General James Jackson was born in the county of Devon, England. He came to this country in 1772, landing at Savannah penniless and almost friendless. He began the study of law; but when the Liberty Boys began their movement for resisting British oppression, he placed his books on their shelves, and gave himself entirely12 to the cause of the people. When only nineteen years old, he was one of the volunteers that fired the British armed vessels13 sent to attack Savannah by water, while Major Maitland and Major Grant attacked it by land. The crews of these vessels were compelled to escape without their clothes and arms. General Jackson served in the lower part of Georgia until the fall of Savannah in 1778, when he and his friend John Milledge made their way to the patriot14 troops, commanded by General Moultrie. Such was the condition of these men, both of whom afterwards became governors of Georgia, that they were compelled to make the greater part of their journey barefoot and in rags. Their appearance was so much against them that they were arrested as spies by some American soldiers, and would have been hanged but for the timely arrival of a gentleman who knew them.
General Jackson was at the siege of Savannah, and, after the disastrous15 result of that affair, returned to South Carolina. The victory of the Americans at Blackstock's House, in South Carolina, was almost wholly due to the Georgians who were there. Sumter commanded at the beginning of the action, but a severe wound compelled him to retire from the field. The command then devolved upon the oldest Georgia officer, General John Twiggs, who was assisted by Jackson, Clarke, and Chandler. In this engagement Tarleton, the famous leader of the British dragoons, was defeated for the first time, and he was never able to recover the prestige he had lost. Tarleton fled from the field, and Jackson was ordered to pursue him. It was owing only to the fleetness of his horse that Tarleton escaped.
General James Jackson 093
At the battle of The Cow-pens, Jackson again distinguished himself. "Major Jackson," says General Andrew Pickens, "by his example, and firm, active conduct, did much to animate17 the soldiers and insure the success of the day. He ran the utmost risk of his life in seizing the colors of the 71st British Regiment18, and afterwards introducing Major Mc-Arthur, commanding officer of the British Infantry19, as a prisoner of war to General Morgan." His services brought him to the attention of General Greene, and he was sent on a tour of difficult duty through North Carolina. He was so successful in this, that the commanding general authorized20 him to raise a partisan21 legion of infantry and cavalry22 for service in Georgia. By means of his native eloquence23, which was said to be almost irresistible24, he succeeded in raising the legion in a very short time. Wherever he addressed the people, there were loud cries of "Liberty and Jackson forever!" When his legion had been organized, he was appointed lieutenant25 colonel. His dragoons were clothed and armed by themselves, with the exception of their pistols. Their coats were made of dressed deerskins, and faced with the little blue that could be procured26.
Just before the siege of Augusta, Jackson was called upon to employ his eloquence in preventing the militia27 from giving up in despair and returning to their homes. These men were utterly28 worn out. Being ignorant men, they could see no ray of hope. They lacked every necessary of life. Jackson roused their drooping29 spirits, restored their hopes, and revived their old-time enthusiasm. At the siege of Augusta these men fought fiercely. Jackson himself led one of the advance parties. After the surrender of the town, he was ordered to level the fortifications, and he was appointed commandant. He was afterwards ordered to take position midway between Augusta and Savannah. While he held this position, a conspiracy30 was formed in the infantry to kill him in his bed. A soldier named Davis, who waited in the commander's tent, suspected that something was wrong. So he mingled31 among the men, and applied32 many harsh epithets33 to Jackson. Thinking to make Davis useful to them, the conspirators34 told him their plans, which he made haste to lay before his superior officer. Shortly afterwards the infantry were drawn35 up in line, and the ringleaders in the conspiracy arrested, tried, and executed.
After the war the Legislature gave Davis a horse, saddle, and bridle36, and five hundred acres of land, as a reward for his fidelity37.
Jackson was with General Wayne in his Georgia campaign, and was intrusted by him with many hazardous38 duties. When Savannah surrendered, General Wayne issued an order in which he said, "Lieutenant Colonel Jackson, in consideration of his severe and fatiguing39 service in the advance, is to receive the key of Savannah, and is allowed to enter the western gate."
