Lauderdale County AlArchives Biographies.....Coffee, John 1772 - 1833
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 September 21, 2011, 4:30 pm

Source: See below
Author: Smith & De Land, publishers

  *JOHN COFFEE was born in Prince Edward County, Va., on June 2, 1772. His
father, Joshua Coffee, was born in the same county January 26, 1745. His mother,
Elizabeth Graves, was born in Hanover County, Va., January 28, 1751. They were
married June 2, 1767.

  Joshua Coffee was a tobacco-planter, and after his marriage continued to
reside in Prince Edward County until 1775, when he removed to Granville County,
N. C., where he remained until the close of the Revolutionary War, when he
removed to the County of Rockingham. Here he continued to reside until his
death, which occurred September 8, 1797. During 1780 he commanded a company of
mounted gun-men.

  During the month of April, 1798, John Coffee removed with his mother to
Davidson County, Tenn., where she died in 1804.

  Mr. Coffee engaged in merchandise and continued in it until 1807, and (to use
his own words) "from some accidents and losses, and from bad management," it
proved to be a losing business. He engaged in surveying in the then newly
acquired country on Duck and Elk Rivers, which business, by his great exertions,
and unremitted attention, proved to be profitable. In the course of two years
thereby he was enabled to pay the arrearages of his mercantile debt, amouting to
six thousand dollars, besides reserving to himself several valuable tracts of land.

  On October 3, 1809, he married Mary Donelson, then sixteen years of age, a
native of Tennessee, and a daughter of John Donelson, who carried the wives and
children of the party, who went in advance with Gen. James Robertson to
Nashville in 1779 to build houses. The voyage was performed in boats from East
Tennessee, down the Tennessee River and up the Cumberland through a nation of
hostile Indians. Rachel, the eldest sister of Mary Donelson (not then born),
would sometimes fearlessly take the helm, when the boats were attacked, to
enable her father to take a shot at the enemy. This Rachel became the wife of
Gen. Andrew Jackson, and when John Coffee married Mary Donelson, this family
union cemented a friendship which had existed between them for some years
before, and continued during their joint lives. About this time Mr. Coffee was
elected Clerk of the County Court of Rutherford, a position he was holding at
the outbreak of the Creek War.

  General Coffee was engaged with General Jackson in the bloody fight which
occurred between the Jackson and Benton factions, just before the Creek War of
1813; an unfortunate affair, which was brought about by the rashness of Jesse, a
brother of Thomas H. Benton, afterward the distinguished senator from Missouri.
In a few months the feud was at an end between the principal parties, and the
latter was actively engaged in making speeches to raise volunteers to serve
under General Jackson; took command as colonel of one of the regiments raised,
and was the confidential personal and political friend of Jackson ever
afterward. Rut Jesse Benton never made friends with any of the other party; and,
it is said, never spoke to his brother Thomas afterward. He was a little volcano
which was always in a state of eruption.

  Coffee was not only a sincere, but a fearless friend. An amusing illustration
of this is given by Judge Guild. Jackson was very fond of the turf; had the
finest horses, and for some years was the ruler of it. At length his competitors
brought in a chestnut filly, named Haynies Maria, that ran away from every horse
entered against her. This worked up Jackson to a lively resolve that she should
be beaten. He canvassed Virginia and gave his friends carte blanche to buy for
him the fastest horse in that or any other State. He finally bought Paeolet of
Wm. R. Johnson, at a fabulous price, with which he made a race against Maria.
The appointed day and hour came. Monkey Simon, who rode Maria, had orders to
pull the mare at the end of each quarter and fall back, their object being to
get bets. This order was strictly carried out. Jackson was thus led to believe
that Maria would not win, and proposed to bet $10,000 that she would be beaten.
Elliott said he would take the bet. General Coffee, who was a giant in stature,
endeavored to dissuade Jackson from betting, but, not succeeding, he stepped
behind him, lifted him on his shoulders and carried him out of the crowd,
kicking and cursing, and never put him on the ground again until Monkey Simon
applied the whip and won the race.

