the brave Wayne-" mad Anthony," as he | Maumee; Wayne's legion was Mrs. M Lavry solved, and a general savage confederacy formed against the United States. On the eighth of August, 1794, Wayne had reached the confluence of the Au Glaize and the Miamis of the lakes, without opposition. The richest and most extensive settlements of the western Indians were here. Halting at this place, a few days, the Americans threw up some works of defense. A fort had also been built on the St. Mary, twenty-four miles in advance of Fort Recovery. Unwilling to lose time, or to be in any way outwitted, Wayne moved forward on the fifteenth of August, and on the sixteenth met his messenger returning from the Indians, and bearing word from them, that, if the Americans would wait ten days at Glaize, they, the Indians, would decide for peace or war. Wayne's only notice of this evasive message was to march straight on, arriving, on the eighteenth, at the rapids; here they halted, and labored the next day in erecting works for the protection of their baggage. At eight, on the morning of the twentieth, the American army moved down the north bank of the on the right, its flank covered by the Maumee; one brigade of mounted volunteers was on the left, under Brigadier-General Todd; and the other was in the rear, under Brigadier-General Barbee. A selected battalion of mounted volunteers moved in front of the legion, commanded by Major Price, who was directed to keep sufficiently advanced, so as to give timely notice for the troops to form in case of action, it being yet undetermined whether the Indians would choose peace or war. Wayne says, in his official dispatch, that, after advancing about five miles, Major Price's corps received so severe a fire from the enemy, who were secreted in the woods and high grass, as to compel them to retreat. The legion was immediately formed into two lines, principally in a close thick wood, which extended for miles on the left, and for a very considerable distance in front; the ground was covered with old fallen timber, probably occasioned by a tornado, which rendered it impracticable for the cavalry to act with effect, and afforded the enemy the most favorable covert for their mode of warfare. The savages were formed in three lines, within supporting distance of each other, and extending for nearly two miles at right angles with the river. Wayne soon discovered, from the weight of the fire and the extent of their lines, that the enemy were in full force in front, in possession of their favorite ground, and endeavoring to turn the American left flank. He therefore gave orders for the second line to advance and support the first, and directed Major-General Scott to gain and turn the right flank of the savages, with the whole of the mounted volunteers, by a circuitous route; at the same time, the front line was ordered to advance and charge with trailed arms, and rouse the Indians from their coverts at the point of the bayonet, and when up to deliver a close and well-directed fire on their backs, followed by a brisk charge, so as not to give them time to load again. All these orders were obeyed with spirit and promptitude; but such was the im- | petuosity of the charge by the first line of infantry, that the Indians and Canadian militia and volunteers were driven from their coverts in so short a time, that, although every possible exertion was used. LITTLE TURTLE. by the officers of the second line of the legion, and by Generals Scott, Todd, and Barbee, of the mounted volunteers, to gain their proper positions, only a part of each could get up in season to participate in the action, the enemy being driven, in the course of one hour, more than two miles, through the thick woods, by less than onehalf their numbers. Thus did this powerful horde of savages, who had assumed to dictate terms and throw down the gauntlet to the American nation, abandon themselves to flight, and flee in terror and dismay, before Wayne and his victorious army. They were compelled to sue for peace on the conqueror's own terms; their 7 confederacy was shattered into fragments; their power was forever annihilated. On the return of Wayne to Philadelphia, then the nation's capital, there was a cessation of all business, as on some great holiday; the military turned out in legions to meet him; the bells rang out their merriest peals, cannon boomed from every hill-top, and the plaudits of the multitude attended him at every step. General Harrison's defeat of the Indians under Tecumseh, at Tippecanoe, in 1811, was another victory. of similar brilliancy and importance, deserving of mention here. It only remains to add to this chapter, General Jackson's crowning achievement in the work of grinding to powder the military prestige of the Indian race in North America. The Creeks and Seminoles had long disputed the intrusion of the white race, and, though dreadfully cut to pieces in the battles of Talluschatches, Talladega, Emuckfaw, Enotochopco, and others, determined to make one more great and final struggle in the field. Accordingly, with consummate sagacity and skill, they selected a position at the great bend of the Tallapoosa, called by them Tohopeka, and by the whites Horseshoe Bend. Here, strongly fortified, were collected together the proudest, fiercest, most victorious warriors, of all that race and region. On the 27th of March, 1814, Jackson advanced and attacked them with tremendous energy, the troops leaping over the walls of the fort, and engaging in a hand-to-hand combat with the savages, the latter fighting with characteristic fury and desperation. Of the nine hundred warriors,-the flower of their tribes,-who defended the fort, seven hundred and fifty were killed or drowned; for, seeing no chance of escape, and scorning to surrender, they fought with bloody energy until nearly all were slain. XI. WHITNEY'S EXTRAORDINARY COTTON-GIN INVEN TION.