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

by Z. F. Smith

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.

Since the landing of the British army on the twenty-third, there were afloat in nebulous form some rumors of disaffection toward the American military occupation of Louisiana, among an element of the population unfriendly to the sovereignty of the United States over the territory since its purchase from Napoleon. Up to the time of the military occupation under Jackson, this hostile feeling seemed to display its temper and policies mainly in matters of civil procedure. There was very naturally a jealous opposition on the part of many leading citizens, of French and Spanish descent, of whom the population west of the Mississippi was almost entirely made up, against the annexation of the territory east of that river as part of Louisiana, on equal terms of citizenship and co-sovereignty. This east territory, they felt, had been rudely seized and possessed by the United States, against the claim and protest of Spain. It was being settled by American people, who in time would help to Americanize the country, and to lessen the power and control of the former creole domination. The virtues of a patriotic love of their native countries yet lingered in the bosoms of these citizens—a patriotic love which, when finally transferred to the new government they were under, burned as brightly for the new sovereignty as for the old.

Captain Abner L. Duncan, aid to Jackson, testified before the committee as follows:

On the 28th, Colonel Declouet (of General Morgan's command) coming in haste from the city, joined this respondent and begged him to inform General Jackson that a plan was on foot among several members of the Legislature for the surrender of the country to the enemy. Colonel Declouet named in confidence to myself, to Generals Jackson and Morgan, and to Major Robinson, several members as persons determined on making the attempt. He added, that he heard one or more members say, that Jackson was carrying on a Russian war (alluding to the burning of Moscow), and that it was best to save private property by a timely surrender; that he, Colonel Declouet, had been invited to join in the measure. On this respondent making the communication to General Jackson, the order he received was: "Tell Governor Claiborne to prevent this, and to blow them up if they attempt it!"

Colonel Declouet told me the plan had been first disclosed to him by the Speaker of the House, Mr. Guichard. He said in presence of General Jackson and Mr. Daresac, that many other influential men were concerned in it, and that they had held several night or secret meetings on the subject. He gave the names of Mr. John Blanque and Mr. Marigny, and generally all those voting with Mr. Blanque in the House. He stated that, as an inducement offered to unite in the plan, he was informed by Mr. Guichard that General Jackson would burn and destroy everything before him sooner than surrender the country, and that the English would respect private property. I understood also, from some members of the House, Mr. Harper and Mr. Fickland among them, and in the Senate from General Morgan and Mr. Hireart, that an attempt would be made to dismember the State. I also understood from other members that they would consider it an act of violence; and would resist it by violence.

Colonel Declouet was the chief informant at headquarters; but rumors had been rife for several days of disloyal utterances and of mysterious proceedings, which caused uneasiness to the civil and military authorities, and especially to Governor Claiborne, who had made known his apprehensions of trouble from the disaffected element, warning General Jackson of the dangers possible from this quarter. The Legislature was to convene on the twenty-eighth; and it was intimated that the overture for a surrender might be resolved upon that day. Such a possible action, in the very crisis of battle, could be but an attempt to marplot the military plans of the commander-in-chief, and to marshal an enemy in the rear. The information brought in so abruptly on that morning by Colonel Declouet made a profound impression on the mind of General Jackson. The enemy had already opened the battle of the twenty-eighth of December, with the forward movement of his columns and under the heavy fire of his batteries.

In the excitement of the moment, Jackson gave the verbal order to his aid, Captain Duncan, to be delivered at once to Governor Claiborne for immediate execution. This order, as rendered by Captain Duncan, directed the Governor to summarily close the halls of the Legislature, and to place a guard at the doors to prevent a meeting of the body until further orders. Duncan testified that the General put in emphasis the words: "Tell Governor Claiborne to prevent this, and to blow them up if they attempt it!"

The order was executed. The Governor commissioned General J.B. Labitat, of the Louisiana troops, to enforce it; he placed a guard of soldiers at the doors of the building, and forbade entrance to the members on that day. Captain Duncan had put spurs to his horse and started on a lope to the city with the order. On the way he met Colonel Fortier, an aid to the Governor, who consented to promptly deliver the order, permitting Duncan to return. In the proceedings of the committee, Honorable Levi Wells, member of the House of Representatives from Rapides Parish, testified that on the twenty-eighth, under an order of General Jackson, an armed guard was placed at the doors of the legislative halls in the city of New Orleans, which was to hinder the members from assembling; "and even to fire on them, should they dare to persist in their design; and that the life of a representative of the people, and a member of the Body, was exposed to the greatest danger; that a sentinel, to hinder him from repairing to his post, presented his bayonet and threatened to run him through with it, unless he retired, adding to this outrage the most insulting tone."

