| Show ac k son v abua anua ir R ott a f nata avy r V pa r 00 officer bottle B ott of llever orleans cidre jacksonl jack soll POV by ELMO SCOTT WATSON iff 8 Is a date imperishably pre in the annals of america lu in III association with the name ot of andrew I 1 jhb jackson Jac keon for it ia was on january 8 v 1815 that he m won on ills his al abing victory I 1 over the british at the battle of new orleans I 1 baw ew if any tiny Ic lct orle 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 hut but what was more important was the fact that in contrast to jackson jacksons s nondescript army of a few regulars and a of undisciplined militia and volunteers the british army was composed of trained and toughened troops the divisions had scattered the americans at with a volley and a shout kilted highlanders High landers famous re regiments which had earned the praise of vi 11 ellington the iron duke I 1 in the spanish peninsula and brawny negro detach ments recruited in the NN est Ir indies idles it was such an army as would have been considered fit to withstand tand the finest troops in eunce in corn com mand iras was one of En england glands s most brIlI lint sol diers gen sir adward pakenham bam of whom welling wellington ton had said my partiality for him does not lead me astray when I 1 tell you that holi hon h one of the best we have I 1 he ile wag was the idol of hia his officers officers who greed agreed that they had never served under a u nan an whose good opinion they were ere BO so desirous of having and to fall in his estimation would have been worse than death I 1 I 1 so by all the accepted rules of warfare as it was mas waged in those times it was nas the british who should have won at new orleans instead of the americans the only trouble with that theory la Is that the americans were led by a great general with ith the rare attribute of reading correctly the mind of an opponent and divining his course of action endowed with nn an ing temper and an iron hand a relentless pur pose and the faculty of inspiring troops to follow obey and trust him in the last extremity he ile was one of them typifying their passions and prejudices their faults and their virtues sharing their hardships as if he wore were a common private never grudging them the credit in sue ce cels 0 note ote the foregoing quotations are from ralph D balnes the tho fight for a free sea in 1 the yale university press Chron chronicle lelei of america so x when hen old Hi hickory clory jackson told his kentucky and tennessee riflemen his I 1 ou on ana volunteers his yankee sailors his 1 I i i tarla pirates led by jean lafitte and all other heterogeneous elements in hia 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 As for a description of the battle It steif EIf NO blat at could be better than one given by the victorious garr I 1 on AM hat 1 fa a s field 1 ao 10 I 1 t r I 1 in th aa etory story of the battle of new orleans as jackson himself reported it to james Il onro lien then secretary of war the battle commenced at a very tery little before 7 aam a m january 8 1815 and ai as far as the in fantry was concerned it was over by 9 a m my force was very much mixed I 1 had bad portions of the seventh and fort fourth regular infantry regiments kentucky and Terin sRee riflemen creoles cheoles Cr eoles united states marines aid ai 1 sailors bara tartan tarlan men one of them capt dominique you commanded part of my artillery and a famous gutter he was and two battalions of free negroes nf nt groes groer I 1 bad had in the action abut men the british strength was almost the same as but vastly superior in drill and discipline of 0 their force my riflemen killed and wounded 2117 21 in less than an hour including two gen eral era officers both died on the field each a division commander seven fua colonels with 75 line and staff officers I 1 lost six killed and sei seen en wounded As to tactics there were very little in use on other side we had some work works of earth fronting the rhier but the kentucky and tennessee rifle men kho ho bu stained the main attack bad had protected 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 earth this work began at the mississippi river and ended in the swamp being at a right angle with the river thinking this the weakest portion of our line and seeing men behind the trifling trilling defenses general pakenham Pa kenhan thought it the best thing to begin his attack by carrying this part of my line with 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 IL the disposition of the riflemen was very simple They enre id off oft I 1 ai p A lj mal gen om sir E P axem in numbers one and two number one was to fire first then step back and let number two fire while he reloaded about COO CM yards from the riflemen there flan man a great drainage canal inning hick 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 ir artillery tillery pieces I 1 had near enough to them to get their ranse 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 hae got them they are bourst ours coffee dashed forward and riding along his line called out dont shoot until you can see their belt buckles I 1 the n ire tre formed in mass well closed up and about two companies front the beitia thus formed moved on at a quick isep without firing fring a shot to within yards of the kneeling kneel ln riflemen who were holding their fire till they could see the belt buckles of their enemies the baltish advance was executed as though they had been on parade they marched shoulder to shoulder with the step of veterans et erans as they were at IW yards distance from our line the order was given extend column front double quick march I 1 charge I 1 with bayonets at the charge they came on us at a run I 1 I 1 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 ards were they from the silent kneeling riflemen all of my men I 1 could see was their long rides rifles rested on the logs before them they obeyed their orders well not n shot was fired until the redcoats were within forty yards I 1 heard coffee coffees a voice as he roared out now inow men aim for the center of the cross belts I 1 fire A second after the order a crackling blazing flash rang all along our line the smoke hung so heavily in the misty morning clr that I 1 could not see what happened I 1 called m overton and abnor abner duncan of my staff anil ad 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 ma mas as of writhing wounded dead and dying redcoats the second advance was precisely like the first in its ending in five eye volleys the 1 1500 K A 0 cr 02 o a 2 bied d bounded 2 2117 british soldiers soldier two thirds of them killed dead or mortally wounded I 1 did not know where general Pa pakenham Lenham was lying or I 1 should bava sent to him or gone in person to offer any service in my power to reader 