  The war of 1812 was ushered in with so many reverses in the northern part of
the Union that the fiery Tennesseans found vent for their energies by engaging
zealously in the contest. General Jackson and his friends raised a brigade of
volunteers; one regiment of cavalry was commanded by Colonel Coffee, one of
infantry by Col. Thomas H. Benton, and another of the same by Colonel Hall. The
infantry descended the river in boats, under the immediate command of General
Jackson, to Natchez, and the cavalry, under Colonel Coffee, marched by the
overland route to the same place, where they were ordered into a cantonment in
the little town of Washington, Miss., and remained for several months. At length
an order came to General Jackson, from the War Department, "to consider his
force dismissed from service, and to take measures for the delivery of all
articles of the public property in his possession to General Wilkinson," who was
a brigadier-general in the regular army.

  The effect of this disgraceful order would have been to have turned these
patriotic men loose, hundreds of miles from home, without supplies or
transportation, to make their way home as best they could, through the
territories of two Indian tribes, where subsistence was always scant. General
Jackson assumed the responsibility of disobeying the order, and marched them
back into Tennessee. In this movement he was firmly sustained by Colonel Coffee,
and his attitude was remembered gratefully; for in the fall, when he called his
men to fight the Creek Indians, two regiments instead of one, came to his standard.

  This call occurred in September, 1813. The massacre at Fort Mims on the 30th
of August sent a thrill of horror through the bosoms of the brave Tennesseeans,
but it was succeeded by a reaction as powerful. As slowly as news was then
transmitted, a strong volunteer force came to rendezvous at Fayetteville on the
3d of October. On the 4th, Genera] Jackson dispatched General Coffee with a
large detachment to Huntsville, Ala., to keep an eye on the Creek warriors, and
shortly afterward followed with his whole command. He failed to get the supplies
he expected down the Tennessee River. In this emergency he determined to forage
upon the enemy, and moved his force into the Indian country.

  On the 2d of November he issued an order to Coffee, now promoted to the rank
of Brigadier, to take 1,000 men and proceed to the town of Tallascehatehe,
thirteen miles distant from the camp, and destroy it. He surrounded the town
about sunrise, and was fiercely met by the savages, with war-whoops and the
sounding of drums, the prophets being in advance. The troops charged them, with
great slaughter. After a short but terrible action about two hundred warriors
lay dead on the field. Not a solitary one begged for his life. Late in the
evening of the same day Coffee re-crossed the Coosa, and returned to headquarters.

  Talladega was the next battle fought by General Jackson in person. Here was a
small fort, in which a number of friendly Indians had taken refuge, and were
closely surrounded by the hostiles. They were out of food and water in the
garrison, where a noted chief enveloped himself in a hog-skin, and went rooting
and grunting around, until he made his way through the lines, and, as fleet as
the wind, reached the camp of General Jackson. He implored the General to march
immediately to the rescue of his friends, which, midnight as it was, he did. He
forded the Coosa, here 600 yards wide, with a rocky, uneven bottom. Each
horseman carried behind him a foot-man until the whole army was over. He
encamped in the evening within six miles of the fort. At four o'clock next
morning he surrounded the enemy, numbering 1,100 warriors. After a sharp but
decisive action, he defeated them. They left 295 warriors dead on the field.
"This brilliant victory exerted a powerful influence on the enemy as well the
country. General Coffee, with his force of 1,000 mounted volunteers,
participated in this battle, and contributed largely to the victory achieved on
that hotly contested field. He was a giant in stature, finely proportioned,
taciturn, with nothing of the braggart or pretender about him. While he was
determined to do his duty, he was wholly unconcerned as to who should reap the
glory. He was the first in the field, and had been in the saddle for a month,
leading his brave soldiers up and down the country, keeping the enemy from the
frontiers, which they were watching like a wolf ready to pounce on the flock.
His presence on the frontier dispelled the alarm of the citizens, while his
swift movements indicated that he meant business, and made him a terror to the
Indians. He and Gen. William Carroll were the right arm of General Jackson, and
faithfully they performed the duties entrusted to them."

