USA > Mississippi > A history of Mississippi : from the discovery of the great river > Part 20
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General Claiborne's command had been greatly depleted by sickness and want of food, as well as by the expiration of the term of enlistment of many of his soldiers. Hence they were not particularly anxious to engage in another and probably more dangerous expedition. Claiborne per- severed, however, and having been joined by the cele- brated Choctaw Chief, Pushmahata, and fifty of his war- riors, finally succeeded in having his command re-enforced with the Third Regiment United States Infantry, com- manded by Col. Russell, and at the same time was author- ized to advance into the Creek Nation.
His son, John F. H. Claiborne, in his history of Mississip- pi, gives the following graphic account of the expedition :
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"To destroy this fastness, the chief center of Indian fanaticism, and to break down the confidence of the sav- ages in their Prophets, was the object of the expedition. Eighty miles from Fort Claiborne, near Double Swamp, in the present county of Butler, a stockade was erected, and leaving there the sick, the baggage and teams, in light marching order, they struck out through the pathless woods for the Holy City, some thirty miles away. December 23d the troops advanced in three columns. The town was on a small wooded plateau, with ravines and swamps on three sides, and the Alabama river on the other. It was pro- tected by fallen timber, and by stakes driven firmly in the ground. The Indians, cheered by their Prophets, who as- sured an easy victory, and headed by Weatherford, who led them at Fort Mims, met the troops on the brink of the ravine, and fought with desperation. But after a heavy fight of thirty minutes, seeing many of their best warriors wounded or dead, they fled to the swamp and river, their intrepid leader being the last to retreat. Mounting a gray charger, well known on the frontier, he dashed to a bluff on the river, then with his rifle in hand and a whoop of de- fiance, he plunged in, and reached the western bank in safety.
"On advancing into the great square, Mrs. Sophia Du- rant, a half-breed lady of respectability, and ten other half- breeds, friendly to the whites, were found tied to stakes with piles of lightwood around. Their lives were saved by the sudden assault. Many savages fell, and the town, heretofore deemed invulnerable, was burned. The moral effect was great. It demonstrated that they had no fortress too sacred, too remote, or too strong to be exempt from assault, and it destroyed their fanatical faith in their Prophets, and their incantations and assurances. In this battle a number of Shawnees were engaged. Three of their warriors were killed the next day, and a town of sixty houses, eight miles higher up the river, destroyed. In , Weatherford's house, at the Holy Ground, a number of let- ters from the Spanish authorities at Pensacola were ob- tained, showing their close relations with the savages. In transmitting these to the War Department, General
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Claiborne said : "Seize Pensacola. and you disarm the Indians. It is the real heart of the Creek Confederacy."
By this time the term of service of two-thirds of his volunteers had expired. But the General intended to pre- vail on them to pursue the Creeks still farther. At that juncture he received a letter from General Andrew Jack- son, dated December 18, 1813, urging him to remain at Weatherford's Bluff until further advices. This deter- mined the return to Fort Claiborne. On his arrival there, Carson's Mississippi Volunteers and the cavalry were mustered out of service, and there were only sixty men left, whose term would expire in a month. These troops, the General complains, had been permitted to serve with- out clothing or shoes, and had been disbanded with eight months pay due them. What a commentary upon the War Department of that day ! What an illustration of the patience and patriotism of the volunteers of Mississippi !
These volunteers had served over and above their term of enlistment; had remained, from attachment to their General, and started on the weary journey from their dis- tant homes on the Pearl, the Amite and the Mississippi rivers without a cent of their pay. Their General soon followed, as poor as themselves, and, with a constitution broken by exposure. soon died."
