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They Came From Ireland
by
F.W. Thorlton
War of 1812
Contact with the whiteman was causing deterioration in the age-old culture, with so many Indians copying the vices more readily than the virtues of these ever encroaching people. Possessing little or no tolerance for whiteman's fermented drink, and no immunity for his many diseases, both were ravaging tribe after tribe.
Two Shawnee Indians stepped forward in an attempt to end this danger to their culture. Tecumseh and, a medicine man named "The Prophet" established Prophet's Town, near the junction of Tippecanoe Creek and the Wabash River. Here around their council fires the two leaders planned their holy war designed to save their people, and the formation of the Grand Union of all the tribes, a confederation not unlike that which existed with the colonists before the Revolution. The idea of inter-tribal corporation had never been accomplished before. Tribal organization was usually very loose, and most tribes feared, distrusted, and hated each other as much and they hated and feared the whiteman. Nevertheless Tecumseh dreamed of a day when further land cession would either cease or become a thing of united Indian consent, and he forever held the hope of the returning his people to the moral values of their fathers.
The Prophet had induced the people to cease all relations with the whiteman, with the exception of trading, and to discontinue the use of the whiteman's "fire water." But it was the statesman Tecumseh who was rallying the people before this present danger. Allying himself with the British in Canada, from whom he expected help when war came, a war he hoped to avoid however until he possessed sufficient strength to strike a really effective blow. What actual help the British offered Tecumseh is not known, but he received supplies of arms and clothing from some source, and the colonists right or wrong, blamed the British.
Tecumseh and The Prophet to an extent succeeded in forming their union of united sober Indians, which greatly alarmed white land speculators on the frontier. So to counter this threat to their financial plans, William Henry Harrison acting for his and the interests of the other speculators, rounded up a few Indians that had not yet joined the Tecumseh movement. Harrison's main talent seemed to have been land speculation, and his main tool was whiskey, with which he plied the Indian in order to achieve a profitable exchange. After plying his Indian representatives with whiskey, he negotiated a treaty from these poor drunken wretches for a total area of 2,900,000 acres. But these 2,900,000, acres were only a small piece of the total of 48,000,000 acres later taken by these methods.
Tecumseh declared, and rightfully so, that the treaty was invalid. In 1811 Tecumseh decided it was necessary to go south to visit his cousins the Creeks, in hopes of gaining their support. While there, his federation began to crumble as The Prophet was unable to hold the Indian union together, and Governor William Henry Harrison chose the moment to attack. At Prophet's Town, Harrison with 1,000 men ended Tecumseh's dream. The "Battle of Tippecanoe" paved the way to the White House for Governor Harrison, and signaled the beginning of a war that continued by way of massacres, and attacks on the settlers on the frontier until the conflict merged into the War of 1812, and "The Creek War" in Mississippi.
Meanwhile, the Thorlton family continued to grow. On May 26, 1809, John's sister, Polly, and Nancy's brother, Joseph Alexander were married in Roane County. The descendants of Robert and Margaret Caldwell, and John and Margaret Thorlton were growing quite large with grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren in the families of the Thorlton's, Caldwell, Deans, Wilsons, Thompsons, Alexanders. The year before, in 1808, Nancy gave birth to their first son and named him Robert, and the following year she gave birth to her second daughter and named her for her grandmother Margaret. Three years later their second son was born but died in childhood.
The following year, the Second War of Independence, or the War of 1812 began. The War of 1812 was opposed and ignored by the commercial and industrial east, and at first fought only halfheartedly by the English, it need not have started if rapid communications had been present, for steps were taken by the British days before it began, to stop it. The last and most famous battle took place after the peace treaty was signed, and it ended in a draw. But as in all wars many people died, and to those men, women, and children this was the most important war of all time.
Historically, the war began because of difficulties arising from the usurping policies of the English to American rights at sea, as well as the settlement of the land in the west. Historians Charles and Mary Beard wrote;
"If it was declared for commercial motives, it was conceived primarily in the interests of agriculture."
