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A SKETCH 
 
 OF THE LIFE OF. 
 
 GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON; 
 
 AKD OF THE 
 
 BATTLE or NEW-ORLEANS, 
 
 I 
 
 WITH AN ENGKAVING OF THE 
 
 BATTLE-G.ROU5;rD, 
 
 WRITTEN FOR THE KNICKERBOCKER MAG;^ZINE. 
 
 NEW.YORK: ;^, "***^ 
 
 PUBLISHED BY I. SMITH HOMANS, 
 ' SUN OFFICE/ 
 No. 124 FULTON-STREET. 
 
 184 5. t ■ 
 

A SKETCH 
 
 OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON. 
 
 Andrew Jacicson was born on the 15th March, 1767, in Wax- 
 saw, South Carolina, a settlement whither his family had emigrated 
 from Ireland two years previous. His father dying soon after the 
 birth of this, his third son, Andrew was left in the care of a faithful 
 mother, who determined to afford him such a rudimental education, 
 as would be of service to him in case her fond desire should be real- 
 ized by his choosing the clerical profession. He had scarcely time 
 to enter upon the study of the languages, when the revolutionary 
 struggle involved his native spot in the commotion, and at the age of 
 fourteen he abandoned school for the colonial camp. In conse- 
 quence of the smallness of their number, the body of troops to which 
 he was attached were obliged to withdraw to North Carolina, but soon 
 returned to their own settlement, where a party of forty were surprised 
 by a large detachment of the enemy, and compelled to surrender. 
 Jackson and his brother eluded tlie fate of their companions, but 
 were taken the next day, and kept in strict confinement, until they 
 were exchanged after the battle of Camden, His eldest brother had 
 previously perished in the service of the colony; his only surviving 
 brother, the companion of his imprisonment, died in consequence of 
 a wound inflicted by the officer of the British detachment, for refus- 
 ing to perform menial services, and his mother survived him but a 
 few weeks, a victim to anxiety and fatigue. Andrew escaped with 
 his life from the rage of the same officer, excited by the same cause, 
 only by his dexterity in receiving on his hand the stroke of the sword 
 which was aimed with fury at his head. 
 
 Having thus become heir to the whole of the moderate estate left 
 by his father, he prosecuted his education. In 1784, he commenced 
 the study of the law in Salisbury, North Carolina ; was admitted to 
 
A SKETCH OF THlf LIFE OF 
 
 ctice in 1786, and removed in 1788 to Nasliville, to make an en- 
 ^)rising experiment in that. newly -f)eoj)]ed district of Tennessee. 
 Professional success immediately attended liim, in consequence of 
 the singular condition of the affairs of the settlers. Many of the 
 young adventurers, who had traded on credit with the merchants of 
 the town, were unable, or indisposed to fulfil their engagements, and 
 had retained the only practitioner of the law then in Nashville, as 
 their counsellor. The creditors had consequently no means of pro- 
 secuting their claims ; but the moment of Jackson's arrival they 
 availed themselves of his aid, and on the very next day he com- 
 menced seventy suits. This auspicious opening introduced him to 
 a respectable business. He was soon after appointed attorney gene- 
 ral of the district. The depredations of the Indians upon the new 
 country frequently called him into active military service with his fel- 
 low citizens ; among whom he was distinguished by his energy and 
 valor. Thus conspicuous, he was selected, in 1796, as a delegate to 
 the convention for forming a constitution for the state ; and was in 
 the same year elected to the lower house of congress. In the year 
 following, he was delegated to the national senate, in which he took 
 his seat, but resigned at the close of the session, alleging his distaste 
 for the intrigues of politics. Within that period he was chosen major 
 general of the Tennessee militia, and held the office until called to 
 the same rank in the United States' service in 1814. 
 
 Upon his retirement from the national legislature, General Jack- 
 son was appointed to the bench of the supreme court of the state, 
 an office which he accepted with diffidence and reluctance, and soon 
 resigned, retiring from public life to his farm on the Cumberland 
 river, near Nashville. Here he passed several years in the pursuits 
 of agriculture, until summoned by the second war with Great Britain 
 to take an active part in the defence of the country. He proceeded 
 in the winter of 1812, at the head of twenty-five hundred volunteers, 
 to the duty assigned him by the general government, of defending 
 the lower states, and descended the Ohio and Mississippi to Natchez, 
 where he had been instructed to await further orders. The danger 
 of tlie anticipated invasion being dispelled, Jackson was directed 
 by the secretary of war to disband his troops on the spot. But a 
 large number of his men being then sick, and destitute of the means 
 of returning home, he felt bound by obligations to them and their fa- 
 milies to lead them back, and to disregard an order made without the 
 'knowledge of his peculiar circumstances. This purpose he effected, 
 sharing with hia men ia all the hardships of the return. Hissubse- 
 
tf- 
 
 GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON. 
 
 qiient representations to the cabinet were accepted, and his course 
 sanctioned. 
 
