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[A] Page 138. The following Extract from the Journal
of a Friend, who has lately travelled through the principal
parts of the United States, will probably be found interesting,
as it tends to throw some degree of light onthe sentiments of
the Indians ; of which the little that is known, has hitherto
never been well elucidated.
" One of my fellow passengers was a settler in the new
state of Tenessee, who had come to Charleston with Horses
for sale, and was going to Baltimore and Philadelphia for the
purpose of investing his money in an assortment of goods
suited to the western country. The ideas of civilized and
savage life were so curiously blended in this man, that his
conversation afforded me considerable amusement. Under
the garb and appearance of a methodist preacher, I found
him a hunter and a warrior ; with no small portion of the
adventurous spirit proper to both those characters. He had
served as a militia-man or volunteer under General Jackson,
in his memorable campaign against the Creek Indians in
1813; and he related to me some interesting particulars of
theprincipal and final action which decided the fate of the
war. The Indians had posted themselves at a place called,
in their language, Talapoosie, and by the Americans, the.
Horse-shoe ; a position of great natural strength, the advan-.
tages of which they had improved to the best of their skill, by
a breast-work seven feet high, extending across the neck of
land which formed the only approach to their encampment.
This seems to have been viewed by the Creeks themselves as
the last. stand of their nation; for, contrary to the usual
practice of the Indians, they made every preparation for
defence, but none for retreat. Their resistance was propor-,
tionably desperate and bloody. For several hours they sup-
ported a continued fire of musketry and cannon without
shrinking till at length the American General, linding that