JACKSON IS HELPED INTO HIS SADDLE.
Bad news travels rapidly, and the news of the terrible massacre at Fort
Mims was soon known in all parts of the South and West. There were
neither railroads nor steamboats in those days, and between the Tensaw
settlement and the rest of the country there were not even stage-coaches
running, or mail-riders on horseback. It took more than a month for the
swiftest messenger from Southern Alabama to reach New York, and nearly
as long to reach Washington City; but when Red Eagle had shown of what
mettle he was made, General Claiborne, who in his double capacity as
Governor of Louisiana and general in the field was doubly interested,
became greatly alarmed, and that with good reason. The British were
threatening the coast, and Weatherford now appeared to threaten Mobile.
The situation was, indeed, an alarming one. It was pretty clear that
Weatherford was already acting in concert, more or less direct, with the
enemy without; and if he should take the town of Mobile, as he was
probably able to do, securing a base of operations for a British force,
he might easily turn back and utterly destroy the settlements, while the
few troops within reach should be engaged with the British.
In this perilous situation of affairs it was useless for General
Claiborne, or his superior officer, General Flournoy, to appeal to the
government at Washington for aid. Even if the troops of the Government
had not been fully occupied already in other parts of the country, the
distance was so great that any assistance which the general government
might be able to render must of necessity come too late to be of any
avail. It would take a month for the messenger asking for help to reach
Washington, another month for a force to be gathered, and perhaps two
months more for it to reach the exposed point. Three or four months at
least, and probably a greater time, must pass before help could come
from that quarter, and it might as well have taken a hundred years, so
far as all practical purposes were concerned.
The only resource, therefore, was an appeal to the people of the
surrounding States. Messengers were sent in hot haste to South Carolina,
Georgia, and Tennessee, carrying despatches which simply set forth the
facts and the danger, and asked for help. The response was quick and
generous. Georgians and South Carolinians began at once to organize
forces, which soon afterward invaded the Creek country. But the most
efficient aid was to come from Tennessee, a State which had already
shown itself quick to answer to every demand made upon it. It had
furnished its full quotas of men to the national army; and less than a
year before the time of which we now write, it had sent a full division
of volunteers under Jackson to reinforce the army at New Orleans. This
division had been ordered to disband while at Natchez, when they were
without money or provisions with which to reach their homes, but Jackson
had resolutely disobeyed the order, and instead of disbanding his
division had marched it back to Tennessee in a body.
There had been loud murmurs at the treatment these volunteers had
received, but when the news came that the people of the Tensaw country
were suffering brutal butchery at the hands of savages, and that Mobile
was threatened, Tennessee hushed her murmurs, and promptly responded to
the call.
On the 18th day of September, the people of Nashville assembled in a
public meeting to consider the news which had just been received.
General Jackson lay upon his bed, weak, emaciated, and racked with pain
from a wound received in a street fight; but everybody felt that his
counsel in matters of this kind was essential. Indeed, it was known
that upon the question of his ability to lead the forces that were to be
raised their success in raising forces at all must in a great measure
depend. The meeting, therefore, did no business on the first day, except
to express its members' determination to render assistance to their
brethren in the South, and to appoint a committee, headed by Colonel
(afterward General) Coffee, to consult with the Governor of the State
and with General Jackson, and to report the result.
This committee went to Jackson's chamber and told him the story of Fort
Mims, and of the need there was for him to lead the Tennessee
volunteers. They assured him also that if they could give his name to
the people as the leader who would head them, the volunteers would flock
to the standard of the State at once.
Jackson replied that he was recovering, although he was still confined
to his bed, and that he thought he should be well enough to mount his
horse by the time the troops could be got ready to march. In that event
he promised to take command.
With this news the committee went to the clergyman who was chairman of
the public meeting, and that patriotic man, dismissing all thought of
his regular church services, called the meeting together again the next
morning, which happened to be Sunday. The voice of the meeting and of
the people of the State was unanimous. Mr. Parton, in his Life of Andrew
Jackson, writes:
"The news of the massacre produced everywhere in Tennessee the most
profound impression. Pity for the distressed Alabamians, fears for the
safety of their own borders, rage against the Creeks, so long the
recipients of the governmental bounty, united to inflame the minds of
the people. But one feeling pervaded the state. With one vow it was
decreed that the entire resources and the whole available force of
Tennessee should be hurled upon the savage foe, to avenge the massacre
and deliver the southern country."