  After this battle General Jackson marched his small army, which was out of
provisions, back as rapidly as possible to Fort Strother. Arriving there, he was
deeply mortified to find that no provisions had arrived at that point. The men
were hungry, and there was great dissatisfaction in the camp. Bonaparte was
asked once, what were the two things most essential to a soldier, and his reply
was, "A full belly and a strong pair of shoes." The men who had behaved so well
in battle were impatient of hunger, and took up their line of march for
Tennessee. He threw himself ahead of the men who were moving off, and, with
General Coffee, Carroll, and a few brave fellows, he formed a line in front of
them, seized a musket from one of his men and declared that he would shoot the
first man who dared to march. They only saw his flashing eye and determined
look, and the power of numbers quailed before the iron will—the moral greatness
of one man. He, however, promised the men, that if in a reasonable time
provisions did not arrive, they might go, as their time of service was about to
expire.

  He kept his word, and in a few days he was left in a savage land, with only
one hundred men. But they were choice spirits, with gallantry enough to leven a
small army, as will be seen in the two following battles, in which there were
feats of valor, not excelled in the pages of romance.

  At length two regiments arrived, numbering about 850 men, which had only been
enlisted for sixty days. As their time was short he employed no drill-master:
determined to drill them in actual battle. He marched them across the Coosa, was
joined by 200 Cherokees and friendly Creeks, and sought the enemy at Emuckfaw.
Besides these there was a company composed of officers entirely, whose command
had returned home, forty-five in number, amongst them General Coffee,
Inspector-General Carroll, and Adjutant-General Sitter. "When the alarm was
given the whole line was led to the charge by General Coffee, and the Indians
were forced to abandon the ground in a rapid manner. Shortly afterward a body of
the enemy boldly advanced and attacked the right wing of Jackson's encampment.
Coffee again charged, but, through some mistake, only forty-five men followed,
composing his own company of volunteer officers; but the friendly Indians were
sent by Jackson to his support. Dismounting his men he soon pursued the 'Red
Sticks' to the swamp of a creek. Jackson had ordered his left flank to remain
firm, and now the Indians came rushing with yells against it; but they were
repelled by a charge made by the impetuous Carroll. In the meantime, Coffee kept
the enemy at bay, who had now returned upon him from the swamp, until General
Jackson strengthened him with a re-enforcement of one hundred friendly warriors.
Coffee again charged, when the Indians once more gave way; and the pursuit was
continued for three miles, with the loss of 45 savages." The brave Creeks had
now been repulsed on every attempt, but they exhibited a ferocity and daring
which commanded the serious consideration of General Jackson. He had no forage
for his horses, and very few rations for his men, and his force was weaker than
he desired. He determined to return to Fort Strother, with all possible
dispatch. In this battle Alexander Donelson aide-de-camp of General Coffee, and
eldest brother of his wife, was killed. Next morning the army commenced its
retrograde movement, bearing the wounded in litters, constructed of the hides of
the slain horses. In one of these lay General Coffee, who, at the conclusion of
the third charge, was wounded, as it was thought, mortally.

  Before night Jackson encamped near the ford of the Enotochopco, which they had
crossed in marching down, and fortified himself. The Indians were prowling
around, but refrained from an attack Dreading an onset at the ford of the creek,
which had great facilities for ambuscades, he selected another crossing six
hundred yards lower down.

