University of Virginia Library

APPENDIX.

Note A—Page 73.

The following Statistical Tables, exhibiting Louisiana in a
variety of comparative views, have been compiled principally from
the elaborate tables of that valuable periodical—the American
Almanac and Repository of Useful Knowledge—for the year 1835.

LOUISIANA.

         

Latitude of New-Orleans,	29° 57′ 45″ North.
Longitude in degrees,	90 60 49 West.
	h. m. s.
Longitude in time,	6 0 27.3
Distance from Washington, 1203 miles.

 

Relative size of Louisiana, 5.

Extent in square miles, 45,220.

NUMBER OF INHABITANTS TO A SQUARE MILE.

   

In 1810.	In 1820.	In 1830.
1.6	3.2	4.4

RELATIVE POPULATION.

     

	In 1810.			In 1820.			In 1830.
Free	Slave	Total	Free	Slave	Total	Free	Slave	Total
18	8	17	19	8	17	21	8	19

RATE OF INCREASE OF FREE AND SLAVE POPULATION.

       

	From 1800 to 1810.			From 1810 to 1820.			From 1820 to 1830.
Free	Slave	Total	Free	Slave	Total	Free	Slave	Total
					p. ct.
			373	2193.7	636	25.8	58.7	40.6

POPULATION OF LOUISIANA IN 1810.

   

Free	Slaves	No. of free to 1 slave	Total
41,896	34,660	1.20	76,556

In 1820.

 

84,343

69,064

1.22

153,407

In 1830.

 

106,151

109,588

.96

215,739

VALUE OF IMPORTS IN THE YEAR ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 1833.

   

In American vessels	In foreign vessels	Total
$6,658,916	$2,931,589	$9,590,505

VALUE OF EXPORTS IN THE SAME YEAR.

   

Domestic Produce	Foreign Produce	Total of Domestic and Foreign Produce
$16,133,457	$2,807,916	$18,941,373

Tonnage, 1st January, 1834—61,171 Tons.

GOVERNMENT.

               

	Salary.
Edward D. White, Governor (elect); Jan. 1835 to Jan. 1839,	$7,500
George Eustis, Secretary of State,	2,500
F. Gardere, Treasurer; 4 per cent. on all moneys received.
Louis Bringier, Surveyor General,	800
Claudius Crozet, Civil Engineer,	5,000
F. Gaiennie, Adjutant and Inspector General,	2,000
E. Mazureau, Attorney General,	2,000

Senate, 17 members, elected for two years. C. Derbigny, President.

House of Representatives, 50 members, elected for two years. A.
Labranche, Speaker.

JUDICIARY.

Judges of the Supreme Court.—George Matthews, Francis
X. Martin, and Henry A. Bullard. Salary of each, $5,000.

Judge of the Criminal Court of the City of New-Orleans.—John
F. Canonge.

Judges of the District Courts.—Salary of each $2,000.

               

Charles Watts,	1st district.
Benjamin Winchester	2d do.
Charles Bushnell,	3d do.
R. N. Ogden,	4th do.
Seth Lewis,	5th do.
J. H. Johnson,	6th do.
J. H. Overton,	7th do.
Clark Woodruff,	8th do.

The Supreme Court sits in the city of New-Orleans, for the
Eastern district of the state during the months of November, December,
January, February, March, April, May June, and July;
and for the Northern district, at Opelousas and Attakapas, during
the months of August, September, and October; and at Baton Rouge,
commencing the 1st Monday in August. The district courts, with
the exception of the courts in the first district, hold, in each parish,
two sessions during the year, to try causes originally instituted before
them, and appeals from the parish courts. The parish courts
hold their regular sessions in each parish on the first Monday in
each month. The courts in the first district, composed of the district,

parish, and criminal courts, and courts of probate, are in session during
the whole year, excepting the months of July, August, September,
and October, in which they hold special courts when necessary.

BANKS.

State of the banks, January 7, 1834, as given in a document laid
before Congress, June 24, 1834.

                           

NAME.	Capital stock paid in.	Bills in circulation.	Specie and specie funds.
Canal and Banking Company,	3,998,200	951,780	297,451 21
City Bank,	2,000,000	380,670	335,288 88
Commercial Bank,	817,835	145,000	135,903 73
Union bank of Louisiana,	5,500,000	1,281,000	291,587 87
Louisiana State Bank,	1,248,720	428,470	546,125 34
Consolidated Association Bank,	2,500,000	84,300	61,936 43
	$16,064,755	3,271,230	1,568,293 46
Estimated situation of the following banks.—no returns.
Bank of Louisiana,	4,000,000
Bank of Orleans,	600,000
Citizens' Bank of Louisiana,	1,000,000	1,522,500	650,000 00
Mechanics' and Traders' Bank,	2,000,000
Total,	$23,664,755	4,793,730	2,218,293 46

The Union Bank of Louisiana has branches at the following
places, viz. Thiboudeauville, Covington, Marshville, Vermillionville,
St. Martinsville, Plaquemine, Natchitoches, and Clinton.

