FRONTIERSMAN AND SOLDIER 231 



disputed land claims, or simple cases of assault and 

 battery. Court day was a great occasion in that wild 

 community, bringing crowds of men into the county 

 town to exchange gossip, discuss politics, drink 

 whiskey, and break heads. Probably each court day 

 produced as many new cases as it settled. Amid such 

 a turbulent population the public prosecutor must 

 needs be a man of nerve and resource. Jackson 

 proved himself quite equal to the task of introducing 

 law and order, in so far as it depended on him. " Just 

 inform Mr. Jackson," said Governor Blount, when 

 sundry malfeasances were reported to him ; " he will be 

 sure to do his duty, and the offenders will be punished." 

 Besides the lawlessness of the white pioneer popula- 

 tion, there was the enmity of the Indians to be reckoned 

 with. In the immediate neighbourhood of Nashville 

 the Indians murdered on the average one person every 

 ten days. From 1788 to 1795 Jackson performed the 

 journey of nearly two hundred miles between Nash- 

 ville and Jonesboro twenty-two times ; and on these 

 occasions there were many alarms from Indians which 

 sometimes grew into quite a forest campaign. In one 

 of these affairs, having nearly lost his life in an adven- 

 turous feat, Jackson is said to have made the charac- 

 teristic remark, " A miss is as good as a mile ; you see 

 how near a man can graze danger." It was this wild 

 experience that prepared the way for Jackson's emi- 

 nence as an Indian fighter. In the autumn of 1794 

 the Cherokees were so thoroughly punished by General 

 Robertson's famous Nickajack expedition that hence- 

 forth they thought it best to leave the Tennessee 

 settlements in peace. With the rapid increase of the 

 white population which soon followed, the community 



