■:M  Mahtin(w~
THE
SELF VINDICATION
COLONEL WILLIAM MARTIN,
AGAINST CERTAIN CHARGES AND ASPERSIONS MADE AGAINST HIM
GEN. ANDREW JACKSON AND OTHERS,
IN RELATION TO
SUNDRY TRANSACTIONS IN THE CAMPAIGN
AGAJKST THE
\/'V^*"''
CR£EK INDIANS


   IN THE TEAR 1818.











    NASHVILLE:



PRINTED BY JOHN S. SIMPSOJf,




      1829. 
A 
TO  THE PUBLIC.
   The following article, which appeared in the National
Banner  and Nashville Whig in July, 1828,  was  called
forth by a sense of duty, with a view to repel certain as-
persions  calculated  to  wound the feelings, to injure the
character, and to distress the  relatives  and friends of a
man in the decline of life, who had labored to serve his
country faithfully, and to discharge his duties, both  pub-
lic and private, in all the situations in which he had been
called to act.  It is now  published in a more durable
form, together with some additional statements and com-
ments, fortified by authentic  documents from the  most
respectable sources.
 •  To the Editor  of the National Banner and Nashville Whig.
   Sir: Unwilling as 1 am  to appear in the public prints, I am
nevertheless under the necessity (injustice to myself) of doing
so, in order to put to silence certain slanders  which have recent-
ly  been circulated against me, and must ask  the favor of you to
publish this in your paper, with the accompanying documents.
   In October last, 1 enclosed to the editors of the National In-
telligencer, the amount due for my subscription to that paper,
accompanied with some remarks of my own, on the subject of
the election  now pending for  President  of  the United States.
These remarks were published in that paper of the thirteenth
December last, on the appearance of which, some of General
Jackson's friends, with more zeal than regard to truth and jus-
tice, reported " that the writer of that letter had wanted to run
away from the Creek nation, but General Jackson would not let
him," having reference, no doubt, to what is said  by the Gene-
ral's biographer respecting a dispute which took place between
GenerafJackson and a brigade of United  States'  volunteers
under his command on a campaign  against  the Indians in the
year eighteen hundred and thirteen, on the subject ol their
t-rm of service, &c, of which brigade I was a member  at the
time, and commanded the second regiment. This  report has
ever since been going the rounds  to my  prejudice,  which, to-
gether with frequent allusions bv the public prints to that dis-
pute, as well as some things said by General Jackson lumselt
about me individually, as connected with that transaction, has
brought ttif to the determination to lay before the  public the 
4
 documents or papers  referred to  above, by which it will fully
 appear that the charge of mutiny among those troops, was a foul
 slander.
   Pursuant to the acts of Congress under which these men were
 received and mustered into the service of the United  State?,
 their term of service would expire on the tenth day of Decem-
 ber, eighteen hundred and thirteen.  About three weeks before
 that time, in conversation with the General on that subject, I
 told him the men claimed the right of being  discharged on that
 day; that I made the communication  in order that  he might
 know the fact as it was, and take  his measures accordingly by
 calling out fresh troops, or in any other way he might think pro-
 per.   This communication he appeared to receive  kindly, and
 said he was disposed to do, on the occasion, whatever was right.
 I think this was on or about the sixteenth or seventeenth of No-
 vember.  Every  thing continued quiet until about the first of
 December, when it was  undeistood that  the  General had said
 that the men were not entitled to be discharged  on the tenth,
 nor should they be discharged until they  had completed  one full
 year's service, regardless of the discharge they had received in
 April previous;  although he had said  at Nashville, about  the
 time when his order issued for them again to take the field, that
 they would be entitled to a discharge on the tenth of December.
 This declaration of his was circulated among the  men, and was
 the mo|t efficient means  of prevailing with them again  to turn
 out, they havipg thought themselves finally discharged in April
 as above.  The determination of the General  (who held their
confidence in a high degree) to compel them to sLay  longer than
 that time, was so unexpected, and as they thought, so unjust,
 that it produced among them much uneasiness; on  which, I  ad-
dressed, on the fourth, a letter to  the General, which lc'd to the
following correspondence:
                        Fort Strother, December 4,  1813.
   May. Gen. Jackson,  Sir: Painful  as it may be, and certainly is to
 me, it nevertheless becomes my duty to  disclose to  you a  disposi-
tion which prevails in the regiment I command, and by which  I
fear you will on the tenth day of this month, lose that  portion of your
present force.  This will be a serious misfortune, as it will go far to
frustrate, for the  present,  the further operations of  the campaign,
which it is every way important to prosecute with vigor.  But it is una-
voidable.  On that day they will claim their discharge  as matter of
right  So they contend: and beyond that day they cannot by coejv
cion be kept, a? I believe.  They further contend that they thought
themselves finally discharged  on the twentieth  of April  last, and
never understood to the contrary until your order of the-----day of
September last appeared, ordering them to rendezvous  at Fayette-
Tilleon the fourth of October, when, for the first time, they  Wer« 
o
informed that they  owed  further service  pursuant to their forme*
tender, the discharge which  you had  given  them to tie cottrary
notwithstanding.  Thus situated, there was a considerable disincli-
nation to otey that order; on which the officers generally, as 1 am
advised, (and I know myself in particular,) gave it as an unequivocal
opinion that their service  would terminate on the said tenth day  of
December.   This was done from a conviction of the  correctness  of
the opinion, and further to stimulate the men to turn  out, on which
they were generally prevailed on to join the army agreeably to your
orders.  This having been the fact, they  have 6teadily kept their
eye on that day  as the time of their  release, it having completed
twelve months from the time  when they rendezvoused at Nashville,
and were regularly mustered into the service of the  United  States,
pursuant to the proper authority.  They  therefore  look to their
general, who holds  their confidence, for an honorable discharge  on
that day; and that he will also see that justice is everyway done
them.  They regret that their  peculiar situations require them to
leave their general at a time when their services are important  to
the common cause.   Their apology for this step  is,  that when the
order of march was received,  they were taken  at surprise,  not ex-
pecting again to be  called  on;  and furthermore, the time allowed for
preparation was so short, it being by many not more than one or two
days, that many who were poor had not time to make  arrangements
for their families, or  provide themselves  clothing necessary for a
winter's campaign.   Nay, they were assured that they would not  be
kept  in service beyond the said tenth of December;  and  if they  do
pot get home soon, there are many of them that will be  literally ru-
ined.  This,  sir, is a concise representation of things in this regiment.
But should you construe the law otherwise than has been mentioned,
it will be placing the officers generally, and myself  in  particular,
in a delicate situation: for all, or nearly so, having conceived that,
from the law, they  could not be kept in service longer than the day
mentioned, and having advanced that opinion repeatedly and  pub-
licly  before they joined the  army, and having had  no  reason  to
change that opinion,they  have never attempted to conceal it.  This
has been the case with myself, and all those with whom I  have con-
versed upon the subject say that it was the case «ith  them also.   In
fact,  this was one of our strongest arguments to get  them out.  It
has been insinuated by some, that the general  has said that they (the
men) should not be  discharged  before next summer.  Hut this they
will  not believe, until they  receive  it from himself,  which they
believe they never will.
   It is with me, sir, to know much of what is passing in this regiment,
being always in  my place  and never asleep on my post.  It is need-
less To hint at the consequences which will (beyond this place) result
from  a disorderly movement from hence.
   From a sense of duty I  owe you, sir, myself,  and the regiment I
have  the honor to command, 1 take the liberty with much deference
to make to you this representation,  ft would be desirable for those 
6
men,  who have served with honor, to be honorably discharged; and
that they should return to their families and  friends without even
the semblance of disgrace; and it is even  believed  that it  « ™,th
their general, whom they love, to place them in that situation. They
say, and with truth, that with  him they have  suffered, have  fought,
and have conquered.  They feel a pride in having fought under his
command.  They have  viewed him as an aflectionate father, while
they have honored, revered and obeyed him, but having devoted a
considerable portion of their time to the service of their country, by
which their domestic concerns are much  deranged, they  wish to
return and attend  to their own affairs.  Above all things, they wish
to part with their  general with that cordiality with which they have
served together.   A different state of things would blunt the agree-
able recollection of their former services together, and would be, by
them, considered as one of their greatest  misfortunes.   This is the
language, and these are the feelings of those noble hearted soldiers.
  lam aware of the difficulties with which you have had,  and still
have  to contend, and for myself, can only say, that my feeble aid has
been on your side.
  Two advantages may be derived from discharging the men at the
time mentioned, viz:  The most of them would give up their arms for
an  equivalent; and furthermore, it  is believed that many of the
young men will re-engage.
  With due  respect and high consideration, 1 am your sincere friend,
                                        WILLIAM  MARTIN.
              Head  Quarters, Fort Strotheii, Dec. 6,  1013.
   Col. Wm Martin, Sir: I have received,by the hands of Maj. West,
your  letter of this evening, and having perused  it with great atten-
tion, I shaH give it a deliberate answer.
   1 know not what disagreeable scenes are to  be produced on  the
tenth instant; but whatever  they may be, as 1 shall have the con-
sciousness that they are not chargeable to any conduct of mine, I
trust 1 shall not be driven, by them, from a performance of my duty.
   It will be well, however, for those who  claim  to be discharged, on
that day, from further service, and who are about  to  hazard  their
honor and their lives upon the correctness of their pretensions, to
examine, beforehand,  with great  caution  and deliberation,  the
ground* of their claims.   Are they founded upon any  false assuran-
ces given them by me, or upon any deception which I have practised
ifpon them?  Was not the act of Congress, under which they are en-
 gaged, directed, by my general order, to  be read and expounded to
 them, before they  enrolled  themselves? That order will testify,
 and so will the recollection of every general officer in my division.
 It  is not then prelendcd that those who claim now  to be discharged
 on the tenth, were not legally and fairly enrolled  under  the  act of
 Congress of the sixth of February, eighteen hundred and twelve
 jlave they performed the service required of them by that act. and
 which they then solemnly undertook to perform? That act required
  of them one year's service out of two, to be computed  from the ti;TK, 
n
oftheir being rendezvoused, unless they should be sooner discharged.
Have they performed one year's service? This cannot  be  seriously
pretended.  Have they then been discharged? And here it is proper to
ask who has the power to discharge them? and surely but one answer
will be given—" the President  alone, (in the recess  of Congress,)
through his organ, the Secretary at War."   Has the President then,
ever exercised this  power with which he is thus exclusively invest-
ed? He has not; and that organ, through whom, on such  occasions,
he speaks, has told you that he had not the power to discharge you,
and that he believed the President could not exercise  it until they
had performed that term of service which they had pledged them-
selves to perform.   How  then  has the opinion obtained  currency,
that these men have once been discharged?  To account for so extra-
ordinary a beliei, it may be necessary to  take a review oi past
c ircum^tRDCGS
   More than twelve months have elapsed since we were called upon
to avenge  the injured rights of our  country.  We obeyed the call.
On the tenth of December, a day  ever memorable in the annals  ot
patriotism, we rendezvoused at Nashville.   In the midst of hardships,
which none but those to whom liberty is dear can bear without a mur-
 mur,  we descended the Mississippi.  It was believed our services
 were wanted in the prosecution  of that just war in which our country
 was engaged, and we were prepared to render them.  Bat though we
 were disappointed in our expectations, we established tor  Tennessee
 a name which will long do her honor.  At length we received an
 order from the Secretary at War, dated, 1 think, ou the sixteenth ot
 March,  (1 write from memorv)  dismissing us from service.  I say
 dismissing us; but we were not discharged.  You will recollect  the
 circumstances of wretchedness  in  which this order was  calculated
 to place us   We were deprived, by it, of every description of public
 property-  no provision was made for the payment of our troops,  oi
 for their subsistence on their leturn march.   Contrary to the opin-
 ion of many,  1 hazarded a disobedience ofthat order, which was so
 manifestly unjust and contrary  to  law.  I marched ray men  to  Co-
 lumbia, where it was  thought  advisable to dismiss (not  discharge)
 your regiment; and surely it cannot be forgotten by any officer or
 soldier in  your regiment, what a sacred pledge they al gave before
 thev were dismissed, or had obtained my " certificate," (which is now
 so strangely attempted to be construed a discharge) to obey the call
 of their government, ifit should re-summon them  into service.  But
 for that pledge, that certificate had never been given.  NeKher can
 it be forgotten. I dare hope, for  what  purpose that certificate  was
 ffiven   It was to entitle those  brave men who had accompanied me,
 to certain extra emoluments specified in the seventh section of  the
 act under which they had engaged themselves, and which they were
 to cniov if not re called into service, for the balance of the term, by
 order of government.   A copy of that section 1 send you, and need
 not therefore be particular upon  its contents.  Is it  true then  that
 my soliciwde for the interests of the volunteers is to become the pre- 
rj
text under which they would disgrace a name,  already  rendered
illustrious through the land? Is  the  " certificate" by which I would
have secured their emoluments that  ihey would otherwise have been,
unentitled to, the "discharge" under which they are about  to be-
come  mutineers? Surely, it  cannot  be.  Where then.  1 would ask
again, are the grounds upon which these men claim to be discharged?
Have  they  performed the term of service required  of them  by
the act  under which they  enrolled themselves? They have not.
Have they been discharged by any competent authority? They have
not.   Have 1 any power to discharge them, unless authorized by my
government  or until the arrival of that time at which  the  law dis-
charges them? I have not.  Even if I  were weak or wicked enough
to attempt the exercise of a power which I do not possess, can any
one believe that the soldier  would be  thereby exonerated  from the
obligation he has voluntarily taken upon himself to his government?
Does any one think so lightly of my head or of my heart, as to believe
I would  attempt it? Indeed he is mistaken.  I know my duties, and
it shall be seen that  I will perform them.  If I were to  arrogate a
power which is not given me by the laws or  the constituted autho-
rities, in discharging my men before their term of service is expired,
I should become a traitor to the great concern  which has been en-
trusted  to  my management, and the soldier who  had been  deceived
by a false  hope  of liberation,  would  be still  liable to redeem the
pledge he had made to his government.  I should disgrace  myself,
without benefiting them.  It would  be the  most pleasing act of  my
life to save from the disgrace  which  awaits them, if they attempt
to carry their present purpose into execution, those brave men who
have done so much for their country, and who by that country have
been so  much honored.  The very moment the power is given me of
discharging  them, 1 will exercise it.  It would pain me exceedingly
that any other sentiment should ever  be felt towards them by their
fellow-citizens, than that of gratitude and approbation;  and  as I have
always endeavored, so 1 shall continue to endeavor, to secure to them
this great blessing.   My feelings towards them are indeed those of a
father to his children; but  a  father  never deceives  his  children.
Neither have 1 ever deceived  them, nor will  1 deceive  them now.
On all occasions I have sought to promote their interest, and even to
gratify  their wishes when that  could with propriety be  done.   When
they had been so strangely  dismissed  in the country below, " with-
out food and without raiment,"  1 applied to  the proper authorities,
and obtained a  discharge of their  arrearages, and u  compensation
for their return expenses   relieving that they had been improperly
treated, I even entreated  the government to discharge  them from
the obligation the> bad entered into, so anxious was I to gratify their
wishes,  and secure them the  extra emoluments which those are enti-
tled to who haveb^tn honorably discharged!  You kt.ow the  answer
of the Secretary at War. that neither himself nor the  President,  as
he believed, had then the power to  dischaige us.  I have written to
ibe Governor of Tennessee, eren  for permission to discharge tne 
9
  Volunteers; his answer is hourly expected, and the moment it armet,
  whatever may be its nature, it shall be publicly announced.  If he
  will even signify  to me, (and 1  have asked his opinion in such a way
  that he will not be able to refuse it) that I am authorized to discharge
  them, I will obey it as a command.  I have even  gone further.  I
  have sent on to raise new volunteers, on my own responsibility, to
  complete the  object  of the campaign, which has  been so  happily
  begun, and, thus  far, so fortunately prosecuted.  The moment they
  arrive, (and 1  am assured  that, fired by the name we have acquired,
  they will hasten in crowds at the first intimation of our needing their
  services) I will permit them to  substitute the places of those who are
  discontented here, and the latter to retire to their homes with all the
  honor, which,  under such circumstances, they can carry  along with
■  them.  I, who have always been so jealous of the fame of the volun-
  teers, will not, even in the moment in which they  have forgotten
  themselves, become their traducer.  But I still  cherish  the  hope,
  that the evil has  been magnified, and will be dissipated by the exer-
  cise of reflection.    1 cling to the belief, as  1 would to  the last hold
  on life, that when the  hour of trial comes, "the volunteers of Tennes-
  see"— a name  ever  dear to fame—will not  disgrace themselves and
  a country,  which they have  honored, by  abandoning its standard
  as mutineers and deserters.  But should  I be disappointed, and com-
  pelled to resign this "last, best hope " one thing  1  will not resign,
  my duty. Mutiny and desertion shall be put  down, so long as I retain
 the power of quelling  them; and when deprived of this power, I shall,
  in the last extremity, be still found in the discharge of my duty.
   I can only deplore the situation of those officers who undertook to
 assure their men that their term of service would expire on the tenth
 instant; but surely this is not understood as sufficient to  vacate op
 affect the contract which those  men had previously entered into with
 their government, or as furnishing any good reason for me to  exer-
 cise a power which  I do not  possess.  I presume too.  they  merely
 expressed their opinion,  as men, upon the  construction  of  an act,
 which, however indiscreet, they had  a  right to do,  without giving
 any assurance,  as officers, which they had no authority to give.
   1 have said that the moment the  volunteers have performed the
 service required of them by the act of Congress under which they
 engaged themselves, or it is signified to me by any competent autho-
 rity, even by the Governor of Tennessee, or General Pinckney, who
is now appointed to the command, that they may be sooner discharg-
ed, that moment I  will prenounce their discharge.  1 have only the
power of pronouncing  a discharge* not of giving  it, in  any case; a
distinction which I could wish all the volunteers would bear in mind.
I have even gone  further,  and  said that when  the new volunteers
arrive (and it will  not be long before they do) so  as to enable us to
prosecute tiie campaign, those of the present  corps, who are disaffec-
ted, will be permitted to resign  their places to  them, and return to
their  homes, leaving- their gins ivith their quarter master, for which,