Interest. “Legal interest is 5 per cent. Conventional interest,
as high as 10 per cent., is legal. Of our banks, none can charge
higher than 9 per cent., and some of them not higher than 8. But
if I lend $100, and the borrower gives me his note for $110, $120,
$130, $140, or even $150, or more, with 10 per cent. interest from
date, the law legalizes the transaction, and will not set aside any
part of the claim on the plea of usury. In fact, money is considered
here like any other article in the market, and the holder may ask
what price he pleases for it.”

INSURANCE COMPANIES.

   

Merchants' Insurance Company of New-Orleans,	$1,000,000
Phoenix Fire Insurance Co. of London—agent at New Orleans,	1,000,000

               

Louisiana State Marine and Fire Insurance Co.	$400,000
Western Marine and Fire Insurance Company,	300,000
Louisiana Insurance Company,	300,000
Mississippi Marine and Fire Insurance Company,	300,000
New-Orleans Insurance Company,	200,000
Pontchartrain Rail road Company,	250,000
Orleans Navigation Company,	200,000
Barataria and Lafourche Canal Company,	150,000

NEWSPAPERS.

Louisiana was originally settled by the French; in 1762, it was
ceded by France to Spain; near the end of the 18th century it was
restored to France; in 1803, it was purchased by the United States;
in 1804, the country now forming the state of Louisiana was formed
into a territorial government under the name of the Territory of
Orleans; and in 1812, it was admitted into the Union as a state.

Mr. Thomas, in his “History of Printing,” remarks “that several
printing-houses were opened at New-Orleans, and several newspapers
were immediately published there, after the country came under
the government of the United States.”

The first paper published in New-Orleans was the “Moniteur
de la Louisiana,” a French paper, and edited by M. Fontaine. This
was a government paper, issued at irregular intervals and at the discretion
of the Spanish government. It was rather a vehicle of ordinances
and public documents than a newspaper.

In the year 1803 an enterprising New-Englander named Lyons
—a son of the celebrated Mathew Lyons—who had been sent to New-Orleans
with despatches from government, on arriving there, and
ascertaining that there was no regular press in the city, applied to
General Wilkinson for patronage to establish a weekly paper.
Herein he was successful; but, except himself, there was not another
printer in New-Orleans, journeyman or “devil.”

By some means, however, he learned that there were three young
men[1] from the only printing office in Natchez, then belonging to
the army, quartered in the city. He obtained their furlough from
General Wilkinson—and obtaining the office of the “Moniteur,”
in a few weeks issued the first number of a paper entitled the
“Union.” To this in a few weeks succeeded the “Louisiana

Courier,” which, established in 1806, now holds a high rank in the
army of periodicals, and is the oldest paper in the state.

“The number of newspapers in the Territory of Orleans in 1810,
was 10, (two of them daily;) all in the city of New-Orleans.

The number in Louisiana in 1828, was only nine. New-Orleans
is the great centre of business and of publishing in this state. There
are now published in New-Orleans seven daily papers, and 31 altogether
in Louisiana.

SUMMARY.

The Governor of Louisiana is elected by the people. Term begins
January, 1835, and expires January 1839. Duration of the
term, four years. Salary $7,500.

Senators, 17. Term of years, four. Representatives, 50. Term
of years, two. Total—Senators and Representatives, 67. Pay per
day, $4. Electors of president and vice president are chosen by
general ticket.

Seat of government—New-Orleans. Time of holding elections—
first Monday in July. Time of meeting of the legislature—first
Monday in January.

Louisiana admitted into the Union in 1812.

Note B—Page 178.

“The State senators of Louisiana are elected for four years,
one fourth vacating their seats annually. They must possess an
estate of a thousand dollars in the parish, for which they are chosen.
The representatives have a biennial term, and must possess 500
dollars' worth of property in the parish to be eligible. The governor
is chosen for four years; and is ineligible for the succeeding term.
His duties are the same, as in the other states, and his salary is
7,000 dollars a year. The judiciary powers are vested in a supreme
and circuit court, together with a municipal court called the parish
court.—The salaries are ample. The elective franchise belongs to
every free white man of twenty-one years, and upward, who has
had a residence of six months in the parish, and who has paid
taxes.

