THE GREAT BATTLE OF THE WAR.
The Indians were now concentrated at Tohopeka, or the Horse Shoe, the
peninsula already mentioned, which was formed by a sharp bend of the
Tallapoosa River, as the reader will see by reference to any good map of
Alabama, as the place has not lost its name. This bend incloses about
one hundred acres of ground, and the distance across its neck or
narrowest part is between three hundred and four hundred yards. Across
this isthmus the Indians had constructed a strong breastwork composed of
heavy timbers built up into a thick wall, and designed, unlike the
ordinary Indian stockade, to withstand artillery fire. This breastwork
was provided with port-holes through which the fire of the garrison
could be delivered, and the angles of the fortification were so well and
so regularly drawn after the manner of educated military engineers, that
any force which should approach it in assault must do so at cost of
marching under a front and an enfilading fire. Care was taken also so to
dispose the houses within the inclosure, the log-heaps, felled trees,
and even the earth in some places, as to make additional fortifications
of all of them; and about one hundred canoes were fastened along the
river-bank as a means of retreat to the forest on the other side in the
event of defeat.
[Illustration: MAP OF BATTLE SITE]
All of this systematic preparation, and especially the erecting of the
strong and well-placed breastworks, were things wholly new in Indian
warfare. This is not the way in which the savage warrior prepares
himself for battle: it is the method of the trained soldier; and Mr.
Parton, struck with the unlikeness of the preparations to any thing
ordinarily seen in Indian warfare, says: "As the Indian is not a
fortifying creature, it seems improbable that Indians alone were
concerned in putting this peninsula into the state of defence in which
Jackson found it." To which we may add, that Red Eagle was not only an
Indian chief: he was on one side the white man, William Weatherford, and
the white man in him was essentially a civilized white man. He had been
trained by that old soldier, General Alexander McGillivray, and by that
other soldier, General Le Clerc Milfort; he had visited Mobile and
Pensacola, and must have learned both the nature and the elementary
principles of fortification there. It was he who planned the
establishment of the strongholds of which Tohopeka was one, and what is
more probable than that he planned the defences whose fitness for their
purpose was so remarkable?
The fighting force of the Creeks at Tohopeka is believed to have been
about one thousand strong. They had with them, of course, their women
and children, and they had news of Jackson's approach; but
notwithstanding the overwhelming numbers opposed to them, they remained
in their stronghold determined to await their enemy's attack there,
instead of hanging upon his flank after their usual manner, and seeking
to surprise him.
The road was long and difficult over which Jackson marched. Rather there
was no road, and Jackson had to cut one through an unbroken wilderness,
establishing a depot of supplies and garrisoning it before he dared
advance to the work he had to do.
Finally, on the morning of March 27th, 1814, the Tennessee commander
found himself, after all his toils and harassing difficulties, in front
of the enemy he had so long wished to meet in a decisive struggle. He
had about two thousand effective men with him, the rest having been left
in garrison at the different posts which it was necessary to defend.
Having made himself acquainted with the nature of the ground, he sent
General Coffee with a force of seven hundred cavalry and six hundred
friendly Indians down the river, with orders to cross two miles below
and march up the eastern bank to the bend, where he was directed to
occupy a continuous line around the curve, and thus cut off retreat
across the river.
Then with the main body of his army and his two light field-pieces--one
of them a three-pounder and the other a six-pounder--Jackson himself
marched up the river and formed his line of battle across the isthmus,
facing the breastworks.
About ten o'clock, Coffee arrived at the bend, and directed his Indians
under Morgan to occupy the margin of the river. This they quickly did,
deploying along the stream until their line stretched all the way around
the bend, leaving no gap anywhere. With the mounted men Coffee posted
himself upon a hill just in rear, for the double purpose of intercepting
any Creeks who might come from below to the assistance of their
beleaguered friends, and of being in position himself to reinforce any
part of his Indian line which might be hard pressed.
When all was ready, Coffee signified the fact to Jackson by means which
had been agreed upon between them, and the commander advanced his line
to give the enemy battle. The artillery under Captain Bradford was
advanced to a point within eighty yards of the breastwork, with the hope
that its fire at short range might make a breach in the formidable line
of fortification. The position was a fearfully exposed one for the
cannoniers, but they were gallant fellows, under command of a brave
officer, and they held their ground manfully under a most galling fire,
bombarding the works ceaselessly. The riflemen added their fire to that
of the artillery, not because it was likely to have any effect upon the
thick breastworks, but because its maintenance would prevent the
concentration of the enemy's fire upon the artillery.
The cannon-shot plunged into the fortification at every discharge; but
the parapet was too thick to be penetrated, and except when a missile
chanced to pass through a port-hole, the artillery fire accomplished
very little beyond making the Creeks yell a little more fiercely than
usual in their exultation over the ineffectiveness of the means employed
for their destruction.
Meantime Coffee could not contentedly stand still while all this work
was going on just in his front. Like Ivanhoe in the castle, he chafed at
his compulsory inaction while others were doing "deeds of derring-do."
