| OCR Text |
Show 17!.! LIFE OF GEN. JACKSON. CHAP. Whilst these arrangements were making, the friendv. ly Creeks were engaged in pursuing and destroying ....,.........., . h th I . 1814. their fugitive counu·ymen, w1t e most unre entmg rigour. To have been at the destruction of Fort Mimms, was a ground of accusation against a warrior, which at once placed him without the pale of mercy. They viewed, or affected to view, this unwarranted and unprovoked offence, with sentiments of deeper i~veteracy, than did even our own troops. Meeting a small party, who were on their way to camp, to submit themselves on the terms that had been previously offered, and understanding they had accompanied Wea. therford, in his attack on this fort, they arrested their progress, and put them to death. Pursuing a course of this kind, was well calculated to keep alive the timid apprehensions of the Indians, and induce them to con· sider the proffered terms of peace as a stratagem, to lure them into danger, and effect their destruction: sensible of this, general Pinckney took immediate steps to prevent its again recurring. To see the people of the same nation, marshalled in opposition to each other, is not a matter of surprise, on the principles and practice of modem warfare, wh1ch affects to prove it right, to seize on any circumstance, that may operate prejudicially ~o an enemy ; but the patriot, whose bosom swells with a .Joye of country, will ever view it with abhorrence: and although, from necessity or policy, he may avail himself of the adva~· tages afforded by such a circumstance, he can never e>· ther approve or justify it. Although the war had been commenced, in opposition to the views and wish~s of the friendly party, yet it was their duty to have uruted, LIFE OF GEN. JACKSON. 173 Their entering the ranks of an invading army, and CHAP. fighting for the extermination of their people, and the v · destruction of their nation, was a circumstance which~ ev1" d ent 1y mark ed t he m as tr-a.i tors to their country, 1814. and justly deserving the severest punishment. In two hours after receiving general Pinckney's or- ~~";;: • der, the western troops commenced their return march ce t u.-n ~ d h d F W .11. th 'home. an reac e ort 1 mms, on e evening of the 24th. Immediate measures were adopted, for carry-ing into effect what lrad been ordered ; to send out detachments, to assail and disperse lmy of the war .party, that might be found on' their route, within striking distance. The East Tennessee troops, having a longer period to serve, were, on that account, selected, to gatTison the different posts. General Doherty was directed to detail from his brigade·seven hundred and twenty-five m"en, for the defence of those points, that an open commnnication might be preserved with Fort Jackson, and to secure, more effectually, a peace, which, being supposed, for the present, to be founded in the fears and distresses of the war party, was perhaps not altogether securely and firmly established . . The gen:ral being about to separate fi·mn his army, d1d ~ot om1t to declare to them the high sense he en-. tertamed of their conduct, and how well they had deserved of their country. " Within a few days," said he, " you have annihilated the power or" a nation, that, for twenty years, has been the disturber of your peace. : ou: vengeance has been glutted. Wherever these mfunated allies of our arch enemy assembled for battle, you pursued and dispersed them. The rapidity |