 The Creek Indians having become allies of the British, and per- 
 petrated several massacres, the legislature of Tennessee placed a 
 force of thirty-five hundred of their militia under the command of 
 Jackson to proceed against them. The first attack upon the savages 
 was made at Talladega, on the river Coosa, where a band of a thou- 
 sand Creeks were routed and dispersed. In the beginning of 1814 
 another party was defeated at Emuckfaw, and in March, the general 
 proceeded to the village of Tohopeka, or Horse-shoe, on the Talla- 
 poosa, where a long and desperate battle was waged. The Indians 
 screened themselves behind a long rampart of timbers and trunks of 
 trees, directing their unerring fire from a double row of port-holes. 
 The contest was prolonged from the morning to midnght ofthe27tb, 
 when they were driven from the entrenchment, leaving upwards of 
 five hundred of their warriors on the field. Jackson determined to 
 proceed next to Hoithlewalee, a Creek town near the junction of the 
 Coosa and Tallapoosa ; but the swelhng of the streams by recent rains 
 so much impeded his progress, that the enemy had time to escape. 
 At the Hickory Ground, however, near the villages, the principal 
 chiefs sued for peace, which was granted them on condition of their 
 withdrawing to the neighborhood of fort Williams. Hostility being 
 checked in this quarter, the troops took up their march homeward on 
 the 21st April, terminating a most severe service ; during which, the 
 promptness and decision of the commander maintained the order and 
 efficiency of the troops, (although menaced by mutiny and scarcity 
 of provisions,) and by his celerity defeating the stratagems even of 
 Indian warfare. " Within a few days," he observed to his army at 
 the close of the war, " you have annihilated the power of a nation, that 
 for twenty years has been the disturber of your peace." 
 
 His services in the campaign attracted the notice of government, 
 and he was commissioned a major-general. May, 1814. In the same 
 year he was named a commissioner with Colonel Hawkins, to form 
 a treaty with the subdued tribes, the principal object of which was to 
 prevent any intercourse between them and the British and Spanish 
 agents in the Floridas. This was accomplished at Alabama in August, 
 and the right secured to the United States of establishing military posts 
 in their territory. 
 
 While engaged in this employment, he discovered that the Indians 
 were still encouraged and supported by the Spaniards in Florida, and 
 that a British officer was permitted to organize and drill a body of 
 
b A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 Bri'ish soldiers and fugitive Creeks in Pensacola. The remon- 
 strances which Jackson addressed to the Spanish governor were con- 
 temned. He anticipated .a movement against New-Orleans, and an- 
 nounced the impendiiigdanger to the neighboring states, urging them 
 to immediate and vigorous preparation. He drew a supply of volun- 
 teers from Tennessee, and proceeded in person to Mobile to make the 
 defence of that point. An attack was soon commenced upon fort 
 Bowyer, which commands the bay of Mobile, by a squadron with a 
 force under Colonel Nicholls, who was repulsed with loss by the Ame- 
 ricans under Major Lawrence. The British retired into Pensacola to 
 refit, and Jackson, who had in vain requested permission from the 
 president to attack that town, so openly departing from its neutrality, 
 determined to advance against it upon his own responsibility, throw 
 a force into fort Barrancas, and expect the result. Accordingly, he 
 took possession of the town with an army of three thousand, in the 
 beginning of November, driving the Spaniards before him after a short 
 but unavailing resistance. Fort Barrancas was blown up by the ene- 
 my after the surrender of the town, and that fortress being the main 
 object of capture, in order to secure the command of Pensacola, Jack- 
 son did not think it necessary to retain possession of the town, and 
 returned to fort Montgomery. 
 
