Mower County transcript., 1906-12-26

| which Gen. Jackson gave to the British
CT New Years day in the year of grace
! 1915, and believe I can write it down
/ exactly as he repeated it to me, for
! he was there, taking a very active part
! in the ceremonies, if the reports of his
! superior officers are entitled to credit
as Of course they are.
You must know first of the situation
at New Orleans On the dawning of this
New Years day, and that can be told
in few words.
General jackson lad on Christina Is
day 1900 men, 20 pieces cs artillery,
and two armed schCOners with which
to defend the city; and the defense of
New Orleans meant the defense Of
tie state of Louisiana and the entire
mississippi valley. The whole Briti"h
army consisted of 1000 land troops,
with feet numbering more than SO
Vessels OF all sizes and rigs, not few
CT which were well armed
TWO days after Christmas the enemy
had succeeded in destroying one Of
Gen. JacksOn's vessels, the schooner
Caroline, thus leaving him only the
schooner Louisiana, and "a hours later
battle was fought in which the Amer
leans gained a slight advantage.
Our people had thrown up breast
work three feet in height along the
entire front Of the army, and now the
British built three half moon" batter
les at equal distances apart, about 600
yards from JackSOn's ]ine> arlning
them with 80 heavy guns, which had
been brought uo from the fleet. These
batteries were formed of earth, hogs
heads Of sugar, and, in fact, of every
thing which it was supposed would
offer resistance to the missiles OF the
Americans.
Then came New Years morning,
when both armies were hidden under
nearly eiCht O'clGck; but as ScCn as
it was possible 70 see surrounding ob-
jects the British opened fire from their
batteries, and it seemed much as #
every gamer aimed at the house in
which was Gen. Jackson,s headl;far
building had been struck by more than
a hundred shot and shell, and thf> COM
nanGer-in-chief, with his STAFF. was
forced to seek some other place from
which to direct the troops in the battle
then just beginning.
American Fire Effective.
AS matter Of course, the American
guns had not been silent while the
enemy WIs pouring into the city such
a shower of iron. The 20 cannon,
>;hich had been mounted at different
points along the line of breastworks,
were opened on the British batteries
On the levee and those in front of our
position, until the enemy began to I'M
derstald that hogsheads Of sugar Of
feed a poor resistance to solid shot,
for Immediately one was knocked into
splinters its contents ran out, thereby
making big breaches in the works.
When this battle of the guns had
| continued for an hour or more, with
| the American lines comparatively un-
harmed and the enemy's batteries
|
which told that they would be speed
| lily demolished unless there was a
change In the method of fighting, the
British made determined attack on
I the left of Gen. Jackson's line, which
extended into the swamp, and my
grandfather was among those sent for.
ward to meet it.
And now to tell the story from my
grandfather's own lips, as it were:
when Coffee's Tennessee regiment
of which was member, gained that
portion of our line which the British
were threatening, they were >advanc
I ing on the charge, most likely thinking
to frighten us by that long line of glis
tening steel bayonets; but we had
gone there for just such kind of work
and l venture to say that never one OF
US showed the white feather
1--WE poured into their ranks show
er of lead which cut many wide gap
but the Britishers only closed up the
line, coming forward like a machine
and showing us that Americans were
+
at such time.
/ "Well, for few moments they actu
ally overran us with that line of stee]
points, and, having once discharged
our weapons, we had no chance to re
load. The only thing for us, whe die
not intend to be put out of the fight
until it couldn't be helped, was to crap
pie with that red coated machine, fol
we couldn't get near enough, owing te
the bayonets, to strike decent blow
with our :clubbed muskets... ...
st :was a. rough:and.tumble nsht
+ .as : I: ever saw. .even. when. the CON
batants1<were' unarzed, and. tho fac'
native 4eiV.g - tsIem li6s, eete }vai 1,i
4 yhas :saesksa tas Br.tisAsr'sI = eua 3
a*fsFE ! =. =, r = = :
&