These people, however, showed a decided preference for the American cause; they deceived the English by delay; conveyed intelligence of their designs to the governor at New Orleans, and offered their services to defend the country. Disappointed in securing their aid, the expedition proceeded to the attack of fort Bowyer, on Mobile point, commanded by major Lawrence, with one hundred and thirty men. The result, however, was a loss to the besiegers of more than two hundred men; the commodore’s ship was so disabled that they set fire to her, and she blew up, and the remaining three vessels, shattered and filled with wounded men, returned to Pensacola. While the British thus sheltered in this place, where they were busily occupied in bringing over the Indians to join them, general Jackson formed an expedition of about four thousand men, regulars and militia, to dislodge them. He summoned the town, was refused entrance by the Spanish governor, and his flag of truce was fired upon; the British soldiers being in the forts, where their flag had been hoisted, in conjunction with the Spanish, the day before the American forces appeared. Preparations were immediately made to carry the place; one battery having been taken by storm, with slight loss on either side, the governor surrendered, the English having previously retired on board their ships. The forts below, which commanded the passage, were blown up, and this enabled the English fleet to put to sea.
General Jackson then evacuated the Spanish territory, and marched his troops back to Mobile and New Orleans, which he reached on the second day of December. Having reviewed a corps of volunteers the day of his arrival, he immediately proceeded to visit every post in the neighborhood, to give orders for adding fortifications, and establishing defensive works and outposts in every spot where the enemy might be expected, as there was the greatest uncertainty where a landing would be made; he mingled with the citizens, and infused into the greater part his own spirit and energy. By his presence and exhortations they were animated to exertions of which before they were not supposed to be capable. All who could wield a spade, or carry a musket, were either put to work upon the fortifications, or trained in the art of defending them. The Mississippi, upon the eastern bank of which New Orleans stands, flows to the ocean in several channels; one, leaving the main stream above the city, runs east of it, and forms in its course lake Pontchartrain and lake Borgne. Early in December, the British entered this channel, with a force of about eight thousand men, a part of whom had just left the shores of the Chesapeake, the remainder having arrived direct from England.
A small squadron of gun-boats, under lieutenant Jones, was despatched to oppose their passage into the lake. These were met by a superior force, and after a spirited conflict, in which the killed and wounded of the Britishexceeded the whole number of the Americans, they were compelled to surrender. The loss of the gun-boats left no means of watching the movements of the enemy, or of ascertaining where the landing would be made. Orders were given for increased vigilance at every post; the people of color were formed into a battalion; the offer of the Baratarians to volunteer, on condition of a pardon for previous offences, if they conducted themselves with bravery and fidelity, was accepted. General Jackson, after applying to the legislature to suspend the act of habeas corpus, and finding that they were consuming these extreme moments in discussion, proclaimed martial law, and from that moment his means became more commensurate with the weight of responsibility he had to sustain.
On the 22d the British, having landed, took a position near the main channel of the river, about eight miles below the city. In the evening of the 23d, general Jackson made a sudden and furious attack upon their camp. They were thrown into disorder; but they soon rallied, and fought with a bravery at least equal to that of the assailants. Satisfied with the advantage first gained, he withdrew his troops, fortified a strong position four miles below New Orleans, and supported it by batteries erected on the west bank of the river. On the 28th of December, and the 1st of January, vigorous but unsuccessful attacks were made upon these fortifications by the English. In the mean time both armies had received reinforcements; and general Sir E. Packenham, the British commander, resolved to exert all his strength in a combined attack upon the American positions on both sides of the river. With almost incredible industry, he caused a canal, leading from a creek emptying itself into lake Borgne to the main channel of the Mississippi, to be dug, that he might remove a part of his boats and artillery to that river. On the 7th of January, from the movements observed in the British camp, a speedy attack was anticipated. This was made early on the 8th. The British troops, formed in a close column of about sixty men in front, the men shouldering their muskets, all carrying fascines, and some with ladders, advanced towards the American fortifications, from whence an incessant fire was kept up on the column, which continued to advance, until the musketry of the troops of Tennessee and Kentucky, joined with the fire of the artillery, began to make an impression on it which soon threw it into confusion.
For some time the British officers succeeded in animating the courage of their troops, making them advance obliquely to the left, to avoid the fire of a battery, every discharge from which opened the column, and mowed down whole files, which were almost instantaneously replaced by new troops coming up close after the first; but these also shared the same fate, until at last, after twenty-five minutes’ continual firing, through which a few platoons advanced to the edge of the ditch, the column entirely broke, and part of the troops dispersed, and ran to take shelter among the bushes on the right. The rest retired to the ditch where they had been when first perceived, four hundred yards from the American lines. There the officers with some difficulty rallied their troops, and again drew them up for a second attack, the soldiers having laid down their knapsacks at the edge of the ditch, that they might be less encumbered. And now, for the second time, the column, recruited with the troops that formed the rear, advanced. Again it was received with the same galling fire of musketry and artillery, till it at last broke again, and retired in the utmost confusion.In vain did the officers now endeavor, as before, to revive the courage of their men; to no purpose did they strike them with the flat of their swords, to force them to advance; they were insensible of every thing but danger, and saw nothing but death, which had struck so many of their comrades.