 — The next important event in the life of Gen. Jackson is the Battle 
 of NeiD-Orleans, which is faithfully described in subsequent pages. 
 After this battle, the command being committed to General Gaines, 
 Jackson returned to his farm, where he remained until the end of 
 1817, when he was directed to proceed against the Seminole Indians, 
 who, emerging from the Spanish territory, had committed repeated 
 massacres of the Americans on the frontiers. At the head of the Ten- 
 nessee volunteers, who were afterwards joined by the Georgia militia, 
 he penetrated into Florida, destroyed the rctreiits of the skulking 
 savages and fugitive slaves who had banded with them, and burned 
 their villages. Two Englishmen, Arbuthnot and Ambrister, were ar- 
 rested by his order, charged with exciting and leading on the insur- 
 gents. They were tried by a court of thirteen officers, found guilty, 
 and in pursuance of their sentence, the former was hung and the other 
 shot. After placing a garrison in St. Marks, the general was about 
 returning to Tennessee, when he learned that tlie dispersed bands 
 were combining west of the Appalachicola, under the countenance 
 and protection of the governor of Pensacola. During May, he, with 
 a force of twelve hundred, ranged the suspected district, and marched 
 into Pensacola, of which he took possession ; the governor flying to 
 
GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON. 7 
 
 fort Barrancas, which was also yielded on the 28th. Two detach- 
 ments were then sent to clear the country of the fugitives, which be- 
 ing accomplished, Jackson returned home in June, 1818. The 
 house of representatives, in the next session of congress, justified his 
 course in taking temporary possession of the Spanish fortresses, and 
 in executing the two British ringleaders. Soon after these events he 
 visited the northern cities, where he was enthusiastically received 
 with public and private honors. 
 
 When the Floridas ifjiere ceded by Spain to the United States, the 
 President appointed Gaheral Jackson a commissioner to receive the 
 cession, and act as go\'ernor of the territory. This important annex- 
 ation was officially announced by him at Pensacola in July, 1821, 
 when he commenced his administration. Having organized his new 
 government, he resigned his office, and returned to his farm in Ten- 
 nessee. 
 
 In the month of August, 1822, the legislature of Tennessee nomi- 
 nated General Jackson as the successor of Mr. Monroe in the presi- 
 dency of the United States ; the proposition was favorably received 
 in many parts of the union. He declined an appointment as min- 
 ister to Mexico, and in 1823 was elected to the senate of the United 
 States ; but having now become a prominent candidate for the chief 
 magistracy, he resigned his seat in the second session. The result of 
 the popular elections of 1824 for president, gave General Jackson a 
 plurality, but not a majority of votes. The house of representatives 
 were required, by the constitutional provision, to make a selectioa 
 from the three who received the greatest number of votes, and the suf- 
 frages of the states gave the majority to Mr. Adams. General Jack- 
 son was at once nominated to succeed Mr. Adams at the close of his 
 term of service, and the elections of the colleges were reported to Con- 
 gress on February 11, 1829, as giving to General Jackson, one 
 hundred and seventy-eight votes, and to Mr. Adams, his only com- 
 petitor, eighty-three. At the end of his first term of office he was 
 re-elected to a second, by an increased majority of the electoral votes. 
 
 The person of Jackson was tall and thin, and indicated a life of 
 arduous toil. His countenance, though affected by the same cause, 
 
 /jyas animated and striking. In his manners, he was as though he had 
 never dwelt in camps, nor been removed from scenes of gentlest 
 courtesy. His name will go down to posterity as the hero op New- 
 Orleans, whose military ability covered with glory our citizen soldiers : 
 and his presidential career will afford to the future historian and the 
 political economist many important incidents and lessons of wisdom. 
 
A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 BATTLE OF NEW-ORLEANS. 
 
 The English had determined at an early period to obtain posses- 
 sion of New-Orleans, and their Danish descents in the Chesapeake 
 were merely feints to divert attention from the main object. The 
 plan was excellent. A defenceless coast, an unfortified town ; a total 
 want of munitions of all kinds ; disaflected negro slaves ; a popula- 
 tion half French, half Spanish ; every circumstance seemed favora- 
 ble ; and they already exulted, when considering the value of the 
 prize which was to be obtained so easily. The great market of the 
 Mississippi and Ohio valleys was within their reach ; and animated 
 by their success at AVashington, they regarded the expedition rather 
 as a. promenade militaire, in quest of ' beauty and booty,' than as an 
 invasion in which plunder was to be bought with blood. Rumors of 
 their intentions had already reached Louisiana, and excited much 
 alarm and a shiftless desire to do something for defence. Lafitte, 
 the smuggler, whom the British attempted to buy over, warned the 
 authorities repeatedly of the approaching danger ; and though a 
 •foreigner, a pirate, and an outlaw, offered to serve with all his band 
 against the enemies of America. Yet little was accomplished : the 
 government, as remiss here as elsewhere, had provided neither arms 
 nor ammunition. Even a frigate of small draft, destined to the de- 
 fence of the lake, remained unfinished, despite the earnest solicita- 
 tions of Commodore Patterson. Nothing was ready except the 
 General — Andrew Jackson. His military talents were fully equal 
 to the occasion. In various expeditions against the Creeks, he had 
 already evinced that iron energy, indomitable perseverance, and 
 ceaseless activity, so necessary to a commanding officer. He was 
 the general for an emergency. Not one of the wavering, but a man 
 who would keep his object as steadily before him as the mariner his 
 port, and trample down and crush without remorse whoever barred 
 the path. A character indispensable in a chief, for in war especially 
 success is the only thing worth consideration. 
 
