Chapter VIII: Part 8

Meanwhile the Georgia militia, under General Floyd, though, like the Tennessee troops, much embarrassed by the want of supplies, had been advancing from the frontier of that state into the Creek country. Early in the morning of the twenty-ninth of November, they surprised the Indian town of Antossee, situated on the left bank of the Tallapoosa, about twenty miles above its junction with the Coosa, and which the savages had been taught by their prophets to consider holy ground. The force under General Floyd consisted of nine hundred and fifty Georgians, and between three and four hundred friendly Indians. Antossee, and another town about five hundred yards lower down, were occupied by large parties of the enemy. Both were attacked at the same moment; the houses were set on fire; and a furious contest took place amid the surrounding flames. The Indians were ultimately routed and dispersed, with the loss of two hundred killed and wounded. General Floyd was himself severely wounded; and there were eleven of his men killed, and fifty-four wounded. As the principal Creek towns were within a short distance of Antossee, he completed the work of destruction, and immediately retired to the Chatahoochee, which he reached without molestation. On the ninth of December, another detachment of Georgia militia, under General Adams, consisting of five hundred and thirty men, marched on a second expedition against the towns on the Tallapoosa. They were unable to bring the enemy to action, but destroyed two of their villages, and then returned to camp.

[Sidenote: ECCANAHACA DESTROYED.]

While these operations were going on, east and north of the Creeks, the regulars and militia on the west, though cut off from all communication with the other columns, by the trackless forests which separated them, were not inactive. On the thirteenth of December, General Claiborne moved up the Alabama river, from Fort Stoddart, with a detachment, in order to destroy the towns above the mouth of the Cahawba. On the twenty-third instant he attacked Eccanahaca, or Holy Ground, a new town erected since the commencement of the war, in the midst of tangled thickets, and almost impenetrable swamps and morasses. This village was the general dépôt of the Indians in this section, and contained large quantities of property and stores of provisions. It consisted of about two hundred houses, and was occupied by a considerable body of the enemy, under the half-breed chief, Weatherford. General Claiborne advanced upon the town, with his force divided into three columns. The Indians were quickly driven out, leaving thirty dead on the ground. Having no facilities for removing the property or provisions, the general ordered them to be consumed with the town. He also destroyed another village, containing sixty houses, eight miles higher up the river.

Among the slain at Eccanahaca were three Shawnee warriors, who had probably joined the hostile Creeks after the terrible defeat of their tribe on the banks of the Thames, in October previous; and among the trophies of the expedition, was a letter to Weatherford, from Manriquez, the Spanish governor of Florida, dated at Pensacola, the twenty-ninth of September, affording ample and conclusive evidence of his connivance with the Red Sticks.[18]

The troops called out under the authority of the Legislature of Tennessee, were accepted by the General Government, and on the seventh of November, General Pinckney, previously in charge of the sixth military district, was ordered to assume command of the seventh. His plan of conducting the campaign contemplated the junction of the various corps operating in the Creek country, at the confluence of the Coosa and Tallapoosa; and instructions were issued by him to the different commanders, requiring them to take possession of the country as they advanced, so as, at all times, to keep open their communication in the rear.

[Sidenote: ANOTHER MUTINY.]

After allaying the mutiny in his camp, in November, General Jackson visited Fort Deposit and Ditto’s Landing, to make arrangements for supplying his army, preparatory to another forward movement which he had in contemplation. Requisitions were issued for furnishing a suitable number of rations at Fort Strother, Talladega, and the junction of the Coosa and Tallapoosa, together with wagons and pack-horses for their transportation. He then returned to Fort Strother with the first regiment of volunteers. Shortly after his return a new cause of disturbance arose. The volunteers had originally engaged to serve for twelve months, and they claimed that their term of service would expire on the tenth of December. General Jackson, however, contended that the period which elapsed between the time of their dismissal, after their return from Natchez, and that of their subsequent remuster, at Fayetteville, must be deducted. Each party insisted on its particular view of the case; and in the evening of the ninth of December, General Jackson was informed by General Hall, that his brigade were preparing to move off, with, or without permission, on the following morning.

General Jackson had become familiar with scenes of this character, and he immediately issued an order, stating that an actual mutiny existed in the camp, and commanding all officers and soldiers to unite in putting it down. He further directed the volunteer brigade to parade on the west side of the fort; the company of artillerists were ordered to take post, with one piece in front, and one in rear, of their line; and the militia, under Colonel Wynne, were instructed to occupy the eminences in advance. These dispositions being made, the general rode in front of the volunteers, and addressed each company separately, in eloquent and animated terms, informing them that he had submitted the question in dispute to the governor, and that, until his decision was known, or reïnforcements joined him, he could not dispense with their services. He appealed to every noble and worthy motive to induce them to remain; but declared, that he should do his duty, regardless of consequences; and that they could not leave him, without passing over his dead body. “Now,” said he, in conclusion, “argument is at an end; and you must choose, and that at once, whether you will go or stay!”

Not a word was uttered in reply, by the volunteers. He then demanded a prompt answer. Still there was no response. He now ordered the artillerists to prepare their matches. Ere the order was obeyed, the obstinacy of the men gave way before his unyielding firmness. “Let us return,” was whispered from one to another, with trembling lips; and the officers soon came forward, and pledged themselves and their men, to remain until the general should hear from the governor, or the expected reïnforcements arrive.