                                2 
10
they will receive  ten dollars each.  Further than this I  cannot g*»,
and further than this I ought not to be exacted to go.
  I am, very respectfully, your most oi etlient sei vant,
                       ANDREW JACKSON,  Major General.

                       Fort Strother, 28th December, 18Ki.
  Maj. Gtn. Jackson, Sir: In your letter to me of the sixth instant,
you had reference to a certain pledge which the second regiment had
given of their future service  whenever  called on by  their govern
ment; and but for which, the certificate given by you, entitling them
to certain emoluments, would not have been given.
  If. sir,  you have any written  evidence ol that pledge, you  will
oblige me by giving me a copy of it
       Respectfully, 1 am your obedient humble servant,
                                       WiLLIAM MARTIN.

               Head  Quarters. Fort  Strother, Dec. 8, 1813.
  Col. Wm. Martin, Sir: 1 have just received your note of this day,
dated, by mistake, the twenty eighth, and hasten to answer it.
  1 have no written evidence oi the pledge of the volunteers tor fu-
ture service, with me.  I have only to ask if the officers of that corps
ha.\e forgotten, or are prepared to deny that such a pledge was really
given?
  I hope the phraseology of my letter of the xixth, has not led you
to believe I meant  to insinuate that the conduct ol the volunteers, in
the expedition to the lower country, had not been such as to entitle
them  to any honorable expressions which their general  could have
used, had he been authorized  to grant them a •• discharge"1 at all.  I
hope too, when I say "but for their pledge  that certificate had not
been  given," I am not understood  to signify that  the one was ex-
changed for the other, in the way of barter.   My meaning was, that
notwithstanding the high sense 1 had of the patriotism and services
of the  volunteers,  and notwithstanding the strong wish 1 felt to
insure them all the advantages and emoluments, to  which a certifi-
cate of honorable service and dismissal might entitle them in the
event oftheir not being again called into service for the balance of
their term, yet  1 did  not think it  prudent, or even feel  myself at
liberty to grant them, at that time, such a certificate as was then
granted, until they had given such a pledge as they then gave.
       I am, respectfully, your obedient servant,
                       ANDREW JACKSON, Major General.

