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342 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS
space of time I collected 160 men, chiefly volunteers, and proceeded to-, the place
•where Colonel Barber had been attacked. There I found the bodies of the three
men mentioned above, mangled in a shocking manner, and after burying them I
proceeded on the trail of the murderers as far as the south fork of the Ocmulgee
where, finding that 'I had no chance of overtaking them, I left it and went up the
river till I met with a fresh trail of Indians, coming toward our frontier settlement.
I immediately turned and followed the trail until the morning of the 21st, between
II and 12 o'clock, when I came up with them. They had just crossed a branch called
Jack's Creek, through a thick crane-brake, and were encamped and cooking upon an
eminence. My force then consisted of 130 men, 30 having been sent back on account
of horses being' tired or stolen. I drew up my men in three divisions: the right
commanded by Colonel Freeman, the left by Major Clarke, and the middle by myself.
Colonel Freeman and Major Clarke were ordered to surround and charge the Indians,
which they did with such dexterity and spirit that they immediately drove them from
the encampment into1 the cane-brake, where, finding it impossible for them to escape,
they obstinately returned our fire until half past four o'clock, when they ceased,
except now and then a shot. During the latter part of the action, they seized every
opportunity of escaping in small parties, leaving the rest to shift for themselves.''
White states that in this engagement there were not less than 800 Indians. They
were commanded by Alexander McGillivray, a famous half-breed.
Col. Absalom H. Chappell, in discussing General Clarke's account of the battle,
makes this comment. Says he: " It is striking to read his report of this battle to
Gov. Mathews. No mention is made in it of his having a son in the battle, though
with a just paternal pride, commingled with a proper delicacy, he emphasizes together
the gallant conduct of Colonel Freeman and Major Clarke, and baptizes the hitherto
nameless stream on which the battle was fought, by simply saying that it was called
Jack's Creek—a name then but justly bestowed by admiring comrades in arms in
compliment to the General's youthful son on this occasion. Long after the youth
had ceased to be young and the frosts of winter had gathered upon his warlike and
lofty brow, thousands and thousands of Georgians used still to repeat the name of
Jack Clarke, without prefix of either Governor or General and to remember him
too as the hero of the well-fought battle of Jack's Creek.''—'' Georgia's Landmarks,
Memorials and Legends," L. L. Knight, Vol. I.