Fort Jackson

“ I went down on the levy and met a number of the officers and men of the forts and gun-boats, and learned that the surrender had been brought about by a mutiny in Fort Jackson. Late on the night of the 27th the officers of that fort awoke to find that about two hundred of the garrison were under arms, had spiked some of the guns, and demanded that the very liberal terms offered the day previous by Commodore Porter, of the enemy's mortar fleet, be accepted. General Duncan and officers appealed to the men to stand by their colors and country ”

“ Both forts are built of brick. The guns of Fort Jackson are twenty-five feet above the level of the river, and those of St. Philip nineteen feet. The guns of the outer batteries of both forts are fourteen feet above the river. When the rebels took possession of these forts there were only thirty-six guns mounted, none of which were of larger calibre than thirty-two-pounders. All the carriages were poor. The plans for completing these forts were taken from the Custom house at New Orleans, just after the rebellion broke out, and the works were finished in accordance with the original intention. ”

“ Fort Jackson, on the southern bank of the bend, was a pentagonal casemated work, built of brick. In the casemates were fourteen 24-pounder smooth-bore guns, and ten flanking howitzers of the same calibre. Above these, in barbette, were two X-inch and three VIII-inch columbiads, one VII-inch rifle, six 42-pounders, fifteen 32s, and eleven 24s; total in the fort, sixty-two. Just outside of and below the main work, covering the approach to it, was a water battery carrying one X-inch and two VIII-inch columbiads, and two rifled 32-pounders. ”

“ Conceding fully the mutual independence of army and navy, it is yet objectionable that while one is treating under flag of truce, the other should be sending down burning vessels, whether carelessly or maliciously, upon an unsuspecting enemy.
When taken possession of, Fort Jackson was found to have suffered greatly. The ground inside and out was plowed by the falling shell; the levee had been cut in many places, letting water into the fort; the casemates were shattered, guns dismounted and gun-carriages destroyed; all the buildings within the walls had been burned. ”

“ No effect whatever was had on the logworks by the artillery, and Jackson resolved on storming the fortifications. Under a raking fire the troops marched at a double quick, and began pouring over the breastwork, many falling in the assault of approach, and many more on the walls, and within the fort. It became a hand to hand fight for the mastery, and the Indians were beaten back from their works, fighting meanwhile with desperate courage. ”

“ General Jackson, I am not afraid of you. I fear no man, for I am a Creek warrior. I have nothing to request in behalf of myself; you can kill me if you wish. I come to beg you to send for the women and children of the war party who are now starving in the woods. Their fields and cribs have been destroyed by your people, who have driven them to the woods without one ear of corn. I hope you will send out parties to safely bring them here in order that they may be fed. I exerted myself in vain to prevent the massacre of the women and children at Fort Mims. ”

“ At the time the enemy opened fire the mortar vessels went to work, and the rapidity with which they threw shells at the enemy was terrific.
At five minutes to four o’clock the bow gun of the Hartford belched forth fire and smoke, and a messenger, in the shape of a nine-inch shell, was sent to Fort Jackson. In a few minutes more the broadside firing was commenced. Both forts were replying as fast as they could. Broadside after broadside was delivered to them in rapid succession, while the mortar vessels lent their aid to make the scene one of wonderful grandeur. ”

“ The fortifications were kept up largely to afford protection against raids from Mexican pirates and hostile Indians, though they were often useful against more civilized foes. It was at this port that Andrew Jackson prepared to receive the British invaders. The magnificent use he made of the fortifications should have given to the old place a lasting standing and a permanent preservation. Some forty years ago, however, the fort was purchased and turned into a kind of country resort, and more lately it has become the home of a recreation club. ”

“ Not only did the fights at Emuckfan and Enotachopco Creeks dash the spirit of the Indians, but they also gave Jackson’s raw troops a taste of war as it is waged in the wilderness. Instead of harrying the border and setting it ablaze as they had no doubt intended, the savages were content to hold their fort at the bend of the Tallapoosa and await the aggression of the white man. ”

“ One hundred and nine men agreed to remain, and, leaving these in charge of the fort, Jackson set out at the head of the others, with their promise that, when they procured supplies and satisfied their hunger, they would return to the fort and march upon the foe. The next day the expected provision-train was met, and the hungry men were well fed. But home was in their minds, and it took all the general's indomitable will and fierce energy to induce them to turn back, and they did so then in sullen discontent. In the end it was necessary to exchange these men for fresh volunteers. ”

“ The chief engineer of the Army of the Potomac, whose ability was unquestioned, made a long report to the Navy Department, in which, after describing the forts and their situation, he said: "To pass these works merely with a fleet and appear before New Orleans is merely a raid, no capture." And in describing the exact method of attack he said: "Those [vessels] on the Fort Jackson side would probably have to make fast to the shore; those on the Saint Philip side might anchor." ”

“ For a representation of this costume, see Plate 28, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.
[32] Fort Jackson was built by Chardon (for whom see our volume xxiii, p. 188, note 144) in December, 1833. It was sought thereby to intercept the Assiniboin and Cree tribesmen who came from the Saskatchewan Valley, thus getting possession of their furs before they reached the rival traders of Sublette and Campbell's opposition. Chardon took twenty men with him from Fort Union, and built a post fifty feet square, naming it in honor of the president of the United States. ”

“ Jackson, having finished the Indian War, marched, May, 1814, homeward, amid the plaudits of the pioneer West, disbanding his army at Fayetteville, Tennessee, and receiving an ovation and banquet in Nashville. He is appointed by the President Major General in the United States Army, and later, by his influence and the great fear and respect the Indians had for him, he closed a treaty with them at Fort Jackson, and the Southern territory to Florida (which belonged to Spain) , became the Republic’s. ”