Through the mediation of friendly counsel the views of both the civil and military chiefs were modified. The order was revoked within twenty-four hours, and the guards withdrawn; on the twenty-ninth, the Legislature was permitted to convene. In the conclusion, the committee exonerated Speaker Guichard and other members of the Legislature referred to as under suspicion, and severely censured Colonel Declouet and Captain Duncan as the indiscreet authors of all the trouble. The measures taken by General Jackson and Governor Claiborne were effectual; while the report of the committee was evidently drawn to modify and explain the imputed indiscretions of some of their fellow-members who had been compromised. The procedure did not include all the legislators; for some of these had volunteered their services, shouldered their muskets, and gone to the front of battle.

A feeling of keen resentment toward General Jackson and some officers involved in this affair was nursed long after by these legislators. After peace was assured and hostilities at an end, the Legislature voted a resolution of thanks for valiant services in defense of Louisiana to the officers and soldiers from the States of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi, with the request to the Governor that he should convey the sense of this resolution in appropriate terms in a letter each to the officers in command of these troops, respectively. The resolution was as follows:

Resolved, That the thanks of the General Assembly be presented, in the name of the State, to our brave brother soldiers from Tennessee, Kentucky, and the Mississippi Territory, and their gallant leaders, Generals Coffee, Carroll, Thomas, Adair, and Colonel Hinds, for the brilliant share they have had in the defense of this country and the happy harmony they have maintained with the inhabitants and militia of the State.

Magloire Guichard,
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Fulwar Skipworth,
President of Senate.

Approved, February 2d, 1815.

Wm. C. Claiborne,
Governor of State.

The great chieftain could well afford to pass the slight in silence, hailed as he was by the acclamations of the multitude—the deliverer of the country, and the hero of the nation!

A similar resolution of thanks was voted to the officers and troops of Louisiana, who had so patriotically sprung to arms on the invasion of the enemy, and who had so gallantly fought in the several battles of the campaign. In this resolution separate mention was made of each of the officers of the State troops and their several commands, reciting the meritorious services they had rendered, in terms of special praise, making exceptions of certain officers who had incurred the displeasure of some of the honorable legislators.

Under the first resolution, letters were addressed each to Generals Coffee and Carroll, of Tennessee, to Major Hinds, of Mississippi, and to Generals Thomas and Adair, of Kentucky. As these letters are of similar tenor, we quote only the correspondence with General Adair:

New Orleans, February 25th, 1815.

Sir: To a soldier who has done his duty in all the conflicts in which his country has been involved, from the War of Independence to the present moment, it must be matter of great exultation to notice the valor and firmness of the children of his old friends; to be convinced that they are the true descendants of the old stock. That the young men of your brigade should have looked up to you in the hour of battle, as their guide and their shield, is only a continuation of that confidence which their fathers had in a chief whose arm had so often, and so successfully, been raised against the foe. The enclosed Resolution of the General Assembly of Louisiana will show you the high sense which is entertained in this State of your services and of those of your brothers in arms. Be towards them the vehicle of our sentiments, and receive for yourself the assurances of my respect and best wishes.

Wm. C.C. Claiborne,
Governor of Louisiana.

To General John Adair.

The response of General Adair:

Gov. Wm. C.C. Claiborne.

Sir: I have the honor of acknowledging the receipt of Your Excellency's note, inclosing a Resolution of the Legislature of Louisiana, generously awarding the thanks of the State to the militia from her sister States, who aided in the late successful struggle to expel a powerful invading enemy from her shores.

To a proud American, citizen or soldier, the consciousness of having faithfully discharged his duty to his country must ever be his highest and most lasting consolation. But when to this is added the approbation, the gratitude of the wisest, the most respectable part of the community, with whom and under whose eye it has been his fortune to act, it will ever be esteemed, not only the highest reward for his services, but the most powerful incentive to his future good conduct.

Accept, sir, for the Legislature, my warmest acknowledgments for the honorable mention they have made of the corps to which I belong, and for yourself the esteem and respect so justly due from me, for your polite and highly interesting note of communication; and my best wishes for your health and happiness.

John Adair.