 On the 2d of December, 1814, General Jackson arrived in New- 
 Orleans, on his return from Pensacola. The city was in great con- 
 fusion. Committees of all kinds were disputing, quarrelling, and 
 more desirous to fight each other than the enemy. His appearance 
 restored tranquillity, for he had that strength about him on which men 
 in danger willingly rely. The General lost no time in tardy delibera- 
 tions. Martial law was proclaimed ; the writ of habeas corpus sus- 
 pended ; free men of color and prisoners em-olled ; the Baratarians 
 welcomed to the ranks ; and every point which he thought menaced 
 by the attack, visited and fortified. On the 14th, news came of the 
 capture of the six gun-boats on Lake Borgue, the only protection of 
 the coast in the absence of the unfinished frigate. The invaders were 
 at the door, and men knew that the hour of trial had arrived. 
 
 Some ragged fishermen, who earned a miserable livelihood on the 
 ■bores of the lake, went over to the British and advised them to land 
 
GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON. 9 
 
 at the Bayou Cataline, one of the thousand creeks which intersect 
 the swamps of Louisiana. The Bayou was well chosen, for the 
 Mississip|)i at tliis point was not more than six miles distant from the 
 lake. On the 16th of December the army was conveyed in boats to 
 Pine Island, ' a miserable swamp, not only devoid of all human habi- 
 tations, but bare even of trees and sin-ubs,' On this Avaste they 
 remained five days, sufferinor all the hardships of an exposure to cold 
 and rain. Many of the black troops, unaccustomed to a change of 
 climate, fell asleep beside their fires, and expired. On the 22d the 
 avant-garde, consisting of sixteen hundred men, under the command 
 of General Keane, was reembarked, and rowed to the Bayou, a dis- 
 tance of sixty miles, without even an awning to protect them against 
 the showers which fell during the night. Bodily discomfort was for- 
 gotten in the certainty of success; and when the boats took the 
 ground under the high reed-covered banks of the Bayou, the troops 
 leaped ashore with alacrity, and pushed forward through the swamp, 
 where the cypress and the conqueror's laurel grew side by side in 
 boundless profusion, to Villere's plantation, on the left bank of the 
 Mississippi. 
 
 Thus far every thing had gone well. A quick march of ten miles 
 over a level road would have placed the prize within their grasp. 
 Colonel Thornton the second in command, earnestly pressed an im- 
 mediate advance : sixteen hundred men, he maintained, were fully 
 adequate to the task of surprising an unfortified city ; and no time 
 was to be lost in delays, for the escape of several prisoners would 
 soon announce their arrival to the Americans, and prepare them for 
 defence. General Keane, however, thought it safer to wait for the 
 second detachment, and to reserve the advance for the next day. 
 Consequently the order was passed to bivouac. The troops, in high 
 spirits, piled their arms, lighted their fires, and dispersed in search of 
 •provisions, fully impressed that ' as the Americans had never yet 
 dared to attack, there was no great probability of their doing so on 
 the present occasion.' The following proclamation was posted in 
 different places along the high road : 
 
 ' Louisianians ! — remain quiet in your houses: your slaves shall 
 be preserved to you, and your property respected. We make war 
 only against Americans.' 
 
 All other hostile demonstrations were reserved for the morrow. 
 
 One Rey, who had contrived to escape from the English, arrived 
 in New-Orleans at noon of the same day, and announced the disem- 
 barkation of the troops. General Jackson immediately despatched 
 a party to reconnoitre the enemy. Before two hours had elapsed, 
 the scouts came in, a night attack was planned, and orders issued to 
 the corps who were to take part in it. The armed schooner Carolina 
 was directed to drop down the river, and to take up a position abreast 
 of the enemy's cam^. About seven o'clock the Carolina came 
 leisurely to an anchor before the levee. So great was the security of 
 the British that they were gathered in crowds upon the bank, watch- 
 ing with an idle curiosity the manceuvres of the vessel, which they 
 
10 A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 took for an ordinary coaster. Suddenly the trumpet was heard from 
 her decks; ' Give them this, for the honor of America !' and the 
 darkness of tiie winter evenino; was lighted up by the flash of her 
 broadside, as she pourcda shower of grape and round-shot among 
 the astonished Englishmen. More than one hundred were killed 
 before they recovered from their panic. The survivors crouched 
 behind the levee for protection ; and here they lay an hour, listening 
 in silence ' to the pattering of grape-shot among their huts, and to 
 the shrieks and groans of those who lay wounded beside them. 
 
