determine whether you will go or peaceably remain. If you still persist in your determination to move forcibly off, the point between us shall soon be decided."

The cannoneers were ready to apply the fire to their pieces. Silence reigned. No one seemed prepared to make the fatal step. A whisper ran down the line of recreant volunteers; the officers stepped forward, and said they had concluded to await the coming of other troops, or until the settlement of the question of their discharge.

CHAPTER X.

CREEK WAR-SETTLING MUTINY WITH THE PISTOL-GENERAL JACKSON GATHERS DOUBTFUL LAURELS AT EMUCKFAU AND ENOTACHOPCO -- FLOYD

A

AND WEATHERSFORD AT CALIBEE

WHO WAS FIRST, THE RED

OR THE WHITE MAN?

LTHOUGH Jackson had conquered in this final

struggle, little good was expected from the conquest. His anxiety was now directed to the new levy of troops, and the desire to close the campaign so successfully begun. But he was also anxious to restore a better state of feeling among the discontented troops, and, if possible, induce many of them to remain till the close of the war. On the 13th of December he caused to be read to the soldiers the following address:

"Volunteers of Tennessee! On the 10th of December, 1812, you assembled at the call of your country. Your professions of patriotism and ability to endure fatigue were at once tested by the inclemency of the weather. Breaking your way through sheets of ice, you descended the Mississippi, and reached the point at which you were ordered to be halted and dismissed. All this you bore without murmuring. Finding that your services were not needed, the means for marching you back were procured; every difficulty was surmounted, and as soon as the point from which you embarked was regained, the order for your dismissal was carried into effect. The promptness with which you assembled, the regularity of your conduct, your attention to your duties, the determination manifested on every occasion to carry into effect the wishes and will of your Government, placed you

on an elevated ground. You not only distinguished yourselves, but gave to your State a distinguished rank with her sisters; and led your Government to believe that the honor of the Nation would never be tarnished when intrusted to the holy keeping of the Volunteers of Tennessee.' In the progress of a war, which the implacable and eternal enemy of our independence induced to be waged, we found that, without cause on our part, a portion of the Creek nation was added to the number of our foes. To put them down, the first glance of the Administration fell on you, and you were again summoned to the field of honor. In full possession of your former feelings, that summons was cheerfully obeyed. Before your enemy thought you in motion, you were at Talluschatches and Talledaga. The thunder of your arms was a signal to them, that the slaughter of your countrymen was about to be avenged. You fought; you conquered; barely enough of the foe escaped to recount to their savage associates your deeds of valor. You returned to this place, loaded with laurels and the applauses of your country.

"Can it be that these brave men are about to become the tarnishers of their own reputation-the destroyers of a name which does them so much honor? Yes, it is a truth too well disclosed, that cheerfulness has been changed for complaints; murmurings and discontents alone prevail. Men who a little while since were offering up prayers for permission to chastise the merciless savage, who turned with impatience to teach them how much they had hitherto been indebted to our forbearance, are now, when they could so easily attain their wishes, seeking to be discharged."

But it was past the time to change the inclinations of these men by patriotic appeals or anything else; and Cocke now having arrived with two thousand men, Jackson wisely concluded to get rid of these troublesome fellows. Accordingly, he ordered General Hall to march them back to Nashville, and deliver them to the Governor, to be treated as he saw fit. Unfortunately, however, this did not greatly improve the condition of things at Fort Strother. Cocke's men were clamoring to be discharged, as their time

was expiring. About half of them still had a month or two to serve. The others Jackson sent home to be disbanded at Knoxville; and urged Cocke to recruit another corps as speedily as possible. Coffee's mounted men were now in mutiny, and many of them had gone home. The others refused to cross the Tennessee River. Coffee was worn out with his trials with them, and wrote to Jackson to that effect. The men had sent him an address, which he also forwarded to Fort Strother. Jackson sent back a long cutting reply, and then added that they had his permission to go and follow no more after him, and that he had a letter from the Governor intimating the same sentiment on his part. They took him at his word and went, with Colonel Allcorn at their head. According to the general understanding of this case, and the parade of evidence on the Jackson side, the conduct of this corps of volunteers was disgraceful enough.

Notwithstanding the assertions of most of General Jackson's numerous biographers as to the great devotion of his soldiers to him, the history of this campaign, in the main, does not justify any such opinion. There are few questions which are wholly one-sided. Many of these volunteers were men of some character, and once they had been called the flower of Tennessee, and when they had set forward on the long winter march to Natchez, the heart of Middle Tennessee had gone with them. On the 4th of March, 1814, over the signatures of General William Hall and seven other volunteer officers of less rank, a statement was made public, representing their side of the case, and which did, to some extent, cast a glimmer of light upon the whole troublesome affair.

The reader may be able to decide for himself, without fuller statements from both sides, the merits of this case between General Jackson and these soldiers. That they had not been all the time in the service from December 10, 1812, to December 10, 1813, was no fault of theirs. That they might have been disbanded before their year had expired, and at any emergency been called to complete it a score of years afterwards, would have been looked upon as a matter of great doubt, at least. But these men, it seems, were apprised of the fact that they might be called to serve out the year for which they had enlisted. The biographers of General Jackson have usually maintained, as did especially all of his political defenders, that his position was right, and that this Indian campaign, on his part, was one of the most praiseworthy and wonderful ever performed by any military leader in the history of the world. There is a wide-spread feeling in war that the private soldier has no right which the general is bound to respect. This country is no exception to the rule of European governments as to the power of discipline in the army. And, indeed, it may, at times, be a fortunate circumstance, even in a republic, that the safety of the country is not subject to the whim of the masses.

In the conflict between General Jackson and his men, although he carried his point at the time, partially by his exhibition of phenomenal, though foolhardy, daring, it could not be inferred that they were cowards. They were, doubtlessly, actuated by better motives. Their service had been one of starvation and hardship, and, perhaps, their greatest trial was to endure the violent temper and intolerant manner of