Before the war the United States enjoyed a virtual monopoly of the world's shipping. As a result, profits were high, as were the wages paid to seamen. English sailors deserted their ships to sign on under the American flag. America being a country of emigrants, naturalization and citizenship were quite simple, and many English sailors abandoned their native land for the citizenship offered by America. England did not recognize this naturalization of her citizens by America, and claimed the right to search all vessels on the high seas to determine if they carried British deserters. In July of 1807 the United States frigate "Chesapeake" was stopped by the British frigate "Leopard." After being denied the right to board and search, the Leopard attacked and her men boarded the American vessel and removed four men they claimed were Englishmen, after which one of them was hanged. After five years of negotiations, the two men that remained alive were finally returned to the hands of the Americans. All the while the specter of the English Tyrant, and the humiliation directed at them, was on the minds of the American citizen. This alone was not enough to drive the Americans into another war with England. For the shipping north was enjoying too much prosperity to endanger the loss over these minor incidents.
The determination, and thrust of war would come from the frontier. From the west and south, once again came the frontiersmen, and in the forefront were the Scotch-Irish, seeking new lands. And, once again they were facing an Indian foe armed and equipped to the teeth with English stores from outposts in Canada.
In December of 1811 William Henry Harrison, then governor of the Indian Territory said;
"Within the last three months the whole of the Indians on the frontier have been completely armed and equipped at the king's stores at Malden."
The land interests of the west felt that further expansion would be greatly hampered as long as Canada remained a British possession. Desiring both Canada and Florida, and considering it, a relatively simple matter Henry Clay boasted;
"the militia of Kentucky are alone competent, to place Montreal and Upper Canada at our feet . . . it is nothing to acquire the entire fur trade"
And John C. Calhoun echoed;
"I believe that in four weeks from the time a declaration of war is heard on our frontier, the whole of upper Canada and part of lower Canada will be in our power"
On the floor of Congress they met, the shipping interests of the east, resisting war, and the land interests of the west, desiring war, and each seeking the power required to force their point. To this political front came the "War Hawks" the westerners from Kentucky and Tennessee, Henry Clay, John Sevier, and Felix Grundy. Supporting them from New York was Peter B. Porter, and from Carolina, John C. Calhoun. Even though they had never seen the ocean, they quickly learned the catch words of the day, neutral rights, and freedom on the seas, which they never hesitated to use, to mask their real desire for western expansion. With the fear that was already building from the danger or supposed danger from Indian and Canadian alliances and with Henry Clay elected speaker of the House as their advocate: the western land interests won the day. By a vote of 19 to 13 in the Senate, and 70 to 49 in the House, they forced through Congress a Declaration of War on June 18, 1812. It declared that a state of war existed between the United States of America and Great Britain, stating the following reasons: violation of the American flag, blockade of American ports, refusal of Great Britain to repeal the Orders in Council, and inciting the Indians disturbances in the Northwest.
With Napoleon on the march, Great Britain would just as soon have avoided war. She was experiencing a difficult time with her European markets closed. Her warehouses were filled with goods for which there was no market. With factories closing and workmen rioting, she was in no mood from another war with America, and in fact did not wish to lose America as a trading partner, and made many concessions to that end, and had rapid communications been present, war might have been averted.
However, with banners flying, and rhetoric filling the air, America marched out with her 6,000 man regular army, and a navy consisting of about 12 fighting ships, to again face the power of England. The reasons for Tennessee's full flight into this war, were many, and some very obvious. Their strong nationalistic and patriotic feeling were in the forefront of their emotions. But to these were added the expansion desires of all the westerners, into lands of Canada, and Florida, as well as assuring continued use of the Mississippi, and access to the Gulf of Mobile, by way of the Tombigbee and Coosa Rivers. For though claimed by the United States under provisions of the Louisiana Purchase, Spain still maintained control of the Mississippi area.
With the outbreak of the War General Andrew Jackson proclaimed the rivers and harbors of West Florida were "indispensable to the prosperity of the people of Tennessee." He also claimed the Indians were being incited to ravages on the people of the settlements.
Soon it was ingrained in the minds of most Tennesseans that there was a conspiracy a foot by England and Canada, with the help of the Spaniards in Florida, to unite the Northern and Southern Indians in a war on the American frontier. Citing as proof the recent battle between the Shawnee Indians, led by the Indian chief Tecumseh, and his band of a few survivors of tribes who were described as "the most depraved wretches on earth," against the troops of William Henry Harrison in the Territory of Indiana, on November 17, 1811 at place called Tippecanoe, and the recent raids by the Indians in the Tennessee area. And there was the prospect of easier acquisition of the lands, of a defeated Indian foe. Also the very logical argument was made by some that with Great Britain busy warring with France, she would be unable to maintain two fronts. Now was the perfect time to drive the English forever from the American continent. When the news of the war reached the members of a party at Rogersville, Tennessee, glasses were raised and the following toast was offered;
"To June 18, 1812. May future ages be proud to celebrate the day on which virtuous Congress Declared War against imperial Britain."
