North Carolina Newspapers

t-"' - - - 1 1 1 f""11 "" ' 1 if . No. 17. HALIFAX, N. a FRIDAY, JULY 16 182. F0L I. THE "FREE PRESS," 2?y George Howard, Is published . every Friday, at THREE DOLLARS per year, consisting of 52 numbers, and in the same proportion for a shorter pe riod. Subscribers at liberty to dis continue at any time, on paying ar rearages. Advertisements inserted at fifty r ents per square, or less, for the first insertion, and twenty-five cents each continuance. Letters addressed to the Editor imibt be fiost laid. COMMUNICATIONS. YOll THE FREE THESS. andrew Jackson c:Jachcv, all hail! our Country's pride and boast, Whose mind's a council, and whose arm's a host ! Welcome, blest chief! Accept our grateful lays, Unbidden homage of our grateful praise. Remembrance long shall keep alive thy fame, And future ages venerate thy name.' No name, recorded in the mi litary annals of thcUnited States, possesses so much eclat as that of Andrew Jackson; one only excepted that of the transcen dant Washington The histo ry of .Iackson?s life is less known 'han we might suppose it to be, onsidcring the circumstance nst mentioned, and the real magnitude and variety of his public services. An additional interest results to his exploits and character, from the impor tant relation in which he now stands to the American people, as a candidate tor the splendid office of Chief magistrate. Andrew Jackson is of Irish parentage. His father and mo ther emigrated to South Caroli- na in the year 1765, with two sons, both young, and purchased a tract ot land, on which they settled, in what was then called the Waxaw settlement, about; forty-five miles above Camden. Here was born, on the 15th March, 1767, Andrew, the sub ject of the present sketch. His father died soon after, leaving the three children to be provi ded for by the mother, a wo man who would seem to have possessed excellent feelings and considerable strength of mind. The scantiness of their patrimo ny allowed only one of them to be liberally educated; and this was Andrew, whom she desti ned for the sacred ministry. He was sent to a flourishing A cademy in the settlement, where lie remained, occupied with the dead languages, until the Revo lutionary War brought an ene my into his neighborhood, whose approach left no alterna tive but the choice of the Ame rican or British banners. The intrepid and ardent boy, en couraged by his patriotic mo ther, hastened, at the age of fourteen, in company with one of his brothers, to the American camp, and enlisted in the ser vice of his country. The eldest of the three, had already lost his. life in the same service, at the battle of Stono. The survivors, Andrew and Robert, having been suffered to attend the country drill and general mus ters, were not unacquainted with the manual exercise and field evolutions. After retiring into North-Ca rolina before the British army, vim tneir corps, they returned to Waxaw settlement, and found themselves suddenly eno-a-ed with a superior British force, who surprised a gallant band of forty patriots, to which they be longed, routed it, and took ele ven prisoners. Andrew Jack son and his brother escaped from the field, . after fighting bravely; but, having entered a house, next day, in order to procure food, they fell into the hands of a corps of British dra goons, and a party of tories, that were marauding together. Andrew, when under suard, was ordered by a British offi cer, in a haughty manner, to clean his boots: the vouth ne- remptorily refused to do so, claiming, with firmness, the treatment due to a prisoner of war. The officer aimed a blow at his head with a sabre, whirh would have proved fatal, had he not have parried it with his left hand, on which he received a severe wound. His brother, at the same time, and for a similar offence, received a gash on the head, which afterwards occa sioned his death. Thus, did his only relatives, two of this estimable familv, perish in the sprihg of life, martyrs to their patriotic and courageous spirit. zmuruw ana nis companion were consigned to lail, m sena rate apartments,and treated with the utmost harshness; until, through the exertions of their fond mother, they were exchan ged, a lew days after the battle. Andrew returned to his clas sical studies, as a means of his tuture subsistence, with increa scd industry; and, at the age of eighteen, in the winter 1784, re paired to Salisbury, in North Carolina, to a lawyer's office, in which he prepared himself for the bar. In the winter of 1 786, he obtained a license to practice but finding this theatre unfavor- able for advancement. ermVratpH to Nashville in 1788, and there lixed his residence. Success at tended his industry and talents; he acquired a lucrative business in the courts, and ere long was appointed attorney-general for the district; in which capacity he continued to act for several years. The progress which he made in public estimation, by his abi lities and services, is marked by his election, in 1796, to