  Next morning the march was begun. The front-guard with the wounded had passed
the creek, and the artillery was in the creek, when an alarm gun was heard which
was succeeded by a fierce attack of the savages on the rear-guard. The new
regiments, siezed by a sudden panic, fled without firing a gun. A scene of
wonderful confusion prevailed for awhile. The six pounder was brought on the
hill, but in the confusion the ramrod was lost and Constantine Perkins rammed
down the charge with his musket, and Craven Jackson picked the touch-hole with
his ram-rod. While Carroll was scarcely holding the rear with a few brave men.
Gen. Coffee leaped from his litter, mounted his horse and dashed forward to
assist in rallying the men; and when Jackson with surprise saw his tall form,
pale from the loss of blood and swathed in white bandages, the apparition was »o
unearthly, that he exclaimed, "We'll whip 'em, boys, we'll whip 'em — even the
dead have risen from their graves, to help us."

  Tohopek (or the Horse Shoe) was the closing scene of the Creek War. About five
miles from the battle ground of Emuckfau is the great bend of the Tallapoosa,
where the warriors of the nation, nearly 1,000 strong, had concentrated their
forces for a last desperate struggle. Across a narrow neck of land, or isthmus,
the Indians had erected a breast-work of logs, from five to eight feet high,
with double port-holes, arranged with no little skill and ingenuity. This was
the entrance to the great bend of about one hundred acres of land. The center
was high ground, and on the river bottom at the lower extremity of the peninsula
was the Indian village.

  Early on the morning of this battle, General Coffee with his brigade of
cavalry, the friendly Indians under command of Col. Gideon Morgan, and Captain
Russell's company of spies, was detached by General Jackson, with instructions
to cross the river two miles below the bend, and take possession of the high
grounds on the opposite bank, so as to cut off all chance of escape in that
quarter. General Jackson then marched the remainder of his forces to a position
in front of the breast-work, where he halted his men until the pre-arranged
signal announced that General Coffee had drawn a cordon of soldiers around the
elevated ground overlooking the river and the hostile town and fortifications.
The main column immediately moved forward. The two pieces of artillery, a six
and a three pounder, were planted on a hill, and about 10 o'clock in the
forenoon the action commenced. The firing on the American side was mostly
confined to the artillery.**

  For two hours the fire of the artillery was kept up without doing any material
damage to the strong log wall. Meanwhile, General Coffee sent some of his expert
swimmers among the friendly Indians across the river, who cut loose and brought
away the canoes of the beleaguered Creeks, in which he transported a portion of
his force, under command of Colonel Morgan, to the side of the river occupied by
the Indians, landing in the rear of where the fight was going on. They reached
the town and wrapped it in flames.

  This had the effect of distracting the attention of the Indians. The troops
had been clamoring for some time for permission to charge, but Jackson waited
until his operations in the rear had been perfected, and when the smoke of the
burning village rose to the heavens, he ordered the charge. Surrounded as they
were, the warriors fought with desperation, and, it is computed, that they were
all killed except about two hundred. Thus was the power of this brave people
effectually broken, and they sued for peace. Every reflecting reader will see
how skillfully General Coffee performed his part of the plan of this battle.

  Florida was then a possession of Spain. The Governor residing at Pensacola had
made this place a harbor for our enemies. It was the home of the British fleet
on the Gulf. One of their war vessels had brought in a supply of arms which were
put into the hands of the Indians. These savages were openly drilled by a
British officer in the streets of Pensacola, under the eyes of its Governor.
When the massacre occurred at Fort Mims, British agents bought the scalps at
five dollars apiece openly, there, and its perfidious Governor had written a
letter to the chief Weatherford, congratulating him on the massacre. General
Jackson boiled with indignation and waited impatiently for his reinforcements.

  At length General Coffee arrived with the Tennessee Mounted Volunteers at the
cut-off above Mobile. He was ordered to take one thousand of his men, and, with
two thousand more of other commands, General Jackson marched directly on
Pensacola. He arrived there on the 6th of November, 1814. Next morning he sent a
flag of truce which was fired upon, when he took the place by storm. The Spanish
Governor received a most vigorous lecture, the peroration of which was: "And now
Sir, you must behave yourself hereafter, or by the Eternal I will return and
hang you upon the first tree which may be the most convenient." "Old Hickory"
was terribly in earnest, and the Governor said afterward, that he would rather
encounter a Bengal Tiger, than General Jackson.