The code of laws, adopted by this state, is not what is called the
“common law,” which is the rule of judicial proceedings in all the
other states, but the civil law, adopted, with some modifications,
from the judicial canons of France and Spain. So much of the
common law is interwoven with it, as has been adopted by express

statutes, and the criminal code is for the most part regulated by it.
All the laws of the civil code purport to be written, and they are
principally selected from that stupendous mass of legal maxims and
edicts, called the Justinian code. Parishes in this state nearly
correspond to counties in the other states; and the parish judge
under the civil code, and according to the judicial arrangement of
this state, is one of the most responsible and important judicial
functionaries.

It would perhaps, be rather amusing than useful to go into much
detail, respecting the modes of administering justice under the
French and Spanish regime. The commandant, or governor-general,
was at the head of the judiciary and military departments.
His code was the Roman law, or that of the Indies, and he represented
the king. The department of finance was administered by
an officer, called the intendant general. The office of procureur
general was one of high consequence; and his duties had an
analogy to those of our prosecuting attornies. But of all the tribunals
of the Spanish in their colonies, the most important and popular
was the cabildo. The cabildos awarded the decisions in common
civil suits, and were a kind of general conservators of the
peace. Subordinate ministers of justice to them were alcaids,
regidors, syndics and registers. Subordinate to the department
of finance were the contadors, treasurer, interventor, auditor and
assessor. Most of these offices were venal, or acquired by
purchase. The processes were simple, but rigorous, and summary;
and many of their maxims of law seem to have been founded in the
highest wisdom and equity. From whatever cause it happened,
the yoke of their government always sat easy on the neck of the
Anglo Americans, who lived under it, and they still speak of
Spanish times, as the golden age. Crimes were rare. The forefathers
of the present race of Creoles were a mild and peaceable
race as are their descendants at the present day. The ancient inhabitants
attached more importance to a criminal prosecution, and
felt more keenly the shame of conviction, than the inhabitants of
the present day. Summary justice, the terror of the Mexican
mines, or the dungeons of Havana, had their share, too, no doubt,
in producing the spirit of submissive quietness and subordination,
that reigned among the people. The penal laws were not more
sanguinary, than those of most of the states of our union. Only
four crimes were declared capital. Persons sentenced to death, for
the commission of those crimes, often remained long in the prisons of

Cuba, either through the lenity, or caution of the officers of justice.
The code under which governor O'Reilly administered justice, is a
most singular specimen of jurisprudence. Among the most frequent
crimes against which it provides, are crimes of lust committed by
priests, or professed religious, and the heaviest punishments those
annexed to those crimes.—There are enumerated some amusing
cases, in which pecuniary mulcts are substituted for corporal punishments
in instances of conviction for these crimes.” Flint's
Miss. Valley.

Note C—Page 236.

A late accurate writer, from whom the author has taken several
of the extracts contained in this appendix, relating to Louisiana,
thus speaks of slavery in that state.

“As this state contains a greater number of slaves, in proportion
to its population, than any other in the western country, we shall
bring into one compass all the general remarks, which we shall
make upon the aspect and character of slavery in the Mississippi
valley. It will be seen, from the table of population, that considerably
more than one half of the whole population of this state in 1820
was coloured people, and nearly one half slaves. Formerly they did
not increase in this state, and required importations from abroad, to
keep up the number. But since experience and humanity have dictated
more rational and humane modes of managing the sick and
the children, by carrying them, during the sickly months, to the
same places of healthy retirement to which their masters resort, they
are found to increase as rapidly here, as they do elsewhere. It is
well known, that under favourable circumstances, they are more
prolific than the whites.

It is not among the objects of this work to discuss the moral character
of slavery, or to contemplate the subject in any of its abstract
bearings. We can pronounce, from what we consider a thorough
knowledge of the subject, that the condition of the slaves here, the
treatment which they receive, and the character of their masters,
have been much misrepresented in the non-slave holding states.
We pretend to none but historical knowledge of the state of things,
which has existed here in past time. At present, we are persuaded
there are but few of those brutal and cruel masters, which the greater
portion of the planters were formerly supposed to be. The masters
now study popularity with their slaves. There is now no part of
the slave-holding country in the south-west where it would not be a

laws, and took possession of his rock. The attention of the congress
being now diverted by the war, he scoured the gulf at his
pleasure, and so tormented the coasting traders, that Governor Claiborne
of Louisiana set a price on his head.

This daring outlaw, thus confronted with the American government,
appeared likely to promote the designs of its enemies. He
was known to possess the clue to all the secret windings and entrances
of the many-mouthed Mississippi; and in the projected
attack upon New-Orleans it was deemed expedient to secure his
assistance.

