
 * This opinion, as it afterward appeared, was incorrect 
 The number of the British, at the commencement of the action, 
 was three thousand, and was shortly afterward increased by 
 additional forces ; Jackson s strength did not exceed two thou 
 sand. 
 
96 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 Colonel M Kee, advanced on the road along the bank 
 of the Mississippi, and were commanded by Jackson 
 in person. 
 
 105. General Coffee with silence and caution had 
 advanced beyond their pickets, next the swamp, 
 and nearly reached the point to which he was 
 ordered, when a broadside from the Caroline an 
 nounced the battle begun. Patterson had proceeded 
 slowly, giving time, as he believed, for the execution 
 of those arrangements contemplated on the shore. 
 So sanguine had the British been in the belief that 
 they would be kindly received, and little opposition 
 attempted, that the Caroline floated by the sentinels,, 
 and anchored before their camp without any kind 
 of molestation. On passing the front picket she 
 was hailed in a low tone of voice, but not returning 
 an answer, no further question was made. This, 
 added to some other attendant circumstances, con 
 firmed the opinion that they believed her a vessel 
 laden with provisions, which had been sent out from 
 New-Orleans, and was intended for them. Having 
 reached what, from their fires, appeared to be the 
 centre of their encampment, her anchors were cast, 
 and her character and business disclosed from her 
 guns. So unexpected an attack produced a moment 
 ary confusion ; but recovering, she was answered by 
 a discharge of musketry and flight of Congreve 
 rockets, which passed without injury, while the grape 
 and canister from her guns were pouring destruc 
 tively on them. To take away the certainty of aim 
 afforded by the light from their fires, these were 
 immediately extinguished, and they retired two or 
 three hundred yards into the open field, if not out 
 of the reach of the cannon, at least to a distance, 
 where by the darkness of the night they would be 
 protected. 
 
 106. Coffee had dismounted his men, and turned 
 his horses loose, at a large ditch, next the swamp., 
 in the rear of Larond s plantation, and gained, as he* 
 
V.] DEFENCE OF NEW-ORLEANS. 97 
 
 believed, the centre of the enemy s line, when the 
 signal from the Caroline reached him. He directly 
 wheeled his columns in, and extending his line par 
 allel with the river, moved towards their camp. He 
 had advanced scarcely more than a hundred yards, 
 when he received a heavy fire, from a line formed in 
 his front ; this, to him, was an unexpected circum 
 stance, as he supposed the enemy lying principally 
 at a distance, and that the only opposition he should 
 meet, until he approached towards the levee,* would 
 be from their advanced pickets. The circum 
 stance of his coming in contact with them so soon 
 was owing to the severe attack of the schooner, 
 which had compelled the enemy to abandon their 
 camp, and form without the reach of her guns. The 
 moon shone, but reflected her light too feebly to dis 
 cover objects at a distance. The only means, there 
 fore, of producing certain effect, with the kind of 
 force engaged, which consisted chiefly of riflemen, 
 was not to venture at random, but to discharge their 
 pieces only when there should be a certainty of fell 
 ing the object. This order being given, the line 
 pressed on, and having gained a position near enough 
 to distinguish, a general fire was given ; it was well 
 directed, and too severe and destructive to be with 
 stood ; the enemy gave way and retreated, rallied, 
 formed, were charged, and again retreated. 
 The gallant yeomanry, led by their brave com 
 mander, urged fearlessly on, and drove their inva 
 ders from every position they attempted to main 
 tain. Their general was under no necessity to en 
 courage and allure them to deeds of valour : his own 
 
 * Banks thrown up on the margin of the river to confine the 
 stream to its bed ; and which are extended along the Mississippi 
 on both sides, from the termination of the highlands, near Baton 
 Rouge. Frequently the river in its vernal floods rises above the 
 elevation of the plains, and then the security of the country de 
 pends on the strength of those levees ; they not unfrequently, 
 break, when incalculable injury is the consequence. 
 
98 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP* 
 
 example was sufficient to excite them. Always in 
 the midst, he displayed a coolness and disregard of 
 danger, calling to his troops that they had often said 
 they could fight now was the time to prove it. 
 
 107. The British, driven back by the resolute firm 
 ness and ardour of the assailants, had now reached 
 a grove of orange-trees, with a ditch running past it, 
 protected by a fence on the margin. Here they 
 were halted and formed for battle. It was a favour 
 able position, promising security, and was occupied 
 with a confidence they could not be forced to yield 
 it. Coffee s dauntless yeomanry, strengthened in 
 their hopes of success, moved on, nor discovered the 
 advantages against them, until a fire from the entire 
 British line showed their position and defence. A 
 sudden check was given ; but it was only moment 
 ary, for gathering fresh ardour, they charged across 
 the ditch, gave a deadly and destructive fire, and 
 forced them to retire. The retreat continued, until 
 gaining a similar position, the British made another 
 stand, and were again driven from it with consider 
 able loss. 
 
 108. Thus the battle raged on the left wing, until 
 the British reached the bank of the river ; here a 
 determined stand was made, and further encroach 
 ments resisted : for half an hour the conflict was 
 extremely violent on both sides. The American 
 troops could not be driven from their purpose, nor 
 the British made to yield their ground; but at length, 
 having suffered greatly, the latter were under the 
 necessity of taking refuge behind the levee, which 
 afforded a breast-work, and protected them from the 
 fatal fire of our riflemen. Coffee, unacquainted with 
 their position, for the darkness had greatly increased, 
 already contemplated again to charge them ; but 
 one of his officers, who had discovered the advan 
 tage their situation gave them, assured him it was 
 too hazardous ; that they could be driven no farther, 
 and would, from the point they occupied, resist with 
 
V.] DEFENCE OF NEW-ORLEANS. 99 
 
 the bayonet, and repel, with considerable loss, any 
 attempt that might be made to dislodge them. The 
 place of their retirement was covered in front by a 
 strong bank, which had been extended into the field, 
 to keep out the river, in consequence of the first 
 being encroached upon, and undermined in several 
 places : the former, however, was still entire in 
 many parts, which, interposing between them and 
 the Mississippi, afforded security from the broad 
 sides of the schooner, which lay off at some dis 
 tance. A further apprehension, lest, by moving still 
 nearer to the river, he might greatly expose himself 
 to the fire of the Caroline, which was yet spiritedly 
 maintaining the conflict, induced Coffee to retire 
 until he could hear from the commanding general, 
 and receive his further orders. 
 
 109. During this time the right wing, under Jack 
 son, had been no less prompt and active. A detach 
 ment of artillery, under Lieutenant Spotts, sup 
 ported by sixty marines, and constituting the ad 
 vance, had moved down the road next the levee. On 
 their left was the seventh regiment of infantry, led 
 by Major Piere. The forty-fourth, commanded by 
 Major Baker, was formed on the extreme left; while 
 Plauche s and Daquin s battalions of city guardswere 
 directed to be posted in the centre, between the 
 seventh and forty-fourth. The general had ordered 
 Colonel Ross (who during the night acted in the ca 
 pacity of brigadier-general, for he was without a 
 brigadier), on hearing the signal from the Caroline, 
 to move off by heads of companies, and, on reaching 
 the enemy s line, to deploy, and unite the left wing 
 of his command with the right of General Coffee s. 
 This order was omitted to be executed ; and the 
 consequence was an early introduction of confusion 
 in the ranks, whereby was prevented the important 
 design of uniting the two divisions. 
 
 110. Instead of moving in column from the first 
 position, the troops, with the exception of the sev 
 
100 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 enth regiment, next the person of the general, which 
 advanced agreeably to the instructions that had been 
 given, were formed and marched in extended line. 
 Having sufficient ground to form on at first, no in 
 convenience was at the moment sustained ; but this 
 advantage presently failing, the centre became com 
 pressed, and was forced in the rear. The river, 
 from where they were formed, gradually inclined to 
 the left, and diminished the space originally pos 
 sessed : farther in stood Larond s house, surrounded 
 by a grove of clustered orange-trees : this pressing 
 the left, and the river the right wing to the centre, 
 formed a curve, which presently threw the principal 
 part of Plauche s and Daquin s battalions without 
 the line. This inconvenience might have been 
 remedied, but for the briskness of the advance, 
 and the darkness of the night. A heavy fire from 
 behind a fence, immediately before them, had 
 brought the enemy to view. Acting in obedience 
 to their orders, not to waste their ammunition at 
 random, our troops had pressed forward against the 
 opposition in their front, and thereby threw those 
 battalions in the rear. 
 
 111. A fog rising from the river, and which, added 
 to the smoke from the guns, was covering the plain, 
 gradually diminished the little light shed by the 
 moon, and greatly increased the darkness of the 
 night : no clew was left to ascertain how or where 
 the enemy were situated. There was no alterna 
 tive but to move on in the direction of their fire, 
 which subjected the assailants to material disadvan 
 tages. The British, driven from their first position, 
 had retired back, and occupied another, behind a 
 deep ditch, that ran out of the Mississippi towards 
 the swamp, on the margin of which was a wood- 
 railed fence. Here, strengthened by increased 
 numbers, they again opposed the advance of our 
 troops. Having waited until they had approached 
 sufficiently near to be discovered, from their fast- 
 
V.] DEFENCE OF NEW-ORLEANS. 101 
 
 nesses they discharged a fire upon the advancing 
 army. Instantty our battery was formed, and poured 
 destructively upon them ; while the infantry, press 
 ing forward, aided in the conflict, which at this point 
 was for some time spiritedly maintained. At this 
 moment a brisk sally was made upon our advance, 
 when the marines, unequal to the assault, were 
 already giving way. The adjutant-general, and 
 Colonels Piatt and Chotard, with a part of the 
 seventh, hastening to their support, drove the 
 enemy, and saved the artillery from capture. Gen 
 eral Jackson, perceiving the decided advantages 
 which were derived from the position they occupied, 
 ordered their line to be charged. It was obeyed 
 with cheerfulness, and executed with promptness. 
 Pressing on, our troops gained the ditch, and pouring 
 across it a well-aimed fire, compelled them to re 
 treat, and to abandon their intrenchment. The 
 plain on which they were contending was cut to 
 pieces, by races from the river, to convey the water 
 to the swamp. The enemy were therefore very 
 soon enabled to occupy another position, equally 
 favourable with the one whence they had been just 
 driven, where they formed for battle, and for some 
 time gallantly maintained themselves ; but which at 
 length, and after stubborn resistance, they were 
 forced to yield. 
 
 112. The enemy, discovering the firm and obsti 
 nate advance made by the right wing of the Ameri 
 can army, and presuming perhaps that its principal 
 strength was posted on the road, formed the inten 
 tion of attacking violently the left. Obliquing for 
 this purpose, an attempt was made to turn it. At 
 this moment, Daquin s and the battalion of city 
 guards, being marched up and formed on the left 
 of the forty-fourth regiment, met and repulsed them. 
 113. The particular moment of the contest pre 
 vented many of those benefits which might have 
 >e,en derived from the artillery. The darkness of 
 12 
 
102 LIFE OF JACKSON. [cHAP. 
 
 the night was such that the blaze of the enemy s 
 musketry was the only light afforded by which to 
 determine their position, or be capable of taking 
 our own to advantage ; yet, notwithstanding, it 
 greatly annoyed them, whenever it could be brought 
 to bear. Directed by Lieutenant Spotts, a vigilant 
 and skilful officer, with men to aid him who looked 
 to nothing but a zealous discharge of their duty, the 
 most essential and important services were rendered. 
 
 114. The enemy had been thrice assailed and 
 beaten, and for nearly a mile compelled to yield their 
 ground. They had now retired, and, if found, were 
 to be sought for amid the darkness of the night. 
 The general determined to halt, and ascertain Cof 
 fee s position and success, previously to waging the 
 battle further ; for as yet no communication had 
 passed between them. He entertained no doubt, 
 from the brisk firing in that direction, that he had 
 been warmly engaged ; but this had now nearly 
 subsided: the Caroline, too, had almost ceased her 
 operations ; it being only occasionally that the noise 
 of her guns disclosed the little opportunity she pos 
 sessed of acting efficiently. 
 
 115. The express despatched to General Jackson 
 from the left wing having reached him, he deter 
 mined to prosecute the successes he had gained no 
 further. The darkness of the night, the confusion 
 into which his own division had been thrown, and a 
 similar disaster produced on the part of Coffee, all 
 pointed to the necessity of retiring from the field, 
 and abandoning the contest. The bravery and 
 firmness already displayed by his troops had in 
 duced with him a belief that by pressing forward he 
 might capture the whole British army : at any rate, 
 he considered it but a game of venture and hazard, 
 which, if unsuccessful, could not occasion his own 
 defeat. If incompetent to its execution, and su 
 perior numbers or superior discipline should com 
 pel him to recede from the effort, he well knew the 
 
 
V.] DEFENCE OF NEW-ORLEANS. 103 
 
 enemy would not have temerity enough to attempt 
 pursuit. The extreme darkness, their entire igno 
 rance of the situation of the country, and an appre 
 hension lest their forces might be greatly outnum 
 bered, afforded sufficient reasons on which to ground 
 a belief, that although beaten from his purpose, he 
 would yet have it in his power to retire in safety : 
 but on the arrival of the express from General Cof 
 fee, learning the strong position to which the enemy 
 had retired, and that a part of the left wing had been 
 detached, and were in all probability captured, he 
 determined to retire from the contest, nor attempt a 
 farther prosecution of his successes. General Cof 
 fee was accordingly directed to withdraw, and take 
 a position at Larond s plantation, where the line had 
 been first formed ; and thither the troops on the 
 right were also ordered to be marched. 
 
 116. The last charge made by the left wing had 
 separated from the main body Colonels Dyer and 
 Gibson, with two hundred men, and Captain Beal s 
 company of riflemen. What might be their fate, 
 whether they were captured or had effected their 
 retreat, wasj^ at this time, altogether uncertain ; be 
 that as it might, Coffee s command was thereby 
 considerably weakened. 
 
 117. Colonel Dyer, who commanded the extreme 
 left, on clearing the grove, after the enemy had 
 retired, was marching in a direction where he ex 
 pected to find General Coffee ; he very soon dis 
 covered a force in front, and halting his men, has 
 tened towards it ; arriving within a short distance, 
 he was hailed, ordered to stop, and report to whom he 
 belonged : Dyer, and Gibson, his lieutenant-colonel, 
 who had accompanied him, advanced and stated 
 they were of Coffee s brigade ; by this time they 
 had arrived within a short distance of the line, and 
 perceiving that the name of the brigade they had 
 stated was not understood, their apprehensions were 
 awakened lest it might be a detachment of the 
 
104 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 enemy ; in this opinion they were immediately con 
 firmed, and wheeling to return, were fired on and 
 pursued. Gibson had scarcely started when he fell ; 
 before he could recover, a soldier quicker than the 
 rest had reached him, and pinned him to the ground 
 with his bayonet; fortunately the stab had but 
 slightly wounded him, and he was only held by his 
 clothes ; thus pinioned, and perceiving others to be 
 briskly advancing, but a moment was left for delib 
 eration ; making a violent exertion, and springing 
 to his feet, he threw his assailant to the ground, and 
 made good his retreat. Colonel Dyer had retreated 
 about fifty yards, when his horse dropped dead ; en 
 tangled in the fall, and slightly wounded in the 
 thigh, there was little prospect of relief, for the 
 enemy were briskly advancing; his men being near 
 at hand, he ordered them to advance and fire, which 
 .checked their approach, and enabled him to escape. 
 Being now at the head of his command, perceiv 
 ing an enemy in a direction he had not expected, 
 and uncertain how or where he might find General 
 Coffee, he determined to seek him to the right, and 
 moving on with his little band, forced his way 
 through the enemy s lines, with the loss of sixty- 
 three of his men, who were killed and taken. Cap 
 tain Beal, with equal bravery, charged through the 
 enemy, carrying off some prisoners, and losing sev 
 eral of his own company. 
 
 118. This reinforcement of the British had arrived 
 from Bayou Bienvenu after night. The boats that 
 landed the first detachment had proceeded back to 
 the shipping, and having returned, were on their 
 way up the Bayou, when they heard the guns of the 
 Caroline ; moving hastily on to the assistance of 
 those who had debarked before them, they reached 
 the shore, and knowing nothing of the situation of 
 the two armies, during the engagement advanced in 
 ithe rear of General Coffee s brigade. Coming in 
 
V.] DEFENCE OF NEW-ORLEANS. 105 
 
 contact with Colonel Dyer and Captain Beal, they 
 filed off to the left, and reached the British lines. 
 
 119. This detached part of Coffee s brigade, un 
 able to unite with or find him, retired to the place 
 where they had first formed, and joined Colonel 
 Hinds dragoons, which had remained on the ground 
 where the troops had first dismounted, that they 
 might cover their retreat if it became necessary. 
 
 120. Jackson had gone into this battle confident 
 of success ; and his arrangements were such as 
 would have ensured it even to a much greater ex 
 tent, but for the intervention of circumstances that 
 were not and could not be foreseen. The Caroline 
 had given her signals and commenced the battle a 
 little too early, before Coffee had reached and taken 
 his position, and before every thing was fully in 
 readiness to attain the objects designed : but it was 
 chiefly owing to the confusion introduced at first 
 into the ranks which checked the rapidity of his 
 advance, gave the enemy time for preparation, and 
 prevented his division from uniting with the right 
 wing of General Coffee s brigade. 
 
 121. Colonel Hinds, with one hundred and eighty 
 dragoons, was not brought into action during the 
 night. Interspersed as the plain was with innumer 
 able ditches, diverging in different directions, it was 
 impossible that cavalry could act to any kind of 
 advantage ; they were now formed in advance, to 
 watch, until morning, the movements of the enemy. 
 
 122. From the experiments just made, Jackson be 
 lieved it would be in his power, on renewing the at 
 tack, to capture the British army : he concluded, 
 therefore, to order down to his assistance General 
 Carroll, with his division, and to assail them again 
 at the dawn of day. Directing Governor Claiborne 
 to remain at his post, with the Louisiana militia, 
 for the defence of an important pass to the city, the 
 Gentilly road, he despatched an express to Carroll, 
 stating to him, that if there had been no appearance 
 
106 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 of a force during the night, in the direction of Chef 
 Menteur, to hasten and join him with the troops 
 under his command ; this order was executed by one 
 o clock in the morning. Previously, however, to his 
 arrival, a different determination was made. From 
 prisoners w T ho had been brought in, and through de 
 serters, it was ascertained that the strength of the 
 enemy during the battle was four thousand, and, 
 with the reinforcements which had reached them 
 after its commencement, and during the action, their 
 force could not be less than six ; at any rate, it would 
 greatly exceed his own, even after the Tennessee 
 division should be added. Although very decided 
 advantages had been obtained, yet they had been 
 procured under circumstances that might be wholly 
 lost in a contest waged in open day, between forces 
 so disproportionate, and by undisciplined troops 
 against veteran soldiers. Jackson well knew it was 
 incumbent upon him to act a part entirely defensive : 
 should the attempt to gain and destroy the city 
 succeed, numerous difficulties would present them 
 selves, which might be avoided so long as he could 
 hold the enemy in check, and halt him in his designs. 
 Prompted by these considerations that it was im 
 portant to pursue a course calculated to assure safety, 
 and believing it attainable in no way so effectually 
 as in occupying some point, and by the strength he 
 might give it compensate for the inferiority of his 
 numbers and their want of discipline, he determined 
 to forbear all further offensive efforts until he could 
 more certainly discover the views of the enemy, and 
 until the Kentucky troops, which had not yet arrived, 
 should reach him. Pursuing this idea, at four o clock 
 in the morning, having ordered Colonel Hinds to oc 
 cupy the ground he was then abandoning, and to 
 observe the enemy closely, he fell back, and formed 
 his line behind a deep ditch, th t stretched to the 
 swamp at right angles from the river. There were 
 two circumstances strongly recommending the im.- 
 
V.] DEFENCE OF NEW-ORLEANS. 107 
 
 portance of this place : the swamp, which from 
 the highlands at Baton Rouge skirts the river at 
 irregular distances, and in many places is almost 
 impervious, had here approached within four hun 
 dred yards of the Mississippi, and hence, from the 
 narrowness of the pass, was more easily to be de 
 fended ; added to which, there was a deep canal, 
 whence the dirt being thrown on the upper side, 
 already formed a tolerable work of defence. Be 
 hind this his troops were formed, and proper mea 
 sures adopted for increasing its strength, with a de 
 termination never to abandon it ; but there to resist 
 to the last, and valiantly to defend those rights 
 which were sought to be outraged and destroyed. 
 
 123. Promptitude and decision, and activity in 
 execution, constituted the leading traits of Jackson s 
 character. No sooner had he resolved on the course 
 which he thought necessary to be pursued, than with 
 every possible despatch he hastened to its comple 
 tion. Before him was an army proud of its name, 
 and distinguished for its deeds of valour. Opposed 
 to which was his own unbending spirit, and an in 
 ferior, undisciplined, and unarmed force. He con 
 ceived, therefore, that his was a defensive policy, 
 that by prudence and caution he would be able to 
 preserve what offensive operation might have a 
 tendency to endanger. Hence, with activity and 
 industry, based on a hope of ultimate success, he 
 commenced his plan of defence, determining to fortify 
 himself as effectually as the peril and pressure of the 
 moment would permit. \Vhen to expect attack he 
 could not tell ; preparation and readiness to meet it was 
 for him to determine on, all else was for the enemy. 
 Promptly, therefore, he proceeded with his system 
 of defence ; and with such thoughtfulness and anxiety, 
 that until the night of the 27th, when his line was 
 completed, he never slept, or for a moment closed his 
 eyes. Resting his hope of safety here, he was 
 everywhere, through the night, present, encouraging 
 
108 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP, 
 
 his troops, and hastening a completion of the work. 
 The concern and excitement produced by the mighty 
 object before him were such as overcame the de 
 mand of nature, and for five days and four nights he 
 was without sleep and constantly employed. His 
 line of defence being completed on the night of the 
 27th, he, for the first time since the arrival of the 
 enemy, retired to rest and repose. 
 
 124. The soldier who has stood the shock of bat 
 tle, and knows what slight circumstances oftentimes 
 produce decided advantages, will be able properly 
 to appreciate the events of this night. Although 
 the dreadful carnage of the 8th of January, here 
 after to be told, was in fact the finishing blow, that 
 struck down the towering hopes of the invaders, 
 and put an end to the contest, yet in the battle of 
 the 23d is thereto be found abundant cause why 
 success resulted to our arms, and safety was given 
 to the country. The British had reached the Mis 
 sissippi without the fire of a gun, and encamped 
 upon its banks as composedly as if they had been 
 seated on their own soil, and at a distance from all 
 danger. These were circumstances which awakened 
 a belief that they expected little opposition, were 
 certain of success, and that the troops with whom 
 they were to contend would scarcely venture to re 
 sist them : resting thus confidently in the expect 
 ation of success, they would the next day have 
 moved forward and succeeded in the accomplish 
 ment of their designs. Jackson, convinced that an 
 early impression was essential to ultimate success, 
 had resolved to assail them at the moment of their 
 landing, and "attack them in their first position :" 
 we have therefore seen him, with a force inferior 
 by one-half to that of the enemy, at an unexpected 
 moment break into their camp, and with his undis 
 ciplined yeomanry drive before him the pride of 
 England and the conquerors of Europe. It was 
 an event that could not fail to destroy all previous 
 
V.] DEFENCE OF NEW-ORLEANS. 109 
 
 theories, and establish a conclusion which our 
 enemy had not before formed, that they were con 
 tending against valour inferior to none they had 
 seen before which their own bravery had not 
 stood, nor their skill availed them ; it had the effect 
 of satisfying them, that the quantity and kind of 
 troops it was in our power here to wield must be 
 different from any thing that had been represented 
 to them ; for much as they had heard of the 
 courage of the man with whom they were contend 
 ing, they could not suppose that a general, having a 
 country to defend, and a reputation to preserve, 
 would venture to attack on their own chosen ground 
 a greatly superior army, and one which, by the nu 
 merous victories it had achieved., had already ac 
 quired a fame in arms ; they were convinced that 
 his force must greatly surpass what they had ex 
 pected, and be composed of materials different from 
 what they had imagined. 
 
