OCR Text |
Show LIFE OF GEN. JACKSON. CHAP. ance, and already believed themselves conquered: but ~prudence, under existing circumstances, strongly op· 1815• posed the idea of pursuit, and suggested to the com· manding general, that although he had thus signally achieved even more than he had expected, yet with the kind of troops it had been effected, inferior in number and discipline, to attempt, even under present ad· vantages, a contest in the open plain, was hazarding too greatly. His reasoning en tl1is subject was cer· tainly correct, and such as feeling and policy sanctioned. If an attack were now urged, and the effort crowned witl1 success, enough having been already done, it could reflect but little additional lustre on tl1e American character : if, however, unsuccessful, the object of the expedition would be secured to the enemy ; and all that had, for so many days, and under such weighty privations, been contended for, wol!ld, at the instant, be sacrificed and lost. In addition to this, his soldiers were most of them owners of the soil, who had families anxiously concerned for their safety, and whose happiness depended upon tl1eir return : such men would be a loss to the community, too great to warrant their being risked for the mere gratification of pride ; in opposition, too, to those whose trade was war; and who, wholly abstracted from every thing like principle, contended in battle, without knowing why, or for what they fought. The lives of his soldiers, he believed were too valuable to tl1eir families, and th& community, to be risked upon a venture not warranted by necessity, nor required by the interest and ho· nour of tl1e country. He preferred, therefore, to adopt what seemed the safer course ; to continue his position, LIFE OF GEN. JACKSON. &_45 which assured protection to the city, and the inhabi- CHAP. !ants, rather than by endeavouring to obtain more, en- X. danger the loss of every thing. ._,....,.._ The efforts of the enemy to carry our line of defence 1815· on the left, were seconded by an attack on tl1e right bank, with eight hundred chosen troops, under the com-mand of colonel Thornton. Owing to tl1e difficulty Colonel of passing the boats from the canal to the river, and ;~1,:?;";d. the strong cun·ent of the Mississippi, all the troops van~c destined for this service were not crossed, nor the op- ~~~11~~~0,. posite shore reached for some hours after the expected gm's line. moment of attack. By the time he had effected a land-ing, the day had dawned, and the flashes of the guns announced the battle begun. Supported by three gun• boats, he hastened forward, with his command, in the direction of Morgan's entrenchment. Some time during the night of tl1e 7th, two hundred Louisiana militia had been sent off, to watch the movements of the enemy, and oppose him in his landing : this detachment, under the command of major Arnaud, had advanced a mile down the river and halted; either supposing the general incon·ect, in apprehending an attack, or that his men, if refreshed, would . be more competent to exertion, he directed them to lie down and sleep : one man only was ordered to be upon tl1e watch, lest the enemy should approach them ~ndiscovered. Just at day, he called upon his sleep· mg companions, and bade them rise and be readv for he had heard a considemblc bustle, a little bdow: 'No sooner risen, than confirmed in the truth of what had been stated, they moved off in the· direction they bad come, without even attempting an execution of their X X |