Address to His Troops
Major-General Andrew Jackson

8 January 1815

While, by the blessing of heaven, one of the most brilliant victories was obtained by the troops under my immediate command, no words can express the mortification I felt, at witnessing the scene exhibited on the opposite bank. I will spare your feelings and my own, nor enter into detail on the subject. To all who reflect, it must be a source of eternal regret, that a few mements' exertion of that courage you certainly possess, was alone wanting, to have rendered your success more complete than that of your fellow citizens in this camp. To what cause was the abandonment of your lines owing? To fear? No! You are the countrymen, the friends, the brothers of those who have secured to themselves, by their courage, the gratitude of their country; who have been prodigal of their blood in its defence, and who are strangers to any other fear than disgrace. To disaffection to our glorious cause? No! My countrymen, your general does justice to the pure sentiments by which you are inspired. How then could brave men, firm in the cause in which they are enrolled, neglect their first duty, and abandon the post committed to their care? The want of discipline, the want of order, a total disregard to obedience, and a spirit of insubordination, not less destructive than cowardice itself, are the causes that led to this disaster, and they must be eradicated, or I must cease to command. I desire to be distinctly understood, that every breach of orders, all want of discipline, every inattention of duty, will be seriously and promptly punished; that the attentive officers, and good soldiers, may not be mentioned in the disgrace and danger, which the negligence of a few may produce. Soldiers! you want only the will, in order to emulate the glory of your fellow citizens on this bank of the river. You have the same motives for action; the same interest, the same country to protect; and you have an additional interest, from past events, to wipe off reproach, and show that you will not be inferior, in the day of trial, to any of your countrymen.

But remember! without obedience, without order, without discipline, all your efforts are vain. The brave man, inattentive to his duty, is worth little more to his country than the coward who deserts her in the hour of danger. Private opinions, as to the competency of officers, must not be indulged, and still less expressed; it is impossible that the measures of those who command should satisfy all who are bound to obey; and one of the most dangerous faults in a soldier, is a disposition to criticise and blame the orders and characters of his superiors. Soldiers! I know that many of you have done your duty; and I trust, in future, I shall have no reason to make any exception. Officers! I hve the fullest confidence that you will enforce obedience to your commands; but, above all, that by subordination in your different grades, you will set an example to your men; and that, hereafter, the army of the right will yield to none, in the essential qualities which characterize good soldiers;-that they will earn their share of those honours and rewards, which their country will prepare for its deliverers.

John Brannan, ed. Official Letters of the Military and Naval Officers of the United States During the War with Great Britain in the Years 1812, 13, 14, & 15 With Some Additional Letters and Documents Elucidating the History of that Period. (Washington: 1823), pp. 465-466.