 125. The American troops which were actually 
 engaged did not amount to two thousand men ; 
 they consisted of part of Coffee s brigade and Cap 
 tain Beal s company, - 648 
 The 7th and 44th regiments, - - - 763 
 Company of marines and artillery, 82 
 Plauche s and Daquin s battalions, - - 488 
 And the Mississippi dragoons under Colonel 1 ftfi 
 
 Hinds, not in the action, 
 
 2167; 
 
 which for more than an hour maintained a severe 
 conflict with a force of four or five thousand, and 
 retired in safety from the ground, with the loss of 
 but twenty-four killed, and one hundred and fifteen 
 wounded, and seventy-four made prisoners ; while 
 the killed, wounded, and prisoners of the enemy 
 were not less than four hundred. 
 
 126. Our officers and soldiers executed every 
 order with promptitude, and nobly sustained their 
 
 K 
 
110 LIFE OF JACKSOJf. 
 
 country s character. Lieutenant-colonel Lauder- 
 dale, of Coffee s brigade, an officer of great promise, 
 and on whom every reliance was placed, fell at his 
 post, and at his duty ; he had entered the service, 
 and descended the river with the volunteers under 
 General Jackson, in the winter of 1812 passed 
 through all the hardships and difficulties of the 
 Creek war, and had ever manifested a readiness to 
 act when his country needed his services. Young, 
 brave, and skilful, he had already afforded evidences 
 of a capacity which might, in future, have become 
 useful ; his exemplary conduct, both in civil and 
 military life, had acquired for him a respect that 
 rendered his fall a subject of general regret. Lieu 
 tenant M Lelland, a valuable young officer of the 
 7th, was also among the number of the slain. 
 
 127. Coffee s brigade, during the action, imitating 
 the example of their commander, bravely contended, 
 and ably supported the character they had pre 
 viously established. The unequal contest in which 
 they were engaged never occurred to them ; nor, 
 for a moment, checked the rapidity of their advance. 
 Had the British known that they were merely rifle 
 men, and without bayonets, a firm stand would have 
 arrested their progress, and destruction or capture 
 would have been the inevitable consequence ; but 
 this circumstance being unknown, every charge 
 they made was crowned with success, producing 
 discomfiture, and routing and driving superior num 
 bers before them. Officers, from the highest to in 
 ferior grades, discharged what had been expected of 
 them. Ensign Leach, of the 7th regiment, being 
 wounded through the body, still remained at his 
 post and in the performance of his duty. Colonel 
 Reuben Kemper, enterprising and self-collected, 
 amid the confusion introduced on the left wing, 
 found himself at the head of a handful of men, de 
 tached from the main body, and in the midst of a 
 party of the enemy : never did any man better ex- 
 
V r .] DEFENCE OF NEW-ORLEANS. Ill 
 
 emplify the truth of the position, that discretion is 
 sometimes the better part of valour: to attempt 
 resistance was idle, and could only eventuate in 
 destruction: with a mind unclouded by the peril 
 that surrounded him, he sought and procured his 
 safety through stratagem. Calling to a group of 
 soldiers who were near, in a positive tone, he de 
 manded of them where their regiment was : lost 
 themselves, they were unable to answer ; but sup 
 posing him one of their own officers, they assented 
 to his orders, and followed him to his own line, 
 where they were made prisoners. 
 
 128. The 7th regiment, commanded by Major 
 Piere, and the 44th, under Major Baker, aided by 
 Major Butler, gallantly maintained the conflict 
 forced the enemy from every secure position he 
 attempted to occupy, and drove him a mile from 
 the first point of attack. Confiding in themselves, 
 and in their general, who was constantly with them, 
 exposed to danger and in the midst of the fight, 
 inspiring by his ardour and encouraging by his ex 
 ample, they advanced to the conflict, nor evinced a 
 disposition to leave it until the prudence of their 
 commander directed them to retire. 
 
 129. From the violence of the assault already 
 made, the fears of the British had been greatly ex 
 cited ; to keep their apprehensions alive was con 
 sidered important, with a view partially to destroy 
 the overweening confidence with which they had 
 arrived on our shores, and to compel them to act 
 for a time upon the defensive. To effect this, Gen 
 eral Coffee, with his brigade, was ordered down on 
 the morning of the 24th, to unite with Colonel 
 Hinds, and make a show in the rear of Lacoste s 
 plantation. The enemy, not yet recovered of the 
 panic produced by the assault of the preceding 
 evening, already believed it was in contemplation 
 to urge another attack, and immediately formed 
 themselves to repel it ; but Coffee, having succeeded 
 
112 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 in recovering some of his horses, which were 
 wandering along the margin of the swamp, and in 
 regaining part of the clothing which his troops had 
 lost the night before, returned to the line, leaving 
 them to conjecture the objects of his movement. 
 
 130. The scanty supply of clothes and blankets 
 that remained to the soldiers, from their long and 
 exposed marches, had been left where they dis 
 mounted to meet the enemy. Their numbers were 
 too limited, and the strength of their opponents too 
 well ascertained, for any part of their force to re 
 main and take care of what was left behind : it was 
 so essential to hasten on, reach their destination, 
 and be ready to act when the signal from the Caro 
 line should announce their co-operation necessary, 
 that no time was afforded them to secure their 
 horses, which were turned loose, and their re 
 covery trusted entirely to chance. Although many 
 were regained, many were lost; while most of the 
 men remained with but a single suit, to encounter, 
 in the open field, and in swamps covered with 
 water, the hardships of a camp, and the severity of 
 winter. It is a circumstance which entitles them 
 to much credit, that under privations so severely 
 oppressive, complaints or murmurs were never 
 heard. This state of things fortunately was not of 
 long continuance. The story of their sufferings 
 and misfortunes was no sooner known, than the 
 legislature appropriated a sum of money for their 
 relief, which was greatly increased by subscriptions 
 in the city and neighbourhood. Materials being 
 purchased, the ladies, with that Christian charity 
 and warmth of heart characteristic of their sex, at 
 once exerted themselves in removing their dis 
 tresses: all their industry was called into action, 
 and in a little time the suffering soldier was relieved. 
 Such generous conduct, in extending assistance at 
 a moment when it was so much needed, while it 
 conferred on those females the highest honour, 
 
V.] DEFENCE OF NEW-ORLEANS. 113 
 
 could not fail to nerve the arm of the brave with 
 new zeal for the defence of their benefactresses. 
 This distinguished mark of their patriotism and 
 benevolence is still remembered ; and often as these 
 valiant men are heard to recount the dangers they 
 have passed, and with peculiar pride to dwell on 
 the mingled honours and hardships of the campaign, 
 they breathe a sentiment of gratitude to those 
 who conferred upon them such distinguished marks 
 of their kindness, and who, by timely interference, 
 alleviated their misfortunes and their sufferings. 
 
 131. To present a check, and keep up a show of 
 resistance, detachments of light troops were occa 
 sionally kept in front of the line, assailing and har 
 assing the enemy s advanced posts whenever an 
 opportunity was offered of acting to advantage. 
 Every moment that could be gained, and every de 
 lay that could be extended to the enemy s attempts 
 to reach the city, was of the utmost importance. 
 The works were rapidly progressing, and hourly 
 increasing in strength. The militia of the state 
 were every day arriving, and every day the prospect 
 of successful opposition was brightening. 
 
 132. The enemystill remained at his first encamp 
 ment. To be in readiness to repel an assault when 
 attempted, the most active exertions were made on 
 the 24th and 25th. The canal covering the front of 
 our line was deepened and widened, and a strong 
 mud wall formed of the earth that had been origin 
 ally thrown out. To prevent any approach until 
 his system of defence should be in a state of greater 
 forwardness, Jackson ordered the levee to be cut, 
 about a hundred yards below the point he had occu 
 pied. The river being very high, a broad stream of 
 water passed rapidly through the plain, of the depth 
 of thirty or forty inches, which prevented any ap 
 proach of troops on foot. Embrasures were formed, 
 and two pieces of artillery, under the command of 
 Lieutenant Spotts, early on the morning of the 24th, 
 
 K 2 
 
114 LIFE OF JACKSON. [cHAP. 
 
 were placed in a position to rake the road leading 
 up the levee. 
 
 133. He was under the constant apprehension 
 lest, in spite of his exertions below, the city might, 
 through some other route, be reached and destroyed ; 
 and those fears were increased this day by a report 
 that a strong force had arrived debarked at the 
 head of Lake Borgne, and compelled an abandon 
 ment of the defence at Chef Menteur. This, how 
 ever, proved to be unfounded : the enemy had not 
 appeared in that direction, nor had the officer to 
 whom was intrusted the command of this fort, so 
 much relied on, forgotten his duty or forsaken his 
 post. Acting upon the statement that Major La- 
 coste had retired from the fort, and fallen back on 
 bayou St. John, and incensed that orders which 
 from their importance should have been faithfully 
 executed, had been thus lightly regarded, he has 
 tened to inform him what he had understood, and 
 to forbid his leaving his position. " The battery I 
 have placed under your command must be defended 
 at all hazards. In you, and the valour of your 
 troops, I repose every confidence ; let me not be 
 deceived. With us every thing goes on well ; the 
 enemy has not yet advanced. Our troops have 
 covered themselves with glory : it is a noble exam 
 ple, and worthy to be followed by all. Maintain 
 your post, nor ever think of retreating." To give 
 additional strength to a place deemed so important, 
 inspire confidence, and ensure safety, Colonel Dyer, 
 with two hundred men, was ordered there, to assist 
 in its defence, and act as videttes, in advance of the 
 occupied points. 
 
 134. General Morgan, who at the English turn 
 commanded the fort on the east bank of the river, 
 was instructed to proceed as near the enemy s camp 
 as prudence and safety would permit, and by de 
 stroying the levee, to let in the waters of the Mis. 
 sissippi between them. The execution of this order, 
 
V.] DEFENCE OF NEW-ORLEANS. 115 
 
 and a similar one previously made below the line of 
 defence, had entirely insulated the enemy, and pre 
 vented his march against either place. On the 26th, 
 however, the commanding general, fearing for the 
 situation of Morgan, who, from the British occupy 
 ing the intermediate ground, was entirely detached 
 from his camp, directed him to abandon his encamp 
 ment, carry off such of the cannon as might be 
 wanted, and throw the remainder into the river, 
 where they could be again recovered when the 
 waters receded ; to retire to the other side of the 
 river, and assume a position on the right bank, nearly 
 opposite to his line, and have it fortified. This move 
 ment was imposed by the relative disposition of the 
 two armies. Necessity, not choice, made it essen 
 tial that St. Leon should be abandoned. 
 
 135. From every intelligence obtained through 
 deserters and prisoners, it was evident that the Brit 
 ish fleet would make an effort to ascend the river, 
 and co-operate with the troops already landed. Lest 
 this, or a diversion in a different quarter, might be 
 attempted, exertions were made to be able to resist 
 at all points, and to interpose such defences on the 
 Mississippi as might assure protection. The forts 
 on the river, well supported with brave men and 
 heavy pieces of artillery, might perhaps have the 
 effect to deter their shipping from venturing in that 
 direction, and dispose them to seek some safer 
 route, if any could be discovered. Pass Barrataria 
 was best calculated for this purpose, and here, in 
 all probability, it was expected the effort might be 
 made. The difficulty of ascending the Mississippi, 
 from the rapidity of the current, its winding course, 
 and the ample protection already given at forts St. 
 Philip and Bourbon, were circumstances to which 
 it was not to be inferred the British were strangers : 
 nor was it to be expected that, with a knowledge 
 of them, they would venture here the success of an 
 enterprise on which so much depended. It was a 
 more rational conjecture that they would seek a 
 
116 LIFE OP JACKSON. [cHAP. 
 
 passage through Barrataria proceed up on the right 
 bank of the river, and gain a position whence, co 
 operating with the forces on the east side, they 
 might drive our troops from the line they had 
 formed, and, at less hazard, succeed in the accom 
 plishment of their designs. Major Reynolds was ac 
 cordingly ordered thither, with instructions to place 
 the bayous emptying through this pass in the best 
 possible state of defence to occupy and strengthen 
 the island to mount sufficient ordnance, and draw 
 a chain within cannon-shot across, the more effect 
 ually to guard the route, and protect it from ap 
 proach. Lafitte, who had been heretofore promised 
 pardon for the outrages committed against the laws 
 of the United States, and who had already shown a 
 lively zeal on behalf of his adopted country, was 
 also despatched with Reynolds. He was selected, 
 because, from the proofs already given, no doubt 
 was entertained of his fidelity, and because his 
 knowledge of the topography and precise situation 
 of this section of the state was remarkably correct : 
 it was the point where he had constantly rendez 
 voused, during the time of cruising against the mer 
 chant vessels of Spain, under a commission obtained 
 at Carthagena, and where he had become perfectly 
 acquainted with every inlet and entrance to the gulf 
 through which a passage could be effected. 
 
 136. With these arrangements treason apart 
 all anxiously alive to the interest of the country, 
 and disposed to protect it, there was little room to 
 apprehend or fear disaster. To use the general s 
 own expression on another occasion, " the surest 
 defence, and one which seldom failed of success, 
 was a rampart of high-minded and brave men." 
 That there were some of this description with him, 
 on whom he could safely rely in moments of ex 
 treme peril, he well knew; but that there were 
 *jny strangers to him, and to danger, and who had 
 never been called to act in those situations where 
 death, stalking in hideous round, appals and un- 
 
V.] DEFENCE OF NEW-ORLEANS. 117 
 
 nerves even the most resolute, was equally certain ; 
 whether they would contend with manly firmness, 
 support the cause in which they had embarked, and 
 realize his anxious wishes on the subject, could be 
 only known in the moment of conflict and trial; 
 when, if disappointed in his expectations, the means 
 of retrieving the evil would be fled, and every thing 
 lost in the result. 
 
 137. As yet the enemy were uninformed of the 
 position of Jackson. What was his situation what 
 was intended whether offensive or defensive ope 
 rations would be pursued, were circumstances on 
 which they possessed no correct knowledge, nor 
 could it be obtained ; still their exertions were un 
 remitting to have all things prepared, and in readi 
 ness to urge their designs whenever the moment 
 for action should arrive. They had been constantly 
 engaged since their landing, in procuring from their 
 shipping every thing necessary to ulterior opera 
 tion. A complete command on the lakes, and pos 
 session of a point on the margin, presented an un 
 interrupted ingress and egress, and afforded the 
 opportunity of conveying whatever was wanted in 
 perfect safety to their camp. The height of the Mis 
 sissippi, and the discharge of water through the 
 openings made in the levee, had given an increased 
 depth to the canal, from which they had first de 
 barked enabled them to advance their boats much 
 farther in the direction of their encampment, and 
 to bring up, with greater convenience, their artil 
 lery, bombs, and munitions. Thus engaged du 
 ring the first three days after their arrival, early on 
 the morning of the 27th a battery was discovered 
 on the bank of the river, which had been erected 
 during the preceding night, and on which were 
 mounted several pieces of heavy ordnance : from 
 this position a fire was opened on the Caroline 
 schooner, lying under the opposite shore. 
 
 138. After the battle of the 23d, in which this 
 
118 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 vessel had so effectually aided, she had passed to 
 the opposite side of the river, where she had since 
 lain. Her services were too highly appreciated not 
 to be again desired, should the enemy endeavour to 
 advance. Her present situation was considered 
 truly an unsafe one, but it had been essayed in vain 
 to advance her higher up the stream. No favour 
 able breeze had yet arisen to aid her in stemming 
 the current ; and towing, and other remedies, had 
 been already resorted to, but without success. Her 
 safety might have been ensured by floating her 
 down the river, and placing her under cover of 
 the guns of the fort ; but it was preferred, as a 
 matter of policy, to risk her where she was, still 
 hourly calculating that a favourable wind might re 
 lieve her, rather than, by dropping her with the cur 
 rent, lose those benefits which, against an advance 
 of the enemy, it might be in her power so com 
 pletely to extend. Commodore Patterson had left 
 her on the 26th, by the orders of the commanding 
 general, when Captain Henly made a further but in 
 effectual effort to force her up the current, near to 
 the line, for the double purpose of its defence and 
 for her own safety. 
 
 139. These attempts to remove her being dis 
 covered at daylight on the morning of the 27th, a 
 battery, mounting five guns, opened upon her, dis 
 charging bombs and red-hot shot ; it was spiritedly 
 answered, but without affecting the battery ; there 
 being but a long twelve-pounder that could reach. 
 The second fire had lodged a hot shot in the hold, 
 directly under her cables, whence it could not be 
 removed, and where it immediately communicated 
 fire to the schooner. The shot from the battery 
 were constantly taking effect, firing her in different 
 places, and otherwise producing material injury; 
 while the blaze already kindled under her cables 
 was rapidly extending its ravages. A well-grounded 
 apprehension of her commander, that she could be 
 
V.] DEFENCE OF NEW-ORLEANS. 119 
 
 no longer defended, the flames bursting forth in 
 different parts, and fast increasing induced a fear 
 lest the magazine should be soon reached, and 
 every thing destroyed. One of his crew being 
 killed, and six wounded, and not a glimmering of 
 hope entertained that she could be preserved, orders 
 were given to abandon her. The crew reached the 
 shore in safety, and in a short time afterward she 
 blew up. 
 
 140. Although thus unexpectedly deprived of so 
 material a dependence for successful defence, an 
 opportunity was soon presented of using her brave 
 crew to advantage. Gathering confidence from 
 what had been just effected, the enemy left their 
 encampment, and moved in the direction of our 
 line. Their numbers had been increased, and Ma 
 jor-general Sir Edward Packenham now com 
 manded in person. Early on the 28th, his columns 
 commenced their advance to storm our works. At 
 the distance of half a mile, their heavy artillery 
 opened, and quantities of bombs, balls, and con- 
 greve rockets were discharged. It was a scene of 
 terror and alarm, which they had probably calcu 
 lated would excite a panic in the minds of the raw 
 troops of our army, and compel them to surrender 
 at discretion, or abandon their strong-hold. But 
 our soldiers had afforded abundant proof, that, 
 whether disciplined or not, they well knew how to 
 defend the honour and interests of their country ; 
 and had sufficient valour not to be alarmed at the 
 reality still less the semblance of danger. Far 
 from exciting their apprehensions, and driving them 
 from their ground, their firmness still remained un 
 changed ; still was manifested a determination not 
 to tarnish a reputation they had hardly earned ; and 
 which had become too dear, from the difficulties 
 and dangers they had passed to acquire it, for it 
 now tamely to be surrendered. Their congreve 
 rockets, though a kind of instrument of destruction 
 
120 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 to which our troops, unskilled in the science of 
 desolating warfare, had been hitherto strangers, ex 
 cited no other feeling than that which novelty in 
 spires. At the moment, therefore, that the British, 
 indifferent columns, were moving up, in all the pomp 
 and parade of battle, preceded by these insignia 01 
 terror more than danger, and were expecting to be 
 hold their " Yankee foes" tremblingly retire and 
 flee before them, our batteries opened, and halted 
 their advance. 
 
 141. In addition to the two pieces of cannon 
 mounted on our works on the 24th, three others, of 
 heavy caliber, obtained from the navy department, 
 had been formed along the line ; these opening on 
 the enemy, checked their progress, and disclosed 
 to them the hazard of the project they were on. 
 Lieutenants Crawley and Norris volunteered, and 
 with the crew of the Caroline rendered important 
 services, and maintained at the guns they com 
 manded that firmness and decision for which on 
 previous occasions they had been so highly distin 
 guished. They had been selected by the general 
 because of their superior knowledge in gunnery ; 
 and on this occasion gave a further evidence of 
 their skill and judgment, and of a disposition to act 
 in any situation where they could be serviceable. 
 The line, which, from the labours bestowed on it, 
 was daily strengthening, was not yet in a situation 
 effectually to resist ; this deficiency, however, was 
 well remedied by the brave men who were formed 
 in its rear. 
 
 142. From the river the greatest injury was 
 effected. Lieutenant Thompson, who commanded 
 the Louisiana sloop, which lay nearly opposite the 
 line of defence, no sooner discovered the columns 
 approaching than, warping her around, he brought 
 her starboard guns to bear, and produced such an 
 effect as forced them to retreat: but, from their 
 heavy artillery, the enemy maintained the conflict 
 
V.] DEFENCE OF NEW-ORLEANS. 121 
 
 with great spirit, constantly discharging their bombs 
 and rockets for seven hours, when, unable to make 
 a breach, or silence the fire from the sloop, they 
 abandoned a contest where few advantages seemed 
 to be presented. The crew of this vessel was com 
 posed of new recruits, and of discordant materials, 
 of soldiers, citizens, and seamen ; yet. by the ac 
 tivity of their commander, they were so well per 
 fected in their duty, that they already managed 
 their guns with the greatest precision and certainty 
 of effect ; and, by three o clock in the evening, with 
 the aid of the land batteries, had completely si 
 lenced and driven back the enemy. Emboldened 
 by the effect produced the day before on the Caro 
 line, the furnaces of the enemy were put in opera 
 tion, and numbers of hot shot thrown from a heavy 
 piece which was placed behind and protected by 
 the levee. An attempt was now made to carry it 
 off, when that protection heretofore had being taken 
 away, those in the direction of it were fairly ex 
 posed to our fire, and suffered greatly. In their 
 endeavours to remove it, " I saw," says Commo 
 dore Patterson, " distinctly, with the aid of a glass, 
 several balls strike in the midst of the men who 
 were employed in dragging it away." In this en 
 gagement, commenced and waged for seven hours, 
 we received little or no injury. The Louisiana 
 sloop, against which the most violent exertions 
 were made, had but a single man wounded, by the 
 fragments of a shell which burst over her deck. 
 Our entire loss did not exceed nine killed, and 
 eight or ten wounded. The enemy, being more ex 
 posed, acting in the open field, and in range of our 
 guns, suffered, from information afterward pro 
 cured, considerable injury ; at least one hundred 
 and twenty were killed and wounded. 
 
