USA > Louisiana > History of Louisiana, from its first discovery and settlement to the present time > Part 11
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One of the first acts of the Legislature was to appoint three judges of the Supreme Court ; and they also authorized the governor to call out the militia to repel invasion or suppress insurrec- tion within the limits of the State ; but these were not to be kept in active service longer than
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three months at a time, except during war, when an extension of sixty days was permitted. When in actual service they were to receive the pay and rations of regular troops, and to be subject to martial law.
Harrison had the year before defeated the Indians (who might be considered as the ad- vanced guard of the British) at Tippecanoe, and General Hull was now advancing to Detroit to follow up the blow, when he received informa- tion of the declaration of war. After some skir- mishes the Indians retreated ; but the British general Brock coming up with a strong force, the American commander retired to Detroit, to which place he was followed by the enemy, and there he ingloriously surrendered, without attempting to defend himself.
Louisiana, though exempt from the ravages of war, experienced at this time one of the most dreadful hurricanes that had ever devastated the country. In New-Orleans it blew down several houses and one of the market-places.
The navy of the United States, which Eng- land had hoped speedily to annihilate, now began to show of what materials it was composed. If the name of Hull had been disgraced on shore, it was rendered illustrious on the ocean by a
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brilliant naval victory, the first in a series of similar triumphs. The gallant brother of the governor of Michigan, after a close action of twenty minutes, captured, and almost literally destroyed, one of the enemy's finest frigates ; and Bainbridge, Decatur, Porter, and Jones were no less successful in sustaining the honour of their country's flag.
1813 .- Wilkinson, who was still in Louisiana with a military command, received orders from the President to seize upon Fort Chartres at Mobile, which was still in the hands of the Spaniards. In concert with a naval force under Commodore Shaw, he took possession of the Isl- and of Dauphine, and captured a vessel laden with stores for the fort. The Spanish command- ant, being without provisions, was obliged to sur- render; and a part of the artillery found here was employed in the armament of a small fort erected by Wilkinson at the mouth of Mobile Bay, to which he gave the name of Fort Boyer.
After farther reverses in Canada, General Harrison was at length enabled to act upon the offensive, and the fortune of war turned in favour of the American arms. The gallant and youth- ful Perry captured the entire British fleet on Lake Erie; the English, with their Indian allies, were
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defeated by Harrison on the Thames, where the famous Tecumseh was slain ; and the Americans made themselves masters of the navigation of Lake Ontario.
On the other hand, the naval forces of Eng- land kept the Atlantic coast in a state of constant alarm, and committed serious depredations, es- pecially in the Chesapeake ; while an English squadron appeared on Lake Champlain, and was soon followed by an army of fourteen thousand veteran troops. But the Americans gathered fresh courage and energy from the dangers which threatened them; the states of New- England, which had hitherto taken but little part in the contest, now came forward with their hardy and well-trained militia ; the disgraceful burning of Washington had excited the deepest indignation ; and the British were repulsed with great loss both at Plattsburg and Baltimore.
1814 .- This year the enemy's arms were di- rected more especially against the South, and the most brilliant triumphs were anticipated by them. Their plans, however, were soon understood; and General Jackson, the conqueror of the Creeks at Horseshoe Bend, who had recently taken Pen- sacola from the Spaniards in consequence of their having violated their neutrality by admit-
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PREPARTIONS TO ATTACK NEW-ORLEANS. 217
ting the English, was ordered to proceed with all possible haste to New-Orleans.
It was known that the enemy's efforts were to be directed against that city, and every possible preparation was made for its defence. Still, all the force there amounted only to seven hundred regular troops, a thousand militia badly armed, and one hundred and fifty marines. But two thousand five hundred riflemen, commanded by Generals Coffee and Carroll, were on their way from Tennessee, and General Thomas was de- scending the river at the head of two thousand Kentuckians:
Meanwhile the British fleet, under Admiral Cochrane, was already in the waters of Louisiana, seeking a place to effect a landing. A formida- ble pirate, named Lafitte, commanded at that time the Bay of Barrataria, and the English thought it not beneath them to seek his assistance by advantageous proposals. The government of Louisiana had before set a price upon his head. Still Lafitte rejected the offers of the enemy, in- formed Claiborne of them, and applied for his pardon and permission to serve in the cause of liberty. The governor and General Villeré were in favour of accepting this offer ; but the Legislature, which was then in session, vehe-
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mently opposed it, considering that their cause would be disgraced by his participation. They even ordered Commodore Patterson to drive him from his retreat; but he did not wait for this ; and the Americans, on arriving at Barrataria, found only empty huts, which they set on fire, and a few abandoned cannon.