And at Kingston, the county seat of Roane County, her young men answered the first call. On July 24, 1812, to the sound of fife and drum, 2nd Lieutenant Uriah Allison marched into town with instructions from Captain John A. Rodgers to muster recruits for three months service. Forty-one men stepped forward on the steps of the Court House, to receive the shiny new dollar offered as an enlistment bonus, and they become the first recruits from Roane County, Tennessee.
At the beginning of the war, Andrew Jackson's reputation was in a shambles. A duel with, and the death of Charles Henry Dickinson, and his quarreling nature in general had created an image in the minds of many of an immature hothead, ready to fight at the slightest provocation. The social position he had worked so hard to achieve was in jeopardy of disappearing. He saw his future in Tennessee limited unless a way could be found to bolster his image. He had applied for a Judgeship in Mississippi and had planned, if accepted to move his family there to escape what he conceived as his political ruin. When his application was ignored, his future seemed bleak indeed, unless some circumstances arose to renew his fading image among the people.
He had been only mildly successful at many of his other ventures and now focused most of his attention on gambling and the military. And it was through the military that his golden opportunity would present itself, in the specter the War of 1812, and more particularly the Creek War. Jackson's conviction that he was a military man rested on his experience as a Colonel in the western district of Tennessee in the early part of the 1800's. In 1802 Jackson was promoted from Colonel to Major General in the state's militia. His old enemy Governor John Sevier was not happy with this promotion. Unable stop Jackson's promotion, the governor divided the state's militia into two factions the East Division and West Division.
No one was happier than Jackson when finally, war was declared. Here was his opportunity, and he was determined it would not slip through his fingers. General Jackson immediately offered to the President, the services of his militia division of 2500 men, well trained and ready to fight. Jackson hoped for an appointment to the Quebec area, and promised to have his men before Quebec within ninety days. The General's offer was perfunctorily accepted, but no orders were issued.
In October of 1812 the United States War Department requested from Governor Blount 1500 men to reinforce General James Wilkinson's command in Florida. General Wilkinsons had allied himself with Aaron Burr and his conspiracy, and although the government had forgiven the General his poor judgement, Andrew Jackson had not. Jackson's low opinion of Wilkinson would not allow him too accept this man as his superior officer. In 1808 Jackson was reported to have said;
"On the eve of war and a traitor at the head of the army?"
Jackson had seen all his offers as a military commander ignored, and his dream of military conquests, and a renewed public image disappearing. And now to be offered a subordinate position to this General Wilkinson for whom he had nothing but contempt was more that he could bear. But Jackson was determined not to lose the one opportunity that had presented itself to him. Jackson put so much pressure on Governor Blount that the Governor was finally forced to yield and placed Jackson in command.
On January 7 Jackson rode out at the head of his troops and to a battle he hoped would restore his fading social position. He was ordered to march to Natchez where he would receive further orders. But for now, Jackson's glory was not to be, in congress both sides opposed hostilities, the Federalists, who did want the war, and the Republicans who were unwilling to carry on a policy of aggression. The result was that President Madison, though willing himself to attack, found no support and decided to make no attack on Florida. Secretary of War Armstrong sent orders to General Jackson at Natchez to disband and dismiss his troops. In Jackson's mind he was convinced the Federal Governments planned to cast his men adrift in Mississippi in hope of convincing them to re-enlist in the regular army, to fill its dwindling ranks. Jackson's chance for glory was gone, but he was determined to hold his men together until they reached Nashville.
Andrew Jackson and his men were 500 miles from home, with no support, or supplies from the federal government. Refusing to demobilize his army he marched them home with a determination and toughness that caused the soldiers to remark, "He's tough, as an old hickory" and from then on Andrew Jackson was forever, to his admirers, known as "Old Hickory."
When they reached Nashville, Jackson dismissed the men and a controversy arose that would later come back to haunt him. The men had enlisted for one year service. They were released with the understanding that if they were needed they would return.
The question was, would the intervening months in civilian life count as time of service or not. The men believed it would, and General Jackson would be of the opinion that the time spent in actual service was all that would count. This would give General Jackson much trouble in December of 1813.