  On the 2d of December, 1814, Genera] Jackson entered New Orleans, without an
army and attended only by the members of his staff. Why had he delayed so long?
An expedition of so great strength had been planned so skillfully and executed
so secretly that it was not known where the blow would fall. A squadron, having
on board a strong infantry force, sailed from Plymouth, in England, and another
from the Chesapeake, for a rendezvous in Jamaica, both giving out that they were
bound for Halifax and setting out in that direction, and then changing their
course for their destination. Not more than three officers of the fleet knew
(until they were at sea) the object of the expedition, which was the capture of
New Orleans. They united in Jamaica in the harbor of Negril on the 24th of
November, and had a general review of the ships and troops which Great Britain
had so marvelously assembled in this remote quarter of the Globe. Two large
squadrons had been combined, those of Cochran and Malcolm. Barely, if ever, had
Great Britain collected a braver or more powerful fleet. It was commanded by
chiefs whose valor had built up for England those impregnable wooden walls,
which enabled her to defy the Conqueror of Europe. There were at least fifty
sail, carrying more than one thousand guns. Why was it that Great Britain could
afford to send such an expedition across the Atlantic? It was because Bonaparte
the Conqueror had been conquered, and was in prison bound.

  This great fleet, carrying an army of renowned soldiers (of whom we shall
speak as the regiments, respectively, come into action), cast anchor in Lake
Borgne, on the 9th of December. On the 14th, they destroyed the American
gunboats off Pass-Christian, after a bloody action. In the meantime, New Orleans
was galvanized into life by General Jackson. He organized the fighting men of
the city into regiments and companies, and hurried on his reinforcements by
special messengers.

  "Coffee's brigade, which had performed a long and tedious march, from Fort
Jackson on the Alabama, around Lake Pontchartrain to the Mississippi River,
which they reached by the old Spanish road, at Sandy Creek, a few miles below
Baton Rouge. Hastening to this town, he found a messenger from Jackson,
directing him to push forward with all rapidity, leaving the sick and baggage at
Baton Rouge. Coffee immediately selected all his strong men and horses, and with
them started for New Orleans in a brisk trot. In two days he reached the suburbs
of the city, having in that time marched one hundred and fifty miles with men
and animals who had just performed a wearisome journey of eight hundred miles
through a wilderness. There is no march to equal this in the history of modern
warfare. Encamping just above the city, he rode to town to report to General
Jackson. It was a warm meeting between these two gallant soldiers, who had
shared so many perils and hardships together." General Carroll's brigade, which
came in boats down the Mississippi River, arrived on the evening of the 22d
December.

  Major-General Keane, who commanded the British Army, was a young officer,
gallant and ambitious. He had been colonel of the celebrated fighting regiment,
the Twenty-Seventh, or Enniskillens. After careful reconnoissances he selected
an obscure bayou leading into the Missouri at General Villere's plantation,
twelve miles below New Orleans, and started his advance of three regiments under
Colonel Thornton, a most active and most enterprising officer, who arrived at
daybreak on the 23d of December.

  General Jackson was engaged the same day, at half past one o'clock P. M., when
his attention was drawn from certain documents he was perusing, by the sound of
horses galloping rapidly, and suddenly stopping before his headquarters, Three
French gentlemen who lived on the coast below, came in. "What news do you bring,
gentlemen?" eagerly inquired the General. "Important! The British have landed
below." Governor Claiborne, who was present, inquired into all the facts. and
when the colloquy came to a full stop. General Jackson who had been listening
with his head down, raised it firmly and said to the members of his staff:
"Gentlemen, we will fight them before midnight." Orders were sent for the march
to commence at 3 P. M. The rendezvous was old Fort St. Charles, now the site of
the United States Mint. Mr. Walker mentions each command as they passed in
review before General Jackson, and says, "Then followed, moving in a rapid trot,
the long line of Coffee's mounted gunmen. Their appearance, however, was not
very military. In their woolen hunting-shirts and copperas-dyed pantaloons: with
slouched wool hats, or caps made of the skins of raccoons or foxes; with belts
of untanned deer-skin, in which were stuck their hunting knives; but they were
admirable soldiers, remarkable for endurance and possessing that admirable
quality in soldiers, of taking care of themselves. At their head, rode their
gallant leader, a man of noble aspect, tall and herculean in frame, yet not
destitute of natural dignity and ease of manner. His appearance, mounted upon a
fine Tennessee thoroughbred, was stately and impressive."

