ravery or daring that their fathers have done.

_CHAPTER XI._

The incident recorded in the preceding chapter occurred in June, 1827,
and in the autumn of the same year two companies of our command were
ordered to Prairie du Chien to strengthen the garrison there, in
anticipation of trouble with the Indians. One of these was Company
"C", commanded by our father; the other company was in command of
Captain Scott.

We had become so attached to a home so filled with peculiar and very
tender associations that our hearts were sad indeed when we bade "good
bye" to all, and from the deck of the steamer took our last look at
the beloved fort where we had lived so many years. In later years when
passing the spot where we bade farewell to the flag which floated over
headquarters on that bright morning long ago, I involuntarily look up
at the beautiful banner still waving there, and a tender, reverential
awe steals over me, as when standing by the grave of a friend long
buried.

We had hardly been a year at Fort Crawford when my father was detailed
on recruiting service, and ordered to Nashville, Tennessee. This was
in 1828, memorable as the year of the presidential campaign which
resulted in the election to that high office of General Andrew
Jackson. When our friend Mr. Parton was writing his "Life of
Jackson," I gave him, at his request, my impressions as a child, of
the great man, with whom we were daily and intimately associated, and
now transfer those impressions from that great work, "Parton's Life of
Jackson," to the pages of this unpretentious record of past times.

At the time referred to, our family boarded at the "Nashville Inn,"
kept by a Mr. Edmonson, the home of all the military officers whom
duty or pleasure called to Nashville. It had also been for a long time
the stopping place of General Jackson and his wife, whenever they left
their beloved "Hermitage" for a temporary sojourn in the city. Eating
at the same table with persons who attracted so much attention, and
meeting them familiarly in the public and private sitting rooms of the
hotel, I of course felt well acquainted with them, and my
recollections of them are very vivid even now. The General's
appearance has been so often and correctly described that it would
seem almost unnecessary to touch upon it here; but it will do no harm
to give my impressions of him.

Picture to yourself a military-looking man, above the ordinary height,
dressed plai