The British officer then heading the forces landed at Pensacola
for the invasion of Louisiana, opened a treaty with the Barritarian,
to whom he offered such rewards as were best calculated to tempt
his cupidity and flatter his ambition. The outlaw affected to relish
the proposal; but having artfully drawn from Colonel N—the
plan of his intended attack, he spurned his offers with the most
contemptuous disdain, and instantly despatched one of his most
trusty corsairs to the governor who had set a price for his life, advising
him of the intentions of the enemy, and volunteering the aid
of his little band, on the single condition that an amnesty should be
granted for their past offences. Governor Claiborne, though touched
by this proof of magnanimity, hesitated to close with the offer.
The corsair kept himself in readiness for the expected summons,
and continued to spy and report the motions of the enemy. As
danger became more urgent, and the steady generosity of the outlaw
more assured, Governor Claiborne granted to him and his followers
life and pardon, and called them to the defence of the city.
They obeyed with alacrity, and served with a valour, fidelity, and
good conduct, not surpassed by the best volunteers of the republic.”
—Flint's Miss. Valley.

Note E.—Page 204.

The following extract from a narrative of the British attack on
New-Orleans by Capt. Cooke, late of the British army, will, perhaps,
not be without interest to many of my readers.

Camp before New-Orleans.

“I do not remember ever looking for the first signs of day-break
with more intense anxiety than on this eventful morning; every
now and then I thought I heard the distant hum of voices, then
again something like the doleful rustling of the wind before the

coming storm, among the leaves of the foliage. But no; it was only
the effect of the momentary buzzing in my ears; all was silent—the
dew lay on the damp sod, and the soldiers were carefully putting
aside their entrenching tools, and laying hold of their arms to be up
and answer the first war-call at a moment's warning. How can I
convey a thought of the intense anxiety of the mind, when a
sombre silence is broken by the intonations of the cannon, and
when the work of death begins? Now the veil of night was less
obscured, and its murky mantle dissolved on all sides, and the mist
sweeping off the face of the earth; yet it was not day, and no object
was very visible beyond the extent of a few yards. The morn
was chilly—I augured not of victory, an evil foreboding crossed my
mind, and I meditated in solitary reflection. All was tranquil as
the grave, and no camp-fires glimmered from either friends or foes.

Soon after this, two light companies of the seventh and ninety-third
regiments came up without knapsacks, the highlanders with
their blankets rolled and slung around their backs, and merely wearing
the shell of their bonnets, the sable plumes of real ostrich feathers
brought by them from the Cape of Good Hope, having been
left in England. One company of the forty-third light infantry also
followed, marching up rapidly. These three companies formed a
compact little column of two hundred and forty soldiers, near the
battery on the high road to New-Orleans. They were to attack the
crescent battery near the river, and if possible to silence its fire under
the muzzles of twenty pieces of cannon; at a point, too, where
the bulk of the British force had hesitated when first they landed,
and had recoiled from its fire on the twenty-eighth of last December,
and on the first of January. I asked Lieut. Duncan Campbell
where they were going, when he replied, “I'll be hanged if I
know:” “then,” said I, “you have got into what I call a good thing; a
far-famed American battery is in front of you at a short range, and
on the left of this spot is flanked, at 800 yards, by their batteries on
the opposite bank of the river.” At this piece of information he
laughed heartily, and I told him to take off his blue pelisse-coat to
be like the rest of the men. “No,” he said gayly, “I will never
peel for an American—come, Jack, embrace me.” He was a fine
young officer of twenty years of age, and had fought in many
bloody encounters in Spain and France, but this was to be his last,
as well as that of many more brave men. The mist was slowly
clearing off, but objects could only be discerned at two or three
hundred yards distance, as the morning was rather hazy; we had

only quitted the battery two minutes, when a Congreve rocket was
thrown up, whether from the enemy or not we could not tell; for
some seconds it whizzed backward and forward in such a zigzag way,
that we all looked up to see whether it was coming down upon our
heads. The troops simultaneously halted, but all smiled at some
sailors dragging a two-wheeled car a hundred yards to our left,
which had brought up ammunition to the battery, who, by common
consent, as it were, let go the shaft, and left it the instant the rocket
was let off.—(This rocket, although we did not know it, proved to
be the signal of attack.) All eyes were cast upward, like those of
so many astronomers, to descry, if possible, what could be the upshot
of this noisy harbinger, breaking in upon the solemn silence that
reigned around. During all my military services I do not remember
seeing a small body of troops thrown into such a strange configuration,
having formed themselves into a circle, and halted, both officers
and men, without any previous word of command, each man looking
earnestly, as if by instinct of his imagination, to see in what particular
quarter the anticipated firing would begin.