  Jackson's plan of the battle was very simple. The "Carolina," under Commodore
Patterson, was ordered to drop down and anchor abreast of the British camp, and
open her batteries on them at half past seven o'clock. The right division of his
army, under Jackson himself, at this signal was to attack the enemy's camp near
the river, guided by Major Villere. Whilst they were thus engaged with the left
division, Coffee (guided by Colonel De La Ronde. whose plantation was near) was
ordered with his Brigade, with Hind's Dragoons and Beale's Rifles, to scout the
edge of the swamp, and, advancing as far as was safe, to endeavor to cut off the
communications of the enemy with their fleet, and thus hem in and, if possible,
capture or destroy him. And what regiments were these which these undisciplined
Americans, with no advantage in numbers, are seeking to surround? They were the
Fourth, the Eighty-fifth and the Ninety-fifth Rifles, all tried Peninsular
soldiers; whilst other Regiments were on the way, which might arrive at any
moment during the battle on the flank or rear of Coffee's division.

  About seven o'clock a vessel was stealing slowly down the river, and, letting
go her anchor, she swung her broadside to the British camp. She was hailed but
returned no answer. At length, a loud voice was heard. "Give this for the honor
of America." The words were followed by a perfect tornado of grape-shot and
musket-balls, which swept the levee and the British camps. The havoc was the
more terrible for its suddenness, and the enemy was struck with consternation.
It was the "Carolina," under Commodore Patterson, which had dropped down so
suddenly to perform her part in the dark tragedy. The enemy sheltered under the
levee. Presently a blaze of fire seemed to encircle the camp, and it was evident
that they were surrounded. They were soon engaged in one of the fiercest and
most evenly contested night battles which ever occurred.

  General Coffee, in charge of the left division, had, before the signal, taken
the position assigned him. When he believed he had gained the enemy's right, he
wheeled his column and advanced with front face to the river. Beale's Rifles on
his left, extended in open order, penetrated to the center of their camp. Soon
the British Eighty-fifth rushed forward, and the two lines became warmly
engaged." Coffee seemed to be in every part of his extended lines at the same
time. Cool and self-possessed, he kept his men well together, and restrained,
within the bounds of prudence, the natural impetuosity of the frontier-fighter,
which is continually pushing him on to fight "on his own hook." A fog settled
over them and the battle still raged fiercely, but it was not of much order or
system. Friends could not be distinguished from foes. The British Rifles among
Lacoste's negro cabins, kept up a running fire on Coffee's right companies. The
Tennesseans, however, learned to distinguish the crack of their rifles, and
directed their particular attention to them. Concealing themselves behind the
huts, the British waited until they got into the midst of them. Then they rushed
forward and engaged them hand to hand. Neither party having any bayonets, they
were forced to club their guns. But the more cautious of the Tennesseans
preferred their long knives and tomahawks. The Ninety-fifth Rifles fell back
before Coffee's steady advance, rallying, however, whenever they received fresh
reinforcements. At last they gained the old levee, and took refuge behind it on
the river side, preferring to stand the artillery of the Carolina to the rifles,
knives and tomahawks of their assailants. This position, Coffee thought, was too
strong to be assailed, and, moreover, his men were exposed to the fire of the
"Carolina." Accordingly, he sent a dispatch to General Jackson, acquainting him
with the position, and received in return an order to join the right division.
As the Ninety-third Highlanders were expected every moment to reach the field,
Major Mitchell, who commanded in the fog the Ninety-fifth Rifles, about this
time thought he saw the Highlanders coming. But he mistook the hunting-shirt for
Scotch, and was made prisoner. This was a great mortification to that rising
officer, who had won great distinction in heading the storming party of Ciudad
Rodrigo, and in other actions in the Peninsula. The Highlanders did arrive on
the field a few moments afterward, captured a large proportion of Beale's
Rifles, and they were ordered by Keene to push forward with bayonets on Coffee's
division, but they did not succeed in reaching it. Coffee, after delivering a
heavy fire, continued to oblique until he joined Jackson's division. Seven
hundred British soldiers were in this action at the close—more than commenced
it. [The above is a condensed account of the battle of the 23d of December,
taken from the pages of Walker's Life of General Jackson. The author of it (a
journalist of high order) resided in New Orleans, and had intercourse, for many
years, with the most intelligent survivors of the campaign of New Orleans, and
his book is one of great merit.]