In 1786, Jackson was made brigadier general, and had command of the forces operating against the Indians. Between 1788 and 1806 General Jackson held almost every high office within the gift of the people of the State,—member of the Legislature, governor when only thirty-one years old, member of the first Congress held under the Federal Constitution, member of the State Constitutional Convention, presidential elector, and United States senator.
With General Jackson in many of his engagements was General Elijah Clarke, who in many respects was the most remarkable40 soldier that Georgia contributed to the War for Independence. With fairer opportunities than he had, he would have made a great commander. He had small knowledge of tactics, but he had what is better,—the skill to take advantage of quickly passing events, and the coolness that made him complete master of all his resources. He was a man of the most striking characteristics, and he came out of the war with many bitter enemies among those with whom he came in contact. This feeling was perpetuated41 by the political campaigns in which his son, John Clarke, took part after the war. A trace of this is to be seen in the sketch42 which Governor Gilmer gives to Elijah Clarke in his curious book entitled "Georgians." It is undoubtedly43 true that Elijah Clarke was ignorant of what is called book knowledge, but he was not much worse off in this respect than the famous Confederate General Forrest, who is thought by some high military critics to have been the most remarkable commander on the Southern side in the civil war. Elijah Clarke, as well as General Forrest, had something that served them a better turn than a mere44 knowledge of books. They had a thorough knowledge of men, and a quick eye for the situations that follow each other so rapidly in a skirmish or battle.
Elijah Clarke 097
Elijah Clarke was born in North Carolina, but moved to Georgia in 1774. He was among the first of the inhabitants of Upper Georgia to take up the cause of American independence; and his example, for he was a notable man even in private life, did much to solidify45 and strengthen those who leaned to that cause. When the British troops marched from the coast into Upper Georgia, Elijah thought the time had come to take his gun from the rack over the door, and make at least some show of resistance. His courage, and the firmness and decision of his character, made him the natural leader of those of his neighbors whose sympathies were with the Liberty Boys in other parts of the State, and he soon found himself a commander without commission or title. He cared less for these things than for the principles of liberty for which he was fighting.
For a while Elijah Clarke and his followers46 fought as partisan rangers47, but he soon drew around him a compact and disciplined body of men who were ready to go wherever he might lead them. He did not confine his efforts to his new neighborhood We hear of him with Howe's ill-fated expedition against East Florida, where, at Alligator48 Creek49, he was asked to perform the impossible feat16 of storming with a troop of horse a camp intrenched behind logs and brushwood. He was no doubt amazed at the stupidity of General Howe in issuing such an order, but he attempted to carry it out with his usual courage. He did succeed in floundering over the logs with his troops, but he came to a ditch that was too wide for his horses to leap, and too deep to be ridden through. At this moment he and his men were saluted50 with a heavy fire from the enemy, and they were compelled to retire in confusion. In this attempt Elijah Clarke was shot through the thigh51. Later he was in South Carolina, at Blackstocks, and at The Cowpens.
In some quarters an effort has been made to blacken the reputation of General Clarke by comparing his treatment of the Tories with the mild and humane52 policy pursued by Francis Marion. There was, indeed, some misunderstanding between the two men in regard to the methods that might be adopted. The policy of Marion was undoubtedly the correct one, so far as South Carolina was concerned; but if the Tories in that Province had been guilty of the crimes committed by their brethren in Wilkes and the surrounding region, General Marion's policy would not have been very different from that of General Clarke. The Tories with whom Clarke was familiar were guilty of murder, rapine, pillage53, and incendiarism. The Tories in South Carolina were kept under by the presence of Marion and his men. Clarke went wherever his services were needed; and during his absence, the Tories of the Broad River region were free to commit every excess. Marion refused to leave the region where he made his name famous, and thus kept the Tories in constant fear and dread54.
Who shall say that Marion would not have been as ready to exterminate55 the Tories as Clarke was, or that Clarke would not have been as humane as Marion, if each of these distinguished patriots56 had been in the other's place?