On the twelfth of December, General Cocke reached the camp, from Fort Armstrong, with the East Tennesseans. General Jackson then issued an address to the volunteer brigade, offering to permit those who desired to leave him, to return at once to Nashville, and those who chose to remain, to organize themselves into a separate corps, with officers of their own selection. But one man in the whole brigade, Captain Williamson, consented to stay; the remainder were marched back to Nashville, by General Hall, and soon after discharged from the service.

The regiment of volunteer cavalry belonging to General Coffee’s brigade, claimed the same indulgence with the volunteer infantry, and the mounted rifles insisted that they were only bound for a three months’ tour of duty. About one-half the brigade abandoned the service, at Huntsville, and the other half returned to Fort Deposit, but they also subsequently deserted their commander,--General Coffee exerting himself, in vain, to induce them to remain,--and returned home. These defections, and the expiration of the terms of service of a portion of General Cocke’s division, reduced the force under General Jackson, at Fort Strother, to six hundred militia, two companies of spies, under Captains Gordon and Russell, one of artillery, under Captain Deadrick, and a few volunteers from the various corps, who had been, “faithful among the faithless found.” The militia demanded their discharge at the expiration of three months, although it had been supposed they were enlisted for six, and it was not thought advisable to compel them to remain.

All these difficulties in keeping the troops in the field arose from the want of sufficient supplies. Had General Jackson been properly supported in this respect, it is probable there would not have been a single case of defection, and the first of January, 1814, would have witnessed the complete subjection of the Creeks. Still he was determined to prosecute the campaign, as soon as he should be in a condition to move forward. After the return of the militia, he was left with only about one hundred men, and was, in consequence, obliged to employ the friendly Cherokees in garrisoning Fort Armstrong and protecting the stores at Camp Ross. Generals Cocke and Roberts, Colonel Carroll, and Major Searcy, the aid of the commanding general, were at this time absent in Tennessee, exerting themselves to raise additional troops.

[Sidenote: LETTER TO GOVERNOR BLOUNT.]

On being informed of the situation of General Jackson, Governor Blount advised him to fall back from his advanced posts, and content himself with defending the frontiers of the state, until he was placed in sufficient force to carry on the war. On the twenty-ninth of December, 1813, the general unburthened his whole soul to the governor,

“In thoughts that breathe, and words that burn.”

“What!” said he, in his letter, “retrograde under such circumstances! I will perish first. What! a governor of a patriotic state, whose citizens pressed for war, who bawled for permission to exterminate the Creeks, to pause or hesitate at such a crisis as this? Such conduct cannot be justified, cannot be excused. Hear the voice of a friend: If you compel me to retrograde, the awful responsibility must and will be ascribed to you.... I shall do my duty. I will retain the post, or die in the struggle, unless ordered to retreat by my commanding general!”

The earnest appeals of General Jackson, whose intrepidity of spirit and resoluteness of purpose appeared only the more conspicuous, when fortune smiled the most unkindly on him, were not without effect. On the thirteenth of January, 1814, he was joined at Fort Strother, by two regiments of mounted men, eight hundred and fifty strong, under Colonels Perkins and Higgins, who had volunteered for sixty days. Previous to this time, he had ascertained that the hostile Indians from several towns on the Tallapoosa, had concentrated in a bend of the river, thirty-five miles south-east of Talladega, near the mouth of the Emuckfaw Creek, and were either preparing to attack Fort Armstrong, or the Georgia troops.

The volunteer, cavalry having been enlisted for so short a period, it was necessary to act speedily if he desired to avail himself of their services. On the day of their arrival at Fort Strother, he issued orders directing them to hold themselves in readiness for the march, and, on the fifteenth and sixteenth of January, crossed the Coosa with his whole force, numbering seven hundred and sixty-seven men, though the official reports, which were not corrected lest the army should be intimidated by the knowledge of its weakness, showed a total of nine hundred and thirty.

[Sidenote: BATTLE OF EMUCKFAW.]

At Talladega, General Jackson was joined by two hundred friendly Creeks and Cherokees. The march was continued without intermission, and on the night of the twentieth instant, he encamped at Enotochopco, one of the Hillabee villages, within twelve miles of Emuckfaw. In the morning of the twenty-first, the army proceeded direct towards the bend of the river where the enemy were said to be fortified. About the middle of the afternoon, the spies discovered two Indians, who were pursued, but made their escape. Advancing a short distance further, they came upon the main trail of the savages. The general then determined to encamp and reconnoitre the surrounding country. A proper position having been selected, the army encamped in a hollow square. Pickets and spies were thrown out on every side; the sentinels were doubled; fires were built in a circle around the encampment; and every precaution taken to guard against a surprise.

Though General Jackson knew it not, as his spies could obtain but little information, he was in the immediate vicinity of the three principal, and most formidable, bands of the Red Sticks. Girded by the belt of watch-fires which their vigilant and sagacious commander directed to be formed, in order to prevent the approach of an enemy undiscovered, his troops reposed in security. All remained quiet till ten o’clock in the evening, when three of the savages were descried stealing cautiously towards one of the pickets. They were instantly fired on, and one of them was shot down. About an hour later, the spies came in, and reported that there was a large Indian encampment three miles distant, and that its occupants were whooping and dancing, as if preparing to go out on the war-path. The general was further informed by one of the spies, an intelligent Indian, that the enemy were sending away their women and children--a sure indication that they intended to decamp, or attack him, before morning. Orders were now given for the men to be prepared for action, at any moment.

