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Show DlSTRICT OF \VEST 'l'gNNF.SSEE, to wit: • • BE lT REMEMBERED, That on the first day of January, ill : L. S. ! the forty-first year of the Independence of the United ·states of : •••••• : America, A. D. 1817, Abraham Maury, Executor of John Reid, deceased, deposited in this Office the Title of a Book, the right whereof he claims :ts proprietor, in the words following, to wit: "The Life of Andrew J:tckson, Major General in the service of the Uni~ ted States: comprising a History of the \Var in the South, from the com· mencement of the Creek Campaign, to the termination of hostilities before New Orleans. Commenced by John Reid, Brevet Major, United States' army. Completed by John Henry Eaton." 1n conformity to the a9t of the Congress of the United States, entitled, "An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, cll:arts and books, to tbe amho1·s and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned." And also to the act, entitled, "An :tct supple .. mentary to an act, entitled, ~An act for the encour:tgement oflearning, by securing the copies of maps, charts and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned,' and extending the benefits thereof to the nrts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints." ROJJERT SEARCY, Clerk of the District of 'Vest Tennessee. PREFACE. 'l'HE public have been for some time in expectation of this work: to the decision of the candid, who will make allowance fot•, and duly appreciate, the difficulties of the undertaking, it is now submitted. Who ventures on a detail of events, recent in the recollection of the world, hazards much, and can scarcely expect to escape censure. The numerous actors in, and spectators of, the scenes portrayed, entertaining different opinions of the facts as they tranSJ>ired, and ascribing them to entirely different causes, become each a critic in his turn, accordingly as the narrative c01·responds with, or is variant from his own opinion. The historian who traces m•cnts, at a period remote from their occurrence, stands on more favourable gt•ound, an,d has fewer difficulties to encounter: be then pt·oceeds in his undertaking without being acted upon by J>rejudice, or inlluenc~,d by partiality. His t•eaders, too, are similarly situated. But he who draws them at a moment when recollection t.·easures them, is oftentimes insensibly placed under the inlluence of both ;-diverted ft·om the course pointed out by truth ;-ascribes events to moth·es that never induced them ;-bestows censure where it is not tlnc, and commemlation where it is not merited. To avoid errors so common, and to present things tt·uly as they occur, has been the wish of the author, and l1e belie1•es he has succeeded. He believes so, because he had no inducement to do otherwise, and because, having all the original papers in his possession, there was no avenue to cri·or, unless from intention, ami tl!is he disclaims. He can there- |