of active operations. The partial attempts to adopt measures of defense
were of little avail. The joint committee of the Legislature to act in
concert with Governor Claiborne, Commodore Patterson, and the military
commandant, had done but little as yet. There was wanting the
concentration of power always needed in military operations. Latour, in
his "Memoirs of the War of 1814-15," graphically describes the condition
of affairs as he saw and knew them to exist:
Confidence was wanting in the civil and military authorities, and a
feeling of distrust and gloomy apprehension pervaded the minds of the
citizens. Petty disputes on account of two committees of defense,
unfortunately countenanced by the presence and influence of several
public officials, had driven the people to despondency. They
complained, not without cause, that the Legislature wasted time, and
consumed the money of the State, in idle discussions, when both time
and money should have been devoted to measures of defense. The banks
had suspended payment of their notes, and credit was gone. The
moneyed men had drawn in their funds, and loaned their money at the
ruinous rates of three or four per cent per month. The situation
seemed desperate; in case of attack, none could hope to be saved only
by miracle, or by the wisdom and genius of a great commander.
After his habit of giving his personal attention to every detail,
General Jackson, on his arrival, visited Fort St. Philip, ordered the
wooden barracks removed, and had mounted additional heavy artillery. He
caused two more batteries to be constructed, one on the opposite bank of
the Mississippi, and the other half a mile above, with twenty-four
pounders in position, thus fully guarding the approach by the mouth of
the river. He then proceeded to Chef Menteur, as far as Bayou Sauvage,
and ordered a battery erected at that point. He continued to fortify or
obstruct the larger bayous whose waters gave convenient access to the
city between the Mississippi and the Gulf.
As early as July before, the Secretary of War, in view of the formidable
armaments of England, had made requisition of the several States for
ninety-three thousand five hundred men for general defensive purposes,
under a law of Congress enacted the previous April. The quota of
Kentucky was fifty-five hundred infantry; of Tennessee, twenty-five
hundred infantry; of Mississippi territory, five hundred infantry, and
of Louisiana, one thousand infantry. That portion of the quota of
Kentucky destined for New Orleans, twenty-two hundred men, and a portion
of the quota of Tennessee, embarked upon flatboats to float fifteen
hundred miles down the Ohio and Mississippi waters, had not arrived on
the tenth of December. Through the energetic efforts of the Governor,
aided by Major Edward Livingston and the Committee of Safety, the quota
of Louisiana was made up. With these, General Coffee's Tennesseans,
Major Hinds' Mississippians, and one thousand regular troops, there were
less than three thousand men for defensive operations yet available.
BATTLE OF THE GUNBOATS WITH THE FLEET OF BARGES.
An event was soon to happen which seemed for the time an irreparable
disaster to the American cause. Commodore Daniel T. Patterson, in
command of the American naval forces, on learning of the approach of
the British fleet, sent Lieutenant Thomas Ap Catesby Jones, with five
gunboats, one tender, and a dispatch boat toward the passes out to Ship
Island, to watch the movements of the British vessels. This little
flotilla, barely enough for scout duty at sea, was the extent of our
naval forces in the Gulf waters near. The orders were to fall back, if
necessary, from near Cat Island to the Rigolets; and there, if hard
pressed, to sink or be sunk by the enemy. Moving in waters too shallow
for the large English ships to pursue, until the thirteenth, Lieutenant
Jones sailed for Bay St. Louis. Sighting a large number of the enemy's
barges steering for Pass Christian, he headed for the Rigolets. But the
wind having died away and an adverse current set in, the little fleet
could get no farther than the channel inside of Melheureux Island, being
there partially grounded. Early on the morning of the fourteenth, a
flotilla of barges formed in line was discovered coming from the
direction of the enemy's ships, evidently to overtake and attack the
becalmed gunboats. The two tenders, lying beyond the aid of the latter,
were captured after a spirited resistance. The guns of these were now
turned upon Lieutenant Jones' gunboats in a combined attack of the fleet
of barges, forty-five in number, and a supporting squad of marines. The
total equipment was twelve hundred men and forty-five pieces of
artillery. The American defensive forces were seven small gunboats,
manned by thirty guns and one hundred and eighty men. The enemy's
oarsmen advanced their entire fleet in line of battle until the fire
from the gunboats caused severe losses and some confusion in the
movements of the barges. They then separated in three divisions and
renewed the attack. The battle became general, and was contested
fiercely for nearly two hours, when the gunboats, overpowered by
numbers, were forced to surrender, losing six men killed and thirty-five
wounded, among the latter Lieutenants Jones, Speddin, and McKeever, each
in command of a boat. Several barges of the enemy were sunk, while their
losses in killed and wounded were estimated at two to three hundred.
