Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1869-01-08
& COILS, 267 Main Street.

assassin not hardened to his work. /
killed my psor, fawning, faithful dog,
and buried her in the bushes. May the
Lord forgive mel
Finally the Creole Major escaped.
Rapidly passing over to plantation in
the vicinity, he procured horse, and &C.
companied by two gentlemen, his friends,
rode like a whirIwind to New Orlesns.
How distinctly l remember what followed.
ut was the 23d of December. I was
copying some orders at the Generals
dictation, in his headquarters
he suddenly stopped and held up his
hand. Do you hear thatT he said
curtly; 'news!' There was thunderous
sound of galloping, which ceased at our
door. The sentinel announced three gen.
tlemen, on important business. Snow
them in said jackson. They we're Of
course Villere and his companions.
General 7 they exclaimed, almost in the
same breath of excitement, the enemy
have reached the main land. They are
encamped on the Villere plantation
"Jacksons eyes flashed FIRE He drew
up his tall, thin, fever-wasted body to its
hight and raised his clenched right hand
ominously in the air.
Down it came upon the table with q
crash. By the Eternalp he exclaimed,
they shall not sleep upon our soilP
"a moment later, summoning his aids,
he said more quietly: Gentlemen, the
British are below; we will fight them to-
night
"The General kept his word. That
evening our little army marched out to
attack the enemy. 1t was scarcely more
than two thousand strong, but it con.
tanned some splendid fighting material.
There were Col. Kinds Mississippi
Dragons, we'll mounted and armed, and
Gen. Coffee's Tennessee Shsrp-shooters
each man sheu!dering long, heavy
rifle, with which he could bring down a
squirrel from the tallest pine that ever
grewl
"The night battle of the 23i of De-
cember is what | call the first or little
battle of New Orleans, to distinguish it,
you know, from the second or great bat.
tie, of the 9Th of January. A strange,
confused AFFAIR it was, with most of the
luck on our side. Ii this had not been
so, if we had been beaten and driven
back, then the city would probably have
fallen. Aud IL oGr part Of the field
matters looked rather squslly for time.
Twas ON the extreme right. Here the
redcoats, after having given way twice
before our we'll directed fire of small
arms and cannon, rallied in great num-
bers and mado desperate charge upon
our artillerymen, with the purpose of
capturing their guns. Our men recoiled
in confusion. Then the horses, some of
them badly wounded, broke loose and
rushed madly to the rear.
Ga This will never dol l heard the
General say in a stern voice to himself
He spurred his large, well-trained, noble
black horse, and, dashing into the middle
of the fire, shouted in the tone that few
who heard it can forget, Save the guns
Save the guns !, his voice rising with
each repetition of the order, until it rung
clearly above all the din and clamor
of the conflict.
His presence and commands were
sll-peweriul. Our fellows turned saw
agely on the enemy, and backed, in the
very nick of time, by some fresh com.
panies from the Seventh regiment, they
pressed the British in their turn, and
protected thdif precious s;@ rcaado.s.
Jem-"I beg pardon. Uncle, but want
you helped by your gunboats 2"
Our Uncle" We hadn't as much of
a gunboat, my boy, as would go to the
making of a child brig for pond naviga-
tion but sweet little schooner, called
the Carolina we did have at hand, asd
| don't believe we could have managed
without her. She anchored in the river
just opposite the British position, and
her first broadside laid low, it is said,
from seventy to hundred English SOL
diers
yself(incredulously) y)-"What, uncle
Do you believe that 7"
Our Uncle (shsrply)-" And pray, sir,
why shouldn't / believe IT'D A we'll
aimed broadside at short range is no
baby play, ! can tell you
~ cant even glance at all that hap
pened beyond this and the great final bat |
tie in January. Both armies threw up
lines OF defense and planted cannon.
What do you think the British batteries |
we're partly made Off Why, sugar bar
rels; huge hogsheads, stolen from the |
planters bsrns-while our works were |
composed of cotton bales But to the |
Britishers' surprise, our balls plunged
through aud through :heir sugar casks;
and as for the cotton bales on our sids,
they we're not only knocked about in
every direction, but fred by the enemy's
shot, so Jackson had them rolled away,
and the thick, black mud Of the Delta
was used in their stead.
Though eur guns we're both fewer
and smaller than thess opposed to US,
they did superb service. One battery,
by a Capt Humphrey, be-
came celebrated. BE was the coolest
fellow in the world, with hawks eye,
and pufsd an eternal cigar. lido believe
be smoked in his sleep
zone day British eighteen-pounder,
couchsd behind narrow, low works in bis
front, bothered him greatly. 'Pll stop
your tongue, you noisy devil cried
Very carefully he sighted
his place, only a tuelve-pouudsr, and sp-
piled the match with his own hand. A
and We saw the gun-carriage be
had aimed at shedding q cloud Of splin-
iers, and half dozen men runsiug from