-1793. Amazing Impetus Given to the Culture, Uses and Consumption of Cotton.-Revolution in the Industrial Prospects and Political Power of the South.-How Cotton Became "King."-Its Relation to the Great Themes and Events in American History.-Ingratitude to Whitney.-His Brilliant Change of Fortune in Another Sphere.-Whitney's Obscure Circumstances.-His Early Mechanical Genius. -Determined to Get an Education.-Goes to the South as a Teacher.-Change of Pursuits -Befriended by General Greene's Widow.-Amateur Inventive Efforts.-Low State of Southern In the United States, in an industrial point of view, and, indeed, revolutionized, by an extraordinary impetus, the manufactures and commerce of the world. It may be regarded, in a word, as the first key which was applied to the unlocking of those wondrous natural capabilities of the new-born republic, the continued development of which has given her such a foremost place, in respect to material and political power, among the nations of the earth. So direct is its identity with the facts and causes which have led to the country's prodigious progress during the hundred years of its national history, that he who would trace to their primary source-with even ordinary philosophical acuteness of judgment-those momentous events, whether material, political, military, or social, which have distinguished the greater part of that century, may well pause longest and take his latitude at this point. Such, indeed, is the great national consequence accorded by historians to this machine, that, of 6 the thousands upon thousands of inventions and discoveries recorded in the patent office at Washington, many of them, of course, of almost incalculable value, only some half a dozen, or less, are comprised in the chronology of important dates,' in the New American Cyclopedia, that marvelous portrayal of man and civilization during the known ages. First among the triumphs of Amerthe triumphs of American ingenuity thus made conspicuously historical, is the invention and introduction of the cotton-gin, in 1793, which is the subject of this article. That it should have a place among the few of its kind capable of coming within the plan and scope of this volume, will be at once apparent. Before entering into the more elaborate details pertaining to this remarkable machine and its bearing upon American industry and commerce, it may be useful to give, in the first place, a sketch in brief of the career of Eli Whitney, whose genius gave to his country, and to mankind, this great boon. At an early age, he gave indications of that mechanical and inventive talent, for which he was afterwards so greatly celebrated. His father was farmer in Westborough, Massachusetts, a village where only the ordinary advantages of a common-school education were available. But Mr. Whitney was desirous of the benefits of a more complete course of instruction, and at the age of twenty-three entered the college in New Haven. He received the honors of this institution in 1792, and soon after went to Georgia, in the expectation of opening a private school, and devoting himself to that profession. In this expectation he was disappointed, for, on arriving at the place of his destination, he was informed that another tutor was already filling the station he expected to occupy. course of studies preparatory to entering the legal profession. This most favorable offer, so timely in view of his shattered health and scanty means, he gratefully availed himself of. It was on the occasion of a social gathering of some neighbors and others, one afternoon, at the residence of Mrs. Greene, -a party including several planters of distinction, a few of whom had served as officers under General Greene's command, that Whitney first resolved to rouse his genius to its utmost accomplishment. Among other remarks made by the gentlemen present, on the occasion referred to, was one in regard to the depressed condition of the agricultural interests of Georgia, namely, that since all the lands in that region, not suitable for the cultivation. of rice, were eminently favorable for the production of heavy cotton-crops, it was exceedingly to be regretted that no means existed of cleansing the green seed-cotton, or of separating it from its seed, in a manner sufficiently thorough to make it profitable,-it being almost useless, in the absence of such a method or contrivance, to undertake to grow cotton-crops for sale, because only a pound of this green seedcotton could be cleaned and made merchantable, per day, by a single laborer, and the price obtainable for it, when thus prepared, was but a few cents per pound. In response to these suggestions, Mrs. Greene, with true womanly perceptions, and knowing Whitney's ingenious turn of mind in the sphere of mechanics, naively remarked, "Well, gentlemen, apply to my young friend, Mr. Whitney,—he can make anything;" and, suiting the action to the word, she led them into the room where her tambour or embroidery-frame was kept, together with some other ingenious contrivances, and exhibited them to the company as evidences of Whitney's sin Having traveled from the north, to Sa-gular skill. On being introduced to these vannah, in company with Mrs. Greene, the widow of the revolutionary general and hero of that name, he received from that lady a courteous invitation to make her house his home, while engaged in his gentlemen, and entering into conversation with them on the subject, Mr. Whitney was obliged to inform them that he had never seen cotton nor cotton-seed in his life! |