Among the wounded were Captain Lockyer, in command, and other officers.
The preparations for defense on shore were now pushed forward with
redoubled energy. General Jackson gave unremitting attention to the
fortifying of all points which seemed available for the approach of the
enemy; it was impossible to know at what point he might choose to make
his first appearance on land. Captain Newman, in command of Fort Petit
Coquille, at the Rigolets, next to Lake Pontchartrain, was reinforced,
and the order given to defend the post to the last extremity. If
compelled to abandon it, he was instructed to fall back on Chef Menteur.
Swift messengers were sent to Generals Carroll and Thomas to make all
speed possible with the Tennessee and Kentucky troops on their way to
New Orleans. Also, a courier was dispatched to General Winchester,
commanding at Mobile, warning of the possible danger of another attack
on that place, since the loss of the gunboats. Major Lacoste, with the
dragoons of Feliciana and his militia battalion of colored men, was
directed, with two pieces of artillery, to take post at the confluence
of Bayous Sauvage and Chef Menteur, throw up a redoubt, and guard the
road. Major Plauche was sent with his battalion to Bayou St. John, north
of the city, Major Hughes being in command of Fort St. John. Captain
Jugeant was instructed to enlist and form into companies all the Choctaw
Indians he could collect, a mission that proved nearly barren of
results. The Baratarians, mustered into ranks and drilled for important
services under their own officers, Captains Dominique You, Beluche,
Sougis, Lagand, and Golson, were divided out to the forts named, and to
other places where expert gunners were most needed.
On the eighteenth of December a grand review of the Louisiana troops was
held by Jackson in front of the old Cathedral, now Jackson Square. The
day was memorable by many incidents, not all in harmony with the
purposes and plans of the civil and military leaders of defense. The
entire population of the city and vicinity were present to witness the
novel scenes, men and women vying with each other in applauding and
enthusing the martial ardor of the soldiers on parade. Such an army,
hastily improvised in a few brief days from city, country, and towns,
made up of a composite of divergent race elements, as was that of the
Louisiana contingent with the command of Jackson at New Orleans, was
perhaps never paralleled in the history of warfare before. Major
Plauche's battalion of uniformed companies was made up mainly of French
and Spanish Creoles, with some of American blood, enlisted from the
city; and from the same source came Captain Beale's Rifle Company,
mostly American residents. The Louisiana militia, under General Morgan,
were of the best element of the country parishes, of much the same
race-types as Plauche's men, of newer material, and without uniforms.
Then came the battalion of Louisiana free men of color, nearly three
hundred strong, led by Major Lacoste, and another battalion of men of
color, two hundred and fifty in number, commanded by Major Daquin,
recruited from the refugees in New Orleans from St. Domingo, who had
taken part in the bloody strifes in that island, and who bore like
traditional hatred to the English, with all who spoke the French tongue.
Add to the above a small detachment of Choctaw Indians; and lastly, the
loyal pirates of Lafitte, who were patriotic enough to scorn the gold of
England, and brave enough to offer their services and their lives, if
need be, to the cause of our country; and together, these give us a
picture of the men under review, whom Jackson was to lead to battle in a
few days against the best-trained troops of Europe. Though of new
material, and suddenly called into service, this provincial contingent
of twelve hundred men, animated with the spirit of battle against an
invading foe, proved themselves, when ably officered, the equals of the
best troops in the field.
