Show M WN DO 41 N k gg u it A 11 in aw u m 6 mir W M Q U W A I 1 g r i x rr ki K n ithe ah officer AI battle of iteva orleans aadrew jacksonl jack sorL v 1 71 by ELMO SCOTT WATSON 8 Is a date imperishably pre aj seated in the annals of america lu in jackson as association oc lation with the name ot of andrew jackson for it was on january 8 ar 1815 1816 that he won his amazing victor victory over the british at the battle of ne new orleans few it if any victories in history were more complete more unexpected by the defea defeated te d or more contrary to military experience in the first place the victors were outnumbered b nearly two to one by the vanquished but what was more important was the fact that in contrast to jacksons nondescript army of a few reg regulars u tar a and a majority of undisciplined militia and volunteers the british army was composed of trained and toughened troops the divisions which had scattered the americans at bladensburg Blad engburg with a volley and a shout kilted gilted highlanders High landers famous regi regiments meats which had earned tho th praise of wellington the tha iron duke in the spanish peninsula and brawny negro detachments recruited in the west indies it was such an n army as would have been considered lit fit to withstand the tha finest troops in europe in command was one of glands En most brilliant soldiers gen sir edward rn ra kenham of whom wellington had said my partiality for him does not lead me astray when I 1 tell you von that lie he Is one of the best we have lie he was the idol of his officers who agreed that they had never served under a man whose good opinion they were so BO desirous of having 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 wag the british who should have won at new kew 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 his course of action endowed althan with an unyielding temper and an iron hand a relentless purpose and the faculty facility of Ing inspiring troops to follow obey and trust him in the list last extremity lie ile was one of them typifying their passions and prejudices their faults rind and their virtues sharing their hardships as it if he were a common private never grudging them tile the credit in success 11 note the foregoing quotations are from ralph D balnes the fight for a n free sea in the yale university press chronicles of america so when old jackson told his kentucky and Tennessee riflemen his louisiana volunteers ills his yankee his bara tarla pirates led by jean loritte and all the other heterogeneous elements in his army that they could lick their weight in wildcats it n never e ver occurred to them but that they could also li lick ek their weight in british regulars as well so that did it I 1 As for a description of the battle itself what could be better than one given by the victorious general on thit that famous field so go hero here Is the story of the battle of yew new orleans as jackson himself reported it to james 11 monroe lonroe then secretary of war var the battle commenced at a very little before T a xa january 8 1815 and as fur far as tile the infantry was concerned it was over by 0 9 a in my aly force was very ranch much mixed I 1 had portions of the seventh end and forty fourth regular infantry regiments kentucky and tennessee riflemen creoles cheoles Cr eoles united states marines and sal sailors lors bira bara tartan tarlan 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 the action about 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 in less than an hour including two general officers both died on the field each a division commander seven full colonels with 75 line rind and staff officers I 1 lost six killed and seven wounded As aa to tactics there were very little in use on either side we had some works of earth fronting the river but the kentucky Xen tucky and tennessee rifle men who sustained the main attack had bad protected themselves by a work about two and a half feet high made of logs placed two feet apart and ami the space between filled in with earth this work began nt at the river and ended in the swamp beier it at a right angle with the river thinking this the weakest portion of our line rind and seeing men behind the trifling defenses general pakenham thought it the thel best liest thing to begin ills his by carrying this part of my line with the bayonet there was a very heavy fog on the river that morning and the had formed and were moving before I 1 knew it the disposition of the riff riflemen emen was very simple they wera told off maj madgen ge Gen sir E Z Pane nham in numbers one and two number one was to fire first then step back and let number two fire while he reloaded about GOO yards from the riflemen there was a great drainage canal running 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 ret their range but the instant I 1 saw them I 1 said to coffee whom 1 directed to hurry to his line which was to be first attacked by we haye have got them they are oural coffee dashed forward and riding along his line called out dont 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 without firing a shot to within yards of abe knowling riflemen who were holding their fire till they could see the belt buckles of their enemies the british advance was executed its as though they had been on parade they marched shoulder to shoulder with the step of veterans as they were at yards distance from our line the order was given extend column front double quick marchl march I 1 Ch charge argel with bayonets at the charge they came on us at a run 1 I own it was an anxious moment I 1 well knew the charging column was made up of the picked troops of the british army seventy sixty fifty finally forty yards were they from the balent 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 coffees voice as he roared out xoa now I 1 I 1 men alm aim tor for the center of the cross belts fire A second after the order a crackling blazing flash rang all along our line tho the smoke hung so heavily in the misty morning air that I 1 could not ape what happened I 1 called tom overton and abnor abner duncan of my staff and we galloped toward cea line the british were ivere falling back in a confused disorderly mass and the entire first ranks of their column were blown away for yards in our front froni the ground was covered with a mass of writhing wounded dead and dying redcoats the second advance was precisely like the first in its ending in five volleys the 1500 or more riflemen killed and wounded 2117 british soldiers iwo two thirds of them killed dead or mortally wounded 1 I did not know where general ra kenham was lying or I 1 should have sent to him or gone in person to offer any service in my power to render 1 I was told ho he lived two hours after he was hit general keene I 1 hear was killed dead they sent a lag flag to me asking le leave aveto to gather up their wounded and