All this had taken place before the arrival of General Jackson. His first step, after reconnoi- tring all the most exposed points, was to de- spatch Commodore Jones, with his small squad- ron of one sloop-of-war and five gunboats, to · watch the motions of the enemy, and especially to defend the Rigolets, the principal passage be- tween Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne. Here he was attacked by the enemy, himself, as well as Parker, his second in command, wounded, and his whole squadron captured. Thus New- Orleans was left without any defence by water.
Under these circumstances, General Jackson demanded of the Legislature that the writ of habeas corpus should be suspended; this, how- ever, they refused to grant. Claiborne empow- ered him to call out the whole of the militia, and the citizens enrolled themselves with the utmost alacrity. Martial law was proclaimed by the commander-in-chief, and the Legislature author-
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ized him to employ Lafitte, to whom a pardon was now offered. But what Jackson most de- sired, though he did not succeed in effecting it, was the adjournment of the Legislature, believ- ing that this body threw obstacles in the way of all his plans.
The troops from Tennessee and Kentucky ar- rived, and this gave confidence to the inhabi- tants, as the city was now defended by more than six thousand men. The weather being cold, and the soldiers insufficiently supplied with clothing, the Assembly placed 8000 dollars in the hands of a committee to relieve their wants, and blankets and woollen stuffs were collected from the people of the tow The merchants and shopkeepers also sent in boxes of shoes and hats, and a quantity of mattresses, and the inhabitants of some parishes contributed not less than 4000 dollars in money. The ladies at the same time were actively employed in making clothing for their defenders, and in preparing lint, medical apparatus, and comfortable rooms for the wound- ed. Even the children were busied in making cartridges and running bullets. Never had there been so great enthusiasm among a mass of peo- ple collected from distant points, and differing from each other in manners and language, though
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the preponderance of the French, and their quicker susceptibility, might in some measure account for it. ·
On the 23d of December, at midnight, some militia-men who were stationed at an abandoned fishing village on the Bayou Marent, near Lake Borgne, suddenly perceived nine barges, mounted with cannon, coming towards them. They en- deavoured to conceal themselves, but were dis- covered, and all taken prisoners ; one of them, however, managed to get away, and, after trav- elling three days through the cypress swamps, he reached the city.
Some Spanish fishermen, it seems, had acted as guides to the enemy. They landed three thousand men, under the command of General Kean, who, debouching by the Bayou Marent, the Bayou Bienvenu, which falls into it, and the Canal Villeré, which terminates in the latter, succeeded in surprising the general of that name in his house ; but his son, who commanded a party of militia, jumping from a window, made his way unhurt through a brisk fire of pistol-shot, and hastened with all possible speed to New- Orleans, to give the alarm. It was half past two in the afternoon when General Jackson re- ceived information of the enemy's landing, and
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he immediately sent a detachment of marines and a troop of artillery, with two field-pieces, to oppose them. At four o'clock the volunteers of Tennessee, the riflemen of Orleans, and the dragoons of Mississippi had taken up a position two miles below the city, and they were soon afterward followed by the forty-fourth regiment of regulars, a battalion of the city militia, and some companies of coloured men ; while Clai- borne, with two regiments of militia and a com- pany of cavalry, established himself at Gentilly, to cover the town.
