The Defence of New Orleans

G. R. GLEIG.

As a preliminary to the subject of this article a review of the principal naval events of the years 1813 and 1814 may be given. Many desperate ocean-fights took place during these years, though not with the uniform success for the Americans of those of 1812. The conflict between the Hornet and the Peacock, on February 24, 1813, we have already mentioned. On June I, the Chesapeake, lying in Boston harbor, accepted the challenge to battle to the British frigate Shannon, and put to sea, though in no proper condition for fighting. In the battle that ensued the Chesapeake suffered severely; all her higher officers were killed and wounded, Lawrence, the captain, being mortally wounded early in the action. His dying words, "Don't give up the ship," were afterwards displayed on Captain Perry's standard in the battle of Lake Erie, and have become the motto of the American navy. The Chesapeake was, after being disabled, boarded and forced to surrender. In August the British brig Pelican captured the American brig Argus, which had previously captured more than twenty vessels in the English Channel. In September the Americans gained a naval victory, the brig Enterprise capturing the brig Boxer, after a severe battle of forty minutes' duration. During the summer the frigate Essex, under Captain Porter, cruised in the Pacific, and captured a great number of British vessels. Early in the succeeding year she was attacked in the harbor of Valparaiso by the frigate Phoebe and the sloop Cherub, the two being superior to her in force. The Essex was desperately defended, and did not yield till almost cut to pieces.

During the year the ocean swarmed with American privateers, which occasionally did not hestitate to attack war-vessels. The privateer Decatur captured the war-schooner Dominica, and the fishing-smack Yankee, with forty men, surprised and captured, off Sandy Hook, the sloop-of-war Eagle. In March, 1813, the blockade of the coast was extended from Montauk Point, Long Island, to the mouth of the Mississippi, through the British squadron under Admiral Warren was inadequate to make this more than a "paper blockade." The Macedonian, United States, and Hornet were chased into New London harbor by a British squadron, and so diligently blockaded that they were not able to put to sea again. Meanwhile, Admiral Cockburn, Warren's second in command, raided the coast from Delaware to North Carolina, making piratical descents and destroying the property of the defenceless inhabitants with cruel and useless barbarity.

In 1814 the American navy achieved some brilliant successes. The sloop Peacock captured the brig Epervier, while the Wasp captured the Reindeer and sunk the Avon. The privateer General Armstrong was attacked in the port of Fayal by a British fleet, and an attempt made to cut her out by boats. The result was disastrous to her enemies, who were driven off with a loss of one hundred and twenty killed and ninety wounded, while the loss on the privateer was only two killed and nine wounded. Seeing that it would be impossible to save her, the captain and crew left the Armstrong, setting her on fire, and took refuge in a deserted convent on shore, in anticipation of an attack. This, however, the protest of the authorities prevented the British from making. Several hard-fought naval battles took place after peace was declared, but before the ships at sea could be informed of this fact. The President fought the Endymion to a wreck, but before she could take possession of her as a prize she was herself captured by a British squadron. In February, 1815, the Constitution captured the Cyane and Levant off the island of Madeira, and in March the Hornet captured the Penguin off the coast of Brazil. In both these cases the captured vessels were stronger than their captors.

In addition to these naval contests, one of the most notable land-battles of the war, that of New Orleans, was fought after the declaration of peace. This severe conflict we may more particularly describe. After the destruction of Washington and the assault on Baltimore, the British fleet sailed south, and in December appeared off Pensacola, which city General Jackson had previously taken by storm and prevented its being made a harbor for British ships of war. As it appeared that an attack on New Orleans was intended, Jackson hastened to this city. Here he found the utmost confusion and alarm prevailing. By stringent exertions, however, order was restored, the militia organized, fortifications built, and finally martial law proclaimed. On December 10 the British fleet entered lake Borgne, where a squadron of gunboats was captured. After much difficulty, a portion of the British army reached the Mississippi at a point nine miles below New Orleans, where, on the 23d of December, a night-attack was made on them. This they repelled, losing four hundred men in killed and wounded. Jackson then withdrew to his intrenchments, four miles below the city. These works, partly made of cotton-bales, were unsuccessfully cannonaded by the enemy on December 28 and January I. Finally, on January 8, the British army, twelve thousand strong (or six thousand, as stated by the British author of the following article), under General Packenham, advanced to the assault of these works, which were defended by six thousand militia, most of them adepts in the use of the rifle.