The Battle of New Orleans was the last major
battle of the War of 1812 . Late in November 1814, a large British
expeditionary force of 18,000 in 50 vessels sailed from Jamaica under Sir
Edward Pakenham, a hero of the Peninsular war. A complete
civil governmental staff, with printing presses, were with them
as well, to rule over 'the Crown Colony of Louisiana.' The British
troops were composed of veterans from the war with Napoleon
and the invasion of Washington and considered the best in the
world. The British, expected to sweep aside the meager American
force, seize the 'Beauty and Booty' of the rich trading port of
New Orleans and with the Mississippi in their hands, separate the
western states from the rest of the Union . The British expected
the French and Spanish settlers and the large slave population of
the sugar cane and cotton plantations, which the planned to free,
would aid them in their conquest. If the British were able to take
New Orleans they would be in a much stronger bargaining position
at the ongoing peace talks, which had started at Ghent, Belgium
on August 8, 1814.
The
battlefield today in 2008. 32 pounder from the Carolina
The British were making objections at the
negotiations to drag the process out out, counting on a victory
at New Orleans .A British victory might even tip the New England
states into succeeding, perhaps even ending the American 'experiment
and bring the colonies back into the English fold.Louisiana was
sold by Napoleon to the United States in 1803 for $15 million. In
1812, it became the 18th state admitted to the Union. Barely a month
after admission, President James Madison declared war against the
British. The embargo and subsequent British blockade made smugglers
such as Jean Lafitte rich, but there was little action till the
British planned to invade in 1814. The war had been a disaster for
the Americans up to this point. The embargo and blockade wrecked
the economy, the invasions of Canada had failed and Washington itself
had been invaded and the White House burned .New England states
were threatening succession .
map
of the area around New Orleans and the route of the British fleet
trailer
for the 1959 movie The Buccaneer
about Jean
Lafitte and the battle
In New Orleans there was general knowledge
of the coming attack, but no positive evidence till Jean Laffite
sent his a warning to Governor Claiborne, which he had sent after
the British attemped to bribe him into aiding the British cause
with 30,000 British pounds and a commission in the British navy on
Sept 3, 1814 by Captain Nicholas Lockyer and a Captain McWilliams.
In response to the British offer he requested 15 days to sound out
his men on the matter, but really to buy time to warn the Americans.
Why did Laffite chose to aid the Americans ? Possibly a combination
a reasons, hatred for the English and their war with Napoleon and
a belief that it was better to be a privateer under American rule
with its weaker rule, than British, with the strongest navy in the
world. According to others he was inspired by American democracy
and owed a debt to Americans, who rescued him as a child. The knowledge
Laffite had of the bayous leading into New Orleans from Barataria
bay and his being the leader or bos of the Baratarian privateers
and smugglers on Grand Terre island and made him an import player
to the British and Americans. The Laffite's also had well trained
gun crews and large stores of flinys, gunpowder and other supplies
.
view
the advancing British troops would have had of the American line
Despite the bribe and the Americans holding
his brother Pierre in jail for smuggling and expecting an
American attack on his base and small fort on Grande Terre, Laffite
sent a warning to New Orleans with his fastest courier, who
could arrive in a day. He sent a copy of the British offer and a
plea for the release of his brother and a stop to the 'persecution'
of his privateers and even volunteered himself, his men and supplies
for the defense of New Orleans to Jean Blanque, who gave it to gov
Claiborne. Pierre Lafitte then 'escaped' from prison and returned
to Grande Terre with the messenger .
Gov
Claiborne
Gov Claiborne held a meeting with the leaders
of the defense of New Orleans: Major-General Jacques Villere of
the Louisiana militia, Commodore Daniel T. Patterson of the U.S.
Navy, Colonel George T. Ross of the 44th Infantry and Pierre Dubourg
of the U.S. Customs . Patterson, Ross and dubourg thought the letters
were a ruse to evade the planned attack on Grand Terre. Villere
thought the letters were authentic and that Lafitte's men should
be employed for the defense of New Orleans . Patterson said
he was under orders to attack the Lafitte base . The Gov also thought
the letters were real, but reluctantly agreed to Patterson's planned
attack. The planned assault on the Lafitte base on Grande Terre
by the United States, went on as planned. Jean was made aware of
the upcoming attack on Sept 15, and urged his men to submit to the
authorities when they arrived. He argued that the men would get
their ships and goods back from the Americans, in return for attacking
the British. Jean left Grande terre that night, going to hide out
among the plantations of friends on the Mississippi above New Orleans
.
