Show 4 C S 0 11 abua anua in J 4 11 14 av lne J nm andrew 4 pama by SCOTT ATSON JANUARY 8 Is a date imperishably pre served in the annals of america lu fit association with the name of andrew jackson for it was on january 8 1815 that he won his amazing victory 4 over the british at the battle of new orleans few if any victo victories iles in history were more complete more unexpected by the defeated or more contrary to military experience in the first place the victors were putnum bared nearly two to one by the vanquished but what was more important was the tact fact that in contrast to jackson jacksons s nondescript army of a few regulars and a majority of undisciplined d militia and volunteers the british army was composed of trained and toughened troops the divisions which had scattered the americans at bladensburg with a volley and a shout kilted highlanders famous regiments which had earned the th praise of pf wellington the iron duke in the spanish peninsula and brawny negro detach ments recruited in the west indies it was such an army as would mould have been considered fit to withstand the finest troops in europe in corn com mand was one of En england glands s most brilliant sol diers gen sir edward pakenham of whom ellington had said my partial ty for him does not lead me astray alien hen I 1 tell you that be he is one of the best we have he was the idol of bis his officers who agreed that they had never served under a man whose good opinion they were so desirous of ha having haing ing and to fall in his estimation would have been worse than death so by all the accepted rules of warfare as it was waged in those times it was mas the british who should have won at new orleans instead of the americans the only trouble with that theory Is that the americans were led by a great general with the rare attribute of reading correctly the mind of an opponent and divining bis his course of action endowed with an ing temper and an iron hand band a relentless pur pose and the faculty of inspiring troops to follow obey and trust him in the last ettre extremity mity lie ile was one of them tv pitying their passions and ces their faults and the r virtues sharing their handsh ps as if he were a common private never grudging them the credit in sue cess note the foregoing foregoing quotations are from ralph D paines paine s the fight for a free sea in the tale yale university press chronicles of america km erlea so when old hickory jackson told his kentucky and tennessee riflemen his louis ana volunteers his yankee sailors his bara tarla pirates led by jean lafitte and all the other heterogeneous elements in his army that they could lick their weight in wildcats it never occurred to them but that they could also lick their weight in british regulars as well so that did it I 1 As for a deser eption of the battle itself what could be better than one given by the victorious general on that famous field go so here Is the etory story of the battle of new orleans as jackson himself reported it to james monroe then secre tary of war the battle commenced at a very nery little before 7 aa a m january 8 1815 and as far as the in fantry was concerned it was over by 9 a m my force was very much mixed I 1 had portions of the seventh and forty fourth regular infantry regiments kentucky and tennessee riflemen creoles united states marines and sailors bara tartan men one of them capt dominique you commanded part of my artillery and a famous gunner he was and two battalions of free negroes I 1 had in tl e action about 6 men the british strength was almost the same as mine but vastly superior in drill and discipline of their force my riflemen killed and wounded 2117 2 in less than an hour include ng two gen eral officers both died on the field each a division commander seven full colonels with 75 line and staff officers I 1 lost six killed and seven wounded As to tactics there were very little in use on either side we had some NN works or of earth fronting the river but the kentucky Iven tucky and tennessee rifle men who sustained the main attack had pro themselves by a work about two and a half feet high made of logs placed two feet apart and the space between filled in with alth earth this work began at the mississippi river and ended in the swamp being at a right angle with the river thinking this the weal st portion of our line and seeing men beh bell nd the trifling defenses general Pa pakenham lenham thoi thought h t it the best thing to begin his attack by carrying this part of my line with ith the bayonet there was a very heavy fog on the river that morning and the british had formed and were moving before I 1 knew it the despos tion of the riflemen was very simple they were told off 1 K it 0 k A of vew orleans ma maj J gen sir E pan packenham kenham in numbers one and two number one was to fire first then step back and let number two fire while he reloaded about CM yards from the riflemen there was a great drainage canal back from the mississippi river to the swamp in the rear of the tilled land on which we were operating along this canal the british formed under the fire of the few artillery pieces I 1 had near enough to them to get their range but the instant I 1 saw them I 1 said to coffee whom I 1 directed to hurry to his line which was to be first attacked by we have got them they are ours I 1 coff coffee ee dashed forward and riding along his line called out don dont t shoot until you can see their belt buckles the british were formed in mass well closed up and about two companies front the british thus formed moved on at a quick step m v phout firing a shot to within yards of the file kneeling riflemen who were holding the r fire till they could see the belt buckles of their enemies the blitsh brit sh advance was executed as though they had been on parade they marched shoulder to sl with the step of veterans as they were at yards distance from our line the order was given extend column front double qu ck march I 1 charge I 1 with bayonets at the charge they came on us at a run I 1 own it was an anxious moment I 1 well knew the chang ng column was made up of the picked troops of the british army seventy sixty fifty finally forty yards were they from the s lent kneeling riflemen all of my men I 1 could see was their long rifles rested on the logs before them they obeyed their orders well not a shot was fired until the redcoats were within forty yards I 1 heard coffee coffees s voice as he roared out now men aim for the center of the cross belts si I 1 fire rire A second after the order a crackling blazing flash ran rang all along our line the smoke hung co 0 o heavily in the misty morning a r that I 1 could not see what happened I 1 called tom overton and abner duncan of my staff and we galloped toward coffees line the british were falling back in a confused disorderly mass and the entire first ranks of their column were blown away for yards in our front the ground was covered with a mass of writhing wounded dead and dying redcoats the second advance was precisely I 1 ke