JACKSON DECLARES MARTIAL LAW.
On the sixteenth, two days before the review, General Jackson issued
from his headquarters an order declaring "the city and environs of New
Orleans under martial law." This imperious edict was resorted to in the
firm belief that only the exercise of supreme military authority could
awe into silence all opposition to defensive operations. Every person
entering the city was required to report himself to headquarters, and
any one departing from it must procure a pass. The street lamps were
extinguished at nine o'clock at night, and every one found passing after
that hour was subject to arrest. All persons capable of bearing arms who
did not volunteer were pressed into the military or naval service.
Rumors were rife that British spies were secretly prowling in the city,
and coming into the American camp. Reports of disloyal utterances and
suspicious proceedings on the part of certain citizens came repeatedly
to the ears of the commander-in-chief. More serious yet, he was aroused
to fierce anger by personal and direct intelligence that certain leading
and influential members of the Legislature favored a formal capitulation
and surrender of Louisiana to the enemy, by that body, in the event of a
formidable invasion, for the greater security of their persons and
property. These persons had circulated a story that Jackson would burn
the city and all valuable property in reach rather than let it fall into
the hands of the British.
Determined that disloyalty should find no foothold to mar his military
plans, or to disaffect the soldiery or citizens, General Jackson, on the
day previous to his declaration of martial law, issued the following
spirited order:
TO THE CITIZENS OF NEW ORLEANS.
The Major-general commanding, has, with astonishment and regret,
learned that great consternation and alarm pervade your city. It is
true the enemy is on our coast and threatens to invade our territory;
but it is equally true that, with union, energy, and the approbation
of Heaven, we will beat him at every point his temerity may induce
him to set foot on our soil. The General, with still greater
astonishment, has heard that British emissaries have been permitted
to propagate seditious reports among you, that the threatened
invasion is with a view to restore the country to Spain, from the
supposition that some of you would be willing to return to your
ancient government. Believe not such incredible tales; your
Government is at peace with Spain. It is the vital enemy of your
country,--the common enemy of mankind, the highway robber of the
world, that threatens you. He has sent his hirelings among you with
this false report, to put you off your guard, that you may fall an
easy prey. Then look to your liberties, your property, the chastity
of your wives and daughters. Take a retrospect of the conduct of the
British army at Hampton, and other places where it entered our
country, and every bosom which glows with patriotism and virtue, will
be inspired with indignation, and pant for the arrival of the hour
when we shall meet and revenge these outrages against the laws of
civilization and humanity.
The General calls upon the inhabitants of the city to trace this
unfounded report to its source, and bring the propagator to condign
punishment. The rules and articles of war annex the punishment of
death to any person holding secret correspondence with the enemy,
creating false alarm, or supplying him with provision. The General
announces his determination rigidly to execute the martial law in all
cases which may come within his province.
By command. THOMAS L. BUTLER,
_Aid-de-camp_.
BAYOU BIENVENUE AND THE BRITISH SPIES OF THE FISHERMEN'S
VILLAGE.
Bayou Bienvenue, formerly called St. Frances River, drains all the
waters of a swamp-basin, of triangular form and about eighty square
miles in surface, bounded on the west by New Orleans, on the northwest
by Chef Menteur, and on the east by Lake Borgne, into which it empties.
It receives the waters of several other bayous from the surrounding
cypress swamps and prairies. It is navigable for vessels of one hundred
tons burden as far as the junction with old Piernas Canal, twelve miles
from its mouth. It is about one hundred and twenty yards in width, and
has from six to nine feet of water at the bar, according to the flow of
the tides. Its principal branch is Bayou Mazant, which runs to the
southwest and receives the waters of the canals of the old plantations
of Villere, Lacoste, and Laronde, on and near which the British army
encamped, about eight miles below New Orleans. The banks of these
bayous, which drain the swamp lands on either side of the Mississippi,
are usually about twelve feet below the banks of the river, which have
been elevated by the deposit of sediment from overflows for centuries.
