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Show LIFE OF GEN. JACKSON. CHAP. trained youths of our country, whose bosoms pant 11· for glory, and a desire to avenge the wrongs they ~have received? Your general will not live to behold such a spectacle ; rather would he rush into the thickest of the enemy, and submit himself to their scalping knives; but he has no fears of such a result. He knows the valour of the men he commands, and how certainly that valour, regulated as it will be, will lead to victory. With his soldiers he will face all dangers, and with them participate in the glory of conquest." Having thus prepared the minds of his men, and brought to their view the kifld of foe, with whom they were shortly to contend; and having also, by his expresses, instructed general White, to form a junction with him, and to hasten on all the supplies, in his power to command ; witl1 about six days' rations of meat, and less than two of meal, he again put his army in motion, to meet the enemy. Although there was some hazard, in advancing into a country where relief was not to be expected, with such limited preparation, yet believing th~t his contractors, lately installed, would exert themselves to the utmost, to forward supplies; and well aware that his delaying longer might be productive of many disadvantages, his determination was taken, to set out in quest of the enemy. He replied to the _Path-killer, by his runners, that he should proceed immediately for the Coosa, and solicited him to be diligent in making discoveries of the situation and collected forces of the savages, and to give him th~ result of his inquiries. LIFE OF GEN. JACKSON. 45 "The hostile Creeks," he remarked to him, "will CHAP. not attack you, until they have had a brush with me; H. and iliat, I think, will put tl1em out of the notion of~ fighting, for ;orne time." He requested that if he had, or could any how procure, provisions for his army, he would send them, or advise where they might be had: " You shall be well paid, and have my thanks into the bargain. I shall stand most in need of corn meal, but shall be thankful for any kind of meat ; and indeed for whatever will support life." The army had advanced but a short distance, when unexpected embarrassment! were again presented. Information was received, by which it was clearly ascertained, that the present contractors, who had been so, much and so certainly relied on, could not, with all their exertions, procure the necessary supplies. Major Rose, in the quarter master's department, who had been sent back to Madison, to aid them in their endeavours, having satisfied himself, as well from their own admissions, as from evidence decived from other sources, that their ~,flt of funds, and consequent want of credit, rendered t11em a very unsafe dependence, returned, and disclosed the facts to the general. He stated, that there were there persons of fortune and in~~ stry, who would be willing to contract for the army, tf It were necessary. Jackson lost no time in embracing this plan, and gave the contract to Mr. PQpe, upon whose means and exertions, he hoped, every reliance might be safely reposed. To the other contractors he wrote, informing them of tl1e change that had been made, and the reasons that had induced it. |
