The first attack of these Indians was on August 13, 1813, at Fort Mims, in Alabama, where there were nearly two hundred American troops, and where five hundred people were collected for safety.  The Indians, chiefly Creeks, were led by Red Eagle, who utterly annihilated the defenders of the fort under Major Beasley, and scalped the women and children.  When reports of this unexpected and atrocious massacre reached Tennessee the whole population was aroused to vengeance, and General Jackson, his arm still in a sling from his duel with Benton, set out to punish the savage foes.  But he was impeded by lack of provisions, and quarrels among his subordinates, and general insubordination.  In surmounting his difficulties he showed extraordinary tact and energy.  His measures were most vigorous.  He did not hesitate to shoot, whether legally or illegally, those who were insubordinate, thus restoring military discipline, the first and last necessity in war.  Soldiers soon learn to appreciate the worth of such decision, and follow such a leader with determination almost equal to his own.  Jackson’s troops did splendid marching and fighting.

So rapid and relentless were his movements against the enemy that the campaign lasted but seven months, and the Indians were nearly all killed or dispersed.  I need not enumerate his engagements, which were regarded as brilliant.  His early dangers and adventures, and his acquaintance with Indian warfare ever since he could handle a rifle, now stood him in good stead.  On the 21st of April, 1814, the militia under his command returned home victorious, and Jackson for his heroism and ability was made a major-general in the regular army, he then being forty-seven years of age.  It was in this war that we first hear of the famous frontiersman Davy Crockett, and of Sam Houston, afterwards so unique a figure in the war for Texan independence.  In this war, too, General Harrison gained his success at Tippecanoe, which was never forgotten; but his military genius was far inferior to that of Jackson.  It is probable that had Jackson been sent to the North by the Secretary of War, he would have driven the British troops out of Canada.  There is no question about his military ability, although his reputation was sullied by high-handed and arbitrary measures.  What he saw fit to do, he did, without scruples or regard to consequences.  In war everything is tested by success; and in view of that, if sufficiently brilliant, everything else is forgotten.

The successful and rapid conquest of the Creeks opened the way for Jackson’s Southern campaign against the English.  As major-general he was sent to conclude a treaty with the Indians, which he soon arranged, and was then put in command of the Southern Division of the army, with headquarters at Mobile.  The English made the neutral Spanish territory of Florida a basis of operations along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, thus putting in peril both Mobile and New