Moments and hours passed by in anxious suspense. From time to time the orders enjoining strict caution and vigilance were repeated. The darkest hour of the morning--the time usually selected by the Indians for their attacks--approached; and when everything was the most quiet and undisturbed, all at once there rose a loud pealing yell on the left of the encampment, and with it came a hurtling volley of rifle-balls. A deafening responsive shout went up, within that fiery circle, like the wild pibroch of some Gaelic clan, rousing the martial spirit of all who heard it. The enemy kept up a rapid and unintermitting fire; but they could not approach near enough to effect any execution, without entering the line of light which the timely precaution of Jackson had thrown around his men; and whenever a single swart form, or painted visage, was disclosed, the American bullet sped away on its sure errand of death.

[Sidenote: THE ENEMY REPULSED.]

When the alarm was first given, General Coffee, Colonel Carroll, and Colonel Sitler, the adjutant general,--who, with a number of other officers previously belonging to different detachments, had remained with the commander to whom they were devotedly attached, and formed themselves into a corps, without privates,--mounted their horses and rode to the left. Their presence inspirited and encouraged the troops, and the savages were held firmly at bay till the dawning light enabled objects to be distinguished with precision. A company of infantry was then ordered to that flank, and thus strengthened, General Coffee, supported by Colonels Higgins and Carroll, led the whole line to the charge. The red warriors were driven from their coverts at the point of the bayonet, and pursued for more than two miles; the friendly Indians joining in the chase, and marking their pathway with the blood of the slain.

The enemy having been effectually repulsed, General Coffee was ordered to advance to the Indian encampment, with four hundred men and all the friendly warriors, and destroy it. On approaching it, he found that it was too strongly fortified to be carried by assault, and therefore returned to bring up the company of artillery. Before he again set out, his services were required at the camp. Within half an hour after his return, a body of savages were observed on the right, who opened a brisk fire on a party searching for the Indian shot by the picket on the previous night. General Coffee solicited the honor of attacking them. He was directed to take two hundred men with him, but through some mistake, he was followed by only fifty-four men, all of whom belonged to the company of volunteer officers which he commanded. With this small force, he fell with such fury on the left flank of the assailants, that they were forced to take shelter in a thicket on the bank of a small creek.

In the meantime, as had been anticipated by General Jackson, who supposed the demonstration on the right to be a mere _ruse de guerre_, the main body of the enemy came rushing like demons, with the most hideous and discordant yells, on the left of the American encampment. He instantly repaired thither in person. His men always knew how to fight under his eyes, and they stood their ground with veteran intrepidity and firmness. A few well-directed and effective volleys were delivered, and resort was then had to the bayonet; the men advancing to the charge under the orders of Colonel Carroll. Once more the enemy fled with precipitation, and were hotly pursued some distance from the camp.

The savages were now completely repulsed on the left, and General Coffee and his little band, who had been forced back into the open wood where the battle commenced, were reïnforced by one hundred friendly warriors. General Coffee, though severely wounded in the fierce conflict, which had deprived him of several of his best officers, including his aid, Major Donelson, placed himself at the head of the united force, and charged home upon the assailants. They could no longer make head against him, but retreated in confusion. The pursuit was continued for about three miles, in which forty-five of the enemy were killed.

Victorious as he was, General Jackson was still in a precarious position. His men had but few rations left, and the horses had not had corn or cane, for two days. The main object of the expedition--a diversion in favor of the Georgia troops--had been accomplished; yet his small force was seriously crippled, and it was to be feared, if he remained at Emuckfaw, that the Red Sticks would rally in greater numbers, and attack him once more, under all his disadvantages. He therefore decided to fall back to Fort Strother as soon as practicable. The remainder of the day was spent in burying the dead, in taking care of the wounded and preparing litters for their transportation, and in fortifying the camp. The militia sentinels were repeatedly alarmed during the night, probably by their own fancies, as no enemy was discovered; and on the morning of the twenty-third, without having been again molested, the army commenced the return march.

Not a solitary Indian was seen through the day, except those attached to the command. They defiled, without interruption, through a hurricane, covered with the huge bolls of prostrate oaks and pines, with straggling branches of trees flung in every direction, and closely-matted weeds and brambles, in which there were numerous hiding-places that might have afforded shelter to an enemy; and just before sunset, they arrived at Enotochopco, where they halted for the night, selecting a strong position, which they fortified, within a quarter of a mile of the creek.

[Sidenote: BATTLE OF ENOTOCHOPCO.]

In the evening, small parties of the hostile savages were seen prowling about the encampment, although no attack was made. This circumstance, in connection with the fact that he had not been molested during the day, convinced General Jackson that the enemy had got in the advance, and were lying in wait for him at a dangerous defile where he had forded the creek on his outward march. He therefore sent out his pioneers, who discovered another crossing, about six hundred yards lower down, which was approached through open woodlands; and, unlike the other, its banks sloped gently down, and were tolerably free from reeds and underbrush. The lower ford was, of course, selected, in preference to the one above.

Presuming that the Indians would rush upon his men, when they were engaged in passing the stream, the general made his preparations with great care, and issued his orders with unusual precision. Colonel Carroll was ordered to take command of the centre of the rear-guard; Colonel Perkins of the right column; and Colonel Stump of the left. Captain Russell was directed to bring up the rear with his company of spies. If attacked, Colonel Carroll was instructed to face about, display, and maintain his ground; while the right and left columns were to face outward, wheel back on their pivots, and then attack the Indians on both flanks.