The Mississippi was not visible, its waters likewise being covered
over with the fog; nor was there a single soldier, save our little phalanx,
to be seen, or the tramp of a horse or a single footstep to be
heard, by way of announcing that the battle-scene was about to begin,
before the vapoury curtain was lifted or cleared away for the
opposing forces to get a glimpse one of the other. So that we were
completely lost, not knowing which way to bend our footsteps, and the
only words which now escaped the officers were “steady, men,” these
precautionary warnings being quite unnecessary, as every soldier
was, as it were, motionless like fox-hunters, waiting with breathless
expectation, and casting significant looks one at the other before
Reynard breaks cover.

All eyes seemed anxious to dive through the mist; and all ears attentive
to the coming moment, as it was impossible to tell whether
the blazing would begin from the troops who were supposed to have
already crossed the river, or from the great battery of the Americans
on the right bank of the Mississippi, or from the main lines. From
all these points we were equidistant, and within point-blank range;
and were left, besides, totally without orders, and without knowing
how to act or where to find our own corps, just as if we had formed
no part or parcel of the army.

The rocket had fallen probably in the Mississippi, all was silent,
nor did a single officer or soldier attempt to shift his foot-hold, so

anxiously were we all employed in listening for the first roar of the
cannon to guide our footsteps, or as it were to pronounce with loud
peals where was the point of our destination, well knowing that to
go farther to the rear was not the way to find our regiment. This
silence and suspense had not lasted more than two minutes, when
the most vehement firing from the British artillery began opposite
the left of the American lines, and before they could even see what
objects they were firing at, or before the intended attacking column
of the British were probably formed to go on to the assault. The
American artillery soon responded, and thus it was that the gunners
of the English and the Americans were firing through the
mist at random; or in the supposed direction whence came their respective
balls through the fog. And the first objects we saw, enclosed
as it were in this little world of mist, were the cannon-balls
tearing up the ground and crossing one another, and bounding
along like so many cricket-balls through the air, coming on our left
flank from the American batteries on the right bank of the river,
and also from their lines in front.

At this momentous crisis a droll occurrence took place; a company
of blacks emerged out of the mist, carrying ladders, which
were intended for the three light companies for the left attack, but
these Ethiopians were so confounded at the multiplicity of noises,
that without farther ado, they dropped the ladders and fell flat on
their faces, and without doubt, had their claws been of sufficient
length, they would have scratched holes and buried themselves from
such an unpleasant admixture of sounds and concatenation of iron
projectiles, which seemed at war with one another, coming from
two opposite directions at one and the same time.

If these blacks were only intended to carry the ladders to the
three light companies on the left, they were too late. The great
bulk of them were cut to pieces before the ladders were within
reach of them; even if the best troops in the world had been carrying
them, they would not have been up in time. This was very
odd, and more than odd; it looked as if folly stalked abroad in the
English camp. One or two officers went to the front in search of
some responsible person to obtain orders ad interim; finding myself
the senior officer, I at once, making a double as it were, or, as
Napoleon recommended, marched to the spot where the heaviest
firing was going on; at a run we neared the American line. The
mist was now rapidly clearing away, but, owing to the dense smoke,

we could not at first distinguish the attacking columns of the British
troops to our right.

We now also caught a view of the seventh and the forty-third
regiments in echelon on our right, near the wood, the royal fusileers
being within about 300 yards of the enemy's lines, and the forty-third
deploying into line 200 yards in echelon behind the fusileers.
These two regiments were every now and then almost enveloped by
the clouds of smoke that hung over their heads, and floated on their
flanks, and the echo from the cannonade and musketry was so tremendous
in the forests, that the vibration seemed as if the earth were
cracking and tumbling to pieces, or as if the heavens were rent asunder
by the most terrific peals of thunder that ever rumbled; it was
the most awful and the grandest mixture of sounds to be conceived;
the woods seemed to crack to an interminable distance, each cannon
report was answered one hundred fold, and produced an intermingled
roar surpassing strange. And this phenomenon can neither be
fancied nor described, save by those who can bear evidence of the fact.
And the flashes of fire looked as if coming out of the bowels of the
earth, so little above its surface were the batteries of the Americans.

We had run the gauntlet, from the left to the centre in front of
the American lines, under a cross fire, in hopes of joining in the assault,
and had a fine view of the sparkling of the musketry, and the
liquid flashes of the cannon. And melancholy to relate, all at once
many soldiers were met wildly rushing out of the dense clouds of
smoke, lighted up by a sparkling sheet of fire, which hovered over
the ensanguined field. Regiments were shattered and dispersed—
all order was at an end. And the dismal spectacle was seen of the
dark shadows of men, like skirmishers, breaking out of the clouds of
smoke, which majestically rolled along the even surface of the
field. And so astonished was I at such a panic, that I said to a retiring
soldier, “have we or the Americans attacked?” for I had never
seen troops in such a hurry without being followed. “No,” replied
the man, with the countenance of despair, and out of breath, as he
ran along, “we attacked, sir.” For still the reverberation was so
intense toward the great wood, that any one would have thought
the great fighting was going on there instead of immediately in
front.

