the greater number unable to defray the expenses of their return. His command was composed of young men whom he had received at the hands of their parents, with the promise reiterated in public orders before his march, "that he would act the part of a father to them." He was not the man to falsify his word, and disband them a thousand miles from their homes without the means of return. He disobeyed the order, threatened with punishment a recruiting officer found hanging around his encampment-borrowed money on his private credit-marched his men to their homes, and there disbanded them. The noble daring of this act was sustained by its justice, and within a few months received the approval of the secretary of war himself. One more evidence of his determined spirit, and we have done with this portion of his life. On his return march, though keenly alive to the ungenerous treatment of the government, such was his ardour to serve his country, he wrote to the secretary of war, "Should government have any orders to execute at Malden, or its vicinity, about the 30th proximo, I shall be happy to execute them, at the head of my detachment, provided I can be informed of their wishes about the 25th instant, or before I am discharged. My force can be augmented if necessary. I have a few standards wearing the American eagle, that I should be happy to place on the ramparts of Malden." A few months only had elapsed after the disbanding of the volunteers by General Jackson, when there burst upon the frontiers of the southern states the darkest war-cloud that had ever gathered upon their horizon. The machinations of Tecumseh and his brother, the Prophet, aided by British intrigue, had spread general dissatisfaction among the Indians. Hostile incursions mere made into the neighbouring states, and indiscriminate slaughter marked their bloody path. Then came the frightful massacre at Fort Mims, in which 300 men, women and children were butchered, under circumstances of revolting ferocity, and excited the horror, the fears, and finally the vengeance of the states. Upon General Jackson the eyes of Tennessee were turned. Again that brave warrior appealed to his volunteers, and again they responded to his call. Labouring under indisposition, he was unable to meet his army on the day appointed for rendezvous, and therefore caused an address to be read to them. The sentiments it breathes give it a claim to our attention. "Our borders," said he, "must no longer be disturbed with the war-whoop of these savages or the cries of their suffering victims. The torch that has been lighted up must be made to blaze in the heart of their own country. But how shall a war so long forborne, and so loudly called for by retributive justice, be waged? Shall we imitate the example of our enemies in the disorder of their movements and the savageness of their disposition? Is it worthy of the character of American soldiers who < take up arms to redress the wrongs of an injured country, to assume no better mode than that furnished by barbarians? No! fellow-soldiers, great as are the grievances which have called us from our homes, we must not permit disorderly passions to tarnish the reputation we will carry with us. We must and will be victorious, but we must conquer as men who owe nothing to chance; and who in the midst of victory can still be mindful of what is due to humanity." Animated by such feelings, the general advanced with his command into the fastnesses of the Creek country. Without supplies, with an army goaded to insubordination by want, he fought the battles of Talladega, Emuckfaw, Enotochopco, and the bloody and decisive conflict of the Horseshoe. By personal intervention, he suppressed four several mutinies to which his men had been driven by famine, annihilated the power of the savages, and in a few months conquered peace for his country and safety for her frontiers. And all this was done while labouring under physical debility, which at times incapacitated him from sitting upright upon his horse. There is one within the sound of my voice, who served under General Jackson during the latter part of this expedition. He has, when speaking of its events, stated, that such was the weakness of the general, that his body was so bent at times, his head rested on the neck of his horse for support. "But," said my informer, "let the whoop of an Indian or the crack of a rifle be heard, his frame became so erect, and his eye so full of fire, that one ignorant of the fact, could not have believed that an instant before, the former had been prostrated by debility, and the latter dimmed by disease.” * * In allusion to this campaign, an English writer, preliminary to a narration of it, declares, "I must now desire the English reader to prepare himself for a series of actions wholly incredible, were they not attested by piles of official documents, the authenticity of which no man can doubt." * "In the wonderful details I am about to lay before the reader, it will be seen that not another man that we have ever heard of, was capable of performing this duty with success, and when the reader has gone through these details, and has afterwards witnessed the glorious defeat of New Orleans, he will recur to this Indian campaign as the most glorious exploit of this wonderful man." The character of Andrew Jackson, as gathered from his conduct as a military man in his war against the savages, exhibits an inflexibility of purpose which difficulties only served to develope more fully. When duty pointed out a course, he swerved neither to the right hand nor to the left. He gave Obstacles deterred him not-on the contrary his resolution, “like the great propelling power of the present day, was pent up within the iron of his bosom, but to carry him on with fiercer determination," and greater speed to the end desired. Up to the period of which we are speaking, General Jackson had served in the militia of his state. Having literally fought himself into the confidence of the administration and the country, in May, 1814, he was appointed a major-general in the service of the United States, and charged with the protection of the coast near the mouths of the Mississippi. His attention was first directed to Pensacola, in the then Spanish territory. From that fortress he was convinced the Indians received constant supplies of ammunition and arms, and over its governor, British influence exercised entire control. The standards of Spain and England floated side by side from its ramparts. From that post, Colonel Nichols, a British officer, had dated his inflammatory proclamation to the people of Louisiana and Kentucky. From it, a hostile expedition had been fitted out against Fort Bower, on the Mobile, and General Jackson was certain if he left Pensacola under British ascendency, incursions would be made against the settlements on the Mobile, and ultimately all intercourse between New Orleans and the interior be cut off. Spain, a neutral power, either gave aid to our enemy, and should herself be treated