the Convention assembled to frame a Constitution for the state. In this body he acquired addition al distinction, which placed him, : the same year, in Congress, in the House of Representatives, and the following year, in the Senate of the United States. He acted invariably with the Republican party in the Nation al .Legislature, but grew tired of an unavailing struggle in a small minority, and of a scene of discussion and intrigue for which he did not deem himself as well fitted as the successor, for whose sakc; no less than for his own gratification, he resign ed his post in 1799. While a senator, he was- chosen by the field officers of the Tennessee militia, without consultation withjiim, major-general of their division, and so remained until 1814, when he took the rank in the service of the U.S. On his re signation as senator, he was ap pointed one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of. Tennessee. He accepted this appointment with reluctance, and withdrew from the bench as soon as pos sible, with the determination to spend the rest of his life in tran quillity and seclusion, on a beau tiful farm belonging to him, and lying on the Cumberland river about ten miles from Nashville. In this retreat he passed several years, happy in the indulgence ot his fondness for rural occuna- tions, and in the societ.v of an affectionate wife and n nnmhnr of honest friends." His quiet felicity was, however, . broken up by the occurrence of the war with.ureat Britain. It roused his martial and patriotic temper; ana wnen tne acts of Congress (of the 6th February, and July, 1812) which authorize the Pre sident to accept the services of nlty thousand volunteers, were promulgated, Jackson published an energetic address to the mili tia of his division, drew two thousand live hundred of them to his standard, and tendered them without delay to the fedc- rai government, in iovember he received orders to descend the Mississippi, for the defence ot the lower country, which was then thought to be in dansrer. In January, in a very inclement season, he conducted his troons as far as Natchez, where he was instructed to remain until other wise directed. Here he em ployed himself indefatigably, in training and preparing them for service. But, the danger which "Riif U A u was meant to be repelled, hav ing ceased to exist, in the opi nion of the Secretary of War. I he received instructions, from the latter, to dismiss at once irom service those under his' command. ! We have now reached what may be called the second prin cipal era in his lite. The British and the celebra ted Tecumseh had stirred up the Creek nation of Indians, parties of whom made irrup tions into the state of Tennes see, committing the most barba rous outrages upon defenceless and insulated families. Having obtained a supply of ammun tion from the Spaniards, at Pen sacola, a band of six or seven hundred warriors assaulted Fort Mimms, situated in the Ten saw settlement, in the Mississip pi territory, succeeded in cany- ing it, and butchered nearly all its inmates; three hundred sons, including women and chil-r drcn. Only seventeen of the whole number escaped to spread intelligence ot the dreadful ca tastrophe. The news produced the strongest sensation in Ten nessee; and all eyes were, at once, turned to Jackson as the leader of the force which must be sent forth to overtake and punish the miscreants. He was at this time, confined in hie chamber with a fractured arm and a wound in the breast, in juries received in a private ren contre. It was resolved by the legislature to call into service thirty-five hundred of the mili tia, to be marched into the heart of the Creek nation, conforma bly to the advice of Jackson, who, notwithstanding the bodi ly ills under which he labored, readily undertook the chief command in the expedition. He issued an eloquent and ner vous address to the troops, on the day of the rendezvous, in which he told them, anions oth- cr things, "We must and will be victorious we must conquer aS men Who Owe nnthintr in chance; and who, in the midst of victory, can still be mindful of what is due to humanity." On the 7th October, 1813, he reached the encampment, altho' his health was not yet restored. In this campaisrn. the battles of Talladega, Emuckfaw, and Horse-shoe, fully established his character, as a skilful comman der, vigilant disciplinarian, and dauntless soldier. At the Hick ory ground, the principal chiefs of the hostile tribes sued for peace those who rejected this measure had sought refuge a long the coast and in Pensacola. Much of the property plunder ed by them at Fort Mimms and along the frontiers was brought in and delivered up. . All re sistance being at an end, and there being no longer any ne cessity for maintaining an army in the field, orders were issued on the 21st of April, for the Tennessee troops to be marched home and discharged. The complete and final dis comfiture of so formidable a foe as this confederacy of Indians, drew the attention