In the absence of any thing else to be about, he conceived the notion of
capturing the enemy's fleet, and ordered the best swimmers in his
command to cross the river and bring away the canoes. Having thus
secured the means of transporting men to the other side, he could not
resist the temptation to make an attack in the enemy's rear. If he might
have spared enough men for the purpose and led them in person, Coffee
would have brought the battle to an early close by this means, saving a
deal of bloodshed; but his orders were to maintain a line all along the
shore, and to resist the approach of reinforcements from below. He could
neither detach a strong force for the attack in rear nor leave his
appointed post to lead them in person. But he could at least make a
diversion in Jackson's favor, and this he proceeded to do. He sent
Morgan across in the canoes, with as many men as could be withdrawn with
propriety from the line, ordering him to set fire to the houses by the
river-bank and then to advance and attack the savages behind the
breastwork.
Morgan executed this order in fine style, and although his force was too
small to enable him to maintain his attack for any considerable time,
the movement was of great assistance to Jackson. The burning buildings
and the crack of Morgan's rifles indicated to Jackson what his active
and sagacious lieutenant was doing, and he resolved to seize the
opportunity, while the Creeks were somewhat embarrassed by the fire in
their rear, to make the direct assault upon the works which it was now
evident must be made before any thing effective could be done.
To storm such a work was sure to be a costly way of winning, even if it
should succeed, while if it should fail, its failure would mean the
utter destruction of the army attempting it. The general hesitated to
make so hazardous an attempt, but the men clamored to be led to the
charge. It was the only way, and the army was evidently in the best
possible temper for the doing of desperate deeds.
Jackson gave the order to storm the works.
Then was seen the grandest, awfullest thing which war has to show. The
long line of men, pressing closely together, advanced with quick,
cadenced step, every man knowing that great rents would be made in that
line at every second, and none knowing what his own fate might be.
Without wavering, but with compressed lips, the Tennesseeans, in line
with Colonel Williams's regulars, rushed upon the breastwork, which
flashed fire and poured death among them as they came. Pushing the
muzzles of their rifles into the port-holes they delivered their fire,
and then clambered up the side of the works, fighting hand to hand with
the savages, who battled to beat them back. The first man upon the
parapet, Major Montgomery, stood erect but a single second, when he fell
dead with a bullet in his brain. His men were close at his heels, and
surged like a tide up the slope, pouring in a torrent over the works and
into the camp. The breastwork was carried, and in ordinary circumstances
the battle would have ended almost immediately in the enemy's surrender;
but this enemy had no thought of surrendering. The consequences of a
blunder committed so long before as the 18th of November were felt here.
General White's attack upon the Hillabees when they had submitted and
asked for peace had taught these men to expect nothing but cruellest
treachery at the hands of Jackson, whom they confidently believed to be
the author of that most unfortunate occurrence. Having no faith in his
word, the Creeks believed that he and his men offered quarter only to
save themselves the work of killing warriors who could yet fight. They
believed that to surrender was only to spare their enemies, who, as soon
as the prisoners could be disarmed, would butcher them in cold blood,
paying no recompense in the death of any of their own number. Convinced
of this, the men at the Horse Shoe simply refused to be taken prisoners,
either in a body or singly; they would yield only to death, not to their
enemies. They fought for every inch of ground. Wounds were nothing to
them, as long as they could level a gun or hurl a tomahawk. Jackson's
men had to drive them slowly back, dislodging them from brush heaps and
felled trees, and suffering considerable loss in doing so. They had
carried the works, but had not yet conquered the defenders of the place.
To do that they had simply to butcher them.
It was horrible work, but it must be done. Brave men revolted from it,
but whenever one of them sought to spare even a badly-wounded enemy his
reward was a bullet, or a blow from the fallen but still defiant
warrior's club.
Little by little the savages were driven to the river bank, where the
remnant of them made a last stand under strong cover, from which even a
well-directed artillery fire at short range failed to dislodge them.
They were driven out at last only by the burning of the heap of timber
in and behind which they had taken refuge. When their situation was most
desperate, Jackson made a last effort to spare them. Sending a friendly
Indian forward, he assured them of his disposition to save them alive if
they would surrender, but they answered only by firing upon the
messenger and riddling his body with bullets. When at last they were
driven out by the flames they were shot down like wild beasts.
Night finally came to stop the slaughter of hiding warriors, but it was
renewed in the morning, sixteen warriors being found then concealed in
the underbrush. They refused even then to surrender, and were slain.
It was in this battle that Samuel Houston, afterward the president of
the Republic of Texas, and still later a Senator in the Congress of the
United States, first distinguished himself by his valor, and fell so
severely wounded that his recovery was always thought to be little less
than miraculous.
When the battle was ended five hundred and fifty-seven dead warriors
were found upon the field, but even this was by no means the total
number of the slain. Many of them had tried to escape by swimming, and
for a long time Coffee's men were busy shooting them in the water, where
when killed they sank out of sight.
Mr. Pickett tells us that one brave old chief, Manowa, escaped in an
ingenious and wonderful way, after being literally shot to pieces. "He
fought as long as he could. He saved himself by jumping into the river
where the water was four feet deep. He held to a root and thus kept
himself beneath the waves, breathing through the long joint of a cane,
one end of which he held in his mouth, while the other end came above
the surface of the water. When night set in the brave Manowa rose from
his watery bed and made his way to the forest bleeding from many
wounds."
Mr. Pickett conversed with Manowa many years after the war, and heard
the story of his escape from his own lips.
Jackson's loss was thirty-two white men and twenty-three friendly
Indians killed, ninety-nine white men and forty-seven friendly Indians
wounded.