falling back to some strong position on the river-banks, and, by cutting off the supplies of the foe, compel him to depart.

The British now decided to advance upon the American lines by regular approaches. For three days, they remained in their encampment two miles below our breastworks, but in open view. They brought from their ships heavy cannon, and other needful supplies. Thus passed the three last days of the year. The banks of the river were lined with sentinels, and watch-boats patroled the majestic stream. The British had brought forward twenty eighteen-pounders, and ten twenty-fours.

The night of the 31st of December was very dark. In its gloom, one-half of the British army advanced within three hundred yards of our front, and, under cover of a heavy cannonade on their right, commenced throwing up a chain of works. The next morning was Sunday, the first day of the new year. It dawned through a fog so dense, that no man could be seen at a distance of twenty yards. Suddenly at ten o'clock, like the uprolling of a curtain at a theatre, the fog lifted; and the whole plain, glittering with all the pageantry of war, was open to view. Instantly the British batteries commenced their fire upon the American lines.

Within ten minutes, one hundred balls struck the house which Gen. Jackson had occupied as his headquarters. The reply from the American lines was prompt, and such a storm of war was opened as never before had been witnessed upon this continent. Fifty pieces of cannon were discharged, each from two to three times a minute; and, as there was not a breath of air, the plain was soon so covered with smoke, that nothing could be seen but an impenetrable cloud, blazing and bellowing with volcanic flash and After an hour and a half of such work, the guns became so hot, that they could no longer be loaded.

roar.

As the smoke rolled away, the British batteries were seen totally destroyed: the soldiers who had manned them were running to the rear; and the British army, which had been drawn up to advance upon our works, were hiding behind the ramparts which they had thrown up. Again the British were defeated. Annoyed by the terrible fire which was opened upon them by our artillerists and sharpshooters, they were compelled to fall back to their former position. This was the third battle, not including the gunboat fight, of the campaign. It was on this occasion only that cottonbales were used. They were found valueless, and were thrown

aside, as the cannon-balls knocked them about, or set them on fire.

What the enemy would next attempt was now the great question. Four days passed away with no decisive movements on either side. The British were, however, evidently preparing for another advance. No words can describe the efforts made by our army to prepare for the next movement of the foe, whatever it might be. On Friday, the 6th, Gen. Jackson became assured that the enemy was preparing to attack him on both sides of the river. We cannot here describe the preparations made for the attack and for the repulse. At half an hour before dawn, Sunday morning, Jan. 8, 1815, a rocket from the hostile lines gave the signal for the attack. In two solid columns, the British advanced upon our ramparts, which were bristling with infantry and artillery, and behind which Gen. Jackson had now collected an army of about four thousand men, all inspired with the zeal of their commander. On both sides of the river, the blood-red billows of battle rolled and broke.

Our men were well protected. With bare bosoms, the British marched upon the embankment, from which there was poured forth an incessant storm of bullets, balls, and shells, which no flesh and blood could stand. It was one of the most awful scenes of slaughter which was ever witnessed. Every bullet accomplished its mission, spending its force in the bodies of those who were insanely driven forward to inevitable death. Two hundred men were cut down by one discharge of a thirty-two-pounder, loaded to the muzzle with musket-balls, and poured into the head of a column at the distance of but a few yards. Regiments vanished, a British officer said, "as if the earth had opened, and swallowed them up." The American line looked like a row of fiery furnaces. Gen. Jackson walked slowly along his ranks, cheering his men, and saying,

"Stand to your guns! Don't waste your ammunition! See that every shot tells! Let us finish the business to-day!"

Two hours passed, and the work was done,-effectually done. As the smoke lifted, the whole proud array had disappeared. The ground was so covered with the dying and the dead, that, for a quarter of a mile in front, one might walk upon their bodies; and, far away in the distance, the retreating lines of the foe were to be On both sides of the river, the enemy was repulsed.

seen.

The British had about nine thousand in the engagement, and we but about four thousand. Their loss in killed and wounded was two thousand six hundred, while ours was but thirteen. Thus ended the great battle of New Orleans. For ten days after the battle, the British remained in their encampment, continually annoyed by our artillerists and sharpshooters, until at length, through great difficulties, they effected their escape to their ships. In those days, intelligence travelled so slowly, that it was not until the 4th of February that tidings of the victory reached Washington. The whole country blazed with illuminations, and rang with rejoicings. Ten days after this, news of the Treaty of Ghent was received, which treaty had been signed before the bloody battle of New Orleans took place. Gen. Jackson was not a man of tender sympathies. Inexorable in discipline, soon after this, on the 21st, at Mobile, he ordered six militia-men to be shot for mutiny. It is a sad story. They were honest, well-meaning men, who probably had no intention of doing wrong. Some of them were true Christians, and they supposed that their term of service had really expired. No one can read the story of their death, without anguish; and it required all the glory of the victory at New Orleans to obliterate the memory of the execution at Mobile.

Rumors of the Treaty of Ghent reached New Orleans in March, and were published by one of the New-Orleans editors. Gen. Jackson, deeming such an announcement injudicious, ordered the editor to retract. He refused, and was arrested. Judge Hall, to vindicate the supremacy of the civil authority, issued a writ of habeas corpus. The general arrested the judge, and sent him out of his lines. Soon intelligence of peace was received. The judge returned, and, by virtue of his office, fined the general a thousand dollars. The people of New Orleans, adoring their deliverer, were indignant, and wished to pay the fine for him. The general refused their offer, and paid it himself.

He now returned to Nashville, and honors were poured in upon. him without number. He still retained his command of the southern division of the army. The Seminole Indians in Florida were committing outrages upon our frontiers. Gen. Jackson gathered an army of over two thousand men, and, regardless of treaties, marched into Florida, punished the Indians severely, attacked a Spanish post, shot by court-martial a Scotchman, and hung an

Englishman accused of inciting the Indians to insurrection. His energy, and disregard of treaties and the forms of law, were denounced by one party, and commended by another. He was, however, sustained by Congress and the President; and, after the purchase of Florida from Spain, Gen. Jackson was appointed governor of the newly acquired territory. The powers with which he was invested were so great, that he mand,

said, upon assuming the com

"I am clothed with powers that no one under a republic ought to possess, and which, I trust, will never again be given to any man."

For some reason, he soon became tired of his office, and, resigning it, again retired to his farm and his extremely humble home in Tennessee. His name soon began to be brought forward as that of a candidate for the presidency of the United States. In the autumn of 1823, he was elected, by the Tennessee Legislature, United-States senator. In the stormy electoral canvass of 1824, which resulted in the choice of John Quincy Adams by the House of Representatives, Gen. Jackson received a larger number of electoral votes than either of his competitors. The Democratic party now with great unanimity fixed upon him to succeed Mr. Adams. In the campaign of 1828, he was triumphantly elected President of the United States. In 1829, just before he assumed the reins of government, he met with the most terrible affliction of his life in the death of his wife, whom he had loved with devotion which has perhaps never been surpassed. From the shock of her death he never recovered.

He ever afterwards appeared like a changed man. He became subdued in spirit, and, except when his terrible temper had been greatly aroused, seldom used profane language. It is said that every night afterwards, until his own death, he read a prayer from his wife's prayer-book, with her miniature likeness before him. With frankness characteristic of his nature, he expressed his deep conviction of the necessity of vital godliness, and his hope and intention to become a Christian before he should die.

His administration was one of the most memorable in the annals of our country; applauded by one party, condemned by the other. No man had more bitter enemies or warmer friends. It is, however, undeniable, that many of the acts of his administration, which were at the time most unsparingly denounced, are now generally commended. Every year the judgment of the whole community