Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1897-08-17
THEIR DEADLY FIRE.
THE AMERICAN sIFLEMEN AT THa
 BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS

erai Jacirson-A Letter From .sOId HicIN
 ory'-How Packenhaln's Veterans Were
 Defeated by Frontieramen.
 ln The Century William Hugh Roh. arts has an article entitled sNapoleon's Interest h the Battle of New Orleans. ]" in this IS quoted hitherto unpublished letter written by General Jackson to MT James Monroe A portion of the lettey follows:
 There was very heavy fog on the river that morning, and the British had formed and were moving before knew 1t. The disposition of the riaemen was gery simple. They were told off in Nos l and 3. No. was to fire first, then step back and let No. 3 shoot while h9 reloaded. About 600 yards from the rife men there was great drainage canal running back from the Mississippi rivea to the swamp in the rear of the titled land on which we were operating. Along this canal the British formed, under tho fire of the few artillery pieces [ had near enough to them to get their range. But the instant 1 saw them I said to Coffee, whom I directed to hurry to his line, which was to be first attacked,
 By -, we have got thenl They are oursl' Coffee dashed forward, and. rid ing along his line, called out, Don't shoot till you can see their belt bucklesp The British were formed ill mass we'll closed up, and about two companies front.
 The British, thus formed, moved on at quick step, without firing shot, to within 100 yards of the kneeling rifle. men, who were holding their fire till they could sec the belt buckles of their enemies. The British advance was exc. outed as though they had been on pa rade They marched shoulder to shoul- der, with the step of veterans, as they were. At 100 yards distance from our line the order was given. Extend col- umn frontl Double quick, marchi ChargeP' With bayonets at the charge, they came on us at a run. I own it was an anxious moment. I well knew the charging column was made up of the picked troops of the British army. They had been trained by the duke himself, were commanded by his brother in- law and had successfully held off the ablest Of Napoleon's marshals in the Spanish campaign. My rifemen had never seen such an attack, nor had they ever before fought white men. The morning, too. was damp Their powder might not burn well. 'God help usl' muttered, watching the rapidly advancing line. Seventy, 60, 50, finally 40 yards, were they from the silent kneeling rif1emen. All of my men that could see was their long rifles rested on the logs before them. They obeyed their orders we'll. Not shot was fired until the redeoats were within 40 yards. I heard Coffee's voice as he roared out: "Now, men, aim for the center of the cross beltsl Firel" A second after the order cracking, blazing flash ran all along our line. The smoke hung so heavily ill the misty morning air that 1 cCq.! rst rec what had happened. 1 called Toni Overton and Abner Duncan of my staff, and VIC galloped toward Coffee's line. In few seconds after the first fire there came another sharp, ringing volley. As came within 150 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 900 yards in our front the ground was covered with a mass of writhing, wounded, dead and dying red coats. By the time the rifles were wiped the British line was reformed, and on it came again. This time they were led by General Pakenham in person, gal lantly mounted and riding as though he was on parade. Just before he got within range of Coffee's line l heard single rifle shot from group of country carts We had been using, about 175 yards dis tant, and moment thereafter l saw Pakenham reel and pitch out of his sad- die. have always believed he fell from the bullet of freeman of color who was famous rife 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 rifiemen killed and wounded 2,117 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.
 I was told he lived two hours after he was hit. His wound was directly through the liver and bowels. General Keene, I hear, was killed They sent a flag to me- asking leave to gather ID their wounded and bury their dead, whiel, of course, granted. I 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 Americans dc" they said