Meanwhile the English were encamped at the Plantation Villeré, near the river ; and, seeing a vessel cast anchor within range of their guns, they moved towards the levee to examine her. It was the schooner Caroline, belonging to the United States navy, under the command of Com- modore Patterson. They took her to be a mer- chant vessel ; but she soon undeceived them by a broadside, which killed more than a hundred of their men. In vain did they endeavour to drive her off with cannon and Congreve rockets : she was soon joined by the sloop-of-war Loui- siana; and so destructive was the fire of the two vessels, that the enemy were obliged to quit their camp.
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While the advanced guard of the Americans was engaged in dislodging a picket of the enemy from the road in front of the plantation Lacoste, the seventh and forty-fourth regiments, and the marines, formed in order of battle, with two pieces of artillery. The enemy endeavoured to take their left wing in flank, and the forty-fourth was beginning to give ground, when two battal- ions of militia and some Indians came up. The English then directed their attack against the latter ; but the fire of the Americans was so well kept up, that they were forced to make a pre- cipitate retreat, under cover of the approaching darkness, increased by the smoke of the action and a fog. The Tennesseans charged the re- tiring columns, and the Louisiana riflemen, who took part in the attack, penetrated even to the enemy's camp, where they made several prison- ers; but in returning they unfortunately encoun- tered a body of his troops of three times their own force, and, taking them for Americans, were all made prisoners. The Tennesseans, with the river in their rear, kept up the action till half past nine o'clock. Two hours later, a brisk firing was heard in the direction of the plantation Ju- monville, below that of Villeré. It proceeded from the Louisianian division of Morgan, which
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had been encamped on the right bank of the Mississippi, but which, on seeing the engage- ment, had eagerly demanded permission to cross the river and join in it. The general yielded to their wishes ; but they had only time to exchange a few shots with a detachment of the enemy, when the darkness of night put a stop to the action.
In this battle, fought on the 23d of December, the English, who were five thousand strong, lost more than five hundred men, while the loss of the Americans, whose numbers did not exceed two thousand, was only one hundred and forty killed and wounded, and seventy-five taken pris- oners.
A company of Louisianians, commanded by Saint Gerne, intrenching themselves the same night on the Canal Rodriguez, two miles above the spot where the battle had been fought, the next morning Jackson resolved to establish a line of defence there. Leaving but two companies of cavalry to face the enemy, he set to work to enlarge and deepen the canal, raising, at the same time, a strong parapet of earth on its bank, with embrasures at proper distances, and forming the curtain and casing with bales of cotton. On be- ing completed, this line of defence was mounted
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with eighteen pieces of cannon and a howitzer. 1 An acre and a half lower down, a breach was made in the levee, and the water of the river rushing impetuously through it, soon covered the plain to the depth of thirty inches.
This precaution, however, proved an unfortu- nate one; for the water from the river so raised the bayou which the English had entered, that they were enabled to land the whole of their ar- tillery. This they employed with such effect_as to burn the Caroline on the 27th ; and the Loui- siana, the only vessel now left the Americans, would have shared the same fate, had she not been prudently removed to another position.
At daybreak the next morning the enemy re- newed their fire upon the Louisiana, and at the same time made a vigorous attack upon the American lines ; they were repulsed, however, with a loss of two or three hundred men, while that of the Americans was only eighteen killed and wounded.
In this' situation of affairs, three members of the Legislative Assembly waited upon the general to inquire what would be his course should he be obliged to retreat. It had been whispered that, in the event of a defeat, he had resolved to set fire to New-Orleans, as the Russians had done to
TACKSON'S REPLY TO THE ASSEMBLY. 225
Moscow, that the enemy might find there neither shelter nor provisions. He thus answered them : " If I thought the very hairs of my head could know my intentions, I would at once burn them. However, gentlemen, you may inform the hon- ourable body to which you belong, that their ses- sion will be a pretty hot one if I am obliged to abandon the town." These words sufficiently indicated that his purpose, in case of a retreat, was to follow the example of Rostopchin.
Soon after this a groundless report was circu- lated that the members of the Assembly had a secret design of giving up the country to the English ; and the consequences threatened to be serious. This rumour being communicated to the commander-in-chief by Colonel Declouet, he ordered Claiborne to inquire into it, and if he found it true, to blow up the Assembly. The governor, however, concluded that the most pru- dent course would be to close the place of ses- sion, so that the members, on attempting to enter, found themselves stopped by crossed bayonets. They remonstrated against this violation of their rights, and the general consented to countermand the order.