the first in its ending in five volleys the 1500 or more r flemen killed and wounded 2117 br dr tish soldiers two thirds of them killed dead or mortally wounded I 1 d d not know where general pakenham nhim m was as lying or I 1 should have bave sent to him or gone in person to offer any service in my power to render I 1 was vas told he lived two hours after he was hit general keene I 1 hear was killed dead they sent a flag to me asking leave to gather up the r wounded and bury their dead which of course I 1 granted I 1 mas ft as told by a wounded that the rank and file absolutely refused to make a third charge we have no chance with such shooting as these americans do they said one of the factors which makes the battle ot of new orleans unique Is the fact that it was fought after the treaty of peace had been signed per haps the only time in history when two bel bet fought a major military engagement when officially they were at peace that fact Is known to most americans but many probably say of the battle of new orleans oh yes it was a picturesque affair and an astonishing vie tory but since it was won mon after the war was mas over it was nas really not very important therein they are wrong quite as de from the fact that it had cometh ng to do with sending andrew jackson to the white house 14 years later its results and its effects on the later history of th s country wei e far i leaching jackson himself at the time of his victory could not pos ably have realized what those results were to be any more than he tie could have known that he was fighting a battle with the british when we were at peace with them but later he realized the full sign licence of bis his victory as his 0 n words chov those words were spoken while he was prest dent arkansas the second of the 13 states to be mide made in whole or in part from the louisiana I 1 purchase had just been admitted to the un on one day in 1838 1836 one of the callers at the white house was william alien allen a congressman from ohio jackson and alien allen were discussing the admission of arkansas their conversation Is reported in alien allen s writings as follows do you know mr alien allen that this new state which has just become a part of our vast lie Is one of the first substantially large fruits of my victory at new orleans asked the dent alien allen was surprised and said so remarking that the treaty of ghent was signed 15 days before the battle was mas fought and adding general I 1 am familiar ath that treaty and it provided for the restoration of all territory places and possessions taken by either nation during the war with certain unimportant ex captions technically you are quite correct replied general jackson and his smile was more atrium pliant and proud than before cut but my dear alien allen said the old hero those very words would have been used to defeat the purpose of the american commissioners at ghent because the battle of new orleans was fought after the war 15 days after the war technically ceased by treaty if beneral pakenham hara with his veterans could have annihilated my little army and captured new orleans and all the ous territory technically after th war great britain would have held that territory abrogated that treaty and utterly ignored thomas jeffer sons great deal in real estate with napoleon moreover he continued great britain bad had other cards up her sleeve here are the transcripts from the department of state concerning the famous treaty of ghent here are the minutes of the conference which were kept by mr gallatin who records the british commissioners emphatically declared we do not admit bonaparte s construe tion of the laws of the nations we cannot ac capt it in relation to any matter before us at that moment not one of our american corn com missioners comprehended the awfully deep sig tilli ance cance of those few words but every one of the commissioners of great britain knew that general pakenham was on the way to new or leins leans with upward of 10 veteran soldiers in their judgment and it was a wise judgment too 10 british soldiers should and would mould clean up and wipe out an army which america could muster for the pakenham henham Pa invasion was to be a triumphant mil tary coup and surprise now I 1 can tell you mr alien allen that I 1 did not know and my boys behind those bales did not know what a prize the british were after nor what a service we were rendering our country we were simply topical american soldiers fight ing for our country as amer can soldiers always do ready and willing to dare do and die dip but since I 1 have been president I 1 have ascer aseer talked from diplomatic sources of unquestionable authority that the british ministry did not intend to permit the treaty of ghent to apply to the louisiana purchase at all the v w hole body lord liverpool the duke of portland greenville percival and castlereagh Castle reagh all of them utterly and emphatically denied the right of napoleon to sell lou slana therefore their commission ers declared we cannot accept napoleons in of international law in relation to any matter before us now you see mr alien allen said the proud old hero the british m bistry in london held most vehemently that this country had no right to that immense territory no right at all they in tended to hold that it was entirely extraneous to the terms of the treaty of ghent and if gen eral pakenham had been successful at new ew or leans as under all of the ordinary rules of war he ought to have been with his tremendously overwhelming force of vet veterans erang if he had de feared my I 1 atle thin line of riflemen if he had killed or captured me if he had won that battle as great britain had ever reason to expect of him he would have held his ground moreover he would have fortified his positions and great would have sent other veterans enough to forever hold that great prize the louisiana purchase but my dear sir british d and brit ish military power combined knew nothing of my tennessee and kentucky riflemen the will of the enemy was vias strong and intelligent but the nil mill of god was far above it all I 1 Iroil rov ro v dence willed that this nation should live grow and be the cradle of the liberty of the world then general jackson quoted a well known ha mn god moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform and concluded his narration the astute diplomats the trained commis s boners of great britain cheerfully found it easy to throw sand into the eyes of our honest corn com miss boners at A ghent but alien allen they could not ward oft off the cold lead which my rough and ready riflemen sprinkled into the faces of the r red coated veterans at new orleans all of the tan aled web that br er tish fish d and english cun ning could weave meave about our inexperienced commissioners was vas torn to lleces and soaked in blood in half an hour by the never missing of my squirrel shooting p onders of the moun bains as they carefully took the r aim from behind those fe bales of cotton CE by vv estern newspaper Newt paper union |