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Show 106 LIFE OF GEN. JACKSON. CHAP. since have I determined, not to seek the preservation IV. of life, at the sacrifice of reputation. ~ "But our frontiers, it seems, are to be defended, 1815· and by whom? By the very force that is now reco~mended to be dismissed ; for I am first told to retire into the settlements, and protect the frontiers; next, tQ discharge my troops ; and then, that no m~ure_s can be taken for raising others. No, my fnend, If troops be given me, it is not by loitering on the frontiers that I will seek to give protection ;-they are to be defended, if defended at all, in a very different man· ner ;-by carrying the war into the heart of the ene· my's country. All other hopes of defence are more visionary than dreams. What then is to be done? I'll tell you what. You have only to act with the_energy and decision the crisis demands, and all Will be well. Send me a force engaged for six months, and I will. answer for the result,-but withhold it, and all is lost,-the reputation of the state, and your's, and mine along with it." , This letter had considerable effect with the governor. On receiving it, he immediately ordered from the second division, twenty-five hundred of the militia, for a tour of three months, to rendezvous at Fayette· ville, on. the 28th of January. The command was giv· en to brigadier general Johnston, with orders t? pro· ceed without delay, by detachments, or otherwise, to Fort Strother. He instructed general Cocke to exe· cute the order he had received from Jackson, for rais· ing from his division, his required quota of troops, and to bring them to the field a;; early as possible. LIFE OF GEN. JACKSON. 107 These measures were takefl by the governor in op- CHAP. position to his first views of their impropriety ;-with-~ out any special directions from the government. If any 1815. doubts, however, remained of the correctness of the course adopted, they were soon after dispelled, by a letter from the secretary of war, stating, that he was "authorized to supply, by militia drafts or volunteers, any deficiency that might arise, and without referring on that head to the war department." General Roberts, who had been ordered back to supply the deficiencies in his brigade, returned on the 27th, with one hundred and ninety-one men, mustered for three months. Having halted them a few miles in rear of the camp, he proceeded thither himself, to learn~~~~~:;. of the commanding general, whether the troops he had intcigues brought on would be received for the term they had stipulated; as they were unwilling to advance further, until this point were settled. Jackson answered, that altl1ough he greatly preferred tl1ey should be engag-ed for six months, or during the campaign, yet he had no wish to alter any engagement tl1ey had made with general Roberts, and would gladly receive them f?r the period they had been mustered; at the expira-tiOn of which time he would discharge them. Notwithstanding this assurance; with which he was instructed to make them acquainted, they yet determined, for some unknown cause, to abandon their engage-ments, and return home, witl1out gaining even a sight of the camp. To the misconduct and improper conversation of their general, was it justly to be attributed. By halting them in the neighbourhood, until he could go to head quarters, and " make terms" for their ac- |