The year of 1811 was a busy one for Davy, who was then coming twenty-five. He was still boyish and rather awkward in some ways; but with the rifle, and in securing pelts4 of the most valuable sorts, he had few rivals.
Shot-guns, or scatter-guns, were not much used in hunting. Powder and lead were the most precious of all the pioneer’s possessions, and nothing smaller than a wild turkey was considered worth the cost of a shot. For that reason, small game was always[66] abundant and almost fearless in the presence of the hunter.
One autumn morning Davy was talking with Tall Grass, a Chickasaw, who had two of his boys with him. They were from ten to twelve years old, and each carried a reed blow-gun nearly ten feet long. Davy had heard of these weapons of the Chickasaws, and he asked the boys to show him how they were used. They all started for the woods a mile away, where small game was plenty.
In a swampy5 spot the logs lay here and there across the ground, as the result of a cyclone6 or wind-storm in the years gone by. In the Northern States such a place would be called a “windfall”; in Tennessee it was called a “harricane.”
The boys went ahead, their reeds at tilt7, like spearmen of feudal8 days. Each carried small darts10, tipped with steel, with thistle-down tied at the opposite ends. A rabbit flashed from under a bush as they advanced, and stopped fifty feet away. The older boy slipped a dart9 into his reed, brought it to a steady aim, filled his lungs and cheeks, and put all his young strength into the puff11 that sent the[67] twelve-inch arrow on its course. The rabbit leaped from its mound12 of moss13, and fell struggling with the dart in its side. A partridge that perched in the limbs of a hickory came tumbling down when the younger boy tried his skill. With dignified14 pride, Tall Grass said to Davy:
“Some day big chiefs!”
The boys soon secured all the game they could carry, Tall Grass not offering his aid, and the party started to return. Suddenly a terrifying yell rang through the woods, startling the Indians until they saw a grin on Davy’s face. The noise of feet was heard, and there soon appeared what was intended to represent a warrior in full attire15, with paint, turkey-feathers, bow and arrows, scalping-knife, and moccasins. As the strange creature came closer, the Indians saw that it was a white boy, evidently half-witted. He had trailed them all the way, and had sounded his war-cry in what seemed to him the fittest spot for dark and bloody16 deeds. Tall Grass gave him a disgusted glance and turned away.
“Heap fool!” was all he said.
[68]
The boy was allowed to go back with them, and was shown the use of the blow-gun. He afterwards made one, and became of some use in hunting small game, but he never could get rid of the notion that he was an Indian warrior. He was known as Loony Joe.
Some weeks later the Creek17 chief, Little Warrior, who had gone north with Tecumseh, returned to Alabama with his thirty braves, of the war faction18 of their nation. In the Chickasaw country, not far north of where Davy lived, they murdered several families of settlers in cold blood. The leaders of the Creek nation, which was at peace with the whites, answered the demands of the United States Government by hunting down and killing19 the whole party. Justice was satisfied, but the war faction of the Creeks20 grew fiercer and angrier with each rising sun. The Alabamas, an associated tribe, became especially truculent21, and killed one of the mail-carriers employed by the Government. When Big Warrior sent a Creek messenger to the same tribe, inviting22 their chiefs to a council, they murdered his envoy23, and a desultory24 war began.
[69]
The danger of an Indian uprising became imminent25 during 1812, and after the United States had formally declared war against Great Britain, on June 18th, every pioneer looked to his rifle and supply of ammunition26. While Tecumseh’s messengers were distributing the calendars of red sticks to the Creek chieftains, the British warship27 Guerrière was taking New England sailors from the decks of American vessels28 in sight of New York City. England was landing supplies and agents at Pensacola, for use among the restless Indians, the Spanish acting29 as go-betweens. Uncle Sam was surrounded by the growling30 dogs of war, without a friend in the world.
While thus the clash of arms drew near, Davy still hunted and farmed and trapped on Bean’s Creek, adding to his fame as a rifleman, and, as he said when he had become known in Congress, “laying the foundation of all his future greatness.” We should not blame him for his overestimate31 of his own importance, when the flattering attentions of great men, who were equally great politicians, had been thrust upon him. If he at one time seriously thought that he might become President, only[70] his lack of education made his imaginings unjustifiable in a nation that has so often chosen its leaders from the humble32 cabins of the poor.
Every day the two parties among the Alabama Indians became more truculent, and frequent encounters ended in bloodshed. In the spring of 1813, the prophet Francis (made to order and ordained33 by Tecumseh), Peter McQueen, and High-Head Jim began a predatory warfare34 upon the peaceful Indians and half-breeds, who had good houses and farms. With more than three hundred followers35, the hostile leaders set out for Pensacola with their plunder36. Under Colonel Caller, assisted by so many lieutenant37-colonels, majors, and captains, that his force was like Artemus Ward’s regiment38 of brigadier-generals, a force of two hundred American volunteers overtook the Indians at Burnt Corn, sent them flying, and proceeded to divide the plunder left by the enemy. Before they had finished this, the Indians attacked them in turn, having rallied when no longer pursued, and the volunteers were driven back and dispersed39. As they are not known to have lost more than two of their number,[71] they do not seem to have been very desperate fighters.