             Head Quarters, Fort  Strother, 8th Dec. 1813.
  Maj. Gen. Andrew Jnckson, Sir: Your letter of the sixth instant
was handed me yesterday by Maj. Potter;  the contents of  which
resolve themselves into but few points, to which I beg leave to make
such remarks as may occur.  In doing this, 1  wish it to be understood
that I consider this a case  different from ordinary  concerns  of an
army.  It has been a maxim with me, and  ought to be with  every 
11
soldier, to obey, without hesitation, the commanda of his superior
officers.  But on a question  which involves the  legal and constitu-
tional rights of the soldier, he then has a right to speak in his own
defence.
   The main question at issue between the General and his regiment
is, whether by the acts  of Congress of February and July, eighteen
hundred and twelve, this regiment is  entitled to an honorable dis-
cbarge, with all the emoluments provided  for by law, on the tenth
 December, eighteen  hundred and thirteen, or whether it  is not.
 You say 'it is  not.  And as it is my misfortune to be of a different
 opinion, it becomes my  duty to assign  my reasons for that opinion,
 and to contend for  a  principle which involves much interest, and
 which I think correct.   I wish again to call your attention to the act
 of Congress of the sixth of February, eighteen hundred and twelve,
 which I have not access to, but which I am confident I recollect sub-
 stantially.  That act, after prescribing the mode of tender, accep-
 tance, &c. provides "that if they (the volunteers) should be  called
 into actual service, they shall be bound to continue in service twelve
 months  after they  shall have arrived at the  place of rendezvous,
 unless sooner discharged."   It is admitted  by all that these volun-
 teers were called into actual service, and rendezvoused oi the tenth
 of December, eighteen  hundred  and  twelve.  It follows then, as a
 necessary consequence, that unless sooner discharged, the term  of
 service for which they engaged will expire on the tenth  December,
 eighteen hundred and thirteen.   Much stress  has been laid  on the
 word discharge, and  who  has the  power to give or order such dis-
 cbarge    You  say, the President alone, in the recess of Congress,
 through the Secretary  of War  Be it so.   Here it may be necessary
 to take a  review of some  transactions which took place after  the
 rendezvous at Nashville; that after descending the Mississippi, you
 received  an order  from  the  Secretary  at War, directing you, on
 the receipt of that order, (for certain reasons) to dismiss  the detach-
 ment then under your command from further service.  1 feel confi-
 dent that the words/urfAer service were mentioned.   But tor good
 and sufficient  causes, you did not  literallv obey that order,  but
 marched the  men to  Columbia,  into that section of country from
 which they were taken.  For this, you received the plaudits of yoar
 country.  And then you gave, or ordered each  man a  formal  dis-
 charge, in the following words, to wit: " I certify that A B  enrolled
' himself as a volunteer unHer the acts of Congress of rebruary sixth,
 eighteen hundred and  twelve, and July sixth, eighteen hundred  and
 twelve, and that he has served  as such, under my  command, on a
 tour to the Natchez country, from the tenth of December, eighteen
 hundred and twelve, to the twentieth April,  eighteen hundred  and
  thirteen, and is hereby discharged "         „„.„,..,  ,,  ■ n
      (Signed,)                 ANDREW JACKSON,  May Gen.
    I say formal, becair-e the discharge was  not  only so in point ot
  words, but tl -•♦ the men were previously, in due form  as I conceived,
  musteredout of service; and that this was, by the whole detachment, 
IS
at that time,  considered  a complete and  final.d. charge  Er«
yourself, sir, I did then believe thought it so.  That if_ an, .■«■»££
on that head had existed, your own  declarations, on  thyt^y w«t
sufficient to remove them, which were to some of the office s (as  am
advised) that the discharges were complete; and by^ which, a* they
understood vou the  men could  not  again  be called ,nto service.
From all of which I say, the officers and soldiers had a right to sup-
LTe themselves absolved from  the  obligttion  which they  had  laid
themselves under  by their tender of service.   Hence, they returned
lothef homes under that impression, either selling or carrymg the.
arms with them, without any injunctions not to part with them.  But
TtTeemsfrom your letter that you understood »t »o have be.ndismis-
Bed, (not discharged,) which is the expression ,n the instrument.  The
sen ence in your letter is, " I marched my  men to Columbia, when it
was thought advisable  to dismiss (not discharge)your regiment; and
surely it cannot he forgotten by any officer or soldier of that  regi-
ment; what a sacred pledge they all gave before they were dismissed,
or had obtained my certificate  (which is  now so strangely attempted
 to be construed a discharge) to  obey the call of their government if
 it should  re-summon them into Service.   But for that  pledge that
 certificate had never been given."              #
   Now. sir, the expression  is discharge, (not dismiss) as will appear
 on the face of the instrument itself.   That this should have been for-
 gotten, is to me matter of surprise; and I am rill more surprised
 that I should have so completely forgotten the solemn  pledge  made
 by the regiment  which you speak of. and on  which your  certificate
 (as you term it.) but which  I call a discharge, was given.  However,
 there is one thing I well remember, to wit: That alter the men were
 mustered out of service, and the column were marched into Colum-
 bia, they were formed and tired the parting  salute, and then formed
 into a solid column,  when your farewell order was read.  The offi-
 cers were then told, I think by Maj. Carroll, to display the column,
 and the officers commanding companies to apply  to him for the dis-
 charges of their respective companies, deliver them to  the men and
 disperse. On which the first regiment did display, and marched  ofl
 Col. Benton then called the attention of  the second regiment,  and
 read an answer to your farewell address, expressive of the high sense
 they, the officers and soldiers, felt of your merits, their respect for
 your person,  and  their confidence in you  as  their leader, &c.   This
 was unanimously agreed to, and this is the  only pledge that I know-
 any thing about: and  1 believe that every officer in the regiment is
 prepared to say that it was the only one given, and this, after  all  the
 arrangements for discharging  were made, and which  pledge I did
 believe yo>' knew nothing of until it was over.   Nay! some of the offi-
 cers say, that at  the time it was made, they had the discbarges  for
 their men in their pockets.  How then, this could be the considera-
 tion on which the discharges or certificates were given, is to me a
 mystery. So much for the discharge in question.  I now beg leave
 to state some of the reasons which gave  rise to  a different opinion, 
13
to wit: that they owed  further service, and that that service would
be completed on the tenlh of December, eighteen hundred and thir-
teen.   It may, and I presume will, on calling your recollection to the
subject, be remembered, that when the committee met in Nashville
in September last, for the purpose of taking into consideration the
then state of things, a sub committee was appointed to wait on you,
to obtain  your opinion on  some particular points.  In the course  of
conversation, a campaign against the Creeks was spoken of. and the
volunteers under your command were named as a desirable force; on
which the question arose on the legality of calling them again into
service, they having thought themselves discharged; on which you
stated the opinion of the Secretary at War on that subject, and  pro-
duced his answer to your inquiry (through Mr. Campbell) touching
that point, to wit: that neither he nor the President, as he believed,
had the power to discharge them until the time for which they had
engaged expired; they then  would be  entitled to a stand  of  arms
and all the emoluments provided for by law.  It was then observed
by  a member of the committee,  that if we were not discharged, we
were as  matter of course still in service.  You replied, certainly.
And it was then observed by the same member, that if in service we
must be in pay.  Your reply was, to be sure, or words tantamount to
that, and you further added, that you would hold on the secretary for
the pay during the whole time.   I do not rest  this on my own recol-
lection only,  but it  is supported by the recollection of some officers
of high rank and character now in the army.  This  opinion coming
from  our general, (and whose opinions were  with us all but ortho-
doxy) it was disseminated among  the volunteers with  great industry,
and could lead to no other conclusion than  that the term of»ervice
would expire on the said tenth of December, eighteen hundred and
thirteen.  This conclusion was enforced (after giving up the idea of
having been discharged) from a review of the  law of the sixth  Feb-
ruary, eighteen hundred and twelve, and also by  referring to the
muster rolls made  out at Nashville,  which  emphatically state in
separate columns,  the time  when enlisted, say tenth December,
eighteen hundred and twelve; the time engaged or enlisted for, say
until the tenth December, eighteen hundred and  thirteen.  This
appears  of record in several company books now in camp, and was
used as an argument to get the men out, to prove to them that they
could not be  kept in service  longer than the tenth of December.
Now, if  all this was not sufficient to authorize the officers  to give
their assurances to their men without  compromising their honor or
betraying a deplorable weakness, I know not what would, especially
at a time when this description of force was considered  important to
secure success in the contemplated campaign.  But on the  other
hand, if they have,  from any unauthorized assurances, betrayed the
men into a false  belief, by which they are brought into a perilous
situation, their case is deplorable indeed, and certainly ought to ren-
der them unworthy of their future confid- nee.   But they do conscien-
tiously  believe they were every way authorized to make these assu« 
14
ranees, without which the men would not  have been gol 6Ut; that in
any event they are blameless.  However, let this business terminate
as it may, I trust I shall never have cause to surrender that fcigh res-
pect I have always entertained for your person, your character as a
gentleman, and your great military, abilities.  And in this  corres-
pondence if any expression has escaped me, not every way respectful,
I assure you it is not intended.'
       1 am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
                                      WILLIAM  MARTIN.
   During this time all my exertions were used to quiet the dis-
 contents inseparable  from such a state  of  things.   Although I
 did believe them (as I thought all did) entitled to be discharged
 on the tenth, yet I urged that if it was withheld they should not
 go off in a disobedient way while I could prevent it.  Those exer-
 tions were supported by most of the officers, so that it appeared
 after a few days, they were disposed to wave their claim for
 the present, and await the arrival of fresh troops,  which the
 General said would soon be there.  Thus wert those discontents
 for the present quieted, and so continued until the night of the
 ninth, when  we were aroused by the General's famous order for
 the brigade  to  be paraded.   About the usual time  of  lying
 down, General Hall came to my quarters, under the appearance
 of considerable excitement, told me  that General Jackson had
 ordered the  brigade  to parade in front of the fort,  to  he diir
 armed by the militia: for me  to parade my regiment forthwith.
 This I did without delay, and the disagreeable scene then exhi-
 bited" is truly set forth in the statement of facts below; signed
 by General  Hall and others.  While the General was  abusing
 us for mutiny, &c. he was told that  the men were not in a state
 of mutiny,  and asked for his author; he replied, Gen.  Hall.
 This Gen. Hall promptly denied.  Notwithstanding  this, the
 General's biographer has had the unblushing effrontery to say,
 that44 on the evening of the ninth, General Hall hastened to the
 tent of General Jackson, with information that  his  whole bri-
 gade was in a state of mutiny, and making preparations lo move
 forcibly off."  This is as false as what he  says about  the bri-
 gade,  when  attempting to go off previous to  the  tenth,  being
driven back to their tents by the militia, as nothing of the kind,
either directly or indirectly, during the whole time these men
were i*i service, ever  took place.   Waving  this controversy
between the  General and  those volunteers, they continued  to
do their duty, and behaved with their usual subordination and
decorum, for which they were at all times remarkable.   Not
the first appearance of mutiny  ever came to my knowledge and
it would have been impossible  for any thing of the  kind  to have
taken place  without it, I being always in  the midst of them* 
15
except when on command.  What gave rise to the tragedy on
the night of the ninth, 1 never knew,  but I always thought that
some misrepresentation had  been made to the General at that
time, as had all along been, respecting the disorderly disposition
of those men.   It is hardly supposable, that if they had been in
a state of mutiny, as charged, they would, with such promptitude,
have obeyed the order to parade for the  purpose of being dis-
armed, deep in an  enemy's  country.   Let  any reasonable man
think of this, and ask himself, if this alone is not sufficient to
refute the charge.   A few days, however, after the  tenth, the
General ordered  the brigade to be marched to Nashville, though
not before the arrival of a large reinforcement of more than a
thousand  men, under General Cocke.  On the march, an order
was received   from the Governor for the  men to be  dismissed
until further order?, which have not yet come.   Soon after this,
some of the Nashville papers made some strictures on the con-
duct of the volunteer?,  on which General Hall, and such field
officers of the  brigade as lived in this part of the country,  united
in the following statement of facts, which was  published  in the
Nashville Whig and Carthage Gazette, and never, to my knowl-
edge, contradicted.
   On the  tenth December, eighteen hundred and twelve, the volun-
teers in pursuance of orders from General Jackson,  rendezvoused at
 Nashville, and were mustered into the  service of the  United States
 by Robert Hays,  muster master or inspector of the division, under
whose direction and inspection muster rolls were made out designa-
 ting the date of enrollment or enlistment, tenth December, eighteen
 hundred and twelve, with the date at which  their term  of service
would  expire,  tenth  December, eighteen  hundred  and thirteen.
Copies of these rolls were furnished the inspector and paymaster,
and recorded in the company books of each captain.  The acts  of
Congress of February sixth, eighteen hundred and  twelve, authori-
zing the president to accept of fifty thousand volunteers (of which
these constituted a part) alter prescribing the mode of tender, accep-
 tance, kc. provides, that if they shall be called into actual service,
 they shall be bound to continue in service  twelve  months from the
 time they shall have arrived at the  place  of rendezvous,  unless
 sooner discharged.   From the provision in that law, it was believed
 by the whole detachment, that they could not be kept in service be-
 yond the  time limited by  the muster rolls, the only written evidence
 oftheir engagement with government.   Under these impressions the
 volunteers descended the Mississippi and arrived at Washington, at
 which  place they were stationed until about the fifteenth of March,
 eighteen  hundred and thirteen, when the General communicated to
 them an order, said by him to have been just then received from the
 'var department, of which  the following is (in substance) a copy:
                      "Wak Departih-nt,  15th January,  1313.
    The purposes for embodying and  marching to New-Orleans the 
n>
 troops under your command,  having ceased to exist, you  will, on
 the receipt of this letter, dismiss them from public service, and take
 measures for delivering over every article of public  property in
 your possession to JVlaj.Gen. Wilkinson.
                                    JOHN ARMSTRONG."
   The General, for certain reasons,  did  not literally obey this
 order,  but marched the detachment back to  that section of
 country from which they nad been taken, and after having them
 regularly mustered out of service, gave to each non-commission-
 ed officer and private, a certificate in the following words:
   " 1 certify that A B enrolled himself as a volunteer under the acts
 of Congress of February sixth, and July sixth, eighteen hundred and
 twelve, and has served as such under my command, on a tour to the
 Natchez country, from  the tenth  December, eighteen hundred and
 twelve, until the twentieth April, eighteen hundred and thirteen, and
 is hereby discharged.
                           ANDREW JACKSON, Maj. Gen."
   Thus the volunteers thought themselves absolved from the
 obligation they  had come under by their tender.  This  opinion
 was supported by the fact, that the arms which they had received
 from government as a  reward for their  patriotism,  they were
 permitted to carry with them, without any injunction not to part
 from them; and if further evidence had been necessary to satis-
 fy them of the  validity of that  certificate,  as a complete dis\
 charge, the General's declarations on that day were conclusive,
 to wit:  " The discharge was good and complete."
   In this belief,  the men returned to their respective homes, not
 expecting again to be called on in virtue of their former tender.
 In September, a campaign against the Creek Indians was deter-
 mined  on, and  the volunteers ordered again tq take the field.
 Whether this order originated in Nashville or Washington City,
 is a question worthy of consideration.  In this they were told
 they  owed  further service pursuant to  their former  tender.
 They were also told, that  the Secretary at War had informed
General Jackson that  they were  not discharged, because the
power of discharging  was not vested in him, nor  had, as he
believes, the president that power,  until the term of  service
expired.  Notwithstanding all this, there was a disinclination to
obey the order of the General, not only on account of the sacri-
fice of personal consideration,  but because they  had been once
discharged, and  an attempt to  bring them into service again un«
der their former tender, was an abuse of their rights.  A  cir-
cumstance however, which had taken place before the issuance
of this order, had the greatest influence  in  bringing the volun-
teers to the belief that they owed  further service.  When a
committee,  composed of volunteer officers  and others,  met at 
17
  Nashville in September last, for the purpose of devising the most
  speedy and effectual means of affording aid to the  settlers on
  Mobile and Tombigbee, a sub-committee was appointed to wait
  on General Jackson, (then confined in his bed in town) for the
  purpose of obtaining his  opinion on  some  particular points,
  touching their deliberations.  In the course of the conversation,
  a campaign against the Creek Indians was spoken of as the most
  effectual way of defending those settlements, and at the  same
  time the United States' volunteers were named as  a desirable
  force, on which a question arose on the  legality of calling them
  out, having been discharged from  public service by the proper
  authority.  The General replied to this, that the Secretary at
  War had settled that question, and produced a letter purporting
  to have been received from  Mr. Campbell, in  Congress, stating
  the Secretary at War had said,  the  volunteers were not  dis-
  charged, and  that neither he nor the president had the power of
  discharging.  To this the  General added, that if they had not
  been discharged, they were still in service and entitled to  pay
  for  the whole time.   This opinion of the General was circulated
  with great industry by all the officers, several of whom were pre-
  sent and prevailed on the men to relinquish the idea of having
  been legally discharged, and to adopt that of their being  bound
  for further service.  This latter opinion was  the more readily
  adopted, when it was recollected that the acts under which they
•  had engaged, placed them under the same rules and regulations
  which governed regular troops.  The men now began to inquire
  at what time they would  lie entitled to a discharge;  and from a
  view of the laws under which they engaged, and the muster rolls,
  no other conclusion  could  be drawn, but that they would be
  entitled to a discharge on  the  tenth of December,  eighteen
  hundred and  thirteen.  From these considerations, and with
  assurances from their officers, that they could not, by any  fair
  construction of the law, be kept longer than that time, the men
  were generally induced  to  enter the field.   Taken at this sur-
  prise and precipitated from their homes with only two or  three
  day's notice, they were badly  provided  for a long winter cam-
  paign.   As the tenth of December approached, they began to
  speak  of being discharged on  that day, not in  secret as men
  about  to mutiny would do, but publicly, as an  indubitable  right-
  This was communicated  officially to the General, who replied
  (in substance)  that the claim" was founded in error, that they had
  engaged to serve one complete year, and denied ever having
  discharged them; that that year would  not be completed  for
  four or five months to come, and until it was he could not  dis-
  charge them without express authority from the president, that
  he had written to the Governor of Tennessee  for permission  tr>
                                3 
18
 discharge them, that if he would even hint at such perm>s«ioii>
 he would obi •,  it a«« a command;  that so soon as C«•^"*'   aI
 roll arrived with a reinforcement,-soon expected, (if the govern-
 or should not have authority  to  discharge)  he  would  pc.mii
 those who were discontented to return home, ad c-pcluuec oy
 declaring that if they attempted to leave f.e camp, it  fOUl\["c
 at the hazard oftheir live,.   In v..in they represented t.u time
 and manner of their engagement, their discharge  n   April lasr,
 their unexpected and sudden c .11  to the field, their naked filia-
 tion, the deranged condition of their domestic ath.11>, owing to
 their absence fn.m home during  the last  campaign, ai.d last o
 all, they claimed to be discharged as their right.   I he General
 was reminded of w  at  he had said on the validity of their dis-
 charges at Columbia.  To this, he replied with extreme intem-
 perance; and the more they urged their claim, the  more  vio-
 lence was opposed to it, until the  night of the ninth  December
 presented a scene to be remembered only  with horn.r and indig-
 nation.  The  men quietly in their  camps, between  eight and
 nine o'clock, P. M., were ordered to form in front of the fort for
 the purpose of being  disarmed  by the  militia.   Alter being
 formed they were insultingly charged by the General with mu-
 tiny, desertion, and many other opprobrious expressions; and he
 concluded by saying that the flash of the  cannon should be the
 signal oftheir destruction.  It was  denied that the troops were
 in a state  of mutiny;  they  only asked an indulgence of their
 rights.  At this time the militia were in front of the line, for the
 purpose of disarming the volunteers, the cannon loaded, manned
 and stationed, under the immediate direction of the General, so
 as to rake the line, and other arrangements made to carry on
 the work of death.   After the General had disgorged his rage,
 he proposed their waiting the  arrival of Major Searcy or Colo-
 nel Carroll, as before mentioned, this was assented  to and the
 brigade dismissed.   On the thirteenth, the  General  addre^ed
 the volunteers  in a manner calculated to insult and wou d their
 feeling-, and immediately issued an order to General  Hall, com-
,manding him to march the brigade to Nashville, and there await
 the orders of Governor Blount and the President of  the United
 States.  On the fourteenth  the line of march uas taken up, and
 on the twenty-fifth they arrived at Fayetteville, where by the
 advice of the Governor they were dismissed until further oiders.
   During  the dispute between the volunteers and the Cei eral,
 they behaved with their usual -ubordiiiation and decorum, laving
 determined not to  disperse without  an  honorable  dis.-1-arge.
 They contended for this with a respectful firmness,  not  to  be
 shaken by boisterous threats.
    Many of the officers advised the General to use conciliatory 
19
measures.  They believed that although the men never would re-
linquish their right to be discharged, yet by proper management
the services of a great part  might be continued.  This advice
was treated as an  idle tale, and none  but coercive measures re-
sorted to.  Under these ciicumstnnces the men felt as might be
expected.  When they were denied, by the arm  of military
power, the exercise of a right guaranteed by the laws and con-
stitution of the country, and  traduced for  modestly and respect-
fully aski'.g the indulgence of that right, they could but feel the
indignation to be  expected from  freemen.  They felt mortified
at leaving the service under exi-ting circumstances, but a choice
of evils o-'ily being left them, either to go off in the manner  pro-
posed, or passively submit to an unqualified abuse oftheir  best
rights, they preferred the  former, believing that the example of
the latter,  when once set, would gain strength with, the use, and
be difficult to correct.
                   WlVI.  HALL,  Brig.  Gen. T. V.
                   E.  BRADLEY, C. C.  1st R. T. V.
                   S.  D. LAUDERDALE, Lt. C.  T. V.
                   WM.  MARTIN, Lt.  C. 2d  R. T. V.
                   W. L. ALEXANDER, Maj. IstR. T. V.
                   H. L. DOUGLASS, Capt. 1st R. T. V.
                                      and Aid-de-camp.-
                   D. HUMPHREYS,  Brigade Major.
                   R. ALEXA-NDER,  Brig.  Q. Master.
   Gallatin, March 4,1814.
   That  the General did, at that  time, believe the  discharge
given the men in April previous, was a complete one, is evident
from the certificates of Capt. Renshaw  and Lieut. Thompson,
hereto annexed.  And that he did say, (some twenty days before
the tenth of December) that he did  believe they were entitled
to a discharge on that day, is proved by the certificate of Capt.
Caperton, Lieut.  Doak, and several others, as se< forth below.
What reason operated  with the General  to change his opinion
on this subject, I have never known.
                       Camp Strother,  December 8, 1813.
   Col. Martin  Sir: At your request, I feel mvself willing to  state
the subject of a short conversation that  took place  at Columbia, on
the twentieth of last April,  between James  Thompson and myself,
respecting the discharge  then given to the volunteers, at which time
General Jackson passed by, and politely  inquired into  the subject,
which Mr. Thompson informed him.   the General  replied, we need
not debate on that, for the act, under which we volunteered,  was
repealed, and that  the discharges we then had were good, or  final,
was the way the General expressed himself.  The above is  a true
statement.  1 am yours,  &c.
               J                           J. RENSHAW. 
20
                         Camp Strother, December 8, 1815.
  Col. Martin, Sir:  At your request, 1 feel myself willing  to state
the substance of a short conversation that took place  at Columbia
when we were discharged or dismissed  last April.  Capt.  Renshaw
and myself had one  of the discharges given,  in our possession, and I
observed that they were not complete discharges; that they  only
gave the men a credit for the time they had  served.  He insisted, I
think, that they were complete; about which  time the General passed
us. and very politely inquired into the  subject of our debate.  1 in-
formed him. at the same time giving my opinion.  His answer was,
that the act under which we had volunteered was repealed, and that
would discharge us; and  that  we need not be uneasy, they were
good discharges.  This is the  purport of what  was said, to  tbe
best of my recollection, except the word good, and I do not recollect
whether that or the word complete was expressed by the General.
      lam, with due respect,yours, fee.
                                    JAMES THOMPSON.
                          Camp Strother, December 8, 1813.
  We. whose names are  underwritten, do say, that we heard Gen.
Jackson say on the  eighteenth of last month, that he thought that it
was just that the volunteers should be  discharged on the  tenth of
this instant, and that he had done and would do every thing in hi!
power to effect them.
     GEO. CAPERTON, Capt.    LANSFORD RUSSELL,
     JOHN DOAK. Lieut.        THOMAS  DOUG AN,
     SAMUEL BERRY,           HENRY RUSSELL,
     A. M'EWEN,                CHARLES  STEVENS,
     JEREMIAH RAGSDELL,    CHARLES  WOODS.
   It is evident, from an examination  of the work itself, that the
General's biographer had  strong prepossessions  against these
men, and  has labored, at the expense of truth, to cast on them
all the obloquy in his  power.   Whether this was for  the  pur-
pose of gratifying  the strong and unfriendly  feelings  he enter-
tained toward some of the  principal officers of the brigade,  or to
increase the splendor of  the General's character, I know  not;
but certain it is,  that  there has been,  in several instances, a
shameful  perversion of truth in the narrative he has  given of
this controversy;  in some  cases withholding important truths,
and in others, stating  for facts, things that  never  did exist.
Among others, in speaking, page eighty-three, second edition, of
a correspondence  between the General  and  myself on the sub-
ject of the discharge, he has brought to view a part only of my
letter to him of the fourth, and has  given the General's of the
sixth in reply to mine at full length; but mine of the eighth, in
reply to his, has been suppressed  altogether, which was impor-
tant, being intimately connected with the  subject of dispute  as it
went to explain away the force of the General's strongest argu- 
21
stents in favor of the  position he  had taken.  Historians are
morally bound to give the truth, and all the truth of things they
undertake to narrate, but the writer in this case has disregarded
this rule in several particulars.
  The difficulties with which the General had to contend, were
many and great; the successful  manner in which he overcame
them, and the great and important services which he has  ren-
dered the country, justly entitle  him to a distinguished place in
the temple of fame, without exageration or false coloring, in a
way calculated  to entail disgrace on  a meritorious set of men,
who, though in  subordinate situations, were efficient actors in
?ome of the General's splendid achievements, and were the first
that gave the impulse to the elevated situation he now occupies.
   It is an unpleasant task  for one to speak of himself; but on
 this occasion I find an apology from the peculiarity of my situa-
 tion, being proscribed^ and  traduced  for exercising a  right
 guaranteed to all.
   The letter to the editors of the Intelligencer, above alluded
 to, which has given such offence to those sensitive friends of the
 General, was couched in terms which I thought inoffensive, and
 in orderthat the worst parts of it may be known to such as may
 not have seen the publication, I  will here give an extract  from
 it, and which I suppose to  be the offensive part, to wit:  Alter
 commending the editors for  the support they had given Mr.
 Adams, and remarking on  his moral and political  worth,  1
 observed—
   "To defend such  a man against the shafts of disappointed ambi-
 tion, is praiseworthy, it is patriotic.  Mr. Adams  I have never seen,
 though I think 1 know him well.  With General Jackson I have been
 intimately acquainted for nearly forty years, and  of course ought to
 know him.  And when 1 contrast the  grounds of their respective
 claims for the presidency, I am astonished  that any man of intelli-
 gence should prefer the latter.  From the noise made here, you may
 have been led to suppose these sentiments, in Tennessee,  to be rare
 and singular, but in this, I am far  from being alone."
   Now, if  an individual cannot express his honest opinion about
 public men, and public measures, without being thus calumnia-
 ted, our boasted rights are of less value than  we have been led
 to believe.
    So far from encouraging mutiny in the army, I know I should
 have been among  the first to suppress it, had it existed.  And
 that I did  at all times, and in all situations, discharge my duty
 faithfully and promptly, the magnanimity of General Jackson
 himself will forbid him to  deny.   And in support  of this  fact, I
 might safely appeal to General Hall, Judge Catron, (who was
  long my messmate,) to Colonel  Moore, of Lincoln county, (late a 
29
member of the legislature,) Caperton, of Franklin, M'Fcrrin ,of
Rutherford, Smith, of White, and Capt. M'Ewen, of \\ illiamson,
the five last of whom commanded companies in the  regiment I
then commanded,  all of whom were witnesses to my every
action, as  connected with my duty; and with equal confidence,
might I appeal to every other officer of the brigade, as 1 was
well known to them all.
   I am aware that the illiberal, who  are  every  where  to be
found, will attribute to my unfriendliness to the election of Gen-
eral Jackson as president, my making this publication at this
time.  This will be doing me great injustice, for had 1 not been
assailed and traduced in the most wanton manner, I should not
have said a  word about it.  But every consideration urges me
to repel, with <uch means as I possess, those foul and groundless
slanders,  attempted to be fixed on me, and entailed on my off-
spring.  In doing this, a review of the *ansactions upon which
the accusation was  founded, is so immediately  connected  with
my own defence,  that I cannot speak of the  one without the
other.  I should have been extremely glad to have been spared
this painful  duty, but a choice of evils only was left me, either to
submit patiently  and quietly  to this wanton outrage on my
character, or to repel it in  the way I have done, and throw the
blame where it ought to rest.   To a candid public is the forego-
ing submitted, not to bespeak their sympathy, but to invoke their
justice, to an old man,  who in defence of a  character he has
always held dear, has been compelled to make this appeal.
                                    WILLIAM MARTIN.
   Dixon's Springs, July  9, 1828. 
TO THE  PUBLIC.
  In the Banner and Whig of the twenty-second of July last,} I
made a publication, the object of which was  to  rebut certain
slanders propagated against me by General Jack*on and others,
viz: "That I had excited the spirit of mutiny  and desertion
"among a brigade of United States' volunteers under the  corn-
« maud  of him,  (Gen. Jackson,) on  a campaign against the
" Creek Indians, in the year  eighteen hundred  and thirteen;
" and that I had wanted to run away  from the Creek nation,
« but that General Jackson would not  let me."  In this publi-
cation I said little more than the exhibition of well attested facts,
going to show  that there  was no foundation for such a charge
against me to rest on:  and had supposed that  the matter would
have rented there.  Bfc. contrary to all reasonable expectation,
another publication  appeared in the Republican of the Ulln ot
August, signed "A Volunteer," anamadvertingon mine, in a way
not warranted by the occasion.  The object of the writer seems
to have  been more to defame mv reputation, than to argue the
 question at issue,and he has called me many hard names, as muti-
neer, liar, hypocrite, coward, &c. Whoever this Volunteer may
 be, so well versed in the science  of slander, and who has had so
little regard to truth or decency, as thus to abu«e me from behind
a fictitious name, I neither know nor care.   It is sufficient tor
 me to know, that what he has said to my prejudice, in that pub-
 lication, is untrue.   He cannot  be  one of that corps  emphati-
 cally called  the Tennessee old volunteers, and  which General
 Jackson often said was the finest troops in the world: but one
of those  hirelings, holding himself alwavs readv  to serve the
 highest bidder, and on this occasion he has been employed (if 1
 may judge from  the ready access he seems to have had to offi-
 cial documents relating to the subject in dispute) for the purpose
 of defaming me, and that too by  the man wholias no concealment.
 If I have,in  the fac's  exhibited  in my  publication referred  to,
 touched his employet in a tender  part, why did he  not, with
 truth and fair argument, if on his side, ward off the blow, instead
 of filling columns with declamation, sophistry and falsehood, for
 the obvious  purpose  of diverting public attention  from the
 consideration of the fact- published hv me?
    From the rude and  scandalous manner in which this volunteer
 had treated my character, it became ncce-ary, in mv judgment,
 to reply in my own defence;  and to that end I had nearly com-
 pleted "this publication for the pre,:, when it  was arrested at the
 solicitation of several of the mutual friends of General Jackson 
24
and myself, urging that the time for the purpose was inauspi-v
cious, that  it would (to be then published) have more  the ap-
pearance of assailing, at a critical juncture,  the character  of
General Jackson, than of defending my own, and advised that it
be deferred until the  presidential contest should be over; that
they were well assured, from the magnanimity of his character,
the General  would, on a  review of the subject, render me every
degree of justice to which I might be entitled: that they would,
at a suitable time, bring the subject before him, and that he had
himself said, to a gentleman of the first respectability, and a dis-
tinguished  friend of his own, who spoke to him on the subject,
he was altogether willing, and that he would,  so soon as he could
without his motives being  misinterpreted, examine the  whole
matter, and  publicly  announce the result.  In consideration  of
the respect I had for.the opinions and wishes of my friends, and
these assurances of an amicable adjustment  of a matter of  no
small moment to me, I finally agreed to postpone as proposed,
the contemplated publication, and of which fact,I gave notice in
the Banner of the fourth of October.  But contrary  to the ex-
pectations  thus  raised,  and  his  own promise to  that  effect,
when applied to (after the election) by this same gentleman, to
redeem the pledge he had given, tendering  at the same time,
for  his  consideration,  the documentary  evidence  herewith
published; he declined doing  any thing in it, alleging  he had
not then time, as he was setting out for the City of Wash-
ington; but  if the papers were sent to  him  at  Washington,
after the fourth of March, he would then look at them.  This I
considered, was adding insult to injury; therefore,  I determined
to recall the papers, and  pursue the course  I had  previously
intended.
   In enumerating my reasons for making the  publication above
referred  to, I observed,  " and some things said  about me indi-
vidually  by General  Jackson himself, as connected with this
subject."   The Volunteer, in remarking on this, intimates that I
ought to  have stated what the General had said, when, where,
&c.  I will now tell him, that in the year eighteen hundred and
seventeen,  I was a candidate in this county (Smith) for the state
legislature, and in the after  part of the canvass, the following
letter from General Jackson to. Thomas  Smith of this  county,
was published and circulated in hand bills.
Copy of a letter from  General Andrew  Jackson, dated  Hermitage,
                      July 2.5, 1827.                     6
  Dear *ir:  I have'just received your letter of the  twenty-fourth
infant, and  'nave to answer th;it  the charge or  accusation against
Co.onel  William Martin, of heading an Indian force again«t  the
whites on the Kentucky road,  I know of my own  knowledge S(lf.b 
26
 rumours once prevailed, but T never gave credit to them.   On the
 other subject, it was always my belief that  tha Colonel was one of
 three officers in my army, in the Creek war, of high grade, who ex-
 cited the dissatisfaction and  mutinous spirit in it, and caused the
 finest troops in the world  to retrograde and desert the service of
 their country, at a time when their services  were  most wanted.  In
 justice to those troops, 1 must observe, I always blamed the officers
 and not them.  They proved my opinion of rbem  was correct, for  '
 afterwards, the greatest part of them  volunteered their  services,
 joined me and realized my best hopes and those of their country, in
 the most trying period.  Colonel Thomas Williamson, then a Cap-
 tain in Colonel Martin's regiment, who remained firm at his post, and
 would not return with  the troops when they retrogradejd,  can give
 full information on the subject how the Colonel acted in this  business.
                                     ANDREW JACKSON.
   Mr. Thomas Smith.
                       *
   Thus did General Jackson descend from his elevated  situa-
 tion to intermeddle in a little county election, forty or fifty miles
 from where he lived,  and to join a faction, which had from  local
 causes, conspired against me; and  that too, while commanding
 the southern division of the American army.  How this  conduct
 in  the General comports with the character he has assumed, is
 with himself and his Volunteer to reconcile.   It was, however,
 fulfilling a promise he had made (as I was told) on wMMJn* my /^
 letter of the eighth December, respecting the dispute in  ques-
 tion, and which is contained in my publication of July last.  That
 letter was in reply to  one  from him  of the sixth, also published.
 On the  receipt of that letter, which contained truths that stared
 him full in the face, he became wrathful, and said with his usual
 vehemence, he would  avenge himself on me when we returned
 home.  In this way do I account for his letter to Mr.  Smith, it
 being the first opportunity that offered  for  redeeming this
 pledge.   On what ground he founded his belief of my guilt he
 has not said, but certain it is, that had it been such,  as to justify
 him in sending the letter he did here for the purpose of defaming
 me, it was sufficient to have arrested me on, at that time.   The
latter (from the belief he said he  always entertained) would
 have been his duty; the former, any thing but magnanimity; and
that he was not very forbearing, nor  delicate, on subjects of the
 kind, is  evident, from  his having arrested  Colonels Allcorn and
 Bradley about that time.   The former was  tried by  a court
martial  and  acquitted with honor.  The  latter, after  having
been kept some two or three weeks under arrest, was restored
 to his command without any trial at all.  Why then was I allow-
ed to escape with this load of guilt, this enormous crime, one of
the highest that could have been committed in an army? How, 
m
with this conviction on his mind, can he answei to his country to*
hot having punished me? On what ground canhejustii) i  tmself
for such a palpable dereliction of dutv ?  Can it be by puhlbhiug
to the world, three or four years afterwards, through bis letter
to Mr. Smith, that 1 was a traitor to my country? Surely lie did
not reflect at the time when he wrote this letter, how deeply  it
would implicate his military character, for  fidelity and energy*
 of which there is so much  boast.  I again ask, why he did not
 (to use his Own favorite expression) take the bull by the horn,
 as he believed me, as he says he did, to have  been a leader  in
^his conspiracy, and bring me before the proper tribunal,  when
the facts were fresh, and the  witnesses all present? But instead
 of this, notwithstanding his conviction of my guilt, and his  bois-
 terous threats, he continued  to the last of my remaining there,
 to treat me with his usual attentions and politeness.  The truth
 is, there was no just cause of complaint'against me, and this  he
 well knew, more than that I  had the temerity to contend with
 him (respectfully) iii a written  correspondence in  behalf of a
 meritorious set of men, who thought themselves injured by him.
 This,  and this alone was my crime, and for which 1 have  been
 pursued, from then until now, with a spirit of persecution that
 knows no bounds.  That it may be seen, that what passed be-
 tween^he General and myself on this  subject was not offensive
 on rn^Pirt, I will refer the reader to our correspondence as  set
forth in my publication as above, and  had he permitted his bio-
 grapher to have inserted my  letter to  him  of the eighth of De-
cember, in answer to his of  the sixth, whicn was  published  at
 full length, it would have put this  question to rest.  But that
letter  was suppressed, and  why? Was it because it contained
truths  that would make him blush to confront? This he may
himself answer.
   From the manner in which my character has been traduced
on this occasion, private as well as public, 1 thought it a duty 1
owed to myself, to my family, and my friends, to repel the slan-
der with such means as I had in mv power,  and for that purpose
I have procured the statements of several gentlemen who were
witnesses to my conduct, throughout the campaign, particularly
as respects the dispute between the General  and the  troops,
touching the term oftheir  service.  Some  of these  statements
however,  are from gentlemen who were not on the  campaign.
These  I have procured to show that I have some reputation, and
am not that contemptible recreant I am represented to be. And
that  General Jackson h; s done me great injustice, and himself1
no credit, in reporting, as be has done, that I excited the spirit of
mutiny and desertion among the troops, is abundantly evident
from the following testimony, and from which it  will appear 
n
that instead of exciting a disorderly spirit in the  army,  my.
conduct was just the reverse, at all times, and under all circum-
stances.
                      JUDGE  CATRON.
                                    Sparta, August 21,  1817.
  Dear Sir: I  received yours of the eleventh instant, in which you
say  •' vou  have been charged by General JackBon in a  publication,
as in his belief (together with two other  officers) the cause of the
difference i.-etween himself as Commandant and the old volunteers in
the f til  ■;:  r-ighteen hundred and thirteen, while in the Creek nation."
I w;il stat  •'.<•■ *Vts  thaf occurred  so far as  they came within my
knowledge, and my opinion of your conduct relative to the above
difference.
   At Huntsvillp, on  our march, 1 was appointed  to  do the duties of
Serjeant Major in your regiment;  with most of the  men  composing
which 1 became personally  acquainted.   Before  1 reached the  ser-
vice, and afterwards, 1  heard many of the men complaining of the
hardship of being compelled to serve on  that tour, after having been
to  Natchez and regularly discharged by  the Government, which
discharges they had  with them.  I know every exertion was used by
you to browbeat, and  with your authority put down this murmur,
assuring the troops that General Jackson would  have militia troops,
and they be discharged, so  soon as theirservic.es could be dispensed
with, which no body seemed to doubt, during all the month of October,
would lake place by the tenth of December, or before.
   All things continued quiet until the army returned  to Fort Strother
(I think the twelfth  of November) from Taladega. when there were
no  provisions in camps.  We had been for the twenty preceding days
extremely straitened for provision-, and for the three days preceding
our return to camp,  literallv without eating,  and  had done wen/ hard
service; waded Coosa, a half a mile wide, up to the middle, on an ex-
treme frosty night, with certain expectations of warm fires and plenty
to eat being ready for us " at home." a mile below the crossing   The
consequence of not a ration being in camps, was, threats of marching
off to Deposit, where something  to eat might be bad; and  this was
by all the  army; but a little flour coming in, it was prevented, for,
I think, three or four days; at which time, the General promised the
troops, if no provisions  came on, they should  march;  this accordingly
took place, though v-jr regiment, meeting provisions twelve or four-
teen miles from camp,  the  second  day,  returned.  This excitement
should  be charged to a hungry appetite, and not  to the misconduct of
anyone:  and during which, you  used all your influence,  much to
your own prejudice  in the  estimation of your regiment, to  restrain
all complaints on the subject; and I know all your authority was exer-
 cised (you then being  the  senior officer in the regiment) to prevent
 any violent movement among the troops, and particularly  in  your
 ewn regiment.   You also made  a stump speech to your retriment,
 insisting with extreme solicitude for  the men to volunteer and hold
 possession of Camp Strother, but having incurred the displeasure  f 
28
a greater part of the regiment by opposing their wishes, you got but
few.  At this time about one hundred men did stay, yourself among
the number.  This must be the time General Jackson  alludes to in
his letter to Mr. Smith, when he says "Captain Williamson remained
firm at his post," &c, for  Colonel Williamson marched his company
home when we  were dismissed at  Fayetteville.  When  the troops
marched off from Fort  Strother for want of provisions, they all went
to Deposit, except your regiment, the artillery company and some
militia.   Many  of your regiment also  got  there  by  furlough, as
guards, &C.  During this absence, many men 1 understood were fur-
loughed at Deposit, to recover their health  in Madison, get clothes,
&c, and about the tenth of December, many deserted; though,  per-
haps, fewer of your regiment, agreeably  to its number, than of the
first:  these were nearly all men who had gone to Deposit as guards.
Sometime between the twentieth and last of  November, having
resigned the petty appointment I held, left your quarters  and gone to
the line, I  was taken sick with a very violent fever, and was hauled
off in a  baggage wagon, after  your regiment  left Fort  Strother,
for Fayetteville;  during which sickness I have no recollection of the
particular conduct of any man.  I understood, during this time, that
that a correspondence was carrying on  between you and  General
Jackson, on the  right your  regiment had to be discharged on the
tenth of December, in which you held  the affirmative, but know
nothing of the particulars thereof.
   For the honor of the small squad of non-commissioned officers and
privates that wei.e left of your regiment on the tenth of December, 1
hope no man will charge them with  either  mutiny or desertion, or
even a disposition to do so: for a very  great majority  of them were
young men of substantial cleverness, and honest and proud feelings;
and I do know, that at least three-fourths of  them had determined to
stay five months and twenty days longer: Nor did  they know to the
reverse ofhavitig to do so, until theday they  were regularly ordered
to march home.  Though I never had  any concern with this squab-
ble, not being an old volunteer, yet it would  be with extreme regret
that I should hear those friends  of mine, charged  with the blackest
of crimes, of which they  are certainly  innocent.   They  were the
most efficient troops to their number I  ever  saw, or expect to see.
With the  exception of a  few men who only talked, they conducted
themselves with temperance and propriety, on the subject of  their
term of service being  expired.1
   1 have ever believed some gross misinformation had been given
General Jackson, respecting the part you took in  the squabble be-
tween him and the volunteer regiment.-);  for I cannot help believing,
until the time spoken of abeve, of my being taken down with a fever,
General Jackson had  no better friend in  the army than yourself; I
heard you speak in high terms of him as your  friend and acquaint-
ance for many years, as 1 also was informed  he spoke of you in  high
terms as an officer and man, and  this, after he had split with Colo-
n's Allcorn and Bradley.  On the subject of merit. 1 only know this. 
29
you held, in a high degree, the confidence of the regiment you com-
manded, throughout the campaign, and which confidence I think you
rery well merited.
  Dont understand me as sanctioning by this scrawl, the electioneer-
ing, inflrm conduct of some of the officers of the army, on  the above
occasion  for you know I was infinitely disgusted with it.
  1 don't pretend above,  to speak to any facts that trarspired after
I wa* taken sick, having no recollection  distinctly of any  but very
notorious circumstances and facts generally known subsequent to that
time.  Your obedient servant,
                                           JOHN  CATRON.
  Col. William Martin.