as one, or she was too weak to prevent the use of her territory by our enemy, in which event she could not justly complain if the injured nation claimed to hold that territory until she possessed the power to enforce its neutrality. Under the pressure of these considerations, and. the eminent peril of the time, in the absence of instructions from his government, General Jackson "took the responsibility upon himself," entered the Spanish territory, and by a visit to Pensacola, effectually arrested all hostile operations from that quarter. Having performed this service to his country, the indomitable soldier directed his steps to a new theatre of glory, and arrived on the first of December, 1814, at New Orleans, with a determination to defend the country successfully, or, in his own language to Governor Claiborne, "to die in the last ditch!" The period of which we speak was most eventful. The mighty struggle that had convulsed Europe was at the end. The Child of Destiny, the Terror of Legitimists had become the Exile of Elba, and the untrammelled energies, the great resources of Britain could now be concentrated for the annihilation of our country. Timid men feared, bold men wavered, and all felt that a crisis was at hand. The metropolis of the United States had been a short time before sacked, under circumstances which would have done honour to an Alaric or an Attila. The horrors of Hampton and Havre de Grace had exhibited the ruthless spirit by which the enemy was animated. On New Orleans the British government determined the first great blow should fall. Alison, in his "His tory of Europe," observes: "This rising town, which then num bered 17,000 inhabitants, was not a place of warlike preparations; but it was the great emporium of the cotton trade of the southern states, and it was supposed, not without reason, that the capture of a city which commanded the whole navigation of the Mississippi, would prove the most sensible blow to the resources of the American government, as well as furnish a rich booty to the captors." To inflict that blow, and secure that booty, a powerful armament was fitted out under the command of the most accomplished leaders of Britain. With 14,000 men, the veterans of Wellington, the invincibles of the Peninsula with every engine of destruction the art of modern warfare could invent, it hovered on the coast, prepared to launch its thunders upon the devoted city! But Andrew Jackson was the man whom the Supreme Disposer of events had interposed between his country and impending peril! "Such men are raised to station and command, It was not from the formidable force and vindictive spirit of the invaders that General Jackson had most to apprehend. There were circumstances which imparted perils the most imminent to the difficulties of his position. The city, whose defence was committed to his charge, contained a mixed population of French, Spaniards, and discontented Creoles. Having been recently annexed to the United States, her people had not become nationalized. The wealthy looked to their property, and thought to save it by capitulation-the masses were little attached to the new institutions, and most believed, that the soldier who had withstood the rifles of the Indians would fall before the thunders of the British ordnance! The troops of the invader came fresh from the Peninsula war, flushed with victory, and the question would rise unbidden even to the patriot's lips. "Can militia with the Indian warrior at their bead, stand before the well-appointed veterans of England under the lead of her most accomplished commanders?" So rife was the spirit of disaffection, that Governor Claiborne wrote to General Jackson-" Enemies of the country may blame your prompt and energetic measures, but in the person of every patriot you will find a supporter. I think with you, our country is filled with 'traitors and spies."" In despite of all precautions, the general found that intelligence of his every movement was conveyed to the enemy. It was in truth "a dark decisive hour" in which he was called to strike for his country. But his ability proved equal to the occasion, and his courage mounted with every emergency. His capacity, like the fairy tent, seemed to enlarge so as to contain all it was necessary to comprehend. His first effort was to quell treason at home. He declared martial law. His next, to break the charms of British invincibility. This he effected by his celebrated attack on the night of the 23d of December, 1814. A second battle, fought on the 28th of the same month, gave assurance to hope, and animated anew the courage of his men. But it was reserved for the ever memorable 8th of January, to fill the measure of Jackson's honour, and his country's glory. Nine thousand veterans with the appalling battle-cry of "Beauty and Booty," advanced upon the American lines! The story of that day is known to the world. The sun which dawned upon it shed its setting rays on a city saved from plunder-rescued from pollution! The "Historic Muse," proud of the deeds and name of the patriot defender, "guarding and immortalizing her treasure" shall march down the course of time, imparting it to generations yet unborn! We pass over the campaign of General Jackson in 1817-18 against the Seminoles, enough having been said to enable us to form some estimate of the debt of gratitude due for his services in the field, and at the same time evince the genius and character of the man. The salient points in his character are numerous. In the brief analysis we propose to give of it, we shall direct your attention to three of the most commanding. The events of his military career develope-enthusiasm, promptitude in action, and inflexibility of purpose. The ardour with which, within thirteen days after the declaration of war, he sought to serve his country-the alacrity with which he responded to the call of his state when the rifle and tomahawk had desolated the frontiers of the South-the zeal with which he repeatedly proffered his services, and the eagerness he manifested to march at the head of his detachment from the banks of the Mississippi to those of the Detroit, to plant the American standard on the ramparts of Malden-the indomitable spirit which animated him in his Indian campaigns, though prostrated by physical debility, all attest the enthusiasm of the soldier, the inextinguishable ardour of the man! Promptitude in action was no less developed in his military conduct. Whether we view in him the boy of the Revolution, aroused from his midnight slumber, rushing to the post of danger, challenging and firing upon the advancing foe-whether we accompany him in his Indian expedition, quelling mutinies, following the savages through an inhospitable wilderness, with conflict after conflict, until their power was annihilated in the decisive battle of the Horseshoe-or, whether we see him at New Orleans adopting those "prompt and energetic measures," as they were termed by Governor Claiborne, which quelled treason at home, and beat back |