CHAPTER XII. CAMPAIGN OF 1815. This campaign opened and closed with the only brilliant victory of the war, won at the battle of New Orleans on the 8th of January, two weeks after the conclusion of the treaty of peace. The British loss was about 2,000 killed and wounded; our own, 7 killed and 6 wounded." In this remarkable battle the forces of General Jackson occupied both banks of the Mississippi immediately below the city of New Orleans. The main body was posted on the east bank behind a line of intrenchments from 5 to 8 feet high, and extending from the river on the right to an impenetrable cypress swamp on the left. Those works were little more than 1,000 yards long, and were thrown up on the edge of a canal, which served as a wet ditch, the water of which varied in depth from 1 to 5 feet. Along the front of this short line fifteen guns were posted in nine different batteries containing from one to three guns each. Of these batteries four were served by the regular artillery and infantry, two by the former marines and sailors of the U. S. S. Carolina, and one by trained privateersmen. In support of these batteries there were two regiments of regular infantry and detachment of marines, numbering about 700 men. The extreme right and left of the line, on which the burden of the attack fell, were occupied, respectively, by regulars and militia. In front of the works, still adding strength to their position, the ground was nearly level and smooth as a glacis. aIn British Campaigns, by Captain Gleig, a British officer, the following exhibit is given (p. 419) of the British forces that landed below New Orleans in December, 1814, and January, 1815, viz: Fourth Regiment, King's Own.. Seventh Regiment, Royal Fusileers.. Fourteenth Regiment, Duchess of York's Own Twenty-first Regiment, Royal N. British Fusileers. Fortieth Regiment, Somersetshire... Forty-third Regiment, Monmouth Light Infantry Forty-fourth Regiment, East Essex.. Eighty-fifth Regiment, Bucks Volunteers, Light Infantry Ninety-third Regiment, Highlanders Sixty-second Regiment, detachment of Rocket Brigade, artillery, drivers, engineers, sappers, and miners Royal Marines. Sailors taken from fleet... Total...... 750 850 350 900 1,000 850 750 650 1, 100 500 700 700 350 1,500 1,500 2,000 14, 250 On the west bank of the river the works, with the exception of a battery, manned by sailors, commanded by a commodore of the Navy, were defended exclusively by militia. To meet the crisis that was approaching and on which the fate of the city depended, the Government, as at Bladensburg, could do nothing for the commander except to send him raw troops. In the Kentucky brigade which arrived but four days before the battle, such was the destitution that "not one man in ten was well armed, and only one man in three had any arms at all." Despite all of his difficulties, such was the indomitable energy and perseverance of the commander that on the morning of the battle the force he had collected, consisting of Regulars, volunteers, militia, marines, sailors, and privateers, numbered 5,698 men. With these posted behind works so formidable that no one but a reckless or infatuated commander would have hazarded an assault, he awaited the onset of 8,000 veterans, the flower of the British army. The struggle was soon over. In the brief space of twenty-five minutes the enemy lost 2,100 killed and wounded, followed after the cessation of the firing by the surrender of 500 prisoners. The survivors of the assaulting columns, bereft of their general and nearly all of their commanding officers, fled in the wildest confusion and disorder. This terrible slaughter was attended on our side by the loss of but 7 killed and 6 wounded. While the nation had reason to exult over so signal a victory, the battle in no sense vindicated a dependence on raw troops. It only proved, as at Bunker Hill, that with trained officers to command them, with an effective artillery and regular troops to support and encourage a Parton's Life of Andrew Jackson, vol. 2, p. 168. Of this number only 884 were regular troops. The following organization of Jackson's army is believed to be as nearly correct as is possible from existing data.-EDITORS. them above all, when protected by works so formidable that nothing but a regular siege should have dislodged them-advantages of position may compensate for an utter lack of instruction and discipline. Agreeable as it might be to give the entire credit of this battle to raw troops, their heroic commander knew so well the uncertainty of their conduct in the open field that he was obliged to accept the advantages of a mere passive defense. In fact, at the very moment when the men from their breast works were cheering over a victory still unparalleled in our history, at a time, too, when the advance of a skirmish line might possibly have compelled the surrender of the British army, the commander had the mortification of seeing the division on the west bank of the river "abandon their position and run in headlong flight toward the city."a In a firm address to the fugitives, whose conduct might have been fatal to the city but for the decisive repulse on the other side, he told them that "the want of discipline, the want of order, the total disregard to obedience, and a spirit of insubordination, not less destructive than cowardice itself, are the causes which led to the disaster, and they must be eradicated, or I must cease to command.” The number of troops employed in the year 1815 was: Regulars.. € 33, 424 €33, 641 Total OPERATIONS OF THE NAVY. 67,065 The victory of New Orleans, which terminated the battles on land, was followed on the 20th of February by the double victory of the Constitution over the frigate Cyane and sloop of war Levant. March 23 the last success of the Navy was achieved in the capture of the Penguin by the Hornet. Throughout this second conflict with Great Britain, while our military operations with but few exceptions were