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Show ll6S LlFE Oj! GEN. JACKSON. CHAP. ing they did not return, the cause of it was at once ...V.,.I.T..I.._ ,correctI y d1' v.m e d . 1814• Early on the 15th, expresses were sent off, up tl1e coast, in quest of general Coffee ; to endeavour to pro~ r~:,\ cure information of the Kentucky and Tennessee di~~:~:~ r visions, which it was hoped were not far distant, and f:,!f;e~l to urge their speedy approach. In his communication to Coffee, the general observes, " You must not sleep, until you arrive within striking distance. Your accustomed activity is looked for. Innumerable defiles present themselves, where your riflemen will be all important. An opportunity is at hand, to reap for yourself and brigade the approbation of your country;" In obedience to the order he had received at Mobile, to occupy some central position, where his horses might be subsisted, and whence he might act as circumstances should require, Coffee had proceeded as far as Sandy creek, a small distance above Baton Rouge, wher!! he had halted. His brigade, on its march, had been greatly exposed, and had encountered many hardships. The cold season had set in; and, for twenty days, it had rained incessantly, The waters were rajsed to uncommon heights, and every creek and bayou was to be bridged or swum. Added to t11.s, their march was tlrrough a poor country, but thinly settled, where little subsistence was to be hall, and that procured with much difficulty. He had been at this place eight or ten days, when, late on the night of the 17th, the express, despatched from h~ad quarters, reached him, He lpst no time in eJiecu~mg the order ; and, directing one of his regiments, whlC_h, for the greater convenience of foraging, lay about Sll' LIFE OF GEN. JACKSON. miles off, to unite with him, he was ready in the morn- CHAP. ing, and marched the instant it arrived. In conse-~ quence of innumerable exposures, there were, at this 1814_ time, three hundred on his sick list. These being left, he commenced his march, with twelve hundred and Jifty men. The weather yet continued extremely cold and rainy, which prevented their proceeding \vith the celerity, the exigency of the moment so much re-quired. Calfee, perceiving that the movement of his whole force, in a body, would perhaps occasion delays, ruinous to the main object in view, ordered all who were well mounted, and able to proceed, to advance with him ; while the rest of his brigade, under suitable officers, were left to follow on, as fast as the weak and exhausted condition of their horses would permit. His force, by this arrangement, was reduced to eight hun-dred men, with whom he moved with the utmost industry. Having marched eighty miles the last day, he encamped, on the night of the 19th, within fifteen miles of New Orleans, making, in two days, a distance of one hundred and fifty miles. Continuing his ad-vance, early ne4t morning, he halted within four miles of the city, to examine the state and condition of his arms; and to learn, in the event the enemy had landed, the relative position of the two armies, These brave men, without murmuring, had now traversed an extent of country, nothing short of eight hundred miles, and under trials sufficiently severe to have appalled the most resolute and determined. They had enrolled t!Jemselves, not as volunteers someti~ es do, to .frolic, and, by peaceable ,campaigns, to g<Un a name in arms ; they had done it, knowing that |