On Sept 11, 1814, The Carolina, a schooner
with 14 guns under command of Commdore Daniel Patterson and six
gunboats left New Orleans, sailed down the Mississippi River and
attacked Grande Terre on Sept 16. Lafitte's men, not knowing if
the attacking fleet was British or American, took battle stations.The
Carolina raised a flag offering pardon for deserters. The Baratarians
abandoned their vessels . Americans seized 8 ships, 20
canons and an estimated $500,000 worth of goods and captured 80
Baratarians . The seized goods never were returned, and became
part of a protracted suit by Lafitte against the U.S. for its return.
Despite going to Washington and writing to President Madison, the
goods were never returned nor any compensation given, causing Lafitte
much bitterness years later .Most of the 500 or so Baratarians escaped.
Ironically, the Carolina was to play a decisive role in the Battle
of New Orleans, and would not have been there except for the attack
on Grande Terre.
The
Chalmette Monument, started in 1840, finished 1908
After two weeks, a British brig-of-war appeared
off Barataria Pass awaiting Jean's reply to the British offer .
No ship from Lafitte came to meet it and it sailed off, no doubt
cursing the Lafitte's and the time they had wasted .Now the British
knew they could not count on Lafitte .
Andrew Jackson at this time was placed in
command of the Seventh Military District, and was in Mobile, .Alabama
fighting the Creek Indians .On the same day as the Grande Terre
attack, Edward Livingston, a former mayor of New York who had fled
to New Orleans to escape legal trouble, organized a committee of
defense .Jackson arrived in New Orleans on Nov 30, 1814 , severely
weakened by dysentery. Despite this, his presence inspired the inhabitants
of New Orleans .He declared that he had come to protect the city
and he would drive their enemies into the sea or perish in
the effort. He called on all good citizens to rally around
him in this emergency and, ceasing all differences and di-
visions, to unite with him in the patriotic resolve to save
their city from the dishonor and disaster which a presump-
tuous enemy threatened to inflict upon it. This address was
rendered into French by Mr. Livingstone.
The
weapons employed by most soldiers in both armies were more or less
the same,smoothbore muskets firing a ball, it was their use
which decided the day. The average British infantryman man was armed
with a.75 calibre Brown Bess or East India Pattern musket. It had
an effective range of 100 yards . It could be fired several
times a minute by a veteren .It also had a foot and a half long
bayonet, which British troops were masters in using. Americans
troops, were more shy in its use . The Americans, however, were
good with fighting with knives in close quarters. They learned this
from fighting with the indians.The British 95 Rifle Regiment
was armed with Baker rifles , which had a range of up to 200 yards
.The 95 was used for the most part in the battle as skirmishers
.
1795
Springfield musket
The
two regular American Army units used the .69 calibre 1795
Springfield musket. A veteren could fire off three shots a minute.It
had a 15 inch bayonet .The militia and volunteers were armed from
everything to the latest model 1795 to hunting pieces, blunderbusses
and French and Spanish weapons .A majority of the American rifles
used were 'Kentucky' rifles, used by the 'dirty shirts' and made
by hand .They were not designed for warfare, but for hunting and
self protection .A good marksman could hit a man at 300 yards .
.65
calibre British Light Dragoon pistol
Flints
Flints
were issued with ammunition, one flint lasting usually 20 rounds
before becoming useless. there was a serious shortage of flints
among the Americand till Lafitte provide a supply from his stores
.
Guns,
Mortars and Howitizers
Baratarian
reenactors, drilling in French
There
were three types of field artillery, guns, mortars and howitizers.
Guns were mainly used for demolishing buildings and ships. They
fired a solid iron ball or explosive. They were named for the wieght
of the ball they fired, a six pounder gun would fire a six pond
ball. Mortars were short weapons designed to throw an explosive
shell in a high arc, mainly used for siege work. The howitizer
was an all purpose type of weapon, with a shorter barrel than the
gun .They could fire shells, grape and canister .They were named
for the size of the bore in inches .. They could be elevated or
fired flat .The Americans had 8 gun batteries at the Jackson line.
The Jackson line stretched about 1000 yards from the river to the
swamp.A battery held one to three
guns.
Congreve
Rockets
It
was the Congreve rocket that were those in '...the rocket's red
glare..'Two sizes of Congreves were used in New Orleans, 12 and
32 ounders.Congreves were used to great effect in the battle before
Washington, causing the American force to flee. They were unprdictable
weapons, which in some cases returned to where they had been fired
from .By the time of the Battle of New Orleans, the Americans had
learned that its bark was worse than its bite .
British
Fleet approaches New Orleans
Dec
10, 1814, the British fleet was opposite the Chandleur Islands and near the entrance of Lake Borgne.
troops were removed from the larger into the lighter ves-
sels and these, under convoy of such gun-brigs as the shallowness of the water would float, began on the thirteenth,
to enter Lake Borgne.Soon, ship after ship
ran aground .