These slopes, from the banks back to the swamps, usually ten to eighteen
hundred yards, drain off the waters and form the tillable lands of the
sugar and cotton planters. They are protected from overflows by levees
thrown up on the banks of the river. These plantation lands formed the
only ground in this country for the encampment of a large army, or
available for a march on New Orleans. On nearly all the large sugar
plantations canals were cut from the bank of the river running back to
the swamp, to furnish at high tides water-power for mills which did the
grinding or sawing for the plantations.
Bayous Bienvenue and Mazant, as mentioned, formed a waterway from Lake
Borgne to the rear of the plantations of Villere, Lacoste, and Laronde,
situated but two or three hours' easy march to the city, to which there
was a continuous roadway through the plantation lands between the river
and the swamps. The enemy was fully informed of every point of approach
by spies within the military lines, and since the capture of the
gunboats determined on an attempt to secretly invade the environing
country, and to assault and capture New Orleans by surprise. But one
mile from Lake Borgne, on the low bank of Bayou Bienvenue, was a village
of Spanish and Portuguese fishermen and their families. From the bayous
and adjacent lakes they furnished the city markets with fish, and were
familiar with every body of water and every nook and inlet for many
miles around. A number of these became notorious as spies in the pay of
the British. Of this treacherous little colony, the names of Maringuier,
Old Luiz, Francisco, Graviella, Antonio el Italiano, El Campechano,
Mannellilo, and Garcia became known as connected with this disloyalty.
These served the English as pilots to their barges, as guides to the
best approaches to New Orleans, and as ready spies within and without.
The English commander in charge sent Captain Peddie, of the army, on the
twentieth of December, as a spy in the disguise of one of these
fishermen, to inspect and report upon the feasibility of entering with
the army at the mouth of Bayou Bienvenue, landing at the plantations
above and marching suddenly by this route on the city. Old Luiz and two
others of the fishermen were his guides. He safely and without suspicion
penetrated to Villere's plantation, viewed the field for encampment
there, and noted the easy route of approach to the city, without an
obstruction in the way. His report being most favorable, the British
officer in command decided at once on invasion and attack from this
direction.
FIVE THOUSAND BRITISH TROOPS ENTER BAYOU BIENVENUE AND LAND NEAR
VILLERE'S PLANTATION.
By Jackson's order, Major Villere, son of General Villere, the owner of
the plantation, placed a picket of twelve men at Fisherman's Village on
the twenty-first, to watch and report promptly in case the enemy
appeared there. After midnight, near the morning of the twenty-third,
five advance barges bearing British troops glided noiselessly into
Bienvenue from Lake Borgne, capturing the picket of twelve men without
firing a gun. Soon after, the first division of the invading army,
twenty-five hundred strong, under command of Colonel Thornton, appeared
in eighty barges, and passed up the bayous to Villere's canal, where a
landing was effected by the dawn of day. After a brief rest and
breakfast, the march of two miles was made to Villere's plantation,
arriving there at half-past eleven. The troops at once surrounded the
house of General Villere, and surprised and made prisoners a company of
the Third Louisiana Militia stationed there. Major Villere, after
capture, escaped through a window at the risk of his life, reached the
river bank and crossed over in a small boat, and hastened to New Orleans
with the startling news. Colonel Laronde also escaped, and reached
headquarters in the early afternoon; on the day before he had reported
the sighting of several suspicious vessels out upon Lake Borgne,
seemingly to reconnoiter.
Jackson had ordered Majors Latour and Tatum, of his engineer corps, to
reconnoiter in the direction of the Laronde and Lacoste plantations, and
to carefully examine this avenue of approach by the enemy. These
officers left the city at eleven o'clock, and had reached Laronde's,
when they met several persons fleeing toward the city, who told them of
the arrival of the British at Villere's, and of the capture of the
outpost there. It was then but half-past one o'clock. The two scouts put
spurs to their horses, and by two o'clock the General was informed of
the facts. With that heroic promptness and intuition characteristic and
ever present with him, he exclaimed with fierce emphasis: "By the
eternal! the enemy shall not sleep upon our soil!" The invading movement
was a complete surprise, and there was not yet a defensive work to
obstruct the march of the British upon the coveted city. Only genius and
courage of the highest order could have met successfully such an
emergency, and Jackson alone seemed equal to the occasion.
