by H. W. Brands
“He was then a remarkable man . . . our intimacy began”: Benton, Thirty Years’ View, 1:736.
“I have always been resolved . . . by your approbation”: Benton to Jackson, January 30, 1812, PAJ, 2:280.
“The clouds of war”: Jackson to William Eustis, May 10, 1811, PAJ, 2:261.
“The Rubicon is passed”: Grundy to Jackson, November 28, 1811, PAJ, 2:271.
“Citizens! . . . a foreign tyrant”: Jackson to the Second Division, March 7, 1812, PAJ, 2:290–92.
14. NATIVE GENIUS
“The implicit obedience . . . to war against us”: Harrison to William Eustis, August 7, 1811, Letters of Harrison, 1:547–48.
“My children”: Sugden, 118–19.
“I concluded that . . . he was a visionary”: Jefferson to John Adams, April 20, 1812, Jefferson papers.
“One of the finest looking men”: George Floyd to wife, August 14, 1810, Sugden, 198.
“You, Father, have nourished us”: Tecumseh speech in Elliott to Claus, November 16–18, 1810, ibid., 213.
“Do not think that the red coats . . . on the Wabash”: Harrison to the Prophet, July 19, 1810, Letters of Harrison, 1:447–48.
“the great man of the party”: Harrison to William Eustis, August 22, 1810, ibid., 1:460.
“They gave us many presents . . . in killing them”: Tecumseh speech of August 20, 1810, attached to Harrison to Eustis, August 22, 1810, ibid., 1:464–66.
“with great vehemence and anger” . . . called the governor a liar: Harrison to Eustis, August 22, 1810, ibid., 1:468.
“As the Great Chief”: Sugden, 202.
“There can remain no doubt . . . we cannot fight”: Jackson to Jefferson, April 20, 1808, PAJ, 2:191–92.
“In all probability . . . to court danger”: Jackson to Jefferson, May 14, 1808, PAJ, 2:196–97.
“I am willing to act justly . . . ten-fold the expense”: Blount to Jackson, December 28, 1809, PAJ, 2:226–27.
“My heart bleeds . . . for the balance”: Jackson to Blount, June 4, 1812, PAJ, 2:300–02. This is a draft; the letter Jackson sent differs slightly. The draft includes material Jackson apparently communicated to Blount in other letters, which is why it is used here.
“I shall wait no longer . . . and the captors”: Jackson to Blount, July 3, 1812, PAJ, 2:307–08.
“The Massacre at the Mouth . . . the Creek nation?”: From the Democratic Clarion, July 8, 1812, reprinted in PAJ, 2:310–11. Jackson didn’t sign this piece, but its peroration, combined with his known impatience with Washington, made a signature superfluous.
15. OLD HICKORY
“British cruisers have been . . . shocking to humanity”: Madison message to Congress, June 1, 1812, Papers of Madison (Presidential Series), 4:432–36.
Yet the vote wasn’t nearly unanimous: Roger Brown, 45.
“Before we march . . . not my son”: Ibid.
“I have no reason to doubt”: Harrison to William Eustis, October 6, 1811, Letters of Harrison, 1:595.
“Our killed and wounded”: Harrison to Eustis, November 8, 1811, ibid., 1:615.
The Indian losses were considerably fewer: See, for example, Elliott to Brock, January 12, 1812, ibid., 1:616–18. Also Sugden, 235–36.
“Opened the northern hive of Indians . . . women and children?”: Hickey, 83–84.
according to an eyewitness: Ibid., 84.
“The disaster of the northwestern army”: Jackson to the Second Division, September 8, 1812, PAJ, 2:320.
“Every man of the western country . . . of the Republic”: Jackson to Tennessee volunteers, November 14, 1812, PAJ, 2:341.
Jackson ordered the cavalry to report: Jackson to Tennessee volunteers, November 24, 1812, PAJ, 2:342.
“The success of military men”: Jackson to Alpha Kingsley, December 23, 1812, PAJ, 2:345–46.
“I shall wear it near my bosom . . . for his papa”: Jackson to Rachel, January 8, 1813, PAJ, 2:353–54.
“We had an extreme hard frost . . . we met with”: Entries for January 11, 25, 29, and 30, and February 2, 3, and 16, 1813, “Journal of the Trip Down the Mississippi.”
“If it is in my power”: Wilkinson to Jackson, January 22, 1813, PAJ, 2:358–59.
“the substance of which . . . indolence creates disquiet”: Jackson to Wilkinson, February 16, 1813, PAJ, 2:365.
“The causes for embodying . . . of the United States”: John Armstrong to Jackson, February 6, 1813, PAJ, 2:361. This message mistakenly carried the date January 5, causing Jackson to believe it was even slower to arrive than it really was.
“Those that could escape . . . agents of Government”: Jackson to Armstrong, March 15, 1813, PAJ, 2:383–85.