 143. Among the killed on our side was Colonel 
 James Henderson, of the Tennessee militia. An 
 advance party of the British had, during the action, 
 L 
 
122 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 taken post behind a fence that ran obliquely to, and 
 not very remote from our line. Henderson, with a 
 detachment of two hundred men, who was sent out 
 by General Carroll to drive them from a position 
 whence they were effecting some injury, and greatly 
 annoying our troops. Had he advanced in the man 
 ner directed, he would have been less exposed, and 
 enabled more effectually to have secured the object 
 intended ; but, misunderstanding the order, he pro 
 ceeded in a different route, and fell a victim to his 
 error. Instead of marching in the direction of the 
 wood, and turning the enemy, which rr^ght have cut 
 off their retreat, he proceeded in front, towards the 
 river, leaving them in rear of the fence, and himself 
 and his detachment open and exposed. His mis 
 take being perceived from the line, he was called by 
 the adjutant-general, and directed to return ; but the 
 noise of the waters, through which they were wad 
 ing, prevented any communication. Having reached 
 a knoll of dry ground, he formed, and attempted the 
 execution of his order ; but soon fell by a wound in 
 the head. Deprived of their commander, and per 
 ceiving their situation hazardous and untenable, the 
 detachment retreated to the line, with the loss of 
 their colonel and five men. 
 
 144. While this advance was made, a column of the 
 enemy was threatening an attack on our extreme 
 left ; to frustrate the attempt, Coffee was ordered 
 with his riflemen to hasten through the woods, and 
 check their approach. The enemy, although greatly 
 superior to him in numbers, no sooner discovered 
 his movement than they retired, and abandoned the 
 attack they had previously meditated. 
 
 145. A supposed disaffection in New-Orleans, and 
 an enemy in front, were circumstances well calcu 
 lated to excite unpleasant forebodings. General Jack 
 son believed it necessary and essential to his secu 
 rity, while contending with avowed foes, not to be 
 wholly inattentive to dangers lurking at home ; but, 
 
V.] DEFENCE OF NEW-ORLEANS. 123 
 
 by guarding vigilantly, to be able to suppress any 
 treasonable purpose the moment it should be devel 
 oped, and, before it should have time to mature. 
 Previously, therefore, to departing from the city, on 
 the evening of the 23rd, he had ordered Major But 
 ler, his aid, to remain with the guards, and be vigi 
 lant that nothing transpired in his absence calculated 
 to operate injuriously. His fears that there were 
 many of the inhabitants who felt no attachment to 
 the government, and would not scruple to surrender 
 whenever, prompted by their interest, it should 
 become necessary, has been already noticed. In 
 this belief, subsequent circumstances evinced there 
 was no mistake, and showed that to his assiduity 
 and energy is to be ascribed that the country was 
 protected and saved. It is a fact, which was dis 
 closed on making an exchange of prisoners, that, 
 despite of all the efforts made to prevent it, the 
 enemy were daily and constantly apprized of every 
 thing that transpired in our camp. Every arrange 
 ment, and every change of position, was immedi 
 ately communicated. On the day subsequent to a 
 contest on the lakes, on the 14th December, Mr. 
 Shields, purser in the navy, had been despatched 
 with a flag, to Cat island, accompanied by Dr. Mur- 
 rell, for the purpose of alleviating the situation of 
 our wounded, and to effect a negotiation, by which 
 they should be liberated on parole. We are not 
 aware that such an application militated against the 
 usages and customs of war : if not, the flag of truce 
 should have been respected ; nor ought its bearer to 
 have been detained as a prisoner. Admiral Coch- 
 rane s pretended fear that it was a wile, designed to 
 ascertain his strength and situation, is far from pre 
 senting any sufficient excuse for so wanton an out 
 rage on propriety and the rules of war. If this 
 were apprehended, could not the messengers have 
 been met at a distance from the fleet, and ordered 
 back without a near approach ? Had this been done, 
 
124 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 no information could have been gained, and the 
 object designed to be secured by the detention 
 would have been answered, without infringing that 
 amicable intercourse between contending armies, 
 which, when violated or disregarded, opens a door 
 to brutal and savage warfare. Finding they did 
 not return, the cause of it was at once correctly 
 divined. 
 
 146. The British admiral was very solicitous, and 
 resorted to various means, to obtain from these gen 
 tlemen information of the strength and condition 
 and disposition of our army ; but so cautious a re 
 serve was maintained, that from them nothing could 
 be elicited. Shields was perceived to be quite deaf, 
 and calculating on some advantage to be derived 
 from this circumstance, he and the doctor were 
 placed at night in the green-room, where any con 
 versation which occurred between them could 
 readily be heard. Suspecting, perhaps, something 
 of the kind, after having retired, and every thing 
 was seemingly still, they began to speak of their 
 situation the circumstance of their being detained, 
 and of the prudent caution with which they had 
 guarded themselves against communicating any in 
 formation to the British admiral. But, continued 
 Shields, how greatly these gentlemen will be disap 
 pointed in their expectations, for Jackson, with the 
 twenty thousand troops he now has, and the rein 
 forcements from Kentucky, which must speedily 
 reach him, will be able to destroy any force that can 
 be landed from these ships. Every word was heard 
 and treasured, and not supposing there was any 
 design, or that he presumed himself overheard, they 
 were beguiled by it, and at once concluded our 
 force to be as great as it was represented ; and 
 hence, no doubt, arose the reason of that prudent care 
 and caution with which the enemy afterward pro 
 ceeded ; for " nothing," remarked a British officer, 
 at the close of the invasion, " was kept a secret 
 
V.] DEFENCE OF NEW-ORLEANS. 125 
 
 from us, except your numbers ; this, although dili 
 gently sought after, could never be procured." 
 
 147. Between the 23d, and the attack on the 28th, 
 to carry our line, Major Butler, who still remained 
 at his post in the city, was applied to by Fulwar 
 Skipwith, at that time speaker of the senate, to as 
 certain the commanding general s views provided 
 he should be driven from his line of encampment, 
 and compelled to retreat through the city ; would 
 he in that event destroy it 1 It was, indeed, a cu 
 rious inquiry from one who, having spent his life in 
 serving his country in different capacities, might 
 better have understood the duty of a subordinate 
 officer ; and that even if, from his situation, Major 
 Butler had so far acquired the confidence of his 
 general as to have become acquainted with his views 
 and designs, he was not at liberty to divulge them, 
 without destroying confidence and acting criminally. 
 On asking the cause of the inquiry, Mr. Skipwith 
 replied, it was rumoured, and so understood, that if 
 driven from his position, and made to retreat upon 
 the city, General Jackson had it in contemplation to 
 lay it in ruins ; the legislature, he said, desired infor 
 mation on this subject, that if such were his inten 
 tions, they might, by offering terms of capitulation 
 to the enemy, avert so serious a calamity. That a 
 sentiment having for its object a surrender of the 
 city should be entertained by this body was scarcely 
 credible ; yet a few days brought the certainty of it 
 more fully to view, and showed that they were 
 already devising plans to ensure the safety of them 
 selves and property, even at any sacrifice. While the 
 general was hastening along the line, from ordering 
 Coffee, as we have just observed, against a column 
 of the British on the extreme left, he was hailed by 
 Mr. Duncan, one of his volunteer aids, and informed 
 that already it was agitated, secretly, by the mem 
 bers of the legislature, to offer terms of capitulation 
 to the enemy, and proffer a surrender, and that 
 L2 
 
126 LIFE OF JACKSON. [oHAP. 
 
 Governor Claiborne awaited his orders on the sub 
 ject. Poised as was the result, the safety or 
 fall of the city resting in uncertainty, although it 
 was plainly to be perceived, that, with a strong army 
 before them, no such resolution could be carried into 
 effect, yet it might be productive of evil, and in the 
 end bring about the most fatal consequences. Even 
 the disclosure of such a wish on the part of the 
 legislature might create parties, excite opposition 
 in the army, and inspire the enemy with renewed 
 confidence. The Tennessee forces, and Mississippi 
 volunteers, it was not feared would be effected by 
 the measure ; but it might detach the Louisiana 
 militia, and even extend itself to the ranks of the 
 regular troops. Jackson was greatly incensed, that 
 those whose safety he had so much at heart, should 
 be seeking, under the authority of office, to mar his 
 best exertions. He was, however, too warmly 
 pressed at the moment, for the battle was raging, to 
 give it the attention its importance merited ; but, 
 availing himself of the first respite from the violence 
 of the attack waged against him, he apprized Gover 
 nor Claiborne of what he had heard ; ordered him 
 closely to watch the conduct of the legislature, and 
 the moment a project of offering a capitulation to 
 the enemy should be fully disclosed, to place a guard 
 at the door and confine them to their chamber. The 
 governor, in his zeal to execute the command, and 
 from a fear of the consequences involved on such 
 conduct, construed as imperative an order which 
 was merely contingent ; and placing an armed force 
 at the door of the capitol, prevented the mem 
 bers from convening, and their schemes from ma 
 turing. 
 
 148. The purport of this order was essentially mis 
 conceived by the governor ; or, perhaps, with a view 
 to avoid subsequent inconveniences and complaints, 
 was designedly mistaken. Jackson s object was 
 not to restrain the legislature in the discharge 
 
V.] DEFENCE OF NEW-ORLEANS. 127 
 
 of their official duties ; for although he thought 
 that such a moment, when the sound of the cannon 
 was constantly pealing in their ears, was inau 
 spicious to wholesome legislation, and that it would 
 have better comported with the state of the times 
 for them to abandon their civil duties and ap 
 pear in the field, yet was it a matter indelicate to 
 be proposed : and it was hence preferred, that they 
 should adopt whatever course might be suggested 
 by their own notions of propriety. This sentiment 
 would have been still adhered to ; but when through 
 the communication of Mr. Duncan they were repre 
 sented as entertaining opinions and schemes adverse 
 to the general interest and safety of the country, 
 the necessity of a new and different course of con 
 duct was at once obvious. But he did not order 
 Governor Claiborne to interfere with or prevent 
 them from proceeding with their duties ; on the 
 contrary, he was instructed, as soon as any thing 
 hostile to the general cause should be ascertained, 
 to place a guard at the door, and keep the mem 
 bers to their post and to their duty. My object in 
 this, remarked the general, was, that then they 
 would be able to proceed with their business with 
 out producing the slightest injury : whatever 
 schemes they might entertain would have remained 
 with themselves, without the power of circulating 
 them to the prejudice of any other interest than 
 their own. I had intended to have had them well 
 treated and kindly dealt by ; and thus abstracted 
 from every thing passing without doors, a better 
 opportunity would have been afforded them to enact 
 good and wholesome laws ; but Governor Claiborne 
 mistook my order, and instead of shutting them in 
 doors, contrary to my wishes and expectation, 
 turned them out. 
 
 149. Before this he had been called on by a 
 special committee of the legislature to know what 
 his course would be should necessity compel him 
 
128 LIFE OF JACKSON. [cHAP. 
 
 from his position. " If," replied the general, " I 
 thought the hair of my head could divine what I 
 should do forthwith, 1 would cut it off: go back 
 with this answer ; say to your honourable body, that 
 if disaster does overtake me, and the fate of war 
 drives me from my line to the city, they may expect 
 to have a very warm session." " And what did you 
 design to do," I inquired, " provided you had been 
 forced to retreat 1" " I should," he replied, " have 
 retreated to the city, fired it, and fought the enemy 
 amid the surrounding flames. There were with me 
 men of wealth, owners of considerable property, who, 
 in such an event, would have been among the fore 
 most to have applied the torch to their own buildings ; 
 and what they had left undone I should have com 
 pleted. Nothing for the comfortable maintenance 
 of the enemy would have been left in the rear. I 
 would have destroyed New-Orleans occupied a po 
 sition above on the river cut off all supplies, and in 
 this way compelled them to depart from the country." 
 150. We shall not pretend to ascribe this conduct 
 of the legislature to disaffection, or to treasonable 
 motives. The impulse that produced it was, no 
 doubt, interest a principle of the human mind which 
 strongly sways, and often destroys its best conclu 
 sions. The disparity of the two armies, in num 
 bers, preparation, and discipline, had excited appre 
 hension, and destroyed hope. If Jackson were 
 driven back, and little else was looked for, rumour 
 fixed his determination of devoting the city to de 
 struction : but even if such were not his intention, 
 the wrath and vengeance of the enemy might be 
 fairly calculated to be in proportion to the opposition 
 they should receive. Although these considerations 
 may somewhat palliate, they do not justify. The 
 government was represented in the person of the 
 commanding general, on whom rested all respon 
 sibility, and whose voice on the subject of re 
 sistance or capitulation should alone have been 
 
V.] DEFENCE OF NEW-ORLEANS. 129 
 
 heard. In the field were persons who were enduring 
 hardships and straining every nerve for the general 
 safety. A few of the members of their own body, 
 too, were there, who did not despond. Might not 
 patriotism, then, have admonished these men, hon 
 oured as they were with the confidence of the people 
 rather to have pursued a course having for its object 
 to keep alive excitement, than to have endeavoured 
 to introduce fear and paralyze exertion ? Such 
 conduct, if productive of nothing worse, was well 
 calculated to excite alarm. If the militia, who 
 had been hastily drawn to the camp, and who were 
 yet trembling for the safety of their families, had 
 been told that a few private men of standing in 
 society had expressed their opinions, and declared 
 resistance useless, it would without doubt have 
 occasioned serious apprehensions ; but in a much 
 greater degree would they be calculated to arise, 
 when told that the members of the legislature, 
 chosen to preside over the safety and destinies of 
 the state, after due deliberation, had pronounced all 
 attempts at successful opposition vain and ineffec 
 tual. 
 
 151. Here was an additional reason why expe 
 dients should be devised, and every precaution 
 adopted, to prevent any communication by which 
 the slightest intelligence should be had of our situa 
 tion, already indeed sufficiently deplorable. Addi 
 tional guards were posted along the swamp, on both 
 sides of the Mississippi, to arrest all intercourse ; 
 while on the river, the common highway, watch 
 boats were constantly plying during the night, in 
 different directions, so that a log could scarcely float 
 down the stream unperceived. Two flat-bottomed 
 boats, on a dark night, were turned adrift above, to 
 ascertain if vigilance were preserved, and whether 
 there would be any possibility of escaping the guards 
 and passing in safety to the British lines. The light 
 boats discovered them on their passage, and on the 
 
130 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 alarm being given, they were opened upon by the 
 Louisiana sloop, and the batteries on the shore, and in 
 a few minutes were sunk. In spite, however, of 
 every precaution, treason still discovered avenues 
 through which to project and execute her nefarious 
 plans, and through them was constantly afforded in 
 formation to the enemy ; carried to them, no doubt, 
 by adventurous friends, who sought and effected 
 their nightly passage through the deepest parts of 
 the swamp, where it was impossible for sentinels to 
 be stationed.* 
 
 152. Great inconvenience was sustained for the 
 want of arms, and much anxiety fell, lest the enemy, 
 through their faithful adherents, might, on this sub 
 ject, also obtain information ; to prevent it as far as 
 possible, General Jackson endeavoured to conceal 
 the strength and situation of his army, by suffering 
 his reports to be seen by none but himself and the 
 adjutant-general. Many of the troops in the field 
 were supplied with common guns, which were of 
 little service. The Kentucky troops, daily expected, 
 
 * Letter from Charles K. Blanchard to GeneralJackson. 
 
 New-Orleans, March 20, 1814 
 
 Sir, I have the honour, agreeably to your request, to state to 
 your excellency, in writing, the substance of a conversation that 
 occurred between Quarter-master Peddle, of the British army, and 
 myself, on the 1 1 th inst , on board his Britannic Majesty s ship He 
 rald. Quarter-master Peddie observed, that the commanding offi 
 cers of the British forces were daily in the receipt of every informa 
 tion from the city of New-Orleans which they might require, in 
 aid of their operations, for the completion 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 
 situated, the number of our fortifications, their strength, position, 
 &c. As to the battery on the left bank of the Mississippi, he 
 described its situation, its distance from the main post, and 
 promptly offered me a plan of the works. He furthermore 
 stated, that the above information was received from seven or 
 eight persons, in the city of New-Orleans, from whom he could, 
 at any hour, procure every in formation necessary to promote his 
 majesty s interest, 
 
V.] DEFENCE OF NEW-ORLEANS. 131 
 
 were also understood to be badly provided with 
 arms. Uncertain but that the city might yet contain 
 many articles that would be serviceable, orders were 
 issued to the mayor of New-Orleans, directing him 
 diligently to inquire through every store and house, 
 and take possession of all the muskets, bayonets, 
 spades, and axes he could find. Understanding too 
 there were many young men who, from different 
 pretexts, had not appeared in the field, he was in 
 structed to obtain a register of every man in the city 
 under the age of fifty, that measures might be con 
 certed for drawing forth those who had hitherto ap 
 peared backward in engaging in the pending contest. 
 
 153. Frequent light skirmishes by advanced par 
 ties, without material effect on either side, were the 
 only incidents that took place for several days. 
 Colonel Hinds, at the head of the Mississippi dra 
 goons, on the 30th December, was ordered to dis 
 lodge a party of the enemy who, under cover of a 
 ditch that ran across the plain, were annoying 
 our fatigue parties. In his advance, he was unex 
 pectedly thrown into an ambuscade, and became 
 exposed to the fire of a line which had hitherto lain 
 concealed and unobserved. His collected conduct 
 and gallant deportment gained him and his corps the 
 approbation of the commanding general, and ex 
 tricated him from the danger in which he was 
 placed. The enemy, forced from their position, 
 retired, and he returned to the line with the loss of 
 five of his men. 
 
 154. The British were encamped two miles below 
 the American army, on a perfect plain, and in full 
 view. Although foiled in their attempt to carry our 
 works by the force of their batteries on the 28th, 
 they yet resolved upon another attack, and one 
 which they believed would be more successful. 
 Presuming their failure to have arisen from not 
 having sufficiently strong batteries and heavy ord 
 nance, a more enlarged arrangement was resorted to, 
 
132 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 with a confidence of silencing opposition, and effect 
 ing such breaches in our intrenchmerit as would 
 enable their columns to pass, without being exposed 
 to any considerable hazard. The interim between 
 the 28th of December and 1st January was accord 
 ingly spent in preparing to execute their designs. 
 Their boats had been despatched to the shipping, 
 and an additional supply of heavy cannon landed 
 through Bayou Bienvenu, whence they had first 
 debarked. 
 
 155. During the night of the 31st December they 
 were busily engaged. An impenetrable fog next 
 morning, which was not dispelled until nine o clock, 
 by concealing their purpose, aided them in the plans 
 they were projecting, and gave time for the com 
 pletion of their works. This having disappeared, 
 several heavy batteries, at the distance of six hun 
 dred yards, mounting eighteen and twenty-four 
 pound carronades, were presented to view. No 
 sooner was it sufficiently clear to distinguish objects 
 at a distance, than these were opened, and a tremen 
 dous burst of artillery commenced, accompanied 
 with congreve rockets, that filled the air in all direc 
 tions. Our troops, protected by a defence, which 
 from their constant labours and exertions they 
 believed to be impregnable, unmoved and undis 
 turbed, maintained their ground, and by their skilful 
 management, in the end succeeded in dismounting 
 and silencing the guns of the enemy. The British, 
 through the friendly interference of some disaf 
 fected citizens, having been apprized of the situa 
 tion of the general s quarters, that he dwelt in a 
 house at a small distance in the rear of his line of 
 defence, a^tinst it directed their first and principal 
 efforts, widi a view to destroy the commander. 
 So great was the number of balls thrown, that 
 in a little while its porticos were beaten down, 
 and the building made a complete wreck. In. 
 this dishonourable design they were however 
 
V.] DEFENCE OF NEW-ORLEANS. 133 
 
 disappointed ; for with Jackson it was a constant 
 practice, on the first appearance of danger, not 
 to wait in his quarters watching events, but in 
 stantly to proceed to the line, and be ready to 
 form his arrangements as circumstances might re 
 quire. Constantly in expectation of a charge, he 
 was never absent from the post of danger; and 
 thither he had this morning repaired, at the first 
 sound of the cannon, to aid in defence, and inspire 
 his troops with firmness. Our guns along the line 
 now opened to repel the assault, and a constant roar 
 of cannon, on both sides, continued until nearly 
 noon ; when, by the superior skill of our engineers, 
 the two batteries formed on the right, next the 
 woods, were nearly beaten down, and many of the 
 guns dismounted, broken, and rendered useless. 
 That next the river still continued its fire until three 
 o clock ; when, perceiving all attempts to force a 
 breach ineffectual, the enemy gave up the contest 
 and retired. Every act of theirs discovers a strange 
 delusion, and unfolds on what wild and fanciful 
 grounds all their expectations were founded. That 
 the American troops were well posted, and strongly 
 defended by pieces of heavy ordnance, mounted 
 along their line, was a fact well known ; yet a belief 
 was confidently indulged that the undisciplined col 
 lection which constituted the strength of our army, 
 would be able to derive little benefit from such a 
 circumstance ; and that artillery could produce but 
 slight advantages in the hands of persons who were 
 strangers to the manner of using it. That many 
 who, from necessity, were called to the direction of 
 the guns, were at first entirely unacquainted with 
 their management, is indeed true ; yet the accuracy 
 and precision with which they threw their shot 
 afforded a convincing argument either that they pos 
 sessed the capacity of becoming in a short time well 
 acquainted with the art of gunnery, or that it was a 
 M 
 
134 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 science the acquiring 1 of which was not attended 
 with incalculable difficulties, 
 
 ~ 156. That they would be able to effect an open 
 ing 1 , and march through the strong defence in their 
 front, was an idea so fondly cherished by our assail 
 ants, that an apprehension of failure had scarcely 
 ever occurred. So sanguine were they in this be 
 lief, that early in the morning their soldiers were 
 arranged along- the ditches, in rear of their batteries, 
 prepared and ready to advance to the charge the 
 moment a breach could be made. Here, by their 
 situation, protected from danger, they remained, 
 waiting the result that should call them to act. But 
 their efforts not having produced the slightest 
 impression, nor their rockets the effect of driving 
 our militia away, they abandoned the contest, and 
 retired to their camp, leaving their batteries mate 
 rially injured nay, well-nigh destroyed. 
 
 157. Perceiving their attempts must fail, and that 
 such an effect could not be produced as would war 
 rant their advance, another expedient was resorted 
 to, but with no better success. It occurred to the 
 British commander that an attack might be made to 
 advantage next the woods, and a force was accord 
 ingly ordered to penetrate in this direction, and 
 turn the left of our line, which was supposed not to 
 extend farther than to the margin of the swamp. 
 In this way it was expected a diversion could be 
 made, while the reserve columns, being in readiness 
 and waiting, were to press forward the moment this 
 object could be effected. Here, too, disappointment 
 resulted. Coffee s brigade, being already extended 
 into the swamp, as far as it was possible for an ad 
 vancing party to penetrate, brought unexpected 
 dangers into view, and. occasioned an abandonment 
 of the project. That to turn the extreme left of the 
 line was practicable, and might be attempted, was 
 the subject of early consideration, and necessary 
 precaution had been taken to prevent it. Although 
 
V.J DEFENCE OF NEW-ORLEANS. 135 
 
 cutting 1 the levee had raised the waters in the swamp, 
 and increased the difficulties of keeping troops 
 there, yet a fear lest this pass might be sought by 
 the enemy, and the rear of the line thereby gained, 
 had determined the general to extend his defence 
 even here. This had been intrusted to General Cof 
 fee ; and surely a more arduous duty can scarcely 
 be imagined. To form a breast work in such a place 
 was attended with many difficulties and considerable 
 exposure. A slight defence, however, had been 
 thrown up, and the underwood, for thirty or forty 
 yards in front, cut down, that the riflemen stationed 
 for its protection might have a complete view of any 
 force which through this route might attempt a pas 
 sage. When it is recollected that this position was 
 to be maintained night and day, uncertain of the mo 
 ment of attack, and that the only opportunity afforded 
 our troops for rest was on logs and brush thrown 
 together, by which they were raised above the sur 
 rounding water, it may be truly said, that seldom 
 has it fallen to the lot of any to encounter greater 
 hardships: but accustomed to privation, and alive to 
 those feelings which a love of country inspires, they 
 obeyed without complaining, and cheerfully kept 
 their position until all danger had subsided. S^nsi- 
 ble of the importance of the point they defended, 
 and that it was necessary to be maintained, be the 
 sacrifice what it might, they looked to nothing but a 
 zealous and faithful discharge of the trust confided 
 to them. 
 