  A few days after this battle General Keane was superseded in his command by
Lieu.-Gen. Hon. Sir Edward Packenham, the hero of Salamanca. He was the
brother-in-law of the Duke of Wellington; but he did not owe his promotion to
his noble birth or to his friends. He had fought his way up through every grade.
For every grade he had a scar; and ere he had reached his meridian his body was
all scrolled over with such insignia of his gallantry. In the Peninsula he was
in constant service by the side of the Duke of Wellington, and was brigadier of
that impetuous Welshman, General Picton. Since the death of Wellington and the
publication of his papers, it has come to light that in the British Cabinet the
project was seriously considered of placing him in command of the expedition to
New Orleans. He did not, from his letters, seem to be unwilling to take the
command; and expressed the opinion that the troops then being embarked for
America must be very badly handled if not victors in any contest in which they
might be engaged. What would have been the result upon the destinies of Europe
if the Duke had accepted the command and shared the fate of Packenham? Waterloo
would then have been fought without a Wellington!

  Packenham for the first time found himself at the head of an independent
command. He brought with him as reinforcements the Seventh Fusiliers
(Packenham's "Own") and the Forty-third, both under the command of Major-General
Lambert, a young but promising' officer. Packenham ran his eye over the list of
his regiments with pride. They consisted of ten thousand of the best soldiers in
the world, all veterans under Wellington, except the Ninety-third, which had
gained distinction in Africa, and was the strongest one in the army, numbering
l,050 Highlanders. His second in command was Major-General Samuel Gibbs, a very
active officer who had greatly distinguished himself at the storming of Fort
Cornelius, on the Island of Java, and in the Peninsula War.

  General Jackson made the most effective preparations to meet the enemy.
General Coffee he placed in command of his extreme left. It was not exactly "in
the air,"4 or on the earth, but terminated in a swamp. At first, such awful
tales were told to the British about men who had ventured into it, having sunk
down, gone out of sight, and never been seen any more, that they regarded it as
a barrier equal to the Mississippi River on the other flank. Hut in the affair
of the 28th December the fearless Colonel Rennie (who lost his life on the 8th
of January in sealing a redoubt) entered the swamp and came very near turning
our left. After that General Jackson had Coffee's men constantly employed in
extending the ditch and works into the swamp; but still the condition of this
flank rested uneasily upon his mind.

  In the final struggle between the two armies on January 8, 1815, the British
advanced in two columns, one near the River and the other near the Swamp, and
the engagement commenced. "The roar of cannon, the hissing of shells, the crack
of the rifles, the wild scream of the rockets, the whizzing of the round shot,
and the crash of grape formed a horrid concert." There were not more than
fifteen hundred pieces brought to bear on the British columns, but in the hands
of the Tennesseans and Kentuckians, they were made as effective as ten times the
number fired by the regulars in the best armies of Europe. Whilst the terrible
slaughter was going on upon the right and left of the American lines, the center
remained inactive.