Preventing access to the New Orleans by
the British fleet was flotilla of five American gunboats with 182 men ,
commanded by Thomas ap Catesby Jones. these were the same gunboats that
had attacked Grande terre. A calm left the gunboats open to attack by
the British in 45 rowboats, carrying 980 marines and sailors.On
December 14, British sailors in rowing boats, each boat armed with a
small cannon, captured the vastly outnumbered American gunboats in a
brief but violent battle.The Americans had 6 killed and the British 98.
Lake Borgne was now clear of American ships and the British could land
their troops. The
Jackson, who needed every man, still would
not release the men captured at Grande Terre or take up Lafitte
on his offer .After the defeat of the gunboats, Claiborne meet with
Jackson and changed his mind .Claiborne issued a proclomation on
Dec 17, offering amnesty to all Baratarians if they jioned the fight
against the British. Jean Laffite returned to New Orleans,
and arranged a meeting with Jackson through Edward Livingston at
the general's headquarters at 106 Royal Street. Jackson, it was
reported by the sophistication of Lafitte and found him not to be
the 'hellish banditti' he imagined .Jean Laffite was sent to Barataria
on Dec 22nd to watch for any invasion from the Barataria Bay route
and did not see action in the battle of Jan 8.Pierre Laffite remained
at Jackson's HQ to provide his knowledge of the land around New
Orleans . Dominique You organized his Baratarians into three artillery
units.
Map
of Jackson's defensive positons .Jackson
established 3 defensive lines below New Orleans, line Montreuil,
line Dupre and line Jackson. The battle was fought at line Jackson
a
row of oaks on the de la Ronde's
Plantation, where the night battle was fought
At Lake Borgne, thousands of British soldiers, under the command of General John Keane,
were rowed to Pea Island, about 30 miles (48 km) east of New
Orleans, where they established a garrison. "I shall eat my Christmas
dinner in New Orleans," Admiral Cochrane had said on the day of the
landing. On the night of Dec 22, the British advance chose an approach
which Jackson had least expected them to take, disembarking 2,000 men
on Lake Borgne, who managed to get across the swampy ground and
appeared in the moring on the left bank of the Mississippi, 8 miles
below New Orleans . He had expected them to come via the plains of
Gentilly. Had they advanced immediately into New Orleans, they probably
could have taken the city .Instead, they decided to wait for
reinforcements and artillery .This gave Jackson time to concentrate his
forces, who led a ferocious night attack on the British on the night of
the 23rd .There was brutal hand to hand combat, with the British using
swords and bayonets and the Americans using tomahawks and hunting
knives.in this attack, General coffee and his tennessean riflemen
attacked the British flank at de la Ronde's Plantation .The attack
convinced the British that the force defending New Orleans was larger
than what it was, delaying an immdeiate attack.The Americans suffered a
reported 24 killed, 115 wounded, and 74
missing or captured, while the British reported their losses as 46
killed, 167 wounded, and 64 missing or capturedHe also began
construction of a fortified line behind an old canal bed below the city
.
On
Dec 23, the Carolina began to bombard British postions next to the
Mississippi River, causing much havoc. The British did not
have heavy artillery at the time to respond. On Dec 27, the British
had their heavy artillery, after moving them over 60 miles, and the Carolina was hit with
heated shot, caught fire , blew up and sank .
On Christmas Day, General Edward Pakenham arrived on the battlefield .
The greatly cheered up the men. General Pakenham, the brother-in-law of the Duke
of Wellington, a favorite of the Duke and of the army, was
of North of Ireland extraction, like the antagonist with
whom he had come to contend.Few soldiers of the Peninsular war had won such high and rapid distinction as he.such
as at Salamanca and Badajoz.He ordered guns brought up, which destroyed
the Carolina on the 27th.
The British kept in a constant state of anxiety and agitation. Sending
down small bodies of riflemen, the American general harassed our pickets, killed and wounded a few of the senti-
nels and prevented the main body from obtaining any
sound or refreshing sleep. While two European armies remain inactively
facing each other, the outposts of neither are molested .This action was considered
ungentlemanly by the British and breaking an unspoken rule of warfare
between civilized countries and greatly annoyed the British."In these little 'hunting parties' Jugeat's Choctaws
naturally excelled. One of them, a half-breed named Poindexter, being authentically credited with the killing of five
British pickets in three nights. The British reported that more than fifty British soldiers were killed, and many
more severely wounded by this method of assassination.
On the morning of the 28th, the
right column, under General Gibbs, took post near the
skirts of the morass, throwing out skirmishers half way
across the plain, whilst the left column drew up upon the
road covered by the rifle corps which, in extended order,
met the skirmishers from the other.
The spec-
tacle of the British advance was splendid in the extreme.
