The Winslow mail., 1897-04-17
THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS.
Description of the Engagement by
General Jackson.

| General Jackson.
In the Century William Hugh Rob-
arts has an article entitled "Napoleon's
Interest in the Battle of New Orleans
In this is quoted hitherto unpublished
letter written by Gen. Jackson to Mr..
James Monroe A portion of the letter
follows:
There was a very heavy fog on the
river that morning, and the British had
formed and were moving before l knew
1t. The disposition of the rifemen was
very simple. They were told off in num-
bers one and two. Number one was to
fire first, then step back and let num-
Der two shoot while he reloaded. About
six hundred yards from the rifiemen
there was a great drainage canal run
ming back from the Mississippi River
to the swamp in the rear Of the titled
land on which we were operating
Along this canal the British formed,
under the fire Of the few artillery
pieces had near enough to them to get
I their range. But the instant l saw
them said to Coffee, whom 1 directed
to hurry to his line, which was to be
first attacked: "By -, we have got
them; they are oursw Coffee dashed
forward, and riding along his line
called out, Don't shoot till you can see
their belt buckles" The British were
formed in mass, we'll closed up, and
about two companies front.
The British, thus formed moved on
at quick step, without firing shot,
to within one hundred yards of the
kneeling rifiemen, who were holding
their fire till they could see the belt
buckles Of their enemies. The British
/ advance was executed as though they
had been on parade. They marched
shoulder to shoulder, with the step of
veterans, as they were. At one hun
dred yards distance from our line the
order was given, Extend column
front" Double quick, march! Charger
With bayonets at the charge, they came
on us at a run. l own 1t was an anxious
moment; l well knew the charging col
umn was made up Of the picked troops
Of the British army. They had been
trained by the Duke himself, were COM
manded by his brother-in-law, and had
successfully held off the ablest of Ma
poleOn's marshals in the Spanish cam
paign. My riflemen had never seen
such an attack, nor had they ever be-
fore fought white men. The morning,
too, was damp; their powder might
not burn well. "God help usv' l NUT
tered, watching the rapidly advancing
line. Seventy, sixty, fifty, finally forty,
yards, were they from the silent kneel-
ing rifemen. All Of my men could
see was their long rifles rested on the
logs before them. They obeyed their
orders well: not a shot was fired until
the redcOats were within forty yards.
L heard Coffee'S voice as he roared out:
'Now, men, aim for the center Of the
cross-belts! Firev' A second after the
order cracking, blazing fash ran all
along our line. The smoke hung so
heavily in the misty morning air that 1
could not see what happened. l called
Tom OvertOn and Abner Duncan, of my
staff, and we galloped toward Coffee's
line. In a few seconds after the first
fire there came another sharp, ringing
volley. AS l came within one hundred
and fifty yards of Coffee, the smoke
lifted enough for me to make out what
was happening.
The British were falling back in a
confused, disorderly mass, and the en-
tire first ranks of their column were
blown away. For two hundred yards
in our front the ground was covered
with mass Of writhing wounded, dead
and dying redcoats. By the time the
rifles were wiped the British line was
reformed, and on 1t came again. This
time they were led by General Paken-
ham in person, gallantly mounted, and
riding as though he was on parade.
Just before he got within range of Cof-
fees line 1 heard a single rifie-shot
from a group of country carts we had
been using, about one hundred and
seventy-five yards distant, and mo-
ment thereafter l saw Pakenham reel
and pitch out Of his saddle, l have al
ways believed he fell from the bullet
of a free man of color, who was a IA
nous rifie-shOt, and came from the
AtakappaS region of Louisiana. The
second advance was precisely like the
first in its ending. In five volleys the
1,500 or more riflemen killed and
wounded 2,117 British soldiers, two
thirds of them killed or mortally
wounded. l did not know where Gen
eral Pakenham was lying or l should
have sent to him, or gone in person, to
offer any service in my power to rem
der
l was told he lived two hours after he
was hit. His wound was directly
through the liver and bowels General
Keene, l hear, was killed dead. They
sent a flag to me, asking leave to gather
up their wounded and bury their dead.
which, of course, l granted. l was told
by wounded officer that the rank and
file absolutely refused to make a third
charge. 1--WE have no chance with