The attack had hardly begun, when the British commander-in-chief, Sir Edward Packenham, fell a victim to his own intrepidity, while endeavoring to animate his troops with ardor for the assault. Soon after his fall, two other generals, Keane and Gibbs, were carried off the field of battle, dangerously wounded. A great number of officers of rank had fallen; the ground over which the column had marched was strewed with the dead and wounded. Such slaughter on their side, with scarcely any loss on the American, spread consternation through the British ranks, as they were now convinced of the impossibility of carrying the lines, and saw that even to advance was certain death. Some of the British troops had penetrated into the wood towards the extremity of the American line, to make a false attack, or to ascertain whether a real one were practicable. These the troops under general Coffee no sooner perceived, than they opened on them a brisk fire with their rifles, which made them retire. The greater part of those who, on the column’s being repulsed, had taken shelter in the thickets, only escaped the batteries to be killed by the musketry. During the whole hour that the attack lasted, the American fire did not slacken for a single moment. By half after eight in the morning, the fire of the musketry had ceased. The whole plain on the left, as also the side of the river, from the road to the edge of the water, was covered with the British soldiers who had fallen. About four hundred wounded prisoners were taken, and at least double that number of wounded men escaped into the British camp; and a space of ground, extending from the ditch of the American lines to that on which the enemy drew up his troops, two hundred and fifty yards in length, by about two hundred in breadth,was literally covered with men, either dead or severely wounded.[147] Perhaps a greater disparity of loss never occurred; that of the British in killed, wounded, and prisoners, in this attack, which was not made with sufficient judgment, and which, besides, was embarrassed by unforeseen circumstances, was upwards of two thousand men; the killed and wounded of the Americans was only thirteen.
The events of the day on the west side of the river present a striking instance of the uncertainty of military operations. There the Americans were thrice the number of their brave assailants, and were protected by intrenchments; but they ingloriously fled. They were closely pursued, until the British party, receiving intelligence of the defeat of the main army, withdrew from pursuit, and recrossed the river. They then returned and resumed possession of their intrenchments. General Lambert, upon whom the command of the British army had devolved, having lost all hopes of success, prepared to return to his shipping. In his retreat he was not molested; general Jackson wisely resolving to hazard nothing that he had gained in attempting to gain still more.
The Americans naturally indulged in great joy for this signal victory.Te Deum was sung at New Orleans, and every demonstration of gratitude manifested by the inhabitants of the Union generally. The state of Louisiana passed votes of thanks to several of the officers concerned in the defence, and omitted general Jackson, in consequence of his having set aside the action of the civil authorities and proclaimed martial law.
Although the results of the war had been honorable to the American arms, a large portion of the inhabitants of the New England states were unceasingly opposed to the measures of the administration. The governor of Massachusetts convoked the general court of that state; the legislature of Connecticut was about to hold its usual semi-annual session; and the legislature of Rhode Island also assembled. When these several bodies met, what should be done in this unexampled state of affairs became a subject of most solemn deliberation. To insure unity of views and concert in action, the legislature of Massachusetts proposed a ‘conference,’ by delegates from the legislatures of the New England states, and of any other states that might accede to the measure. Their resolution for this purpose, and the circular letter accompanying it, show, that the duty proposed to be assigned to these delegates was merely to devise and recommend to the states measures for their security and defence, and such measures as were ‘not repugnant to their federal obligations as members of the Union.’
The proposition was readily assented to by several states, and the delegates appointed in pursuance of it met at Hartford, on the 15th of December following. The convention recommended, 1. That the states they represent take measures to protect their citizens from ‘forcible draughts, conscriptions, or impressments, not authorized by the constitution of the United States.’ 2. That an earnest application be made to the government of the United States, requesting their consent to some arrangement, whereby the states separately, or in concert, may take upon themselves the defence of their territory against the enemy, and that a reasonable portion of the taxes collected within the states be appropriated to this object. 3. That the several governors be authorized by law to employ the military force under their command in assisting any state requesting it, to repel the invasions of the public enemy. 4. That several amendments of the constitution of the United States, calculated in their view to prevent a recurrence of the evils of which they complain, be proposed by the states they represent for adoption either by the states’ legislatures, or by a convention chosen by the people of each state. Lastly, That if the application of these states to the government of the United States should be unsuccessful, and peace should not be concluded, and the defence of these states be still neglected, it would, in their opinion, be expedient for the legislatures of the several states to appoint delegates to another convention, to meet at Boston, in June, with such powers and instructions as the exigency of a crisis so momentous may require. The effect of these proceedings upon the public mind in the aggrieved states was alike seasonable and salutary. The very proposal to call a convention, and the confidence reposed in the men delegated to that trust, served greatly to allay the passions, and to inspire confidence and hope. Nor was the influence of this body upon the national councils less perceptible. Within three weeks after the adjournment of the convention and the publication of their report, an act passed both houses of the national legislature, and received the signature of the president, authorizing and requiring him to ‘receive into the service of the UnitedStates any corps of troops which may have been or may be raised, organized, and officered, under the authority of any of the states,’ to be ‘employed in the state raising the same, or an adjoining state, and not elsewhere, except with the consent of the executive of the state raising the same.’ Before the commissioners who were sent to confer with the government could reach Washington, a bill passed the senate, providing for the payment of the troops and militia already called into service under the authority of the states. The arrival of the treaty of peace at this juncture rendered all farther proceedings unnecessary.