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Show 348 LIFE OF GEN. JACKSON. CHAP. In the panic that produced dus disorderly flight, at ~a moment when manly resistance was expected, are to 1815• be found circumstances of justification, which might have occasioned similar conduct even in disciplined troops. The weakest part of the line, and which was protected but by a slight ditch, was assailed by the greatest strength of the enemy : this was defended by one hundred and eighty Kentuckians, who were stretched out to an extent of three hundred yards, and unsupported by any pieces of artillery. Thus openly exposed to the attack of a greatly superior force, and weakened by the extent of ground they covered, it is not to be wondered at, or deserving reproach, that they should have considered resistance ineffectual, and forsaken a post, which they had strong reasons for believing they could not maintain. General Morgan reported to general Jackson the misfortune and defeat he had met, and attributed it to the flight of those troops, who had also drawn along with them the rest of his forces. It is true, they were tl1e first to flee ;. and equally true, that their example may have had the effect of producing geneml alarm ; but in point of situation, those troops materially differed : the one, as we have shown, were exposed, and enfeebled by tl1e manner of their arrangement ; tl1e other, considerably superior in numbers, covered no greater extent of ground,-were defended by an excellent breast-work, and several pieces of cmmon : with this difference, the loss of confidence of the former was not witilout sufficient cause. Of tl1ese facts, commodore Patterson was not apprized ;-geneml Morgm1 was : both, however, attributed the disaster to the flight of LIFE OF <lEN. JACKSON. 349 the Kentucky rnititia. Upon their information, gene- CHAP. raJ Jackson tounded his report to the secretary of war,~ by which those troops were exposed to censures tl1ey 1615• did not merit. Had all tl1e circumstances, as they existed, been disclosed, reproach would have been pre-vented. At tile mill-mce, no troops could have be-haved better : they were well posted, and bravely re-sisted ·the advance of the enemy, nor, until an order to tlmt effect was given, had entertained a thought of retreating. The heart-felt joy at tl1e glorious victory achieved on one side of the river, was clouded by the disaster witnessed on the other. A position was gained, which secured to the enemy advantages the most important; and whence tl1ey might annoy our whole line, on tl1e left bank. But for the precaution of commodore Patterson, in spiking his guns, and destroying the ammunition, it would have been in the power of colonel Thomton to have completely enfiladed, and rendered it altogether untenable. Fearful lest the guns might be unspiked, and brought to operate against him, general Jackson hastened to tlrrow detachments across, with orders to regain it, at every hazard. To the troops on the right bank, he forwarded an address, with a view to excite tl1em to deeds of valour, and inspirit them to exertions that should wipe off the reproach tiley had drawn upon tl1emselves. * Previously, however, to their being in readiness to act, he succeeded by stratagem in re-obtaining it, and thus spared the effusion of blood, which would have been necesS< U"Y to its accomplishment. 'Ill See note D4 |