Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1897-05-31
THEIR DEADLY FIRE.
THE AMERICAN RlFlEmEN AT THE
 BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS

E
 In The C. ntury William Hugh Rob arts has an article entitled "Napoleon's Interest h tae Battle of New Orleans. '' In this is quoted hitherto unpublished letter written by General Jackson to Mir James Monroe. A portion of the lettes follows:
 There was a very heavy fog on the river that morning. and the British had formed and were moving before knew 1t. The disposition of the rihemen was very simple They were told off ill Nos. 1 and 2. No. l was to fire first, then step back and let No } shoot while he reloaded. About GOO yards from the rifle- then there was 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 l said to Coffee, whom directed to hurry te his line, which was to be first attacked, By -, we have got themi They are oursl' Coffee dashed forward and, rie ing along bis line, called out, Don't shoot till you tan see their belt bucklesb The British were formed in mass well closed up, and about two companies front.
 The British, thus formed, moved Oh at quick step, without firing shot, to within 100 yards of the kneeling rifle men, who were holding their fire till they could ser the belt buckles of their enemies. The British advance was exc. eated 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, marohl ChargeH' With bayonets at the charge, they came on us at run. own it was an anxious moment. 1 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 law and had successfully held off the ablest of Napoleon s marshals ill the Spanish campaign My rifemen had never seen such all attack, nor had they ever before fought white men. The morning, too, was damp. Their powder might not burn well. tGod help usi'' I muttered, watching the rapidly advancing line. Seventy, GO, 50. finally 40 yards, were they from the silent kneeling rifiemen. All of my men that could see was their long rifles rested on the logs before tbem. They obeyed their orders we'll Not shot was fired until tho redcoats were within 40 yards. I heard Coffee 3 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 in the misty morning air that I could not see what had happened I called Tom Overton and Abner Duncan of my staff, and we galloped toward Coffee's line In 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 were blown away. For 200 yards in our iron! the ground was covered with 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 Cotfee's line I heard single rifle shot from a 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 dle. have always believed he fell from the bullet of freeman of color who was q famons rifle shot and came from the Atakappas legion of Louisiana The second advance was precisely like the first in It's ending. In five yolleys the 1 l,500 or more rifemen 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 l should have sent to him or gone in person to offer any service in my power to render
 was told he lived two honrs after he was hit. His wound was directly through the liver and bowels. General Keene, 1 hear, was killed. They sent flag to me, asking leave to gather up their wounded and bury their dead, which. of course, granted. l 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.