"Forward they came," says the author of "Jackson and
New Orleans," "in solid columns, as compact and orderly
as if on parade, under cover of a shower of rockets and a
continual fire from their artillery in front and their bat-
teries on the levee. It was certainly a bold and imposing
demonstration, for such as we are told by British officers,
it was intended to be. To new soldiers like the Americans,
fresh from civic and peaceful pursuits, who had never wit-
nessed any scenes of real warfare it was certainly a for-
midable display of military power and discipline. Those
veterans moved as steadily and closely together as if
marching in review instead of 'in the cannon's mouth.'
Their muskets catching the rays of the morning sun nearly
blinded the beholder with their brightness, whilst their
gay and various uniforms, red, gray, green and tartan. The British face withering
gun and cannon fire.The consequence was that in half an hour two the
British field-pieces and
one field-mortar were dismounted, many of the gunners
were killed and the rest, after an ineffectual attempt to
silence the fire of the shipping, were obliged to retire.
"In the meantime the infantry, having formed line,
advanced under a heavy discharge of round and grape-shot
till they were checked by the appearance of the canal. Of
its depth they were of course ignorant and to attemnt its
passage without having ascertained whether it could be
forded might have been productive of fatal consequence.
A halt was accordingly ordered and the men were com-
manded to shelter themselves as well as they could from
the enemy's fire. For this purpose they were hurried into
a wet ditch of sufficient depth to cover the knees where
leaning forward they concealed themselves behind some
high rushes which grew upon its brink and thus escaped
rr>any bullets which fell around them in all directions.
All thought of
attacking was for this day abandoned and it now only re-
mained to withdraw the troops from their present perilous
situation with as little loss as possible.
This reconnoissance cost General Pakenham a loss
of 59 killed and wounded. The casualties of the American side were nine killed and eight wounded.
At
the extreme left of Jackson's lines, a mile away from the river where
the ditch could be leaped and the embark- ment easily surmounted, there
was a moment which rightly improved what might have given a different
issue to the day. Upon getting sight of the rude line of defense, Gen-
eral Gibbs, instead of ordering the "simultaneous rush," which would
have carried them, was obliged to remember that the affair was only a
reconnoissance, and so halted his eager column. A detachment under
Colonel Rennie ad- vanced, however, drove in the American outposts, and
drew up in a sheltered position one hundred yards from General
Carroll's division. Carroll's men clamoring for a share in the day's
work, their General permitted Colonel Henderson to lead a column of two
hundred Tennesseans along the borders of the swamp, with the design of
getting to the rear of Rennie's detachment and cutting it off. The
attempt failed. A body of British troops concealed in the woods, opened
fire upon the column, killed Colonel Henderson and five of his men,
wounded a few more, and compelled the rest to retreat behind the lines
in confusion. At this mo- ment, when Rennie, elated by the result, was
advancing on Carroll's division and about to close with it, an
imperativeorder from General Gibbs obliged him to retire. It is beyond
question that a vigorous attack upon the left at that time would have
given General Jackson more serious trouble than he had yet experienced
during the campaign.
The
British decided to try to blast the Americans out of their positions.
When the day broke, a fog so dense that a man could discern nothing at
a distance of twenty yards covered all the plain.Toward ten o'clock the
fog rose from the American position and disclosed to the impatient
enemy the scene behind the lines.At a signal from the central battery
of the British, the whole of their thirty pieces of cannon opened fire
full upon the American lines and the air was filled with the red glare
and hideous scream of hundreds of Congreve rockets ! The Americans were
thrown into instantaneous confusion." "The American ranks were broken,"
reported one British officer, "the different corps dispersing, fled in
all directions, while the utmost terror and disorder appeared to
prevail. Instead of nicely-dressed lines, nothing but confused crowds
could now be observed; nor was it without much difficulty that order
was finally restored. Oh, that we hid charged at that instant !"
Ten guns were in position in the American lines, besides those in the battery on the other side of the river.
Upon Jackson's coming to the front he found his artillery-
men at their posts, waiting with lighted matches to open
fire upon the foe. 'Don't mind those rockets, they are merely toys to
amuse children,' said Jackson as the fiery Congreves took
the airthe firing of the American lines began. The
other batteries instantly joined in the strife. Ere long the
British howitzers on the levee and the battery of Commo- dore Patterson on the opposite bank exchanged a vigorous
fire.For the space of an hour and a half a cannonade was exchanged .Well aimed, however, were the British guns, as the
American lines soon began to exhibit. Most of their balls
buried themselves harmlessly in the soft, elastic earth of
the thick embankment. Many flew over its summit and
did bloody execution on those who were bringing up ammunition, as well as on some who were retiring from their
posts. Several balls struck and nearly sunk a boat laden
with stores that was moored to the levee two hundred yards
behind the lines. The cotton bales of the batteries nearest
the river were knocked about in all directions and set on
fire, adding fresh volumes to the already impenetrable
smoke. A thirty-two
pounder in Lieutenant Crawley's battery was hit and dam-
aged. The carriage of a twenty-four was broken. One
of the twelves was silenced. Two powder-carriages, one
containing a hundred pounds of the explosive material,
blew up with a report so terrific as to silence for a moment
the enemy's fire and draw from them a faint cheer.Vincent Nolte, the New Orleans cotton merchant, was
behind the lines during this desperate cannonade and favors
his readers with his recollection of it.
