Impressed Americans made prisoners of war — Treatment of prisoners — Prison Ships — Dartmoor prison — Neglect of American prisoners — Their sufferings — Fourth of July in Dartmoor — Brutal attack of the French prisoners — Fresh arrivals — Joy at the news of our naval victories — Sufferings of the prisoners in winter — American Government allows them three cents per diem — Moral effect of this notice of Government — Napoleon's downfall — Increased allowance of Government — Industry of prisoners — Attempts to escape — Extraordinary adventure of a lieutenant of a privateer — Number of prisoners increased — A riot to obtain bread — Dartmoor massacre — Messrs. King and L'Arpent appointed commissioners to investigate it — Decision — The end, [279]
Tax-tables, [301]
Index, [313]
HISTORY OF THE SECOND WAR WITH ENGLAND.
CHAPTER I.
THE CREEK WAR.
Jackson's first service — Is appointed commander in-chief of the Tennessee forces — Co-operation of other states — Jackson enters the Creek nation — Difficulties of his position — General Coffee's expedition — Relieves Fort Talladega — Battle of — Stormy condition of his army — Quells a mutiny — Abandoned by his troops — Quells a second mutiny — His boldness — A third mutiny suppressed — Left with but a hundred followers — Clairborne's movements — Arrival of reinforcements — Makes a diversion in favor of General Floyd — Battle of Nutessee — Battle of Emuckfaw — Ambuscade of the Indians — Gallantry of General Coffee — Battle of the "Horse Shoe" — The war ended — Jackson's character.
Allusion has been made to Jackson's campaign against the Creeks, but I purposely omitted an account of its progress, preferring to go back and make a continuous narrative. Although embracing a portion of two years, it composed a single expedition, and forms a whole which loses much of its interest by being contemplated in parts. After the cowardly surrender of General Hull, at Detroit, in the commencement of the war, Jackson offered his services to the government, and solicited the post which was assigned to Winchester. Disappointed in this, he repaired, at the order of the Secretary of War, to Natchez, to assist Wilkinson, then stationed there, to repel the attacks of the enemy should they advance up the Mississippi. But no danger from an attack in that quarter appearing, he was directed to disband his troops. Refusing to do this, on account of the number of sick in camp, many of them sons of his neighbors and friends, he became involved in a quarrel both with Wilkinson and his own officers. He, however, carried out his measures and led his men back in safety to their homes.
1813.
Here he remained idle till the massacre at Fort Mimms, the news of which, together with the rising of the Indians all along our southern frontier, burst like a sudden thunder-clap on the neighboring States. Georgia, Tennessee, North and South Carolina, flew at once to arms. On the 17th of September a mass meeting assembled at Nashville, which with one voice nominated Jackson commander-in-chief of the troops of the State. Ten days after, the nomination was confirmed by the Legislature, and 200,000 dollars voted to carry on the war. Jackson immediately issued a stirring appeal to the people, in which, after describing the state of things, he urged them to assemble to his standard with all speed, saying, "Already are large bodies of the hostile Creeks marching to your borders, with their scalping-knives unsheathed 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." At this time he was suffering from a disabled arm which had been mutilated in an encounter with Benton, and was unable to be present at Fayetteville, the rendezvous, on the 4th of October; but he sent an address to be read to the troops, and rules regulating the police of the camp. Although too feeble to take the field, he, three days after, with his arm in a sling, put himself at the head of the army. The next evening, a dispatch arrived from Colonel Coffee, who had been previously sent forward with a large detachment to Huntsville, thirty-two miles distant, stating that a body of nearly a thousand Indians were on their way to ravage the frontiers of Georgia, and another party approaching Tennessee. The day after came a second express confirming the report. By nine o'clock the following morning, Jackson put his army of twenty-five hundred men in motion, and at eight in the evening reached Huntsville, making the thirty-two miles in eleven hours. Finding that the rumor was without foundation, he proceeded leisurely to Ditto's Landing, where Col. Coffee with his regiment was encamped. Here he paused to wait for supplies, and survey his position.
With promptness on the part of those co-operating with him, he saw that the hostile Creeks could be crushed with one blow; for on the west of their settlements were six hundred Mississippi volunteers and the 3d regiment of regular infantry, six hundred strong, under Colonel Russel; on the east were twenty-five hundred Georgia militia, commanded by General Floyd; while from the north, five thousand volunteers and militia—twenty-five hundred from East Tennessee, under Generals Cocke and White, and the same number from the western section of the State—were moving down on the devoted tribes. This army of five thousand Tennesseans was under his own command, the western half of which he led in person. There were, besides this formidable array, a few posts held by small detachments, and a few hundred friendly Indians, most of them Cherokees. When these separate armies should close around the hostile settlements, encircling them in a girdle of fire, it was universally believed that the war would be over.