 158. Our loss in this affair was eleven killed and 
 twenty-three wounded ; that of the enemy was 
 never correctly known. The only certain informa 
 tion is contained in a communication of the 28th 
 January, from General Lambert to Earl Bathurst, in 
 which the casualties and losses, from the 1st to the 
 5th, are stated at seventy-eight. Many allowances, 
 however, are to be made for this report. It was 
 ^written at a time when, from the numerous dis- 
 
136 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 asters encountered, it was not to be presumed the 
 general s mind was in a situation patiently to re 
 member or minutely to detail the facts. From the 
 great precision of our fire, and the injury visibly sus 
 tained by their batteries, their loss was no doubt 
 considerable. The enemy s heavy shot having- pene 
 trated our intrenchment in many places, it was dis 
 covered not to be as strong as had at first been im 
 agined. Fatigue parties were again employed, and 
 its strength daily increased : an additional number 
 of bales of cotton were taken to be applied to 
 strengthening and defending the embrasures along 
 the line. A Frenchman, whose property had been 
 thus, without his consent, seized, fearful of the in 
 jury it might sustain, proceeded in person to Gene- 
 ralJackson to reclaim it, and to demand its deliver}?". 
 The general, having heard his complaint, and ascer 
 tained from him that he was unemployed in any 
 military service, directed a musket to be brought to 
 him, and placing it in his hand, ordered him on the 
 line, remarking, at the same time, that as he seemed 
 to be a man possessed of property, he knew of none 
 who had a better right to fight and to defend it. 
 
 159. The British had again retired to their en 
 campment. It was well understood by Jackson that 
 they were in daily expectation of considerable rein 
 forcements ; though he rested with confidence in the 
 belief that a few more days would also bring to his 
 assistance the troops from Kentucky. Each party, 
 therefore, was busily and constantly engaged in 
 preparation, the one to wage a vigorous attack, the 
 other bravely to defend, and resolutely to op 
 pose it. 
 
 160. The position of the American army was in 
 the rear of an intrenchment formed of earth, and 
 which extended in a straight line from the river to a 
 considerable distance in the swamp. In front was 
 a deep ditch, which had been formerly used as a 
 mill-race. The Mississippi had receded and left this 
 
V.] DEFENCE OF NEW-ORLEANS. 137 
 
 dry next the river, though in many places the water 
 still remained. Along the line, and at unequal dis 
 tances, to the centre of General Carroll s command, 
 were guns mounted, of different caliber, from six to 
 thirty-two pounders. Near the river, and in advance 
 of the intrenchment, was erected a redoubt, with 
 embrasures, commanding the road along the levee, 
 and calculated to rake the ditch in front. 
 
 161. We have heretofore stated, that General 
 Morgan was ordered, on the 24th of December, to 
 cross to the west bank of the Mississippi. From an 
 apprehension entertained that an attempt might be 
 made through Barataria, and the city reached from 
 the right bank of the river, the general had extended 
 his defence there likewise : in fact, unacquainted 
 with the enemy s views, not knowing the number 
 of their troops, nor but that they might have suffi 
 cient strength to wage an attack in various direc 
 tions, and anxiously solicitous to be prepared at all 
 points, he had carefully divided out his forces, that 
 he might guard and be able to protect, in whatever 
 direction an assault should be waged. His greatest 
 fears, and hence his strongest defence next to the 
 one occupied by himself, was on the Chef M enteur 
 road, where Governor Claiborne, at the head of 
 the Louisiana militia, was posted. The position 
 on the right was formed on the same plan with the 
 line on the left, lower down than that on the left, 
 and extending to the swamp at right angles to the 
 river. Here General Morgan commanded. 
 
 162. To be prepared against every possible con 
 tingency that might arise, Jackson had established 
 another line of defence, about two miles in the rear 
 of the one at present occupied, which was intended 
 as a rallying-point if he should be driven from 
 his first position. With the aid of his cavalry, to 
 give a momentary check to the advance of the en 
 emy, he expected to be enabled, with inconsiderable 
 
 M2 
 
138 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 injury, to reach it ; where he would again have ad 
 vantages on his side, be in a situation to dispute a 
 further passage to the city, and arrest their progress. 
 To inspirit his own soldiers, and to exhibit to the 
 enemy as great a show as possible of strength and 
 intended resistance, his unarmed troops, which con 
 stituted no very inconsiderable number, were here 
 stationed. All intercourse between the lines, except 
 by confidential officers, was prohibited, and every 
 precaution and vigilance employed not only to keep 
 this want of preparation concealed from the enemy, 
 but even from being known on his own lines. 
 
 163. Occasional firing at a distance, which pro 
 duced nothing of consequence, was all that marked 
 the interim from the 1st to the 8th of January. 
 
 164. On the 4th of this month, the long-expected 
 reinforcement from Kentucky, amounting to twenty- 
 two hundred and fifty, under the command of Ma 
 jor-general Thomas, arrived at head-quarters ; but 
 so ill provided with arms as to be incapable of ren 
 dering any considerable service. The alacrity with 
 which the citizens of this state had proceeded to 
 the frontiers, and aided in the north-western cam 
 paigns, added to the disasters which ill-timed policy 
 or misfortune had produced, had created such a 
 drain, that arms were not to be procured. They 
 had advanced, however, to their point of destina 
 tion, with an expectation of being supplied on their 
 arrival. About five hundred of them had muskets ; 
 the rest were provided with guns, from which little 
 or no advantage could be expected. The mayor of 
 New-Orleans, at the request of General Jackson, 
 had already examined and drawn from the city 
 every weapon that could be found ; while the ar 
 rival of the Louisiana militia, in an equally unpre 
 pared situation, rendered it impossible for the evil 
 to be effectually remedied. A boat laden with arms 
 was somewhere on the river, intended for the use 
 and defence of the lower country ; but where it 
 
V.] DEFENCE OF NEW-ORLEANS. 139 
 
 was, or when it might arrive, rested alone on hope 
 and conjecture. Expresses had been despatched 
 up the river, for three hundred miles, to seek and 
 hasten it on ; still there were no tidings of an ap 
 proach. That so many brave men, at a moment of 
 such anxious peril, should be compelled to stand 
 with folded arms, unable, from their situation, to 
 render the least possible service to their country, 
 was an event greatly to be deplored, and did not fail 
 to excite the feelings and sensibility of the com 
 manding general. His mind active, and prepared 
 for any thing but despondency, sought relief in 
 vain ; there was none. No alternative was pre 
 sented but to place them at his intrenchment in the 
 rear, conceal their actual condition, and, by the show 
 they might make, add to his appearance and num 
 bers, without at all increasing his strength. 
 
 165. Information was now received that Major- 
 general Lambert had joined the British commander- 
 in-chief with a considerable reinforcement. It had 
 been heretofore announced in the American camp 
 that additional forces were expected, and something 
 decisive might be looked for as soon as they should 
 arrive. This circumstance, in connexion with 
 others no less favouring the idea, had led to the 
 conclusion that a few days more would, in all pro 
 bability, bring on the struggle which would decide 
 the fate of the city. It was more than ever ne 
 cessary to keep concealed the situation of his 
 army ; and, above all, to preserve as secret as pos 
 sible its unarmed condition. To restrict all com 
 munication even with his own lines, was now, 
 as danger increased, rendered more important. 
 None were permitted to leave the line, and none 
 from without to pass into his camp, but such as 
 were to be implicitly confided in. The line of sen 
 tinels were strengthened in front, that none might 
 pass to the enemy, should desertion be attempted : 
 yet, notwithstanding this precaution and care, his 
 
140 LIFE OF JACKSON. [cHAP. 
 
 plans and situation were disclosed. On the night 
 of the 6th January, a soldier from the line by some 
 means succeeded in eluding the vigilance of our 
 sentinels. Early next morning his departure was 
 discovered : it was at once correctly conjectured 
 he had gone over to the enemy, and would, no 
 doubt, afford them all the information in his power 
 to communicate. This opinion, as subsequent cir 
 cumstances disclosed, was well founded ; and 
 dearly did he atone his crime. He unfolded to the 
 British the situation of the American line, the 
 late reinforcements we had received, and the un 
 armed condition of many of the troops ; and point 
 ing to the centre of General Carroll s division, as a 
 place occupied by militia alone, recommended it as 
 the point where an attack might be most prudently 
 and safely made. 
 
 166. Other intelligence received was confirma 
 tory of the belief of an impending attack. From 
 some prisoners, taken on the lake, it was ascertained 
 the enemy were busily engaged in deepening Vil- 
 lery s canal, with a view of passing their boats and 
 ordnance to the Mississippi. During the 7th, a con 
 stant bustle was perceived in the British camp. 
 Along the borders of the canal their soldiers were 
 continually in motion, marching and manoeuvring, 
 for no other purpose than to conceal those who were 
 busily engaged at work in the rear. To ascertain the 
 cause of this uncommon stir, and learn their designs 
 as far as was practicable, Commodore Patterson 
 had proceeded down the river, on the opposite side, 
 and having gained a favourable position in front of 
 their encampment, discovered them to be actually 
 engaged in deepening the passage to the river. It 
 was no difficult matter to divine their purpose. No 
 other conjecture could be entertained, than that an 
 assault was intended to be made on the line of de 
 fence commanded by General Morgan ; which, if 
 gained, would expose our troops on the left bank to 
 
V.] DEFENCE OF NEW-ORLEANS. 141 
 
 the fire of the redoubt erected on the right ; and in 
 this way compel them to an abandonment of their 
 position. To counteract this scheme was im 
 portant ; and measures were immediately taken to 
 prevent the execution of apian, which, if successful, 
 would be attended with incalculable dangers. An 
 increased strength was given to this line. The 
 second regiment of Louisiana militia, and four hun 
 dred Kentucky troops, were directed to be crossed 
 over, to reinforce and protect it. Owing to some 
 delay and difficulty in arming them, the latter 
 amounting, instead of four hundred, to but one 
 hundred and eighty, did riot arrive until the morning 
 of the 8th. A little before day they were des 
 patched to aid an advanced party, who, under the 
 command of Major Arnaut, had been sent to watch 
 the movements of the enemy, and oppose their 
 landing. The hopes indulged from their opposition 
 were not realized; and the enemy, unmolested, 
 reached the shore. 
 
 167. Morgan s position, besides being strengthened 
 by several brass twelves, was defended by a strong 
 battery, mounting twenty-four pounders, directed 
 by Commodore Patterson, which afforded additional 
 strength and security. The line itself was not 
 strong ; yet, if properly maintained by the troops 
 selected to defend it, was believed fully adequate 
 to the purpose of successful resistance. Late at 
 night Patterson ascertained that the enemy had 
 succeeded in passing their boats through the canal, 
 and immediately communicated his information to 
 the general. The commodore had already formed 
 the idea of dropping the Louisiana schooner down, 
 to attack and sink them. This thought, though well 
 conceived, was abandoned, from the danger in 
 volved, and from an apprehension lest the batteries 
 erected on the river, with which she would come 
 in collision, might, by the aid of hot shot, succeed 
 in blowing her up. It was preferred patiently to 
 
142 LIFE OF JACKSON. [cHAP. 
 
 await their arrival, believing it would be practicable, 
 with the bravery of more than fifteen hundred men, 
 and the slender advantages possessed from their 
 line of defence, to maintain their position, and repel 
 the assailants. 
 
 168. On the left bank, where the general in per 
 son commanded, every thing was in readiness to 
 meet the assault when it should be made. The re 
 doubt on the levee was defended by a company of 
 the seventh regiment, under the command of Lieu 
 tenant Ross. The regular troops occupied that 
 part of the intrenchment next the river. General 
 Carroll s division was in the centre, supported by 
 the Kentucky troops, under General John Adair; 
 while the extreme left, extending for a considerable 
 distance into the swamp, was protected by the 
 brigade of General Coffee. How soon the attack 
 should be waged was uncertain ; at what moment 
 rested with the enemy, with us, to be in readiness 
 for resistance. There were many circumstances, 
 however, favouring the belief that the hour of con 
 test was not far distant, and indeed fast approach 
 ing ; the bustle of to-day, the efforts to carry their 
 boats into the river, the fascines and scaling-lad 
 ders that were preparing, were circumstances point 
 ing to attack, and indicating the hour to be near at 
 hand. General Jackson, unmoved by appearances, 
 anxiously desired a contest, which he believed 
 would give a triumph to his arms, and terminate the 
 hardships of his suffering soldiers. Unremitting in 
 exertion, and constantly vigilant, his precaution 
 kept pace with the zeal and preparation of the 
 enemy. He seldom slept : he was always at his 
 post performing the duties of both general and 
 soldier. His sentinels were dout ed, and extended 
 as far as possible in the direction of the British 
 camp ; while a considerable portion of the troops 
 were constantly at the line, with arms in their 
 
V.] DEFENCE OF NEW-ORLEANS. 143 
 
 hands, ready to act when the first alarm should be 
 given. 
 
 169. For eight days had the two armies lain upon 
 the same field, and in view of each other, without 
 any thing decisive being on either side effected. 
 Twice since their landing had the British columns 
 essayed to effect by storm the execution of their 
 plans, and twice had failed been compelled to re 
 linquish the attempt, and retire from the contest. 
 It was not to be expected that things could long re 
 main in this dubious state. Soldiers, the pride of 
 England, the boasted conquerors of Europe, were 
 there ; distinguished generals their leaders, who 
 earnestly desired to announce to their country and 
 the world their signal achievements. The high 
 expectations which had been indulged of the 
 success of this expedition were to be realized at 
 every peril, or disgrace would follow the failure. 
 
 170. The 8th of January at length arrived. The 
 day dawned ; and the signals intended to produce 
 concert in the enemy s movements were descried. 
 On the left, near the swamp, a skyrocket was per 
 ceived rising in the air ; and presently another as 
 cended from the right, next the river. They were 
 intended to announce that all was prepared and 
 ready, to proceed and carry by storm a defence 
 which had twice foiled their utmost efforts. In 
 stantly the charge was made, and with such rapidity, 
 that our soldiers at the outposts with difficulty 
 fled in. 
 
 171. The British batteries, which had been de 
 molished on the 1st of the month, had been re 
 established during the preceding night, and heavy 
 pieces of cannon mounted, to aid in their intended 
 operations. These now opened, and showers of 
 bombs and balls were poured upon our line ; while 
 the air was lighted with their congreve rockets. 
 The two divisions, commanded by Sir Edward Pack- 
 enham in person, and supported by Generals Keane 
 
144 LIFE OF JACKSON. [cHAP. 
 
 and Gibbs, pressed forward ; the right against the cen 
 tre of General Carroll s command, the left against 
 our redoubt on the levee. A thick fog that obscured 
 the morning enabled them to approach within a 
 short distance of our intrenchment before they 
 were discovered. They were now perceived ad 
 vancing with firm, quick, and steady pace, in column, 
 with a front of sixty or seventy deep. Our troops, 
 who had for som; time been in readiness, and wait 
 ing their appearance, gave three cheers, and in- 
 stanly the whole line was lighted with the blaze of 
 their fire. A burst of artillery and small arms, 
 pouring with destructive aim upon them, mowed 
 down their front, and arrested their advance. In 
 our musketry there was not a moment s intermis 
 sion : as one party discharged their pieces, another 
 succeeded ; alternately loading and appearing, no 
 pause could be perceived it was one continued 
 volley. The columns already perceived their dan 
 gerous and exposed situation. Battery No. 7, on 
 the left, was ably served by Lieutenant Spotts, and 
 galled them with an incessant and destructive fire. 
 Batteries No. 6 and 8 were no less actively em 
 ployed, and no less successful in felling them to 
 the ground. Notwithstanding the severity of our 
 fire, which few troops could for a moment have 
 withstood, some of those brave men pressed on, 
 and succeeded in gaining the ditch in front of our 
 works, where they remained during the action, and 
 were afterward made prisoners. The horror be 
 fore them was too great to be withstood ; and al 
 ready were the British troops seen wavering in 
 their determination, and receding from the conflict. 
 At this moment, Sir Edward Packenham, hastening 
 to the front, endeavoured to encourage and inspire 
 them with renewed zeal. His example was of 
 short continuance : he soon fell mortally wounded 
 in the arms of his aid-de-camp, not far from our 
 line. Generals Gibbs and Keane also fell, and were 
 
V.] DEFENCE OF NEW-ORLEANS. 145 
 
 borne from the field dangerously wounded. At this 
 moment, General Lambert, who was advancing at a 
 small distance in the rear, with the reserve, met the 
 columns precipitately retreating, and in great con 
 fusion. His efforts to stop them were unavailing, 
 they continued retreating, until they reached a 
 ditch at the distance of four hundred yards, where 
 a momentary safety being found, they were rallied 
 and halted. 
 
 172. The field before them, over which they had 
 advanced, was strewed with the dead and dying. 
 Danger hovered still around ; yet urged and encou 
 raged by their officers, who feared their own dis 
 grace involved in the failure, they again moved to 
 the charge. They were already near enough to de 
 ploy, and were endeavouring to do so ; but the same 
 constant and unremitted resistance that caused their 
 first retreat, continued yet unabated. Our batteries 
 had never ceased their fire ; their constant dis 
 charges of grape find canister, and the fatal aim of 
 our musketry, mowed down the front of the columns 
 as fast as they could be formed. Satisfied nothing 
 could be done, and that certain destruction awaited 
 all further attempts, they forsook the contest and 
 the field in disorder, leaving it almost entirely covered 
 with the dead and wounded. It was in vain their 
 officers endeavoured to animate them to further re 
 sistance, and equally vain to attempt coercion. The 
 panic produced from the dreadful repulse they had 
 experienced, the plain on which they had acted being 
 covered with innumerable bodies of their country 
 men, while with their most zealous exertions they 
 had been unable to obtain the slightest advantage, 
 were circumstances well calculated to make even 
 the most submissive soldier oppose the authority 
 that would have controlled him. 
 
 173. The light companies of fusileers, the forty- 
 third and ninety-third regiments, and one hundred 
 men from the West India regiment, led on by Colo- 
 
 N 
 
146 LIFE OF JACKSON- 
 
 nel Rennie, were ordered to proceed under cover 
 of some chimneys standing in the field, until having 
 cleared them, to oblique to the river, and advance, 
 protected by the levee against our redoubt on the 
 right. This work, having been but lately com 
 menced, was in an unfinished state. It was not 
 until the 4th that General Jackson, much against 
 his own opinion, had yielded to the suggestions of 
 others, and permitted its projection ; and, consider 
 ing the plan on which it had been sketched, had not 
 yet received that strength necessary to its safe 
 defence. The detachment ordered against this 
 place formed the left of General Keane s command. 
 Rennie executed his orders with great bravery, and 
 urging forward, arrived at the ditch. His advance 
 was greatly annoyed by Commodore Patterson s 
 battery on the left bank, and the cannon mounted on 
 the redoubt; but reaching our works and passing 
 the ditch, Rennie, sword in hand, leaped on the wall, 
 and calling to his troops, bade th.em follow ; he had 
 scarcely spoken, when he fell by the fatal aim of 
 our riflemen. Pressed by the impetuosity of the 
 superior numbers who were mounting the wall and 
 entering at the embrasures, our troops had retired 
 to the line, in rear of the redoubt. A momentary 
 pause ensued, but only to be interrupted with in 
 creased horrors. Captain Beal, with the city rifle 
 men, cool and self-possessed, perceiving the enemy 
 in his front, opened upon them, and at every dis 
 charge brought the object to the ground.- To ad 
 vance, or maintain the point gained, was equally 
 impracticable for the enemy : to retreat or surrender 
 was the only alternative : for they already perceived 
 the division on the right thrown into confusion, and 
 hastily leaving the field. 
 
 174. General Jackson, being informed of the suc 
 cess of the enemy on the right, and of their being in 
 possession of the redoubt, pressed forward a rein- 
 forcemeat to regain it. Previously to its arrival. 
 
V.] DEFENCE OF NEW-ORLEANS. 147 
 
 they had abandoned the attempt and were retiring. 
 They were severely galled by such of our guns as 
 could be brought to bear. The levee afforded them 
 considerable protection ; yet, by Commodore Patter 
 son s redoubt on the right bank, they suffered greatly. 
 Enfiladed by this on their advance, they had been 
 greatly annoyed, and now in their retreat were no 
 less severely assailed. Numbers found a grave in 
 the ditch before our line ; arid of those who gained 
 the redoubt, not one it is believed escaped ; they 
 were shot down as fast as they entered. The route 
 along which they had advanced and retired was 
 strewed with bodies. Affrighted at the carnage, 
 they moved from the scene hastily and in confusion. 
 Our batteries were still continuing the slaughter, 
 and cutting them down at every step ; safety seemed 
 only to be attainable when they should have retired 
 without the range of our shot ; which, to troops 
 galled as severely as they were, was too remote a 
 relief. Pressed by this consideration they fled to 
 the ditch, whither the right division had retreated, 
 and there remained until night permitted them to 
 retire. f*J 
 
 175. The loss of the British in the main attack on ** 
 the left bank has been at different times variously 
 stated. The killed, wounded, and prisoners, ascer 
 tained on the next day after the battle by Colonel 
 Hayne, the inspector-general, places it at twenty- 
 six hundred. General Lambert s report to Lord 
 Bathurst makes it but two thousand and seventy. 
 From prisoners, however, and information and cir 
 cumstances derived through other sources, it must 
 have been even greater than is stated by either. 
 Among them was the commander-in-chief, and Ma 
 jor-general Gibbs, who died of his wounds the next 
 day, besides many of their most valuable and distin 
 guished officers ; while the loss of the Americans in 
 killed and wounded was but thirteen. Our effective 
 foree at the line on the left bank was three thousand 
 
148 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 seven hundred ; that of the enemy at least nine thou 
 sand. TCJie force landed in Louisiana has been vari 
 ously reported ; the best information places it at 
 about fourteen thousand. A part of this acted with 
 Colonel Thornton ; the climate had rendered many 
 unfit for the duties of the field ; while a considerable 
 number had been killed and wounded in the different 
 contests since their arrival. Their strength, there 
 fore, may be fairly estimated, on the 8th, at the 
 number we have stated ; at any rate, not less. 
 