1815 .- Meanwhile the enemy had been busily engaged in preparing for another attack. They
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had thrown up an intrenchment opposite to the American position, making use of sugar-hogs- heads for casings to their embrasures ; and on the 1st of January, at nine o'clock in the morning, as soon as the fog began to break away, three bat- teries-one at the water's edge, another in the cen- tre of the plain, and the third near the wood- mounted with thirty pieces of heavy artillery, opened a tremendous fire, accompanied by Con- greve rockets, against the American lines ; but it was returned so effectually from the latter, that in less than an hour seven of the enemy's can- non were disabled ; four hours afterward he was compelled to abandon the battery near the wood ; and by three in the afternoon the two others were silenced.
But the decisive struggle was yet to come. The British forces, amounting to twelve or fifteen thousand men, being all landed, Sir Edward Packenham, the commander-in-chief of the expe- dition, determined to make a grand effort to ef- fect his object. Accordingly, at daybreak on the 8th of January, the signal for attack being giv- en by letting off two rockets, one on their right, the other on their left, the British columns rush- ed on with so much impetuosity, a furious can- nonade being commenced at the same time, that
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the picket-guards of the Americans had scarcely time to fall back within the lines. Meanwhile the fog was so dense that the enemy could not be seen till they had approached within a short distance of the American works, when they were descried marching with quick step, in close ranks from sixty to eighty deep, and carrying fascines and ladders besides their arms. They were in two divisions, under Generals Gibbs and Kean, and commanded by Packenham in person. One was advancing against the centre of the American line, and the other against the redoubt on the levee, which there had not been time to finish. But their opponents were prepa- red for them. The marines, with Lafitte and his bucaniers, and some French refugees, all excel- lent artillerymen, were at their posts; and the interval between each embrasure was filled with Louisiana, Tennessee, and Kentucky riflemen, all unerring marksmen. These were ranged in lines of some depth, those in the rear loading the rifles and passing them to the others, that there might be no cessation in the fire. The cavalry were stationed on the wings and in the rear, to take advantage of any circumstances that might arise. The American commander, who could scarcely restrain the ardour of his men, waited.
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till the enemy were fairly within gun shot, and then gave the signal to fire : this was instantly followed by three loud cheers from the troops, and a shower of cannon-shot, grape, and rifle- balls from the whole line. The assailants were staggered for a moment; but, recovering, they again gallantly advanced, though cut down at every step, without returning a shot until they had gained the edge of the fosse ; but here the fire was so tremendous that they could no long- er stand against it, and retreated in disorder. Twice Packenham succeeded in rallying them, . having his horse killed under him in the first at- tempt, and being mortally wounded himself in the second. A few moments after Generals Gibbs and Kean were also wounded, and carried from the field. Dismayed by their losses, the en- emy now thought of nothing but making the best of their way back to their camp, when General Lambert, hastening up with the reserve, endeav- oured to stop them. In this he at length succeed- ed, after being drawn along with them to some distance from the field of battle, when he formed them again into columns, and once more led them to the assault.
But the fire of the Americans, which had not ceased for a moment, was no less tremendous than before, and they were driven back with
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immense slaughter, leaving the ground covered with their dead and wounded.
The enemy's left had at one time nearly suc- ceeded in getting possession of the redoubt on the river. Colonel Regnier, who led the attack, had actually made his way over the intrench- ment, but was here shot down, and fell dead on one of the cannon. This officer was a French emigrant ; and on the death of their leader the attacking column hastily retreated.
While these events were taking place on the left bank of the river, a detachment of fifteen hundred of the enemy, under Colonel Thornton, had attacked the division of Morgan on the right bank. This division consisted of about seven hundred men, the greater part of whom were armed only with pikes and fowling-pieces. Their advanced guard, driven back by the ene- my, formed again behind a mill, and repulsed them in turn. But Morgan at this time ordering a retreat, Thornton again advanced, directing his fire against the Kentuckians, and these giving way, drew the other battalions along with them. The whole column retired, however, in good order ; and the British commander, seeing the dis- comfiture of his countrymen on the other side, abandoned the pursuit.