 A discharge from tlie picquets on the right summoned them from 
 their ^shelter. Two thousand Americans, led on by General Jackson 
 ill person, had forced their way into tlie camp, and were bearing all 
 before them. In the obscurity of the night the ranks were broken ; 
 Americans and English mingled together, legit que virum vir. Every 
 man fought for himself alone, as in the old Homeric conflicts. Mus- 
 ket and pistol were laid aside for sword and bayonet, and the western 
 rifle, wielded with both hands like a war-club. After two hours of 
 hard fighting, the English were reinforced by the second detachment 
 from the ships, and succeeded in beating off the attack. General 
 Jackson withdrew his men, and the enemy retreated once more to 
 the welcome shelter of the levee. In this affair the British lost four 
 hundred in killed, wounded, and taken ; the Americans two hundred 
 and fifty. The prisoners captured by Keane consisted almost en- 
 tirely of lawyers. The members of the bar of New-Orleans had en- 
 rolled themselves in a volunteer corps, and accompanied General 
 Jackson in this expedition. They were entrapped by the English, 
 and seized to a man. 
 
 Jackson's measm'es were as well planned as prompt ; and the em- 
 ployment of the schooner in particular merits all praise. This vessel 
 alone kept the enemy chained to their position for three days. Du- 
 ring this all-precious interval, the famous embankment of cotton 
 bales on Rodriguez canal was commenced, which was destined twice 
 to foil every effort of the invaders, and to give the death blow to all 
 their hopes of conquest. 
 
 The whole of the next day the British remained beneath the bank, 
 suffering the extremes of cold and hunger: as soon however as it 
 was dark, the army filed oft' and took up a position on the right, out 
 of reach of the Cai'olina's guns. By giving her broadside a great 
 elevation, the schooner succeeded in throwing shot among them, 
 causing great annoyance though little executif)n. 
 
 On the 25th Sir Edward Packenham arrived in camp, and as- 
 sumed the command. The next day a battery of ten guns was 
 erected on the bank, and a fire of hot shot opened on the Carolina. 
 The second ball took cftect, and in fifteen minutes she was aban- 
 doned by her crew, with the loss of only one killed and six wounded. 
 
 On the 23th, the British army, under the command of Generala 
 Gibbs and Keane, advanced in two columns about three miles, when 
 they came in sight of the American troops posted behind the un- 
 finished breast-work. The left column on the river was instantlj 
 
GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON. 11 
 
 greeted with a tremendous fire from the guns of the frigate Louisiana 
 and those already mounted on the lines. ' Scarce a bullet passed 
 over or ftjll short of its mark, but all striking full in the midst of our 
 ranks, occasioned terrible havoc' Tiie column was soon forced by 
 the carnage to deploy into lines of battalions, and finally to halt and 
 lie down in the ditches which intersected the plantation. On the 
 right, the attack might have succeeded, had it been energetically 
 directed, for the works were unfinished, and only a few guns 
 mounted ; but the loss suffered by the left division was so great as 
 to induce the commanding officer to order a halt. In the ditches 
 they remained until late in the afternoon, when the diff"erent regiments 
 filed off", man by man, amid shouts and showers of balls from the 
 American lines. A few guns which had been directed against the 
 Louisiana were carried off by hand, by a party of sailors. The 
 loss which tho enemy suffered in this affair is astonishing; the more 
 so when compared with the trifling injury they caused their antago- 
 nists. Only ten men were killed within the lines, and but one 
 wounded on board of the frigate, whose guns fired eight hundred 
 balls during the engagement. The same disproportion is remarkable 
 throughout the invasion. Many a gallant Briton laid his bones beneath 
 the cypresses of Louisiana. 
 
