Battles
Since new men had sixty day enlistment contracts, Jackson decided to get the most out of his untried force. He departed Fort Struther on the seventeenth and marched toward the village of Emuckfaw to cooperate with the Georgia Militia. However, this was a risky decision. It was a long march through difficult terrain against a numerically superior force, and the men were inexperienced and insubordinate. A defeat of Jackson would have prolonged the war.
On January 22, 1814, Jackson was encamped about twelve miles (20 km) from Emuckfaw. At dawn, a strong force of Red Sticks, camped three miles (5 km) away, attacked Jackson's position but were driven off after about thirty minutes. Jackson sent Coffee with a force of 400 to burn the Indian camp. Upon seeing the strength of their position, Coffee did not attack and returned to Jackson's position. The Red Sticks attacked again. Coffee was seriously wounded when he led a small party to turn their flank. The Creek were driven off with a loss of 54 killed. At this point, Jackson had no choice but to retreat to Fort Strother.
Because of the difficulty of the earlier crossing of the Emuckfaw, Jackson took a longer route back to Fort Strother. Even so, the crossing was difficult. On the morning of January 24, 1814, he began to recross the creek. When Jackson's artillery was about to enter the ford, alarm shots sounded in the woods. Having anticipated an attack, Jackson had ordered his advance guard to counterattack and attempt an envelopment. The rear guard panicked and retreated. For reasons unknown, the Red Sticks were unable to take advantage of the situation, and a handful of defenders drove them off. Jackson's losses for the two engagements were 24 killed and 71 wounded.
Read more about this topic: Battles Of Emuckfaw And Enotachopo Creek
Famous quotes containing the word battles:
“These battles sound incredible to us. I think that posterity will doubt if such things ever were,—if our bold ancestors who settled this land were not struggling rather with the forest shadows, and not with a copper-colored race of men. They were vapors, fever and ague of the unsettled woods. Now, only a few arrowheads are turned up by the plow. In the Pelasgic, the Etruscan, or the British story, there is nothing so shadowy and unreal.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.”
—Sun Tzu (6–5th century B.C.)
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—George Orwell (1903–1950)