bury their dead which of course I 1 granted I 1 was told by a wounded officer that the rank and file absolutely refused to makela make a third charge we have no chance with such shooting as these americans do they sald said one of the factors which makes the battle of new orleans unique Is tile the fact that it was fought after the treaty of peace had been signed perhaps tile the only time in history when two belligerents lige rents fought a major military engagement when officially they were at pence peace that fact Is known to most americans but many probably say of the battle of new orleans oh ob yes it was a picturesque affair and an astonishing victory but since it was waa won after tile the war was nas over it was really not very important therein they are wrong quite aside from the fact that it had bad something to do with sending andrew jackson to the white house elouse 14 years later late rIts its results and its effects on the later history of this country were far reaching Jack jackson sol himself at the time of his victory could not pos ably have realized what those results were to be any more than he could have known that he was fighting a battle with the british when we bete at pence with them but later lie he realized reali sed ane full of ills victory as his own words show those words were spoken will to he was president arkansas the second of tho the 13 states to be made in whole or in part from the louisiana purchase had bad just been admitted tu the union one ne day in 1830 one of the callers at the white house was william allen alien a congressman from ohio jackson and allen alien were discussing th the admission of arkansas their conversation to 1 reported in allens aliens writings as follows do you know mr allen alien that this new state which has just become a part of our vast lie he la 13 one of the first drat substantially large fruits ol of my victory at new orleans asked the president allen alien was surprised and said so remarking that the treaty of ghent was signed 15 days daya before the battle ans fought and adding general I 1 am familiar with that treaty and it provided for the restoration of all territory places and possessions taken by either nation during the war with certain unimportant exceptions 11 technically you are quite correct replied general jackson and his smile was more triumphant and proud than before but my dear allen alien said the old hero those very words would have been used to defeat the purpose of the american Ameil can commissioners at ghent because the battle of new orleans orlean 3 was fought after the war 15 days after the war technically ceased by treaty if general pakenham with his 10 veterans could have annihilated my little army and captured new orleans and all the contiguous territory technically after the war great britain would have held that territory abrogated that treaty and utterly ignored thomas jeerer jeffersons great deal in real estate with napoleon moreover he be continued great britain had other cards up her sleeve are the transcripts from the department I 1 of state state concerning the famous treaty of ghent here are tile the minutes of the conference which were kept by mr gallatin Gallat ln who records I 1 the british commissioners emphatically declared we do not admit Bona partes construction of the he laws of the nations we cannot accept it in relation to any matter before us at that moment not one of our american commissioners ners comprehended the awfully deep significance ance of those few words but every one of the commissioners of great britain knew that general pakenham harn was on the way to new orleans with upward of veteran soldiers in their judgment and it was a wise judgment too british soldiers should and would clean up and wipe out an army which america could muster for the pakenham invasion was to be a triumphant military coup and surprise now I 1 can tell you mr air allen alien that I 1 did not know and my boys behind those bales did not know what a R prize the british were after nor what a n service we were rendering our country con we were simply typical american soldiers fighting for our our country as aa american sallers always do ready and willing to dare do and dip die hut since I 1 have been president bent I 1 have ascertained bained from diplomatic sources of unquestionable that the british ministry did not intend to permit tile the treaty of ghent to apply to tile louisiana purchase at all the whole body lord liverpool the duke of portland greenville percival and Cast lerea 9 b all 11 or of them utterly and emphatically denied the right of napoleon to at soil louisiana therefore their comm commissioners llon declared we cannot accept napoleons in of international law in relation to any matter before us now you see mr allen alien said the proud 0 old jd hero the british ministry in london held most vehemently that this country had bad no right to that immen immense se territory no right at all they intended to hold that it was entirely extraneous to the terms of the treaty of ghent and if general on era pakenham hani had been successful at new or lating hi as under till nil of tile the orl ordinary inary rules of war ho he ought to have been with ills his tremendously overwhelming ovorn helming force of veterans veteran lf if lie he had defeated my little thin line of riflemen if he had killed or captured me if he had bad won that battle as graae G i cat britain had ever reason nabon to expect of f him lie he would have held his ground Alore moreover over lie he would have fortified his positions find and great britain would have sent other veterans enough to forever hold that grent great prize tile the louisiana purchase but my dear sir air british diplomacy and british military power combined knew nothing of my tennessee and kentucky riflemen the will of the enemy was strong and intelligent but the will of god was far above it all providence wilted willed that this nation should live grow and be the cradle of the liberty of the w world orld then general jackson quoted a well known hymn god cloves moves in a his wonders to perform and concluded his narration the astute diplomats the trained con commissioners lails of great britain cheerfully found it easy to throw sand into the eyes of our ha honest nest commissioners miss loners ners at ghent but allen alien they could not ward off the cold lead wh eb ruy my rough and ready riflemen sprinkled into the faces of their red coated veterans at new orleans all of the tangled wet wel that british diplomacy and english cunning could weave about our inexperienced commissioners ners was torn to lleces and soaked 11 1 blood lii halt half an hour by the never missing rifles ride of my squirrel shooting pioneers plon eera of the mountains as they carefully took their alm aim from b be hind those invulnerable bales of cott cotton I 1 G 0 by WW W W newsy ly r U union 1 a |