his neighbors and acquaintances, 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 circumstances, would have drawn on him the merited censure of the most deserving part of his fellow-citizens, and deeply wounded his own generous feelings. Add to this, those young men who were confined 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, reminding him at the same time of his assurances, that he would be to them as a father, and of the implicit 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 in coming to a determination.

Having made known his resolution to the field-officers of his division, it met, apparently, their approbation; 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 reminded them that, although to those who possessed funds and health such a course could produce no inconvenience, yet to the unfortunate soldier, 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 founded on light considerations, was unalterably fixed; and that immediate preparations must be made for carrying into execution the determination he had formed.

He lost no time in making known to the Secretary of War the resolution he had adopted, to disregard 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 produce,

and expressed the astonishment he felt that it should have originated with the once redoubted advocate of soldiers' rights. General Wilkinson, to whom the public property was directed to be delivered, learning the determination which had been taken by Jackson to 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 conduct, and the consequences to which it might lead, had been deliberately weighed and well considered, and that he was prepared to abide the result, whatever it might be. Wilkinson had previously given orders to his officers to recruit from Jackson's army; they were advised, however, on their first appearance, 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.

The quarter-master, having been ordered to furnish the necessary transportation for the conveyance of the sick and the baggage to Tennessee, immediately set about the performance of the task; but, as the event proved, with not the least intention 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 embarrassment, the quarter-master entered the encampment, and discharged the whole. He was grossly mistaken 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 intrusted to effect. Disregarding their dismissal, so evidently designed to prevent his marching back his men, General Jackson seized upon these wagons, yet within his lines, and compelled them to proceed in 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 duplicity 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.

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 gave his troops an example of patience and endurance of 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

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Nashville, he communicated 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 conduct. he suffered General Wilkinson to have accomplished that which was clearly his intention, although it was an event which might at the moment have benefitted the service, by adding an increased strength to the army, yet the example would have been of so serious and exceptionable a character, that injury would have been the final and unavoidable result. 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

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under pretense of danger; while the concealed design was, by increasing their necessities at a distance from their residence, to compel them to an act which they would have abstained from under different circumstances. His conduct, terrible as it might at first appear, was, in the end, approved, and the expenses incurred were directed to be paid by the Government.

CHAPTER III.

FROM MAY, 1813, TO APRIL, 1814.

His Indian campaign-Battles-Discontent in his army-Proof of his unparalleled fortitude and resolution-Unexpected embarrassments-Success.

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 Government 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.

There was at this time (May, 1813) no appearance that British hostility would bear against any part of Louisiana, in which New-Orleans is situated. But the repose of Jackson and his volunteers was not of long duration, for the savages, instigated by an impostor who went among them, calling himself a prophet, who gave them assurances of the aid and protection of Great Britain, whose power and riches he represented as without bounds; the savages thus instigated, made incursions into the States of Tennessee, Kentucky, and other parts, committing murders and cruelties; slaughtering women and children with the most savage barbarity. was absolutely necessary to punish them: and, therefore, first the Government of Tennessee, and afterwards, the General Government authorized war, when all eyes were turned upon Jackson to put an end to these horrid cruelties. therefore called upon his volunteers who had followed him

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