[Sidenote: SUDDENNESS OF THE ATTACK.]

In this order the crossing proceeded on the morning of the twenty-fourth. The front-guard, the wounded, and a part of the flank columns, had passed over; and the artillery were in the act of entering the creek--General Jackson being on the bank superintending the movement--when an alarm gun was fired in the rear. The instant after, the whole troop of Indians, who had discovered the effort to turn their position, came plunging down upon the rear-guard. Captain Russell received them gallantly, and fell back in good order. Colonel Carroll had scarcely given the order to halt and form, when the right and left columns, headed by their officers, broke and fled down the bank. Colonel Stump was among the foremost, and as he approached General Jackson’s position, the latter attempted to cut him down with his sword.

All was now confusion and disorder. The panic was communicated to the rear-guard, most of whom followed the example of their companions. Colonel Carroll, and Captain Quarles, were left with only twenty-five men, yet they sustained the unequal contest with unflinching bravery. The savages were checked in their advance, but the men were rapidly falling, and the iron hail came thicker and faster. General Jackson fairly boiled over with rage and indignation; yet, smothering his passion, he gave his orders coolly and calmly, but in a tone that rang like the blast of a trumpet. Words of encouragement were not wanting; and when the fearless and intrepid Coffee sprang from his litter into the saddle, he cried, “We shall whip them yet, my men!--the dead have risen and come to aid us!”

The company of artillery, who were armed with muskets, now rushed up the acclivity, and ranged themselves by the side of Colonel Carroll and his little band, while their commander, Lieutenant Armstrong[19]--Captain Deadrick being absent--and a few of his men, dragged up their six pounder. The gun had been unlimbered at the foot of the height, and when they prepared to load it, the rammer and picker were missing. No time was to be lost, as the savages were fast closing upon them. One of the men instantly wrested off his bayonet, and rammed the cartridge home with his musket; another used his ramrod as a picker, and primed with a musket cartridge. Twice was the gun loaded and fired with grapeshot. At the second discharge, the enemy were thrown into confusion, when Colonel Carroll pressed upon them with the bayonet, and forced them to retire a short distance, though they still persisted in the attack.

Meanwhile, Captain Gordon, whose company had been in the advance, had moved round and thrown himself upon the left flank of the Indians; and a few moments later, General Jackson brought up a considerable number of the rear-guard and flankers, whom he had rallied and reformed, with the assistance of General Coffee, Colonel Higgins, and other officers. Finding themselves baffled at every point, the enemy gave up the contest and made a hasty retreat, throwing away their packs as they fled, and leaving twenty-six of their warriors dead on the field.

In this series of engagements, at Emuckfaw and Enotochopco, General Jackson lost twenty men killed, and seventy-five wounded, four of them mortally. One hundred and eighty-nine dead bodies of the enemy were counted; but they removed all their wounded, and, probably, many who were killed outright.

[Sidenote: A NEW ARMY RAISED.]

Important as were these actions in their immediate results, they assumed additional consequence, as effecting a fortunate diversion in favor of the troops under General Floyd. He was attacked by the savages, at Camp Defiance, shortly before daylight, on the morning of the twenty-seventh of January, three days after the battle of Enotochopco. The furious onset of the savages was with difficulty resisted, and they were only repulsed with the loss of seventeen men killed, and one hundred and thirty-two wounded. Three hundred warriors, at the least, were rendered _hors du combat_ in the several contests with General Jackson, and many more were intimidated from again taking up arms; and had they been present, the Georgia force might, not unlikely, have been overpowered.

After caring for his dead and wounded, General Jackson resumed his march, and arrived at Fort Strother on the twenty-seventh of January. On the twenty-eighth, General Coffee and his corps of officers were directed to return home, and wait the orders of the government; and on the thirty-first instant, General Roberts was ordered to conduct the volunteer regiments, whose bravery and patriotism were highly commended by the commanding general, back to Fayetteville, where they were discharged.

The brilliant successes of General Jackson in the Creek country now began to attract unusual attention. The commander of the military district, General Pinckney, referred to his conduct in terms of strong approbation, and suggested his name to the Secretary of War, for an appointment in the regular army. He had fought himself into the confidence and affections of the public, and he had no further need to depend on the reluctant services of a disorderly and half-mutinous soldiery.

So far from being offended at the tone and language of General Jackson’s letter, Governor Blount properly appreciated the feelings of the writer, and made every possible exertion to send him both troops and supplies. Men were not wanting to enrol their names; but there were hundreds and thousands who longed to fight beneath the standard, and under the eye, of Andrew Jackson. On the third of February, General Doherty arrived at Camp Ross with two thousand men from East Tennessee; and, shortly after, General Johnston reported himself at Huntsville, with over seventeen hundred men, from West Tennessee. Two regiments of cavalry, one from each section of the state, under Colonels Dyer and Brown, also appeared, and were organized into a brigade, under General Coffee. On the sixth of February, the 39th infantry, under Colonel Williams, about six hundred strong, joined General Jackson at Fort Strother, and about the same time, the Choctaws took up the hatchet against the Red Sticks, and offered him their services.