JACKSON DETERMINES TO ATTACK--BLOODY NIGHT-BATTLE OF THE
TWENTY-THIRD OF DECEMBER.
Orders were issued rapidly, as the report of the alarm-gun gave notice
to all to be ready. The troops were stationed within a radius of a few
miles of the city, in garrisons. Major Plauche was summoned to bring
down his battalion of uniformed volunteers from Bayou St. John, which
summons was obeyed in a run all the way. General Coffee, encamped four
miles above the city, under similar order, was at headquarters within
one hour. Colonel McRae, with the Seventh regulars, Lieutenant Spotts,
with two pieces of artillery, and Lieutenant Bellevue, with a detachment
of marines, were all formed on the road near Montruil's plantation.
Coffee's riflemen and Hinds' Mississippi dragoons formed the advance in
the order of march. Beale's Orleans Rifles followed closely after, and
by four o'clock these had taken position at Rodrique's Canal. The
battalion of men of color, under Major Daquin, the Forty-fourth
regulars, under Captain Baker, and Plauche's men, were in close
supporting distance.
Commodore Patterson was requested to arm such vessels lying in the river
as were ready, and to drop down and take station opposite the enemy. The
schooner Carolina was put in position; the sloop of war Louisiana could
not steer in the stream. Governor Claiborne, with the First, Second, and
Fourth Louisiana Militia, occupied a post in the plain of Gentilly, to
cover the city on the side of Chef Menteur. A picket of five mounted men
was fired on near the line of Laronde's and Lacoste's plantations, and
driven in about four o'clock. A negro was apprehended, who had been sent
by the British with printed copies of a proclamation in Spanish and
French, in terms as follows: "Louisianians! remain quiet in your houses;
your slaves shall be preserved to you, and your property respected. We
make war only against Americans." This was signed by Admiral Cochrane
and General Keene. Other copies were found.
About nightfall the troops were formed in line of battle, the left
composed of a part of Coffee's men, Beale's Rifles, the Mississippi
dragoons, and some other mounted riflemen, in all about seven hundred
and thirty men, General Coffee in command, Colonel Laronde as guide.
Under cover of the darkness, they took position back of the plantation
of the latter. The right formed on a perpendicular line from the river
to the garden of Laronde's plantation, and on its principal avenue. The
artillery occupied the high road, supported by a detachment of marines.
On the left of the artillery were stationed the Seventh and
Forty-fourth regulars, Plauche's and Daquin's battalions, and a squad of
Choctaw Indians, all under the command of Colonel Ross.
The second invading division of the British army, made up of the
Twenty-first, Forty-fourth, and Ninety-third Regiments, with a corps of
artillery, in all about twenty-five hundred men, was disembarked at the
terminus of Villere Canal at half-past seven o'clock in the evening of
the twenty-third, just as the roar of the ship's cannon announced the
opening of the night battle. At seven o'clock Commodore Patterson had
anchored the Carolina in the Mississippi, as requested, in front of the
British camp, and but a good musket-shot away. Such was the security
felt by the enemy in camp that they stood upon the levee and viewed her
as a common boat plying the river. Within thirty minutes she opened upon
the enemy a destructive fire which spread consternation and havoc
throughout their camp. In half an hour more they were driven out, with
many killed and wounded. About eight o'clock the troops on the right,
led by Jackson himself, began the attack on the enemy's left. The
Seventh and Forty-fourth regulars became hotly engaged along the line,
supported by McRae's artillery. Plauche's and Daquin's battalions coming
up, the fighting became furious from the road to Laronde's garden. The
British were forced back within the limits of Lacoste's plantation, the
combatants being often intermingled and fighting hand-to-hand, almost
undistinguishable in the darkness of night, made denser by the smoke of
battle and the gathering fog.