In a communication published in the Mississippi Re- publican, at Washington, General Claiborne furnished the objections stated by the officers of the Territorial Volun- teers, against the expedition into the Creek Nation. These officers placed in the hands of their commanding general the following written statement, signed by a large majority of the company officers : "The undersigned, volunteer offi- cers, as republican soldiers devoted to their government, and warmly attached to yourself and disclaiming any author- ity to remonstrate or complain, nevertheless, respectfully ask permission to lay their opinions before you, in relation to the movement into the Creek Nation. Considering that the winter and the wet season have set in ; the untrodden wilderness to be traversed ; the impossibility of transport- ing supplies for the want of roads ; that most of our men are without winter clothing, shoes or blankets; that a
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large majority of those ordered to march will be entitled to their discharge before the expedition can be accom- plished ; for these, and other considerations, we trust the enterprise may be reconsidered and abandoned, declaring at the same time that be your decision what it may, we shall cheerfully obey your orders, and carry out your plans."
In commenting on this note, in the communication re- ferred to already, General Claiborne said :
"Their objections were stated with the dignity, feeling and respect those officers have always manifested. But those abused, calumniated defenders of their country, in a situation to try the stoutest heart, rose superior to priva- tion and suffering. As soon as the order to march was issued, each man repaired promptly to his post. Many whose term of service had expired, and who had not re- ceived a dollar of their arrearages, volunteered for the expedition, and with cheerful alacrity moved to their sta- tions in the line. This includes every officer who signed the address. Yes, when they were exposed in these swamps and canebrakes to an inclement winter, without tents, blankets. warm clothing, shoes or food ; when every countenance exhibited suffering ; when they were nine days without meat, and subsisted chiefly on parched corn, these brave men won an important battle, and endured without a murmur the exigencies of the service."
Captain Sam Dale, (a famous Indian fighter of the time), who was present on that occasion, says: "The officers and men were averse to that expedition, but when their Gen- eral reminded them of the taunts of their traducers on the banks of the Mississippi, and that their comrades, slain at Fort Mims, had yet to be avenged, with one voice they swore they would follow him, or die in the wilderness."
All honor to those early soldiers of Mississippi! Their sons and grandsons, on the soil of Mexico, and in the late gigantic war between the States, by their courage, fidelity and heroic fortitude, have worthily emulated the example set by the heroic founders of the State of their nativity.
The following was the last official communication ever addressed by General Claiborne to the Secretary of War. It bears date, Mount Vernon, January 14th, 1814 :
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"SIR: The term of service of the volunteers enrolled in this Territory and Louisiana, composing my brigade, hav- ing generally expired, there being only some sixty left who have yet a month to serve, I am left without a com- mand, and will myself leave this frontier for Natchez in a few days, by permission of General Flournoy. In my pre- vious letter I stated the circumstances that prevented me from marching, after the battle of Eccanachaha, to the Quewallie towns, forty-five miles above, where McQueen was reported to be. We were destitute of supplies. My whole command, on their return march, subsisted for four days on parched corn, and were nine days without meat. The expectation of finding beef in the course of our march, the want of transportation and the neglect of the contractor, occasioned this. My volunteers are returning to their homes with eight months pay due them, and al- most literally naked. They have served the last three months of an inclement winter, without shoes or blankets, and almost without shirts, but are still devoted to their country, and properly impressed with the justice and ne- cessity of the war."
The year 1814 was a hard one for the people of the Mississippi Territory. The government was waging an unequal war with England, our people were in debt, money was very scarce, and the price of cotton, then their only article for exportation, was exceedingly low.
Meantime, General Jackson had been sent into the field, with his Tennessee soldiers, to chastise the Indians of the Creek Confederation. He had fought the great battle of the Horse Shoe, and won it. Directly after this event, General Jackson had under his command some three thou- sand men, and Major Thomas Hinds, with his battalion of Mississippi dragoons, chiefly from Jefferson, Adams, Amite, Claiborne and Wilkinson counties, were ordered to report to General Jackson, and serve under his immediate observation during the remainder of his Indian campaign, which culminated in the capture of St. Marks and Pensa. cola. During his stay at Pensacola there was a British naval squadron in the harbor, which soon took its depart- ure. General Jackson divined the destination of the Brit-
15
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ish vessels to be New Orleans, and took his own measures accordingly.
He hastened with his entire force to New Orleans, to de- fend it from the impending attack of the combined forces of the English.