It was the intention of General Jackson to advance as soon as possible towards the bend of the Tallapoosa, near which the battle of Emuckfaw had been fought, and where, he was assured, the main strength of the enemy lay. The want of supplies, as usual, retarded his movements. It was now the rainy season; the streams were very much swollen, and the bridges swept away; the roads were soaked with water, and terribly cut up; and, although he kept five hundred men at work on the route between Fort Deposit and Fort Strother, several weeks elapsed before he was able to collect twenty days’ rations at the latter place.

[Sidenote: PREPARATIONS TO TAKE THE FIELD.]

While the general was making his preparations at Fort Strother, most of the detachments composing the force under his command remained in the rear, that the supplies thrown forward to that post might not be too quickly consumed. During this period of inaction, the spirit of mutiny again made its appearance, among the West Tennessee troops. He felt that he had so far dealt too leniently with this offence, and determined to visit it with summary punishment. A private belonging to General Johnston’s command was convicted of open mutiny, and sentenced to death. This was his second offence, and the general firmly refused to pardon him. The sentence was carried into effect, and the example thus presented exerted a most salutary influence on the whole army.

Early in March, General Jackson had finally completed his arrangements. Colonel Dyer was ordered to scour the country between the Coosa, Blackwarrior, and Cahawba, as low down as the old Coosa towns; the Choctaws and Chickasaws were directed to watch the country west of the Tombigbee, and prevent the escape of any of the Red Sticks beyond the Mississippi; and the Cherokees received instructions to range about the headwaters of the Tallapoosa. At the same time, there was a large force of North Carolina and South Carolina militia, under Colonel Pearson, who had relieved the Georgia troops under General Floyd, on the eastern borders of the Creek country, in readiness to coöperate in any simultaneous movement upon the fastnesses of the hostile Indians.

Leaving a garrison of four hundred and fifty men at Fort Strother, under Colonel Steel, General Jackson commenced descending the Coosa, having embarked his stores in boats, with the remainder of his force, on the sixteenth day of March. Arrived at the mouth of Cedar Creek, he established a dépôt at this point, and commenced the construction of a fort, which he named Fort Williams. The work on the fort being in a sufficient state of forwardness, he took up the line of march across the country to Emuckfaw, on the morning of the twenty-fourth instant, with about two thousand men. A strong detachment was left at Fort Williams, to protect the supplies, and continue the labor on the fortifications.

Not far from five miles below the battle-ground of the twenty-second of January, at Emuckfaw, is the great bend of the Tallapoosa, called by the Indians, Tohopeca, or Horse Shoe. At this place, the warriors from the hostile towns of Oakfuskie, Oakchoya, Eufaulee, New Youca, the Hillabees and Fish Ponds, had concentrated their forces, near one thousand strong, for a last desperate struggle. Across the narrow neck of land, or isthmus, by which the peninsula formed by the crooked river was entered, they had erected a breastwork of logs, from five to eight feet high, with double portholes, arranged with no little skill and ingenuity. Within the inclosure, there were about one hundred acres of land; the centre was high ground, covered with brush and fallen timber; and on the river bottom, at the lower extremity of the peninsula, was the Indian village.

[Sidenote: TOHOPECA.]

On the night of the twenty-sixth of March, General Jackson encamped within six miles of the Horse Shoe, and early on the following morning, General Coffee was detached, with the mounted men and most of the friendly Indians, under instructions to cross the river at a ford two miles below Tohopeca, and take possession of the high grounds on the opposite bank, so as to cut off all chance of escape in that quarter. General Jackson then marched the remainder of his force to a position in front of the enemy’s breastworks, where he halted his men, until the preärranged signal announced that General Coffee had drawn a cordon of soldiers around the elevated ground overlooking the river and the hostile town and fortification. The main column immediately moved forward; the two pieces of artillery, a six and a three pounder, were planted on a hill eighty yards distant from the left of the enemy’s line; and at half past ten o’clock in the forenoon, the action was opened by a brisk fire, which was warmly returned by the Red Sticks.

The firing on the American side was mainly confined to the artillery, though a rifle or musket was occasionally discharged, whenever the dark warriors incautiously exposed their persons. For nearly two hours, the cannonade was kept up, with spirit and activity, though without producing any sensible impression. Meantime the friendly Indians had advanced to the left bank of the river, while General Coffee remained on the high ground with the rest of his troops. Some of the Cherokees now discovered that the enemy’s canoes, which were drawn up on the shore, near their village, had been left unguarded. They instantly plunged into the stream, swam across, and, in a few moments, returned with a number of the canoes. Means being thus provided for passing over, the Cherokees, headed by their chief, Richard Brown, and Colonel Morgan, and Captain Russell’s company of spies, crossed to the village, set it on fire, and attacked the enemy in the rear.

Surrounded though they were, the hostile Indians fought with the utmost bravery and desperation. Every avenue by which they might have fled was occupied by the American troops, and their habitations were in flames; still they refused to surrender, and successfully resisted every attempt of the spies and Cherokees to dislodge them. The soldiers with General Jackson, clamored loudly to be led to the assault, but he hesitated to give the order, till he became convinced that the party in the rear were not strong enough to overcome the opposition they encountered. The command to storm the works was then received with shouts and acclamations. General Doherty’s brigade, and the 39th infantry, under Colonel Williams, promptly advanced to the attack. The result of the contest did not long remain in doubt. A fierce struggle was maintained for a short time, through the portholes, muzzle to muzzle; the action being so close, as remarked in the dispatch of the commanding general, that “many of the enemy’s balls were welded to the American bayonets.” Major Montgomery, of the 39th infantry, was the first to spring upon the breastwork, but was shot dead among his comrades, who were rushing forward to sustain him. A smothered cry for vengeance rolled along the line,--and the whole column dashed over the feeble barrier, like the avalanche, crushing and bearing down everything before it.

