The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1875-02-17


RATES AND BURIED on GALVESTON
ISLAND.
In yourissue Of the 25th of Deconl-
bcr, appears an account of an old
cannon brought up from the bottom
Of the bay by the scoop Of the
dredgoboat. In the same paper
you give several conjectual histories
Of the piece of ordnance, mono Of
which, as ! happen to know, have
any dogree Of truth, except that the
cannon in question once formed
part cf the armament CT the fleet of
LaGtte-the brave and good Laftte.
From the cut and description given
of it in your paper I recognize it as
al old acquaintance.
And, sirs, it has & history: and q
most eventflll, but brief one, and
could it but speak would tell it's
own tale in language far more elo-
1uent than T car. an an old man
now-"in the sere and yellow leaf.
[ was many years ago o member
Of the company of the brave Latitte:
I an old now, close on to ninoty
years, and though some weak Of
limb and dim Of sight, yet have re-
membrance of persons and events
of long ago remarkably vivid. An
old man lives i'll the past entirely ;
he is fond OF talking of the brave
days Of his youth, of the brave men
who lived then, Of their deeds OF
daring, Of their generosity, and of
himself. / may, sirs, grow tedious
and prosy, but permit me to tell
my stor; in M own way-the story
Of the cannon-for, sirs, it has q
story, and one Of great interest.
You will remember that a short
time before the great battle Of New
Orleans. the great and brave Gen.
andrew Jackson induced our cap
tain, the brave Laftte, to help him
fight the British. I well remember
the day. when q small vessel-a
schooner appeared off the bar Of
what is now called Galveston island.
She displayed the American flag,
fred gun and then lowering her
national flag, ran white flag to her
peak. That meant a parley. Ia
flte scanned the new conner closely
with his glass for some minutes,
aud then ordering bis four Dared gig,
pulled to the schooner. I was then
young and i;lsty, and accounted the
best stroke in our navy, and vas
one Of the gigs crew. Lafttc
boarded the schooner. and he and a
young American o Fl Ger, whose
name I afterwards learned was Don
nelson-Licut. Donnelson, of Gen.
Jackson's staf-descended into the
cabin. There they remained an
hour OF more, and then they came
out. AS Lafttc stepped over the
schooners side to get into his gig,
he said to Donnelson, Tell Gen.
Jackson 7 will be with him. He
may rely on me for at least eighty
skilled artillerists
Thcname of the schooner was the
John Hancock" and a neat clipper
she was. We pulled back to the
fort, Laftte saying not word, but
pulling in his quick, nervous way
his mustache; proved to US he was
planning some desperate work.
That night the schooner weighed
and LETT. The next morning there
was o grand council held at the fort.
All this occurred a long, long time
ago-nearly sixty years ago! M0n
Dicu,! COW time fys! Itseems but
yesterday, Well, sirs, I don't want
to be tedious, but IN old man is
naturally gawulous. He has SC
much to live over i'll thought. So:
sirs, bear with me patiently.
I don't know what happened in
the council. but two days after three
Of our best vessels. with the flower
! Of or ti!ibUst2rs. sailed for New
Orleans, under the command Of the
BRAVE L,EITTE IIMSELF
/ Chauvct. III; right bower, being
with him. After iour days sail we
o1jogcl TIE Mississippi river, and
soon anchored OF New Orleans, a
little below the city. I was then a
runner o. board the ton-gln brig
Vengeance, commanded by Chauvet,
= brave but cruel MIN. When the
British forces under Packcnham ap
Droacheti tae city, in January: 1915,
we ran up and anchored above the
city. III vas hustle and prepara
ton. We took out most Of the can
non and placed them in position II
the works General Jackson hac
! hastily thrown up at Chalmette, anc
one hundred and twenty picked az
tillerists, CT gunners, with all oul
officers, headed by the brave Lafttf
in person, manned them.
On the Sth day of January. thc