The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1882-01-07
HOW PACKENHHM DIED.

From the Louisville Courier-Journal,
Your correspondent ''Secretario" from New
Orleans, states in your issue Of Sunday Noyem-
Der p, 1881 in his article on LATTE the Pirate
concerning the death Of Sir Edward Packenham.
commander-in-chief of the British forces. the
following:
The last act of his eventful career was the
elimination Of his long treasured revenge, and
served also to restore him favor with the people
and the authorities of Louisiana whose laws he
had so long set at defiance. 1t was at the battle
OF New Orleans. He was the genius of the great
battle. His blood boiled at the sight of the red
coats. Les qngldis perfdes = he shouted to his
men; make every shot tell. Fire low, NV
bOys-fire! he Numbered to them and his were
the first guns to fire. Later in the battle a
general officer is to lead the British forces
He mounts the parapet waving his sword and
cheering his men. LATTE sprang forward with
pistol in hand-a flash, and Packenham falls
mortally wounded. The victory is gained and
Lafittes revenge stated"
His letter is headed The Romance of Piracy"
This account of the death of Sir Edward Packen-
ham IS certainly a romance, and far. very far
from the truth as it ought to appear in history
hams death from a very intimate friend of my
father, Colonel William McCutchen of Mason's
Point, Humphreys county, Tennessee. The old
hero was on the ground at the time Packenham
was killed, and commanded picked company of
marksmen from a Tennessee regiment Colonel
McCutchen was man noted for his strict in
tegrity and love of truth; consequently his
statement Of this affair is entitled to full belief
in its truthfulness [ will now give you his
version of General Packenhams death, as clearly
and as briefly as can and precisely as have often
heard him detail 1t around my fathers fireside III
the long ago. Colonel McCutchen commanded
company of infantry from Williamson county,
Tennessee, and was ordered by General Jackson,
who knew him well as very clear-sighted
marksman," TO pick company Of choice rifle
from his regiment to shoot the British
officers, and to shoot them alone" He did so,
and had under his command the best shots in
the army, and was stationed near the centre of
the line of breastwcrks running at right angles
from the river The Mississippi was extremely
high at the time of the battle of New Orleans
so high as to be within a few inches Of the top
of the levee-thereby creating some fear that it
might break over and drown both armies. Col.
McCutchen says the British regulars-men who
had fought Napoleon on the Peninsula of Spain
and drove that naughty conqueror from his prey
came up to the attack beautifully, bringing
facines with them to fill up the ditch in our
front so that the lines could cross over with
ease and thus scale our breastworks The colonel
remarked with solemn air, that the first lines
melted away like frost before warm sum- and
helped to fll up the ditch themselves from the
intense and deadly fire of our rifemen. They
were repulsed "a second time with terrific
slaughter, broke and fell back under fire that
they had never met before even from NapoleOn's
best troops. Again, a third time they rushed to
the attack evidently led by some superior officer,
for they came rushing up with unusual yigor and
steadiness All at once hull in the battle re-
vealed the fact that something dreadful and I'M
expected had occurred in the British lines. The
British officers OF all ranks We're seen to rush to
the centre of their army, they not being over 800
yards from our lines. The colonel said he was