[Sidenote: THE RED STICKS COMPLETELY ROUTED.]

The Indians, fighting with the fury of despair, met the shock with clubbed muskets and rifles, with the gleaming knife and tomahawk. Some few attempted to escape by swimming the river, but were shot down in their flight, by the spies and mounted men under General Coffee. Most of them, however, fought and died, where they stood--behind the ramparts which they were unable to defend. The conflict--nay, we may call it, without reproach to the victors, the butchery--was continued for hours. None asked for quarter. The Tallapoosa ran red with the blood of the savages, and the dead were piled in mangled heaps upon its banks.

Driven from the breastwork, a considerable number of the enemy took refuge among the brush and fallen timber on the high ground in the centre of the peninsula. General Jackson sent them an interpreter, to offer terms of capitulation, but they fired on and wounded him. The cannon were brought to bear on their position, and a partially successful charge was made, yet they were not dislodged. Finally, the brush was set on fire. The flames spread with rapidity, snapping and crackling as they caught the dry bark and leaves, and licking up everything in their way, like some huge, greedy monster. The Indians were now forced from their concealment; and all who attempted to fly, or offered resistance, were shot down. Night at length put an end to the carnage, and, under cover of the darkness, a few of the survivors of that fatal field escaped into the adjoining forests.

Five hundred and fifty-seven dead bodies of the enemy were found within the peninsula; and there were over three hundred taken prisoners, nearly all women and children. The total loss of the Red Sticks, in killed alone, must have been near eight hundred; as a number of the dead were thrown into the river previous to the final rout, by their surviving friends, or shot by General Coffee’s men while attempting to make their escape. Among the slain were three prophets, one of whom, by the name of Monohoe, was struck by a grapeshot in his mouth, out of which had issued the lies which had lured his nation to their ruin.

General Jackson lost fifty-five men killed, and one hundred and forty-six wounded. Twenty-three of the killed, and forty-seven of the wounded, were friendly Creeks and Cherokees.

After completing the destruction of the Indian fortifications at Tohopeka, General Jackson commenced his return march to Fort Williams, where he arrived on the second of April. He instantly began his preparations for scouring the country lying in the forks of the Coosa and Tallapoosa; and, on the seventh of April, his army was in motion for Hoithlewalee, one of the principal towns on the Hickory Ground;--the men being provided with eight days’ rations, which they carried on their backs. The campaign was now drawing to a close, but its hardships were not quite ended. The roads were flooded by the heavy rains, and the streams scarcely fordable; and, consequently, the march was tedious and difficult. General Jackson was much worn by the fatigues and privations which he had encountered, but his capability of endurance was not yet exhausted; and the strength of constitution he manifested, though belied by the apparent weakness of his frame, gave rise to the _sobriquet_ of “Old Hickory,” which was applied to him by his soldiers, and adhered to him through life.

[Sidenote: INDIAN TOWNS DESTROYED.]

The terrible vengeance taken at Tohopeka, for the massacre at Fort Mims, and the other monstrous cruelties perpetrated by the Red Sticks, put an end to the war. The great body of the hostile savages fled in dismay, before the advancing columns of General Jackson. Many of the fugitives were killed by a detachment of the 3rd infantry, under Colonel Russell, but numbers effected their escape into Florida, on account of the remissness of Colonel Milton, the officer in command of the South Carolinians, who were then on the left bank of the Tallapoosa, not far above its junction with the Coosa. McQueen, one of the most prominent chiefs among the Red Sticks, was captured, but afterwards escaped to the Escambia river, with five hundred adherents.

Arrived at Hoithlewalee, General Jackson found the town abandoned. On the fourteenth of April it was destroyed, with several other villages in the vicinity. The general then divided his command into two columns; one scouring the country on the left bank, and the other, with which he remained in person, advancing down the right bank of the Tallapoosa, to the confluence, where a fort was constructed, called by General Pinckney, in honor of the gallant Tennessee commander, Fort Jackson. At this point most of the Hickory Ground chiefs came in and submitted to the conqueror. Weatherford also voluntarily surrendered, and the great prophet of the Creeks, Hillinghagee, was taken prisoner. The only terms prescribed by the victorious general were, that all who surrendered themselves should retire to the country north of Fort Williams, where, if their conduct was good, they would be permitted to remain proposition was made known, numbers of the fugitives were on their way to the neutral territory.

On the twentieth of April, General Pinckney arrived at Fort Jackson, and on the following day assumed the command. General Jackson shortly after repaired to his home in Tennessee, to recruit his health and strength, which had suffered materially during his long and arduous campaign. The thanks of the government and the applause of the nation followed him in his retirement. An opportunity was soon afforded for rewarding his services by an appointment in the regular army.--On the resignation of General Harrison, President Madison nominated him as a brigadier general, and major general by brevet; and, a short time afterwards, he was appointed a full major general, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the retirement of General Hampton. Both commissions were received at the same time, and the latter was accepted.

In the summer of 1814, General Jackson was ordered to take command of the seventh military district, and established his headquarters at Mobile. Associated with Colonel Hawkins, he concluded a favorable treaty with the Creek nation, by which, with the exception of a small portion of the tribe who chose to remain in Florida, they were prevented from again taking up arms during the continuance of the war with England.

