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Show .174 LIFE OF GEN. JACKSON . CHAP. of your movements, and the brilliancy of your achieve~ ments, have corresponded with the valour by which 1814• you have been animated. The bravery you have displayed in the field of battle, and the uniform good conduct you have manifested in your encampment, and on your line of march, will long be cherished in the memory of your general, and will not be forgotten by the country you have so materially benefited." ~he constant and rapid movements of these troops for the time they had been in service, had greatly exposed them ; and altl1ough many hardships had been encountered, yet their duty had been performed without murmuring. A retrospect of the last month will show, that more could scarcely have been clone. Fort Williams was reached just four weeks from the time they had left it, on the expedition to Tohopeka, where they had met and conquered the enemy ; whence, returning, not with a view to obtain rest, but to recruit the exhausted state of their provisions, in one week was this same army on the way to Hoithlewalee, where, supported in their hopes by their prophets, was col· lected the strength of tl1e nation ; and where, but for the absence of the Georgia army, they would have been captured or destroyed, the war ended, and all apprehension of future resistance quieted. To this point did they urge forward, over mountains, and through tmTents of continual rain, that rendered the route almost impassable ; and reached and destroyed, on the 14th, a town which the inspired men of the nation had declared was consecrated, and on which no white man was ever to tread witl1 impunity. On the 17th, they are found at the confluence of the Coosa and Tal-, LIFE OF GEN. JACKSON. 1i5 lapoosa, treading still tl1eir consecrated soil, and driv- CHAP. ing the panic-struck savages before them; and again, V. on the 24th, are at Fort Williams, retiring to their~ homes, from the labours they had encountered, and the 1814• conquests tlwy had gained. In such celerity of move-ment, is to be found the cause, that secured to Jack-son and his army, the uniform successes they obtained. So rapid were his marches, that not unfrequently was he in the neighbou~hood of the enemy before the h d . d . . ' y ~ . rece1ve any mtelhgence of his approach; in ad-ditiOn to this, was attached to him the quality, that few generals ~ver possessed in a high,or degree, of inspiring firmness m h1s J:llllks, and making even cowards brave ~n entire confidence of success, a full assurance of VIctory, and .a fear~essness and disregard of danger, ':ere _the {eehngs d•splayecl by himself in all difficult Sltuatwns, and those feelings he possessed tile I f:a cu ItY of cl"1fl "u s·m g through his army. mppy vVhether any of the hostile party were still on the ~ohawba, or had fled for safety to the British and Spamarcls at Pensacola, was uncertain. To ascertain this farcatl ,-Jt o cl1sperse them and destroy their .11 1 ' VI ages, ge-ne o msto~l was despatched, at tile head of five hun-· d red1 men, w1th orders to proceed alon g tl u.s n.v er, to Its 1ead branches, effect the obiect so f: . • . • J . ar as 1t was practicable, and re-umte with the main ar t D . Jk ~a~ Sit. ac son reported to general Pinckney, that.his orders had been comiJiied with . that fi h cl d ~ our un re tro?p_s had been detailed for the protection of Fort Wllhams, and that he would leave at the other . alo · pomts, r~e proportiOned to their exposed situations. " Th rema:mcler of my troops," he continues ' "I shall tnarc he |