'The largest British battery," says Mr. Nolte, "had
directed its fire against the battery of the pirates Domi-
nique You and Beluche, who had divided our company into
two parts and were supplied with ammunition by it. Once,
as Dominique was examining the enemy through a glass,
a cannon shot wounded his arm; he caused it to be bound
up, saying, 'I will pay them for that!' and resumed his glass. He then directed a twenty-four pounder, gave the
order to fire, and the ball knocked an English gun car-
riage to pieces, and killed six or seven men. The flash of a gun reaches the eye long
before the report gets to the ear and thus the-ball can some-
times be avoided. I have watched both the flash and the
report and I have seen the best tried soldiers, both officers
and men, even the utterly fearless Jackson himself, getting
out of the way of the Congreve rockets, which w^ere sent
in great quantities from the British camp. Others, again,
either actuated by a different principle, or less prudently
observant of danger and less anxious to avoid it, like my
friend St. Avit for instance, remained confident in their
fate in the same position, and stood quietly as if all the roar
of the cannon and the hissing of missiles about their ears
was entirely without interest to them.
The Gen-
eral during this cannonade was constantly riding from one
wing to another, accompanied by his usual military aids,
Reid and Butler and the two advocates, Grymes and Dave-
zac. The munitions were in charge of Governor Claiborne,
who was so frightened that he could scarcely speak. On
the 1st of January ammunition was wanting at batteries
Nos. 1 and 2. Jackson sent in a fury for Claiborne, who
was with the second division, and said to him, 'By the Al-
mighty God, if you do not send me balls and powder in-
stantly, I shall chop off your head, and have it rammed
into one of those field pieces !
While the first cannonade was still at its height, word
was brought to Jackson that a body of the enemy was ap-
proaching the left of his line along the edge of the swamp.
Coffee was upon them while they were struggling with the
difficulties of the ground and drove them back to the main
body.
It was nearly noon when it began to be perceived that
the British fire was slackening. The American batteries
weie then ordered to cease firing for the guns to cool and
the smoke to roll away. What a scene greeted the anxious
gaze of the troops when at length the British position was
disclosed! Those formidable batteries, which had excited
such consternation an hour and a half before, were totally
destroyed and presented but formless masses of soil and
broken guns ; while the sailors who had manned them were
seen running from them to the rear and the army that
had been drawn up behind the batteries, ready to storm the
lines as soon as a breach had been made in them, had again
ignominiously "taken to the ditch.
However, the American fire was more accurate, thanks in part to
the Baratarians. Those hogsheads of sugar were the fatal mistake of
the English engineers. They afforded absolutely no protection against the terrible fire of the American batteries ;
the balls going straight through them and killing men in
the very center of the works. in little
more than an hour the batteries were heaps of ruins and
the guns dismantled, broken and inmovable. The howit-
zer, too, on the levee, after waging an active duel with Com-
modore Patterson on the other side of the river, was si-
lenced and overthrown by a few discharges from Captain
Humphrey's twelve-pounders.
Another British officer writes: "Five guns were left
behind" (which afterwards fell into Jackson's hands), ''rendered useless, it is true, but it cannot be said that the Brit-
ish army came off without the loss of some of its artillery.
During three days and three nights I had never closed an
eye. to undertake the
duty of a picket was as dangerous as to go into action.
Parties of American sharpshooters harrassed and disturbed
those appointed to that service from the time they took
possession of their post until they were relieved; whilst
to light fires at night was impossible, because they served
but as certain marks for the enemy's gunners. My food, during all that space, consisted of a small
quantity of salt beef, and a sea biscuit or two, and a little
rum; and even that I could hardly find time or leisure to
consume. "When pork and beans ran short, it was no un-
common thing for both officers and men to appease the
cravings of hunger by eating sugar out of the casks and
moulded into cakes." Yet,
for in all their complaints no man
ever hinted at a retreat, whilst all were eager to bring matters to the issue of a battle — at any sacrifice of lives.
The British loss on the 1st of January was about thirty
killed and forty wounded ; the Americans, eleven killed and
thirty-three wounded. Most of the American slain were
not engaged in the battle, but were struck down at a con-
siderable distance behind the lines, while they were looking
on as mere spectators.