[Sidenote: THE SPANISH AUTHORITIES IN FLORIDA.]

The hostile tribes were now entirely quieted, and a chain of military posts established through the former theatre of their outrages. No sooner had this been done, than the attention of General Jackson was directed to the alarming state of affairs at Pensacola. He had long been convinced that the Spanish authorities in Florida were lending their aid and assistance to the English, in the prosecution of hostilities. Indeed, the facts and circumstances which forced him to such a conclusion, were so glaring and palpable, that it was impossible to form any other opinion. It is barely probable that Spain was the passive agent of Great Britain in this respect; but if so, her pusillanimity, in thus tamely surrendering her neutral rights and character, was equally censurable. If she was, in fact, the coädjutor of England, the measures adopted by General Jackson were justifiable; but if she was the creature only, they were necessary. This is the only argument that need be offered, in defence of the attack on Pensacola, which, in after times, was so severely criticised and censured, by his political opponents.

In the month of August, Captain Gordon, of the spies, visited Pensacola, and ascertained that a large body of savages had been organized there by Colonel Nicholls, of the British army, and were then being instructed and drilled by British officers, in the presence, and with the knowledge, of the Spanish governor; that Fort Barrancas was occupied by between two and three hundred British troops; and that there were three armed vessels belonging to the same nation, in the bay, from which a considerable quantity of arms and provisions had been disembarked. Another reconnaissance was subsequently made by Lieutenant Murray, of the Mississippi militia, which fully confirmed the report made by Captain Gordon. On the twenty-ninth of August, also, Colonel Nicholls issued a proclamation, dated at his “headquarters, Pensacola,” addressed to the inhabitants of the southern and southwestern states, and inviting them to join his standard, in which he informed them that he was “at the head of a large body of Indians, well armed, disciplined, and commanded 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.”

General Jackson was not disposed to stand idly by, and see the rights of his country violated, and her interests jeoparded. He forthwith dispatched an express to the governor of Tennessee, requesting the whole quota of the militia of that state to be brought into the field without delay, and commenced his preparations for a march on Pensacola. On the fifteenth of September Colonel Nicholls appeared before Fort Bowyer, thirty miles below Mobile, at the entrance of the bay, with four vessels, containing a number of siege pieces, and several hundred sailors, mariners, and savages. The heavy guns were landed, the fort invested, and a lively cannonade opened upon it. Major Lawrence, of the 2nd infantry, the commander of the post, with its garrison of one hundred and twenty men, made a brave defence, and finally forced the enemy to retire, with the loss of one of their ships, and over two hundred killed and wounded.

[Sidenote: CAPTURE OF PENSACOLA.]

Having been joined by about two thousand men from Tennessee, General Jackson took up the line of march for Pensacola, with all his disposable troops. His whole force consisted of upwards of three thousand men, but a small part being regulars, and the remainder militia from Mississippi and Tennessee, with a few Choctaw warriors. On the sixth of November he arrived near Pensacola, and sent a flag to the Spanish governor, to communicate the purpose of his visit. The bearer of the flag was fired on from the batteries in the town, and forced to return. Dispositions were then made for carrying the fort by assault, which was discovered to be defended by both British and Spanish troops, on the following day. On the morning of the seventh, the general entered the town with his troops, under a heavy fire from the fort, and the British flotilla in the harbor, and carried one of the advanced batteries at the point of the bayonet. The governor now supplicated for mercy, and surrendered the town and fort unconditionally; the British troops retiring to Fort Barrancas, and their savages allies seeking shelter in the everglades of Florida, whither they were driven by a detachment from the American army under Major Blue.

On the morning of the eighth of November, just as General Jackson was making ready to march upon Fort Barrancas, the British spiked and dismounted the cannon, blew up the works, and retreated to their shipping. The object of his visit to Pensacola being thus accomplished, and the enemy driven from the rendezvous, where they had been invited, or welcomed, by the Spanish authorities, General Jackson restored the town and fort to Governor Manriquez, and immediately returned to Mobile with his troops.

Intimations of an intended attack, or descent, on the southern frontier of the United States, had been previously given, and they were corroborated by the statements of the pirates of Barrataria, who, with their leader, Lafitte, had been solicited by Colonel Nicholls to join the projected expedition, but were afterwards induced, under a promise of pardon for their offences, to take an active and important part in the defence of New Orleans. It was for a long time uncertain at what point the blow would be struck; but, early in September, it became known that formidable preparations were making for the invasion of Louisiana, and the reduction of New Orleans. Governor Claiborne promptly ordered the two militia divisions of the state, under Generals Villeré and Thomas, to hold themselves in readiness to march at a moment’s notice, and issued a patriotic address to his fellow citizens, calling upon them to turn out, in a mass, if necessary, in defence of their homes and families. No immediate attack was then made, however, and the alarm subsided. It was renewed again towards the close of November; the apprehensions of danger were evidently well founded, and General Jackson at once hastened to the city of New Orleans, giving directions, before he set out, for his troops to follow as rapidly as possible, and dispatching an express to expedite the movements of the Kentucky militia, who were required to join him without loss of time.

[Sidenote: THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS.]