“ The daring column was moving straight for Fort Jackson. They must pass close under the noses of her guns.
They were in for it now.
The dim star-lit world with its fading moon suddenly burst into sheets of blinding, roaring flame. The mortar batteries moored in range, opened instantly in response—their eleven-inch shells, glowing with phosphorescent halo, circled and screamed and fell.
The black hulls belched their broadsides of yellow flame now. From battlement and casemate of forts rolled the thunder of their batteries, sending their heavy shots smashi [Pg 279] ng into the wooden hulls. ”

“ The victor sent the Governor and soldiery off to Havana, installed a United States collector of customs, stationed a United States garrison in the fort, and on the following day set out on his way to Tennessee.
In a five months’ campaign Jackson had established peace on the border, had broken the power of the hostile Indians, and had substantially conquered Florida. Not a white man in his army had been killed in battle, and not even the most extravagant eulogist could aver that the war had been a great military triumph. ”

“ On the morning of the 17th the rebels began the fight in earnest by sending down a fire-raft that had been saturated with tar and turpentine; but a boat which put off from the Iroquois towed the raft ashore, where it burned itself out, doing no harm to anybody. Then the mortar schooners took a hand and pounded Fort Jackson with their thirteen-inch shells until they set it on fire and destroyed all the 162clothing and commissary stores it contained. ”

“ The medicine men, appealing to the superstition of the Indians, had taught them to believe that no white man could tread the latter ground and live. In April the remnant of the Creeks surrendered or fled to Florida, overcome as much by the impetuous and relentless character of the campaign against them as by actual blows. Fort Jackson was built on the Hickory Ground. The march down through Alabama was a great achievement, considering the circumstances of the country at the time. ”

“ At one period the indomitable Jackson had but a hundred men left him.
But then the tide turned. Because of his own persistent efforts, those of the authorities whom he aroused, and the good will of those of his officers who had returned to the settlements, a new army was raised. By the middle of the following March some five thousand well conditioned troops were assembled at Fort Strother. ”

“ The danger was understood not only among the people of the Southwest but in Washington. Before plans of defense could be carried into effect, however, the war broke out, and the wretched people who had crowded into the flimsy stockade called by courtesy Fort Mims were massacred.
33 Hardly had the heap of ruins, ghastly with human bodies, ceased to smolder before fleet riders were spreading the news in Georgia, in Louisiana, and in Tennessee. A shudder swept the country. Every exposed community expected to be attacked next. ”

“ Coffee destroyed the town, and not a warrior escaped, for the whites were bitterly revengeful. A slain mother embracing a living infant was found among the dead. Jackson himself took care of the child, sent it to The Hermitage, and he and his wife reared it to manhood.
The next blow was struck at Talladega, thirty miles below Fort Strother, where a body of friendly Indians were besieged by a larger body of Red Sticks. Relying on General White, who was in the neighborhood with a force of Cocke's East Tennesseans, to protect Fort Strother, Jackson marched by night to Talladega. ”

“ Here they engaged vigorously in constructing a fort, and in summoning all the surrounding Indian tribes to join them in the invasion of the Southern States. General Jackson, with a force of between one and two thousand men, was in Northern Alabama, but a few days' march north of the Florida line. He wrote to the Secretary of War, in substance, as follows:
"The hostile Creeks have taken refuge in Florida. They are there fed, clothed, and protected. The British have armed a large force with munitions of war, and are fortifying and stirring up the savages. ”

“ Indeed he said that through a peculiar combination of circumstances he had not even read Jackson’s letter until long after the Florida campaign was ended. Each man, no doubt, thought he was telling the truth, and historians will probably always differ upon the merits of the case. The one thing that is perfectly certain is that Jackson, when he carried his troops into Florida in 1818, believed that the 57 Government expected him to prepare the territory for permanent American occupation.
In early March, Jackson was at Fort Scott, on the Georgia frontier, with about two thousand men. ”

“ The Spanish governor no sooner saw the American soldiers with loud hurrahs inundating the streets, than he rushed forward imploring mercy, and promising an immediate surrender. Jackson at once ordered the recall to be sounded, and retired without the town. The commandant of the fort, however, refused to surrender it, when Jackson ordered an assault. The former wisely averted the approaching blow by lowering his flag. The British fled, taking with them their allies, four hundred of whom being negroes, were carried to the West Indies, and sold for slaves. ”

“ The spectacle was not lost on the soldiers, and nothing more was heard of a revolt.
Having completed all his arrangements, Jackson, with four thousand men, advanced, on the 16th of March, into the Creek country. At the junction of the Cedar Creek with the Coosa River, he established Fort Williams, and left a garrison. He then continued his march, with some two thousand five hundred men, towards his previous battle-ground at Emuckfaw. About five miles below it, in the bend of the Tallapoosa, the Indians, a thousand strong, had entrenched themselves, determined to give battle. ”

“ None of the Creeks was so blind as not to see that the only escape from utter destruction was by making peace on the best terms possible, with the whites. Chiefs and warriors began coming into the American camp and offering their submission. Whenever they did so, the eagle-eyed Jackson scanned each dusky face, and asked the name of the leader before him. He wanted to secure Weatherford, and left no doubt of his purpose to shoot him for the horrible crime of Fort Mimms. ”

“ But to the amazement of the exultant savages, instead of a sleeping camp, they found lines of riflemen. A sleet of lead swept among [183] them, and with yells of rage they fell back into the cover of the woods. Once more, after dawn, the Creeks attacked the white men, but again they were beaten off, and retired to their fort.
Jackson now managed to get sight of this, and also had an opportunity of estimating the number of savages facing him.
“They are too strong!” said he, promptly. “With the force at hand we’ll be taking too many chances in attacking them.” ”