The Beginner's American History Part 23

215. Tec.u.mseh and the Indians of Alabama; Tec.u.mseh threatens to stamp his foot on the ground; the earthquake; war begins.--We have already seen how the Indian chief Tec.u.mseh[10] went south to stir up the red men to make war on the white settlers in the west. In Alabama he told the Indians that if they fought they would gain a great victory. I see, said Tec.u.mseh to them, that you don't believe what I say, and that you don't mean to fight. Well, I am now going north to Detroit.

When I get there I shall stamp my foot on the ground, and shake down every wigwam you have. It so happened that, shortly after Tec.u.mseh had gone north, a sharp shock of earthquake was felt in Alabama, and the wigwams were actually shaken down by it. When the terrified Indians felt their houses falling to pieces, they ran out of them, shouting, "Tec.u.mseh has got to Detroit!"

These Indians now believed all that Tec.u.mseh had said; they began to attack the white people, and they killed a great number of them.

[Footnote 10: Tec.u.mseh: see paragraph 203.]

216. Jackson conquers the Indians; the "Holy Ground"; Weathersford and Jackson; feeding the starving.--General Jackson marched against the Indians and beat them in battle. The Indians that escaped fled to a place they called the "Holy Ground.", They believed that if a white man dared to set his foot on that ground he would be struck dead as if by a flash of lightning. General Jackson and his men marched on to the "Holy Ground," and the Indians found that unless they made peace they would be the ones who would be struck dead by his bullets.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GENERAL JACKSON AND THE INDIAN CHIEF.]

Not long after this, a noted leader of the Indians, named Weathersford, rode boldly up to Jackson's tent. "Kill him! kill him!"

cried Jackson's men; but the general asked Weathersford into his tent.

"You can kill me if you want to," said he to Jackson, "but I came to tell you that the Indian women and children are starving in the woods, and to ask you to help them, for they never did you any harm."

General Jackson sent away Weathersford in safety, and ordered that corn should be given to feed the starving women and children. That act showed that he was as merciful as he was brave.

217. The British send war-s.h.i.+ps to take New Orleans; the great battle and the great victory.--These things happened during our second war with England, or the War of 1812. About a year after Jackson's victory over the Indians the British sent an army in s.h.i.+ps to take New Orleans.

General Jackson now went to New Orleans, to prevent the enemy from getting possession of the city.

About four miles below the city, which stands on the Mississippi River,[11] there was a broad, deep ditch, running from the river into a swamp. Jackson saw that the British would have to cross that ditch when they marched against the city. For that reason he built a high bank on the upper side of the ditch, and placed cannon along the top of the bank.

Early on Sunday morning, January 8th, 1815, the British sent a rocket whizzing up into the sky; a few minutes afterward they sent up a second one. It was the signal that they were about to march to attack us.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS.]

Just before the fight began General Jackson walked along among his men, who were getting ready to defend the ditch. He said to them, "Stand to your guns; see that every shot tells: give it to them, boys!" The "boys" did give it to them. The British soldiers were brave men; they had been in many terrible battles, and they were not afraid to die. They fought desperately; they tried again and again to cross that ditch and climb the bank, but they could not do it. The fire of our guns cut them down just as a mower cuts down the tall grain with his scythe.[12] In less than half an hour the great battle was over; Jackson had won the victory and saved New Orleans. We lost only eight killed; the enemy lost over two thousand.[13] We have never had a battle since with England; it is to be hoped that we never shall have another, for two great nations[14] like England and America, that speak the same language, ought to be firm and true friends.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MONUMENT TO GENERAL JACKSON AT NEW ORLEANS.]

[Footnote 11: See map in paragraph 218.]

[Footnote 12: Scythe (sithe).]

[Footnote 13: Killed and wounded.]

[Footnote 14: Nations: a nation is a people born in the same country and living under the same government; as the American nation, the French nation, the English nation.]

218. We buy Florida; General Jackson made President of the United States; the first railroad.--After the battle of New Orleans General Jackson conquered the Indians in Florida, and in 1819 we bought that country of Spain, and so made the United States much larger on the south.[15] This was our second great land purchase.[16]

[Ill.u.s.tration: The light parts of this map show the extent of the United States in 1819, after we had bought and added Florida. The black and white bars in the northwest show that the owners.h.i.+p of the Oregon country was still in dispute between the United States and Great Britain.]

Ten years after we got Florida General Jackson became President of the United States. He had fought his way up. Here are the four steps: first the boy, "Andy Jackson"; then "Judge Jackson"; then "General Jackson"; last of all, "President Jackson."

