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Show ..d 4 LIFE OF GEN. JACKSON. -DHAP. pretended divinations, fell, mo~lly wounded, by a v. cannon shot in the mouth, whlie earnestly engaged ....,...,._,in his incantations, and in urging and encouraging his 1814. . troops resolutely to contend. Four men, who surrendered, and three hundred women and children, were taken prisoners. That so few warriors should have sought and obtained safety, by appealing to tl1e clemency of t~e victors, to p~rsons acquainted with tl1e mode of Indian, warfare, will not appear a matter of surprise. It seldom happens that they extend or solicit quarter: faithless themselve~, they place no reliance on tl1e faith of other: ; and, when overcome in battle, seek no other protect10n than dexterity and haste in retreat afford. A~otl1er . cause .for it may be found in a reason already g1ven, 111 the attack made by a detachment of general Cocke's division, on the Hillabee clans, who were assailed. and put to the sword, at a moment when, having asked for peace at discretion, tl1ey were expecting it to be given. This misfortune was occasioned alone by a want of concert, in the divisions of our army ; but it was past, and with it was gone, on the part of the savages, all confidence in our integrity and humanity ; and they looked and trusted for safety, now, to notl1ing but their own bravery. In tl1is contest, they maintained resistance, fighting and firing from their covert places, long after the hope, either of success or escape, was, or should have been at an end, and after the proposal had been submitted to spare the furtl1er useless waste of blood. A few, who had lain quiet, and concealed under the cliffs, survived the severity of the conflict, and effe.cted their retreat, under covev of the night. LIFE OF GEN. JACKSON. 155 Our loss, although considerable, was small, when CHAP. compared with that of the enemy; the whole estimate,~ including in it the friendly and Cherokee Indians, be- 1814. ing but fifty-five killed, and one hundred and forty-six wounded. Of tl1e former was major Montgomery, a brave and enterprising young officer, of the thirty-ninth regiment, and lieutenants Moulton and Somerville, who fcll early in th-e charge. The object of the present visit being answered, the general, ,in pursuance of his first plan, concluded to return to Fort Williams. Having sunk his dead in the river,* to prevent their being scalped by the sa. vages, J.nd made the necessary arrangements for carry-ing off his wounded, he commenced his return march ~:;;,, for the fort, and in a few days reached it in safety. ~~i~;y;~,. :t Sinking them in the liver, in preference to burying them, was adopted from the consideration, that those of our troops, who had previously fallen, had been raised, stripped, and scalped. Many of the Indians at Tohopeka were found in the clothes of those who had been killed and buried at Emuckfaw. It is true that this could operate no injury to the dead; yet it was wished to be prevented for the future. It was a fact well ascertained, that the Creek nation, generally, were ignorant of the extent and number of their defeats; and so long as they could be induced to believe, by those who undertook to account for it in that way, that their missing warriors were still alive, and had gone on some distant enterprise; or could obtain the scalps Of the killed, which they al \Vays consider as certain evidences of victory, the war would still continue. It was thought, therefore, better to sink than to bury them, a. the enemy would be thereby dept·ived of those badges of na . twnal and individual distinction, the clfect of which woul!l be to shorten the period of the war. |