Mention has been made of the massacre at Fort Mimms in Alabama by the Creeks, August 30, 1813. Tennessee acted with prompt vigor. General Jackson at the head of 5,000 men marched into the Creek country and punished the Indians with merciless rigor. After repeated defeats, the Creeks made a stand at the Great Horseshoe Bend of the Tallapoosa River. There a thousand warriors gathered, with their wives and children, prepared to fight to the last. The desperate battle was fought March 27, 1814, and at its close 600 Indians were killed and the remainder scattered. The spirit of the Creeks was crushed, and General Jackson's exploit made him the most popular military leader in the Southwest. Matters looked gloomy for the Americans at the beginning of 1814. England sent a formidable force of veterans to Canada, and another to capture Washington, while the main body expected to take New Orleans, with the intention of retaining the city and province of Louisiana upon the conclusion of peace. PREPARING FOR THE FINAL STRUGGLE. The American government gathered up her loins for the great struggle. The President was authorized to borrow $25,000,000, and to issue treasury notes to the amount of $5,000,000. Such sums are but bagatelles in these days, but in 1814 the credit of the government was so poor that the notes depreciated one-fifth of their face value. One hundred and twenty-four dollars were offered as a bounty for every recruit, while the pay, rations, and clothing were placed upon a generous scale. An order was issued increasing the regular army to 66,000 men, and an embargo laid with the aim of stopping trade under British licenses was repealed in April. The British cruisers kept the Atlantic coast in continual alarm. Entering Delaware Bay they burned every merchant vessel in sight. When the people of Lewiston refused to sell food to them, they bombarded their homes. In Chesapeake Bay Admiral Cockburn plundered private dwellings. Among the places sacked and burned were Lewes, Havre de Grace, Fredericktown, and Georgetown. More leniency was shown the New England coast because of her opposition to the war. Another inexcusable proceeding on the part of the invaders was that of persuading many slaves to leave their masters and join the enemy. This business compelled England, after the close of the war, to pay the United States one million and a quarter dollars, on the award of the Emperor of Russia to whom the question was submitted. CAPTURE AND BURNING OF WASHINGTON.