Jackson at this time had but 16 guns, on both sides of
the river, while the British had, according to James and
Gleig, between 20 and 30. Jackson's long guns were one
32-pounder, four 24-pounders, one 18-pounder, five 12- pounders and three 6-pounders, throwing in all 224 pounds
of shot. The British had ten long 18-pounders, two long
3-pounders and from six to ten long 9 and 6-pounders,
throwing between 228 and 258 pounds of shot. Of the
smaller guns, General Jackson had one howitzer and one
carronade to oppose 4 carronades, 2 howitzers, two mortars
and 12 rocket guns ; so, in both number and weight of guns,
as Roosevelt points out, the British were greatly superior
That evening, General Pakenham met with General
Keane and Admiral Cochrane for an update on the situation, angry with
the position that the army had been placed in.He considered withdrawing and
beginning again at another point, but Admiral Cochrane,, who was
contemptous of the Americans, would not hear of withdrawl and said
he woulld lead his marines and sailors against the Americans if
the army was unwilling to do so . Pakenham decided against withdrawl
.
On the morning of the 4th of January the whole Ameri-can army had exhibited signs of high elation at the news
of the arrival of two thousand, two hundred and fifty Ken-
tuckians under Major-General John Thomas and Brigadier-
General John Adair. But when the ragged, foot-sore back-
woodsmen limped into Jackson's camp below the city the
cheers melted into groans of apprehension. Of these fighters but 550 of them were properly armed !
Not only were these long-looked for Kentuckians with-
out arms but they were practically destitute of clothing.
Again was the commander-in-chief left upon his own resources and his rough but ready genius. The invaded state
and the women of the city were with him, however, at this
crisis for the legislature appropriated a sum of money for
the purchase of blankets and woolens which were dis-
tributed among the women of the city to be made into
clothes.
The American artillery was distributed on the lines in the following manner.
map
of the positions of the Americans at the main battle of New Orleans
On the soil of the road within the levee was
Battery No. 1, commanded by Captain Humphreys, of the
United States Artillery. It consisted of two brass twelve-
pounders, and a six-inch howitzer, on field carriages; these
pieces enfiladed the road towards that side where the
enemy was posted, and their fire grazed the parapet of the
flank of redout, towards the right. Battery No. 1, was
seventy feet from the bank of the river. The two twelve-
pounders were served by soldiers belonging to the regular
artillery and the howitzer by dragoons of Major St. Geme's
company.
Battery No. 2, which had a twenty-four-pounder, was
commanded by Lieutenant Norris of the navy, and served
by part of the crew of the late schooner Carolina; its dis-
tance from No. 1 was ninety yards. This battery was the
most elevated above the soil.
Battery No. 3, commanded by Dominique You and
Beluche, commanders of the privateers, had two twenty-
four-pounders, which were served by French mariners; its
distance from No. 2 was fifty yards.
Battery No. 4, commanded by Lieutenant Crawley, of
the navy, and served by part of the crew of the Carolina,
had a thirty-two-pounder; its distance from No. 3 was
twenty yards.
Battery
No. 5, commanded by Colonel Perry of the artillery, had two
six-pounders; its distance from No. 4 was one hundred and ninety yards.
Battery No. 6, commanded by General Garrigues Flaujeac, and served by a detachment of the company of Francs
under the immediate command of Lieutenant Bertel, had a
brass twelve-pounder; its distance from No. 5 was thirty-
six yards.
memorial
for Major Spots, who died in 1833
Battery No. 7 had a long brass eighteen-pound , and a six-pounder, commanded by Lieutenant Spotts
and Chaveau, and served by gunners of the United States
artillery; its distance from No. 6 was one hundred and
ninety yards.
The
8th battery had a small brass carronde which rendered very little
service on account of the ill condi- tion of its carriage; it was
commanded by a corporal of artillery, and served by militia-men of
General Carroll's command; its distance from No. 7 was sixty yards.
"Next to this piece the line formed a receding elbow, as laid down in
the draught of the affair of the 8th — enormous holes in the soil made
imnassable by their being full of water from the canal, rendered this
bend in the line unavoidable. From this bend, where the wood began, to
the extremity of the line, the erround was so low, and so difficult to
be drained, that the troops were literally encamped in the water,
walking knee deep in mud, and the several tents were pitched on small
isles or hillocks, surrounded with water or mud. "It was here that the
brave troons of Generals Carroll and Coffee, from the 24th of December,
1814, and part of those of Kentucky from the 6th, until the 20th of
January
remains
of the Rodriguez canal
Pakenham delayed his main assault until Jan
8, when he had brought up nearly 10,000 men.In the early morning of January 8, British Major-General Edward Pakenham
ordered a two-pronged assault against Jackson's position: a small force
on the west bank of the Mississippi and the main attack in three
columns (along the river, along the swamp line, and in reserve)
directly against the earthworks manned by the vast majority of American
troops. The British attack on the west bank was successful, but too late to
help the Btritish outflank the Americans. The British attack was
to be marked by delays and confusion in the execution of the plan.