 General Packenham did not return to his old position, but en- 
 camped on the battle-ground of the 23d of December ; his outposts 
 extending in some places to within three hundred yards of the 
 American lines. Finding the works so well defended, he determined 
 to consider them as a regular fortification, and to breach them. The 
 28th, 29th, 30th, and 31st were employed in bringing up heavy guns 
 from the fleet. The labor and hardships incurred in the transporta- 
 tion of twenty-four pounders by hand through a quaking morass, can 
 scarcely be conceived. Throughout this period the position of the 
 British was any thing but enviable. The scarcity of provisions liad 
 reduced them to half allowance, and driven them to still their hunger 
 with the sugar they found on the plantations. As they had no tents, 
 they were forced to sleep upon the ground ; and Louisiana in De- 
 cember is not exactly the spot one would select for passing the night 
 al fresco. Even the enjoyment of the damp earth was denied them. 
 The Americans did not grant them a moment's repose. From the 
 day of their landing they had been engaged in one continued battle. 
 Beside the shot that were constantly thrown among them from guns 
 greatly elevated on the lines, the American artillerymen would ad- 
 vance w^ith a few field-pieces within range, fire half a dozen rounds, 
 and retreat so rapidly as to baffle pursuit, while bands of riflemen 
 lurked about the picquets and shot down the sentinels. The English 
 had a great dread of the Tennesseeans, whom they denominated 
 -'Dirty Shirts,' from the color of their hunting-frocks. These night 
 excursions were very popular among the ' Dirty Shirts;' they termed 
 them hunting parties. One of these worthies is said to have killed 
 and stripped three sentinels on the same spot in one evening, and to 
 have made his escape into camp with the booty. This system of 
 warfare, altlujugh much inveighed against by English writers, we 
 
12 A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 think both justifiable and wise. When armies meet on foreign 
 ground to decide some state question, about which they may be sup- 
 posed to know little and to care less, we can understand that a kind 
 of chivalric understanding should exist between combatants. Such 
 wars are but duels on a large scale, and the courtesy which directs 
 antagonists in affairs of honor ought certainly to be exercised. The 
 case is far otherwise with invaders. Then a man fights for his 
 native soil ; for his family and friends ; for his possessions, which 
 would be plundered ; for his home, which would be ransacked and 
 destroyed. He considers his foes in the light of house-breakers, and 
 every man slain one enemy less, and very justly. This system too 
 succeeded admirably in a military point of view, by harassing and 
 discouraging the English. The repulses they had met with, the 
 incessant labor and constant excitement in which they were kept by 
 the ever-recurring attacks, had disheartened the troops, and made 
 them heartily sick of the expedition. 
 
 On the night of the 31st of December, Packenham's men were 
 employed in erecting batteries for thirty heavy guns. The work 
 was accomplished before dawn. The sun rose behind clouds, and 
 for some time the mist was so thick that the American lines could 
 not be distinguished. At eight o'clock the white tents of the camp 
 became visible, and the cannonade commenced. The fire was 
 principally directed against M'Carty's chateau, which was occupied 
 by Jackson as his head quarters. Although the house was pierced 
 through and through repeatedly, the staff escaped without a wound. 
 The American batteries responded feebly at first, but gradually grew 
 brisker, and at length surpassed the British both in rapidity and 
 precision. The enemy had rolled hogsheads of sugar into the para- 
 pet of his battery, under the impression that it would be as effectual 
 as sand in deadening the force of balls; but it proved otherwise, for 
 the shot crashed through the casks as if they had been empty, dis- 
 mounting the guns and killing the gunners. Cotton bales, on the 
 contrary, proved a much better defence ; and although some of them 
 were rather rudely knocked about by the twenty-four pound shot, 
 but little execution was done among the Louisianians. At three 
 o'clock the fire of tlie English had slackened very much ; and 
 while the Americans, reserving a few guns to return their feeble 
 salutes, directed the remainder against the infantry, who con- 
 sequently retired in precipitation, leaving many dead on the field. 
 Soon after, the enemy ceased firing altogether, and abandoned his 
 guns. Jackson's loss did not exceed fifty, in killed and wounded.- 
 
 The Americans had good reason to be elated by their success. 
 That thirty pieces of cannon should be silenced by fifteen, only five 
 of which were of equal calibre, was far more encouraging to the 
 invaded than any advantage they had yet obtained. Satisfied 
 with the result of the affair, they made no attempt to carry of the 
 guns, which were accordingly removed by the English, with much 
 labor, on the ensuing night. Five however were ultimately left behind. 
 Once more frustrated in his hopes. Sir Edward Packenham chan- 
 ged his plan of attack. It was now determined that a body of 
 
GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON. 
 
 13 
 
 troops should cross the river, and that an advance should be made 
 on both banks at once. A canal two miles in length by six feet in 
 breadth was commenced, in order to convey the boats from the 
 Bayou to the river. It would seem never to have occurred to the 
 general that ships' boats could be pushed on rollers over land in 
 half the time it would take to dig such a canal. Meantime the work 
 was continued, and completed on the eveningr of the seventh. 
 
