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Show 148 LIFE OF GEN. JACKSON. CHAP. had been detached to destroy the Indian encampment V. on the TallapoOS<'I; having reconnoitred their posi~ tion and believing them too strongly posted, to be 1814. , advantageously assailed by the (orce he commanded. he had retired, without making the attempt. The position they had chosen was not far from New Y oucka, and near the Oakfusky villages. Fortified as it was by nature, and the skill and exertions of the Indians;, no other conjecture was entertained, than at this place was intended, a defence of the most determined kind. Learning that the savages were still embodied here, Jackson resolved, so soon as the necessary arrange· ments could be made to keep open a communication, and preserve in safety his rear, to make a descent Oil it, and destroy the confederacy ; thence, returning to Fort Williams for provisions, to urge forward to the Hickory ground, where he hoped he would be able to put an end to the war. On the ~4th, leaving a sufficient force under briga· March. di.er general Johnston, for the protection of the fort, with eight days' provisions he set out for the Talla· poosa, by the way of Emuckfaw. The whole force now \vith him amounted to less than three thousand effective men ; being considerably reduced, by the necessity of leaving behind him strong garrisons at the different )orts. At ten o'clock on the morning of the 27th, after a march of fifty-two miles, he reached the .village Tohopeka. The enemy, having gained intel· ligence of his approach, had collected in considerable numbers, with a view to give him battle. The war· riors from the adjacent towns, Oakfusky, Hillabee, Eufalee, and New Y oucka, amounting to a tl~ousan~ LIFE OF GEN. JACKSON. 1.49 or twelve hundred, were ready, and .waiting his ap- CHAP. proach. They could have selected no place, better v · calculated for defence; for, independent of the ad van-~ b d . b th . . 1814. tages estowe on 1t y nature, e1r own exertiOns had greatly contributed to its strengtl1. Surrounded almost entirely by the river, it was accessible only by a narrow neck of land, of three hundred and fifty yards width, which tl1ey had taken much pains to secure and defend, by placing large timbers, and trunks of trees, horizontally on each other, leaving but a !lingle place of entrance. From a double row of port holes formed in it, they were enabled to give complete direction to their lire, whilst tl1ey lay, in perfect security, behind. General Coffee, at the head of tl1.e mounted infantry, and friend! y Indi.ans, had been despatched, early in the mortling, from camp, with orders to gain tl1e southern bank of the river, encircle the bend, and make some feint, or manreuvring, by which to divert the enemy from the point where the attack was intended principally to be waged. He was particularly instl;ucted so to arrange and dispose the force under his command that they might not escape, by passing to tl1e opposit~ side in their canoes, with which, it was represented, the whole shore was lined. Jackson, witl1 the rest of the army, proceeded to take a post in front of the breast-work. Having planted his cannon on an eminence, about two hundred yards from the front of the enemy's line, with a view to break down his defence a brisk lire commenced. The musketry m;d rifles' which occupied a nearer position, were used as th; Indians occasionally showed themselves frorr: behind P!eir wprks. The artillery was well served, by jlla)oF |
