The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1869-01-03

Once more we waited coolly behind our
works. Once more we allowed them TO come
fairly within range. Then, great heavens what
scene ensued Some of our cannon, loaded TO
the muzzle with musket bale. poured their con-
tents right in the faces of the head column, which
emed literally to wither away ct the dreadful
discharge.
'Paekenbsm. and 6ibbes were both mortilly
wounded. The formers brotaer-in-law Of the
great Wellington. the Iron Dake'-died in few
minutes General Keane, whom Packenham had
SUI erseded was disabledand borne from the field.
''But the Hghlsnders. with obstinate courage
and resolution, would ot.eyen yet retreat. They
were doomed men. At the very instant when
they ought to have advanced most rapidly. they
unaccountably, madly hesitated and stopped TN
full view of CAROLS ri6emen, who shot them
down like sheep
when fUe hundred and up,odrds of their num-
Der had fallen, they fed sstounded to the rear.
Such, boys, was the fate of the attack on our
right. Upon our left we made quicker work of
il. There was q redOubt standing by itself near
our main defenses, which the British, under Col.
Rennie, did manage to capture; but we soon drove
'em out again: while our gallant artilleryman
Humphrey-the everlasting smoker-smashed the
main body of British troops to pieces in his quar-.
ter of the fight, as Carroll and our caDnoneers had
done on their side.
"Only three of the English officers reached the
top of our works by the river. No sooner had
they lifted their heads above the parapet, than a
voey burst from Beal's New Orleans Sharp
shooters which led them low. One proved to be
Jem.-"A brave man, Uncle, if he was an
enemy ]"
our Uncle" Brave, boy? why, bless your
heart, they were ALL brave! as gallant q set OF
fellows as were ever marched by idiots into the
jaws of death. Psrkenhsm died like 9 man, bat
he acted like a.fool beforehand.
"After fairly testing the quality of our works,
to order q second assault II not stupidity, twas
sheer madness
"By the way. let me tel you of a strange thing
that happened while Col. Rennies men were
marching to be killed. They had bugler with
them, little chap of thirteen years, who, in the
middle of the fight, climbed up tree not far from
our lines where he stayed for hours after the enc
my had retreated, blowing upon his bugle furious
ly. Twss a miracle how he managed telescope the
thousands of bullets and cannon balls that whzz-
ed by his lofty perch.
IAN American private. walking over the field
when all was quiet and SAFE espied this little war
rior straddliDg a limb, and still sounding the
charge as if his salvation depended on his never
leaving of He was taken into camp and exam
ined as a curiosity and queer account he gave
of himself. His name was Watkins; he was a ma
tive of Kent county, England and, falling 10 love
with uniforms and band music, had run away from
b parents (shopkeer ers) and crossed the seas to
be shot at-luckily in vain A bright, cunning
young rogue, as saucy as you are Master Jem,
whom our Creoles coddled and petted. and stuffed
with sugar and corn bread. until he ought to have
Our Uncle pausing here. we asked, was this all
hs he nothing more to say about the fight?
Very litte-we had beaten the British; ruin
cd then, in fact, at every point but one. and
that was on the right bank of the river, where
our forces were routed by the command Of the
only British officer who had the slightest luck that
day, Col. VIM. Thornton! But this success cane
too late. 1t couldn't be improved.
" In q word, this naughty army, seven or eight
thousand strong before the attack, had suffered
the most awful defeat on record.
"All their best officers we're dead, and they
lost, in killed wounded and prisoners, twenty-six
hundred men!"
Byse!f.-" And our loss. think, was only thirty
wasn't TN
Our Uncle" Only t,centy one-remember that
twenty one eight men killed outright and thir-
teen wounded
" But ah, boys, boys, It's a dreadful thing, the
sight of any battlefield, when the excitement and
strife are over As for that of New Orleans. the
men CRY OF II sict ems me, rough and tough old
campaigner as l am The plain looked like
huge shsmbles. Bodies lay piled on one another
three or four deep. ana where our thirty.two-
FOUNDER had done its work, whole platoons were
stretched out just as they had fallen The air
quivered with the groans Of the poor wounded,
made frantic by pain and thirst. Twas shocking
to see great masses Of them, wriggling about and
resembling coils Of gigantic worms. From the
midst Of these, hundreds OF men, perfectly I'M
harmed, but who had thrown themselves on the
TTfppdv u, escape the shot. would slowly rise.
i this manner from amongst those really sIlsi6S.
was strange, solemn spectacle.
jackson used to say 1t gave him a vivid idea
OF the resurrection. IL great painter could only
have been there to see ii
And now, my patient children, to close this
'ow'er true tale as the Scotch would saw. I've
out Two more facts to narrate one of them very
wonderful the other avery sad thing:
. First. The battle of New Orleans was fought
and won in twenty five minutes and three quarters
o. minute, counting from tn discharges of our
FIRST gun to the last visible 81 sr OF red coats and
white belts in the smoky distance.
second. The battle of New Orleans ought
never to have been fought at all
. Even while the bloody scene was passing a
ship, struggling with the winds and waves of The
lonely Atlantic, bore treaty of peace, which
nao oeen duly signed short time before by gen.
temen acting for the United States and Great
Britain, In the amous town of Client. III we had
only been blessed with an ocean telegraph then
And yet" Insulating, al don't know; twas ali
for the best, perhaps. Those insoIent Britishers
needed sharp setting down. They got il.
Children, l have done hand me nv pipe,
and now 90 you to bed, and dream peacefully-if
you can't