Jackson, Andrew, 1767-1845; Presidents -- United States -- Biography
But on the east bank it was a different story. At six o'clock the main
body of the British rushed upon the American lines. General Gibbs, with
2200, sought to pierce the defenses near the swamp. General Keane led
1200 along the river bank. General Lambert, with the reserve, brought up
the rear. The whole force engaged was over 5000. Gibbs first came under
the American fire. The head of his division melted before it. Gibbs
himself fell, mortally wounded. Pakenham, dashing forward to rally the
column, was killed three hundred yards from the lines. Keane, on the
British left, was wounded and carried from the field. Nowhere did the
enemy pierce or break the line of defense. A brave major did indeed
cross the ditch and lift his head above the breastworks; but he lived
only long enough to send back word that he died on the parapet like an
English soldier. In truth, Pakenham's assault was a desperate venture,
such as British commanders, relying on the valor of their men, have been
too often led to make. At eight o'clock Jackson walked from end to end
of his works, and not a British soldier was anywhere to be seen in an
attitude of offence. The smoke of the artillery, clearing, discovered
the enemy far distant, in full retreat to his camp, and the battlefield
littered with piles of dead and wounded. "I saw," said Jackson, "more
than five hundred Britons emerging from the heaps of their dead
comrades, all over the plain, rising up, and still more distinctly
visible as the field became clearer, coming forward and surrendering to
our soldiers."
Here was revenge, indeed, for the sufferings of little Andy in the
Waxhaws, for the sabre cut on his head, for his brothers, for his
mother. But it is not known that any low word of vengeance passed his
lips at the awful sight before him. The British dead were seven hundred,
their wounded twice as many, and five hundred were taken. In the
American lines on that side of the river eight were killed and thirteen
wounded. Such a victory, so cheaply bought, is not paralleled in the
warfare of civilized men. Lambert, succeeding Pakenham, recalled
Thornton and gave up the important advantage the British won on the
western bank. For ten days the armies lay as they were, and then the
enemy withdrew as he had come. A few days later, Fort Bowyer, on Mobile
Point, was taken, and then the fighting ceased.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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