 Jackson had not been idle during these five days. The Rodrio-uez 
 breast-work was now raised to the ordinary altitude, covered by a 
 ditch, and fifteen guns placed at pro|)er distances along the line ; and 
 moreover a battery mounting eighteen guns had been erected on the 
 other side of the river, so as completely to enfilade the English 
 bivouac. No precaution was omitted nor labor spared to strengthen 
 the position and to harass the enemy. Major General Lambert's 
 arrival with two regiments had increased the British army to nine 
 thousand effective men. The Americans, although rated at twenty- 
 five thousand by the 'British Officer,' mustered but four thousand 
 men on the lines. Fascines and scaling-ladders had been prepared 
 by the invaders for the troops on the left bank, who were to advance 
 at the sound of Thornton's guns on the opposite side. The Louisi- 
 anians were fully apprized of the approaching attack by the activity 
 and turmoil they had remarked in the enemy's camp, and were 
 ready at all points to encounter it. Affairs stood thus on the even- 
 ing of the seventh. 
 
 PLAN OF THE BATTLE OP THE EIGHTH OF JANUARY: REDUCED~FR0M 
 MAJOR LATOUR's CHART. 
 
 Langville's 
 
 ^ 
 
 Mac«irty's 
 
 9^ C 
 
 Gen.lCarrol 
 ' Vl M'.tll ll|i\4lMI III! Il>^l\>1^^,»fl^l iiiiirf i/i 
 
 L.n' gf Jackcou Canxl. 
 
 
 Gen. Packenham 
 fell here. 
 
 A, 
 
14 A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 On the 8th of January took place the last desperate effort of the 
 British to obtain possession of the prize they had been taught to deem 
 so easy, A reference to the plan will show the respective positions 
 of the combatants. 
 
 General Keane with twelve hundred men was to make a sham at- 
 tack on the river bank, while General Gibbs, with the main body, was 
 to storm the works on the right, in the direction of batteries six and 
 seven. Fascines and scaling-ladders were entrusted to the Forty- 
 Fourth regiment, and success was considered certain. Jackson, on 
 the other hand, lay snugly entrenched behind his embankment of 
 mud and cotton bales, his left appvye on the swamp, his right on the 
 Mississippi. General Coffee and the Tenuesseeans occupied the 
 extreme left of the line, and the batteries were served by the United 
 States' artillerists and militiamen, except No. 2, which was entrusted 
 to the crew of the late Carolina, and No. 3, commanded by privateer 
 captains, and served by Lafitte's men. 
 
 The attack was to have taken place before sunrise, but owing to 
 the caving-in of the canal, the army did not arrive within musket 
 range until dawn. They were received by a well-directed volley, 
 which threw them into disprder ; but they soon rallied, and were 
 advancing steadily to the assault, when Packenham discovered that 
 the Forty-Fourth regiment had come into the field without the fas- 
 cines and ladders. Colonel Mullens was ordered to return for them, 
 but losing all command of himself, forsook his men. Packenham 
 immediately despatched an aid to bring them up. This officer found 
 them in the greatest confusion. The General, upon hearing this, 
 placed himself at their head, and ordered the column to press on at 
 double quick time. Twice they charged, exposed to a murderous fire 
 of musketry and cannon, which mowed them down by ranks. The 
 deeds of the thirty-two pounders are especially commemorated : ' One 
 single discharge,' says the Subaltern, ' served to sweep the centre of 
 the attacking force into eternity.' The officers exerted themselves to 
 the utmost to rally their men, but all efforts were useless. Two or 
 three hundred gained the ditch, and endeavored to climb the parapet, 
 but the soft earth gave way beneath their feet, and only seventy suc- 
 ceeded in the attempt, all of whom were captured. The death of 
 Sir Edward Packenham, who fell like a brave man at the head of the 
 Forty-Fourth, and the mortal wound received by General Gibbs, 
 completed the universal dismay. The column turned and fled. On 
 the river the advance of General Keane's detachment stormed an 
 unfinished battery occupied by a rifle corps: instead of supporting 
 his men, and entering the lines at that point, General Keane marched 
 with his column across the plain to the aid of^he main body. Such 
 a movement only served to increase the confusion. His troops caught 
 the general panic, and Keane himself was borne, desperately wound- 
 ed, from the field. Meantime the brave hand that had taken the 
 battery, unsupported by their friends, and unable to retreat, perished, 
 to a man by the rifles of the Louisianians. On the right bank, Co- 
 lonel Thornton carried all before him ; drove the Americans from 
 
GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON. 15 
 
 two entrenched positions ; and was in full pursuit, when a messenger 
 brought the news of the disaster of tlie main army, and the order for aa 
 immediate retreat, which he effected without opposition. It appears 
 evident, from all statements of this affair, and from Jackson's ad- 
 dress, that the conduct of the militia on the right bank formed a 
 striking contrast to the bravery of the troops on Rodriguez Canal. 
 
