Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-05-29

r the American eagle on the rampar
2 of Mobile, Pensacola and st. Augu
Y tine, effeetJally banishing from ii
5 southern coasts all British Unfit
t ence.o These confident and Ell
! thusiastic utterances, coming frof
3 some men, might be considered 6
3 mere sound and fury, signifyin
! nothing. But Andrew jackson fe
: it, and meant it all.
J AT the head of two thousan
) choice Tennesseeans! AT last h
: had found his destined element. A
: guerdOn of deathleSs fame was t
be won, and the garlands of immoT
tality were to be gathered. At las
he planted his feet upon the path
way of glory, and every instinct 0
his nature told him it was the roaC
! that destiny had marked out 70
him to travel.
Soon his infantry was fioatins
down the Cumberland, and hi
cavalry was on the march through
the country to their destination
full of the hope and patriotism anC
martial pride that burned in the
heart of their leader. But this wa:
doomed to be brief and bloodless
campaign. After Hull's surrender
the government, fearing that the
enemy might direct his attention tC
the southern coast, thought it ad.
visable,. as a precautionary meas.
ure, TO reinforce the command al
New Orleans. Hence the call on
the governor of Tennessee tor
! troops. On reaching Natehez, Gen.
Jackson was commanded to halt at
that place for further orders. The
contemplated necessity not arising
which had caused the government
to call these troops to the field, an
order came to Gen. Jackson from
the secretary of war to disband
them. This seemed a strange or
der-dismissingt troops five hundred
miles from home without pay, with
out transportation, or any provision
for the sick. Now was displayed
that iron will, that promptness and
readiness to assume responsibility
so characteristic of the man. Gen.
Jackson at once resolved not to
obey the order, and determined not
to dismiss his troops in a strange
country without the means of re
turning to- their homes, but to
march them back in body to Ten
neSsee. He at once set about pro-
viding the means of transportation
for the sick, impressing whatever
he needed, and giving orders ON
the equartermastersge for pay.
ment. OF course these preparations
,.o0,,:raJ fGn irot1rpiofr of O liahfIffu
for il Considerable amount of mo-
ney He well knew that these ex-l
penses, incurred not only without
the authority of the government,
but in disobedience of its order,
would fall upon him personally if
the government shonld refuse to
honor his draft; but he did not
hesitate moment on that account.
1t was no spirit of characterization
that prompted him to take this
cOurse-f;lr from it, He placed too
high an estimate upon the value of
discipline to be swayed by any such
motive as that. He felt that he
could not obey that order without
perpetrating a gross wrong and in
Justice upon the brave men who
had followed him to the field, and
he determined not to be a party to
it whatever might be the conse-
quences to him personally.
Throughout the whole march he
was with his troops, often dis
mounting and giving some sick or
exhausted soldier his horse to ride
while he trudged along in the mud
with his men. 1t was the firmnesS
and power of endurance displayed |
on this long march, that caused his |
to give him the nickname |
of Old HickOry-arl Appreciation /
which he proudly wore through all !
his subsequent career. He led, his |
army back, and on the Public |
SQUARE at Nashville they were dis
banded. Their commander had not |
led them to victory-they brought |
back, no laurels gathered on the
field of honor, but they returned to
their homes with the proud con
of having obeyed their /
call, and with unbounded |
for their commander,
who had stood by them even at the
risk of bringing down upon his head
the displeasure of his government |
and Wrecking his private fortune.
But he was not long permitted to
remain inactive. The great Te-
the implacable and unap-
foe of the white man,
having formed an alliance with the
English, like a herald of fate had
visited the different tribes of In
dians, and kindled flame of ven
geance and aroused a thirst for
blood in the savage heart from the
lakes to the gulf. The massacre of
Fort Mimms sent a thrillof horror
the entire south. The
mother in her troubled sleep
of the war whOop, the
and scalping knife, as
she instinctively pressed her un-
conscious infant to her bosom.
CONSERVATION seized upon every
heart in the Mississippi territory.
Farms and homes were abandoned,
and families fed to block-houses
and such other places of safety as
offered protection from the barbar-
ity of the Indian. The voice OF
Jackson, like the blast ola trumpet,
called his brave pennesseeans to
arms to avenge the atrocities of
Fort Mimms, and protect the coun-
try from the horrors of savage bru-
tality. The men who had followed
him to Natchez and back were not
slow in responding to the summons
of their leader. The massacre of
Fort Mimms occurred on the 30th
of August. Before the middle of
October, jackson, at the head of
twenty-five hundred Tennesseeans,
stood on the south bank of the Ten
nessee river. / cannot pause to re-
count the difficulties and perplexi-
ties that now beset him. Disap-
pointed on account of the low
water in the river in receiving the
supplies he expected from East
he found himself in that
sparsely settled region almost
wholly without forage for his horses
or subsistence for his men. Most
commanders. would have recrossed
the river, fallen back to a more
plentiful region, and awaited the
arrival of supplies before making
forward movement. But JacksOn's
ways were not the ways of most
He determined to
take no step backward. Though
worn and wasted by disease and a
severe wound he had received, from
the effects of which hestill suffered,
nothing could tame his proud spirit
Or bend his iron will. He seems
never to have entertained a doubt
Of the snccess of his campaign, and
the idea that he might be defeated