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Show 2.30 LIFE OF GEN. JACKSON. CHAP. One company, from the third regiment of infantry, VII. with two field pieces, formed the advance, led by the ~brave captain Laval, who fell, severely wounded, while, 1814. at the head of his command, he was charging a Spa· nish battery, formed in the street. The left column, composed of the regular troops, the third, thirty-ninth, and forty-fourth regiments, headed by majors Woodruff and Pi ere, formed the left, next the bay. The dismounted volunteers proceeded down the street, next the regulars : Coffee's brigade next, on their right : the Mississippi dragoons, commanded by colonel Hi'nds, and the Choctaw Indians by major Blue, of the thirty-ninth, advanced on the extreme right of all. Captain Laval's party, although deprived of their leader, moved fonvard, and, at the point of the bayo· net, took possession of the battery in their front. So quickly was this effected, that the Spaniards had it in their power to make but three fires, before they were forced to abandon it. From behind the houses and garden fences, were discharging constant vollies of musketry, until the regulars arriving, met the Spaniards and drove them from their positions. The gove~or, panic struck, trembling for the safety of his city, and n:membering the declaration of the general, that he should not attempt to restraitl the irritation of his soldiers, hastened, bearing a flag in his hand, to find the commander, and seek to stay the carnage. He was met by colonels Williamson and Smith, at ~e head of the dismounted troops, when, with faltenng speech he entreated that mercy might be extended, and pr~mised to consent to whatever might be de· manded. LIFE OF GEN. JACKSON. 231 General Jackson had stopped for a moment, where CHAP. Laval had fallen, and was at this time in the rear. VII. Receiving information that an offer had been made to~ comply with all the demands he had made, he hasten- 1814' ed to the it1tendant house, and obtained a confirmation of what he had been previously assured, that the town, arsenals, and munitions of war, should be immediately surrendered. The British vessels in the bay, with the aid of their boats, by which they obmined a more commanding situation, continued to fire upon our troops, as, passing along the principal streets and avenues, they could get them in the range of their guns. Lieutenant M•Call, perceiving some of their boats attempting to take a nearer position, advanced to the beach, with two pieces of heavy cannon, where, open, exposed, and uncovered, he commenced a brisk and well-aimed fire, which drove them back to a more respectful distance. No time was lost, in procuring what was considered of vital importance,-the surrender of the forts. Although greater benefits would have been derived, had the success of negotiation placed them privately in hi~ hands, without its being known to his enemies, yet eve~ now they were not to be neglected. Their possessiOn was n:cessary still to his own security ,-to check any design that might be in agitation. What was the force opposed to him ; at what moment reinf~ rcements _might appear off Pensacola, and thereby ?Ive an entire change to thit1gs, as they at present ex_ Isted, were matters of which no cer1ain idea could be formed. To possess the Barrancas, which lay fourteen miles to the west, was a consideration of the |
