andant. He was afterwards ordered to take
position midway between Augusta and Savannah. While he held this
position, a conspiracy was formed in the infantry to kill him in
his bed. A soldier named Davis, who waited in the commander's tent,
suspected that something was wrong. So he mingled among the men, and
applied many harsh epithets to Jackson. Thinking to make Davis useful to
them, the conspirators told him their plans, which he made haste to lay
before his superior officer. Shortly afterwards the infantry were drawn
up in line, and the ringleaders in the conspiracy arrested, tried, and
executed.
After the war the Legislature gave Davis a horse, saddle, and bridle,
and five hundred acres of land, as a reward for his fidelity.
Jackson was with General Wayne in his Georgia campaign, and was
intrusted by him with many hazardous duties. When Savannah surrendered,
General Wayne issued an order in which he said, "Lieutenant Colonel
Jackson, in consideration of his severe and fatiguing service in the
advance, is to receive the key of Savannah, and is allowed to enter the
western gate."
In 1786, Jackson was made brigadier general, and had command of the
forces operating against the Indians. Between 1788 and 1806 General
Jackson held almost every high office within the gift of the people of
the State,--member of the Legislature, governor when only thirty-one
years old, member of the first Congress held under the Federal
Constitution, member of the State Constitutional Convention,
presidential elector, and United States senator.
With General Jackson in many of his engagements was General Elijah
Clarke, who in many respects was the most remarkable soldier
that Georgia contributed to the War for Independence. With fairer
opportunities than he had, he would have made a great commander. He had
small knowledge of tactics, but he had what is better,--the skill to
take advantage of quickly passing events, and the coolness that made him
complete master of all his resources. He was a man of the most striking
characteristics, and he came out of the war with many bitter enemies
among those with whom he came in contact. This feeling was perpetuated
by the political campaigns in which his son, John Clarke, took part
after the war. A trace of this is to be seen in the sketch which
Governor Gilmer gives to Elijah Clarke in his curious book entitled
"Georgians." It is undoubtedly true that Elijah Clarke was ignorant of
what is called
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