455010.18 HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY MAY 5 1915 CHARLES ELLIOTT PERKINS NOTE. THE following sketches of General JACKSON, are published, that his origin, education, public life, and character may be more generally known. The brilliancy of his military career, has, in a great measure, eclipsed his civil life; although in this capacity he has been greatly distinguished. Genera Jackson may with justice be styled the Cincinnatus of America a man who has never solicited or refused an office, and who after discharging the duties assigned him, has uniformly retired to private life, to enjoy the sweets of tranquillity. In the person of such a man, we hope to recognize the succes sor of Mr. Monroe, in the first office of this free and great nation. MEMOIRS OF Gen. Andrew Jackson. THE father of general Jackson emigrated from Ireland in 1765, and settled his family at Waxsaw, now the district of Marion, in South Carolina; his son Andrew was born the 15th March, 1767; and at the close of that year the father died, leaving his wife and children, Hugh, Robert, and Andrew, in possession of a small estate. The subject of these memoirs, being the youngest son, was early destined by the mother for the ministry; and at Waxsaw there was an academy, under the instruction of a well educated gentleman. At this school Andrew pursued classic and the other higher branches of education, until the age of fourteen, when the approach of the English army dispersed the Waxsaw school, and Andrew, with his brother Robert, entered the army of freedom. Hugh, the oldest brother, fell a victim at the battle of Stono, fighting for the same cause. A band of tories and English dragoons attacked those who had embodied themselves at Waxsaw, and Andrew and his brother were made prisoners. Here an incident occurred that developed the future character. A British officer directed Andrew to clean his boots. The boy refused, and said "I am a prisoner of war, and demand treatment as such." The officer made a pass at him with his sabre, which was parried by Andrew's hand, which received a deep wound. Robert also received a deep wound in the head soon after he was made a prisoner. The two brothers were put in prison, confined in separate apartments, and their wounds suffered to remain undressed. They were soon after exchanged; but Robert quickly sunk under his wound. The mother, disconsolate and overcome with suffering, in a short time took her flight to join her departed family in eternity. Two years thereafter young Jackson resumed his literary pursuits; which he continued until the age of eighteen, when he commenced the study of law in North-Carolina; and in 1786 he entered upon the practice of his profession in the twentieth year of his age. In the year 1787 he emigrated to the then south west terpitory of the United States, and now the state of Tennessee, where, from that time up to the year 1812, he held the various offices of Attorney General-member of the Convention that formed the constitution of that state-member of CongressSenator of the U. States-Judge of the Supreme Court of Tennessee, and afterwards the office of Major General of the Militia of the state. This continued succession of offices which he filled, show the high character which he sustained in Tennessee, although his name was hardly known in the northern and eastern parts of the United States. In June, 1812, the United States declared war against Britain, and in that year an act authorized the raising of fifty thousand volunteers to serve one year. Within two years, and from the date of this act, commenced the great military career of Gen. Jackson. He addressed the sons of Tennessee, and in a short time twenty-five hundred joined his standard. Their services were tendered to government in Nov. 1812; and, shortly after, they were ordered to descend the Ohio and Mississippi, to guard the lower states of our country; and, in January they encamped at Natchez, three hundred miles above New-Orleans. Here, strange to relate, Gen. Jackson received an order from Gen. Armstrong, then Secretary at War, to disband his troops, and deliver his commissasary department to Gen. Wilkinson. These volunteers were five hundred miles from home, and they had to countermarch through a wilderness. Gen. Jackson disobeyed the government! for to have obeyed would have been to destroy his men. He dismissed his men, and directed them to take the commissary department along with them. The English government, at the commencement of the late war, turned their attention to the Indians of Florida, and the neighboring tribes, who were soon excited to acts of hostility against the United States. These tribes were much more aumerous than was generally supposed, and in time of war were capable of becoming powerful allies to a foreign foe. Such they were to the English at the commencement of hostilities. A simultaneous attack was planned by the Creeks and other tribes on the frontier settlements of Georgia, Tennessee and Mississipppi; and the bloody drama was commenced by butchering the garrison of Fort Mimms, at Tensaw, in the state of Mississippi, in which men, women and children, to the number of 400, were slaughtered. Here let it be remembered, that the war against the Indians was carried on by the states of Georgia and Tennessee, for self-defence, with but little aid from the general government. The troops employed were mi tia and volunteers; and the scene of action embraced a country nearly as large as the whole of New-England. The com missary department of Jackson's army was miserably ́supplied, from the defect of arrangement on the part of government. The time of service of the volunteers had nearly expired. The Indians were embodied in different places, for the purpose of falling on the frontier inhabitants at every point. The army of Jackson was too small to be divided, and it had often to contend against superior strength. Thas situated, the army of the General, by forced marches and counter-marches fought the battles of Littafutches, Tallushatches, Talladega, Eccanacha, Emuckfaw, Enotachopco, and Tohopeka. This last battle decided the fate of the war; and General Jackson, emaciated by long and continued fatigue, and unabated exertion, with his army at one time reduced to less than a battallion by the expiration of the period of service of the volunteers, thought of retiring to his own villa on the banks of the Cumberland, to regain his wonted health and vigor, when he received a commission, in June 1814, of Brigadier General in the army of the United States, and one of the Commissioners to conclude a treaty with the Creek Indians. We now meet Gen. Jackson in a new capacity; he nd hitherto been the commander of the militia of his own State, and the volunteers who joined him. The achievments which he accomplished gained the confidence of the general government, and he was raised to the office of Brigadier General of the United States. New duties then devolved upon Andrew Jackson, in the execution of which, he has elevated his name to the summit of fame, and his exploits will be enrolled in the pages of inmortality. At this period, the commander of Pensacola, Gov. Maureqez, who had aided the English and Indians, in carrying on the war with the United States, was addressed by Gen. Jack son on the subject; Monrequez attempted to evade the subject by the usual course of diplomacy and intrigue. The republican, the political, and the military character of Gen. Jackson, is fully exhibited in his last letter to Manrequez, as follows: "Were I clothed, says the general, with diplomatic pow ers, for the purpose of discussing the topics embraced in the wide range of injuries of which you complain, and which have long since been adjusted, I could easily demonstrate that the United States have been always faithful to their treaties; steadfast in their friendships; nor have ever claimed any thing |