  It is a rare thing in battle that martial music can be maintained throughout
the action; but the moment the British came into view and their signal rocket
pierced the sky with its fiery train, the band of the Battalion D'Orleans struck
up "Yankee Doodle," and thenceforward during the action it did not cease to
discourse all the National and military airs, in which it had been instructed.
About one-half of Coffee's Brigade were in the open field, and united with
Carroll's men, in repelling the attack of the British right column. But Coffee's
left were denied the luxury of firing into the solid column, and, through the
leafless trees of the forest, had an indistinct view of the magnificent
spectacle. They were mad with vexation, when they reflected that for two weeks
they had been ditching in the mud of days, and sleeping on boat gunnels and logs
at night; without even clean water enough to wash their faces. A detachment,
however, under Lieutenant-Colonel Jones, composed mostly of black troops, from
the West Indies, was sent in to turn Coffee's left. They came quite near his
line, when the leader became tired and was killed, and most of the white
soldiers who were with him, and the rest were captured by the Tennesseans, who
astonished the British by the squirrel-like agility with which they leaped from
log to log. "The prisoners were mostly black, and were greatly comforted in
their forlorn condition by the idea that they were captives of their own color
and race; deceived by the appearance of the Tennesseans. The unfortunate
red-coated Africans soon discovered their error, when they were required, by
their facetious captors, to "dance juba," in mud a foot deep.

  The Legislature of Louisiana passed a resolution of thanks to General Coffee
for the services he had rendered during this campaign. He modestly answered that
the splendid victories they had achieved were chiefly due to his commander,
General Jackson.

  General Coffee was made Major-Genera] after the battle of New Orleans. He was
several times associated with General Jackson as Commissioner to treat with the
Indian tribes.

  In 1817 he was appointed Surveyor-General of Alabama, and moved to Huntsville.
In 1819 he moved to Lauderdale County, and the Land office for his district was
removed to Florence. He held the office of Surveyor-General during the remainder
of his life. If he had been ambitious he could have had from the people of
Alabama the highest office within their gift.

  General Coffee was a robust man. six feet two inches tall, weighed two hundred
pounds, rather dark skin, with brilliant black eyes. A handsome steel plate
engraving of him embellishes this chapter, and is copied from an oil painting,
the work of the celebrated Earle, who lived in General Jackson's family and was
intimately acquainted with the subject.

  General Coffee lies buried in the little family cemetery at his old home,
three miles north of Florence. Upon the large gray stone, which marks his
resting place, is the following epitaph written by General Jackson:

"Sacred to Memory of
GENERAL JOHN COFFEE,
who Departed this Life
7th Day of July 1833;
Aged 61 years.

  As a husband, parent and friend, he was affectionate, tender and sincere. He
was a brave, prompt and skillful general, a distinguished and sagacious patriot,
an unpretending just and honest man. To complete his character, religion mingled
with these virtues her serene and gentle influence, and gave him that solid
distinction among men which detraction can not sully, nor the grave conceal.
Death could do no more than to remove so excellent a being from the theatre he
so much adorned in this world, to the bosom of the God who created him; and who
alone has the power to reward the immortal spirit with exhaustless bliss."

  The children of General Coffee are: Mrs. Mary Hutchings, John Donelson Coffee,
Elizabeth Coffee, Andrew J. Coffee, Alexander Donelson Coffee, Mrs. Rachel
Jackson Dyas, Catherine Coffee, William Donelson Coffee, Joshua Coffee. Those
were all living when their father died.

  *The sketch of General Coffee was written by Col. James E. Saunders.
  **Walker's Life of General Jackson.

[Transcriber's note: Picture of Gen Coffee, not found]


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

Northern Alabama: Historical and Biographical
Birmingham, Ala.: Smith and De Land
1888

PART IV.
MONOGRAPHS OF THE PRINCIPAL CITIES AND TOWNS IN NORTHERN AND CENTRAL ALABAMA,
TOGETHER WITH BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF MANY OF THEIR REPRESENTATIVE PEOPLE.


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