Lieut. Duncan Campbell, of our regiment, was seen to our left
running about in circles, first staggering one way, then another, and
at length fell upon the sod helplessly on his face, and again tumbled,
and when he was picked up, he was found to be blind from the effect

of grape-shot, which had torn open his forehead, giving him a
slight wound in the leg, and also ripped the scabbard from his side,
and knocked the cap from his head. While being borne insensible
to the rear, he still clenched the hilt of his sword with a convulsive
grasp, the blade thereof being broken off close at the hilt with grape-shot,
and in a state of delirium and suffering he lived for a few days.

The first officer we met was Lieutenant-Colonel Stovin, of the
staff, who was unhorsed, without his hat, and bleeding down the
left side of his face. He at first thought the two hundred were the
whole regiment, and he said, “Forty-third, for God's sake save the
day!” Lieutenant-Colonel Smith of the rifles, and one of Packenham's
staff, then rode up at full gallop from the right, (he had a few
months before brought to England the despatches of the capture of
Washington) and said to me, “Did you ever see such a scene?—
There is nothing left but the seventh and forty-third! just draw up
here for a few minutes, to show front, that the repulsed troops may
re-form.” For the chances now were, as the greater portion of the
actually attacking corps were stricken down, and the remainder dispersed,
that the Americans would become the assailants. The ill-fated
rocket was discharged before the British troops moved on;
the consequence was, that every American gun was warned by such
a silly signal to be laid on the parapets, ready to be discharged with
the fullest effect.

The misty field of battle was now inundated with wounded officers
and soldiers, who were going to the rear from the right, left,
and centre; in fact, little more than one thousand soldiers were left
unscathed out of the three thousand who attacked the American
lines, and they fell like the very blades of grass beneath the scythe
of the mower. Packenham was killed; Gibbes was mortally wounded;
his brigade dispersed like the dust before the whirlwind, and Keane
was wounded. The command of his Majesty's forces at this critical
juncture now fell to Major-general Lambert, the only general left,
and he was in reserve with his fine brigade.

The rifle corps individually took post to resist any forward movements
of the enemy, but the ground already named being under a
cross fire of at least twenty pieces of artillery, the advantage was all
on the side of the Americans, who in a crowd might have completely
run down a few scattered troops, exposed to such an overpowering
force of artillery. The black troops behaved in the most shameful
manner to a man, and, although hardly exposed to fire, were in abominable
consternation, lying down in all directions. One broad

beaver, with the ample folds of the coarse blanket, thrown across the
shoulders of the Americans, was as terrible in their eyes as a panther
might be while springing among a timid multitude. These black
corps, it is said, had behaved well at some West India islands, where
the thermometer was more congenial to their feelings. Lieut. Hill
(now Capt. Hill) said, in his shrewd manner, “Look at the seventh
and the forty-third, like seventy-fours becalmed!” As soon as the
action was over, and some troops were formed in our rear, we then,
under a smart fire of grape and round shot, moved to the right, and
joined our own corps, which had been ordered to lie down at the edge
of the ditch; and some of the old soldiers, with rage depicted on their
countenances, were demanding why they were not led on to the assault.
The fire of the Americans, from behind their barricades, had
been indeed so murderous, and had caused so sudden a repulse, that
it was difficult to persuade ourselves that such an event had happened—the
whole affair being more like a dream, or some scene of
enchantment, than reality.

And thus it was: on the left bank of the river, three generals,
seven colonels, and seventy-five officers, making a total of seventeen
hundred and eighty-one officers and soldiers, had fallen in a few
minutes.

The royal fusileers and the Monmouthshire light infantry, from
the beginning to the end of the battle, were astounded at the ill success
of the combat; and while formed within grape range, were lost
in amazement at not being led on to the attack, being kept as quiet
spectators of the onslaught.

About an hour and a half after the principal attack had failed, we
heard a rapid discharge of fire-arms, and a few hurried sounds of
cannon on the right bank of the river, when all was again silent, until
three distinct rounds of British cheers gladdened our ears from
that direction, although at least one mile and a quarter from where
we were stationed. They were Colonel Thornton's gallant troops,
who were successful in the assault on the American works in that
quarter, the details of which, for a brief space, I must postpone.

