Civil War Articles by Julian WilliamsCoffees & Crockett See Andrew Jackson With Different Eyes
This article was compiled by Julian Williams.
Last week we began looking at the lives of two men - General John R. Coffee of Tennessee (later Alabama) and General John E. Coffee of Jacksonville, Georgia. Not only did these first cousins touch the lives of each other but they came into frequent and significant contact with two other famous persons - Andrew Jackson and David Crockett. David Crockett would later be referred to as "Davy Crockett - King of the Wild Frontier." He was that - and much more.
Continuing to untangle the two Coffees, we find the writings of one man who said that both Coffees did indeed fight with Old Hickory (Jackson) at the famous Battle of New Orleans in 1815 but that General Coffee of Georgia was there as a thirty-two year-old major in the Georgia militia and his forty-two year-old cousin from Tennessee was there as a brigadier general, coming again with his fearless horsemen to ensure yet another victory for his friend and kinsman, General Andrew Jackson. The Battle of New Orleans helped to crown Old Hickory as a hero of the nation. But was he?
Andrew Jackson was a complex man and no one, unless it was Tennessee John Coffee, ever knew what he was thinking or what he might do next.
At the outset, Davy Crockett, like Jackson, growing up in the hard and crude environment of the frontier, sided with the future President. He saw in him the courage and aggressiveness of a grizzly bear and the benevolence of a loving and caring father but he also saw in him things that would undeniably and inevitably split this friendship wide open and cause a great chasm between the men which could not be bridged.
As David Crockett fought alongside General Tennessee John Coffee and Andrew Jackson he found out quickly that both men were hard-headed. That was a characteristic he also noticed somewhat in himself. He knew at some point it would have to be decided whose heads were the hardest.
Davy's attitudes on the Indians were changing. He thought many times of how his grandfather and many of his family were slaughtered by the savages. But he also remembered how some kind and peaceful Indians saved his life when he was very sick. Weighing these experiences he came to believe that each person, no matter his tribe or affiliation with the human race, should be weighed on his own individual merits. He regretted the time in Alabama when he and the rest of Coffee's men had "shot the Indians like dogs."
As he looked at his commander, Andrew Jackson, in 1813, just after the terrible Ft. Mims, Alabama, massacre, he again wondered what made the man tick. Here was a shot-up, ailing, decrepit "old" man (much mileage, not age), a fine candidate for extreme unction, barely able to get out of bed, having been severely wounded by the Benton brothers in a brawl, propped up against a sapling, coughing orders from his sickly 110-pound frame - what was left of it. His left arm was in a sling but in that personality was a ton of fight and fire. As T-Model Ford mechanic Starr Smith of Jacksonville, Georgia, used to say: "There is enough fire in it (him) to burn a wet mule." His will and determination were inestimable. David Crockett marveled. John Coffee understood. He knew the man Jackson - or thought he did.
And Crockett looked at him again, with his army of worn out, hungry and tired volunteers, wanting to go home because their enlistments had expired. They were free to go. But there was a catch. Andrew Jackson stood in their path with a musket and vowed to personally kill the first man who tried to "desert." There was silence; then a horse stamped - and someone coughed - and the soldiers drifted back to their posts. That is one version of what happened.
But here is Davy Crockett's version:
"The General refused to let us go. We were, however, determined to go. With this, the General issued his orders against it. We began to fix for a start. The General went and placed his cannon on a bridge we had to cross, and ordered out his regulars and drafted men to prevent our crossing. But when the militia started to guard the bridge, they would holler back to us to bring their knapsacks along when we came; for they wanted to go as bad as we did. We got ready, and moved on till we came near the bridge, where the General's men were all strung along on both sides. But we all had our flints ready picked and our guns ready primed, that, if we were fired on, we might fight our way through, or all die together.
When we came still nearer the bridge we heard the guards cocking their guns, and we did the same. But we marched boldly on, and not a gun was fired, nor a life lost. When we had passed, no further attempt was made to stop us. We went on, and near Huntsville we met a reinforcement who were going on to join the army. It consisted of a regiment of sixty-day volunteers. We got home pretty safely, and in a short time we had procured fresh horses, and a supply of clothing better suited for the season."
At first glance, the above passage might seem to be a bit of boasting. But at second glance, considering the author was the same man who defended The Alamo until his last breath was gone, the story gains a considerable amount of credibility. Davy Crockett was also a hard-headed man.
But he still wondered what made General Jackson tick. After one terrible fight there were dead Indians all around. General Coffee sent the Indian women and children to Jackson's camp where they could be safely held (those who were still alive).
Arriving at camp, John Coffee found Jackson on his cot, barely able to move because of pain. But when Jackson spied a little Indian baby who had clung to its dead mother's breast, he asked that the tiny boy baby be fed. He asked some of the captive Indian women to give nourishment.
The Indians replied: " No, all his family are dead, kill him too."
All his family are dead! The cruel and touching words tore at the old soldier's heart, notwithstanding that it could be very hard at times. John Coffee and those around the old general could see his slender body stiffen and his eyes moist over. All his family are dead! - his own experience when British soldiers slashed him with a sword and he barely survived. But his brothers, his mother, and other kin did not survive. He was left an orphan. No family left! All his family are dead!
The gaunt, drawn, hard Scotch-Irish face turned to John Coffee and said, "Bring him to my tent."
"When I (John Coffee) had washed the child up and carried him in, Jackson was down on his knees, rummaging through the pathetic little pile of stores he had. Then he came up with a paper sack of brown sugar, and this he mixed with warm water and took the baby on his lap. He sat there like Achilles in his tent, surrounded by rifles and bullets and swords, and he would dip the fingers of his good hand into the brown sugar and let the baby suck from his fingers.
Lyncoya he named him, and sent him home to Rachel, where they quietly adopted him."
Davy Crockett loaded his long rifle and gave the pair a quizzical look. Not only could he not figure out Andrew Jackson but he didn't know what to make of John Coffee, either. And he certainly wouldn't have believed it at the time if someone had told him there was going to be another John Coffee in his life. General John Coffee from Jacksonville, Georgia, father-in-law of general-to-be Mark Lea Willcox. Great sakes - he had too many generals in his life already!
Credits:
C.T. (Chris) Trowell for info on General John E. Coffee and General John R. Coffee; Max Byrd for "Jackson";
John S.C. Abbott for Davy Crockett: His Life and Adventures;
Ann Carswell for letters of and notes on Gen. Mark Willcox;
The Coffees (Internet);
Willcox Family History by Martha Albertson;
Telfair History (1807-1987);
info furnished by Gertrude Wilcox Williams and Diane Williams Rogers and others.