 176. That this was considered an undertaking of 
 greater magnitude and hazard than they were dis 
 posed openly to admit, is obvious, from one circum 
 stance. The officer who leads his troops on a for 
 lorn attempt, not unfrequently places before them 
 allurements stronger than either authority or duty. 
 On the present occasion, this resort was not omitted ; 
 and inducements were held out, than which nothing 
 more inviting could be offered to an infuriated sol 
 diery. Let it be remembered of that gallant but 
 misguided general, who has been so much deplored 
 by the British nation, that to the cupidity of his sol 
 diers he promised the wealth of the city, as a recom 
 pense for their gallarftry and desperation; while, 
 with brutal licentiousness, they were to revel in law 
 less indulgence, and triumph uncontrolled over 
 female innocence. Scenes like these our nation, 
 dishonoured and insulted, had already witnessed; 
 she had witnessed them at Hampton and Havre-de- 
 Grace ; but it was reserved for her yet to learn, that 
 an officer of the character and standing of Sir Ed 
 ward Packenham, polished, generous, and brave, 
 should, to induce his soldiers to acts of daring valour, 
 permit them, as a reward, to insult, injure, and de 
 base those whom all mankind, even savages, rever 
 ence and respect. The history of Europe, since 
 civilized warfare began, is challenged to afford an 
 instance of such gross depravity, such wanton out 
 rage on the morals and dignity of society. English 
 
V.] DEFENCE OF NEW-ORLEANS. 149 
 
 writers may deny the correctness of the charge : it 
 certainly interests them to do so : but its authen 
 ticity is too well established to admit of doubt, while 
 its criminality is increased, from being the act of a 
 people who hold themselves up to surrounding na 
 tions as examples of every thing that is correct and 
 proper. The facts and circumstances which were 
 presented at the time of this transaction left no 
 doubt on the minds of our officers, but that " Beauty 
 and Booty" was the watchword of the day. The 
 information was obtained from prisoners, and con 
 firmed by the books of two of their orderly-ser 
 geants taken in battle, which contained record proof 
 of the fact. 
 
 177. The events of this day afford abundant evi 
 dence of the liberality of the American soldiers, 
 and show a striking difference in the troops of the 
 two nations. While one were allured to acts of 
 bravery and duty by the promised pillage and plun 
 der of the inhabitants, and the commission of crimes 
 abhorrent in the sight of earth and heaven, the other 
 fought but for his country, and having repelled her 
 assailants, instantly forgot all enmity, viewed his 
 fallen foe as a brother, and hastened to assist him 
 even at the hazard of his own life. The gallantry 
 of the British soldiers, and no people could have 
 displayed greater, had brought many of them even 
 to our ramparts, where, shot down by our troops, 
 they were lying badly wounded. When the firing 
 had ceased and the columns had retired, our troops, 
 with generous benevolence, advanced over their lines 
 to assist and bring in the wounded which lay under 
 and near the walls ; when, strange to tell, the en 
 emy from the ditch they occupied opened a fire upon 
 them, and though at a considerable distance, suc 
 ceeded in wounding several. It was enough for 
 our generous soldiers that they were doing an act 
 which the benevolence of their hearts approved, and 
 with charitable perseverance they continued to ad- 
 N2 
 
150 LITE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 minister to the wants of these suffering men, and 
 to carry them within their lines, although in their 
 efforts they were continually exposed to danger. 
 Let the apologist for crime say wherefore were acts 
 thus unpardonable committed against men who were 
 administering to the wants and relieving the suffer 
 ings of the dying countrymen of those who thus re 
 paid the most laudable humanity with wanton and 
 useless cruelty. 
 
 178. A communication, shortly after, from Major- 
 general Lambert, on whom, in consequence of the 
 fall of Generals Packenham, Gibbs, and Keane, the 
 command had devolved, acknowledges to have wit 
 nessed the kindness of our troops to his wounded. 
 He solicited of General Jackson permission to send 
 an unarmed party to bury the dead lying before his 
 lines, and to bring off such of the wounded as were 
 dangerous. Though, in all probability, it was un 
 known to General Lambert what had been the con 
 duct of his troops on this occasion, and unquestion 
 ably not authorized by him, yet Jackson, in answer 
 to his despatch, did not omit to bring it to his view, 
 and to express his utter abhorrence of the act. The 
 request to bury the dead was granted. General 
 Jackson, though, refused to permit a near approach 
 to his line, but consented that the wounded who were 
 at a greater distance than three hundred yards from 
 the intrenchment should be relieved, and the dead 
 buried : those nearer, were by his own men to be 
 delivered over, to be interred by their country 
 men. This precaution was taken, that the enemy 
 might not have an opportunity to inspect, or know 
 any thing of his situation. 
 
 179. General Lambert, desirous of administering 
 to the relief of the wounded, and that he might be 
 relieved from his apprehensions of attack, proposed, 
 about noon, that hostilities should cease until the 
 same hour the next day. General Jackson, cherish 
 ing the hope of being able to secure an important 
 
V.] DEFENCE OF NEW-ORLEANS. 151 
 
 advantage by his apparent willingness to accede to 
 the proposal, drew up an armistice, and forwarded 
 it to General Lambert, with directions for it to be 
 immediately returned if approved. It contained a 
 stipulation to this effect : that hostilities on the left 
 bank of the river should be discontinued from its 
 ratification, but on the right bank they should not 
 cease ; and, in the interim, that under no circum 
 stances were reinforcements to be sent across by 
 either party. This was a bold stroke at stratagem ; 
 and although it succeeded even to the extent desired, 
 was yet attended with considerable hazard. Rein 
 forcements had been ordered over to retake the po 
 sition lost by Morgan in the morning, and the gene 
 ral presumed they had arrived at their point of des 
 tination, but at this time they had not passed the 
 river, nor could it be expected to be retaken with 
 the same troops who had yielded it the day before, 
 when possessed of advantages which gave them a de 
 cided superiority ; this the commanding general well 
 knew ; yet, to spare the sacrifice of his men, which 
 in regaining it he foresaw must be considerable, he 
 was disposed to venture upon a course which, he 
 felt assured, could not fail to succeed. It was im 
 possible his object could be discovered ; while he 
 confidently believed the British commander would 
 infer, from the prompt and ready manner in which 
 his proposal had been met, that such additional 
 troops were already thrown over as would be fully 
 adequate to the purposes of attack, and greatly to en 
 danger, if not wholly to cut off, Colonel Thornton s 
 retreat. General Lambert s construction was such 
 as had been anticipated. Although the armistice 
 contained a request that it should be immediately 
 signed and returned, it was neglected to be acted 
 upon until the next day ; and Thornton and his com 
 mand were, in the interim, under cover of the night, 
 recrossed, and the ground they occupied left to be 
 peaceably possessed by the original holders. The 
 
152 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 opportunity thus afforded of regaining a position on 
 which, in a great degree, depended the safety of 
 those on the opposite shore, was accepted with an 
 avidity its importance merited, and immediate mea 
 sures taken to increase its strength, and prepare it 
 against any future attack that might be made. This 
 delay of the British commander was evidently de 
 signed, that, pending the negotiation, and before it 
 was concluded, an opportunity might be had either 
 of throwing over reinforcements, or removing 
 Colonel Thornton and his troops from a situation 
 so extremely perilous. Early next morning, Gene 
 ral Lambert returned his acceptance of what had been 
 proposed, with an apology for having failed to reply 
 sooner : he excused the omission by pleading a press 
 of business, which had occasioned the communication 
 to be overlooked and neglected. Jackson was at 
 no loss to attribute the delay to the correct motive ; 
 the apology, however, was as perfectly satisfac 
 tory to him as any thing that could have been 
 offered ; beyond the object intended to be effected 
 he felt unconcerned, and having secured this rested 
 perfectly satisfied. It cannot,however, appearother- 
 wise than extraordinary, that this neglect should 
 have been ascribed by the British general to acci 
 dent, or a press of business, when it must have been, 
 no doubt, of greater importance at that moment than 
 any thing which he could possibly have had before 
 him. 
 
 180. The armistice was this morning (9th of Jan 
 uary) concluded, and agreed to continue until two 
 o clock in the evening. The dead and wounded 
 were now removed from the field, which for three 
 hundred yards in front of our line of defence they 
 almost literally covered. For the reason already 
 suggested, our soldiers, within the line of demarca 
 tion between the two camps, delivered over to the 
 British, who were not permitted to cross it, the dead 
 for burial, and the wounded on parole, for which it 
 
V.] DEFENCE OF NEW-ORLEANS. 153 
 
 was stipulated an equal number of American priso 
 ners should be restored. 
 
 Ihl. It has seldom happened that officers were 
 more deceived in their expectations than they were 
 in the result of this battle, or atoned more severely 
 for their error : their reasoning had never led them 
 to conclude that militia would maintain their ground 
 when warmly assailed ; no other belief was enter 
 tained than, alarmed at the appearance and orderly 
 firm approach of veteran troops, they would at once 
 forsake the contest, and in flight seek safety. At 
 what part of our line they were stationed, was as 
 certained by information derived through a deserter 
 on the 6th ; and, influenced by a belief of their want 
 of nerve and deficiency in bravery, at this point the 
 main assault was urged. They were indeed militia ; 
 but the enemy could have assailed no part of our in- 
 trenchment where they would have met a warmer 
 reception, or where they would have found greater 
 strength ; it was, indeed, the best defended part of 
 the line. The Kentucky and Tennessee troops, 
 under Generals Carroll, Thomas, and Adair, were 
 here, who had already, on former occasions, won a 
 reputation that was too dear to be sacrificed. These 
 divisions, alternately charging their pieces and 
 mounting the platform, poured forth a constant fire 
 that was impossible to be withstood, repelled the 
 advancing columns, and drove them from the field 
 with prodigious slaughter. 
 
 182. There is one fact told, to which general credit 
 seems to be attached, and which clearly shows the 
 opinion had by the British of our militia, and the 
 little fear which was entertained of any determined 
 opposition from them. When repulsed from our 
 line, the British officers were fully persuaded that 
 the information given them by the deserter on the 
 night of the 6th was false, and that instead of point 
 ing out the ground defended by the militia, he had 
 referred them to the place occupied by our best 
 
154 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 troops. Enraged at what they believed an inten 
 tional deception, they called their informant before 
 them to account for the mischief he had done. It 
 was in vain he urged his innocence, and, with the 
 most solemn protestations, declared he had stated 
 the fact truly as it was. They could not be con 
 vinced, it was impossible that they had contended 
 against any but the best-disciplined troops; and, 
 without further ceremony, the poor fellow, sus 
 pended in view of the camp, expiated on a tree, not 
 his crime, for what he had stated was true, but their 
 error in underrating an enemy who had already 
 afforded abundant evidences of valour. In all their 
 future trials with our countrymen, may they be no 
 less deceived, and discover in our yeomanry a de 
 termination to sustain with firmness a government 
 which knows nothing of oppression ; but which, on 
 an enlarged and liberal scale, aims to secure the in 
 dependence and happiness of man. If the people 
 of the United States, free almost as the air they 
 breathe, shall at any time omit to maintain their 
 privileges and their government, then, indeed, will 
 it be idle longer to speak of the rights of men, or 
 of their capacity to govern themselves : the dream 
 of liberty must fade away and perish for ever, no 
 more to be remembered or thought of. 
 
 183. After the battle of the 8th of January, Jack 
 son could have captured every man of the British 
 force that was upon the land, if he had been sup 
 plied with arms, according to his own repeated 
 urgent requests, and agreeably to the promises that 
 were made him. Not having arms, he was com 
 pelled to let the remainder of the " heroes of the 
 Peninsula" escape. They got to the other side of 
 the river, and there they embarked, leaving behind 
 them the contempt of the faithful A mericans, and the 
 sympathetic sorrows of the traitors. Now, how 
 ever, these traitors sang his praises in lofty strains ; 
 put up thanksgiving in their churches, called him 
 
V.] DEFENCE OF NEW-ORLEANS. 155 
 
 " an instrument in the hands of God ;" though a 
 few days before they would have sold him and his 
 army, flesh, blood, bones, and all. He submitted to 
 the mummery of being fined for having imprisoned 
 the judge, which he did of course, in order to give 
 an example of submission to the laws, most heartily 
 despising the traitor, and all his brother traitors at 
 the same time. He found it necessary to remain 
 at New-Orleans till March, when he dismissed his 
 troops in the following address, which ought to be 
 read, preserved, and cherished in every country in 
 the world : 
 
 Address to the troops of New- Orleans after the annunciation 
 of peace. 
 
 The major-general is at length enabled to perform the 
 pleasing task of restoring to Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisi 
 ana, and the territory of the Mississippi, the brave troops 
 who have acted such a distinguished part in the war which 
 has just terminated. In restoring these brave men to their 
 homes, much exertion is expected of, and great responsibility 
 imposed on, the commanding officers of the different corps. 
 It is required of Major-generals Carroll and Thomas, and 
 Brigadier-general Coffee, to march their commands, without 
 unnecessary delay, to their respective states. The troops 
 from the Mississippi territory and state of Louisiana, both 
 militia and volunteers,- will be immediately mustered out of 
 service, paid, and discharged. 
 
 The major-general has the satisfaction of announcing the 
 approbation of the President of the United States to the con 
 duct of the troops under his command, expressed in flatter 
 ing terms, through the honourable the secretary at war. 
 
 In parting with those brave men, whose destinies have been 
 so long united with his own, and in whose labours and glories 
 it is his happiness and his boast to have participated, the 
 commanding general can neither suppress his feelings, nor 
 give utterance to them as he ought. In what terms can he 
 bestow suitable praise on merit so extraordinary, so unparal 
 leled 1 Let him, in one burst of joy, gratitude, and exultation, 
 exclaim "These are the saviours of their country these 
 
156 LIFE OF JACKSON. [cHAP. 
 
 the patriot soldiers, who triumphed over the invincibles of 
 Wellington, and conquered the conquerors of Europe !" 
 With what patience did you submit to privations with what 
 fortitude did you endure fatigue what valour did you display 
 in the day of battle ! You have secured to America a proud 
 name among the nations of the earth a glory which will 
 never perish. 
 
 Possessing those dispositions which equally adorn the 
 citizen and the soldier, the expectations of your country will 
 be met in peace, as her wishes have been gratified in war. 
 Go, then, my brave companions, to your homes ; to those 
 tender connexions, and blissful scenes, which render life so 
 dear full of honour, and crowned with laurels which will 
 never fade. When participating in the bosoms of your fami 
 lies the enjoyment of peaceful life, with what happiness will 
 you not look back to the toils you have borne to the dangers 
 you have encountered 1 How will all your past exposures be 
 converted into sources of inexpressible delight ! Who, that 
 never experienced your sufferings, will be able to appreciate 
 your joys "! The man who slumbered ingloriously at home, 
 during your painful marches, your nights of watchfulness, and 
 your days of toil, will envy you the happiness which these 
 recollections will afford still more will he envy the gratitude 
 of that country which you have so eminently contributed to 
 save. 
 
 Continue, fellow-soldiers, on your passage to your several 
 destinations, to preserve that subordination, that dignified and 
 manly deportment which have so ennobled your character. 
 
 While the commanding general is thus giving indulgence 
 to his feelings towards those brave companions who accom 
 panied him through difficulties and danger, he cannot permit 
 the names of Blount, and Shelby, and Holmes, to pass un 
 noticed. With what generous ardour and patriotism have 
 these distinguished governors contributed all their exertions 
 to provide the means of victory ! The recollection of their 
 exertions, and of the success which has resulted, will be to 
 them a reward more grateful than any which the pomp of 
 title or the splendour of wealth can bestow. 
 
 What happiness it is to the commanding general, that, 
 while danger was before him, he was, on no occasion, com 
 pelled to use towards his companions in arms either severity 
 or rnbuke ! If, after the enemy had retired, improper passions 
 
V.] DEFENCE OF NEW-ORLEANS. 157 
 
 began their empire in a few unworthy bosoms, and rendered 
 a resort to energetic measures necessary for their suppression, 
 he has not confounded the innocent with the guilty the 
 seduced with the seducers. Towards you, fellow-soldiers, 
 the most cheering recollections exist ; blended, alas ! with 
 regret, that disease and war should have ravished from us so 
 many worthy companions. But the memory of the cause in 
 which they perished, and of the virtues which animated them 
 while living, must occupy the place where sorrow would 
 claim to dwell. 
 
 Farewell, fellow-soldiers. The expression of your gene 
 ral s thanks is feeble, but the gratitude of a country of free 
 men is yours : yours the applause of an admiring world. 
 ANDREW JACKSON, 
 
 Major- General commanding. 
 
 184. Let us now see the pretty story which the 
 government dressed up to gull the people of England 
 with. It will be remembered, that Packenham, and 
 Gibbs, and Keane had been killed, or put hors de 
 combat ; so that Lambert became the commander-in- 
 chief. Lambert sent home his despatch, though of 
 what date we were not told. Lambert s despatch 
 was never given to the public. What is called a 
 "bulletin" was dressed up, and published in the 
 London Gazette in the following words, on the 8th 
 of March, 1815: 
 
 BULLETIN. 
 
 War Department, March 8, 1815. 
 
 Captain Wylly arrived this morning with despatches from 
 Major-general Lambert, detailing the operations against the 
 enemy in the neighbourhood of New-Orleans. It appears 
 that the army, under the command of Major-general Keane, 
 >vas landed at the head of the Bayonne, in the vicinity of 
 New-Orleans, on the morning of the 23d December, without 
 opposition ; it was, however, attacked by the enemy in the 
 course of the night succeeding the landing, when, after an 
 obstinate contest, the enemy were repulsed at all points with 
 considerable loss. On the morning of the 25th, Sir E. 
 O 
 
158 LIFE OF JACKSON. [ciIAP. 
 
 Packenham arrived, and assumed the command of the army. 
 On the 27th, at daylight, the troops moved forward, driving 
 the enemy s pickets to within six miles of the town, when 
 the main body of the enemy was discovered posted behind a 
 breastwork, extending about one thousand yards, with the 
 right resting on the Mississippi, and the left on a thick wood. 
 The interval between the 27th December and the 8th Janu 
 ary was employed in preparations for an attack upon the 
 enemy s position. The attack which was intended to have 
 been made on the night of the 7th, did not, owing to the 
 difficulties experienced in the passage of the Mississippi, by 
 a corps under Lieutenant-colonel Thornton, which was des j 
 tined to act on the right bank of the river, take place til! 
 early on the morning of the 8th. The division to whom the 
 storming of the enemy s work was intrusted, moved to the 
 attack at that time, but being too soon discovered by the 
 enemy, were received with a galling and severe fire from all 
 parts of their line. Major-general Sir Edward Packenham r 
 who had placed himself at the head of the troops, was un 
 fortunately killed at the head of the glacis, and Major-gene 
 rals Gibbs and Keane were nearly at the same moment 
 wounded. The effect of this upon the troops caused a 
 hesitation in their advance, and though order was restored 
 by the advance of the reserve under Major-general Lambert,, 
 to whom the command of the army had devolved, and 
 Colonel Thornton had succeeded in the operation assigned to 
 him on the right bank of the river ; yet the major-general, 
 upon the consideration of the difficulties which yet remained 
 to be surmounted, did not think himself justified in ordering 
 a renewal of the attack. The troops, therefore, retired to the 
 position which they had occupied previous to the attack. In 
 that position they remained until the evening of the 18th, 
 when, the whole of the wounded, with the exception of eighty 
 (whom it was considered dangerous to remove), the field 
 artillery, and all the stores of every description, having been 
 embarked, the army retired to the head of the Bayonne, 
 where the landing had been originally effected, and re- 
 embarked without molestation. 
 
 18B. And this was all that the people of this duped 
 nation ever heard of the matter from first to last. 
 Bonaparte had landed at this time from Elba, and 
 
VI.] DEFENCE OF NEW -ORLEANS. 159 
 
 the battle of Waterloo soon succeeded ; and both 
 government and people were extremely glad to for 
 get all about this unmerciful beating in America. 
 This battle of New-Orleans broke the heart of 
 European despotism ; and the man who won it did, 
 in that one a ct, more for the good and the honour of 
 the human race, than ever was yet done by any other 
 man besides himself. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 FROM MARCH, 1815, TO FEBRUARY, 1834. 
 
 Becomes a senator in the congress of the United States, for the 
 state of Tennessee Is a candidate for the presidentship, 1824 
 Has the greatest number of votes, but is kept out by a trick of 
 Clay and Crawford Is chosen president m 1829 Declares 
 against a renewal of the bank charter Puts his veto on a bill to 
 renew the charter of the bank The bank forms a conspiracy 
 against his re-election He is re-elected in the fall of 1832 He 
 denounces the bank, exposes its corruption and bribery, takes 
 the deposites from the bank, and places them in the state banks 
 Publishes his reasons for doing this Person and character. 
 
 186. Once more Jackson returned to his farm at 
 Nashville ; but after all these exploits, after the ex 
 hibition of such talent, such inflexible resolution in 
 the performance of every thing which he deemed 
 for the honour and good of his country, it was im 
 possible that a sensible and grateful people should 
 be satisfied without seeing him in the occupation of 
 some important public post. He was soon, there 
 fore, again a member of the congress ; one of the 
 two senators for his own domestic state of Tennes 
 see. At the time when he returned home, Mr. 
 Madison was the president ; Monroe succeeded 
 Madison in 1816; and he continued in the office till 
 
160 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 1824. In 1824, a new president being to be chosen, 
 Jackson, popular with all but the envious few, and 
 the monopolizing paper-money many, was put in 
 nomination as a candidate for the presidentship ; and 
 he had more votes than any other candidate, yet he 
 was not chosen president. The English reader will 
 ask how this can be : it is thus. The law is, that 
 electors of the president shall be chosen by the peo 
 ple in every state; that these electors shall each 
 give his vote for some one person to be president ; 
 that any candidate who has a majority of the votes 
 of the whole of the electors shall be the president ; 
 but, if there be no one who has a majority of the 
 whole of the votes of the electors, then the presi 
 dent shall be chosen by the members of the House 
 of Representatives ; but that there they shall vote 
 by states ; and that each state shall have one vote and 
 no more. Now, there were four candidates having 
 votes of electors as follows : 
 
 Jackson ... 99 
 
 Adams .... 84 
 Crawford ... - 47 
 Clay .... 31 
 
 261 
 
 187. Therefore, Jackson not having a majority 
 of the whole, the other kind of election took place ; 
 and as they were the great states who were for 
 him, and the small states for Adams, the other 
 mode of election made Adams the president, though 
 with a minority of votes ! This was a vindictive 
 trick of Clay, who envied and hated Jackson. 
 Crawford and Clay appear to have stood forward 
 for the express purpose of gratifying their envy of 
 Jackson; and thus for four years they deprived the 
 people of the services of the man of their choice, 
 It is right to observe here on the sound judgment 
 of the American people, as most fully proved upon 
 this occasion. The president, though, as we have 
 
VI.j IS ELECTED PRESIDENT. 161 
 
 seen, a most able and beautiful writer, appears 
 never to have taken much part in the war of words. 
 Clay is, they say, one of the best speech-makers 
 in the world ; but the people did not want a speech- 
 maker ; they remembered that Washington was no 
 speech-maker ; they wanted a man of tried fidelity 
 and resolution; and, above all things, a man hostile 
 to the frauds of paper-money : they knew that they 
 had a hydra to destroy, and they wanted a Hercules 
 for a president. Mr. Ronaldson, of Philadelphia, a 
 most sensible, clear-sighted, and public-spirited 
 man, an essay from whose pen I myself published 
 in England pretty nearly twenty years ago, showing 
 that, if the paper-money were not put a stop to, it 
 must destroy the liberties of America ; this Mr. 
 Ronaldson, a native of Scotland, but settled from 
 his youth in Philidelphia, I saw at New- York in 
 1818 ; and he then again pressed upon me the 
 necessity of all good people combining against the 
 infamous paper-money. I do not know, and I never 
 have known a cleverer man than Mr. Ronaldson : I 
 have been informed by a gentleman from Philadel 
 phia, and now in England, that Mr. Ronaldson was 
 the first man in America to propose Jackson for 
 president ; that he called a meeting for the purpose 
 in Philadelphia ; and from that meeting the proposi 
 tion spread itself over the union. I have thought 
 it just towards Mr. Ronaldson to relate this fact : and 
 I thought it just to our cause also ; because the first 
 thought of the matterhaving emanated from the mind 
 of such a man, is an additional proof of the wisdom 
 of the choice made by the people. 
 