When Hurricane Ned, an old hunter of Hurricane Fork, brought the news of this to Franklin County, he predicted an attack by the Creek war party, who were being urged by British agents to paint themselves for battle. Red Eagle would have temporized40 with his chieftains, but they seized his children and his negro slaves as hostages while he was away from home, so he prepared, perforce, to strike a decisive blow at the progress of civilization. The red sticks were thrown away day by day, until but few were left. When the last was gone, and the tom-toms were beating, the frenzied41 braves smeared42 themselves with vermilion till their naked bodies were like flames of fire. The white settlers and the friendly Indians flocked to the various forts, hastily built of logs. In Fort Mims three or four hundred men, women, and children, with about two hundred volunteers sent as a garrison43 by General Claiborne, came together in the middle of August.
About the 27th of the month, a badly scared[72] negro returned to Fort Mims from a hunt for stray cows. He had seen the woods full of Indians, apparently44 covered with blood. Their red skins being ominous45 of trouble, Major Beasley, who was in command, sent out scouts46 to the place where the negro had been. The scouts failed to find Red Eagle and the thousand braves with him, and the negro had a close escape from being flogged for lying. Two days later two other negroes claimed to have seen the Indians, and were whipped. One of them was still triced up when the bell called the people of the fort to dinner. As they went their way, Red Eagle and his savages48 crept from their hiding-places, and were within a hundred feet of the gates before they were discovered. Then it was found that the gates were blocked by drifted sand and could not be closed. For some hours the battle raged, and before sunset all but twenty or thirty of the people in the fort had been killed and scalped. A few had escaped through the stockade49, and some had been spared as slaves. After in vain trying to stop the fury he had fanned to action, Red Eagle rode away from the scene of butchery, and when he returned, on his fine black[73] horse, more than five hundred lay dead and mutilated within the fort. No half-way position was now possible, and until the end of the war he was active and aggressive.
The whole western slope of the mountains now awoke to the danger. Calls for men were answered by North and South Carolina and Georgia, and Tennessee, whose volunteers for the defense50 of New Orleans had recently been recalled from Natchez, also took up the gage51 of battle. All her people agreed that Andrew Jackson should be the one to lead the volunteers into Alabama, but he was in bed, suffering from a wound in his left shoulder, caused by two slugs from the pistol of Thomas H. Benton, in a free-for-all fight. The two men were afterwards reconciled and became friends, but Jackson could never wear one of his heavy epaulets for any length of time.
While Jackson is generally spoken of as a great Indian fighter, he was not at this time entitled to such a reputation. A few years before he had been chosen Major-General of Volunteers, but most of his actual fighting had been with his personal and political foes53. He had killed Charles Dickinson in[74] a duel54 for slurs55 upon Mrs. Jackson, and had ridden full tilt at Governor Sevier with the intention of running over him.
Before Jackson could take the saddle, a rally was held at Winchester, ten miles from Davy Crockett’s. As Davy there enlisted56 as a volunteer, it will be worth while to hear what he had to say upon the subject.
“I, for one, had often thought about war, and had often heard it described; and I did verily believe that I couldn’t fight in that way at all; but my after experience convinced me that this was all a notion. For, when I heard of the mischief57 that was done at the Fort, I instantly felt like going, and I had none of the dread58 of dying that I had expected to feel. In a few days a general meeting of the militia59 was called, for the purpose of raising volunteers; and when the day arrived for the meeting, my wife, who had heard me say I meant to go to the war, began to beg me not to turn out. She said she was a stranger in the parts where we lived, had no connections living near her, and that she and our little children would be left in a lonesome and[75] unhappy situation if I went away. It was mighty60 hard to go against arguments like these; but my countrymen had been murdered, and I knew that the next thing the Indians would be scalping the women and children all about there, if we didn’t put a stop to it. I reasoned the case with her as well as I could, and told her that if every man would wait until his wife was willing for him to go to war, we would all be killed in our own houses; that I was as able to go as any man in the world, and that it was a duty I believed I owed to my country. Seeing that I was bent52 on it, all she did was to cry a little, and turn about to her work. The truth is, my dander was up, and nothing but war could bring it right again.”
When the militia was paraded at Winchester, volunteers were called for, and Davy was one of the first to step forward. In a short time a company was raised, officers were chosen, and they arranged to make a start on the Monday following. The company were all mounted, and when the day came Davy said farewell to his wife and his little boys, and rode away to the rendezvous61.[76] From there the command went to Huntsville, Alabama, forty miles south, then on to Beaty’s Spring, where they were joined by other mounted men, until they mustered62 thirteen hundred. Davy’s company was one that stuck together, under the same leader, Captain Jones, until they returned to Tennessee. Jones was later sent to Congress.
Davy’s experience as a scout now began. Major Gibson, who was about to go into the Coosa country to get information about the Indians, asked Captain Jones to let him have two men who could be relied upon as woodsmen and riflemen. The Captain called Davy, who was now twenty-seven, and strong and healthy, with a full beard. Davy expressed his willingness to join the scouting63 expedition, if he might choose his own mate. This being granted, he picked out a friend named George Russell. When Gibson saw Russell he said he hadn’t beard enough to suit him; he wanted men, not boys. At this Davy’s dander was up, and he told the Major that by this rule a goat would have the call over a man; that he knew what sort of a man Russell was, and that he was not likely to be left behind on a march.[77] Seeing Davy’s warmth, the Major relented and took them both.