For five hours the enemy plied us with grape and round shot;
some of the wounded lying in the mud or on wet grass, managed to
crawl away; but every now and then some unfortunate man was
lifted off the ground by round shot, and lay killed or mangled.—
During the tedious hours we remained in front, it was necessary to
lie on the ground, to cover ourselves from the projectiles. An officer
of our regiment was in a reclining posture, when a grape-shot passed

through both his knees; at first he sank back faintly, but at length
opening his eyes, and looking at his wounds, he said, “Carry me
away. I am chilled to death;” and as he was hoisted on the men's
shoulders, more round and grape shot passed his head; taking off
his hat, he waved it; and after many narrow escapes, got out of
range, suffered amputation of both legs, and died of his wounds on
ship-board, after enduring all the pain of the surgical operation, and
passing down the lake in an open boat.

A wounded soldier, who was lying among the slain, two hundred
yards behind us, continued, without any cessation, for two
hours, to raise his arm up and down with a convulsive motion,
which excited the most painful sensations among us; and as the
enemy's balls now and then killed or maimed some soldiers, we
could not help casting our eyes toward the moving arm, which
really was a dreadful magnet of attraction; it even caught the attention
of the enemy, who, without seeing the body, fired several
round shot at it. A black soldier lay near us, who had received a
blow from a cannon-ball, which had obliterated all his features;
and although blind, and suffering the most terrible anguish, he
was employing himself in scratching a hole to put his money into.
A tree, about two feet in diameter and fifteen in height, with a few
scattered branches at the top, was the only object to break the monotonous
scene. This tree was near the right of our regiment;
the Americans, seeing some persons clustering around it, fired a
thirty-two pound shot, which struck the tree exactly in the centre,
and buried itself in the trunk with a loud concussion. Curiosity
prompted some of us to take a hasty inspection of it, and I could
clearly see the rusty ball within the tree. I thrust my arm in a
little above the elbow joint, and laid hold of it; it was truly amazing,
between the intervals of firing the cannon, to see the risks
continually run by the officers to take a peep at this good shot.
Owing to this circumstance, the vicinity of the tree became rather
a hot berth; but the American gunners failed to hit it a second
time, although some balls passed very near on each side, and for
an hour it was a source of excessive jocularity to us. In the middle
of the day a flag of truce was sent by Gen. Lambert to Gen.
Jackson, to be allowed to bury the dead, which was acceded to by
the latter on certain conditions.”

Note F.—Page 241.

To the politeness of Dr. William Dunbar, a planter of Mississippi,
the author is indebted for many important papers relating to
this region, formerly in the possession of his father—a gentleman
well known to the philosophic world as the author of several valuable
scientific papers upon the natural history and meteorology
of this country. Among the manuscripts of this gentleman in the
author's possession, is the following account of the manufacture
of Indigo, written by himself, then an extensive indigo planter,
near New-Orleans.

“The reservoir water in or near the field where the indigo plant
is cultivated, is prepared, in lower Louisiana, by digging a canal from
eighty to one hundred feet long, and 25 or 30 feet wide. The plant
is in its strength when in full blossom: it is then cut down, and
disposed regularly in a wooden or brick vault, about ten feet square,
and three feet deep; water is then poured or pumped over it until
the plant is covered; it is suffered to remain until it has undergone
a fermentation, analogous to the vinous fermentation. If it
stands too long, a second fermentation commences, bearing affinity
to the acetous fermentation: your liquor is then spoiled, and
will yield you but little matter of a bad quality—sometimes none
at all. The great difficulty is to know this proper point of fermentation,
which cannot sometimes be ascertained to any degree
of certainty; when the plant is rich, and the weather warm, a tolerable
judgment may be formed by the ascent or swelling of the
liquor in the vat; at other times no alteration is observed. But
to return; the liquor is at length drawn off into another vat, called
the beater; it may remain in the first vat, called the steeper, from
ten to fifteen hours, and even twenty-four hours, in the cool weather
of autumn. The liquor is agitated in the beater in a manner
similar to the churning of butter; when first drawn off, it is of a
pale straw colour, but gradually turns to a pale green, from thence
to a deeper green, and at length to a deep blue. This is occasioned
by the grains of indigo, at first dissolved in the water, and
afterward extricated by beating. The indigo is now ready to fall
to the bottom by its superior specific gravity; but a precipitant is
often used to cause a more hasty decomposition, and consequent
precipitation. This is effected most powerfully by lime-water,
but it may also be done by any mucillaginous substance, as the

