The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1852-07-28

had arrived. Instead of supplies, came a
letter fram General White, who was at
/ Lookout Mountain in the Cherokee coun
try, stating that no flour could be spared
from that post. His position was now be-
coming painful and critical. Standing in
the centre of the wilderness, and on the
borders Of the enemies country, with his
little band around him, he saw no alterna-
tive but to retreat, unless he ran the risk
OF starving his army in the forest. But
to abandon his design would leave the
friendly Indians at the mercy of their en-
emIes, an act not only cruel in the extreme,
and utterly repugnant to his nature, but
which would furnish fatal example to the
! friendly tribes, whose alliance it was ofthe
highest importance 10 secure. Prudence
Fwould. have dictated q retreat, but Jack
son had never yet turned his back Hvolun-
tarily on n foe, and he resolved, at all haz-
ards, to proceed. Sending off expresses
to General Cooke and White, and to the
Governors of Tennessee and Georgia. and
the American agents in the Choctaw and
Cherokee nations, he issued a stirring adj
dress to his troops, in which he promised
them that the order to charge would be
the signal for victory" In urging on them
the Importance of coolncss, and presence
OF mind, i'll every emergency, even in "re-
treat" he adds,
Your General lamcnts that he has
been compelled, even incidentally, to hint
at a retreat, when speaking to freemcn
and to soldiers. Never, until You forget
all that is due to yourselves and your coun-
try, will you have any practical under
standing of that word. Shall an enemy.
wholly unacIuantcd with military cvou-
tons, and who rely more for victory on
their grim visagcs, and hidcous yclls, than
upon their bravery or their weapons
shall such an enemy ever drive before
them the wcll-traincd youths of our coun-
try, whose bosoms pant for glory, and a de-
sire to avcngc the wrongs they have rcccv-
cdl Your Gcn'l will not live to behold such
a spectacle; rather would he rush into the
thlckcst of the enemy, and submit himself
to their scalping- -knites but he has no
fear of such result. He knows the val
our of the men he commands, and how
certainly that va!our, regulated as it will
be, will lead to victory"
Cut off from supplies, locked up in the
wilderness, through which swarmcd thou
sands of savagcs, eagerly Watching his adj
vance, with only six days rations of meat
and two of flour, he issued this bold and
confident address, and then gave orders
for the army to march. Arriving at Ten
Island, he erected Fort Strother rs a de-
pot, and to cover his retreat. In letter
to Governor Blount, from this place he
fsaYs: 7s---Ifryr p
Indeed, sir, We have been wretchedly
supplied, scarcely two rations in success
sion, have been regularly drawn, vet we
arc not dcspoDdcnt. While we can pro-
cure an ear of corn apiece, or anything
that will answer us substitute for it, we
shall continue our cxcrtions to accomplish
the object for which we were sent"
Here, being informed that Gen. White
was Onl y twenty-five miles distant up the
river, he sent him despatch to hasten, at
once, to the Fort. In the mean time, Ge.
neral Coffee, who had returned successful
from his southern expedition, was sent to
attack large body of Indians at Talus-
hatchce, same thirty miles distant. With
nine hundred men, this gallant officer adj
vanccd, and succeeded in completely sur
rounding them, and though the savagcs
fought desperately to the last, but few es-
cared. a hundred and eighty warriors
lay stretched around the ashes of their
dwellings. Among the slain, was mo-
ther, on whose bosom her infant boy still
lay, struggling in vain to draw nourish-
mcnt from the litclcsS breast. When he
was brought to camp, Jackson cndcavour-
ed to persuade some of the female cap
tivcs to take care of him, but they all re-
fused, saying, " His relations are all dead,
kill him too" lie then ordered some su-
gar to be given him, and sent him to
Huntsville, where he could be properly
cared for. lie afterwards adopted him,
gave him a good education, and placed
him at Il saddler's to learn trade. The
latter was accustomed to spend every Sun
day at the Hermitage, with his adopted
father, who was strongly attached to him.
But he always pined for the free, wild life
Of his race. The close air of the shop and
the drudgery of an apprentice did not
/
ed. He was then taken home to the Her
mitagc, where he fingered some time and
died.
This care and solicitudc for an Indian
infant, in the midst of the troubles and
perils that surrounded him, remind one of
a similar act of Marshall Ncy, when his
doomed army was fast sinking in the
snow-drifts OF Russia. At length, on the
7th Of November, an Indian runner arri-
we'd in Camp, stating that Fort Talladega,
about thirty miles distant was surround
ed by the hostile Red-Sticks, and il he did
not hurry to its relief, the friendly Indians,
who had taken refuge in it, must be mas
sacred. The runner bad scarcely finish
ed his message when the order to march
was issued, and in a few minutes the col
umns were in motion. It was midnight,