New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1854-03-29
The gattle Il New Orleans. +

The Batse Of New Orleans.
We have recently given extracts from the
narrative of German merchant, Mr.. EoIte.
entitled " Fifty Years in Both Hemispheress
We find condensed in d review in Blacksood.
Magazine the following interesting personal &C
count of the battle of New Orleans. Some al
1owance, however. must be made for the exag
gerations and preju9jes Of the British reviewer
when speaking of Gsaeral jackson and this
country. The statements, it will be seen, pui
at rest the vexed question concerning the cotton
bags:
An attack was expected from the English and
General jackson made his appearance at NewOr.
leans with fifteen hundredm the most efficient
among whom were five hundred rifemen VIII,
had served with jackson In the Indian war, and
were known as Coffee's brigade, from their CON.
mander's name. These were the fellows wh.
picked off the British officers from behind TN,
cotton bale barricades, of which the material
proceeded from Mr.. Nolte's stores Trained j,
repeated encounters with the savages, they
were the sort of men Sealsfeld has 50 vivid,
painted totally ignorant of military organiza
tion and discipline, but inaccessible to fear
perfectly cool in danger, Of great presence Of
mind and personal resource, and, above all, un,
erring marksmen. Mr.. Nolte, although his stiff
| arm exempted him from service, did not choose
to see his friends 60 ont to fight and himself re
| main behnd-the less so that he was alread,
suspected Of fpartiality to the English-and b,
joined the light company of battalion ofmilitia
several of whose officers had served under Ma
| poleon According to Nj Nolte's account,
jackson, clustering, presumptuous, and over
weeningly self confident, would have led his
militia and irregulars to certain, destruction
the hands of the well-drilled British troeps bus
| for the advice given him by Livingston, wh,
acted as one of his aides de. camp, to consult !,
! French emigrant major named St. Gene, VIII,
| had formerly been in the English service ir
Jamaica, and now commanded company IL
| the battalion in which Mr. Nolte had enrolle
| himself This officer had been q great deal
| with Gen. Moreau, when the latter, on visit +
| Louisiana few years previously, had scanned
with the critical eye of q tactican, the position
of New Orleans and its capabilities of defence
| st. Gene rendered General jackson and tn,
| American cause the great service of making hin
understand that, in the open field. the Englis
would surround him and his handful of mex
| perienced followers, who had but the name o.
| soldiers, would utterly rout and certainly cap
| ture them and he pointed out to him tn,
| NJ Carthy canal as the position which Morea
| had himself fixed upon as the most defensibie
! especially for raw troops" Mr.. Nolte, VII
| writes impartially, and without visible leaning
either to English or to Americans, praises Jack
| son for the self command Ia quality he did not
often display with which he waived his owr,
| wishes in Difference to the opinion of the French
| general, Che must have been mad to have dis.
regarded it,) and abandoned plans which as
suredly. if carried out, would have led to tht
humiliation of his army and the capture OF
| New Orleans. @r&T
Livingston, by whose representations he was
induced to take counsel of the French Major
4 W. Jatr and dctat ~,
warrior, according to Mr.. Nolte, and showed
1 himself but little where bullets were fging
| When the position decided upon was to be taken
4 up and redoubts built, the ground was found t.
be swampy and Shiny, and the earth unavaila
BILE for any sort of fortifcation, whereupon i
French engineer suggested the employment Of
| cotton bales--the plan adopted, jackson would
lose no time /. 1t was observed to him." saw
/ unlueky Mr.. Note, lugubriously, 'sthat he Ger
tainly might have plenty of cotton in the city
| for six or seven cents a pound, but its convey:
ance would cause a days delay, whereas q bark
already laden with cotton, and whose departure
for the Havana had only been prevented by III,
arrival of the English squadron, lay close to the
Shore It had on board two hundred and forty:
five bales, which myself had shipped just be
fore the invasion, and sixty others belonging t.
| Spaniard of New Orleans. / was ill pleased
when they could have had cheap cotton for six
| or seven cents in the town, to see them land,
| from ship all ready to sail, my best quality
\ which had cost me ten or eleven cents and !
said as much to Livingston, who was my usua
legal adviser in New Orleans, and whom fell
in with at Battery No g. He was never at
loss for an answer. We'll, Nolte,' said he, 'snc.
it is your cotton, you will not mind the troubl,
1 Of defending it Areply which was the founda
ton of the story that, when the owner of the
cotton complained of its seizure, jackson sem
him musket, with the message that upon n,
man was it so incumbent to defend the bales AZ
| upon their owner, and he therefore hoped he
| would not abandon them.''
Mr. Noltes whole account Of the operations
i at New Orleans is clear and graphic. On th.
left wing were the sharp-shooters of Kentnck,
4 and Tennessee, invisible in the cypress wood
and loading their rifles with three or four buck
| shot besides the bullet Their good u eapons
and sure aim sent destruction through the ranks
of the English, who saw no foe, but beheld al
their officers picked off. The whole right flank
of the English columns was raked by this deadl,
FIRE, whilst in front the American batteries kepi
up an uninterrupted discharge !. From tme
| to time," says Mr.. Holte, g when the smoke blew
aside, aud my company obtained view over
the battle field, and there We saw the whole
English centre retraating, throwing away then
fascines, and q staff officer on q black horse,
gallop forward. his hat in his hand, which ht
angrily waved as if threatening the flying col
umn. Suddenly, struck BY several bullets, h,
fell backwards from his horse; some soldiers
wrapped him hastily in blankets and carried
him off. We learned in the evening that the
staff. officer was the commander in- chief, Gen
Pakenham." The fight was soon over. AS Mr.
Nolte justly observes, it was butchery rather
than battle. The Americans, completely
sheltered, had but some thirty men killed and
wounded, whilst their opponents had to deplore
the loss of many hundred COED soldiers, than
whom none brayer ever bore muskets, but whose
commanders good fortune was, upon that occa-
sion, unfortunately not equal to his often tried
vslor, and who, moreover, was misled by false
information
| Mr.. kolte does ample justice to the coolness,
energy and resolution of General jackson. and
shows that even the gasconades and exaggera-
tions in which he constantly indulged had thei,
use, since he thereby deluded his own people,
and all the prisoners taken by the English CON
CURED in such formidable accounts of the forces
at his disposal, as could not fail to influence the
proceedings of the invaders But after the
affair of the 9th January, Jackson, prodigiously
elevated by his triumph, was anxious to assume
the offensive, For the second time he was in
debted to Livingston for sound advice. What
would you have more ~ said the lawyer g the
city is saved; the English will not renew the
attack. Against troops like those, whose intre-
pidity amidst the most frightful slaughter you
yourself have witnessed what is the use of ex-