There was unfortunately no law of the State under which anybody was
authorized to call out the needed men, and although Governor Blount was
ready to approve and actively to encourage the gathering of Tennessee's
strength and its use in this way, he had no legal authority to promise
pay or support to the troops. This defect was repaired by the
Legislature within a week. That body passed a bill authorizing the
Governor to enlist three thousand five hundred men for this service,
voting three hundred thousand dollars for expenses, and pledging the
State to support and pay the men, if the general government should
refuse or neglect to accept the force as a part of its volunteer army.
Meantime, from his sick bed, and without waiting for the processes of
law, General Jackson called for volunteers. He published an address, in
which he said to his Tennesseeans:
"The horrid butcheries perpetrating on our defenceless fellow-citizens
near Fort Stoddard cannot fail to excite in every bosom a spirit of
revenge. The subjoined letter of our worthy Governor shows that the
general government has deposited no authority in this quarter to afford
aid to the unhappy sufferers. It is wished that volunteers should go
forward, relying on the justice of the general government for ultimate
remuneration. It surely never would be said that the brave Tennesseeans
wanted other inducements than patriotism and humanity to rush to the aid
of our bleeding neighbors, their friends and relations. I feel confident
that the dull calculations of sneaking prudence will not prevent you
from immediately stepping forth on this occasion, so worthy the arm of
every brave soldier and good citizen. I regret that indisposition, which
from present appearances is not likely to continue long, may prevent me
from leading the van; but indulge the grateful hope of sharing with you
the dangers and glory of prostrating these hell-hounds, who are capable
of such barbarities."
Jackson was in a hurry. Every day at such a time was precious, and hence
he was determined to waste no time coddling his worn and wounded body.
He issued his addresses and his orders from his sick-bed; concerted
measures with General John Cocke, who was to command the troops from the
eastern half of the State, and made arrangements for provisions. On the
26th day of September, just one week after the Sunday when the public
meeting had been held, he sent Coffee forward with the advance of his
army a body of horsemen numbering somewhat more than five hundred.
Coffee received volunteers at every cross-road, and by the time he
arrived at Fayetteville, Alabama, the appointed place of rendezvous, his
five hundred men had increased to one thousand three hundred.
Jackson had to be helped on his horse when he set out to join the army
he had raised so speedily. His arm was still encased in the surgeon's
wrappings, and carried in a sling. He could put but one arm into his
coat-sleeve, and he was so weak that it was with difficulty that he
could ride at all; but there was that in his composition which had
already gained for him his nickname, "Old Hickory;" it was the tough
hickory of his nature which supplied the place of physical strength, and
enabled him to march. Everywhere he issued his proclamations and
addresses, couched in strong, vigorous, though not always graceful,
English: a practice for which he has been laughed at sometimes, but one
which was wise, nevertheless. He knew his Tennesseeans, and adapted his
measures to their character. They were an impulsive race of men, full of
warm blood, which was easily stirred by such appeals as Jackson made to
them, though they would not have been moved by a colder species of
address.
Having secured his men, Jackson's next care was to convert them as
rapidly as possible into soldiers, and accordingly his next appeal was
directed to this end. Finding that he would not be able to reach
Fayetteville at the exact time appointed for the rendezvous, he sent an
officer forward with the following address, which was read to the
troops:
"We are about to furnish these savages a lesson of admonition. We are
about to teach them that our long forbearance has not proceeded from an
insensibility to wrongs or an inability to redress them. They stand in
need of such warning. In proportion as we have borne with their insults
and submitted to their outrages, they have multiplied in number and
increased in atrocity. But the measure of their offences is at length
filled. The blood of our women and children recently spilt at Fort Mims
calls for our vengeance; it must not call in vain. Our borders must no
longer be disturbed by the war-whoop of these savages and 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. It is time they should be
made to feel the weight of a power which, because it was merciful, they
believed to be impotent. 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 dispositions? Is it worth the character of American
soldiers, who take up arms to redress the wrongs of our injured country,
to assume no better models than those furnished them by barbarians? No,
fellow-soldiers, great as are the grievances that have called us from
our homes, we must not permit disorderly passions to tarnish the
reputation we shall carry along 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! We
will commence the campaign by an inviolable attention to discipline and
subordination. Without a strict observance of these, victory must ever
be uncertain, and ought hardly to be exulted in even when gained. To
what but the entire disregard of order and subordination are we to
ascribe the disasters which have attended our arms in the north during
the present war? How glorious will it be to remove the blots which have
tarnished the fair character bequeathed us by the fathers of our
Revolution! The bosom of your general is full of hope. He knows the
ardor which animates you, and already exults in the triumph which your
strict observance of discipline and good order will render certain."