Evening star., 1897-01-02
BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS
A Description of the Engagement by General
jackson.
a Hitherto Unpublished Letter From
oid Hickory" Telling How the
British Veterans Were Defeated.

In the January Century William Hugh
Robarts has an article entitled "Napoleon's
interests In the Battle of New Orleans"
In this is quoted a hitherto unpublished
letter written by Gen. jackson to Mr.
James Monroe. A portion of the letter
follows:
There was very heavy fog on the river
that morning. and the British had formed
and we're moving before / knew IT, The dis
position OF the rifiemen was very simpIe
They were told off in numbers one and two
Number one was to fire first. then step
back and let number shoot while he re-
loaded About six hundred yards from the
r1fiemen there was a great drainage canal
running 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 I had near enough to
them to get their range. But the instant
L saw them / said TO Coffee, whom | direct
ed to hurry to his line. which was to he first
attacked; by = we have got them; they
are ours,' Coffee dashed forward. and,
riding along his line, called out. Don't
shoot til. you can see their belt buckles"
The British were formed IN mass. well
closed up and about two companies front.
The British thus formed moved on al a
quick step, without firing a shot, to within
one hundred yards of the kneeling riflemen,
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 vet
Grams. as they were. AT one hundred Yards
distance from our line the order was given.
Extend column front Double quick
march! Charge With bayonets at charge
they came on us at a run. L own IL was
an anxious moment; l well knew the charg-
ing column 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 Napo-
Icons marshals in the Spanish campaign.
My rifemen had never seen such at
tack, nor had they ever before fought
white men. The morning, too, was damp;
their powder might not burn well. God
help us!'' / muttered, watching the rapidly
advancing line. Seventy, sixty. fifty. final
ly forty yards were they from the silent
kneeling rifiemen. All of my men ] could
was their long rifles rested the logs
before them. They obeyed their orders
well; not a shot was fired until the red
coats were within forty yards. 1 heard
Cofees voice he roared out: Now,
men, aim for the center of the cross belts.
Fire. second after the order a crack
ling. blazing flash ran all along our line.
The smoke hung so heavily in the misty
morning air that j could not see what had
happened. 1 called Tom Overton and Alb
ner 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 I 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 con-
fused, disorderly mass. and the entire first
ranks of their column were blown away.
For two hundred yards In our front the
ground was covered with a mass of writh-
ing wounded. dead and dying red coats.
BY the time the rifles were wiped the Brit
ish line was reformed and on IL came
again. This time they were led by Gen.
Pakenham in person, gallantly mounted
and riding as though he were on parade
Just before he got within range of Coffee's
line 1 heard a sirgle rife shot from a
group of country carts we had been using
about one hundred and seventy-five yards
Pakenham reel and pitch out of his saddle.
l have always believed he fell from the
bullet Of a free man of color who was a
famous rifle shot and came from theAtak-
appas region of Louisiana. The second ad-
vance vas precisely like the first in it's
ending. In five voleys the 500 or more
rifiemen killed and wounded 2,1l7 British
soldiers. two-thirds of them killed dead or
mortally wounded. L did not know where
Gen. Pakenham was lying or 1 should have
sent to him or gone In person to offer any
service in my power to render.
was told he lived two hours after he
was hit. His wound was directly through
the liver and bowels Gen. 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 I
granted. ! was told by a wounded officer
that the rank and file absolutely refused
to make a third charge. We have no
chance with such shooting as these Ameri-
cans do" they said.