Battle of Horse Shoe Bend on March 27, 1814. In this bloody encounter, Jacksons forces slaughtered nearly eight hundred Indians, including many women and children. His soldiers made bridle reins from strips of skin taken from the corpses; they also cut off the tip of each dead Indians nose for body count.(Brinkley, 85) The Creeks were forced westward, off their homelands, and Jackson won a commission as major general in the United States Army.(Brinkley, 212) Andrew Jackson fueled his troops by describing the Native Americans as savage bloodhounds and blood thirsty barbarians.(Brinkley, 212) The General made every attempt to depict the Indians as the enemy, who should be suppressed for the benefit of the white man. After the triumph at Horse Shoe Bend, Jackson told his troops:The fiends of the Tallapoosa will no longer murder our women and children, or disturb the quiet of our borders . . . . They have disappeared from the face of the Earth. In their places a new generation will arise who will know their duties better . . . . How lamentable it is that the path to peace should lead through blood, and over the carcasses of the slain!! But it is in the dispensation of that providence, which inflicts partial evil to produce general good.(Takaki, 85-86)Jacksons euphemistic portrayal of the battle had strong influence upon his troops. It reflected the way that many white Americans viewed their relationship with the Native Americans. The United States took a somewhat imperialistic approach towards the Indians, making it their duty to civilize them.As the Americans push the Indians westward, people began to flow into the United States from Europe. One large group to immigrate to the New World were the Irish. The Irish were suffering from a problem not too different from the Native Americans situation. University of California, Berkeley professor Ronald Takaki states:The Irish viewed themselves as a people driven from their beloved ...