 188. Adams four years having expired, he tried 
 the thing again ; but the field was now clear of Clay 
 and of Crawford, who had got pretty well execrated 
 for their conduct at the preceding election ; and 
 now the votes of the electors stood thus : 
 
 Jackson - - 178 
 
 Adams - 83 
 
 Total - 261 
 
 02 
 
102 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 189. Now it was, and now it is, that he had, and 
 has, to overcome a more deadly enemy of his country 
 than either the British or the savages, namely, the 
 monster of paper money ! In the year 1816, a charter 
 had been granted by the government of the United 
 States, to make a Bank of the United States, as nearly 
 as possible like the Bank of England. This bank was 
 a great extension of the paper-money system which 
 had before existed. It was to receive as deposites 
 the taxes raised by the United States ; it was to pay 
 the dividends on the United States stock or debt ; 
 it was to make advances to the government, if ne 
 cessary ; in short, like the Bank of England, it was 
 to lend the people its notes, bottomed upon the 
 people s own money ; and it necessarily would 
 have, and it did have the power of raising and of 
 lowering prices at its pleasure ; and thus of enor 
 mously enriching the few at the expense of the in 
 dustrious many, and of producing all those other 
 terrible evils which by the time that Jackson be 
 came president, in 1829, had covered that once 
 happy country with misery. Jackson was too just 
 and too wise a man not to use all his lawful powers 
 for putting an end to this hellish system. He was no 
 sooner in possession of his office than he began to 
 take steps for this purpose. In his annual message, 
 delivered to the congress, in December, 1829, in De 
 cember, 1830, and in December, 1831, he expressed 
 his opinions very freely as to this matter, and those 
 opinions decidedly hostile to the bank and banking 
 system. In the session ofthe winter of 1832, the vil- 
 lanous paper-money people and their supporters laid a 
 scheme for ousting him from his presidentship, or for 
 compelling him to give up his hostility to the banks. 
 If he intended to be chosen again, next year was 
 the time for the election ; and, therefore, they thought 
 they would put him to the test, which they did by 
 bringing in, and passing through the two houses, a 
 bill for the renewal of the charter of the Bank of the 
 
VI.] WAR WITH THE BANK. 163 
 
 United States. This was wholly unnecessary, the 
 charter of the bank having four years yet unexpired; 
 but his re-election was coming on, and this was to 
 try him before that took place ; if he signed the act, 
 then it did not signify whether he were elected or 
 siot ; if he refused to sign it, then there was time 
 to defeat his election. 
 
 190. He knew all this as well as the vile paper- 
 nrioney crew knew it ; but when the bill reached him, 
 he instantly put his veto upon it, and told the two 
 houses that he never would put his hand to a charter 
 of the bank as long as he existed. This was at the 
 close of the session of 1832 ; and his re-election was 
 to come on in October of that same year. He told the 
 congress, that he clearly saw that this bill was ten 
 dered to him as the means of putting him to the test, 
 and of putting the people to the test too ; and in con 
 clusion of his reasons against signing the bill, he said, 
 " I have now done my duty to my country. If sus 
 tained by my fellow-citizens, I shall be grateful and 
 happy ; if not, I shall find in the motives which impel 
 me ample grounds for contentment and peace. The 
 re-election was to come, as has been just observed, 
 in October, and the bank and all its branches, and all 
 the bankers in the whole country, set to work to 
 defeat his re-election. The bank of the United 
 States made enormous issues of fresh paper, and 
 lent this paper to persons publishing newspapers, 
 and to writers and other persons connected with 
 the press, in order so to work as to prevent his re 
 election. These miscreants endeavoured to alarm 
 the people at the prospect of low prices and of general 
 bankruptcy and ruin ; and the watchword of the 
 election was, " Jackson and hard money" on one side, 
 and the " Bank and its supporters on the other side. 
 It appears that the bank had a very large part of 
 the newspaper press actually in its pay. Never 
 theless, the people decided for Jackson. He had, 
 upon this occasion, not three opponents, as before, 
 
164 LIFE OF JACKSON. [cHAP. 
 
 but one, namely, his bitter and envious enemy, Mr. 
 Clay, over whom he obtained a majority very great 
 indeed. He had the last time to contend with Adams, 
 who had none but the aristocratical party for him. 
 Clay was, therefore, chosen as his opponent this 
 time, it being supposed that the aristocratical party 
 would all vote for Clay, though he had always 
 been of the other party. Of the two it was thought 
 that they would prefer Clay ; and it was thought 
 that some of the democratic party, at any rate, 
 would vote for Clay. These calculations, though 
 rational enough, were thwarted by the event : all 
 the people knew that Jackson had declared against 
 the bank ; and, being of his opinion, they decided by 
 a great majority that the bank ought to cease. The 
 people chose Jackson ; and, by choosing him, they 
 decided in favour of hard money. When the Eng 
 lish reader is thus informed of the history of these 
 two elections, he will cease to be surprised at the 
 very long and admirably eloquent speeches of Mr. 
 Clay, against what he calls the " tyranny" 1 of the 
 " dictator 1 1 Jackson ; and he will cease to wonder, 
 that these very lengthy and most pathetic patriotic 
 harangues appear to produce no more effect upon 
 the American people, than is produced on them by 
 the squeaking of the frogs, the clamour of the kid- 
 dadids, or the whistling of the " ivhipper-wills." But 
 the delinquencies of these infamous bankers were 
 not to be tolerated any longer. The president had 
 determined not to renew the charter of this great 
 bank ; but it had too long a time to do mischief in ; 
 and he therefore resolved to pare its nails, f^he act 
 establishing the bank provided, that the public money 
 should be deposited in the bank, unless the secre 
 tary of the treasury should think proper to deposit it 
 at any other place, which he might do at any time, merely 
 informing the house of representatives that he had so 
 done : and, as this secretary is appointed by the 
 president himself, he will hardly, in such a case, act 
 
VI.] WAR WITH THE BANK. 165 
 
 contrary to his will. The president, therefore, 
 ordered the secretary of the treasury, or at least 
 induced him, to take the deposites from the great 
 bank, and place them in some of the state banks. 
 One secretary would not do this, and he was com 
 pelled to choose another that would do it. In jus 
 tification of a measure so decided, and of such vast 
 importance, the president exposed the corruption, 
 the bribery, the roguery indescribable, of this abomi 
 nable Bank of the United States ; and showed, that 
 neither law, nor constitution, nor private property, 
 nor public safety, could co-exist with this atrocious 
 institution. As a vehicle for these his accusations 
 against the bank, he published, on the 28th of Sep 
 tember, 1833, a letter, addressed by him to the sev 
 eral ministers of his cabinet. This letter, one of 
 the greatest acts of his whole wonderful life, I here 
 insert, as containing the history of the abominations 
 of this nefarious bank, and as containing the grounds 
 of all those proceedings of the president, which he 
 is now (March, 1834) pushing forward, and which 
 promise to deliver his country from the accursed 
 scourge of paper-money .* 
 
 Read to the Cabinet on the 18th of September, 1833. 
 
 A. Having carefully and anxiously considered all the facts 
 and arguments which have been submitted to him, relative 
 to a removal of the public deposites from the Bank of the 
 United States, the president deems it his duty to communi 
 cate in this manner to his cabinet the final conclusions 
 of his own mind, and the reasons on which they are founded, 
 in order to put them in a durable form, and to prevent mis 
 conceptions. 
 
 B. The president s convictions of the dangerous tenden 
 cies of the Bank of the United States, since signally illus 
 trated by its own acts, were so overpowering when he en 
 tered upon the duties of chief magistrate, that he felt it his 
 duty, notwithstanding the objections of the friends by whom 
 
166 LIFE OF JACKSON. [cHAP. 
 
 he was surrounded, to avail himself of the first occasion to 
 call the attention of congress and the people to the question 
 of its re-charter. The opinions expressed in his annual 
 message of December, 1829, were reiterated in those of De 
 cember, 1830 and 1831 ; and in that of 1830 he threw out 
 for consideration some suggestions in relation to a substitute. 
 At the session of 1831-2, an act was passed by a majority 
 of both houses of congress re-chartering the present bank, 
 upon which the president felt it his duty to put his consti 
 tutional veto. In his message returning that act he re 
 peated and enlarged upon the principles and views briefly 
 asserted in his annual messages, declaring the bank to be, 
 in his opinion, both inexpedient and unconstitutional, and an 
 nouncing to his countrymen, very unequivocally, his firm de 
 termination never to sanction, by his approval, the continu 
 ance of that institution, or the establishment of any other 
 upon similar principles. 
 
 C. There are strong reasons for believing that the motive 
 of the bank, in asking for a re-charter at that session of con 
 gress, was to make it a leading question in the election of a 
 president of the United States the ensuing November, and 
 all steps deemed necessary were taken to procure from the 
 people a reversal of the president s decision. 
 
 D. Although the charter was approaching its termination, 
 and the bank was aware that it was the intention of the 
 government to use the public deposites, as fast as they ac 
 crued, in the payment of the public debt, yet it did extend 
 its loans from January, 1831, to May, 1832, from 42,402,304 
 dollars to 70,428,070 dollars, being an increase of 28,025,766 
 dollars in sixteen months. It is confidently believed that the 
 leading object of this immense extension of its loans was to 
 bring as large a portion of the people as possible under its 
 power and influence ; and it has been disclosed that some 
 of the largest sums were granted on very unusual terms to 
 conductors of the public press. In some of these cases 
 the motive was made manifest by the nominal or insufficient 
 security taken for the loans, by the large amounts discounted, 
 by the extraordinary time allowed for payment, and espe 
 cially by the subsequent conduct of those receiving the ac 
 commodation. 
 
 E. Having taken these preliminary steps to obtain control 
 Over public opinion, the bank came into congress, and asked 
 
VI.] WAR WITH THE BANK. 16t 
 
 a new charter. The object avowed by many of the advocates 
 of the bank was to put the president to the test, that the country 
 might know his final determination relative to the bank, 
 prior to the ensuing election. Many documents and articles 
 were printed and circulated at the expense of the bank, to 
 bring the people to a favourable decision upon its preten 
 sions. Those whom the bank appears to have made its 
 debtors for the special occasion, were warned of the ruin 
 which awaited them should the president be sustained, and 
 attempts were made to alarm the whole people, by painting 
 the depression in the price of property and produce, and the 
 general loss, inconvenience, and distress which it was rep 
 resented would immediately follow the re-election of the 
 president in opposition to the bank. 
 
 F. Can it now be said that the question of a re-charter 
 of the bank was not decided at the election which ensued ] 
 Had the veto been equivocal, or had it not covered the 
 whole ground, if it had merely taken exceptions to the de 
 tails of the bill, or to the time of its passage, if it had not 
 met the whole ground of constitutionality and expediency, 
 then there might have been some plausibility for the allega 
 tion that the question was not decided by the people. It 
 was to compel the president to take his stand that the 
 question was brought forward at that particular time. He 
 met the challenge, willingly took the position into which his 
 adversaries sought to force him, and frankly declared his 
 unalterable opposition to the bank, as being both unconstitu 
 tional and inexpedient. On that ground the case was argued 
 to the people, and now that the people have sustained the 
 president, notwithstanding the array of influence and power 
 which was brought to bear upon him, it is too late, he confi 
 dently thinks, to say that the question has not been decided. 
 Whatever may be the opinion of others, the president con 
 siders his re-election as a decision of the people against the 
 bank. In the concluding paragraph of this veto message he 
 said 
 
 G. "I have now done my duty to my country. If sus 
 tained by my fellow-citizens, I shall be grateful and happy ; 
 if not, I shall find in the motives which impel me ample 
 grounds for contentment and peace." 
 
 He was sustained by a just people, and he desires to 
 evince his gratitude, by carrying into effect their decision, 
 so far as it depnnds upon him. 
 
168 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP, 
 
 H. Of all the substitutes for the present bank which have 
 been suggested, none seems to have united any considerable 
 portion of the public in its favour. Most of them are liable 
 to the same constitutional objections for which the present 
 bank has been condemned, and perhaps to all there are 
 strong objections on the score of expediency. In ridding 
 the country of the irresponsible power which has attempted 
 to control the government, care must be taken not to unite 
 the same power with the executive branch. To give a 
 president the control over the currency, and the power over 
 individuals now possessed by the Bank of the United States, 
 even with the material difference that he is responsible to 
 the people, would be as objectionable and as dangerous as 
 to leave it as it is. Neither the one nor the other is neces 
 sary, and therefore ought not to be resorted to. 
 
 I. On the whole, the president considers it as conclusively 
 settled that the charter of the Bank of the United State? 
 will not be renewed, and he has no reasonable ground to 
 believe that any substitute will be established. Being bound 
 to regulate his course by the laws as they exist, and not to 
 anticipate the interference of the legislative power, for the 
 purpose of framing new systems, it is proper for him season 
 ably to consider the means by which the services rendered 
 by the Bank of the United States are to be performed after 
 its charter shall expire. 
 
 K. The existing laws declare, that " the deposites of the 
 money of the United States in places in which the said bank 
 and branches thereof may be established, shall be made in 
 said bank or branches thereof, unless the secretary of the 
 treasury shall at any time otherwise order and direct, in which 
 case the secretary of the treasury shall immediately lay 
 before congress, if in session, and if not, immediately after the 
 commencement of the next session, the reason of such order 
 or direction." 
 
 L. The power of the secretary of the treasury over the 
 deposites is unqualified. The provision that he shall report 
 his reasons to congress is no limitation. Had it not been 
 inserted, he would have been responsible to congress had he 
 made a removal for any other than good reasons, and his re 
 sponsibility now ceases upon the rendition of sufficient ones 
 to congress. The only object of the provision is to make 
 
VI.] WAR WITH THE BANK. 169 
 
 his reasons accessible to congress, and enable that body 
 the more readily to judge of their soundness and purity, and 
 thereupon to make such further provision by law as the 
 legislative power may think proper in relation to the deposite 
 of the public money. Those reasons may be very diversi 
 fied. It was asserted by the secretary of the treasury, 
 without contradiction, as early as 1817, that he had power 
 " to control the proceedings" of the Bank of the United 
 States at any moment, " by changing the deposites to the 
 state banks, should it pursue an illiberal course towards 
 those institutions ;" that "the secretary of the treasury will 
 always be disposed to sxipport the credit of the state banks, 
 and will invariably direct transfers from the deposites of the 
 public money in aid of their legitimate exertions to maintain 
 their credit ;" and he asserted a right to employ the state 
 banks when the Bank of the United States should refuse to 
 receive on deposite the notes of such state banks as the 
 public interest required should be received in payment of the 
 public dues. In several instances he did transfer the public 
 deposites to state banks, in the immediate vicinity of branches, 
 for reasons connected only with the safety of those banks, 
 the public convenience, and the interests of the treasury. 
 
 M. If it was lawful for Mr. Crawford, the secretary of the 
 treasury at that time, to act on these principles, it will be difficult 
 to discover any sound reason against the application of simi 
 lar principles in still stronger cases. And it is a matter of 
 surprise that a power which, in the infancy of the bank, was 
 freely asserted as one of the ordinary and familiar duties of 
 the secretary of the treasury should now be gravely ques 
 tioned, and attempts made to excite and alarm the public 
 mind as if some new and unheard-of power was about to be 
 usurped by the executive branch of the government. 
 
 N. It is but a little more than two years and a half to the 
 termination of the charter of the present bank. It is con 
 sidered, as the decision of the country, that it shall then 
 cease to exist, and no man, the president believes, has rea 
 sonable ground for expectation that any other bank of the 
 United States will be created by congress. To the treasury 
 department is intrusted the safe keeping and faithful applica 
 tion of the public moneys. A plan of collection different from 
 the present must, therefore, be introduced and put in com 
 plete operation before the dissolution of the present bank. 
 P 
 
170 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP, 
 
 When shall it be commenced ! Shall no step be taken in 
 this essential concern until the charter expires, and the trea 
 sury finds itself without an agent, its accounts in confusion, 
 with no depository for its funds, and the whole business of the 
 government deranged 1 Or shall it be delayed until six 
 months, or a year, or two years, before the expiration of the 
 charter 1 It is obvious, that any new system which may be 
 substituted in the place of the Bank of the United States, 
 could not be suddenly carried into effect, on the termination 
 of its existence, without serious inconvenience to the govern 
 ment and the people. Its vast amount of notes is then to be 
 redeemed and withdrawn from circulation, and its immense 
 debt collected. These operations must be gradual, other 
 wise much suffering and distress will be brought upon the 
 community. It ought to be not a work of months only, but 
 of years, and the president thinks it cannot, with due atten 
 tion to the interests of the people, be longer postponed. It is 
 safer to begin it too soon than to delay it too long. 
 
 O. It is for the wisdom of congress to decide upon the best 
 substitute to be adopted in the place of the Bank of the Uni 
 ted States ; and the president would have felt himself re 
 lieved from a heavy and painful responsibility if, in the charter 
 to the bank, congress had reserved to itself the power of di 
 recting, at its pleasure, the public money to be elsewhere de 
 posited, and had not devolved that power exclusively on one 
 of the executive departments. It is useless now to inquire 
 why this high and important power was surrendered by those 
 who are peculiarly and appropriately the guardians of the 
 public money. Perhaps it was an oversight. But as the 
 president presumes that the charter to the bank is to be con 
 sidered as a contract on the part of the government, it is not 
 now in the power of congress to disregard its stipulations ; 
 and by the terms of that contract the public money is to be 
 deposited in the bank during the continuance of its charter, 
 unless the secretary of the treasury shall otherwise direct. 
 Unless, therefore, the secretary of the treasury first acts, 
 congress have no power over the subject, for they cannot add 
 a new clause to the charter, or strike one out of it, without 
 the consent of the bank ; and consequently the public money 
 must remain in that institution to the last hour of its exist 
 ence, unless the secretary of the treasury shall remove it at 
 an earlier day. The responsibility is thus thrown upon the 
 
VI."] WAR WITH THE BANK. 171 
 
 executive branch of the government, of deciding how long 
 before the expiration of the charter the public interests will 
 require the deposites to be placed elsewhere ; and although, 
 according to the frame and principle of our government, this 
 decision would seem more properly to belong to the legisla 
 tive power, yet, as the law has imposed it upon the executive 
 department, the duty ought to be faithfully and firmly met, 
 and the decision made and executed upon the best lights that 
 can be obtained, and the best judgment that can be formed. 
 It would ill become the executive branch of the government 
 to shrink from any duty which the law imposes on it, to fix 
 upon others the responsibility which justly belongs, to itself. 
 
 P. And while the president anxiously wishes to abstain 
 from the exercise of doubtful powers, and to avoid all inter 
 ference with the rights and duties of others, he must yet, 
 with unshaken constancy, discharge his own obligations : and 
 cannot allow himself to turn aside, in order to avoid any re 
 sponsibility which the high trust with which he has been hon 
 oured requires him to encounter ; and it being the duty of 
 one of the executive departments to decide, in the first in 
 stance, subject to the future action of the legislative power, 
 whether the public deposites shall remain in the Bank of the 
 United States until the end of its existence, or be withdrawn 
 some time before, the president has felt himself bound to ex 
 amine the question carefully and deliberately, in order to 
 make up his judgment on the subject ; and in his opinion the 
 near approach of the termination of the charter, and the public 
 considerations heretofore mentioned, are of themselves amply 
 sufficient to justify the removal of the deposites without refer 
 ence to the conduct of the bank, or their safety in its keep 
 ing. 
 
 Q. But in the conduct of the bank may be found other rea 
 sons very imperative in their character, and which require 
 prompt action. Developments have been made from time to 
 time of its faithlessness as a public agent, its misapplication 
 of public funds, its interference in elections, its efforts by the 
 machinery of committees to deprive the government directors 
 of a full knowledge of its concerns, and above all, its flagrant 
 misconduct as recently and unexpectedly disclosed in pla 
 cing all the funds of the bank, including the money of the 
 government, at the disposition of the president of the bank, 
 a,s means of operating upon public opinion and procuring a 
 
172 LIFE OF JACKSON. [cHAP. 
 
 new charter, without requiring him to render a voucher for 
 their disbursement. A brief recapitulation of the facts which 
 justify these charges and which have come to the knowledge 
 of the public and the president will, he thinks, remove every 
 reasonable doubt as to the course which it is now the duty of 
 the president to pursue. 
 
 R. We nave seen, that in sixteen months, ending in May, 
 1833, the bank had extended its loans more than 28,000,000 
 dollars, although it knew the government intended to appro 
 priate most of its large deposit es during that year in payment 
 of the public debt. It was in May, 1832, that its loans arrived 
 at the maximum, and in the preceding March, so sensible was 
 the bank that it would not be able to pay over the public de- 
 posites when it would be required by the government, that it 
 commenced a secret negotiation, without the approbation or 
 knowledge of the government, with the agents, for about 
 2,700,000 dollars of the 3 per cent, stocks held in Holland, 
 with a view of inducing them not to come forward for pay 
 ment for one or more years after notice should be given by 
 the treasury department. This arrangement would have 
 enabled the bank to keep and use during that time the pub 
 lic money set apart for the payment of these stocks. 
 
 S. After this negotiation had commenced, the secretary of 
 the treasury informed the bank that it was his intention to 
 pay off one-half of the 3 per cents, on the 1st of the succeed 
 ing July, which amounted to about 6,500,000 dollars. The 
 president of the bank, although the committee of investi 
 gation was then looking into its affairs at Philadelphia, came 
 immediately to Washington, and upon representing that the 
 bank was desirous of accommodating the importing merchants 
 at New-York (which it failed to do), and undertaking to pay 
 the interest itself, procured the consent of the secretary, after 
 consulting with the president, to postpone the payment until 
 the succeeding 1st of October. 
 