Important as was the position of New Orleans, as the great emporium of the southwestern part of the Union, commanding the extensive trade and navigation of the Mississippi and its tributaries, the means provided for its defence were lamentably insufficient. It had been understood for some time, that the expedition under Admiral Cochrane, baffled at Baltimore, but subsequently reïnforced by a large body of troops, supposed, after the conclusion of the Treaty of Paris, to be no longer needed in Europe, was destined, ultimately, to operate upon the Gulf coast. Although New Orleans was the most liable to attack, and the most vulnerable point, in that quarter, few preparations were made for its protection; for the reason, probably, that the plundering and harassing warfare carried on by the enemy on the Atlantic shore, and the operations on the Niagara frontier, furnished constant employment for all the men and means at the disposal of the General Government. Late in the fall of 1814, the new levies raised in Kentucky and Tennessee, were ordered to proceed to that city, and supplies of arms and ammunition were also sent down the Mississippi.

New Orleans, at this time, contained about twenty thousand inhabitants,[20] a great number of whom were of Spanish or English descent, and, consequently, but little reliance was to be placed on their fidelity to the American cause; so far from this, many were known to be in correspondence with the enemy, and only waiting for a favorable opportunity to act in a more open and decided manner. General Jackson arrived in the city on the second of December, and found everything in confusion and alarm. The apprehended invasion was the principal topic of conversation in every _café_ and _boudoir_. The opponents of the administration there, as elsewhere throughout the union, confidently predicted that New Orleans must fall; and its friends more than half feared that the prediction would be verified.

It was no easy task to reänimate those who had grown faint-hearted under the influence of the pitiful Jeremiads which were constantly sounding in their ears. The American commander was accompanied by but few of his men, and his presence alone could not go very far towards the restoration of confidence. Yet he set himself vigorously to the work, and in a brief space of time, his impulsive energy, his earnest zeal, and his determined patriotism had wrought marvellous changes. The timid were reässured; the wavering were encouraged to remain steadfast; and those who had never doubted or faltered, derived new strength from his example. As yet, there were but a few hundred regular troops in the city, and the imminence of the danger was such, that it was necessary to commence operations without delay. The general was deficient both in the _personnel_ and the _matériel_ of war; but the exigencies of his military career had long since taught him to rely on his own unaided efforts. He was ever full of resources,--but never more than now.

The geographical position of New Orleans was highly favorable to its defence. It is situated on the left bank of the Mississippi, around a bend of the river, shaped like a crescent, about midway between the high ground at Baton Rouge, and the Gulf. On either side of the river, there is a strip of arable alluvion, protected from inundation by levees, and varying in width, from three hundred, to one thousand yards. Beyond this there are dense cypress brakes and swamps, with here and there a few acres of salt prairie, extending, on the east, to Lakes Borgne and Pontchartrain. The river debouches into the Gulf through several mouths, which are obstructed by numerous sand bars; and its ascent, at all times difficult, is especially so in high water, when the current is unusually rapid. Under the direction of General Jackson, the militia were imbodied; the defences of Forts St. Philip and Bourbon, on the Mississippi, below New Orleans, were enlarged and strengthened; batteries were constructed at the Rigolets, and on the Chef Menteur; all the numerous bayous and inlets, intersecting the lower valley of the river, between the Chef Menteur and the Atchafalaya, were obstructed, or guarded by strong pickets; and lines of intrenchments and fortifications were traced, below the city, extending from the Mississippi to the swampy grounds, and their construction commenced. Commodore Patterson, the officer in command of the naval station, zealously coöperated with General Jackson, in carrying out the measures of defence which he projected.

[Sidenote: APPROACH OF THE BRITISH FLEET.]

Positive intelligence was received in New Orleans, on the ninth of December, that the British fleet had been descried standing off the Chandeleur islands; and Lieutenant Thomas ap Catesby Jones was immediately dispatched by Commodore Patterson, with a flotilla of five gun boats, and one hundred and eighty-two men, to watch the motions of the enemy. On the twelfth instant, they were discovered in such force, off Cat island, at the eastern extremity of Lake Borgne, that Lieutenant Jones judged it safer to retire up the lake and guard the passes leading towards the city. On the following day, the schooner Seahorse, which had been sent to the bay of St. Louis, to assist in the removal of some public stores at Shieldsboro, was attacked by three of the enemy’s barges. These were driven off, but they soon returned with four others. The crew then abandoned the vessel and blew her up; and the storehouse on the bay was set on fire. The flotilla under Lieutenant Jones was attacked on the fourteenth instant, while becalmed, by a detachment of seamen and marines, twelve hundred strong, under Captain Lockyer, in forty-two launches and barges. Lieutenant Jones and his men made a brave defence; but after an obstinate contest of more than an hour, during which the enemy lost two of their boats, and over three hundred men, they were obliged to surrender, with the loss of forty killed and wounded.

In the meantime, large appropriations had been made by the legislature of Louisiana for the defence of New Orleans; but that body appeared extremely reluctant to adopt all the suggestions of General Jackson and Governor Claiborne. Many of the members were disaffected, and others had been led to believe, by the British spies and emissaries who infested the city, that all attempts at resistance would be unavailing, and that it would be far wiser to propose terms of capitulation, immediately upon the appearance of the British force. General Jackson in vain urged the legislature to suspend the _habeas corpus_ act; and despairing of accomplishing anything, except by the adoption of rigorous and decided measures, as a last resort, he finally ordered martial law to be proclaimed in the city and its vicinity. The functions of the civil authorities were only suspended in part, however, and the legislature continued its sessions.

[Sidenote: PROCLAMATION OF MARTIAL LAW.]