Once more he was at home, where he now was a great man among his friends. About this time Jackson had a fierce fight with Thomas H. Benton and received a pistol shot in the shoulder. Before he was again well the people who suffered from the Fort Mims massacre were calling loudly for help. Tecumseh had stirred up the Creeks to murder five hundred men, women, and children at this fort in Alabama. [Sidenote: =Another call to arms=] [Sidenote: =Jackson and the hungry soldier=] Twenty-five hundred men answered Jackson's call. They marched south through a barren country. Food was scarce. His army, almost starved, threatened to go home. A half-starved soldier saw Jackson sitting under a tree and asked him for something to eat. Looking up, Jackson said: "It has always been a rule with me never to turn away a hungry man. I will cheerfully divide with you." Then he drew from his pocket a few acorns, saying: "This is the best and only fare I have." [Illustration: JACKSON SHARES HIS ACORNS WITH THE HUNGRY SOLDIER] But Jackson soon received reënforcements, and then, in spite of all these drawbacks, he broke the power of the Creeks in the great battle of Horseshoe Bend on the Tallapoosa River in Alabama. After that the Indians were only too glad to cease fighting and sue for peace. [Illustration: A BREASTWORK OF COTTON BALES] [Sidenote: =A third call to arms=] Jackson was hardly home again before President Madison made him a major-general, and sent him with an army to guard New Orleans from the British. After attacking and capturing Pensacola, a Spanish fort which the English occupied, he hurried his army on to New Orleans. Nothing had been done to defend the city. Jackson immediately declared martial law. He threw himself with all the energy he had into getting New Orleans ready, for the British troops were already landing. [Sidenote: =The two armies=] The British general had twelve thousand veterans, fresh from their victory over the great Napoleon. Jackson had only half as many men. But nearly every man was a sharpshooter. They were riflemen from the wilds of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi, and every man was burning with an ardent desire to fight and defeat the redcoats. [Illustration: A LITTLE BREASTWORK OF SUGAR BARRELS] Jackson had not long to wait. On came the British in solid column, with flags flying and drums beating. The fog was breaking away. Behind the breastworks stood the Americans with cannon loaded to the muzzle and with deadly rifles primed for the fight. [Illustration: THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS _Won by Jackson after peace was made, this battle helped to make him president and to change history_] [Sidenote: =The beginning of the battle=]