juice of the wild mallows, purslain, leaves of the elm-tree, and of
many others indigenous in this country. The saliva produces the
same effects. A few hours after the precipitation, the water standing
above the indigo is drawn off by holes perforated for that purpose;
the indigo matter is then swept out and farther drained,
either by putting it in bags of Russia duck, or more commodiously
in wooden cases with a bottom of cloth; after which it is put in a
wooden frame, with a loose Osnaburg cloth between it and the
frame, and subjected to a considerable press—light at first, but
heavy at the last; and when solid enough, cut into squares, which
shrink up in drying to half their first bulk. After it appears to be
dry, it is put up in heaps to sweat and dry the second time; it is
then fit for market. All that has not been injured by missing the
true point of fermentation, sells here generally at a dollar a pound.
The planter often, by mistake, makes his indigo of a superior
quality, so as to be equal to the Guatimala indigo, and be worth
from one dollar and a quarter to two dollars. This happens from
the indigo maker's drawing off his water from the steeper too
soon, before it has arrived at its due point of fermentation. In
this case the quantity is so much lessened, as by no means to render
the planter compensated by the superior quality. The grand
desideratum to bring the making of indigo to some degree of
certainty, is the discovery of some chymical test, that shall demonstrate
the passing of the liquor from the first to the second fermentation.
This test will probably be discovered in some saline
body, but which, or in what quantity, it is yet difficult to ascertain.”

Note G.—Page 245.

The following additional observations upon New-Orleans, its
parish, and neighbourhood, convey, at a glance, the general resources
of this region of country, besides containing much information
not embodied in the work:—

“The parish of Orleans includes the city. Chef Menteur,
Rigolets, Bayou Bienvenu, Bayou Gentilly, and Bayou St. Johns,
are all in this parish, and are famous in the history of the late war,
Lake Pontchartrain, lake Borgne, Barataria bay, gulf of Mexico,
Caminda bay, lake Des Islets, lake Rond, Little lake, and Quacha
lake, are in the limits of this parish. Sugar, and after that, cotton,
are the staples. Along the coast there are groves of orange-trees,

and the fig is extensively raised. In this parish are the
greater part of the defences, that are intended to fortify the city of
New-Orleans against the attack of a foreign foe. The chief fortifications
are on those points, by which the British approached
toward the city during the late war. Extensive fortifications of
brick have been erected at Petits Coquilles, Chef Menteur, and
Bayou Bienvenu, the two former guarding the passes of the Rigolet,
between lake Borgne and lake Pontchartrain, and the latter
the approach from lake Borgne toward New-Orleans. A great
work, to mount 120 cannon, is erecting at Placquemine on the
Mississippi. These works, when finished, will not fall far short
of the expense 2,000,000 dollars. Fort St. Johns, at the entrance
of the Bayou St. Johns into lake Pontchartrain, is well situated
for the defence of the pass. It is an ancient establishment of the
former regime. The guns are of vast calibre; but they appear to
be sealed, and the walls have a ruinous aspect. These points of
defence have been selected with great judgment, and have been
fortified with so much care, that it is supposed no enemy could
ever again approach the city by the same passes, through which it
was approached by the British in the past war. New-Orleans,
the key of the Mississippi valley, and the great depot of its agriculture
and commerce, is already a city of immense importance,
and is every year becoming more so. This city has strong natural
defences, in its position and its climate. It is now strongly defended
by artificial fortifications. But, after all, the best defence
of this, and of all other cities, is the vigilant and patriotic energy
of the battalions of free men, who can now, by steamboats, be
brought down to its defence in a few days from the remotest points
of the west. It is not to be forgotten, that by the same conveyance,
an enemy might also be brought against it.

Of the other parishes, we may remark, in general, that as far up
the Mississippi as the parish of Baton Rouge, on the east side,
and Point Coup e on the west, the cultivation of the sugar-cane is
the chief pursuit of the inhabitants. The same may be said of
Placquemine, Lafourche, and Attakapas. The staple article of
the western parishes beyond is cotton.

The parishes north of lake Pontchartrain, which formerly made
a part of Florida, with the exception of some few tracts, and
the alluvions of Pearl river and Bogue Chitte, have a sterile soil.
The inhabitants raise large herds of cattle, and send great quanti

ties of lumber to New-Orleans, together with pitch, tar, turpentine,
and coal. They burn great quantities of lime from the beds of
shells, which cover large tracts near the lakes; they also send
sand from the beaches of the lakes, for covering the pavements of
New-Orleans. They have also, for some years past, manufactured
brick to a great amount, and have transported them across
the lake. They have a great number of schooners that ply on the
lakes, in this and other employments. The people engaged in this
extensive business, find the heavy tolls demanded on the canal a
great impediment in the way of the profit of this trade.[2] The
country generally is covered with open pine woods, and has small
tracts of second-rate land interspersed among these tracts. The
country is valuable from its inexhaustible supplies of timber and
wood for the New-Orleans market.