Major Hinds and his Mississippi dragoons, were ordered to report at New Orleans as soon as practicable. The command was marched rapidly to Liberty, in Amite coun- ty, where as many as desired it received a furlough for three days in order to obtain a remount, with orders to rendez- vous at Camp Richardson, in Wilkinson county. The march was pressed rapidly by day and by night. The weather was cold and rainy, and the roads were in a most execrable condition, but this gallant band of Mississippi soldiers were not to be deterred or turned aside by any ordinary obstacles. Their hearts were ablaze with patri- otism, they knew the indomitable courage of the lion- hearted, iron-handed old soldier to whose relief they were hastening, and they reached the city of New Orleans on the night of December 23d, 1814, and bivouacked in what is now known as La Fayette square.
From the very interesting account, written by M. W. Trimble, a citizen of Claiborne county, long since passed away, who was a private in the "Jefferson Troop," of which Isaac Dunbar was captain, Battle Harrison, first lieutenant, and Malcolm Curry, was cornet, we glean the following record of the operations of the battalion: " As soon as we had camped, Col. Hinds proceeded to General Jackson's headquarters for orders, and before he returned, about eleven o'clock in the morning, we heard the alarm guns. In ten minutes he appeared in sight, riding at full speed, waving his sword over his head. We had mounted, and immediately formed four abreast, and followed him in a brisk trot, down Royal street. Every balcony was crowded, and the ladies were weeping and wringing their hands. Three miles or so below the city we came in view of two Louisiana rifle companies, and saw them fired upon by a large party of British concealed in an orange grove. Discovering our approach this party rapidly retreated be- low. Our first service was to throw down the cross fences
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from the levee to the woods, so as to open the way for our army. We were then ordered to get as near the British lines as safety would authorize, and keep a vigilant watch on their movements. Under cover of night we rode silent- ly down the levee, with a single file of Louisiana riflemen on foot. By the light of their fires we perceived a British outpost or guard, who were evidently making arrangements to throw out their pickets. Concealed by the darkness, we quietly passed between them and the main army, and surrounded them. They seemed to be astonished, and surrendered without firing a gun, some sixty men. Re- suming our march we halted within four hundred yards of the long line of camp fires, indicating their position, and we could both hear and see their different detachments de- filing from the swamp into the open field. About ten that night, (December 24th), General Jackson marched down from the city. The artillery was formed on the levee. The Tennesseeans passed by us, and took up a position between us and the enemy. Two American schooners dropped down the river and anchored near by, so as to throw a flank fire on the British line. All these movements on our part, were made in profound silence, and under cover of the darkness, and the enemy could have no distinct con- ception of our presence or our numbers. A sky rocket rose from our lines and hissed through the air, and at the same moment came a blaze of fire from our artillery, our rifles and our schooners. The atmosphere seemed to be on fire, and the very earth trembled. The surprise was com- plete. They could not discern us or estimate our force, but these brave men, fresh from their terrible conflicts with Napoleon's veterans, cooly extinguished their fires, and issued orders through their trumpets to form for action. Even amidst the roar of battle we could hear the thud of the balls mowing down their files, the cries of the wounded, and the cool and clear orders given by their officers. "Steady men, steady !" "Remember you are Britons !" was sounded from rank to rank. The fire on both sides was rapid and continuous. In the heat of the engagement a company of our regulars changed their position, to make room for a battery. In making this movement they en-
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countered a company of Tennessee riflemen, and it being too dark for recognition, and each company out of posi- tion, they opened fire upon each other at short distance, and soon closed in a general hand to hand fight. The brave Col. Lauderdale, recognizing from the familiar yell on both sides the fatal mistake, rushed in between them and commenced knocking down their guns with his sword, but lost his life in the fray, the saddest incident of this night attack.
"Finally the British, after having suffered severely, fell back, and we contented ourselves with the occupation of the ground. Our command was posted as sentinels, from the levee to the swamp, in front of and near to the British line. When daylight appeared their dead and wounded covered the field."