It seems obvious now that Pakenham should have withdrawn once he
knew how stoutly the American line was defended. However, in battles
before , such as the siege of Badajoz in 1812, a frontal assault
against a professional French army had succeeded , albeit it a great
loss. There, 2,000 men were killed in two hours storming the city
.Surely the ragtag American army would flee after firing a few rounds.
After the brutal battle of Badajoz, the British troops went
on an orgy of looting, killing and raping.
On the early morning of the 8th, according
to one American the fog was so dense you
couldn't see more than forty yards in any direction.In a few minutes the head of the
British column could be dimly seen. It appeared about two
hundred files long — that would, for regiments the size of
theirs, be a formation four ranks deep. They were about
six hundred to six hundred and fifty yards away ; too long a
range for our small-bore rifles which, as you know, carried
round bullets of forty-five or even sixty to the pound of lead
and were not effective more than four hundred yards at the
outside.
General Jackson, Carroll and Adair and Major Latour,
Mr. Livingston and I got up on the parapet. In a minute or
two the enemy began to move. Two rockets were fired, one
toward us and one toward the river. 'That is their signal
for advance, I believe,' General Jackson said. He then
ordered all of us down off the parapet but stayed there him-
self and kept his long glass to his eye sweeping the enemy's
line with it from end to end. In a moment he ordered
Adair and Carroll to pass word along the line for the men to
be ready, to count the enemy's files down as closely as they
could, and each to look after his own file-man in their ranks,
also, that they should not fire until told and then to aim
above the cross-belt plates.
Then men were tense, but very cold. A buzz of low
talk ran along the line for some minutes. The enemy's
front line was now within five hundred yards, and the
center of their formation was almost exactly opposite Car-
roll's left company or Adair's right one. Then — boom!
went our first gun. As well as I can remember after so
many years, it was fired from the long brass 12-pounder
in Battery No. 6, which was commanded by Old GeneralFleaujeac, a French veteran who had served under Napo-
leon and came to Louisiana about 1802 or 1803.
"Then all the guns opened. The British batteries,
formed in the left rear of their storming column near the
river, were still concealed from us by the fog, but they re-
plied, directing their fire by the sound of our guns. It was
a grand sight to see their flashes light up the fog — turning
it into the hues of the rainbow
Still the enemy came on, but no sound from the rifie-
line; no fire but that of artillery on either side. Our Bat-
teries Nos. 7 and 8 were on the rifle-line. Number 7 had an
old Spanish 18-pounder and a 6-pounder. Number 8 had
but one gun — a 6-pounder. The smoke from these hung in
front of the works or drifted slowly toward the enemy with-
out lifting much in the damp air. Adair noticed this and
said it was worse than the fog ; that the smoke would spoil
the aim of the riflemen when their turn came. Carroll
agreed with him. Then General Jackson ordered these two
batteries to cease firing, whereupon the smoke soon lifted
and the head of the enemy's column appeared not more than
three hundred to three hundred and fifty yards off and
coming on at quickstep, with men in front carrying a few
scaling-ladders.
Suddenly one rifle cracked a little to the left of where
I stood. A mounted officer on the right and a little in
front of the British head of column reeled in his saddle and
fell from his horse headlong to the ground. What followed
in an instant I cannot attempt to describe. The British had
kept right on, apparently not minding the artillery fire
much, though it was rapid and well-directed. They were
used to it. But now, when every hunter's rifle from the
right of Carroll's line to the edge of the swamp where Coffee
stood, was searching for their vitals, the British soldiers
stopped! That was something new, something they were
not used to!
"They couldn't stand it. In five minutes the whole front
of their formation was shaken as if by an earthquake. Not
one mounted officer could be seen. Either rider or horse,
or both, in every case, was down — most of them dead or
dying. I had been in battle where rifles were used up on
the northwest frontier under Harrison. But, even so, I had
never seen anything like this.
In less than ten minutes the first line of the enemy's
column had disappeared, exposing the second, which was
about a hundred yards in its rear. You see, their formation
was columns or brigade in battalion front and there were
three batallions — or regiments — in the column, each formed
four ranks deep. The plain was so level and their forma-
tion in line so dense that to a certain extent the front or
leading battalion afforded some cover to the one following,
and so on.
We were formed
four deep, in open order, with plenty of room to move to and
fro. As fast as one line fired, its men would step back to the
rear and load. But the time the fourth line had fired the
first one would be ready again, and so on.
