The Battle of New Orleans: including the Previous Engagements between the Americans; and the British, the Indians and the Spanish which led to; the Final Conflict on the 8th of January, 1815Smith, Z. F. (Zachariah Frederick)
History
The Battle of New Orleans: including the Previous Engagements between the Americans; and the British, the Indians and the Spanish which led to; the Final Conflict on the 8th of January, 1815
Smith, Z. F. (Zachariah Frederick)
New Orleans, Battle of, New Orleans, La., 1815
On the nineteenth, General Jackson issued an address from headquarters,
from which we reproduce as follows: "The flag-vessel, which was sent to
the enemy's fleet at Mobile, has returned, and brings with it
intelligence, extracted from a London paper, that on the twenty-fourth
of December articles of peace were signed by the commissioners of the
two nations."
Thus, on the day after the first landing of the British army on
Louisiana soil, and after the first battle was fought at night, terms of
peace were agreed on. It was fifteen days after that auspicious event
until the battles on the eighth occurred, causing such disaster and loss
of valuable lives to the English army and nation; and fifty-two days
from the signing of articles until a message of the good news was
received by the commander-in-chief of the British forces. There was no
alternative but to await the slow passage of the ship across the wide
Atlantic, with sails set to breeze and calm, and sometimes tossed and
delayed by adverse storm. To-day, the news of such an event would be
flashed over the great cables under the sea and the network of electric
wires throughout the land, in the twinkling of an eye after its
occurrence. Such an advantage at the time would have been worth to
England the entire cost of the telegraph system of the world.
LEGISLATURE SUPPRESSED UNDER MARTIAL LAW--CHARGES OF TREASONABLE
UTTERANCES.
On the morning of the twenty-eighth of December, just as the British
began their attack on the American line, General Jackson issued an order
forcibly forbidding the meeting of the Legislature in session, and for
taking possession of the legislative halls. The proceeding created great
excitement in the civil and military circles of the city, especially
among the members of the body and their immediate friends. The author is
indebted to Mr. William Beer, of the Howard Library of New Orleans, for
the loan of a copy of a rare little book entitled "Report of the
Committee of Inquiry on the Military Measures Employed Against the
Legislature of the State of Louisiana, the 28th of December, 1814." In
the full report of the testimony taken by the committee, we have a
history of the causes which led to this open rupture between the
commander-in-chief and the General Assembly of Louisiana, and of its
incidents and issues.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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