“must have been drunk . . . stick by them”: Jackson to Grundy, March 15, 1813, PAJ, 2:385–86.
“He knows that if you had met . . . honors of war”: Jackson to Tennessee volunteers, March 16, 1813, PAJ, 2:390–92.
“I dare not incur”: Wilkinson to Jackson, March 20, 1813, PAJ, 2:393.
“provide the means for their support”: Jackson to Wilkinson, March 22, 1813, CAJ, 1:299.
“Long will the General live . . . Jackson has them”: Nashville Whig, no date given, Parton, 1:384.
16. SHARP KNIFE
“You conducted it . . . approve his course”: Benton to Jackson, July 25, 1813, PAJ, 2:414.
At this point the story becomes confused: The account here of the Nashville fight comes primarily from Parton, 1:391–97, and Benton to the public, September 10, 1813, PAJ, 2:425–27.
“I am literally in hell here . . . is in danger”: Benton quoted in Parton, 1:395.
“I have heard many great orators . . . earth shall shake”: Sam Dale quoted in Griffith, 102–04.
“Every Indian was provided . . . every solitary one”: Thomas Holmes quoted in ibid., 109–10.
“Indians, negroes, white men . . . with dead bodies”: Major Kennedy quoted in Parton, 1:418.
“Brave Tennesseans! . . . command in person”: Jackson to Tennessee Volunteers, September 24, 1813, PAJ, 2:428–29.
“My health is good”: Jackson to Rachel Jackson, October 11, 1813, PAJ, 2:436.
“I wish you to receive . . . or deer’s tails”: Jackson to Coffee, October 7, 1813, PAJ, 2:435–36.
“I have spies out constantly”: Pathkiller to Jackson, October 22, 1813, PAJ, 2:439–40.
“We are now within twenty miles”: Jackson to Blount, October 28, 1813, PAJ, 2:442–43.
“I yesterday sent out . . . honor to the government”: Ibid.
“What I dread”: Jackson to Thomas Flournoy, October 24, 1813, PAJ, 2:441.
“He has executed this order . . . the age of Theodore”: Jackson to Rachel Jackson, November 4, 1813, PAJ, 2:444.
“At sunrise we came . . . formed of them”: Jackson to Willie Blount, November 11, 1813, Jackson papers, Library of Congress.
“We were out of provisions . . . of the men”: Jackson to Rachel Jackson, November 12, 1813, PAJ, 2:448–49.
“It is with extreme pain . . . into the settlements”: Jackson to Blount, November 14, 1813, CAJ, 1:345.
“Summer before last . . . bones upon them”: Tecumseh speech of September 18, 1813, enclosed with Harrison to Meigs, October 11, 1813, Letters of Harrison, 2:541–43 (speech), 575–76 (letter).
“He was dressed . . . from our view”: Richardson quoted in Sugden, 370.
“Father, tell your young men”: Ibid.
“His inferior officers say . . . for a moment doubtful”: Harrison to Meigs, October 11, 1813, Letters of Harrison, 2:575–76.
“The American backwoodsmen ride better”: Harrison to John Armstrong, October 9, 1813, ibid., 2:562.
Harrison counted: Ibid., 2:565.
“I saw him with my own eyes”: Rowland quoted in Sugden, 375.
17. THE RIVER OF BLOOD
“If they do not get home soon”: Martin to Jackson, December 4, 1813, CAJ, 1:369.
“This was one of our strongest arguments . . . noble hearted soldiers”: Ibid., 1:369–70.
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br /> “It is well known . . . do my duty”: Jackson to Martin, December 4, 1813, CAJ, 1:370–73.
“If permitted to return . . . modify your order”: Cannon et al. to Jackson, December 8, 1813, CAJ, 1:374–75.
“In the name of God . . . has ever arrived”: Jackson to John Cocke, December 6, 1813, CAJ, 1:374.
“What may be attempted . . . they are subdued”: Jackson to Coffee, December 9, 1813, CAJ, 1:378.
“The commanding general being informed”: Jackson quoted in Reid and Eaton, 84.
“The general rode along the line”: Ibid., 84–85.
“By the Creeks . . . and very poor”: Crockett, 15, 71–75, 88–90.
“the wild liberty of the red man . . . in after years proved”: Houston, Life, 1.
“Which is the damned rascal?”: Parton, 1:508. Parton, who had a chance to interview many of those involved, is the source of the facts of the version of the Wood story recounted here.
“The offenses of which . . . be known also”: Jackson to Wood, March 14, 1814, PAJ, 3:48–49.
“Painful as it was”: Reid and Eaton, 143.
“It is impossible to conceive a situation”: Jackson to Thomas Pinckney, March 28, 1814, CAJ, 1:488–89.
“An opportunity is at length offered . . . shall suffer death”: Jackson general order, March 24, 1814, CAJ, 1:486–88.