Private Trimble continues his account of the operations of the Mississippi dragoons in front of New Orleans, pre- vious to and during the great battle of the 8th of January, 1815, and we copy from him :
"Our dragoons were kept constantly on observation, in front of the enemy, and we had frequent skirmishes with pickets and reconnoitering parties. We made no fires. Just after dark every night the British would kindle their fires, and then our riflemen would pick them off. Many of their sentinels were killed. General Packenham sent a flag of truce to complain of this shooting of the sentinels as barbarous warfare, and that 'in the wars of Europe the pickets of opposing armies drank out of the same stream.' General Jackson said this was a war of invasion, and he ordered his men to capture and kill every man within the range of their guns. On Christmas day my mess-mate, the late Lieutenant C. Harris and I were eating our ration. Col. Hinds rode up and pointing to some seventy or eighty horses grazing between us and the enemy's lines ordered us to drive them in. He interpreted our look to mean that we thought it a dangerous duty, and he cried out : "Dash on, boys! if you are killed I will recover your bodies if it takes every man in the army to do it!" They were Ten- nessee horses, that had got loose in the night, with their bridles and saddles on, and had strayed around the army
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and were now nearer the British than to us. We started and part of the way were concealed by a strip of sugar cane, but on passing out of it found ourselves in full view of the British army. It was very ticklish, and we looked back at the thicket of sugar cane, but there where we had left him, sat our stern old colonel, with his eye upon us. looking like an equestrian statue of iron. We dashed around the horses just as the whole line of musketry opened on us. This fire wounded several of the horses and startled the others, and shouting and yelling, with the balls whistling around us, we drove them within our lines."
"On the 30th of December, 1814," continues Mr. Trimble, "the famous adventure of the ditch occurred. Col. Hinds had reported at headquarters that his pickets had detected a strong party of the British creeping up a wide and deep ditch traversing the field before us. Some doubts being expressed, he obtained permission to make an immediate reconnoisance. He formed his battalion, and said : 'Boys, do you see that big ditch ? It is full of red coats. I am going over it. Whoever wishes may follow me. Whoever chooses to stay here may stay !' and off he went at full speed, and every man close behind him. They leaped the ditch which was crowded with soldiers, made a circuit in front of the British lines, and charged over the ditch a second time, each dragoon firing his pistol on the astound- ed soldiers as they bounded over. The whole affair was phenomenal and almost supernatural and apparently stupefied the crouching red coats. But they recovered in time to give us a general volley, which wounded several of the troopers and tumbled over a number of horses. Levi C. Harris and Charles H. Jourdan, each got a bullet in the right shoulder.
"On the night of the 7th of January, (1815)," continues Mr. Trimble, "we were driven from our position in front and compelled to fall back by an overwhelming force. There was a scattering fire during the night, and the note of preparation in the British camp could be distinctly heard. Our troops were under arms, and in their proper places at break of day. Our cannon bristled on the breast-works from the levee to the woods. and behind this
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was our long line of riflemen. One hundred and fifty yards in the rear sat our grim old Major on his charger, with the whole of the cavalry. We were placed there to cover our army in the event of its being compelled to fall back to the second position. As it turned out, we were merely silent spectators of the dreadful battle that en- sued."
It is not the object of this volume to indulge in a de- tailed description of the battle of New Orleans ; that does not fall within the scope of our purpose. We desire only to point to the conspicuous part borne in that memorable conflict, in the achievement of that splendid triumph of the American arms, by the heroic sons of Mississippi, then a feeble Territory, with only a few thousand people within its borders.
The victory won by the troops commanded by General Andrew Jackson on the Sth day of January, 1815, was complete and thorough. The hardy volunteers, under the leadership of their indomitable chief, had driven back and conquered the veteran troops of Wellington in the penin- sula. They had wreathed the banner of their country with new glories, and made the plains of Chalmette as immortal as Salamis or Marathon.
Six days after the battle and the victory, General An- drew Jackson issued the following general order to the victorious troops under his command :
HEADQUARTERS, SEVENTH MILITARY DISTRICT, - Camp Below New Orleans, January 21st, 1815.