Meanwhile to the south in the Territory of Mississippi, was brewing an incident which would thrust John Thorlton and the Tennessee militia into the middle the War of 1812, and General Andrew Jackson into the national prominence he sought.
The planning of this, the most brutal massacre to be perpetrated upon the whiteman in his long march to the Pacific, was the work of a mixed breed Indian named William Weathersford, or as he was known to his people, Chief Red Eagle.
William Weathersford's uncle was a British Colonel during the Revolution. His father lived the life of a country gentleman, raising blooded horses. His brother John Weathersford, chose the whiteman's life, while William, though he was only 1/8 Creek, went the way of the Indian. Taking Red Eagle, as his Indian name, Weathersford earned his place around the council fires of the Creeks.
In 1810 with his visit to the camp fires of Tecumseh, the Chief from the lands of the Indiana Territory, he found his inspiration. And with the coming of the War of 1812 William Weathersford, found his opportunity, and emerged as the leader of a band of Creeks, who with crimson war clubs, earned the name, "Red Sticks."
This band struck terror in the hearts of the settlers within the Mississippi territory as they fled under his onslaught, seeking refuse in the forts. The largest of these was the fort built by a half-breed Creek named Samuel Mims, a well to do farmer. Gathering in this fort for the defense of the people, were seventy Louisiana militiamen under the command of another half-breed Creek named, Major Daniel Beasley.
With rumors of hundreds of hostile Indians near Fort Easley some sixty miles from Fort Mims, Major Beasley feared this fort, he was to defend, was much too small for the hundreds of settlers that were pouring in. So he went about the task of enlarging the fort by adding a row of pickets sixty feet beyond the eastern end. Work went slowly as day after day so many rumors of an impending Indian attack were heard that, as in the case of the boy who cried wolf, the people became indifferent to the warnings. This indifference would prove to be a fatal mistake.
Late in August, Weathersford conducted his band to the plantation of Zacharich McGirth, not far from the present town of Claiborne, Alabama. There he captured some Negro slaves, from whom he learned of the conditions at Fort Mims. One of these slaves escaped and made his way to Fort Mims. Terrified, and out of breath from their close brush with death, he told Beasley of Red Eagle's plan. Major Beasley sent a Captain Middleton to reconnoiter, but he found nothing. Major Beasley, convinced the Negroes were lying, ordered them flogged. On the morning of the 29th a slave saw approaching Red Sticks, and if Major Beasley had been warned of the impending danger the fort might have been saved. But the slave's back was still smarting from the lashes he had received the day before, so fearing the same reaction he decided to remain silent, and escape to nearby Fort Pierce.
Monday morning, the 30th of August, found the fort filled with five hundred and fifty-three, whites, Indians, officers, soldiers, and Negroes, many sick with malaria. Major Beasley was now so confident in his ability to secure the fort he had sent a dispatch to General Claiborne that he was perfectly safe in the fort and would be able to defend it against any number of Indians. In this world of false security, the women prepared dinner while the men loitered around the fort many drinking or playing cards, while over a hundred children played among the cabins and tents. So lax was the security that the main gate was not only left open but, dirt had been allowed to build up around its base.
While the people dozed in their apathy, not four hundred yards away in the woods, nearby ravines and lush vegetation lurked the painted Creeks under Weathersford's command. The beat of the drum to call the inhabitants of the fort to diner, was also the signal for the Indians to attack. They came streaming over the fields toward the fort, and it's open, blocked, gate. Major Beasley realizing the disaster about to befall his charges, rushed to close the open gate. While the unarmed men, women and the children huddled in terror, Beasley struggled to clear the dirt that was keeping the gate from closing. But he was too late, the Indians were upon him with their tomahawks beating the life from his body. As he crawled to the place of his death, he urged his men to fight valiantly.