“I had ordered the Indians . . . they were fighting you”: Coffee to Jackson, April 11, 1814, Horseshoe Bend Accounts. Also Gideon Morgan to Willie Blount, April 1, 1814, ibid.
“I never had such emotions”: Reid to Betsy Reid, April 1, 1814, Horseshoe Bend Accounts.
“A terrible conflict ensued . . . muzzles of our guns”: Reid to father, April 5, 1814, Horseshoe Bend Accounts.
“At length we mounted the walls . . . shouts of the victors”: Ibid.
“The event could no longer be doubtful”: Jackson to Blount, March 31, 1814, CAJ, 1:491.
“The carnage was dreadful”: Jackson to Rachel Jackson, April 1, 1814, CAJ, 1:492–93.
John Coffee estimated the dead . . . “the instant they landed”: Coffee to Jackson, April 11, 1814, Horseshoe Bend Accounts.
“The river ran red with blood”: Bradford to William Henry Harrison, April 5, 1814, Horseshoe Bend Accounts.
“The Tallapoosa might truly be called”: Alexander McCulloch quoted in O’Brien, 151.
“I think it is the most complete victory”: Carroll to unidentified friend in Nashville, April 1, 1814, printed in Nashville Clarion and Tennessee State Gazette, April 12, 1814, extract reproduced in Horseshoe Bend Accounts.
“What effect this will produce”: Jackson to Rachel Jackson, April 1, 1814, CAJ, 1:493.
“The fiends of the Tallapoosa”: Jackson to Tennessee troops, April 2, 1814, PAJ, 3:58.
“I will give them”: Jackson to Rachel Jackson, April 1, 1814, CAJ, 1:493.
“High up on the central pole”: James Campbell, as told to a correspondent for the Richmond Daily Dispatch, printed September 16, 1861, Horseshoe Bend Accounts. Campbell’s remarks are paraphrased, so the precise wording may not be his. But the memory certainly is.
During one battle . . . soon was gone: Parton, 1:530.
“He was a little scant . . . it might be”: Carroll quoted in Buell, 1:335–36.
“I had directed”: Jackson quoted by Reid in Reid and Eaton, 165.
“I am in your power”: Weatherford speech to Jackson, March 28, 1814, quoted in Griffith, 116–17. See also Owsley, 83–85, and Reid and Eaton, 165–67.
“General Jackson said to Weatherford . . . by their chiefs”: Thomas Woodward, 92–93.
AMERICAN HERO (1814–1821)
18. PEACE GIVER
“The opposite parties live separate:” Clement Moore to his mother, May 30 and June 4, 1812, quoted in Roger Brown, 178.
“When war is declared”: Baltimore American, July 16, 1812, quoted in Hickey, 55.
“We’ll feather and tar”: Ibid., 65.
“I have intended, my dear Rodney . . . in their places”: Clay to Caesar Rodney, December 29, 1812, Papers of Clay, 1:750.
“You are sufficiently aware . . . to the United States”: Gallatin to Clay, April 22, 1814, Papers of Clay, 1:883–84.
“Having advanced within sixteen miles . . . across the Potomac”: Ross to Earl Bathurst, August 30, 1814, in Auchinleck, 359–60.
“It would be difficult to conceive”: Gleig, 70.
“THE LEADER OF A HOST OF BARBARIANS”: Niles’ Register, October 27, 1814, in Hickey, 204.
“George Washington founded this city”: Ibid., 202.
After three weeks they produced a report: Buckley, 22–24.
“No sensible man ought to expect”: Boston Gazette, January 9, 1815, in Hickey, 278–79.
“These kind of men . . . have condemned them”: Jackson to Monroe, January 6, 1817, CAJ, 2:272–73.
“Something ought to be done for General Jackson”: Armstrong to Madison, May 14, 1814, Madison papers.
“All therefore that can be done”: Armstrong to Jackson, May 22, 1814, CAJ, 2:4.
“Accept the expression of your general’s thanks . . . not to be expressed”: Jackson to Tennessee troops, April 28, 1814, PAJ, 3:65–67.
“grand policy of the government. . . . It must be done”: Jackson to Williams, May 18, 1814, PAJ, 3:73–75.
“The truth is . . . to be killed”: Jackson reply to Big Warrior, August 7, 1814, PAJ, 3:109.
“Had you listened to them”: Jackson to Creek and Cherokee representatives, August 5, 1814, PAJ, 3:103.
“The spilling blood of white people . . . I hold fast”: Speech of Big Warrior, August 6, 1814, PAJ, 3:106–08.
“The war is not over . . . be destroyed together”: Jackson reply to Big Warrior, August 7, 1814, PAJ, 3:109–11.
“The whole Creek nation”: Jackson to John Armstrong, August 10, 1814, CAJ, 2:25.
