At last Jackson agreed that if provisions did not come in two days the troops might return home. Soon after they turned back, they met supplies; they refreshed themselves and then started to continue the homeward march. Jackson galloped to the front, raised his rifle and furiously swore that he would kill the first man who made a step homeward. The troops, driven back to the path of duty, defeated the Indians in several battles. After one battle Jackson found an Indian baby in the arms of its dead mother. The Indian women refused to care for it and Jackson took it to his own tent, fed it with brown sugar and water and finally sent it to his home, the Hermitage, where the young Indian was cared for and reared. Jackson’s military merit was now recognized and he was made major-general. At New Orleans which was attacked by British forces about the close of the war, he won the one important land victory of the war. The British, secure in their superior numbers and discipline, were confident of success. “I shall eat my Christmas dinner in New Orleans,” said one of the British officers. “Perhaps so,” said General Jackson to whom this remark was repeated, “but I shall have the honor of presiding at that dinner.” With wonderful skill and energy, he put the place in condition for defence and made ready for the British attack which took place January 8, 1815. Fortune as well as good generalship favored the Americans. The British were defeated with a loss of about three thousand men, including their commander. The Americans lost only eight men killed and thirteen wounded. A treaty of peace had been signed two weeks before, but there was then no ocean-cable to convey the tidings, and the news did not reach America until after the battle had been fought and the repulsed British had sailed away. In 1818 Jackson led troops to put down the Seminoles in Florida who were making war on the border settlements and had massacred the people at Fort Mimms.