              MAJOR MEWEN AND OTHERS.
                               Franklin.  September 1, 1817.
   Dear Colonel: Respecting your conduct during the first campaign
 against the  Creek  Indians, we,  who  were under your  immediate
 command, feel bound by our regard for truth  to make an  impartial
 statement, and on this subject,  what we certify, hundreds can attest.
   Colonel Martin, as well as others,  who carefully considered  the
 act of Congress under which  the corps  of volunteers (in which he
 had a command) wis brought into the field, expressed his conviction
 oftheir right to claim a discharge on the tenth  of December, eigh-
 teen hundred and thirteen.   Acuated without doubt by this convic-
 tion,  we do certify that he advocated the  rights of the men in an inde-
 pendent and respectful manner, as may be seen by his letters to Gen-
 eral Jackson.  During this dispute, carried on by letter, he did every
 thing in  his power to quiet the men and prevent any violent  move-
 ment, which we had  reason  sometimes to fear: and  shortly after
 returning from Taladega. by his active exertions, his  regiment was
 prevailed on to maintain its position, when part of the army marched.
 His influence over his  regiment,  which  was  considerable, was on
 this and  every other occasion, exercised in promoting subordinatioa
 to the proper authority.  Col. Martin often said, that  if the General
 would only acknowledge the unquestionable rights of the  troops, and
 appeal to their honor and patriotism, they would  cheerfully stay.
 We do further certify, that when the troops did  march, it  was under
 an order from General Jackson, without having committed any
 violence, tumult or mutiny whatever.
       Respectfully,
                   JAMES M'EWEN. Maj, 2d R. T. V.  Infantry.
                   CHRISTO E. SFEWEN,  Lieut. 2d R. T. V. I.
                   MATTHEW D.  COOPER,  1st Lieut.