“Could you only see the misery”: Jackson to Rachel Jackson, August 10, 1814, PAJ, 3:114.
“They must be fed and clothed”: Jackson to Armstrong, August 10, 1814, CAJ, 2:25.
19. THE SPANISH FRONT
“The Creeks were depressed”: Harry Toulmin to Jackson, June 22, 1814, CAJ, 2:9.
“Will the government say to me”: Jackson to Armstrong, June 27, 1814, CAJ, 2:12–13.
He ordered Jackson: Armstrong to Jackson, July 18, 1814, CAJ, 2:13n2.
“I am informed that the enemies . . . with the United States”: Jackson to González Manrique, July 12, 1814, CAJ, 2:15–16.
“impertinent . . . such a demand”: Gordon to Jackson, July 20, 1814, CAJ, 2:17–18.
“Whatever may be the wishes”: Jackson to Claiborne, August 22, 1814, CAJ, 2:27.
“Take no measures . . . of your duties”: Monroe to Jackson, October 21, 1814, CAJ, 2:79.
“murderous, barbarous, rebellious banditti . . . scalp for scalp”: Jackson to González Manrique, August 24, 1814, CAJ, 2:28–29.
“I received this evening . . . the surrounding country”: Jackson to Butler, August 27, 1814, CAJ, 2:31–32.
“There will be bloody noses . . . a desperate struggle”: Ibid.
“I shall arm my Indians . . . will take it up”: Jackson to González Manrique, September 9, 1814, CAJ, 2:45.
“the gallant efforts”: Jackson to Monroe, September 17, 1814, CAJ, 2:50.
“This country is strong by nature . . . we individually feel”: New Orleans committee of safety to Jackson, September 18, 1814, CAJ, 2:51–54.
“Through a mistaken policy . . . of your countrymen”: Jackson to the Free Coloured Inhabitants of Louisiana, September 21, 1814, CAJ, 2:58–59.
“They think that in putting arms . . . would prove dangerous”: Claiborne to Jackson, October 17, 1814, CAJ, 2:76–77.
“It is in every sense an enemy’s port”: Jackson to Claiborne, October 17, 1814, CAJ, 2:75.
“I trust shortly . . . to our cause”: Jackson to Rachel Jackson, October 21, 1814, CAJ, 2:78–79.
“As I act without the orders
”: Jackson to Monroe, October 26, 1814, PAJ, 3:173.
“I come not as the enemy of Spain . . . and Indian warriors”: Jackson to González Manrique, November 6, 1814, CAJ, 2:92.
“I am at a loss, sir”: Jackson to González Manrique, November 6, 1814, CAJ, 2:93.
“My duty does not permit me”: González Manrique to Jackson, November 7, 1814, CAJ, 2:94. Also González Manrique to Jackson, November 6, 1814, CAJ, 2:93.
“begged for mercy”: Jackson to Monroe, November 14, 1814, CAJ, 2:97.
“A tremendous explosion was heard”: Ibid., 98.
“I had the satisfaction”: Ibid., 99.
“He means well for his country”: Franklin to Robert Livingston, July 22, 1785, in Franklin, 1065.
“dislike of all parties and all men”: Jefferson to James Madison, quoted in McCullough, 318.
“eighty-eight one hundreds of an inch”: Brookhiser, 66.
“pimping to the popular passions”: Ibid., 67.
“Ghent looks clean and cheerful . . . by getting drunk”: Entries for July 7 and 15 and August 21, 1814, Gallatin, 27.
“man of much irritation . . . better than yourself”: Adams to Louisa Adams, December 16, 1814, J. Q. Adams, Writings of John Quincy Adams, 5:237.
“They sit after dinner and drink bad wine”: Diary entry for July 8, 1814, J. Q. Adams, Memoirs, 2:656.
“Mr. Adams is in a very bad temper . . . to keep peace”: Entries for July 15, August 10, and October 29, 1814, Gallatin, 27–32.
“Our negotiations may be considered at an end”: A. Gallatin to Monroe, August 20, 1814, quoted in entry for August 20, 1814, Gallatin, Diary, 29.
20. PIRATES AND PATRIOTS
“Louisiana is a delightful country”: Windship to William Plumer, November 1, 1813, Windship, “Letters from Lousiana,” 571.
“The War of the U.S. is very unpopular”: Windship to Plumer, March 20, 1814, ibid., 574.
“Our political parties differ entirely”: Windship to Plumer, November 1, 1813, ibid., 571.
“The most enlightened men of this country . . . 50 cents per head”: Windship to Plumer, April 2, 1814, ibid., 575.
“They fondly recur to the despotism . . . fear this event”: Windship to Plumer, July 7, 1814, ibid., 578–79.
“Indolence is common with us . . . we are not Americans”: Windship to Plumer, June 15, 1814, ibid., 576–77.