At the battle of Kettle Creek, in what is now Wilkes County, Elijah Clarke distinguished himself by his readiness and skill as a commander. The Americans under Colonel Pickens were in pursuit of the British under Colonel Boyd. Their line of march was the order of battle, and following the vanguard came the right and left wings. The left wing was commanded by Elijah Clarke. The center was led by Colonel Pickens, who was in command of the expedition. Colonel Boyd, the British commander, appeared to be unconscious of pursuit. He had halted on a farm on the north side of Kettle Creek. His horses were left to forage57 on the young cane58 that grew on the edge of the swamp; and his men were slaying59 cattle and parching60 corn, preparing for a feast after their short rations61. The British encampment was formed near the creek, on a piece of open ground flanked on two sides by a canebrake. Colonel Boyd was in utter ignorance of the approach of the Americans, who advanced at once to the attack. The British colonel formed his line in the rear of his encampment, and there received the assault. The battle was hotly contested for more than an hour, and then the Tories retreated through the swamp.
Elijah Clarke, seeing a piece of rising ground on the farther side of the creek, on which he suspected the Loyalists would try to form, ordered the left wing to follow him, and was about to cross the stream when his horse was shot under him. Mounting another, he soon crossed the creek, followed by not more than a fourth of his division. There had been some mistake in sending the order along the line. Clarke gained the hill that had attracted his eye just in time to attack Major Spurgen, a brave British officer, who was forming his command. The firing attracted the notice of the rest of Clarke's division, and they soon joined their leader. Pickens and Dooly also pressed through the swamp, and the battle was renewed with great vigor62. For a while the result was in doubt, but at the end the Americans held the hill. The Tories fled in all directions, leaving seventy dead on the field, and seventy-five wounded and captured. Of the Americans, nine were slain63, and twenty-three wounded. To Elijah Clarke must be given the credit for this victory, which, coming at the time it did, revived the hopes and courage of the Liberty Boys in all parts of the country.
The Tories, on the other hand, were so depressed64 by it, that many of them left that part of the State, and those who remained became comparatively quiet. The situation was so encouraging, that many of the people of Georgia, who had been driven from their homes by the cruelty of the Tories, returned with their families. They were not long left in peace, however. The British and the Tories had their active agents among the Creeks65 and Cherokees, urging these tribes to take up arms and attack the Americans. In view of this, Clarke was sent to guard the frontier forts. Then the Tories again began to pillage and devastate66 the Broad River region. Some of the crimes they committed would have disgraced savages67. Clarke's house was burned, and his family ordered to leave the State. Mrs. Clarke and her two daughters started on their perilous69 journey with nothing but a small pony70 of little value, and even this was taken from them before they had gone very far. This only served to renew the activity of Clarke in behalf of the American cause. He defeated the Tories wherever he met them; and if he gave them no quarter, it was because they had shown no mercy to the Americans. The savage68 character of the warfare71 waged by the Tories against men, women, and children, must ever stand as an explanation and as an excuse for the fierce spirit displayed by Clarke and the Americans who lived in the Broad River region.
In the battle near Musgrove's Mill, Clarke defeated the British, killing72 sixty-three men, and wounding and capturing one hundred. During the battle he was twice severely73 wounded on the head and neck; and once he was surrounded by the enemy, captured, and placed in charge of two men. One of these he knocked down with a blow of his fist, and the other fled. At one time, acting74 without orders, he was near taking Augusta, and was only prevented by the desire of his men to see their families. After this he returned to Wilkes County, where he was compelled to take under his protection nearly four hundred women and children who had been driven from their homes by the savage Tories. He resolved to carry these to a place of safety, and, with a sufficient guard, set out for Kentucky. Cornwallis, hearing of this movement, and taking for granted that it was a retreat, sent one hundred men under Captain Ferguson to cut Clarke off, the supposition being that the great partisan fighter would march through South Carolina, but he had re-crossed the mountains in the Piedmont region. Hearing of this movement, Clarke detached Major Chandler and Captain Johnston with thirty men to take part in the operations against Ferguson. Thus it was the pursuit of Clarke that brought on the memorable75 battle of Kings Mountain, which resulted in a great victory for the cause of American independence; and although Clarke was not there in person, his heroic spirit animated76 the brave men who won the day.