                   State of  Tennessee, Rutherford  Countv.
   Whereas I have been informed  that General Jackson and others,
  have accused Colonel Martin, of the second  regiment United States1
  Volunteers, in the Creeh Indian campaign, of exciting  his men  to
  mutiny  and desertion, and that Colonel  Martin wanted to run  away 
to
from the Creek nation, but Jackson would not let him.  Now. I, Joliu
 Doak, having served as Lieutenant in  Capt  Ren»haw"s company,
having been an eye witness to facts, do ceitify, that the above state-
ment of James  M'Ewen, Christopher M'Ewen  and Matthew D.
.Cooper is wholly true.
                       JOHN DOAK, 1st Lieut. 2d R. U. S. V.
   August 15, 1828.

                     COLONEL BROWN.
                                   Lebanon,  August 20,  1828.
   Col.  William Martin, Sir: In reply to yours of this date, requesting
 to know my opinion of your conduct as an officer of the United States'
 Volunteers in the campaign against the Creek Indians, in the year
 eighteen hundred  and thirteen, I have to state, that immediately
 after the issuance of the order in  the fall of  eighteen hundred and
 thirteen, calling those troops into service, I joined the company com-
 manded by my townsman H. L. Douglass, and met the whole brigade
 at Fayetteville, the place of general rendezvous, on the fourth Oc-
 tober.  Shortly after our arrival at that place, I  became acquainted,
 and was in the habit of occasional intercourse with you, and constant
 intercourse  with many officers and soldiers of your regiment, to the
 end of our service.  During this time, I never heard you charged
 with exciting mutiny, or the utterance of an  expression that would
 lead to a  mutinous disposition.  On the  contrary,  it was  my own
 opinion, as well as it was the opinion of all  who spoke of you in my
 hearing, that you were one of the most strict and rigid disciplinarians
 m  the army, prompt to suppress and punish  every appearance  of
 insubordination.   As to the  alleged mutiny on the night of the ninth
 December, it was utterly false, so far as it related to the regiment to
 which I belonged, and I believe equally so as to  the second; though
 General Jackson  certainly must have believed it on the information
 of some one.  I entered the service as all the new recruits of the
 company to which I belonged did, with the understanding that those
 troops would  be discharged at the  end of twelve months from the
 time they were first mustered; and  so far as I  knew,  thU opinion
 was universal and uncontradicted until  after the battle of Taladega,
 when the difficulty arose, (of which it is  not necessary to  speak here.)
 Id evidence of this universality of opinion  in the brigade; before the
infantry left Fort Strother a general order was read, and  all those
 who were disposed to remain were requested to march three paces
 in front of the line, and Thomas Williamson was the only person who
 advanced, that I recollect.   I will conclude this reply by stating, that
 1 never beard an officer of any grade, attached to those  troops, utter
 a word which would countenance  mutiny  or  insubordination during
 the term of their service.
       Aery respectfully, yourfrieod and servant,
          '                                  H.  H.  BROWN. 
31
                   COLONEL DOUGjLISS.
                                  Lebanon, August 20,  1828.
   Col. William Martin, Dear Sir: Yours of the nineteenth, and  the
Nashville Republican of the fifth instant, containing strictures over
the signature of" A Volunteer," are before me, and however I may
regret the revival of this most unpleasant controversy at this time, I
feel myself bound  by a sense of duly to afford you  any evidence
which my  knowledge of your  public and  private character may
-furnish in vindication of it.                                 f. .
   That there should be the least reluctance in any, to speak oHacts
within their knowledge, or to express opinions founded on an intimate
acquaintance  of your whole life, which would protect you and your
posterity against the infamy which must necessarily follow the char-
ges made against you, is to me,  matter of astonishment.  It has never-
been contended by any that 1 know of, certainly never by you,  tnat
these charges were sanctioned by General Jackson, without what he
considered sufficient authority,  nor ought it to be doubted for a mo-
ment that he would derive as much pleasure as any man living trom
your entire exculpation.
   My acquaintance with you commenced with my earliest recollec-
tions: from my arrival at the vears of manhood up to the present
time, my  intercourse with vou, and those to  whom  you are best
known, has been constant, urn e=erved and friendly.  My own obser-
vations in mature years, confirmed the opinions I had been accustomed
to hear from my infjncv. '• that you were as incapable of hypocracy
 or deceit, as you were'of fear."  Nor have I ever before heard you
charged with either.  If a long life, spent in the strict observance ot
 every moral and religious  virtue, and  in the performance ot every
 private and public duty, be not  sufficient to protect you against  such
 Charges, nothing that I could say would.
   The charge of exciting mutiny among the troops under your com-
 mand, whilst in the service of the United States, in the year eighteen
 hundred and thirteen, is the only one of the many referred to which
 is entitled to, or requires particular notice.
    I entered  the service in command of a company at the same  time
 that you did, continued  in the field the same time that you did
 and was  as  intir.ate with you as any officer of the  army,  with
 the  exception perhaps of General  Hall,  with  whom  my duties
 were more intima'ely connected.  During the Creek campaign our
 miarters were very near each  other, and  we were, as were also the
 field and many of the platoon  officers of the two regiments, in the
 rLilv habits of free and unreserved interchange of opinions upon all
 ..ihi'ects connected with  the service: and I am certain that the idea
 «f abandoning the service  forcibly or mutinously was never intimated
 bv vou in my"hear.ng.   Nor were  you  ever charged in  my hearing
 hviither officer or soldier, with countenancing such a  course.  As
  an officer vou were considered by mc,  (and I think I hazard  nothing
  in attributing this  opinion to nineteen twentieths of th" army,) vigi-
  lant brave "and patriotic, prompt in the discharge of every  duty, 
32
and rigid in enforcing obedience and strict attention to disciplinr
That you believed the volunteers weie  entitled to a discharge on
the tenth of December, was known to all of them; and all of them,
so far as 1 knew, entertained the same  opinion.  Its correctness, it
is not necessary for me, nor am 1 disposed, to examine into now.
  You request that 1 would state my recollection of the occurrences
of the night of the ninth December.  So far as they are  connected
with the charges against you, 1 will do so.  The order for parading
the two regiments was communicated to  me by General H ill, some
time after dark, and the moment it was received, when paraded  in
line in front of the fort. General Jackson appeared on the right of the
first, said he had just  been informed that they were in a state of mu-
tiny, and that he was determined to suppress it.   Some one, 1 cannot
say with certainty  who, demanded of  the General, from  whom he
received this  information: he replied, from your General, pointing
to General Hall, by whose  side 1  was then standing.   General Hall
immediately advanced, and said that he  had not informed him that
they were in a state of mutiny; that he had  only communicated  to
him their reply to a proposition made through him by General Jack-
son.   This  statement has been, and will again (1 have no  doubt) be
confirmed by General Hall.
  1 see nothing more that requires  notice from  me in either of the
papers before me.  Should you be of opinion  that any other facts
within my knowledge will be of service in your defence, it will give
me pleasure to communicate them.
  I am, with very high respect and esteem, your friend and serv't,
                                         H. L. DOUGLASS.