When their leading battalion, which we now know to
have been the Forty-fourth Regiment, was practically destroyed, the next one, which was the Seventh Regiment, had
been already a good deal shaken by the halt and carnage in
the first and by the headlong flight of the survivors around
or through its ranks, and so the Seventh Regiment broke
almost as soon as they got their full weight of our rifle-
fire. This left exposed in turn their third regiment of the
column which was the Fourth or King's Own Foot, and they,
too, succumbed after a very brief experience. Almost, as
incredible as it may seem, this whole column, numbering, I
should say, 2,500 or 2,600 men, was literally melted down
by our rifle-fire. To put it another way, this column had
been to all intents destroyed and the work was done in less
than twenty minutes from the first rifle-shot. No such
execution by small arms was ever done before, and I don't
believe it ever will be done again.
Some of our men got excited
and talked about leaping over the breastwork to follow
them. But these were sternly suppressed by all the officers and by the more sensible and prudent men in the
ranks also. To have gone out in the open field then, with
their second column and all their reserves unhurt, would
have been the undoing of us!
The man who fired first was Morgan Ballard. The
British officer was afterwards ascertained to be Brigade-
Major John Anthony Whittaker, of the 21st Foot in General
Gibb's Brigade.
Not long after the hour when the American general had
been roused from his couch, General Pakenham, who had
slept an hour or two at the Villere masion, also arose, and
rode immediately to the bank of the river, where Thornton
had just embarked his diminished force. He learned of the
delay and difficulty that had there occurred and lingered
long upon the spot listening for some sound that should
indicate the whereabouts of the force sent across the river.
But no sound was heard, as the swift Mississippi had carried the boats far down out of hearing. Surely Pakenham
must have known that the vital part of his plan was, for that
morning, frustrated. Surely he will hold back his troops
from the assault until Thornton announced himself. The
doomed man had no such thought. The story goes that he
had been irritated by a taunt of Admiral Cochrane, who
had said that, if the army could not take those mud-banks,
defended by ragged militia, he would do it with two thousand
sailors armed only with cutlasses and pistols and then the
soldiers could bring up the baggage. Besides, Pakenham
believed that nothing could resist the calm and determined
onset of the troops he led. He had no thought of waiting
for Thornton, unless, perhaps, till daylight.
Map
of British plan of attack at the start of the battle of New Orleans
Map
of British attack at the battle of New Orleans. The
troops of Gen. Samuel Gibb came under devastating fire. Gen. John
Keane, ordered the 93rd Highlanders to march diagonally across the
field to come to Gibb's aid. Of the 900 Highlanders, nearly 600
were killed. They fled from the murderous fire after they had gotten
to about 100 yards from the rampart .
Map
of last actions at the battle of New Orleans .Pakenham
rode out to rally his troops and bring in the 44th and their fascines
and ladders, and whose officer had disappeared. He tired to rally
his troops by reminding them of their victories. He was hit many
times and taken out of range of the American guns, where he died
a few minutes later .Gibbs was also mortally wounded after reaching
within 20 yards of the rampart, and died the next day.Keane was
also severly wounded, so there was not a field commander left.
British
troops nearest the river gained the top of the rampart before being
repulsed
area
where Pakenham was mortally wounded
The
Battle of New Orleans lasted less than two hours. The British lost
385 killed, 1,186 wounded and 64 captured. The Americans lost 13
killed , 115 wounded and 74 captured.
Chalmette
National Cemetery, est in 1865 with 15,000 graves behind the battlefield.
One American who fought at the battle is buried here. There is no
memorial for the British soldiers who died. The bodies of Pakenham
and
other
British officers were taken back to England. The burial spot for
the British soldiers has not been found . Some think most of the British
dead were buried in the southern part of the battlefield and washed
away when the Mississippi flooded in later years.
What
if Jackson had been outflanked and lost the Battle of New Orleans
? He told one officer he would have burned the city and taken
a position north of New Orleans and stopped all shipping to the
city. After the battle of the 28th, committee of the Legislature
to ask what course
he intended to take in case he were compelled to retreat..'If,' replied the General, 'I thought the hair of my
head could divine what I should do, forthwith I would cut
it off! Go back with this answer; say to your honorable
body that if disaster does overtake me and the fate of war
drives me from my line to the city, they may expect to have
a very warm session !'
Yul Brynner,Charlton Heston, Claire Bloom, E.G. Marshal.
When
Cecil B. DeMille was set to direct a re-make of his 1938 swashbuckler
The Buccaneer and suddenly became ill, his son-in-law, Anthony Quinn,
jumped in. In this version, Yul Brynner plays the
starring role of debonair pirate Jean Lafitte, who is contacted by
General Andrew Jackson (Charlton Heston) to come to the aid of the
United States when the British attack New Orleans during the War of 1812