1 I I m was as told he lived two houn hours after he m was as hit general keene I 1 hear bear was killed dead they sent a flag to me asking leave to gather up their wounded ani bury their dead which of course I 1 granted grant edL I 1 was told by a wounded om that the rank and file absolutely refused to make a third charge I 1 we have no chance with such shooting as these americans do they said one of the factors which makes males the battle ot of new orleans balque Is 1 the fact that it was fought after the treaty of peace had been signed per haps the only time in history when two bel lige rents fought a major military engagement when officially they were at peace that fact Is known to most americans but many probably gay say of the battle of hew new orleans ah yes it was a picturesque affair and an astonishing vie VIC tory but since it was won on after the war J was a 8 over it was really not very important therein they are wrong quite aside from the fact that it had something to do with sending andrew jackson to the white house 14 years later its results and its effects on the later history of this country were far reaching jackson himself at the time cf of t Ms Is victory could not pos ably have realized what those results were to be any diore than he could have known that he was fighting a battle with the british when we were at peace pence with them but later he realized the fiall of bis his victory as bis his own words show those words were spoken while he was prest dent arkansas the second of the 13 states to be made in whole or in part from the louisiana purchase had just been admitted to the union one day in 1830 one of the callers at the 11 bits house was william alien allen a congressman from ohio jackson and alien allen were discussing the admission of arkansas their conversation ii Is reported in alien allens writings ai as follow follows 1 do you know mr alien allen that this new state which las his just become a part of our vast ile Is one of the first substantially large fruits of my victory at new orleans Orlean sl asked the president alien allen was surprised and said so remarking that tho the treaty of ghent was signed IS 15 days before the battle was fought and adding general 1 I am familiar with that treaty and it provided for the restoration of nil all territory places and possessions taken by either nation during the war with certain unimportant exceptions technically you are quite correct replied general jackson and his sm ie wat wa t more triumphant and proud than before but my dear alien allen said the old hero those very worda words would have been used to defeat the purpose of the american commissioners at ghent because the da battle atle of new now orleans was fought after the war 15 davs dans after the war technically ceased by treaty tf if general pakenham liam with his iet veterans erans could have haf annihilated my little army and captured new and nil all the contiguous territory orv after the war gnat britain would have hare held that territory abrogated that treaty and utterly ignored thomas jeffersons great deal in real estate with napoleon moreover he be continued I 1 grent great britain had other cards up her sleeve here are the transcripts from the department of state concerning the famous treaty of here are the minutes of the conference which were kept by mr gallatin who records the british commissioners emphatically declared we do not admit construction of the laws of the nations we cannot accept it in relation rela tica to any matter before Us 1 1 at thit that moment not one of our american chui coui missioner miss loner a comprehended the awfully deep sig big acce of those few words but every one of the commissioners of great britain knew that general pakenham harn was on the way vay to new or icara with upward of veteran soldiers in their judgment and it was a wise judgment too 10 british soldiers should and would clean up and wipe out an army which america could for the pakenham harn invasion was to be a military coup and surprise NOT now I 1 can tell you mr alien that I 1 did not know and my boys behind those bales did not know what a prize p the british were after nor what a service we en derIng cur our country we were simply typical Arr arlean soldiers soll lers ight ing for our country as Am american rican soldiers always do ready and willing f to 0 dars dara do and die dle but since I 1 have been prisident I 1 have haw ascer talked from diplomatic soure s j of unquestionable authority that the british ministry did not intend to permit the treaty of ghent to apply to the louisiana purchase at all thi tho whole body lord liverpool Liver the duke of portland land greenville perchal and castlereagh Castle reagh all of them utterly and rind emphatically denied the right of napoleon to sell louisiana therefore their commission ers declared we cannot accept napoleons in of international law in relation to any matter before us A NOT 0 w you see mr alien allen said the proud old hero the british ministry in london held most vehemently that this country had no right to that immense territory no right at all they in tended to bold that it was entirely extraneous to the terms of the treaty of chent ghent and if gen eral pakenham had been successful at new or leans alcansas lc ansas as under all of the ordinary rules of war he ought to have been with his tremendously overwhelming force of veterans if he had defeated my little 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 be would have held his ground moreover he woula have fortified his positions and great britain would have sent other veterans enough to forever hold that great prize the louisiana purchase but my ray dear asir british diplomacy and brit mi military power combined knew nothing of my tennessee ard kentucky riflemen the will of the enemy ft as a strong and intelligent but the all ft of god was far above it all providence willed that this nation should live grow and be the cradle of the liberty of the world then general jackson quoted a well known haam hynni god moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform and concluded his narration the astute diplomats the trained commis of great britain cheerfully found it easy to throw sand into the eyes of our honest commissioners comm m Iss loners at ghent but alien allen they could not ward off the cold lead which my rough and ready rifle riflemen mea sprinkled into the faces of their red coated veterans ut at new orleans all of the tangled web that british diplomacy and english cunning could weave about our inexperienced commissioners was torn to pieces and soaked in blood la in half an hour by the never missing rifles of my squirrel shooting pioneers of the moan kalns as they carefully took their aim alm from behind those invulnerable bales of cotton 0 Q by western union |
