Democrat and sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1853-1866, 1859-03-30
The Battle OF New Orleans.
THE WESTERN HUNTER.

4 British officer who was at the Battle Of
New Orleans; relates an incident of thrilling
strangness. and very descriptive of the West
ern hunter. many of whom marched to the
defense of New Orleans as volunteers in the
army under General Jackson
We marched, said the officer, in solid
co,um of twelve thousand men, in a direct
line upon the American defeDses I belonged
to the staff, and as we advanced watched
through cur glasses the positioa and arrange
ments es car enemy with that intensity an
officer ouiy feels when marching into the
jaws of death, with the assurance that while
he thus offers himself sacrifice to the de-
mands OF his country, every action, be it
successful or otherwise, will be judged with
heartless scrutiny.
1t was strange sight, that great range of
cotton bales-a new material for breastwork,
with the crowd of human beiags behind,
their heads only visable above the line of
defense. We could distinctly see their lon.
rifles lying over the bales, and the battery of
Gen. Coffee directly in front, With its great
mouth gaping towards Us, and the position of
Gen. jackson, with his staff around him
But what attracted our attention most was
figure of a tall man standing on the breast
work. dressed In linsey woolsey, with buck
skin leegins, and broad rim felt hat that
fell round his face, almost concea!ing his
features He was standing IN one of those
picturesque and graceful attitudes peculiar to
those natural men -dwellers of the forest. The
body rested on the left leg, and swayed with
curved line upwards, the right arm was
| extended the hand grasping the rife near
the nluzzl, the butt of which rested near the
toe of his right foot, while with his band he
raised the rim of his hat from his eyes, and
seemed gazing from beneath upon our ad-
yancing column. The cannon of Gen. Coffee
| had opened upon US, and tore through cur
ranks with dreadful slaughter, but as we
! continued to advance, unwayering and cool,
as if nothing threatened our progress.
| The roar Of the cannon seemed to have no
| effect upon the figure standing on the cotton
| bales, 1ut he seemed fixed and motionless as
statue. At last he moved he threw back
| the hat rim over the crown with the left
hand; raised the rife to his shoulder, and
took aim at our group. Our eyes were rivit-
| ei on him At whom had he leyeled his
piece? But the distance was so great that
! we looked at each other and smiled. We
saw the rife fash, and my right hand com
panion, as fne fellow as ever rode at The
| head of his regiment, fell from his saddle
| The hunter paused few moments without
moving his rife from his shoulder, then re-
| loaded and resumed his former attitude
| Throwing the hat rim over his eyes and again
| holding it no with the left hand, he fixed his
| piercing eyes upon US as il hunting out anJth
! er victim. Once more the hat rim was thrown
| back, and the gun raised To his shoulder
| This time we did not smile, but cast short
! glances at each other, to see which of Us
must die. and when the ride again flashed
anothdr Of as dropped TO the ground There
was something awful in marching on to
certain death.
General Cofee's battery and thousands o
musket balls played upon our ranks. We
cared not for them, there was a chance of es
capinc uncathed Most of US had walked
upon batteries a hundred times more destruc
tive without quailing, but to know that every
time that rife was leveled toward Us, and il
bullet sprange from the barrel one Of US mus
as surely fall! TO see the cleaning gun fiasE
as the iron came down, and see it rest motion
less, as if poised upon q rCck, aud know
when the hammer struck and the sparks tlev
to the ful-primed pan. that the messenger
of death drove unerring'y 70 It's goal-t'
3 know this, and still march on, was awful.
[ could see nothing but the tall hgur'
standing on the breastwork He seemed t.
. grow phantom IKE, tatler anu talLcf, as>uld
Ing through the smoke, the superuatura
appearance of some giant spirit Again di'
he reload and discharge his rife with th
same unfailirg aim and it with indscribabl
pleasure that{ beheld, as we neared tb
, American lines, the sulphuyous smoke gathc
around US and shut that spectral huntc
] | from nv gaze We lost the battle, and t
my mind the Kentucky rihemen contribute
: more to our defeat than anything else. fc
while he remaiued in our sight our atteutio
was drawn from our duties, and when {
last we became .enshrouded in the smoke
the work was complete-we were IN utt'
: confusion, and unable, in the extremity,
{. restore order sufficient to make any saccessf
attack.
So long as thousands and thousands
rifles remain in the hands Of the people,
long as men come up from their childhcC
able, ere the dawn appears on the chain,
hit the centre Of mark, or strike the dee
- at one hundred and fifty yards, in the mo
vital part, so long there is a gre
proportion of the Republic who lives
- free as the wild Indian, knowing no lead
but their wn choosing, knowing no law .
- that of right, and the honorable obseryan
of friendly intercourse, America is unco
. ouerable, and all the armies of the combin
world, though they might drive them ff'
u the sea cost and across the Alleghen
mountains, would not be able to subdue
"' frcesouled hunter among the mountains a
great praries and mighty rivers of
:. West.