                     MR. JOHN  CARR.
                               Gallatin, September 8, 1828.
   Col. William Martin, Sir: That your private and public character
has been most grossly misrepresented, I have long known,  and if the
testimony of one unknown as I am out of the  society in which 1 have
lived for the last forty years, can be of service to you, it will be most
cheerfully given.  From the time of your arrival in this state, up to
the present time, 1 have  known you most  intimately,  and can say
with truth, that I have neither seen nor heard any  thing  from  you,
unbecoming an honest man, a patriot and soldier.  From our earliest
acquaintance up to Ihe year eighteen hundred  and thirteen, 1 knew
no man  who did, or deserved to stand higher (in my opinion) amongst
your acquaintance generally, than you.   1 entered the service  with
you in the winter of eighteen hundred and twelve, in the Volunteer
Infantry, descended the river to Natchez, and returned with you the
following spring.  Again, in the fall of eighteen hundred and thirteen,
joined those troops on the campaign against the Creeks, and continued
with them  until they returned home.  During the  whole service
(being one  of  your old acquaintances in  the army, and a lieutenant
of your brother's company) I was as intimate with you as  any officer
in the army, and believe 1 knew as well  your standing in it as any
other person. 
S3
   During the campaign to the lower country, although the better
informed soldiers, as well as officers, considered you amongst the best
officers in the army, many, perhaps most of the army, thought you
too. rigid And strict in enforcing obedience to orders, and  attention
to discipline.   When  in  the  country and neighborhood of  the
enemy, those qualities which were complained of in a camp in the
interior, were alike commended by officers and  soldiers, and assured
to you their confidence in a high degree.   I left Fort Strother when
the first regiment was  ordered  back to Deposit for subsistence, and
can only speak  of occuirences after 1 left  there, from die  report of
others: but so far as my own knowledge of your feelings, your prin-
ciples, your conduct  enables me to  speak, I knew of no individual
of the army who stood  higher as a brave man,  a rigid disciplinarian
and firm patriot;  nor did I ever hear it insinuated to the contrary at
any time or by  any person, until since some recent publications in the
newspapers.
   That you ever did countenance insubordination or excite  the spirit
of mutiny in the troops under your command,  cannot and  will  not
be believed by any one that knows you.
             J   J                             JOHN  CARR.

                  State of Tennessee, Rutherford County.
   Whereas I have been informed  that General Jackson and others
have charged Col. William Martin with exciting the spirit of mutiny
and deseition among the corps of the United States' Volunteers, under*
the command of General Jackson, on a campaign  against the Creek
Indians, in the year eighteen hundred and thirteen;  and Col. Martin
requesting me to say what I know relative to that subject, I do citify
that I served as a private in Capt. J. Renshaw's conyany  of volun-
teers, in the  second  regiment of the above  named corps, commanded
bv Col. Martin: that during our service a dispute  arose between the
General and those troops, on the  subject of their term of service;
they,  the troops, contending th:it according to the  terms of  theii^
 engagement, they  were  enti.led to be discharged on the tenth  of
 December of that year, which the General denied.  During this d, -
nutTcol  Martin advocated the cause of the men: that  during  this
fime'he urged, that if the discharges were withheld  Ironi them  they
must continue until they could leave their stations honorably, and tha
 while he could prevent it, they should  go  on no other terms.  That
 To no instance did he,  to  my knowledge or belief, either say, do, oC
  nsinuate any thing, directly  or indirectly, having a tendency to  mu-
  •mTordeseHion  And I do furthermore assert, that he, Col. Martin,
   ylnsiderec the most active, useful  and best officer belonging  to
 ^id corns ^so fa  as my information extended.  And  I certify further,
  iTnt iLtead of"being the  cause of exciting mutiny or desertion, his
     l^t was uniformly the reverse of such a course: being always
 conduct ™™™™ ^bon]ination and obedience to orders. And if

 ^fa= tending to mutiny,  I think it could not have escaped  my aonc»,

                                 5 
34
as I was  continually there, except when  on duty.  And so far as I
know or believe, Col. Martin uas never absent, except when on duty.
His local situation,while incamp. was near the tegin.ent, to which he
pai i great attention, as well to their rights and  v.ints .is to their duty
and discipline.
                                ALEXANDER LOWRANCE.
   August 16, 1828.

                  State of Tennessee, Rutherforo  Countv.
   Whereas I have been called on by Col William .Vlartin  to state
facts relative to a difference which occurred on a campaign against
the Creek Indians  in the year eighteen  hundred and thirteen,  be-
tween the second regiment of United States' Volunteers and oeneral
Jackson, respecting their term of service:
   I therefore certify, that I served as second sergeant in Capt. J.
Renshaw's company.  United  States' Volunteers, in the second regi-
ment, commanded by Col. Martm:  that I have examined the certifi-
cate signed by Alexander Low ranee, dated the sixteeeth  August as
above, and believe it  to  contain a true statement of facts, all of
which come within my own knowledge, 1 being continually with  the
regiment except when on duty.  And owing to  my perpetual inter-
course with  the  men. 1 am certain, that if Col. Martin  had have
hinted any thing like mutiny among them, I should have heard some-
thing of it, which I never did.   And furthermore, on the ninth of De-
cember, when the regiment was ordered  by the General  to be para-
ded, and charged with being in a slate of mutiny, they were so far from
it that a considerable  part of them were asleep in their camps, it
being considerably in the night.  They only spoke of their claim to
be discharged, and were dissatisfied that this right was withheld from
them, but had no intention of going off in a disorderly way.  At least,
if they or any one individual ever  had in contemplation to do so, it
never came to my knowledge
   Given under my hand this sixteenth of August, eighteen hundred
and twenty-eight.
                                           WILLIAM PACE.

                      MR. JOHN FARR.
                  State of  Tennessee, Rutherford  County.
   Be it known to all whom it may  concern, that having been inform-
ed that Col. William  Martin  has  been charged with exciting  the
spirit of mutiny and desertion'among a brigade of United States'  Vol-
unteers, under the  command  of General Jackson, on a campaign
against the Creek Indians in the vear eighteen hundred and thirteen,
and  being requested  by Col. Martin to state what 1 know touching
that subject, I do^certify, that 1 served  as second sergeant in Capt.
James M'Ferrin's company, of the second regiment in the aforesaid
brigade, and was with the regiment the whole of the time it was in
service, as well on  a  campaign to the lower country, as that against
the Creek Indians.   That while we were in the Creek nation, a dis- 
35
 pute arose between General Jackson and those men, on the subject of
 their term m service.  That  agreeably to their engagements they
 claimed the right to be discharsred on the 10th of December, eigh-
 teen hundre • ar.d th.rteen.  Thi* the General refused to grant, and
 sa.d they owed fo.-rorfive months longer service.  This declaration
 of the General  excited considerable discontent among the men.  In
 this state of things  Col. Martin, as I understood, espoused the right of
 the men in a written correspondence with the General.  About this
 time, an. i on tho night of the ninth  December, 1 think it was, we were
 ordered to para ie  near (he fort.   I was then unwell and did  not pa-
 rade, but wa« told that the General charged the men with being in a
 state of mutiny; but so far from this being the fact, a number of the
 men were asleep in their camps.  And further,  I neither saw nor
 heard  that night,  before nor after, any movement or  conversation
 among the men that had  the least appearance of mutiny.  That al-
 though the next day  was the time they claimed  to be  discharged,
 they  appeared  contented to continue  until reinforcements  should
 arrive, which the General said would be on in a short time;  and he
 also said, that when the reinforcements arrived, those who were dis-
 contented might go home.  During this whole affair, Col.  Martin
 conducted himself, so  far as  came within my knowledge, with pro-
 priety.  That so far from exciting mutiny, had there  have been
 a disposition among the men that way, his conduct was always such
 as would have suppressed it, being always prompt in enforcing sub-
 ordination and obedience.   He  was never  absent to my  knowledge
 except when on command.  His situation was near the  regiment, to
 which  he paid the  utmost attention, and was considered the  most
 attentive and the best officer  belonging  to the brigade.  I am very
 ceitain, from my constant intercourse among the men, that had there
 been any thing by the  Colonel hinted like mutiny, I would have heard
 something of it, which 1 never did.  Col. Martin  was considered to
 be a sharp and vigilant, but a faithful and humane officer.
  Given under mv  hand this seventeenth day of August, eighteen
hundred and twenty-eight.
                                              JOHN FARR.

                     CAPT. GLASSCOCK.
  As I  have been informed that C>1 William Martin has been charged
 with exciting mutiny and desertion among a brigade of United  States'
 Volunteers under the command of General  Jackson, on a campaign
 against the Creek Indians, in the year eighteen hundred aud thirteen,
 and Co'. Martin wishing me to slat*1 what J know on that subject, do
 certify, that I served  as a private in Cupt. James M'Ferrin's compa-
 ny  in the second regiment, commanded  by Col. Martin, of that bri-
 gade-  that I served a  tour to the lower country, and also a campaign
 against the Creek Indians, and was  at Fort Strother at the time
 when a difference occurred between General Jackson and the  volun-
 teers respecting their teim of service.   They conten-.led that their
 term of service  would  expire on the tenth December, eighteen hun- 
3(3
 dred and thirteen, being mustered into service the tenth  December,
 eighteen hundred and twelve.  This the General denied, and as wa?
 generally understood among the men, intended compelling them to
 serve four or five months longer.   This, consequently, caused dissen.
 tion* among: the  men. as they considered  their rights were withheld..
 A^out this time I was informed that a  written correspondence was
 carried on between the General and the Colonel, the latter of whom
 advocated the cause of the men.  After this. I think on the night  of
 the ninth of December,  the General paraded the brigade and charged
 them wth binng in a state of mutiny, which was the first intimation
 I  had  of any such  a disposition.   There  was,  as  before stated,
 dissatisfaction among the men; but nothing like the appearance of
 mutiny  ever came within my knowledge.  So far was  the conduct
 of tbe Colonel from exciting or encouraging any thing like mutiny or
 desertion, his conduct was always, and on all occasions, such  as to
 have suppressed  it.  And I do believe, that through his influence, the
 men were prevailed  on to  discharge their  duties more faithfully,
 than they would have done for any other officer in the brigade, being
 always prompt   in enforcing subordination  and discipline.  And it
 was generally understood, so far as my information extended, that it
 was through  his  influence the men were content to stay until a rein-
 forcement should arrive.
   Given under my hand this eighteenth August,  eighteen  hundred
 aud twenty-eight.
                                   MOSES II. GLASSCOCK.

                LIEUTENANT M'FERRIN. '
                  State  of Tknnessee, Rutherford Countv.
   Whereas 1 have been informed that Col. William Martin has been
 charged  with exciting the spirit of mutiny and desertion  among a
 brigade of United States' Volunteers, under the command of General
 Jackson, on a campaign against the Creek Indians, in the year eigh-
 teen hundred and thirteen, and Col. Martin, having applied to me to
 State what I know on this subject, and wishingjustice done to all men,
 do certify, that I served as second lieutenant in Capt. James M'Fer-
 rin's company, in the second regiment of that  brigade, which  regi-
 ment was commanded by Col. Martin a part of that campaign.   That
 during that campaign a dispute arose between the General and those
 men about their term  of  service, they contending that their time
 would expire on  the tenth of December, eighteen hundred and thir-
 teen, having been mustered into service on the tenth  of December,
 eighteen hundred and  twelve, but the General denied  this claim.
This produced considerable discontent among the  men.
   So far as I know or believe of Col. Martin, that he was  at all times
 true to his post as an  officer and a soldier, and appeared anxious that
the campaign should be prosecuted with great effect and vigor.   1
never knew Col  Martin to express any language  before  his troops
that had the least appearance of mutiny, and 1  never had any reason
to believe of the  Colonel  mysejfj  of his having any appearance of 
37
 mutiny or desertion, and  as far as I always saw or knew of him, he
 discharged his duty as an officer of his rank.
   Given under my hand this  nineteenth August, eighteen  hundred
 iftid twenty eight.
                                  B. L.  M'FERRIN, 2d Lieut.

