COLONEL JAMES
RAULSTON
- DESIGNATION: 3rd Regiment West Tennessee
Militia Infantry
- DATES: November 1814 - May 1815
- MEN MOSTLY FROM: Jackson, Sumner, Wilson,
Overton, Smith, and White Counties
- CAPTAINS: James A. Black, Matthew Cowen,
Henry Hamilton, Elijah Haynie, Wiley Huddleston,
Matthew Neal, Daniel Newman, Edward Robinson,
Charles Wade, Henry West
BRIEF HISTORY:
Part of Major General William Carroll's division at the
battles for New Orleans, this regiment suffered
casualties during the skirmish of 28th December 1814 and
had two of the handful of fatalities on the famous 8
January 1815 battle. General Carroll's report of the
battle tells that Captains Elijah Haynie and Matthew
Neal "had the honor of receiving and repelling the
attacks of the British forces."
One of the soldiers in this regiment, Levi Lee of
Captain Henry West's company, kept a diary during the
war. A resident of Jackson County, Lee also served in
the regiments of Colonels Steele and Cheatham.
Source:
http://sos.tn.gov/products/tsla/regimental-histories-tennessee-units-during-war-1812
Following is from D. Mitchell Jones:
3025 Kline Road
Jacksonville, FL 32246
We have been limited due to the loss of records by fire
in determining the activities of Prettyman Jones, but
due to their involvement in the War of 1812 we do have a
good idea as to his, activities and those of his
brothers, Thomas and Zachariah, in late 1814 and early
1815. As a result of "General William Carroll's call in
November 1814 for volunteers to defend New Orleans
against an expected attack by the British"30 Colonel
James Roulston formed the Third Regiment of Tennessee
Militia. Prettyman and Thomas were in Captain Matthew
Cowen's Company of this regiment. The Company was
mustered into service on 15 November 1814 at Camp Flynes,
Jackson County, Tennessee. "On 21 Nov the regiment left
Nashville by boat, and arrived in Clarksville on 24
Nov."31 "They made a fairly fast trip to New Orleans for
they were at the mouth of Cumberland on 1 Dec., Natchez
on Wednesday 14 Dec, and finally landed on 20 Dec 1814
about four miles above New Orleans." They had traveled
1300 miles by boat in about 30 days. There they made
camp, cleaned weapons, mended clothing, and drilled by
Company. When they arrived in New Orleans the Tennessee
Militia did not make a very good impression on the
people of New Orleans with their clothing, etc.
"Their appearance was not very military. In their woolen
hunting shirts and copperas (greenish color) dyed
pantaloons, with slouched hats made from the skins of
raccoons or foxes; with belts of untanned deerskin in
which were stuck their hunting knives and tomahawks-with
their long unkempt hair and unshorn faces .... But were
admirable soldiers, remarkable for endurance and
possessing that admirable quality in soldiers of being
able to take care of themselves."32
Another eyewitness wrote of Carroll's Tennessee
Militiamen: "These men carried nothing but their carouch-boxes
and powder homs-their bullets were usually in their
pantaloons pockets-they had no idea whatever of military
order and discipline; they paid attention only to the
more important part of their calling, which, according
to their notions, was quietly to pick out their man, fix
him in their aim, and bring him down.33 After the
British had landed about 8 miles below New Orleans, Gen.
Jackson on 23 Dec. ordered Gen. Carroll and his
Tennesseans into New Orleans, and to be ready to move at
a moments notice. During Jackson's night attack of 23rd
against British, Gen. Carroll's Tennesseans did not take
part. On the 24th Jackson put his troops in a defensive
position along Rodriquez Canal several miles below New
Orleans. The canal extended from the Mississippi River
for 900 yards to a swamp. Carroll's men were moved on
the 26th to the left center of the line, and they
covered the area to the swamp. There they worked without
stopping on the breastworks of the lines. In order to
discover the nature of Jackson's defenses, the British
made a small attack on the 28th. The British thought
that the area next to the swamp was the weakest, but
Carroll's Tennesseans were able to stop the attack.
There they lived until the battle on the 8th of Jan.
"Unshaven, dirty, they lived for over seven days
waist-deep in mud, chilled by the intermittent rains,
surrounded by the stench of the decaying marshlands,
threatened by lurking danger in the shadows of the
cypress trees. Yet they had one complaint: If we could
only see the redcoats within fair buck range. "33
But at night they came into their own, as Latour states,
"The Tennesseans, on account of their well-known skill
at the rifle, were the terror of the British sentinels
and advanced posts. Their uniform consisted of a brown
hunting shirt, ('because of this the British called them
dirty shirts'), which rendered it difficult to perceive
them among the Underwood and dry grass through which
they approached to shoot down the British sentinels,
whom they never missed. Finally when dawn of 8th of Jan
arrived, the Tennesseans discovered the enemy occupying
the space between the woods and the Mississippi. The
British having perceived that the left part of Jackson's
line was weak, Carroll's Tennesseans would bear the
brunt of the attack. On their first charge the British
were met by a withering volley from Carroll's men, and
the British took to their heels and fled. Then Carroll's
men were attacked by Scottish Highlanders. Again the
Tennesseans showed no respect for their enemy and opened
a murderous fire upon the Highlanders. "The whole line
from Carroll's Tennesseans to the swamp was almost one
solid blaze. Four men deep, the ranks of the Tennesseans
never stopped for breath. As fast as one man fired he
stepped back for the next to take his place. By the time
the fourth line had discharged its rifles, the first was
taking aim again. There were barely fifteen hundred
rifles in the line yet scarely a rifle failed to find
its mark. The redcoats fell like blades of grass beneath
the scythe." a British officer recorded.34
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