Louisiana and Aaron Burr 281 



ters were often called, in derision, cornstalk drills, 

 because many of the men, either having no guns 

 or neglecting to bring them, drilled with cornstalks 

 instead. The officers were elected by the men and 

 when there was no immediate danger of war they 

 were chosen purely for their social qualities. For a 

 few years after the close of the long Indian strug- 

 gle there were here and there officers who had seen 

 actual service and who knew the rudiments of drill ; 

 but in the days of peace the men who had taken 

 part in Indian fighting cared but little to attend the 

 musters, and left them more and more to be turned 

 into mere scenes of horseplay. 



The frontier people of the second generation in 

 the West thus had no military training whatever, 

 and though they possessed a skeleton militia or- 

 ganization, they derived no benefit from it, because 

 their officers were worthless, and the men had no 

 idea of practicing self-restraint or of obeying orders 

 longer than they saw fit. The frontiersmen were 

 personally brave, but their courage was entirely un- 

 trained, and being unsupported by discipline, they 

 were sure to be disheartened at a repulse, to be dis- 

 trustful of themselves and their leaders, and to be 

 unwilling to persevere in the face of danger and 

 discouragement. They were hardy, and physically 

 strong, and they were good marksmen ; but here the 

 list of their soldierly qualities was exhausted. They 

 had to be put through a severe course of training 

 by some man like Jackson before they became fit 

 to contend on equal terms with regulars in the open 



