Part 5 (2/2)

The signal rocket went up.

The long red lines advanced over the field.

But to what a fate!

”Don't shoot till you can see the whites of their eyes!”--Jackson had instructed.

”_Fire!_”

When the smoke cleared, British soldiers, dead and dying, thickly strewed the ground.

Intrenched behind their barricades of cotton bales and sand and mud, the Americans were scarcely touched.

The murderous fire went on.

The British columns reeled and broke.

General Pakenham heroically waved his troops forward and fell, wounded to death.

General Gibbs, second in command, was struck down.

General Keane was disabled.

The leaders were fallen! The troops were disordered.

In the distance the red lines receded.

_Jackson had won._

In less than thirty minutes the unequal conflict had ended, save in the silencing of the guns, which required two hours to accomplish.

Never in the annals of history has such a victory been recorded.

The loss to the English was two thousand killed, wounded, and captured.

The American loss was but eight killed and thirteen wounded.

General Jackson marched his victorious troops into New Orleans, where he was received with the wildest enthusiasm.

The whole country applauded and rejoiced.

_Andrew Jackson had become the Hero of the Nation._

At Ghent, two weeks before the battle, the Treaty of Peace between England and the United States had been signed; but the s.h.i.+p bearing the news had not then reached this country.

But--Jackson had finished the war--had ”finished the war in GLORY!”

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