National Mood

President Jackson was growing impatient -- not just with his generals, but with the timid citizens of Florida. He vented his wrath on the territory's delegate, Joseph White, telling him to, "Let the damned cowards [of Florida] defend their country." According to White, the President vowed,

"[T]hat he could take fifty women, and whip every Indian that had ever crossed the Suwannee, and that the [men] of Florida … had better run off or let the Indians shoot them, that the women might get husbands of courage, and breed up men who would defend the country."