                   MR. WILLIAM MFERRIN.
   w..             State of Tennessee, Rutherford Countv.
   Whereas Col Martin has requested me to say what I  know about
 his conduct, on the subject of the charge against him as mentioned in
 the  certificate of B L. M'Ferrin, of this date, which certificate 1 have-
 examined, I do therefore certify, that 1 served as a private in the
 company of Capt.  M'Ferrin, as mentioned in said  certificate, and
 was a witness to the  conduct of Colonel Martin during that whole
 campaign, and which is truly set forth by the said B. L. M'Ferrin, in
 his said certificate, and  I am certain that had Col. Martin have hinted
 any thing like mutiny among the men, 1 should have heard something
 about it, which 1 never did, as my  intercourse among the men was
 considerable.
   Given under my hand this nineteenth of August, eighteen hundred
 and twenty-eight.
                                      WILLIAM M'FERRIN.

                    WILSON CAGE, E?Q.
   thereby certify that I have  known Colonel William Martin*
 of Smith county, Tennessee, for upwards of forty years, have  lived
 a neighbor to  him about thirty, except the last four or five; that is
 the early settlement of this country,  when much harassed by, and
 exposed to the ravaging and blood-thirsty  Indians, he commanded a
 company of men sent here from  North Carolina, for the protection of
 the frontiers of this country, and that as  I have  been informed and
 believe, he discharged that perilous trust with the utmost vigilance,
 promptitude and  fidelity, and rendered  services to the then  infant
 settlements, of vital importance. That in the years eighteen  hun-
 dred and three and eighteen hundred and four, he served as a mem-
 ber in the legi-lature of this state; that in the same  year,  eighteen
 hundred and four, he was elected as an elector, to elect the president
©fthe  United States, and as I have ever understood, voted for Mr.
 Jefferson; and in the  same capacity in  the year eighteen  hundred
 and eight, voted  for Mr.  Madison for preside >t; that  in the  year
 eighteen hundred and seven, he served as one of the commissioners
 ofland claims, f»nd in  the  years eighteen  hundred  and twenty and
eighteen hundred and twenty two, in a similar appointment; that he
served for many years as a justice of the peace in .Smith county, and
a part of the time, as one of the court of quorum.  All of which trusts,
1 feel no hesitation in saying that I believe I am well assured (having
had the whole time an intimate acquaint ince with him)  Col. Martin
discharged with the utmost ability and fidelity.  And that in the year
eighteen hundred and  twelve, I  knew  no man interest himself half 
38
so much as Col. Martin, to induce men to enlist in the service of the
United States, and on all occasions to volunteer in the service of their
country; and that his  moral and religious character,  for the last
thirty or thirty five years, has been unimpeachable.
                                            WILSON CAGE.
  August 30, 1828.

                     MAJ. BLACKMORE.
                       Sumner County. Ten. August 30,  1828.
  Col.  William Martin: In answer to yours  of the  twenty-ninth,
♦iving me information of the slanderous and  opprcbious epithets ap-
plied to you by "A Volunteer," in the Nashville Republican,  I pro-
ceed without hesitation or ceremony to say, that forty  years ago, or
upwards, I became acquainted with you    You were at that time ap-
pointed to head a company of men stationed in the  neighborhood  of
Bledsoe's Lick, for the purpose of protecting the infant settlements,
then much  harassed by and exposed to  the murderous  tomahawk
and scalping knife of the savage Indians;  that during two years, the
period of your command, we lived together in the same fort; that on
several occasions, headed by you. we had skirmishes with the Indians,
in all of which you displayed the most cool and heroic  courage, and
on all occasions, you discharged the duties of that perilous trusty with
the utmost vigilance,  fidelity and  ability, and rendered  the  settle-
ments services of vital importance.  From that period you were for
several years absent.   After your return to and settlement in the
country, you served as a member in the state legislature, in the years
eighteen hundred :.nd  three and eighteen  hundred and four.   In the
same year, eighteen hundred and four, voted as elector, for Mr. Jef-
ferson for president; in eighteen hundred and eight for Mr. Madison,
in the same capacity.   In  eighteen hundred and seven, you served
as one of the commissioners for adjudicating land claims, and in eigh-
teen hundred and twenty, and eighteen hundred and twenty two, you
were employed in a similar trust.   In all these appointments, I ftel
no hesitation in  declaring that I  believe, and am well assured, you
discharged your duty, in all respects, with the utmost ability  and
fidelity; and that during our long and intimate  acquaintance, every
act of your life, both public and private, so far as I have observed, has
evinced the most scrupulous regard to truth, honesty and integrity.
I therefore confidently believe you deservedly stand above reproach
in any of the relations of life whatever.
                                GEORGE D. BLACKMORE.

                                   Nashville, June 22, 1829.
  Dear Sir: 1 have received your  letter of the eighteenth instant,
and conceive it due to  you to make a reply according to my recollec-
tion of the facts to which you refer.
  My acquaintance  commenced with you in  November, eighteen
hundred and twelve, the day on which the field officers of the old
volunteers were elected.  You were chosen major of the second  re- 
39
giment, and in that capacity served during the campaign of eighteen
hundred and twelve  and thirteen, to the lower  country.  My situa-
tion as brigade inspector, gave me a full opportunity of knowing the
manner in which all the field officers discharged  their duty, and  it is
doing you no more  than an act of  deserved  justice  to say,  that
throughout the campaign, no one manifested  more zeal, ability and
industry than yourself.  You were particularly attentive to  all the
duties incident to the police of  the camp, and to  the suppression of
those vices which are but too common  among soldiers when not em-
ployed on hard  service.   At  the commencement of the Creek  war,
you again took the field, and in the battle of Taladega,  I have plea-
sure in bearing testimony to the courage with  which you discharged
your duty during the whole of the engagement.  1 have never heard
your courage doubted, nor  do 1 think  that any  one who knows you
believes that you arein the slightest degree deficient in that essential
quality of a soldier.  At the time General Jackson marched the army
from Fort Strother to meet provisions, which were  expected to be
on the way from Fort Deposite, you  and a few others remained at
the former place, and labored with great industry to complete the
stockading of the fort.
  I must remark, that I have no  personal knowledge of the events
which transpired at  Fort Strother from the fourth of December,
eighteen hundred  and thirteen, until  the departure from that place
uf the old volunteers, having been sent by  General Jackson to Ten-
nessee to bring additional forces into the field.
  I will just add, that the duties of the civil stations you have filled
in Tennessee (so far  as I know,  or have ever heard) have been dis-
charged with ability and fidelity.*
       I am, dear sir, most respectfully, your obed't serv't,
                                           WM. CARROLL.
  Col. Wm. Martin,
     Smith County,  Tennessee.