"Before the camp at these memorable lines shall be bro- ken up, the General commanding thinks it his duty to the brave army which has defended them, publicly to notice * the conduct of the different corps which compose it.
"The cavalry from the Mississippi Territory, under their enterprising leader, Major Thomas Hinds, was always ready to perform every service which the nature of the country enabled them to execute. The daring manner in which they reconnoitered the enemy on his lines, excited the admiration of one army and the astonishment of the other.
"By command of Major-General Jackson.
"ROBERT BUTLER, Assistant Adjutant General."
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It can well be imagined how the hearts of the gallant Hinds and his bronzed Mississippians swelled with pride, as with swimming eyes they gazed upon these words of eulogy uttered by order of Andrew Jackson. The humblest private in the command realized in that proud moment that praise from Andrew Jackson was "praise indeed," and that the words of encomium pronounced by their great chief, in the supreme hour of victory, was a passport to immortality, and would send their deeds resounding through the corridors of the future, long after their names had been effaced from their tombs and faded from the memory of living men.
Major Hinds enjoyed the friendship and the confidence of General Jackson to the last hour of his life. The Gen- eral had been induced to visit New Orleans in the winter of 1839 and 1840, under the impression that he would wit- ness the laying of the corner-stone of a monument on the plains of Chalmette on the 8th day of January, 1840, in commemoration of the brave men who won that great vic- tory twenty-five years before. Before leaving his home at the Hermitage, General Jackson wrote to his old friend, then General Hinds, to join him at Natchez, and accom- pany him to New Orleans, which he did. On his subse- quent visit to the capital of Mississippi, General Hinds accompanied the old hero at the request of his former com- mander, and their last parting was at Vicksburg late in the month of January, 1840. The Ex-President was leav- ing for his home in Tennessee, the General for his own beloved home in Jefferson county. They no doubt felt that their parting was eternal so far as this world is con- cerned. With a pressure of the hand and a fervent "God bless you," these "brothers of battle" parted to meet no more on earth. General Hinds died in the following August while a candidate on the Democratic electoral ticket for the State-at-large. His old friend, Ex-President Jackson, survived him about five years.
The dragoons commanded by Major Hinds were not the only soldiers who represented Mississippi at New Orleans on the ever glorious 8th of January, 1815. There was a gallant company of Natchez riflemen, commanded by Cap-
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tain James Campbell Wilkins, a brave, accomplished and princely gentleman, with the late Hon. Adam L. Binga- man as his first lieutenant, which by almost superhuman exertions was enabled to reach the city on the evening of the 6th of January.
Twenty-two years later, on the 4th of July, 1837, Mr. A. Campbell, a citizen of Adams county, and a private in the company of Captain Wilkins, in response to an invitation to be present at a celebration of "Independence Day" in Natchez, furnished the Committee of Invitation with a most interesting account of the formation of the company, its departure for the theatre of action, and the part it bore in the stirring events of the defence of New Orleans against the invasion of a brutal enemy whose battle cry was "beauty and booty."
The following extracts are made from the Natchez Free Trader in which the statement of Mr. Campbell was pub- lished a few days after it was written :
"As soon as the arrival of the British army and navy on our borders became generally and certainly known in Natchez on the evening of the 27th of December, 1814, the citizens composing a majority of the rifle company as- sembled at the Franklin Hotel, organized themselves into a rifle corps, elected their officers, and in three days after- wards they were in complete uniform, armed and equipped with rifles, tomahawks and long knives ; they also fur- nished themselves with arms and subsistence sufficient for two weeks, without aid or comfort from the government, the corporation, or from any individual or individuals; the members of the company were chiefly mechanics in ordi- nary circumstances."
From the commencement of the war, in 1812, to its ter- mination, in 1815, Mississippi, then with a sparse popula- tion (no settlement above Claiborne county), by means of draft and voluntary enrollments kept constantly an army of several hundred men in the field. The late patriotic General Claiborne had at one time twelve hundred volun- teers at his command during a tour of twelve months on the Tombigbee and Alabama rivers. Col. Robinson, of Claiborne county, at another time had upwards of a thous-
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