 T. Conscious that at the end of that quarter the bank 
 would not be able to pay over the deposites, and that further 
 indulgence was not to be expected of the government, an 
 agent was despatched to England, secretly to negotiate with 
 the holders of the public debt in Europe, and induce them, by 
 the offer of an equal or higher interest than that paid by the 
 government, to hold back their claims for one year, during 
 which the bank expected thus to retain the use of 5,000,000 
 
VI.] WAR WITH THE BANK. 173 
 
 dollars of public money, which the government should set 
 ftpart for the payment of that debt. The agent made an 
 arrangement on terms, in part, which were in direct violation 
 of the charter of the bank, and when some incidents con 
 nected with this secret negotiation accidentally came to the 
 knowledge of the public and the government, then, and not 
 before, so much of it as was palpably in violation of the char 
 ter was disavowed ! A modification of the rest was attempted, 
 with the view of getting the certificates without payment of 
 the money, and thus absolving the government from its 
 liability to the holders. In this scheme the bank was par 
 tially successful, but to this day the certificates of a portion 
 of these stocks have not been paid, and the bank retains the 
 use of the money. 
 
 U. This effort to thwart the government in the payment 
 of the public debt, that it might retain the public money to be 
 used for their private interests, palliated by pretences notori 
 ously unfounded and insincere, would have justified the 
 instant withdrawal of the public deposites. The negotiation 
 itself rendered doubtful the ability of the bank to meet the 
 demands of the treasury, and the misrepresentations by 
 which it was attempted to be justified, proved that no reliance 
 could be placed upon its allegations. 
 
 V. If the question of the removal of the deposites presented 
 itself to the executive in the same attitude that it appeared 
 before the house of representatives at their last session, 
 their resolution in relation to the safety of the deposites would 
 be entitled to more weight, although the decision of the ques 
 tion of removal has been confided by law to another depart 
 ment of the government. But the question now occurs, 
 attended by other circumstances and new disclosures of the 
 most serious import. It is true that in the message of the 
 president, which produced this inquiry and resolution on the 
 part of the house of representatives, it was his object to 
 obtain the aid of that body in making a thorough examination 
 into the conduct and condition of the bank and its branches, 
 in order to enable the executive department to decide whether 
 the public money was longer safe in its hands. The limited 
 power of the secretary of the treasury over the subject dis 
 abled him from making the investigation as fully and satis 
 factorily as it could be done by a committee of the house of 
 representatives, and hence the president desired the assist- 
 P2 
 
174 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 ance of congress to obtain for the treasury department a full 
 knowledge of all the facts which were necessary to guide his 
 judgment. But it was not his purpose, as the language of 
 his message will show, to ask the representatives of the peo 
 ple to assume a responsibility which did not belong to them, 
 and relieve the executive branch of the government from the 
 duty which the law had imposed upon it. It is due to the 
 president that his object in that proceeding should be dis 
 tinctly understood, and that he should acquit himself of all 
 suspicion of seeking to escape from the performance of his 
 own duties, or of desiring to interpose another body between 
 himself and the people, in order to avoid a measure which he 
 is called upon to meet. But although, as an act of justice 
 to himself, he disclaims any design of soliciting the opinion 
 of the house of representatives in relation to his own 
 duties, in order to shelter himself from the responsibility under 
 the sanction of their counsel, yet he is at all times ready to 
 listen to the suggestions of the representatives of the people, 
 whether given voluntarily or upon solicitation, and to con 
 sider them with the profound respect to which all will admit 
 they are justly entitled. Whatever may be the consequences, 
 however, to himself, he must finally form his own judgment 
 where the constitution and the law make it his duty to decide, 
 and must act accordingly ; and he is bound to suppose that 
 such a course on his part will never be regarded by that ele 
 vated body as a mark of disrespect to itself, but that they 
 will, -on the contrary, esteem it the strongest evidence he can 
 give of his fixed resolution conscientiously to discharge his 
 duty to them and the country. 
 
 \V. A new -state of things has, however, arisen since the 
 close of the last session of congress, and evidence has since 
 been laid before the president, which he is persuaded would 
 have led the house of representatives to a different con 
 clusion, if it had come to their knowledge. The fact that 
 the bank controls, and in some cases substantially owns, and 
 by its money supports some of the leading presses of the 
 country, is now more clearly established. Editors to whom 
 it loaned extravagant sums in 1831 and 1832, on unusual 
 time and nominal security, have since turned out to be in 
 solvents ; and to others, apparently in no better condition, 
 accommodations still more extravagant, on terms more ua- 
 
VI.] WAR WITH THE BANK. 175 
 
 usual, and sometimes without any security, have also been 
 heedlessly granted. 
 
 X. The allegation which has so often circulated through 
 these channels, that the treasury was bankrupt, and the 
 bank were sustaining it, when for many years there has not 
 been less on an average than six millions of public money in 
 that institution, might be passed over as a harmless mis 
 representation ; but when it is attempted by substantial acts 
 to impair the credit of the government, and tarnish the 
 honour of the country, such charges require more serious 
 attention. With six millions of public money in its vaults, 
 after having had the use of from five to twelve millions for 
 nine years, without interest, it became the purchaser of a bill 
 drawn by our government on that of France for about 
 900,000 dollars, being the first instalment of the French 
 indemnity. The purchase-money was left in the use of the 
 bank, being simply added to the treasury deposites. The 
 bank sold the bill in England, and the holder sent it to France 
 for collection, and arrangements not having been made by 
 the French government for its payment, it was taken up by 
 the agents of the bank in Paris with the funds of the bank 
 in their hands. Under these circumstances it has, through 
 its organs, openly assailed the credit of the government ; 
 and has actually made, and persists in a demand of 15 per 
 cent., or 15,884,277 dollars as damages, when no damage or 
 none beyond some trifling expense, has in fact been sus 
 tained ; and when the bank had in its own possession in 
 deposite several millions of the public money, which it was 
 then using for its own profit. Is a fiscal agent of the 
 government, which thus seeks to enrich itself at the expense 
 of the public, worthy of further trust 1 
 
 Y. There are other important facts not in the contempla 
 tion of the house of representatives, or not known to the 
 members at the time they voted for the resolution. 
 
 Z. Although the charter and the rules of the bank both 
 declared that " not less than seven directors" shall be neces 
 sary to the transaction of business, yet the most important 
 business, even that of granting discounts to any extent, is in 
 trusted to a committee of five members, who do not report to 
 the board. 
 
 a. To cut off all means of communication with the gov 
 ernment in relation to its own most important acts, at the 
 
176 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 commencement of the prese.nt year, not one of the govern 
 ment directors was placed >n any one committee ; and al 
 though since, by an unusual remodelling of those bodies, 
 some of those directors have been placed on some of the 
 committees, they are yet entirely excluded from the com 
 mittee of exchange, through which the greatest and most ob 
 jectionable loans have been made. 
 
 b. When the government directors made an effort to bring 
 back the business of the bank to the board, in obedience to 
 the charter and the existing regulations, the board not only 
 overruled their attempt, but altered the rule, so as to make 
 it conform to the practice, in direct violation of one of the 
 most important provisions of the charter which gave them 
 existence. 
 
 c. It has long been known that the president of the bank 
 by his single will originates and executes many of the most 
 important measures connected with the management and 
 credit of the bank ; and that the committee, as well as the 
 board of directors, are left in entire ignorance of many acts 
 done, and correspondence carried on, in their name, and ap 
 parently under their authority. The fact has been recently 
 disclosed, that an unlimited discretion has been, and is now, 
 vested in the president of the bank, to expend its funds in 
 payment for preparing and circulating articles, and purcha 
 sing pamphlets and newspapers, calculated by their contents 
 to operate on elections, and secure a renewal of its charter. 
 It appears from the official report of the public directors, that 
 on the 30th of November, 1830, the president submitted to 
 the board an article published in the American Quarterly Re 
 view, containing favourable notices of the bank, and suggest 
 ing the expediency of giving it a wider circulation at the ex 
 pense of the bank ; whereupon the board passed the follow 
 ing resolution, viz :- 
 
 d. " Resolved, That the president be authorized to take 
 euch measures in regard to the circulation of the contents of 
 the said article, either in whole or in part, as he may deem 
 most for the interest of the bank." 
 
 e. By an entry of the minutes of the bank, dated March 
 the llth, 1831, it appears that the president had not only 
 caused a large edition of that article to be issued, but had 
 also, before the resolution of the 30th of November was 
 adopted, procured to be printed and widely circulated nu 
 
VI.] WAR WITH THE BANK. 177 
 
 merous copies of the reports of General Smith and Mr. 
 M Duffle in favour of the bank, and on that day he suggested 
 the expediency of extending his power to the printing of other 
 articles which might subserve the purposes of the institu 
 tion. Whereupon the following resolution was adopted, 
 viz : 
 
 f. " Resolved, That the president is hereby authorized to 
 cause to be prepared and circulated such documents and 
 papers as may communicate to the people information in re 
 gard to the nature and operations of the bank." 
 
 g. The expenditure purporting to have been made under 
 authority of these resolutions, during the years 1831 and 
 1832, were about 80,000 dollars. For a portion of these 
 expenditures vouchers were rendered, from which it appears 
 that they were incurred in the purchase of some hundred 
 thousand copies of newspapers, reports of, and speeches 
 made in congress, reviews of the veto message, and reviews 
 of speeches against the bank, &c. For another large portion 
 no vouchers whatever were rendered, but the various sums 
 were paid on orders of the president of the bank, making 
 reference to the resolutions of the llth of March, 1831. 
 
 h. On ascertaining these facts, and perceiving that ex 
 penditures of a similar character were still continued, the 
 government directors a few weeks ago offered a resolution 
 to the board calling for a specific account of these expendi 
 tures, showing the objects to which they had been applied, 
 and the persons to whom the money had been paid. This 
 reasonable proposition was voted down. 
 
 i. They also offered a resolution, rescinding the resolutions 
 of November, 1830, and March, 1831. This was also re 
 jected. 
 
 j. Not content with thus refusing to recall the obnoxious 
 power, or even to require such an account of the expendi 
 ture as would show whether the money of the bank had, in 
 fact, been applied to the objects contemplated by those reso 
 lutions, as obnoxious as they were, the board renewed the 
 power already conferred, and even enjoined renewed atten 
 tion to its exercise, by adopting the following in lieu of the 
 proposition submitted by the government directors : 
 
 k. " Resolved, That the board have confidence in the 
 wisdom and integrity of the president, and in the propriety 
 of the resolutions of the 30th of November, 1830, and the 
 
178 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 llth of March, 1831, and entertain a full conviction of the 
 necessity of a renewed attention to the object of those 
 resolutions, and that the president be authorized and re 
 quested to continue his exertions for the promotion of the 
 said object." 
 
 1. Taken in connection with the nature of the expenditures 
 heretofore made, as recently disclosed, which the board not 
 only tolerate but approve, this resolution puts the funds of the 
 bank at the disposition of the president, for the purpose of 
 employing the whole, press of the country in the service 
 of the bank, to hire writers and newspapers, and to pay out 
 such sums as he pleases, to what persons and for what ser 
 vices he pleases, without the responsibility of rendering 
 any specific account. The bank is thus converted into a 
 vast electioneering engine, with means to embroil the coun 
 try in deadly feuds, and, under cover of expenditures in 
 themselves improper, extend its corruption through all the 
 ramifications of society. 
 
 m. Some of the items for which accounts have been ren 
 dered, show the construction which has been given to the 
 resolutions, and the way in which the power it confers has 
 been exerted. The money has not been expended merely 
 in the publication and distribution of speeches, reports of 
 committees, and of articles written for the purpose of show 
 ing the constitutionality or usefulness of the bank. Publi 
 cations have been prepared and extensively circulated, con 
 taining the grossest invectives against the officers of the 
 government ; and the money which belongs to the stock 
 holders and to the public has been freely applied in efforts 
 to degrade in public estimation those who were supposed to 
 be instrumental in resisting the wishes of this grasping and 
 dangerous institution. As the president of the bank has 
 not been required to settle his accounts, no one but himself 
 yet knows how much more than the sum already mentioned 
 may have been squandered, and for which a credit may 
 hereafter be claimed in his account, under this most extra 
 ordinary resolution. With these facts before us, can we be 
 surprised at the torrent of abuse incessantly poured out 
 against all who are supposed to stand in the way of the 
 cupidity or ambition of the Bank of the United States 1 
 Can we be surprised at sudden and unexpected changes of 
 opinion in favour of an institution which has millions to 
 
VI. WAR WITH THE BANK. 179 
 
 lavish, and avows its determination not to spare its means 
 when they are necessary to accomplish its purposes 1 The 
 refusal to render an account of the manner in which a part 
 of the money expended has been applied, gives just cause 
 for the suspicion that it has been used for purposes which it 
 is not deemed prudent to expose to the eyes of an intelligent 
 and virtuous people. Those who act justly do not shun the 
 light, nor do they refuse explanations when the propriety of 
 their conduct is brought into question. 
 
 n. With these facts before him, in an official report from 
 the government directors, the president would feel that he 
 is not only responsible for all the abuses and corruptions the 
 bank has committed, or may commit, but almost an accom 
 plice in a conspiracy against that government which he had 
 sworn honestly to administer, if he did not take every step 
 within his constitutional and legal power, likely to be effi 
 cient in putting an end to these enormities. If it be possible, 
 within the scope of human affairs, to find a reason for re 
 moving the government deposites, and leaving the bank to its 
 own resources for the means of effecting its criminal designs, 
 we have it here. Was it expected, when the moneys of the 
 United States were directed to be placed in that bank, that 
 they would be put under the control of one man, empowered to 
 spend millions without rendering a voucher or specifying 
 the object 1 Can they be considered safe, with the evidence 
 before us, that tens of thousands have been spent for highly 
 improper, if not corrupt purposes, and that the same motive 
 may lead to the expenditure of hundreds of thousands, and 
 even millions more 1 And can we justify ourselves to the 
 people by longer lending to it the money and power of the 
 government, to be employed for such purposes 1 
 
 o. It has been alleged by some as an objection to the re 
 moval of the deposites, that the bank has the power, and in 
 that event will have the disposition, to destroy the state 
 banks employed by the government, and bring distress upon 
 the country. It has been the fortune of the president to en 
 counter dangers which were represented as equally alarming, 
 and he has seen them vanish before resolution and energy. 
 Pictures equally appalling were paraded before him when 
 this bank came to demand a new charter. But what was 
 the result 1 Has the country been ruined, or even dis- 
 
180 LIFE OF JACKSON. [uHAP. 
 
 tressed 1 Was it ever more prosperous than since that act ? 
 The president verily believes the bank has not the power ta 
 produce the calamities its friends threaten. The funds 
 of the government will not be annihilated by being trans 
 ferred ; they will immediately be issued for the benefit of 
 trade, and if the Bank of the United States curtails its loans , 
 the state banks, strengthened by the public deposites, will 
 extend theirs. What comes in through one bank will go 
 out through others, and the equilibrium will be preserved. 
 Should the bank, for the mere purpose of producing distress, 
 press its debtors more heavily than some of them can bear, 
 the consequences will recoil upon itself, and in the attempts 
 to embarrass the country, it will only bring loss and ruin 
 upon the holders of its own stock. But if the president be 
 lieved the bank possessed all the power which has been at 
 tributed to it, his determination would only be rendered the 
 more inflexible. If, indeed, this corporation now holds in 
 its hands the happiness and prosperity of the American 
 people, it is high time to take the alarm. If the despotism 
 be already upon us, and our only safety is in the mercy 
 of the despot, recent developments in relation to his designs 
 and the means he employs show how necessary it is to 
 shake it off. The struggle can never come with less distress 
 to the people, or under more favourable auspices, than at the 
 present moment. 
 
 p. All doubt as to the willingness of the state banks to 
 undertake the service of the government, to the same extent, 
 and on the same terms, as it is now performed by the Bank 
 of the United States, is put to rest by the report of the agent 
 recently employed to collect information ; and from that 
 willingness their own safety in the operation may be confi 
 dently inferred. Knowing their own resources better than 
 they can be known by others, it is not to be supposed that 
 they would be willing to place themselves in a situ tion which 
 they cannot occupy without danger of annihilation or em 
 barrassment. The only consideration applies to the safety 
 of the public funds, if deposited in those institutions. And 
 when it is seen that the directors of many of them are not 
 only willing to pledge the character and capital of the corpo 
 rations in giving success to this measure, but also their own 
 property and reputation, we cannot doubt that they, at least, 
 believe the public depbsites would be safe in their manage- 
 
VI.] WAR WITH THE BANK. 181 
 
 ment. The president thinks that these facts and circum 
 stances afford as strong a guarantee as can be had in human 
 affairs for the safety of the public funds, and the practica 
 bility of a new system of collection and disbursement through 
 the agency of the state banks. 
 
 q. From all these considerations, the president thinks that 
 the state banks ought immediately to be employed in the 
 collection and disbursement of the public revenue, and the 
 funds now in the Bank of the United States drawn out with 
 all convenient despatch. The safety of the public moneys, 
 if deposited in the state banks, must be secured beyond all 
 reasonable doubts ; but the extent and nature of the security, 
 in addition to their capital, if any be deemed necessary, is a 
 subject of detail to which the treasury department will un 
 doubtedly give its anxious attention. The banks to be em 
 ployed must remit the moneys of the government without 
 charge, as the Bank of the United States now does ; must 
 render all the services which that bank now performs ; must 
 keep the government advised of their situation by periodical 
 returns ; in fine, with any arrangement with the state banks, 
 the government must not, in any respect, be placed on a 
 worse footing than it now is. The president is happy to 
 perceive, by the report of the agent, that the banks which 
 he has consulted have in general consented to perform the 
 service on these terms, and that those in New- York have 
 further agreed to make payments in London without other 
 charge than the m<n-e cost of the bills of exchange. 
 
 r. It should also be enjoined on any banks which may be 
 employed, that it will be expected of them to facilitate do 
 mestic exchanges for the benefit of internal commerce ; to 
 grant all reasonable facilities to the payers of the revenue ; 
 to exercise the utmost liberality towards the other state 
 banks ; and to do nothing uselessly to embarrass the Bank 
 of the United States. 
 
 s. As one of the most serious objections to the Bank of the 
 United States is the power which it concentrates, care must 
 be taken, in finding other agents for the service of the trea 
 sury, not to raise up another power equally formidable. Al 
 though it would probably be impossible to produce such a re 
 sult by any organization of the state banks which could be de 
 vised, yet it is desirable to avoid even the appearance. To thia 
 f nd ii would be expedient to assumeno more po\v*r over them, 
 Q 
 
182 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 and interfere no more in their affairs than might be absolutely 
 necessary to the security of the public deposites, and the 
 faithful performance of their duties as agents to the trea 
 sury. Any interference by them in the political contests of 
 the country, with a view to influence elections, ought, in 
 the opinion of the president, to be followed by an immediate 
 discharge from the public service. 
 
 t. It is the desire of the president that the control of the 
 banks and the currency shall, as far as possible, be entirely 
 separated from the political power of the country, as well as 
 wrested from an institution which has already attempted to 
 subject the government to its will. In his opinion, the action 
 of the general government on this subject ought not to 
 extend beyond the grant in the constitution, which only 
 authorizes congress "to coin money and regulate the value 
 thereof ;" all else belongs to the states and the people, and 
 must be regulated by public opinion and the interests of 
 trade. 
 
 u. In conclusion, the president must be permitted to re 
 mark that he looks upon the pending question as of higher 
 consideration than the mere transfer of a sum of money from 
 one bank to another. Its decision may affect the character 
 of our government .for ages to corne. Should the bank be 
 suffered longer to use the public moneys in the accomplish 
 ment of its purposes, with the proofs of its faithlessness and 
 corruption before cur eyes, the patriotic among our citizens 
 will despair of success in struggling against its power, and 
 we shall be responsible for entailing it upon our country for 
 ever. Viewing it as a question of transcendent importance, 
 both in the principles and consequences it involves, the 
 president could not, in justice to the responsibility which he 
 owes to the country, refrain from pressing upon the secre 
 tary of the treasury his view of the considerations which 
 impel to immediate action. Upon him has been devolved, by 
 the constitution and the suffrages of the American people, the 
 duty of superintending the operation of the executive depart 
 ments of the government, and seeing that the laws are faith 
 fully executed. 
 
 v. In the performance of this high trust, it is his undoubted 
 right to express to those whom the laws and his own choice 
 have made his associates in the administration of the govern 
 ment, his opinion of their duties, under circumstances as thry 
 
VI.] WAR WITH THE BANK. 183 
 
 arise. It is this right which he now exercises. Far be it 
 from him to expect or require that any member of the cabinet 
 should, at his request, order, or dictation, do any act which 
 he believes unlawful, or in his conscience condemns. From 
 them, and from his fellow-citizens in general, he desires only 
 that aid and support which their reason approves and their 
 conscience sanctions. 
 
 w. In the remarks he has made on this all-important ques 
 tion, he trusts the secretary of the treasury will see only 
 the frank and respectful declarations of the opinions which 
 the president has formed on a measure of great national 
 interest deeply affecting the character and usefulness of his 
 administration ; and not a spirit of dictation, which the 
 president would be as careful to avoid as ready to resist. 
 Happy will he be if the facts now disclosed produce uni 
 formity of opinion and unity of action among the members 
 of the administration. 
 
 x. The president again repeats, that he begs his cabinet 
 to consider the proposed measure as his own, in the support 
 of which he shall require no one of them to make a sacrifice 
 of opinion or principle. Its responsibility has been assumed, 
 after the most mature deliberation and reflection, as necessary 
 to preserve the morals of the people, the freedom of the press, 
 and the purity of the elective franchise, without which all will 
 unite in saying that the blood and treasure expended by our 
 forefathers in the establishment of our happy system of 
 government, will have been vain and fruitless. Under these 
 convictions, he feels that a measure so important to the 
 American people cannot be commenced too soon, and he 
 therefore names the 1st day of October next as a period proper 
 for the change of the deposites, or sooner, provided the neces 
 sary arrangements with the state banks can be made. 
 
 ANDREW JACKSON, 
 
 191. When the Congress met in November, 1833, 
 he announced to them his determination to pursue 
 the course marked out in this letter to his cabinet. 
 Every one knew the effect that that course must 
 produce. The Bank of the United States had in cir 
 culation notes to the amount of nearly 70,428,070 
 dollars ; for it had, as we see in the cabinet letter, 
 
184 LIFE OF JACKSON. | CHAP. 
 
 extended its issues by 28 millions of dollars, in ad 
 dition to what it had out before it prepared for the 
 struggle against the president. Before that, it had 
 out notes to the amount of 43,402,304 dollars. Be 
 tween January, 1831, and May, 1832, it put out an ad 
 ditional 28,025,776 dollars, though the bank had been 
 apprized that it was the intention of the government 
 to apply the deposites as fast as possible to clear off 
 the remainder of the public debt. This additional 
 28,000,000 were applied to the hiring of newspapers 
 by the means of discounts ; s to the bribing of needy 
 men in every direction ; and to the giving of extra 
 ordinary time for the payment of the notes lent for 
 this nefarious purpose. The parties thus borrowing 
 of the bank saw ruin staring them in the face if the 
 charter were not renewed ; and this made them in 
 trigue and work in all sorts of ways, to prevent the 
 re-election of the president, because if he were re- 
 elected the charter would not be renewed. If, how 
 ever, the president were elected, perilous indeed 
 was the state of the bank ; for, with its immense 
 issues, it would be utterly unable to give up the de 
 posites to enable the nation to pay off its debt. By 
 a reference to paragraphs r, s, t, and u, of the letter, 
 the reader will see the nature of the nefarious tran 
 saction which the bank resorted to in conjunction 
 with its allies in England ; and he will see how ne 
 cessary it was, even for the support of the independ 
 ence of the country, that a man like this should be 
 placed at the head of its affairs. 
 