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Such was the issue of the decisive battle of Plaine Chalmette, called by the Americans the battle of New-Orleans. The loss of the British was very severe, being two thousand killed, a great number wounded and taken prisoners, and fourteen pieces of cannon. The Americans, in- credible as it may appear, had but seven men killed and six wounded. The action lasted but two hours.
It might almost be said that the great contest for independence was decided in this battle, if, according to Jefferson, the first war with England was only a war of liberty.
Lambert, who had now succeeded to the com- mand of the British forces, requested a truce of . twenty-four hours to bury the dead and remove the wounded, which was granted.
On the evening of the 18th the enemy aban- doned Louisiana, in little less than a month from the time they had landed, leaving behind a quan- tity of ammunition and eighteen wounded men, two of whom were officers. A surgeon, in whose care they had been placed, handed to the Amer- ican commander a letter from General Lambert, recommending them to his protection, and assu- ring him that no farther hostile attempts would be made against New-Orleans, at least for the present.
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, The squadron which had been attacking Fort St. Philip since the 9th instant put to sea the same day. This squadron, consisting of two bomb- ketches, a brig, a schooner, and a sloop-of-war, had been unable to capture a fort defended only by a few small pieces of artillery.
Among those who most distinguished them- selves during this brief but memorable cam- paign, were, next to the Commander-in-chief, Generals Villeré, Carroll, Coffee, Ganigues, Flan- jac, Colonel Delaronde, Commodore Patterson, Majors Lacoste, Planché, Hinds, Captain Saint Gêrne, Lieutenants Jones, Parker, Marent, and Dominique ; Colonel Savary, a man of colour- nor must we omit to mention Lafitte, pirate though hẹ was.
Thus ended this short, brilliant, and event- ful campaign. The enemy had paid too dearly for their first attempt to make a second, and nothing special transpired until, a few weeks afterward, official information was received of the treaty concluded at Ghent, when the brave men who had so nobly come forward in their country's defence were honourably discharged. The situation of the commander-in-chief had been one of great difficulty and delicacy, and he has been charged with exercising the power he possessed with too little regard to private rights,
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and official inviolability ; but when we look at the grand result, we are but little disposed to dwell upon these matters; nor is it to be denied that his firmness, skill, and energy contributed most essentially to the triumphant termination of the contest.
Congress did justice to Louisiana-to the ser- vices she had rendered in the common cause- to her patriotism and courage, the privations, sufferings and dangers to which she had cheer- fully submitted, and the generosity with which she had contributed to the support of the army and the comfort of the wounded, whether friends or foes ; approving also of the course pursued by her Legislative Assembly in continuing in ses- sion ; and declared that she had deserved well of the country.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Prosperity of Louisiana .- Bank of Louisiana .- Laws .- Florida. -Mouth of the Mississippi .- Lafayette .- General Jackson elected President .- National Bank .- Cholera.
1816 .- GENERAL VILLERÉ, a man alike distin- guished for his civil and domestic virtues, was now elected governor of the State, and its prosperity
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increased rapidly. Agriculture acquired new strength : many planters of the other states, at- tracted by the fertility of the soil, emigrated to Louisiana with numerous slaves ; and this greatly enhanced the value of land. Sugar commanding a good price, new plantations of canes were form- ed at a distance from the river, as well as on its banks. In fact, sugar now became the most im- portant crop of Louisiana, the amount of capital invested in its cultivation being but little short of forty millions. New-Orleans, the great empori- um of the South and Southwest, saw the number of her warehouses rapidly increasing, her port crowded with ships and steamboats, and her building lots rising to an enormous value. The old town was no longer large enough to con- tain the inhabitants, and its extension became necessary. A second Bank of the United States was this year incorporated, which went into op- eration on the 17th of February, 1817, and a branch was established at New-Orleans.
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