Red Eagle and the Wars With the Creek Indians of Alabama.Eggleston, George Cary
History
Red Eagle and the Wars With the Creek Indians of Alabama.
Eggleston, George Cary
Creek War, 1813-1814; Weatherford, William, approximately 1780-1824
"If the enemy flee before us we will overtake and chastise him; we will
teach him how dreadful, when once aroused, is the resentment of freemen.
But it is not by boasting that punishment is to be inflicted or victory
obtained. The same resolution that prompted us to take up arms must
inspire us in battle. Men thus animated and thus resolved, barbarians
can never conquer; and it is an enemy barbarous in the extreme that we
have now to face. Their reliance will be on the damage they can do you
while you are asleep and unprepared for action; their hopes shall fail
them in the hour of experiment. Soldiers who know their duty and are
ambitious to perform it are not to be taken by surprise. Our sentinels
will never sleep, nor our soldiers be unprepared for action; yet while
it is enjoined upon the sentinels vigilantly to watch the approach of
the foe, they are at the same time commanded not to fire at shadows.
Imaginary dangers must not deprive them of entire self-possession. Our
soldiers will lie with their arms in their hands; and the moment an
alarm is given they will move to their respective positions without
noise and without confusion. They will thus be enabled to hear the
orders of their officers, and to obey them with promptitude.
"Great reliance will be placed by the enemy, on the consternation they
may be able to spread through our ranks by the hideous yells with which
they commence their battles; but brave men will laugh at such efforts to
alarm them. It is not by bellowings and screams that the wounds of death
are inflicted. You will teach these noisy assailants how weak are their
weapons of warfare, by opposing them with the bayonet. What Indian ever
withstood its charge? What army of any nation ever withstood it long?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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