Pomeroy weekly telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio) 1860-1866, 1861-08-09

From Miners Rural. American.
An Incident of the Battle of
New Orleans.
A British officer who was in the bat
tie of New Orleans, mentions an Incl
dent of thrilling strangeness, and very
descriptive of the Western hunter,
many of whom marched to the defense
of New Orleans, as volunteers in the
army under the renowned Andrew Jack
son.
| We marched, said the officer, in a
solid column of twelve Thousand men, in
direct line upon the American defenses.
| | belonged to the staff; and as we ad-
vanced, we watched through our glasses
the position and arrangements Of our
| enemy with that intensity an officer only
feels when marching into the jaws of
death, with the assurance that while he
thus offers himself as sacrifice to the
demands of his country, every action, be
he successful or otherwise, will be
| Judged with the most heartless scrutiny
1t was strange sight, that long range
! of cotton bales-a new material for
breastworks, with the crowd of human
beings behind, their heads only visible
above the line Of defense. We could
distinctly see their long rifles laying
over the bales, aud the battery Of Gen.
Coffee directly in front, with its great
mouth gaping towards us, as they waited
to devour us, on the position of Gen.
Jackson, with his staff around him.
But what attracted our attention most,
was the figure of tall man standing on
the breastworks, dressed in insey-
wooden. with buckskin leggins, and a
! broad -brimmed felt hat, that fell around
his face, almost concealing his features.
He was standing in one of the most pic
turesque and graceful attitudes peculiar
to those natural men-dwellers in the
forests. The body rested on the lef leg
and swayed with a curved line upwards;
the right arm was extended, the hand
grasping the muzzle of a long rifle, the
butt Of which rested near the toe Of his
right foot, while with his hand he raised
the rim of the hat from his eyes and
seemed gazing from beneath intensely
upon our advancing column. The can
non of Gen. Coffee had opened upon US
and tore through our ranks with terri
Bile slaughter; but we continued to ad
vance uuwavering and cool, as if moth
ing threatened our progress.
The roar Of cannon seemed to have
no effect upon the figure standing on
the cotton bales, but he seemed fixed
and motionless as statue. At last he
moved, threw back the hat rim over the
crown with his left hand, raised the ri
fe to his shoulder, and took aim at Our
group. Our eyes were riveted upon
him. At whom had he levelled his
piece? But the distance was so great
that we looked at each other and smiled
We saw the rifle fash, and my right
hand companion, as noble looking Il fell
low as ever rode at the head Of his reg
iment, fell from his saddle. The hun
ter paused few moments, without
moving the gun from his shoulder, then
! reloaded and assumed his former atti-
tude. Throwing the hat rim over his
eyes, and again holding it up with his
left hand, he fixed his piercing gaze
upon us as if hunting out another vic
tim. Once more the hat rim was thrown
back and the gun raised to the shoul
der. This time We did not smile, but
which of US must die; and when again
the rifle flashed, another one of us
dropped to the earth. There was some
thing most awful in thus marching on
to certain death
Gen. Coffccs battery, and thousands
of musket balls playing upon our ranks,
We cared not for-there was a chance of
escaping unscathed. Most of US had
walked upon batteries a hundred times
more destructive without quilting; but
to know that every time that rifle was
Ievelled towards Us and It's bullet sprang
from the barrel. one of us must surely
fall; to see the cleaning sun flash as the
deadly iron came down. and see it rest
motionless, as if poised upon rock, and
know when the hammer struck and the
sparks flew to the full primed pan. that
the messenger Of death drove unerringly
to its goal-to know this, and still march
on, was awful.
[ could see nothing but the tall figure
standing on tie breastwork. lie seemed
to grow, phautom-like, supernatural APP
pearance Of some great spirit. Again
did he reload and discharge his rifle
with the same unfailing aim; and it was
with indcscribable pleasure that / be-
held, as we neared the American lines,
the sulphurous cloud gather around us,
and shut that spectral hunter from my
gaze. We lost TIE battle; and to my
mind, the Kentucky riflemaa contribu~
ted more to our defeat than anything
else: for while he remained to our light.
our attention was drawn from our duties,
and when, at last, we became enshrouded
in the smoke, the work was complete:
we were in utter confusion, and unable,
IN the extremity, to restore order suf-
fcient to make amy successful attack.
So long as thousands ard thousands
Of rifles remain in the hands of the peo-
pie, SO long as men come up from their
childhood, able, ere the down appears
on their chins, to hit the center Of
mark or TO strike the deer at $50 wards