force into the territory of the Creeks. The legislature immediately assembled, and passed a law authorizing the governor to raise thirty-five hundred men for the proposed campaign. In case the general government should refuse to pay them for their services, three hundred thousand dollars were to be raised for that purpose. *

By order of the governor, general Jackson, though yet suffering from a fractured arm, the consequence of his disgraceful affray with the Bentons, called out two thousand of the volunteers and militia of his division. To this force were joined five hundred horsemen, under colonel Coffee, who was authorized to add to his corps as many mounted riflemen as he could gather. He was ordered forthwith to proceed to the frontier, and take measures for its defence, while general Jackson should collect and organize as many as possible of his former army.†

When the troops had assembled, and arrangements for their subsistence had been made, general Jackson, being unable, from the state of his health, to join them immediately, sent an address to be read to them, in which the ground rules of military discipline were earnestly pointed out. The simplicity of his orders would excite our mirth, did we not know that they were addressed to men strangers to all restraint. Officers were forbidden to be drunk under penalty of arrest, and in privates the same offence was to be punished with imprisonment. No one was to sleep out of camp without permission, and the rest of his regulations were of the same character. Yet to those for whose use

* Proceedings of Tennessee legislature.

+ Eaton.

they were intended, they appeared altogether too rigorous.*

On the 7th of October general Jackson joined his division, and learned that the Creeks had detached upwards of eight hundred of their warriors to fall upon the frontier of Georgia, while the remainder of their forces were marching upon Huntsville. On the 9th, therefore, he set his army in motion. They reached Huntsville that day, by a forced march, and on the morrow formed a junction with colonel Coffee's regiment, on the Tennessee river. Here they rested several days, during which general Jackson sent scouts to reconnoitre the Black Warrior river, a tributary of the Tombigbee, on which were several Creek villages. This delay was occasioned by the failure of an expected supply of provisions.†

While the army was thus inactive, a messenger arrived from Chinnaby, a chief of the friendly Creeks. He brought intelligence that Chinnaby's encampment, near Ten Islands, on the Coosa, was threatened by the enemy, and solicited relief. This information induced the general to march to Thompson's creek, a small branch of the Tennessee, where he had reason to believe he might be met by the expected supply. He was the more inclined to action, that the scarcity of provisions depressed the spirits of his half disciplined troops. But he was again disappointed, and his letters to different quarters, soliciting the desired aid, failed of their effect. Even the planters of the frontier, who had a vital interest in the success of his operations, neglected to assist the army contractors. this embarrassing situation, another messenger from

In

Chinnaby arrived, to urge the necessity of an immediate movement, as the enemy was advancing upon him in great force. This information caused

the army to move again.*

Near Ten Islands general Jackson was met by Chinnaby, who informed him that he was within sixteen miles of the hostile Creeks, who were assembled to the number of a thousand, to oppose his march. Hence colonel Dyer was sent with a competent force to attack the village of Littafutchee, on a branch of the Coosa. This done, the army set forward once more, and reached the islands of the Coosa without opposition, thus proving the report of Chinnaby to have been unfounded. Here colonel Dyer rejoined, having accomplished his object. He had burned Littafutchee, with little or no loss on his own side, and brought back with him twenty-nine prisoners, men, women, and children. The scouting parties now began to bring in prisoners, and cattle and corn taken from the enemy.

The first week in November, information was received that a considerable body of the Muscogee warriors had taken a position at the village of Tallushatches, on the opposite side of the Coosa. Colonel Coffee was sent to attack them at the head of nine hundred mounted men. He forded the Coosa under the direction of an Indian guide, and advanced on Tallushatches. The Muscogees were aware of his approach, and prepared to meet it as became men. They struck the war drum, sung the war song, and by their savage war whoop gave notice that they were prepared for battle. Within a mile and a half of the village colonel Coffee halted, divided his force into two bodies, and then

* Eaton.

advanced in such a way as to surround the enemy, who remained quiet in the buildings. Seeing this, the commander had recourse to a feint. He sent forward two companies to decoy the Indians from their cover. No sooner had these deployed into line in front of the village, and fired a few shots, than the savages boldly charged and drove them back on the main body, which opened a general fire and charged in turn. The Muscogees retired, resisting obstinately all the way, till they reached their village, where they stood fast, and a desperate conflict ensued. The Indians did not ask quarter, and when shot down continued to fight on the ground as long as their breath lasted. Many of their wives assisted in the defence, and emulated the bravery of their partners. The Tennesseans revenged the slaughter of Fort Mimms, by slaying all the men, and some women and children. Not one of the savages escaped: their total loss in killed was upwards of a hundred and eighty, and eighty-four women and children were taken alive. On the other hand, five of the whites were killed outright, and forty-one were wounded.* This disparity of injury may be accounted for by several circumstances. The Indians were badly armed, many of them having no better weapons than bows and arrows, and all after the first fire relied upon their bows. They were to the Americans but as one to four, and their horses gave the latter a fearful advantage. In making these remarks we would by no means detract from the fame of colonel Coffee's troops, who displayed throughout a spirit and a unanimity that could not have been surpassed by regular troops. We do them no

* Coffee's Report.

wrong in shewing that they contended with a worthy foe.

When colonel Coffee had rejoined the main body, general Jackson resolved to build a fort and establish a depot at Ten Islands. The fortification was named Fort Strother.

It must be taken in view, that the force under general Jackson, was not the only one with which the Creeks had to contend. Generals Cocke and White were also in the field with the east division of Tennessee militia, and the military force of the State of Georgia was in readiness to move, under general Floyd. We have thought it necessary to mention these particulars, because the exploits of these troops have been so eclipsed by the brilliant operations of general Jackson's army as to be altogether forgotten. Indeed, we believe there are many of our fellow citizens, to whom it will be news to hear that any one had any part in the Creek campaign beside general Jackson. We are not writing a history of the Creek war, but the memoirs of general Jackson, and do not, therefore, detail the operations of those who labored to the same end, but to omit all mention of these facts, would be a dereliction from the duty we have undertaken.

On the seventh of the month, a courier arrived from Talladega, a fort of the friendly Creeks, thirty miles below, to request immediate relief, as they were in hourly danger of being utterly destroyed by the hostile party, who had assembled about them in great numbers. The general did not hesitate to march to their assistance, with all his disposable force, amounting to twelve hundred infantry and eight hundred mounted men.

The