 Here the carnage had been awful. ' A space of ground extending 
 from the ditch of the American lines to that on which the enemy drew 
 up his troops, two hundred and fifty yards in length by about two 
 hundred in breadth, was literally covered with men, either dead or 
 severely wounded.' At least three thousand brave fellows lay 
 stretched upon the plain, and all wearing the British uniform ; for 
 the American loss did not exceed twenty-five men in killed and 
 wounded. 
 
 General Lambert, on whom the command had devolved, abandoned 
 all hopes of taking New-Orleans. A quick and safe retreat was the 
 only object aimed at. During his preparations, he was harassed as 
 before by the Americans, but nothing serious was attempted. The 
 British were still too powerful to be driven to despair. Matters re- 
 mained thus until the 17th, when the prisoners were exchanged on 
 both sides : on the 19th, every Englishman had vanished. 
 
 The war was now virtually ended. The details of Lambert's 
 skilful retreat; the nine days' bombardment of the fort at Plaque- 
 mines ; the taking of Fort Bowyer ; the disputes concerning negro 
 slaves ; the triumphal entry of General Jackson, and the usual ad- 
 dresses and illuminations ; and finally, the ratification of peace, fol- 
 lowed hard upon each other, and have little bearing on the great feat 
 of arms we wished to commemorate. On the 23d of December, nine 
 thousand English soldiers, who had served with success in Europe, 
 landed on the territory of the Union. One month after, the survivors, 
 worn out, baffled, disheartened, their two commanders slain, were 
 reembarking at the same place, leaving three thousand gallant com- 
 rades to moulder beneath the cypresses of Louisiana. There is 
 scarcely an instance in modern history, perhaps none, in which men, 
 unaided by contagion, have repelled an attack with so little injury to 
 themselves, and such fearful slaughter to their opponents. 
 
 To Jackson belongs the honor of the victory. The promptitude 
 with which he planned the attack of the 23d, the skill displayed in 
 his dispositions, and the energy with which they were carried out on 
 that eventful night, saved New-Orleans from destruction. The next 
 morning the Brhish would have blown his force to the winds, and 
 have seized the city as ea^^ as they had anticipated. But awed by 
 the boldness of a foe ||||^H|Bd hitherto despised, and held in check 
 by the guns of the CaWJ|Pi, they gave the Americans time to com- 
 plete the famous breast-work, before which, as before an altar of 
 Liberty, England's bravest and best were sacrificed. 
 
 We owe Andrew Jackson a long debt of gratitude, not only for 
 having repelled an invasion, the results of which might have been 
 most disastrous, but also for having proved to Great Britain, (what 
 
16 A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF GEN. ANDREW JACKSON. 
 
 liitherto slie had maintained to be problematical,) that the American, 
 militia could and would fight, if skilfully commanded. ^ 
 
 As commanding officer at New-Orleans on the eighth of Jariuar^ 
 1S15, General Jackson earned his title to a seat at Washington's 
 right hand. 
 
 ■^ 
 
 General Jackson died at Nashville, Tennessee, at six o'clock 
 in the evening of Sunday, June 8, 1845, in the 78ih year of his 
 age. The public had been led to expect this sad event for many 
 weeks. The venerable patriot himself, in the last letter he ever 
 wrote, had said : " I am dying daily. I feel that I can no longer be 
 of service to my country, to my friends, or myself; a»d I amveu^ 
 and willing to appear in the presence of my Maker." On the 
 Ihorning of Sunday, the 8th, the General had swooned, and for a 
 time was supposed to be dead, but he soon af^rfevived and lived 
 till evening. A short time before his death, he took an affectionate 
 leave of his friends and domestics, retaining to the last his senses 
 and intellect unclouded. lie expired with the utmogt calmness, ex- 
 presiipg the highest confidence in a happy immortality through the 
 Redeemer. The simple announcement of tins melancholy, though 
 long expected event, has excited the deepest -en*olions in the hearts 
 of the American people. The meinoryof Jacks6n belongs to his 
 country. Her history will contain the record of his valuable 'Services, 
 his sterling patriotism ; and a nation's" gratitude will be his monu- 
 ment. 
 
I 
 
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