Shortly after he became the chief ruler of the nation the first steam railroad in the United States was built (1830). From that time such roads kept creeping further and further west. The Indians had frightened the white settlers with their terrible war-whoop. Now it was their turn to be frightened, for the locomotive whistle[17] could beat their wildest yell. They saw that the white man was coming as fast as steam could carry him, and that he was determined to get possession of the whole land. The greater part of the Indians moved across the Mississippi; but the white man kept following them and following the buffalo further and further across the country, toward the Pacific Ocean; and the railroad followed in the white man's track.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE GREAT STEEL RAILROAD BRIDGE ACROSS THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AT ST. LOUIS. (Built by Captain Eads, and completed in 1874.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: NIAGARA SUSPENSION BRIDGE.]

[Footnote 15: See map in this paragraph.]

[Footnote 16: For our first land purchase see paragraph 188.]

[Footnote 17: The first steam railroad built in the United States extended from Baltimore to Ellicott's Mills, Maryland, a distance of twelve miles. It was opened in 1830. It forms a part of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.]

219. Summary.--Andrew Jackson of North Carolina gained a great victory over the Indians in Alabama and also in Florida. In 1815, in our second war with England, General Jackson whipped the British at New Orleans, and so prevented their getting possession of that city. A few years later we bought Florida of Spain.

After General Jackson became President of the United States the first steam-railroad was built in this country. Railroads helped to settle the west and build up states beyond the Mississippi.

Who fought the greatest battle of the War of 1812? Tell about Andrew Jackson's boyhood. Tell the story of the gun. Tell about Tarleton.

What did Mrs. Jackson do? What did Andrew do? What did Andrew use to do at the blacksmith shop?

Tell about Tarleton's men and the bees. What did bands of armed men use to do in the country where Andrew lived? Tell about playing at battle. What did Tarleton say? Tell about Andrew and the boots. Tell how he saw a battle through a knot-hole. Tell how Andrew's mother died. What did he say about her? Tell about Andrew Jackson as a judge.

Why was he made a general? Tell about Tec.u.mseh and the Alabama Indians.

After General Jackson had beaten the Indians, where did they go? What is said about the "Holy Ground." What about Jackson and Weathersford?

Tell about the great battle of New Orleans. Who gained the victory?

When did we buy Florida? What were the four steps in Andrew Jackson's life? What is said about railroads?

PROFESSOR MORSE (1791-1872).

220. How they sent the news of the completion of the Erie Ca.n.a.l to New York City; Franklin and Morse.--The Erie Ca.n.a.l, in the state of New York, connects the Hudson River at Albany with Lake Erie at Buffalo. It is the greatest work of the kind in America, and was completed many years ago. When the water was let into the ca.n.a.l from the lake, the news was flashed from Buffalo to New York City by a row of cannon, about five miles apart, which were fired as rapidly as possible one after the other. The first cannon was fired at Buffalo at ten o'clock in the morning; the last was fired at New York at half-past eleven. In an hour and a half the sound had travelled over five hundred miles. Everybody said that was wonderfully quick work; but to-day we could send the news in less than a minute. The man who found out how to do this was Samuel F. B. Morse.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HOW THEY FLASHED THE NEWS OF THE COMPLETION OF THE ERIE Ca.n.a.l IN 1825.]

We have seen how Benjamin Franklin[1] discovered, by means of his kite, that lightning and electricity are the same. Samuel Morse was born in Charlestown, Ma.s.sachusetts, about a mile from Franklin's birthplace, the year after that great man died. He began his work where Franklin left off. He said to himself, Dr. Franklin found out what lightning is; I will find out how to harness it and make it carry news and deliver messages.[2]

[Footnote 1: See paragraph 119.]

[Footnote 2: Messages: a message is any word sent by one person to another.]

221. Morse becomes a painter; what he thought might be done about sending messages.--When Samuel Morse was a little boy, he was fond of drawing pictures, particularly faces; if he could not get a pencil, he would scratch them with a pin on the furniture at school: the only pay he got for making such pictures was some smart raps from the teacher. After he became a man he learned to paint. At one time he lived in France with several other American artists. One day they were talking of how long it took to get letters from America, and they were wis.h.i.+ng the time could be shortened. Somebody spoke of how cannon had been used at the time of the opening of the Erie Ca.n.a.l.

Morse was familiar with all that; he had been educated at Yale College, and he knew that the sound of a gun will travel a mile while you are counting five; but quick as that is, he wanted to find something better and quicker still. He said, Why not try lightning or electricity? That will beat sound, for that will go more than a thousand miles while you are counting _one_.

222. What a telegraph[3] is; a wire telegraph; Professor Morse invents the electric telegraph.--Some time after that, Mr. Morse set sail for America. On the way across the Atlantic he was constantly talking about electricity and how a telegraph--that is, a machine which would write at a distance--might be invented. He thought about this so much that he could not sleep nights. At last he believed that he saw how he could make such a machine.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ONE KIND OF TELEGRAPH.]