The Legendary MICHAEL SEVERS

One man, five dollars and a gallon of whiskey turned the tide at the Battle of New Orleans

In DECEMBER of 1814,

after learning that 50 British ships had sailed into Lake Borgne near New Orleans and deposited more than 8,000 troops, General Andrew Jackson rushed to defend the city and protect the entrance of the Mississippi River. Jackson maneuvered into a very defensible position at Chalmette Plantation and made his stand.

The British advanced too slowly and cautiously, thereby, losing much of their advantage. Numerous engagements occurred between portions of the opposing armies with neither being the clear winner. Jackson, with a small force of regular troops, militiamen, seamen, citizens, Choctaw Indians, free blacks and pirates under the command of Jean Lafitte (a force totaling about 2,000 men), delayed the British advance long enough for 2,300 Kentucky militiamen to arrive to bolster his numbers on January 4, 1815.

Among these Kentuckians was Michael Severs, who had run all the way from Kentucky to beat his mounted fellow militiamen by three hours to win a bet. Surprisingly, many of the Kentuckians arrived without guns, warm clothing or equipment. Jackson instructed the people of New Orleans to search for any hunting rifle, pistol, weapon or equipment that they could find to arm the Kentuckians who had come to their aid.

Main Assaunltd

The commander of the British forces, General Edward M. Pakenham, had only taken command of his troops on December 27, 1814. He had inherited a less-than-ideal situation but was determined to succeed.

A cypress swamp on the northeast and the Mississippi River on the southwest forced the main thrust of Pakenham’s attack up a 1,200-yard-wide sugarcane field. The water-filled Rodriquez Canal ran across this field, above which Jackson built his main defensive breastwork of mud and logs.

Pakenham, trying to make the best of a poor tactical situation, divided his main force into two brigades with the extreme right wing under Major General Gibbs near the swamp and Major General Keane’s men on the opposite side of the field near the river. The main thrust of the assault was to be made by Gibbs against the left side of Jackson’s line, which was perceived to be the weakest. That end of the line was defended by the Tennessee and Kentucky militias.

The 44th, an Irish regiment, was to form the advance unit of Gibbs’s troops and carry with it six long ladders with planks on them, 10 small ladders and fascines. Either misunderstanding or neglecting their orders and at the time of the assault, they left these crucial items behind, leaving the troops with no way to cross the water-filled canal or scale Jackson’s breastworks. When Pakenham gave the order to advance, the other regiments charged forward, leaving the 44th, the ladders and the fascines behind. Soon Gibbs's men began to falter under the Americans' withering fire.

Man Down

The Kentuckians stood in two lines, ready to take the places of two lines of Tennesseans as soon as their pieces were discharged. This made four rotating lines, which poured a continuous fire into the advancing columns.

Perceiving that Gibbs's men were faltering, Pakenham diverted the majority of Keane’s men to Gibbs's aid. They executed a right oblique to reach Gibbs. Keane’s men incurred devastating casualties while crossing the open field in front of Jackson’s line, however, they managed, with some of Gibbs's men, to reach the canal in front of the American defenses. It was impossible to scale the muddy slopes without ladders, and the Americans simply swung their weapons over the edge of the ramparts and fired down upon the British without even exposing themselves. At the same time, the American batteries were cutting huge gaps in their flanks.

Seeing that Gibbs's men were refusing to continue into certain death, Pakenham rode forward to rally his men shouting, “For Shame! Recollect that you are British soldiers!” Pointing to the front, he shouted, “This is the road you ought to take!” At about 200 yards from the American lines with his hat in hand, Pakenham was hit.

Major James Hunt, from Franklin County, Tennessee, stated in his diary that while the British were still technically out of rifle range, he saw Severs rise from behind a cotton bale, and with two of his companions loading for him, Michael fired his long musket (rifle) 26 times, and Hunt saw 26 men fall. As the British attack started to falter and some of the gun smoke disappeared, Hunt noticed the figure of a British officer surrounded by a group of other officers. Taking this to be a man of some rank, he shouted to Severs, “If Major

Hunt could mark down a man, could Michael Severs hit him from this distance?” Severs, in the act of reloading, said he could hit anyone if Major Hunt or General Jackson would pay him five dollars cash money, not paper, and would give him a gallon of his best whiskey for himself and a half barrel for his companions (The above comes straight from Major Hunt's diary).

Hunt agreed and pointed out the man. Severs, wearing buckskins and his floppy hat, laid five muskets (rifles) across the top of a cotton bale and, after testing the wind with a wet finger, took aim down the barrel of the first weapon. He fired, and then almost immediately fired the second, third and fourth shots. Through his spyglass, Major Hunt saw the man reel in his saddle with the first shot and jerk twice more after each successive shot.

The British account of Pakenham’s death states that he was hit in his right arm and knee. Another shot felled his horse. His aide-de-camp, Major Duncan MacDougall, quickly dismounted and helped Pakenham mount MacDougall’s horse, which Pakenham did with difficulty. With a shattered right arm, MacDougall led the horse forward, with Pakenham astride it, shouting, “Come on, brave Ninety-Third! (A Highlander regiment).” Seconds later, Pakenham was struck again, but this time in the spine. He toppled from the saddle and fell into MacDougall’s arms. Unconscious, he was carried away from the line of fire and placed on the ground, under a large oak tree, where he was examined by a surgeon, who pronounced the wound mortal. Moments later, General Pakenham was dead.

The British offensive fell apart. Shortly after noon, the then-ranking British officer, Major General Lambert, sent a soldier carrying a white flag to Jackson’s lines to request a 24-hour cease-fire. After some delays, Jackson agreed to cease hostilities until noon the next day on the east side of the river to collect the wounded and bury the dead.

Eventually, Lambert silently withdrew his men and sent a note to Jackson stating that he had yielded the field. Unfortunately, the battle had been fought 15 days after a peace treaty was agreed upon in Belgium between the United States and Great Britain.

Michael Severs collected his money and liquor and, on foot, beat his friends back to Muhlenberg County in Kentucky. He was highly esteemed, especially by the local men who took part in the War of 1812. Every time he came to Greenville, Kentucky, such men as Alney McLean (whose militia company Severs was a part of) and Charles Fox Wing prevailed on him to be their guest while in town. Although clad in buckskin breeches and hunting shirt and often without shoes, he was always placed at the head of the table and given the best room in the house, regardless of other guests. In later years, he was granted a pension of $3 a month for his exploits at the Battle of New Orleans. The bones of this old hunter rest in the Duke and Whitehouse burying ground near Bevier, Kentucky. ★

"The Kentuckians stood in two lines, ready to take the places of two lines of Tennesseans as soon as their pieces were discharged.”