The outer enclosure was soon filled with the howling torrent, and the field outside swarmed with hundreds more. Captain Middleton who was in charge of the eastern section, was slain with his command. Lieutenant Jack in the south wing, with a rifle company maintained a valiant stand, while Captain Dixon Bailey who was now in command after Beasley's death was everywhere trying to direct the men that remained. On one side of the fort, with only a few soldiers to protect them, were the unarmed men, women, and children. The main body of the remaining fighting men were in the outer enclosure with Captains, Middleton and Jack. And all around them were the Indians seeking blood and spoils. After the first shock, losses, and the surprise, the soldiers regained their courage and composure, and directed a very substantial fire against the oncoming Indians. Through the pickets, and port-holes they poured volley after volley into the ranks of the charging Indians, creating wide lanes in the advancing Redsticks, but these were quickly filled with a seemly endless number of screaming Indians. So thick was the fight that at times the rifles of the Indian and those of the soldiers would cross in the port-holes. Soon women and children joined in the battle with the urging of Major Bailey heard over the rifle fire, the screams of the Indians, and the dying inhabitants of the fort;
"Hold on a little longer and all will be well. The Indians seldom fight long at a time."
Bailey tried to encourage some of the other men to join him in a dash through the Indians lines in hope of reaching Fort Pierce where he could gather reinforcements and attack the Indian's rear flank. All believed the plan to be folly and refused to join him.
After three terrible hours, as Bailey had expected, the Indian's resolve began to slacken. The fire declined, and the howling became less frequent. The people were filled with the hope that Indians might soon depart. Weathersford was not one to accept half a victory. Seated on his black horse he rode among the departing Indians rebuking them and demanding they renew the attack. And so, with Weathersford's urging, the Indians were again within the outer enclosure and facing a merciless fire set down by the defenders now in Mr. Mims, now fortified house. From port-holes in the wall, they were able to lay down a very effective fire. Weathersford ordered the building set fire with their flaming arrows. Soon the house was engulfed in flames. The Indians were now in the main fort, and everywhere women, children, the weak and sick were falling to the onslaught of the murderous foe. Samuel Mims was shot as he tried to escape, and as he lay dying he was scalped alive. The battle was now nearly over, and was becoming the bloodiest of the day. The inhabitants were murdered without mercy. The children were grabbed by the feet and their heads smashed against the walls. The women were disemboweled, and if they were pregnant their unborn babies were cut from their bodies and the babies were flung into the air.
Horrified at the events before his eye's Weathersford rode among his warriors demanding, they spare the woman and children and was very nearly killed by his own crazed men, for the attempt. In years to follow he was tormented by the scene he had created and was unable to control, and later wrote;
"My warriors were like famished wolves, and the first taste of blood made their appetites insatiable."
When the battle began there were five hundred and fifty-three persons within the confines of Fort Mims. Five hours later four hundred were dead, and not one white woman or child escaped. Twelve men were able to cut through the Indian lines to the safety of the swamps. Among those who escaped was Captain Beasley, who was severely wounded and died soon after. The Indians spared the Negroes and made them slaves. A Negro women named Hester, with a musket ball in her breast escaped to Tensaw Lake where she paddled a canoe to the nearby Fort Stoddart, where she arrived four days later with the first news of the bloody slaughter she had escaped.
A Major Kennedy was sent to the Fort Mims to bury the dead, when he arrived ten days later, his eyes met a horrible scene. Bodies were piled everywhere with dogs and buzzards fighting for the remains. The bodies were all buried in common graves, women, children, men, Indians, and Negroes. All were scalped, and the women were terribly mutilated, all were laid side by side.
The massacre of Fort Mims created a cry of vengeance that was heard throughout the southwest. The fear and distress in the Mississippi Territory can scarcely be imagined. A cry for help went out, and was heard by her neighbor to the north, in Tennessee.
It took thirty-one days for the news of the massacre to reach New York where it caused very little concern. This was not the case in Tennessee however for the events to the south raised the wrath of these northern neighbors to such an extent that without waiting for authorization from the federal government, the Tennessee legislature called for 3,500 volunteers, and in accordance with the tradition that gave Tennessee the nickname of "The Volunteer State" recruitment was enthusiastic. So great was the turnout of volunteers that a letter was written in Nashville that;
"...in a few days there will be but a few men left in town, Nearly all have volunteered, some have gone while others are preparing to go, Colonel John Coffee has already started with cavalry. Infantry and mounted volunteer companies are flocking to the standard every day. Had not General Jackson been confined by his wound, I think all would have been on the way by this time."
From East and West Tennessee the call went out for men to come to the aid of their neighbors to the south, From everywhere young men answered that call, from the most remote cabin in the backwoods, from Knoxville, from Nashville, from the settlements along the Tennessee River, from the French Broad River, from the Clinch River, and from . . . Hickory Creek.
With their muskets and knifes, they all came . . .
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