Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1897-09-23
THEIR DEADLY FIRE.
THE AMERICAN slFLEMEN AT TIRE
 BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS

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 Defeated Ky Frontiersmen.
 In The Century William Hugh RoI- arts has an article entitled Napoleon 's Interest h the Battle of New Orleans. |" In this is quoted q hitherto unpublished l letter written by General Jackson to Mr, James Monroe. 4 portion of the lettsz follows:
 There was very heavy fog on the river that morning, and the British had formed and were moving before knew 1 It. The disposition of the rifemen YVES very simple They were told off in Nos 1 and 2. No was to fire first, thea Etep back and let No. ? shoot while h. reloaded. About GOO yards from the rife men there was q great drainage canal running back from the Mississippi rives l to the swamp in the rear of the titled land on which we were operating. Along lhis canal the British formed, under the fire of the few artillery pieces 1 had near enough to them to get their range, 1 But the instant l saw them l sai1 to Coffee whom directed to hurry to his line, which was to be first attack edl By -, VIC have got theml They ars sursl' Coffee dashed forward, and. l iG ing along his line, called cut, "Daa'1 sheof til! you can see their belt hucklesi The British were formed ill mass, vel closed up, and about two oompaui5t ffont.
 The British thus formed, moved oH ss 8 quick step, without firing shot, t9 within 100 yards of the kneeling rife. hlan, who were holding their fire till l thay could sen the belt buckles of then enemies. The British advance was exc. euied as though they had been on pa. EaCe. They marched shoulder TO shoul i der. with tho step of veterans, as they weae. At 100 yards distance from oal lihe the order was given: Extend col. umu front Double quick. mereht Chasgei' With bayonets at the charge, they came on us at run. own 1t was 1 an anxious moment. l well know the l charging column was made up Of tho l picked troops of the British army. They had peen trained by the duke himself were commanded by his brother.in-laN and had successfully held off the ablest of Napoleon 5 marshals in the Spanish 1 campaign. Ny fifiemen had never seen such m attack, HOT had they ever before fought white men. The morning, too, was damp Their powder might not burn we'll "God help u8!' I muttered, watching the rapidly advancing line. l Seventy, 60, 90, finally 40 yards, were ! they f1om the silent kneeiing riaomen. ] All of my men that l could see was their 1 long rifles rested Oh the logs before them. They obeyed their orders well. 1 Not 8 shot was fired until the redcoata were within 10 yards. heard Coffee'a voice as be roared out: @Kow. men, aim for the esnter of the cross beltsi Firei'i i A second after the order q cracking blazing fash ran all along our line. The ] smoke hung a0 hea.ily in the misty i morning air that 1 could llot zee what had happened I called Tom Overton and Abner Duncan of my staff, and we galIoped toward Coffee line. In few seconds after the first fire there came another sharp, ringing volley. As l came within 160 yards of Coffee the smoke lifted enough for 1ne to make out what was happening.
 The British were falling back in confused dieorderly mass, and the en. tire first rapks of their column were blown away. For 900 yards in our from the ground was covered with a mass Of writhing, wounded, dead and dying red. naats By the time the rifles were wiped eha British lins was reformed, and or 1t came again, This time they were led by General Pakenham ill person, gal iantly mounted and riding as though he was on parade Just before he got within range of Goffee'a line l heard a single rife shot from group of country carts we had beon usitg, about 175 yards dis tant, and a 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 famous rifle shot and came from the Atakappas region of Louisiana. The second advance waa precisely like the first in it's ending In five vollays the 1,500 or more ridemen killed and wounded 2,t17 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
 was told he lived two hours after he was hit. His wound was directly through tho liver and bowels. General Keene, I hear, was killed. They sent flag to me, asking leave to gather mp their wounded and bury their dead, which, of course. granted. was told by q wounded officer that the rank and file absolutely refused to make a third charge. We have no chance with such shooting as tkese Americans ao,' they said
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