The temper of the Western volunteers recalls Maclay’s story of the backwoodsman who took part, on board of the Hyder Ally, in Cape47 May Roads, in the fight with the General Monk64. He stood near Lieutenant Barney in the action, picking off the enemy with the same deliberation with which he reloaded under a sharp fire. His Buck65 County blood was up, but his curiosity was not asleep; twice he turned to Barney to ask the same question:
“Say, Cap, who made this gun I’m using?”
Resenting such a breach66 of naval67 decorum in a marine68, Barney answered him roughly, ignoring the question. But as it was again asked, he sharply inquired his reason for wanting to know.
“W-a-al,” replied the man, with the drawl peculiar69 to the mountaineers, “this ’ere bit of iron is jes’ the best smoothbore I ever fired in my life.” With the mountaineers’ independence, Andrew Jackson had strenuous70 dealings before the end of the Creek War.
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1
warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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2
massacre
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| n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀 | |
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scout
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| n.童子军，侦察员；v.侦察，搜索 | |
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4
pelts
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| n. 皮毛，投掷, 疾行 vt. 剥去皮毛，（连续）投掷 vi. 猛击，大步走 | |
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5
swampy
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| adj.沼泽的，湿地的 | |
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6
cyclone
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| n.旋风，龙卷风 | |
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7
tilt
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| v.(使)倾侧；(使)倾斜；n.倾侧；倾斜 | |
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8
feudal
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| adj.封建的，封地的，领地的 | |
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9
dart
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| v.猛冲，投掷；n.飞镖，猛冲 | |
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10
darts
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| n.掷飞镖游戏；飞镖( dart的名词复数 )；急驰，飞奔v.投掷，投射( dart的第三人称单数 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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11
puff
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| n.一口(气)；一阵(风)；v.喷气，喘气 | |
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12
mound
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| n.土墩，堤，小山；v.筑堤，用土堆防卫 | |
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13
moss
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| n.苔，藓，地衣 | |
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14
dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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15
attire
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| v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装 | |
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16
bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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17
creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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18
faction
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| n.宗派，小集团；派别；派系斗争 | |
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killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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creeks
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| n.小湾( creek的名词复数 )；小港；小河；小溪 | |
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21
truculent
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| adj.野蛮的，粗野的 | |
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22
inviting
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| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
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23
envoy
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| n.使节，使者，代表，公使 | |
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desultory
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| adj.散漫的，无方法的 | |
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imminent
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| adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的 | |
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26
ammunition
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| n.军火，弹药 | |
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27
warship
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| n.军舰，战舰 | |
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vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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29
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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30
growling
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| n.吠声, 咆哮声 v.怒吠, 咆哮, 吼 | |
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31
overestimate
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| v.估计过高，过高评价 | |
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32
humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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33
ordained
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| v.任命（某人）为牧师( ordain的过去式和过去分词 )；授予（某人）圣职；（上帝、法律等）命令；判定 | |
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34
warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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35
followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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36
plunder
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| vt.劫掠财物，掠夺；n.劫掠物，赃物；劫掠 | |
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lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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38
regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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39
dispersed
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| adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
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40
temporized
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| v.敷衍( temporize的过去式和过去分词 )；拖延；顺应时势；暂时同意 | |
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41
frenzied
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| a.激怒的；疯狂的 | |
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42
smeared
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| 弄脏； 玷污； 涂抹； 擦上 | |
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43
garrison
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| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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44
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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45
ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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46
scouts
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| 侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员 | |
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47
cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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48
savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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49
stockade
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| n.栅栏，围栏；v.用栅栏防护 | |
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50
defense
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| n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩 | |
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51
gage
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| n.标准尺寸，规格；量规，量表 [=gauge] | |
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52
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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53
foes
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| 敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
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54
duel
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| n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争 | |
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55
slurs
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| 含糊的发音( slur的名词复数 )； 玷污； 连奏线； 连唱线 | |
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56
enlisted
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| adj.应募入伍的v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 )；获得（帮助或支持） | |
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57
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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58
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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59
militia
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| n.民兵，民兵组织 | |
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60
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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61
rendezvous
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| n.约会，约会地点，汇合点；vi.汇合，集合；vt.使汇合，使在汇合地点相遇 | |
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62
mustered
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| v.集合，召集，集结（尤指部队）( muster的过去式和过去分词 )；（自他人处）搜集某事物；聚集；激发 | |
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63
scouting
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| 守候活动，童子军的活动 | |
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64
monk
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| n.和尚，僧侣，修道士 | |
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65
buck
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| n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃 | |
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66
breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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67
naval
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| adj.海军的，军舰的，船的 | |
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68
marine
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| adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵 | |
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69
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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70
strenuous
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| adj.奋发的，使劲的；紧张的；热烈的，狂热的 | |
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