Page:Life and Select Literary Remains of Sam Houston of Texas (1884).djvu/35

Rh Gen. Houston, the hero of San Jacinto, to see the victor at New Orleans become the victor over man's last enemy.

The day after the battle of Tohopeka the young officer was placed on a litter with others wounded, and started for Fort William, sixty or seventy miles distant. Neglected and exposed, suspended between life and death, he remained here for a considerable time. The other regular officers were all removed to Fort Jackson or the Hickory Ground. A part of the time he was cared for by Gen. Johnson, father of Cave Johnson, Postmaster-General under President Polk. Another part of the time he was taken care of by Col. Cheatham, and at length he was taken to the Ten Islands. Gen. Dougherty, who commanded the brigade from East Tennessee, conveyed him from the Ten Islands through the Cherokee Nation to his mother's house in Blount County, Tennessee, which he reached in the latter part of May, nearly two months after the battle of the Horseshoe Bend. This long journey was made on a litter borne on horses, while helpless and enduring excruciating agony. He was destitute of medical aid, had not the simplest remedies capable of alleviating his sufferings, and subsisting on the coarsest diet. Through forests, compelled to camp out, and often without any shelter, his toilsome journey was made to his mother's home. His recovery was expected by no one. So much like a skeleton was he that when he reached his mother's home she declared that she would not have recognized him as her son, except for his eyes, "which retained something of their wonted expression." Failing to recover strength at home with his mother, he repaired to Marysville for medical aid. His health continuing to decline at Marysville, he went to Knoxville, sixteen miles eastward. He was in so low a state that the physician to whom he applied refused to take charge of him, saying that he would live only a few days. But when, after a few days, the physician observed that he not only survived, but was somewhat improving, he offered his services. From this time he began slowly to recover, and when strong enough to ride on horseback he set out by short journeys for the city of Washington. Shortly after the burning of the Capitol he reached the seat of Government. Indignant because of the ruin wrought by the British army, he experienced bitter pangs of regret that his right arm should be disabled while a foe was prowling through the country. Suffering still from festering wounds, and as the winter advanced, he travelled to Lexington, Va., and remained till the early spring. Having sufficiently recuperated his strength to be able to do duty in some situations, he prepared again to cross the mountains. Reaching Knoxville, on his way to report himself for duty, he received the glorious news of the battle of New Orleans. Peace was soon proclaimed; he was placed near Knoxville at the