 192. It will be easily imagined, that the re-elec 
 tion of the president (in the fall of 1832), which, let 
 it be observed, expressed decidedly the opinion of 
 the people in support of his views as to the bank ; 
 it will be easily imagined what confusion this must 
 have created in the camp of the paper-money ma 
 kers. That confusion extended itself into every 
 part of the union instantly : for that system of 
 having " branch banks," which has been imitated by 
 
VI.] WAR WITH THE BANK, 185 
 
 our big bank in England, had placed the whole 
 country under the command of the big bank in 
 America. The strife at the election was prodigious ; 
 but the industrious part of the community, long op 
 pressed by the crafty robbery of the banks, had the 
 sense to perceive, that to be delivered from this 
 worst of tyranny they must stand by the president ; 
 they had the virtue to stand by him, and their efforts 
 were crowned with success. 
 
 193. At the time appointed by himself, he re 
 moved the deposites from the bank ; that is to say, 
 in the month of October, 1833 ; the bank was com 
 pelled to draw in its issues ; compelled to withhold 
 its discounts ; its branches were compelled to do the 
 same ; and the consequence has been, bankruptcies 
 all over the country ; a tremenduous bursting of the 
 bubble, a return, in great part already, to hard mo 
 ney; a sweeping away of banks, bankers, and 
 clerks ; a cessation of the robbery of the indus 
 trious, and of sustaining innumerable idlers upon the 
 fruit of their toil. Our intelligence comes down to 
 the 16th of February, 1834, at which time numerous 
 deputations and delegations of merchants, of manu 
 facturers, of master mechanics, had been to the presi 
 dent to supplicate a relaxation of his determination 
 and proceedings. To all he has given the uniform 
 answer, that the happiness of his country, the preser 
 vation of its constitution and its liberties, its indepen 
 dence of foreign nations, command him to persevere ; 
 and that to persevere he is determined, and that 
 nothing upon earth shall make him alter that deter 
 mination. 
 
 194. In England it was said, and generally be 
 lieved, from the month of November last until very 
 recently (March, 1834), that he would be induced or 
 compelled to yield. Knowing the monster with 
 which he had to contend, I myself had fears upon 
 the subject ; but I had not then read that account of 
 his life which I now have read ; and an abridgment 
 
186 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP, 
 
 and remoulding of which I now submit to my own 
 countrymen. If I had read that life before, I should 
 have had no fear at all ; and by whomsoever that life 
 shall be read, not a shadow of doubt can be enter 
 tained that the president will never cease his efforts 
 till he has totally suppressed that fraudulent, that 
 robbing, that accursed paper-money, which has 
 steeped England in her present troubles, and her 
 more than half revolution, and which would, in a 
 short time, in a very few years, have compelled the 
 United States to resort to another revolution, or to 
 have abandoned and levelled with the earth every 
 institution and every law which have been made for 
 the purpose of preserving the independence and the 
 liberties of the country. 
 
 PERSON AND CHARACTER OF THE 
 PRESIDENT. 
 
 195. We are naturally curious to know something 
 about the mere person of a man who has performed 
 such wonderful exploits. Philosophers may say 
 what they will about the man consisting solely of 
 the mind. Human nature will not have it so. It 
 will, in spite of philosophers, give a good deal of 
 weight to the person by whom a thing is done. 
 Jackson has this advantage also. His friend and 
 brother senator, and neighbour, Mr. Eaton, tells us, 
 that he has nothing of the robust or the elegant ; 
 that he is six feet and an inch high ; that he is re 
 markably straight and spare ; that he weighs not 
 more than a hundred and forty-five pounds (what a 
 poor thing compared to our George the Fourth !) ; 
 that his conformation appears to disqualify him for 
 hardship ; that, however, accustomed to it from early 
 life, few are capable of enduring so much fatigue, or 
 with so little injury ; that his dark-blue eyes, beneath 
 his high and broad forehead, and loaded with brows 
 somewhat heavy, when excited by any cause, sparkle 
 
VI.] POSTSCRIPT. 187 
 
 with peculiar lustre of penetration ; that in his 
 manners he is pleasing, while his address is com 
 manding; that in his deportment he is easy, affable, 
 and familiar ; that during his whole life it has been 
 his study to honour merit, find it in whom he might ; 
 that honest poverty has always been respected by 
 him, while he has turned his back on dishonest 
 wealth ; that he was never known to discover the 
 existence of distress without seeking to assist and 
 to relieve it ; that no man ever saw him irritated on 
 account of a selfish purpose ; and that no man ever 
 saw his bosom swell with rage or with anger, ex 
 cept against the enemies of his country, open or 
 secret. 
 
 196. The portrait, which is prefixed to the head 
 of this work, gives us, I dare say, a pretty accurate 
 description of the person of this celebrated man ; 
 and that the person itself may exist until he has de 
 livered his country from the monster which has so 
 long been tearing it to pieces, is the present 
 prayer of 
 
 WM. COBBETT, 
 
 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 197. I thought I had, in the dedication or the 
 preface, done justice to the Irish people, relative to 
 the deeds of this famous man, who sprang from 
 among them. But, having since looked into the 
 peerage of Packenham, and finding what he was, 
 what honours had been heaped upon him, who died 
 in the midst of disgrace unparalleled ; for all the 
 disgrace was his, as alkthe honour would have been 
 his. The valour that takes a man up to an intrench- 
 ment, or makes him the first to enter a breach, is 
 of a character not a thousandth part equal to that 
 of a bulldog Many hundreds of his soldiers went 
 
188 LIFE OF JACKSON. [cHAP, 
 
 nearer to the mouths of the American muskets than 
 he did : it is the valour which discovers itself in cool 
 moments and day-after-day reflections, and comes, 
 at last, to conclusions, such as are in so many, many 
 instances, recorded of this famous American gene 
 ral. My readers have seen with \vhat delight I have 
 recorded the triumphs of this man. First, for his 
 own sake : secondly, because he is descended im 
 mediately from poor Irish parents : thirdly, because 
 he was so basely and infamously treated by British 
 officers, at the early part of the American revolu 
 tionary war : but, above all things, because he sprang 
 immediately from poor Irish parents. The circum 
 stances stated by me relative to this matter are very 
 striking ; but, until I saw the peerage of the antago 
 nist whom he laid sprawling upon the ground, until 
 I saw this peerage, this bragging, this boasting peer 
 age, I had not the means of making the contrast so 
 striking as it ought to be made. Let us take him, 
 then, as he is described by the heralds of his family, 
 copied from the peerage itself. It is a thing for 
 eternal laughter ; a thing which every democrat 
 should have about him, and when he has read it, he 
 will not forget to exclaim, " All this was smashed 
 to pieces in a moment by the son of poor Irish emi 
 grant parents, the mother of whom had urged this 
 son to avenge the cause of Ireland." 
 
 198. I will now insert from the peerage, and when 
 I have done that, I shall have some remarks to add. 
 
 199. " William de Pakenham was resident at Pak- 
 enham, co. Suffolk, temp. Edward I. ; his eldest son, 
 Sir Edmund Pakenham, w., tempt. Edward II., Rose, 
 daughter and co-heir of Robert de Valiries, from 
 whom descended Sir Hugh Pakenham, who d. temp. 
 Henry VII., leaving issue, 1. Sir John Pakenham, 
 whose only daughter and sole heir, Constance, car 
 ried the estate of Lordington, co. Sussex, to her 
 husband Sir Geoffry de la Pole, knight, second son 
 of Sir Richard de la Pole, K. G., by Margaret Plan- 
 
VI.] POSTSCRIPT. 189 
 
 tagenet, Countess of Salisbury, only daughter of 
 George, Duke of Clarence, brother to Edward IV. ; 
 
 2. Nicholas, ancestor of the Earls of Longford; 
 
 3. Anne, m. Sir William Sydney, knight banneret, 
 by whom she was mother of Sir Henry Sydney, 
 K. G., Lord Deputy of Ireland. Sir Edward Pak- 
 enham, knt., grandson of Nicholas, accompanied 
 his cousin, Sir Henry Sydney, to Ireland, 1576, 
 whose grandson, Henry Pakenham, was seated at 
 Pakenham Hall, co. Westmeath, temp. Charles II., 
 and was father of Sir Thomas Pakenham, knt., of 
 Pakenham Hall, prime serjeant at law, 1695, whose 
 son and heir, Edward Pakenham, of Pakenham 
 Hall, knight of the shire, co. Westmeath, 1713, was 
 father of 
 
 200. " Thomas Pakenham, 1st lord, b. May, 1713, 
 m., March 5, 1739, Elizabeth, sole heiress of Michael 
 Cuffe, Esq., nephew and heir of Ambrose Aungier, 
 last earl of Longford, and in right of his wife was 
 created, 1756, baron of Longford, and had issue by 
 her (who was created July, 5, 1785, countess of Long 
 ford], 1. Edward-Michael, 2d lord; 2. Robert, in the 
 army, who d. unm., 1775 ; 3. William, d. young; 4. 
 Thomas, b. 1757, an admiral of the white, m. 1785, 
 Louisa, daughter of the right hon. John Staples, and 
 has issue six sons and four daughters ; 5. Elizabeth, 
 b. 1742; 6. Frances, m. June, 1776, John Ormsby 
 Vandeleur, Esq., andd. 1779, leaving issue, 7. Helena, 
 m. June, 1769, William Sherlock, of Sherlock s-town, 
 Esq., and d. 1774, leaving issue by him (who d. 1788), 
 Mary, m. 1770, Thomas Fortescue, Esq., and d. 1775, 
 leaving issue. His lordship d. April 20, 1776, and 
 was succeeded by his son, 
 
 201. " Edward-Michael, 2d lord, b. April 1, 1743, 
 m., June 25, 1768, Catharine, 2d daughter of the 
 Right Hon. Hercules-Longford Rowley, by Elizabeth, 
 viscountess Longford, and by her (who d. March 12, 
 1816) had issue, 1. Thomas, present earl; 2. Sir Ed 
 ward Michael, G. C. B., major-general in the army, and 
 
190 LIFE OF JACKSON. [cHAP, 
 
 colonel 6th West India regiment, who, Nov. 8, 1813, 
 received the unanimous thanks of loth houses of Parlia 
 ment for the valour, steadiness, and exertion so suc 
 cessfully displayed by him, in repelling the repeated 
 attacks made on the positions of the allied army by 
 the whole of the French force under the command 
 of Marshal Soult, between the 25th of Jul) r and 1st 
 of August : b. March 19, 1778, killed in action near 
 New-Orleans, in America, Jan. 8, 1815, to whose 
 memory a monument is erected in the cathedral of St. 
 Paul, at the public expense ; 3. Hercules- Robert, 
 C. B., b. Sept. 29. 1781, lieut.-colonel in the army, 
 severely wounded at Badajos, 1812, m., Dec., 1817, 
 Emily Stapleton, daughter of Thomas, Lord Le De- 
 spencer ; 4. William, b. Sept. 20,1782, captainR.N., 
 who was unfortunately drowned in his majesty s 
 frigate Saldana, near Lough S willy, Ireland, Dec. 4. 
 1811 ; 5. Henry, in holy orders, b. Aug. 23, 1787 ; 6. 
 Elizabeth, b. Sept. 1769, m. Henry Stewart, Esq. ; 7. 
 Mary, d. 1787; 8. Catharine m., April 10, 1806, field- 
 marshal Arthur, Duke of Wellington, K. G.., K T. S., 
 and K. F., brother to Richard, Marquis of Wellesley, 
 K. G., K. C., and K. L. S. (See Duke of Wellington, 
 in the Peerage of England, and Marquis of Wellesley, 
 in the Peerage of Ireland) ; 9. Helen ; 10. Caroline- 
 Penelope. His lordship d. June 3, 1792. when his 
 son, 
 
 202. " Thomas succeeded to the barony, and on 
 the death of his grandmother, January, 1794, he suc 
 ceeded to the earldom, and is the present peer. 
 
 203. " Heir-apparent Lord Pakenham, the earl s 
 only son. 
 
 204. " Creations Baron Pakenham, 1756; Earl, 
 June 20, 1785. 
 
 205. " Motto Gloria virtutis umbra Glory is the 
 shadow of virtue." 
 
 206. Here is a pretty story : here is a rigmarole 
 this is the sort of way in which the base part of 
 mankind are held in subjection. Here is as great 
 
VI,] POSTSCRIPT. 191 
 
 a piece of work in recording the lineage of this gang 
 of people, as if each individual of them had per 
 formed exploits equal to those of Jackson. Why, 
 it must give one pleasure ; it must fill one with de 
 light to see such contemptible rubbish brought to 
 the test, and to be proved to be not worth a straw, 
 We see here that our particular hero had received 
 the unanimous thanks of the House of Commons. And 
 for what was it ? For his valour, &c. in repelling 
 repeated attacks made on the positions of the allied 
 army. This is a very unsatisfactory description. 
 Here is no deed done ; no strong place captured ; 
 no army beaten, but merely attacks repelled. Very 
 doubtful words ; and a pretty House of Commons it 
 must have been, to have voted its unanimous thanks 
 to a man upon grounds so very equivocal ; and, in 
 deed, who does not perceive that if he had been the 
 son of a common man, he would have had no thanks 
 at all ? Yes, yes ; the " French force ;" he could 
 do very well with the French force ; but it was 
 another matter when he came to do with an Ameri 
 can force, though it was only about a seventh part 
 of his own. 
 
 207. Mark, too, the curious way in which his 
 death is mentioned ; " Killed in action, near New- 
 Orleans, in America, January 8th, 1815, to whose 
 memory a monument is erected in the cathedral of 
 St. Paul, at the public expense." Now observe, 
 first, that you do not know whether he was com 
 mander or not ; second, whether those on his side 
 were the victors or not ; third, whether it was a 
 battle fought for the purpose of taking New-Orleans 
 or for defending it, or whether it was for any other 
 object ; but taking into view the fact immediately fol 
 io wing, that he had a monument erected immediately 
 to his memory in St. Paul s, at the public expense, 
 and is there one single man in this world, who, 
 being unacquainted with the facts, would not believe 
 that he lost his life in the arms of victory in a battle 
 which happened to take place near the city of New- 
 
192 LIFE Ot JACKSON. [cHAF. 
 
 Orleans, in America. Thus it is that the people of 
 England have been basely betrayed and insulted and 
 cheated. Not one man in ten thousand, or in fifty 
 thousand, knows to this day that this Packenham 
 was selected for this enterprise ; that the army and 
 the navy were all ready long before his arrival; 
 that they waited for that arrival to begin operations ; 
 that the force was so great, the supplies so large, 
 so superabundant in every respect ; an outfit costing 
 more than a million of money, and this for the double 
 object of carrying the city, and puffing Packenham 
 into a lord. And what did he do when he got there l 
 The very things that Jackson wanted him to do ; 
 and, at last, after having given Jackson one speci 
 men of his ability at assaulting, he really put all to 
 the hazard of an assault ; but, curious to relate, not 
 one hour before Jackson was perfectly ready for 
 him. He had intelligence constantly from the city . 
 he knew precisely the situation of Jackson : he 
 knew that his whole force, his whole alliance was 
 but about three thousand men, armed with muskets 
 and rifles. He was duly apprized that these men 
 were stationed behind a parapet of bags of cotton 
 and of barrels of sugar and of flour, but particularly 
 the former : he could see with his glasses the cotton- 
 bales, as plainly as I can see this paper : he knew 
 that rifles were behind them ; and he had the stu 
 pidity to believe that the Yankees would run away 
 at the approach of his glittering army, and leave that 
 army to vault over the cotton-bags. Common sense 
 dictated to him to erect batteries, and to tear away 
 at the parapet ; to annoy, to fatigue, to exhaust ; to 
 take the chances of successful rebellion against 
 Jackson; at any rate, there was one thing which was 
 downright madness, and that was what he did. To 
 march up in columns, close to the cotton-bags, carry 
 scaling-ladders to climb up with, and to imagine that 
 he was, in the face of those Yankees, thus going to 
 get over those cotton-bags. Every man of com- 
 
VI. j POSTSCRIPT. 193 
 
 mon sense must have known, that certain death 
 would come pouring over those cotton-bags. When 
 the columns approached, all was still on Jackson s 
 side of the cotton-bags : not a shot was fired : not 
 the smallest demonstration of resistance shown : 
 the columns marched up to within a few yards of the 
 edge of the ditch : then came the bullets : then 
 came the buck-shot: then came the destructive con 
 tents of the rifles ; and the plain was instantly cov 
 ered with the dead. Jackson had more men than 
 he had rifles and muskets. Those who had no arms 
 loaded for those who had arms ; so that the fire was 
 one incessant volley ; and out of the four generals, 
 the chief fell dead, and two others were dangerously 
 wounded. I dare say that the moment Jackson saw 
 those columns marching over the plain to come up 
 to his parapet, that he felt as sure of the result as 
 he did after it had taken place. This was a some 
 thing to make the nation pay for a monument for 
 this man, and in St. Paul s too. But it is no matter : 
 if a commander belongs to any of these people, 
 beaten or not beaten, so that he die, he is sure to 
 have a monument to his memory at the people s ex 
 pense, in order to keep up the blaze of these fami 
 lies. It was well for this poor fellow that he was 
 killed : if he could have made shift to hobble off 
 with his beating, I have no question that he would 
 have had the thanks of the House of Commons, as 
 I believe Cockburn had, for his work on the coast 
 of Virginia. 
 
 208. Burke called nobility " the cheap defence of 
 nations." Look at our half-pay list ; look at our 
 pension-list ; look at the retired-allowance list ; look 
 at this very family of Packenham. We find that 
 this man had nine brothers and sisters ; one a lieu 
 tenant-colonel in the army ; one a captain in the 
 navy ; one in the church : so far for the men ; and 
 as to the women, I could be bound to find them all 
 out if [ had time ; but we know that one of them 
 R 
 
194 LIFE OF JACKSON. [CHAP. 
 
 was the wife of Wellington. A pretty dearish de 
 fence of nations, I should think, all this. But, not to 
 waste any more words upon the subject, here we 
 have all this swaggering nobility, this hunting down 
 from " William de Pakenham," in the time of Ed 
 ward the First to the present time ; and only think 
 of their publishing their mottoes : " Gloria mrtutis 
 umbra" that is to say, " Glory is the shadow of vir 
 tue ,-" a saying which we can hardly understand the 
 meaning of; but the more senseless, the more it ex 
 cites the cogitating wonderment of stupid and base 
 people. When a public robber gets into a carriage 
 with three or four Latm words written on it, and 
 with the other insignia which he chooses to have 
 put, all the base part of the people, and that is not a 
 small part, look upon him as something or other a 
 wonderful deal better than themselves. Now, un 
 less this feeling be changed : unless the people be 
 cured of this baseness, nothing that can be done by 
 men, even the most able, and industrious, and zeal 
 ous, will ever render them better off than they now 
 are. However, that which I have here exhibited 
 will do real good in America; it will make the people 
 there resolve to guard against all the crafty and subtle 
 approaches of aristocracy, which has always been 
 begun by suffering wealth to be drawn into a small 
 number of hands. When once that is done, then 
 the titling work begins ; and then come all the curses 
 under which we are now labouring. I shall be told 
 that I have always been an advocate for a govern 
 ment of king, lords, and commons, and for bishops 
 seated among the lords. Now, this is very true ; 
 and my argument always has been that those things 
 could not be bad in their nature, along with which 
 co-existed such wise and just laws ; b>o much free 
 dom, so much power, possessed by so comparatively 
 small a country ; and such an immense mass of na 
 tional resources of all sorts, together with a degree 
 of reputation for integrity, frankness, and all public 
 
vj,] POSTSCRIPT, 195 
 
 virtue, never surpassed by any other nation, and, in 
 deed, never any thing like equalled. 
 
 209. Well, then, ought you not to cherish these 
 orders now 1 Are they not what they always 
 were ? Have we not still dukes, marquises, earls, 
 
 just as in the time of ? Stop : yes, 
 
 my friend, we have dukes, marquises, earls, and so 
 forth still ; but those that we have now are no more 
 like those in former times, than a French crab is like 
 a Newtown pippin ; or than a Catherine peach (many 
 degrees baser than a white turnip), is like a French 
 mignnn or an early Montauban. A peach is a peach ; 
 and as words, mere words, are quite sufficient for 
 the more numerous and baser part of mankind, to 
 keep the word is all that has been thought neces 
 sary. 
 
 210. Well, but in what do the present lords differ 
 from the lords of former times \ In every thing ; 
 except in the shape of their bodies, and the manner 
 of receiving their nutriment, though even in this 
 latter I do not know that I am not admitting too 
 much. The people of England, when called out in 
 the wars, and especially in defence of their country, 
 were commanded by the lords ; and observe, the 
 lords found them their arms, and their clothing, and 
 their provisions, and their money for the service, out 
 of their own pockets and estates. It was the busi 
 ness of the lords each one to protect his people from 
 wrong ; to see that they had fair play ; they were 
 their advocates in courts of justice ; pleading their 
 causes in their persons, and always for nothing. 
 There was no such thing as a tax for a poor or 
 working man to pay, nor ever heard of to pay, of 
 any sort or kind. The bishops and abbots were in 
 parliament to take care that the poor were not plun 
 dered of their patrimony ; and thus it was that no 
 bility was " the cheap defence of nations." 
 
 211. What do we behold now? Every great 
 family, as it is called, not paying for warriors to 
 
196 LIFE OF JACKSON. 
 
 come forth to defend the country ; but making the 
 people pay them, men, women, and children, to the 
 amount of thousands, and thousands upon thou 
 sands ! In short, it is a prodigious band of spungers, 
 living upon the labour of the industrious part of the 
 community, and making the people pay them, and 
 men that they enlist ; the object of having such men 
 in pay and armed with bayonets, can be hidden from 
 nobody in this world but an idiot : a nobility, not pay 
 ing the people to come out, and furnishing them with 
 arms and ammunition, and clothing them, to defend 
 the country ; but a nobility, actually living upon the 
 sweat of the people, and passing laws at the same 
 time to transport the very same people, if caught in 
 pursuit of pheasant, partridge, or hare ! While (oh, 
 gracious God !) these same people, still calling them 
 selves nobility, are breeding those wild animals for 
 the purpose of feeding the wretches in London whom 
 they support in the demanding and the receiving of 
 three days work instead of one ! 
 
 212. However, either the people of England see all 
 this, or they do not : if the latter, they are too blind 
 to have tbe character of humanity imputed to them ; 
 they are absolutely brutes ; for brutes any treat 
 ment is good enough, so that it does not lacerate, 
 starve, or knock on the head. If the people of 
 England do see it in its true light ; and yet, if they 
 think nothing of these things, compared with corn- 
 bill nonsense, or HEDDEKASHUN ; if this be their taste ; 
 if they throw away the substance to amuse them 
 selves with the shadow, and will elect Captain Swal 
 low-Pension and reject a man that scorns to deceive 
 them ; then let them suffer ; and my consolation is, 
 that I will not suffer along with them ! 
 
 WM. COBBETT. 
 
 THE END, 
 

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