  From this cloud  of witnesses  it  will be seen where the truth
lies, as respects the charge of mutiny  among the troops,  and of
my having partaken largely of it.   Hundreds  of others,  of like
character, might be added if necessary.   Several gentlemen of
distinction, whose  names, for the respect I have for them, I for-
bear to mention, have been applied to, but refuse to  respond.
Not but what  they f.could speak favorably of me,  but because
they did not like to displease General Jackson.  This conduct
in men having just claims to character, and pretentions to  high
and honorable sentiments,  carries with itself  its own comment
without any from me.   They were as much  involved  in the
charge of mutiny as I was,  with the difference only, that when
the brigade was paraded, on the night of the  ninth December,
as  explained in my former publication,  arid  charged by the
General with being in a state of nVitiny. I had the hardihood to 
40
 tell him, it was not true as respected the regiment I commanded,
 while they remained  mute.   And  that I did tell him so, and
 much more as connected with the dispute, is now recollected by
 General Hall and several others.  Yet, the Volunteer has said,
 that  on that night  I  cowered before the General.   This is as
 false  as a great deal more he has said about me;  for I have yet
 to learn how to cower before any man.  In collecting the above
 testimony,  I called on  those most convenient to me, having the
 best opportunity  of knowing the part I acted; and as the regi-
 ment I commanded  had been recruited entirely from the south-
 ern counties, and  the men of that regiment were the best judges
 of my conduct on  the occasion, it may be seen that most of the
 witnesses are from that quarter; and among the number, several
 non-commissioned officers and  privates.   These  I  have pro-
 cured, because if there had been tampering by me, they are the
 men who would have known it.
   The General, in his  letter to Mr.  Smith  as above, has been no
 less srlaring of his slander on the whole brigade, than on me, by
 saying they deserted the service of their country, &c, when it
 is a fact known to all,  that he did on the thirteenth of December,
 issue his order to General Hall to march the brigade to Nash-
 ville,  and that under that order, they did march as far as Fay-
 etteville, where, by an or.der from the Governor, they were dis-
 missed  until further  orders.  Thus, instead of deserting the
 service of their country, as the General said they had  done, they
 marched under a regular order from him, andjduring which they
 continued to maintain  that subordination  and temperance, for
 which they  were at all times so remarkable.  Nor is  it true, as
 the General says in his letter to Mr.  Smith, that Capt. William-
 son, of my regiment,  remained firm at his post, and  would not
 return with the troops, &c.; for he, Capt. Williamson, did re-
turn with the troops, and with the  rest  was dismissed at  Fay-
etteville.  These  facts are too notorious to require proof, which
might be had in abundance.   I am  now done with the contents
of the General's letter  to Mr. Smith, and will assign my reasons
(which are dqe to the  public) for not having noticed it  before,
and for my doing it now, to wit:  On  the appearance of that let-
ter, I  determined  to repel the slander it contained against me,
and for that purpose procured statements  from several  of the
officers now published, with others as above, as may be seen  by
their dates.  But  before I was fully  prepared,  the General was
called off to the Seminole war, in which, and the consequences
growing out of it,  he was long engaged.  Thus I thought it im-
proper to open the subject in his absence: this state of things
afforded time for the feelings which  had by that letter been exci-
ted to be in some measure alloyed: and on reflection concluded* 
41
that as there were* so many  men  in the country who kttew
the charge against me to be unfounded, it would die a natural
death, and / be saved the painful necessity of entering into so
disagreeable a Contest.  In this way has this matter rested, tintil
1
                                       ght be thought I  pos-
sessed, this story of mutiny, &c. has been revived in a more odi-
ous form, to wit:  " That I wanted to run away from the Creek
nation, but General Jackson would not let me."  When it came
to this, I determined to bear it no longer with impunity, there-
fore published  the statement of facts, which  appeared  in the
Banner of the  twenty-second July, as  before stated.  In that
publication I kept General Jackson as much out of view as the
nature of my defence would injustice to myself admit.  From
that consideration I made no mention of his famous letter to Mr.
Smith, nor should I now, but from the necessity imposed on me
by a Volunteer as above: and for the General, he may malce the
best of it he can.  I will now notice the only  suhject he has-at-
tempted to argue in favor of the General's violent attempt  to
deprive-these men of their rights, to wit: that he, the tieneral,
believed, and acted under the influence  ef that belief, that the
volunteers in question were bound by their engagement to serve
one complete jear out of two, or in other words, three hundred
and sixty-five days.  This argument is doing the  General but
little creditj for candor, if he knew the law ^which governed the
service, and he is certainly chargeable with negligence if he did
not.  For, in the act of Congress of the sixth of February, eigh-
teen hundred and twelve, regulating  the service of this descrip-
tion of troops, there is no ambiguity.  It requires only to be  read
to be understood.   The second section reads as follows: "that
any company, battalion, regiment, brigade or division, thus offer-
ing itself for the service, shall be liable  to be called on to do
military duty at any time the  President of the United  States
shall judge proper, within two years after he shall have accepted
the service, and shall be bound to continue in service  for the
term of twelve months, after they shall have arrived at the place
of rendezvous, unless sooner discharged.  Thus, it is evident, that
General Jackson  was either ignorant of the  provisions  of this
law  or disregarded them altogether.  In either case he is highly
culpable, more especially as its misapplication worked an injury
to others.  Had the Volunteer examined this law, it might have
saved him the labored effort to prove that the General's construc-
tion  was correct.   And as  he has admitted, that it wa3 in the
misconstruction of this law by me, that the whole crime of mutiny
consists, it is necessary to review the subject somewhat largely.
                               6 
42
  As stated in my publication referred to, those men were mus-
tered into service on the tenth of December, eighteen hundred
and twelve, for twelve months from  that  day, subject to the
contingency only of being sooner discharged, which  term would
of course expire on the tenth of December,  eighteen hundred
and thirteen.  The muster rolls were made out in this way, and
60 entered in all the company books, being  the only  written evi-
dence of their being bound for service at all.  Hence, there was
no doubt, nor could there be any on the subject.   In this way,
and this only, did they enlist, and continued in service until Gen.
Jackson received an order from the secretary of war as follows:
                       War  Department,  January 5,  1813.
  Sir:  The causes for embodying and marching to New-Orleans,
the corps under your command, having ceased to exist, you will, on
the receipt of this letter, consider it as dismissed from public service,
and take measures to have delivered over to Maj. Gen. Wilkinson,
all articles of public property  which  may  have  been put in its
possession.
                                    JOHN ARMSTRONG.
  To Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson, New-Orleans.
  This letter was received about  the fifteenth of March,  eigh-
teen hundred and thirteen, near Washington, Mississippi Terri-
tory; and on the twenty second  of the same month,  General
Jackson addressed the Secretary the following letter:
           Near Washington, Miss. Ter.  March 22, 1813.
  Sir:  My letter of the fifteenth instant, informed you that I had
received yours of  the fifth of  January, eighteen hundred and
thirteen.  I have now the  honor to inform you that I received
under  cover  from  Maj. Gen. Wilkinson, of date March the
eighth, your notification to him, without date, but post marked
February eighth, eighteen hundred and thirteen, which runs as
follows:
  Sir:  The militia force organized by Governor Blount, under com-
mand of General Jackson, expedited to New-Orleans early in last
month,  is discharged from further service.   The General is required
to have delivered over to your direction, such articles of public pro-
perty as may have been committed to it.
                                      JOHN ARMSTONG.
  Your notification to me,  received  as above, and having no
militia force organized under my command, places me in a deli-
cate situation.  I have the honor to command an organized vol-
unteer corps, enrolled and tendered to the  President of the Uni-
ted States, under the  act of February sixth, eighteen hundred
and twelve, and whose services, with my  own,  were accepted
and made known to me through Governor Blount, by the Presi-
dent, under date, War Department, July eleven, eighteen hun----- 
43
$down to a captain, have been commissioned by the Presideut of
  the United States, on the twenty-first  November, eighteen hun-
  dred and twelve, pursuant to his authority, under the act of
  Congress of  July sixth, eighteen hundred and  twelve; hence,
  the words of your notification to General Wilkinson, organized
  militia, cannot be applied  to the detachment under  my com-
  mand.   But from your communication to Governor Blount, Maj.
  Gen. Wilkinson,  and your unofficial note to me of January fifth,
  eighteen hundred and thirteen, I infer that the wishes of the
  government are, that the detachment under my command is to
  be discharged. I have therefore ordered their return to Nash-
  ville, Tennessee, there being no direction for the payment of the
  troops, or their supplies on their return home by you directed.
  From a perusal of the law  on the subject, I find I have b«en cor-
  rect on the subject, and anticipated the intentions of the govern-
  ment,  in ordering supplies of provisions and conveyance for the
  sick and their necessary baggage to Nashville, where they will
  be discharged.  The  law runs thus: " That whenever any officer
  or soldier shall  be  discharged  from  the service, he  shall be
  allowed his pay and rations, or an equivalent in money, for such
  term of time as  shall be sufficient for  him to travel from  the
  place of his discharge to the place of his residence, computing at
  the rate of twenty miles per day.  There being no direction to
  pay the troops here, no compensation  directed to be given them
  in lieu  of rations, I  have ordered the contractor and quarter-
  master, as you have been advised in mine of the fifteenth instant,
  to furnish the necessary  supplies for  my detachment on their
  return to Nashville.   I have been detained here since the eigh-
  teenth instant by the agents  of government.  But, in  justice
  to Mr.  Brandt, 1 would observe, that  every  exertion has been
  used on his part to expedite our departure.   I have, however,
  been notified, that the necessary supplies will be ready  by  the
  twenty-fifth  instant, when I shall  take up the line of march
  for Nashville, at which point, or some  other in the state of Ten-
  nessee, I hope they will be directed to be paid off, and the pay-
  master to be furnished with funds for that purpose.  I have a
  hope (although not ordered to a theatre of action) that  my de-
  tachment merits as much from government as the detached mi-
  litia from this territory,  who are ordered to be paid and dis-
  charged at Baton Rouge.  Your note of January fifth, eighteen
  hundred and thirteen, directing two  thousand well organized
  volunteers,  under the acts of sixth February and July sixth,
  eighteen  hundred and twelve,  to be dismissed without pay or a
  compensation for rations.   Is this your impartial rule? and this^
t^the reward to whom? Men  of the first  character, patriotism and
■^dred and twelve, and  all the  officers under  my command, 
44
 wea}th of the union, who left their comfortable homes and fami-
 lies for the tented field, to support the eagles oftheir country at
 any point ordered by the con:tituted authorities.
                                 ANDREW JACKSON.
   I have given this letter (as published in the  National Intelli-
 gencer of the fourteenth June, eighteen hundred and twenty
 eight,) entire, in order that it may be seen that no doubt rested
 on the mind of General Jackson,  that the government intended
 and had so  ordered this detachment  to be completely dis-
 charged; and that it had no further claims on its service,  pur-
 suant to its former tender.  The Secretary of War says in his
 order to General Jackson, (in speaking of the detachment) "you
 will, on the receipt of this letter, consider it as dismissed from
public service."   In that to General Wilkinson, " that the mili-
 tia force organized by Governor Blount, under command of Gen-
 Jackson, expedited to New-Orleans early in the last month, is
 discharged from further service."   I know not what stronger terms
 the Secretary of War could have used to have satisfied these
 two officers that  the government had no further use for, nor
 claims on the services of those men,  pursuant to their engage-
 ments, and that from that engagement, they were completely and
 fully absolved: and that General Jackson did so understand  it,
 is obvious from  his letter to the Secretary of War as above,
 for in that letter he recognizes the idea fully and unequivocally,
 frequently using the word discharge, as applying to  those men,
 and among others, that after a full view of the subject, (he con-
 tinues,) " / infer, that the wishes of the government are, that the
 detachment under  my command should  be discharged."   And
 again, " I find I was correct, and anticipated the intentions of the
 government in ordering supplies of provisions  and  conveyance
 for the  sick and their necessary baggage to Nashville, where
 they will be discharged."   And if further evidence to that point
 had been necessary, it was furnished by himself, on the day of
 discharge, by saying to Capt. Renshaw and Lieut.  Thompson,
 that the discharge was good and valid.  See their certificate  as
 contained in my publication of July last.   He speaks very pro-
 perly of the hardship of turning loose this body of men at such a
 distance from their homes, without the means of support,  &c.
 and brings to view the law providing for the comfortable return
 of such as are discharged at  distant points from their places  of
 residence, and analogizes those troops in this respect to regulars,
 showing clearly the uniform practice is, and always has been,
 that wherever a regular soldier may be, when the term for which
he enlisted expires, he receives a discharge from the officer com-
 mandant, with allowance  for his  return home, and the only dif-
 ference in this respect, between soldiers of the regular army 
45
and the corps of volunteers in question is, that theybrnwr sign, at
the time of enlistment, an article binding them to service for a
given time; and the latter, (with their assent,) are mustered into
service by companies collectively, and at the end of the service,
musteredout in the same way,with the addition of a discharge
to each individual; hence, it appears demonstratively, that Gen.
Jackson did understand that it was the intention and wish of the
government that these men were to be finally discharged; and
to this end did he  inarch them to Tennessee, then mustered
them (in due form) out of service, and gave to each non-commis-
sioned officer and private, a discharge in the following word3
and  figures:
   I certify, that A B enrolled himself as a volunteer, under the Acts
of Congress of February the 6th and July 6th, 1812, and that he has
served as such under my command on a tour to the Natchez country,
from the 10th of December, 1812,  to the  20th April, 1813, and is
hereby discharged.          ANDREW JACKSON, Maj.  Gm.
   And that this opinion was not confined to General Jackson and
the detachment he had  commanded,  is evident, from the fact
that several of the officers, viz: Colonel Bradley, Doctor Hogg,
Captain (now General) Gibbs,and Lieutenant Maury, as well as-
I now recollect, were all eLected, the ensuing summer, members
of the state legislature, took their seats, and served the whole
term, except the former, who left his seat and joined the army,
which marched soon after the meeting of that body, to which
appointment they would not have been eligible, unless the troops
they had commanded had been previously discharged.   But the
knowledge of this fact was so notorious, that no  objection was
made  to their  taking their seats.  So that when the General
issued his order in September following, for those men again to
take the field against the Creek Indians, there was a disinclina-
tion on their part to obey, considering themselves  as having been
discharged, and  fully absolved from their engagement  with the
government, alleging that it was exercising an undue authority
over them.  But through the influence of the officers, as ex-
plained in my former publication, the greater part was prev; led
upon to rejoin.tjjye^army.  Yet there were many individuals, of
individual companies, who persisted in their disobedience, be-
sides two entire companies, viz.: one which had, on the campaign
to the lower country, been commanded by Captain Cannon, of
Williamson county, the other by Captain Reynolds, of Maury,
which were altogether delinquent, although the General had de-
clired in hLs general order at Camp Blount, of the eighth Octo-
ber  ei"hteenTiundred and thirteen, that he would punish every
volunteer, who failed to appear,'as a deserter.  But this was not
done in any one instance, and why? for the best of all reasons,
because he knew he  had not the  legal power to coerce their 
46
 obedience, they having been discharged.  And notwithstanding
 all the evidence to the contrary, the General in his letter to me
 on the subject, as before published, of the sixth  of December
 eighteen hundred and thirteen, says it was not a discharge,  but
 a certificate of honorable service for a given time.  His words
 are,  "I marched my men to Columbia, where it was thought
 advisable to dismiss, not discharge your regiment, and surely it
 cannot be forgotten by any officer or soldier of that  regiment,
 what a sacred pledge they all gave before  they were dismissed,
 or had obtained my certificate, (which is now so strangely con-
 strued a discharge,) to obey the call of their government if it
 should resummon them  into service; but  for that pledge that
 certificate would  never have been  given.   Neither  can it be
 forgotten, I dare hope,  for what purpose that certificate  had
 been given.   It was to entitle these brave men, who had accom-
 panied me, to certain extra emoluments specified in the seventh
 section  of the act  under which  they had  engaged themselves,
 and which they were to enjoy, if not recalled into service,  the
 balance of the term, by order of government." Strange prevarica-
 tion!  infatuation! Hon contradictory and foreign from the truth;
 for in his letter to mcofthe bixth December, he said he had ne-
 Vo - deceived these men, nor would he then  deceive them.   Test
 this declaration by the facts, for if the discharge he had given them
 was not valid, he had deceived them into the belief (as above
 sho»i) that it  was so.  On  the other hand,  he  deceived  them
 into the belief, that it was not a valid one, and that the time and
 pay went on from the time they received  that discharge until
 recalled into service; and at last tried to deceive them into  the
 belief, that they were bound  to make up  all this intermediate
 time. Yet, after all, he says he never deceived them, nor would
 he then deceive them.  All these contradictions, he and his Vol-
 unteer may  reconcile in the best way they  can; as they may his
 reasoning in his letter to me about the certificate of service, &c.
 for every body in  the  least acquainted with military  affairs
 knows that pledges are never asked of soldiers legally  bound for
 service.   The idea \p preposterous, and shows  the  General's
 great deficiency in a knowledge of that  cammi on which his*'*****^
 great fame is built.   The fact is, there  never  was a pledge
 asked nor given.  That  as respects the extra emoluments spo-
 ken of, to  secure which,  this certificate should have been given,
 there were none due, which he well knew to be the fact, the men
 having previously received theirextrapay in  lieu  of clothing, as
 well as a  stand of  arms, as provided for  by  the  said seventh
 section of the Act of Congress as above.
  I have been thus full on the subject of this  discharge, because
Gen. Jackson has denied ever having given it; and because a
Voluntee rhas labored, at the expense of truth, to support him in 
47
the denial; and because he has  also" charged me with entrench-
ing myself behind the position, that if not discharged,  the men
were, during the time they were at  home, in service as to time.
Jf I ever did contend for this, it was on the authority of General
Jackson himself, as is set forth in a statement of facts, contained
in my publication of July last, and which is now well  recollected
by  General  Hall, that General Jackson did say  in  my pre-
sence, and that of General Hall and others, (after having receiv-
ed from the Sedretary of War, an informal notification that the
discharge was not complete) that in  that case, the men were still
in service,and entitled to pay for the whole time, all of which is
fully explained in the aforementioned statement of facts.  But
the Volunteer in referring to those facts says, that I  rely  on the
recollection of a few of my  friends.  I will tell him, that those
are not only my friends, but friends to truth, whose veracity will
not be called in question by any.  The most of them  are also
warm  friends to Gen. Jackson, and are no others than Gen. Hall,
Col. Bradley, now dead, Col. Lauderdale, Col. Douglass, Maj.
Alexander,  Maj. Humphreys and  Quartermaster  Alexander.
Now, if the testimony of these honorable men be not sufficient to
establish any fact, it is useless to produce evidence  in any case
whatever.  I will now remark,  that the  considerations  above,
led these men, or the most of them,  to wave the right they had
relied on of having been discharged, and to resume their station
in the  army, pursuant to the  General's order of September, eigh-
teen hundred and thirteen; but at the same time they contended,
that they could not under any fair construction of law, be con-
tinued beyond the tenth of December, eighteen  hundred  and
thirteen, which would complete  twelve m.mths from the ti».ie
they had been mustered into service.  This fact  was all along
known  to the  General, the correctness of which he had him-
self acknowledged to Capt. Caperton, Lieut. Doak,  and a num-
ber of others, a little before the said tenth of December, eigh-
teen hundred and thirteen.  See t^statement of Capt. Caper-
ton and others in  my publication reHk-ed to: to which publica-
tion I refer  the reader for a more tuTl exposition  of  the fact,
that those men were by law entitled to be  discharged on the
said tenth of December, eighteen hundred  and thirteen, the
sophistical reasoning of a Volunteer <   the  contrary  notwith-
standing.
  The apology I have for troubling the public with this lengthy
narrative, is to ward off the infamy  that Gen. Jackson and  his
Volunteer have endeavored to cast upon my  character.   To do
this, it has become  necessary  to  review the  whole gn.uud,
by which  it must appear (as I  think) to every unprejudiced
mind, that there was no foundation for the charge,  with  which
he has assailed me, to rest upon, except in  the imagination of the 
                           48

Oencral himself.  He said the men should not be discharged on
the tenth December, nor until they had completed one year's
actual service, regardless of the time they were at home under a
discharge by the proper authority. This produced great discon-
tent among them, and they pressed it on me as their immediate
commanding officer to bring their case before  the General, and
to urge their claims.  This I  thought it my duty to do, and this
I did, as may be seen in our correspondence, contained in  my
lata publication.  This, and this only, was  the consideration
which led me to interfere in the matter at all; for there was no
man there more willing and anxious to remain and prosecute the
campaign than I was, could I have done it on principles of pro-
priety and honor.  But such had been the rude manner in which
the General, without cause, had treated the whole brigade, that
no man whose mind was not prepared for unconditional  slavery,
would have continued of choice on the terms  he had proposed.
See his order of the  thireenth of December, published by his
biographer, and referred to by a Volunteer—his letter to me of
the sixth  December—his  vulgar and degrading abuse o*f  the
whole brigade on the night of the ninth December, as set forth
in that publication.  Under this continued abuse from day to day,
with all the opprobrious epithets calculated to insult the feelings
and wound the pride of honorable men, calling them mutineers,
deserters, cowards, &c. when they knew  themselves innocent,
and had never given.the slightest evidence of either,  no won-
der they availed themselves of the first legal permission to  leave
the control of a man who  had forfeited  their confidence, and
whose tenderest mercies  were  cruelties,  and that these  were
high-minded honorutde  men,  the General himself bears ample
testimony.   In his letter of the  twenty-second March, eighteen
hundred and thirteen, to the Secretary of War, when speaking
of those identical men, he says  " men of the first character, patriot-
ism and wealth'm the  Union, who left their comfortable homes
and families for the tented^ «'ld, to  support the eagles  of their
country, at  any point ordf ad by the constituted  authorities."
That the  General and hit,%-^grapher should have been so lost to
a sense of what was due to others as thus  to defame  such men,
not only  without, but in the very face of evidence,  is hard to
account for.   I am now done  with this  subject, and regret the
necessity which has imposed on me  its developement.   And if
the exposition of the foregoing truths should inflict a wound on
another, it is no fault of mine.   Let the  blame lest where it
ought.  1 have been driven to this course.  To relieve my char-
acter  from unmerited reproach, has been my sole object.  How
far I have succeeded is with the public  tojudge, and with them I
leave the decision.                  WILLIAM MARTIN.
  Dixon's Springs, January 25, 1829.