of the gene ral government to the Tennes see commander, and produced a speedy manifestation of the re spect entertained for his servi ces and character, in his an. pointmentas Brie-ndier snd hrr trif TTr,:rt. n 1 . xt. .. vi. o.i.iujui-jri;ueiai in uie regu lar armv. A commission nf Major-General was forwarded to him in May, 1814. General Jackson was deputed with Col ilawKins as Commissioner to negotiate with the Creeks; and on the 10th ot July, he reached Alabama on this errand, and bv the 10th of August accomplish cd an agreement, under which the Indians bound themselves to hold no communication with the British or Spanish garrisons, or foreign emissaries, and con ceded to the United States the right of erecting military posts in their country. During this transaction, his mind was struck with the im portance of depriving the fugi tive and refractory savages of tne aid and incitement which were administered to them in East Florida, and he at once urged on the President the pro- - priety of attacking and dismant per-jling Pensacola. He addressed the Governors of Tennessee, Louisiana and the Mississippi Territory, soliciting them to be vigilant and energetic, "for dark and heavy clouds hovered over the seventh military dis trict." Towards the end of Ausrust. the noted Col. Nichols, with a small squadron of British ships, arrived at Pensacola. and short ly after, made an attack on Fort .Bowyer, at the entrance of Mo bile Bay. Nichols was repul sed with the loss of his best ship and 230 men killed and wound ed. Jackson afterwards attack ed Pensacola, and having driven away the British, forced the hostile Creeks to fly to the for ests, and produced a salutary im pression on the minds of the Spaniards, he repaired to New Orleans, on the first of Decem ber, and there established his head quarters. With what warmth nf fAoi;. and glowing fire of soul, he en tercd on a seemingly forlorn and hopeless effort, let his first ad dress declare: , "Your government, Louisianians emratred in a iust and Vv o-o- J """vndUlC contest, for the security of your in dividual! and her national rights. is i ne only country on where man enjoys freedom; where its blessings are alike extended to the poor and io tne rich, calls on you to protect her from thp of Britain: she will not call in vain, i know that every man Whose bosom hpsts TuVli of tVin proud title of freeman, will prompt- j ncr voice, and rally round the eagles of his country, resolved to rescue her frv ; j j ...wii miucnuinc aan- eer, or noblv dip ?n v ,i J? Who refuses to defend his rights when called on by his government, deserves to be a slave deserves to be punished as an enemy to his vuuuuj a iiiciiu lunerioes. Louisiana was ill supplied with arms: Its motlev nonul.i tion, French and Spaniards. were not yet sufficiently fond of the American government to fight very desperately in its de fence. New Orleans tvn un prepared to withstand an enemy aim coniainea out too many traitors or malcontents. Jackson was nearly disabled in body, by sickness and fatigue he expect ed a large and perfectly appoints ed British force his only means of resistance were the few regulars about him, the Tennes see volunteers, and such troops as the state of Louisiana might itself raise. He summoned, at once, the governor and the citi zens to exert themselves he set them the example of unre mitted activity and stern resolu tion. Volunteer companies were raised, batteries were rnnmVori or constructed, and gun-boats stationed on the most eligible points on the river. He roused the Legislature, who before had done little or nothing, to lend him their concurrence. His language to them was, "with en ergy and expedition, all is safd delay further, and all is lost." Jackson was not long in dis covering the truth of what had been communicated to him by the Governor of Louisiana, that "the country was filled with Bri tish spies and stipendiaries.', He suggested to the Legislature the propriety and necessity of suspending the privilege of ha beas corpus. While that as sembly were deliberating slow ly upon their power to adopt the measure, he proclaimed the city of New-Orleans and its en virons to be under martial aw, and established a most rigid mi litary police. On the 23d, at one o'clock in the afternoon, positive informa tion of the landing of the Bri tish was brought to Jackson. He resolved to meet them thai night. As he was marching through the city, his ears were assailed with the screams of a multitude of females, who dread ed the worst consequences from the approach of the enemy. "Say to them," exrlnimpd h t A gentleman near him, "not to be alarmed; the enemy shall never reach the city." Our limits will not nnrrrnf n detailed account of the events which led in ihn rrrpat and loc j, struggle, on the memorable 8th of January. On that the British forces, amounting to 9000 men, attempted to storm theAmerican entrenchments defended by not more man ouuu euective men; but were repulsed with im mense slaughter. The British