Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1897-09-29
THEIR DEADLY FIRE.
THE AMERICAN RlFLEMeN AT THE
 BATTLE OF NEw ORLEANS

Description of the Engagement by esp
 eral JsolsAon--A Letter From aOId uiske
 cryv--f1o~ 1'nekeslan,-s Veterans Wess
 Defeatea by Frontiersmen.
 in The Century William Hugh Rol,. arts has an article entitled Napoleon ia Interest 1n the Battle Of New Orleans. '' In this is quoted hitherto unpublished letter written by General Jackson to Mr James Monroe. A portion of the lettss follows:
 There was very heavy fog on tia river that morning, and the British had formed and were moving before I knew IL. The disposition of the rifiemen wsG very simple They were told off in Nos and 2. No. l was to fire first, thea step back and let No. ? shoot while ht reloaded. Abont Geo yards from the rife. men there was great drainage canal running back from the Mississippi riyea 10 the swamp in the rear of the titled saud on which We were operating Along this canal tAt British formed, under the fire of the few artillery pieces had near enough 10 them to get their ranRe. ! But the instant 1 saw them 1 said to Coffee, whom directed to hurry to bis hne, which was to bo first attacked,
 By -, VIC have got themi They are ourst" Coffee dashed forward, and, lid lng along bis line, called cut, "Doa9 !hcot till you can see their belt bucklesp The British were formed in mass, we'll tlosed mp, and about two oompani9p tsont.
 The British, thus formed, moved ea as quick stapi without firing shot, to aitAin 100 Yards of the kneeling rife. Elen, who were holding their fire till shsy could see the belt buckles of their si9mies The British advance was exc. cated ss though they had been on pa raCe. They marched shoulder 10 shoul Ger. with the step of veterans, as they we1e. At 100 yards distance from our liGe the order was given: "Extend col. amL front Double quick, marehi Chasge!" With bayonets at the charge, they came on us at run. own it was sn Snxi0us moment. 1 well knew the charging column was made mp of the picked troops of the British army. They had peen trained by the duke himself, | wers commanded ty his hrother.in. and had successfully held of the ablest of Napoleon B marshals in the Spanish eamF aign. My ridemen had never seen such ,n attack, nor had they ever before fought white men. The morning, too, was Gamp. Their powder might not i burn well. God help ns!'' I muttered, watching the rapidly advancing line Seventy, 60. 90 finally 10 yards, were they fl 0in the silent kneeling rifiemen All of lay men that could see was their long rifles rested on the logs before them They oheyed their orders we'll Not shot was fired until the redcoats were within 40 yards. heard Coffee's voice as be roared out: "Now. men, aim for the center of the cross belts Firer' A second after the order cracking. blazing fash ran all along our line. Ths smoke hung 30 heavily in the misty morning air that 1 could not see what had happened I called Tom OyertoH and AhneY Duncan of my staff, and wa galloped toward Coffee line. In few seconds after the first fire there came another sbarp, ringing volley As came within 150 yards of Coffee tha smoke lifted enough for mo to make out what was happening,
 The British were falling back i'll confused disordePly mass, and the en. tire first ra3ks of their column wera blown away For 200 yards ill our fron$ the ground was covered with a mass of writhing, wounded, dead and dying red. coats By the time the rifles were wiped tha British linz was reformed, and on 1t came again. This time they were led by General Pakenham in person. gal. lantly mounted and riding IS though he was on parade Just before he got within range of Coffee < line l heard single rife shot from group of country carts We had been using, about l75 yards dis tant, and I m0m eAt thereafter l saw pakeuham reel ana pitch out of his sad. dle. have always believed he fell iron! the bullet of freeman of color who was famous rifle shot and came from the Atakappas =egiGn of Louisiana. Ths second advance was precisely like the Arst in Us ending. In five volleys the ,500 or more rifemen killed and wounded 2,l17 British soldiers, two thirds of them killed dead or mortally wounded. 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 render. 1 was told he lived two hours after be was hit His wound was directly through the liver and bowels. General Keene hear, was killed. They sent a flag to me. asking leave to gather np their wounded and bnry their dead, which, of course, granted. was told by a wounded officer that the rank aud nle absolutely refused to make third charge. We have no chance with such shooting as tkese Americans do" they said.
 
 Hsi eaitary Suicide.
 An aytraorflinary instance of heredi.