He was the first to teach the militia to stand against the bayonets of the British; and at Blackstocks, in South Carolina, at the head of his Wilkes riflemen, he charged and drove the British light infantry in an open field,—a movement that turned the enemy's right flank, and insured the victory of the Americans. At the siege of Augusta, Clarke had anticipated the movement of Colonel "Light Horse Harry77" Lee, and had confined the British garrison78 to their works for weeks before Colonel Lee's arrival.
At the close of the Revolution, Clarke led the movement against the Indians. He defeated the Creeks in the battle of Jacks7 Creek. After peace was declared, Clarke, who had been made a general by a grateful State, settled on lands that had been reserved to the Indians. For this he has been criticised very severely; but it is curious that the policy for which he was attacked, shortly afterwards became the policy of the whole people. The States and the United States have made treaties with the Indians, only to break them. Having personal knowledge of the Indians, and having been made the victim of some of their raids, he had no respect for them or for their rights. To this view the whole country afterwards came, and the red men disappeared before it.
It will be well to bear in mind, that, whatever failings he may have had, there was not a more heroic figure in the Revolution than General Elijah Clarke.
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impartial
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| adj.(in,to)公正的，无偏见的 | |
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wield
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| vt.行使，运用，支配；挥，使用(武器等) | |
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WHIMS
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| 虚妄，禅病 | |
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distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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tardy
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| adj.缓慢的，迟缓的 | |
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valor
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| n.勇气，英勇 | |
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jacks
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| n.抓子游戏；千斤顶( jack的名词复数 )；（电）插孔；[电子学]插座；放弃 | |
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currying
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| 加脂操作 | |
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injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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liberating
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| 解放，释放( liberate的现在分词 ) | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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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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patriot
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| n.爱国者，爱国主义者 | |
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disastrous
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| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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feat
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| n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的 | |
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animate
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| v.赋于生命，鼓励；adj.有生命的，有生气的 | |
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regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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infantry
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| n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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authorized
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| a.委任的，许可的 | |
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partisan
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| adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒 | |
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cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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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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procured
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militia
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| n.民兵，民兵组织 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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drooping
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| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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conspiracy
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| n.阴谋，密谋，共谋 | |
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mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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epithets
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| n.（表示性质、特征等的）词语( epithet的名词复数 ) | |
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conspirators
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drawn
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bridle
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fidelity
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| n.忠诚，忠实；精确 | |
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hazardous
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| adj.(有)危险的，冒险的；碰运气的 | |
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fatiguing
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| a.使人劳累的 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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perpetuated
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| vt.使永存（perpetuate的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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sketch
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| n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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solidify
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| v.(使)凝固，(使)固化，(使)团结 | |
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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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rangers
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| 护林者( ranger的名词复数 )； 突击队员 | |
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alligator
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| n.短吻鳄(一种鳄鱼) | |
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creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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saluted
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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thigh
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| n.大腿；股骨 | |
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humane
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| adj.人道的，富有同情心的 | |
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pillage
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| v.抢劫；掠夺；n.抢劫，掠夺；掠夺物 | |
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dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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exterminate
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| v.扑灭，消灭，根绝 | |
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patriots
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| 爱国者，爱国主义者( patriot的名词复数 ) | |
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forage
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| n.(牛马的)饲料，粮草；v.搜寻，翻寻 | |
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cane
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| n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的 | |
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slaying
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| 杀戮。 | |
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parching
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| adj.烘烤似的，焦干似的v.（使）焦干， （使）干透( parch的现在分词 )；使（某人）极口渴 | |
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rations
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| 定量( ration的名词复数 )； 配给量； 正常量； 合理的量 | |
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vigor
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| n.活力，精力，元气 | |
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slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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depressed
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| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
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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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devastate
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| v.使荒芜，破坏，压倒 | |
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savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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perilous
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| adj.危险的，冒险的 | |
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pony
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| adj.小型的；n.小马 | |
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warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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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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severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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74
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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75
memorable
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| adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的 | |
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76
animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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77
harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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78
garrison
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| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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