During the summer it became evident that the British were preparing an expedition against Mobile and New Orleans, and Jackson was placed in command of the whole southwest, with instructions to defend that part of the country.

This was all very well, and very wise, too, for there was no man in the country who was fitter than he for the kind of work he was thus called on to do; but there was one very serious obstacle in his way.

He had his commission; he had full authority to conduct the campaign; he had everything in fact except an army, and it does not require a very shrewd person to guess that an army is a rather important part of a general's outfit for defending a large territory.

He called for volunteers and accepted any kind that came.

He even published a special address to the free negroes within the threatened district and asked them to become soldiers, a thing that nobody had ever thought of before.
The boys in the southwest were strong, hearty fellows, used to the woods, accustomed to hardship and not afraid of danger.