defensive, the Navy on the contrary carried on from the beginning a bold and successful warfare. Its victories over the enemy's armed vessels were not the only claims it had to the praise of the nation. In support of a large and gallant fleet of privateers it turned its guns so successfully against the enemy's commerce that "in less than three years of our war the captures by sea from England, besides 56 vessels of war, mounting 886 cannons, were 2,369 merchant vessels, with 800 cannons, 354 ships, 610 brigs, 520 schooners, and 135 sloops, besides 750 vessels of various sizes recaptured, altogether 2,425 vessels, with incalculable amount of cargoes, stores, provisions, and equipments, and many thousand prisoners of war. " d On the land, too, it prepared the victory of the Thames, and saved the army from defeat at Plattsburg, while its marines and sailors at Norfolk, Bladensburg, Baltimore, and New Orleans afforded evidence that to their subordination and courage was due the luster they had won for our name on the sea. a Parton's Life of Andrew Jackson, vol. 2, p. 213. cReturn for February, 1815, Adjutant-General's Office. Crippled in the element where before he had deemed himself invincible, our enemy was made to seek peace at the hands of that branch of the national defense, which under the Constitution has thus far in our history been provided and maintained exclusively by Congress. NUMBER OF TROOPS EMPLOYED DURING THE WAR. The number of troops employed at different times from the beginning to the end of the war was: Regulars (including about 5,000 sailors and marines). Volunteers. Rangers Total 56, 032 10, 110 3,049 458, 463 527,654 The figures for volunteers, rangers, and militia (471,622) were furnished by the Adjutant-General's Office and represent the number of men who, according to the rolls of the Third Auditor's Office, were actually discharged from the service. The strength of the Regulars was obtained by subtracting 471,622 from 527,654, which, according to the rolls of the Pension Office, was the total number of soldiers, sailors, and marines in the service from 1812 to 1815. The return for September, 1814, represented the strength of the Regular Army at 38,186. The terms of service of the troops were as follows, for— 12 months or more, including sailors and marines. 6 months or more 3 months or more 1 month or more. Less than 1 month. Total 63, 179 66, 325 125, 643 125, 307 a 147, 200 527,654 The officers of this Army of more than half a million of men numbered: Regulars.... Total. 2,271 31, 210 33, 481 The number of officers who had received a professional education at the Military Academy up to June, 1814, was 120. In default of an efficient regular army, the number 458,463 shows to what extent the Administration was compelled to rely upon the States in pursuance of the military system of 1792; the number 398,150, which represents the number of men who served for periods less than six months, shows but partially to what extent we adopted, as in the Revolution, the policy of raw troops and short enlistments. If we resolve the army of 527,654 men into different arms of service, it appears that while Congress in March, 1814, reduced the regular cavalry to 981 men, the number of militia and volunteer cavalry, mounted infantry, and rangers, numbered 46,495. a Report of Commissioner of Pensions for 1874, p. 30. The half filled corps of regular artillery of 12 battalions, had it been raised to its maximum, would have numbered 5,940; the volunteer and militia artillery from first to last numbered 25,295. The total Regular Army, which was scattered from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, and from the lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, was never recruited above 40,000 men; the militia and volunteer infantry and riflemen, numbered 394,232. The failure of Congress, at the beginning of the war, to declare in favor of territorial recruitment and obligatory service, affords another result equally striking. The army voted in January, 1812, was 35,000 men; the number of inexperienced officers ultimately called out and whose average pay was at least four times that of the private soldier, was 33,481. Instead of falling upon the 5,000 British regulars who held Canada, at the beginning, and crushing them in a single battle, we allowed them to baffle every attempt at invasion, and to prolong the war till our loss in killed and wounded numbered 5,614. In contrast with our reckless extravagance in employing more than a half million of men the largest force of British regulars opposed to us was 16,500.a In order that no statesman may fall into the error that numbers constitute strength; on the contrary, that he may clearly perceive that for want of wise legislation the strength of a nation may diminish while a It is exceedingly difficult to obtain from existing reports an accurate estimate of the total number of British troops in the United States during the war of 1812. But "Brannan's Letters" gives the following data, which is believed to be reasonably accurate. British in Canada, opposite Buffalo, from report of Gen. A. Smyth, Dec. 3, 1812 2,400 2,314 Battle of River Raisin, Jan. 22, 1813; estimate of Major McClanahan Sacketts Harbor, May 29, 1813, report of Gen. Jacob Brown. 1,000 British Regulars at Nansemond River, Virginia; report of John Cassin, 4,000 Queenstown, Canada, June 13, 1813; report of General Dearborn. General Proctor's British forces, near Sandwich, Upper Canada, Sept. 30, 1813; report of General Harrison Battle of the Thames; estimate of General Harrison British forces at Kingston, Canada, Oct. 28, 1813; report of General 1,600 Engagement at River de French, Mar. 4, 1814 146 Engagement at Odelltown, Mar. 31, 1814. 2,500 Engagement at Conjocta Creek, Aug. 5, 1814.. 1,300 British forces under General Drummond, at Black Rock, Canada, Aug. 7, 1814 Battle of New Orleans, Dec. 29, 1814; estimate of General Jackson 7,000 14, 250 |