Semi=weekly graphic., 1897-06-16
THEIR DEADLY FIRE.
THE AMERICAN RlFLsMEN AT TIE
 BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS

BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS
 4 Description of the Engagement by Ger
 era1 Jackson A Letter From ..old Rick ory"-HoN pRcksahR1ns Vetezana We-s Defeated Ay Frontiersuea.
 In The Century William Hugh Roh- arts has an article entitled sNapoleon,s Interest In tne Battle of New Orleans In this is quoted hitherto unpublished l letter written by General Jackson to Mr James Monroe. i portion Of the lsttsv follows:
 There was g very heavy faR on tha river that morning and the British had formed and were moving before I knew it. The disposition of the riflemen waa very simple. They were told of in Nos. i 1 and 2. No. l was to fire first, then etep back and lot No ? shoot while ba reloaded About eco yards from the rife men there was great drainage canal running back from the Mississippi river i to the swamp in the rear Of tho titled land on which we were operating. Along this canal the British formed, under the ! 1 near enough to them to get their range, But the instant 1 saw them ! said ta i Coffee whom directed to hurry to niu line, which was to be first attacked, By -, wo have got them They are 1 oursp' Coffee dashed forward, and, ri6 ing along his line, called cut, "Don's shoot till you can see their belt bucklesls The British ere formed in mass, well closed up, and about two eompanies front
 The British, thus formed, moved Oh at quick step. without firing a shot, to within 100 yards of the kneeling rife. men, who were holding their fire till they could sec the belt buckles of their enemies. The British advance was exc. .ated as though they had been on pa. gade They marched shoulder 10 shouI. der. with the step of veterans, as they were. At 100 yards distance from ors line the order was given: E1tend col umn front Double quick, narehl Charger With bayonets at the charge, they came on us at run. I own it was an anxious momest ' well knew the charging ea!oH4n ts..s 43s.a up Of the ! had been trained by the duke himself, were commanded hy his brother-in-law and had successfully held off the abest of Napoleon 8 marshals in the Spanish ] campaign My rihemeG had never seen such an attack, nor had they ever before fought white men, The morning, too, was damp Their powder might not burn we'll "God help usl' l muttered, watching the rapidly advancing line. Seventy so, 50, finally 40 yards, were they from the silent kneeling rifiemen. All of my men that could sec was their long rifles rested on the logs before them. They obeyed their orders well. Not shot was fired until the redcoats were within 40 yards. I heard Coffee's voice as he roared out; Now. men, aim for the center of tho cross beltsl Firei' A second after the order a cracking, blazing flash ran all along our line. The smoke hung so heavily in the misty morning air that I could not see what had happened I called Tom Overton and Abner Duncan of my staff, and wa galloped toward Coffee s line. In a few seconds after the first fire there came
 another sharp, ringing volley. As l came within 150 yards of Coffee the smoke lifted enough for me to make out what was happening.
 The British were falling back in confused, disorderly mass and the en.
 tire first ranks of their column wers
 blown away. For 200 yards in our front tho 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
 1t came again. This time they were led
 by General Pakenham in person. gal lantly mounted and riding as thought he was on parade. Just before he got within range of Cofee's line I heard a single
 rifle shot from a group of country carts We had been using, about 175 yards dis tant, and moment thereafter I saw Pakenham reel and pitch out of his sad
 dle. 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 it's ending In five yolleys the
 l,500 or more riflemen killed and wounded 2,117 British soldiers, two thirds of them killed dead or mortally : wounded. l did not know where Gen
 eral Pakenham was lying, or I should have sent to him or gone in person to offer any service in my power to render
 l was told he lived two hours after
 he 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 ID their wounded and bury their dead, which, of course, granted. was told by wounded officer that the rank and file absolutely refused to make third charge. We have no chance with such shooting as these Americans do, they said.
 GILtni1a-