General Harney, in the Washington _Sunday Herald_,
several years ago denied this story. General Harney said:
"I asked General Jackson, General Adair and General Coffee, the latter
having the immediate command of a brigade of Tennessee and Kentucky
sharpshooters, whose long rifles mainly did the work of death, if there
were cotton bales used at all, and they all answered that the only works
the Americans had were of earth, about two and a half feet high, rudely
constructed of fence-rails and logs laid twenty-four inches apart, and
the space between them filled with earth, and if there had been any
works constructed from cotton bales they must have known it." General
Harney was made by the Washington _Herald_ to say that in 1825 he was
promoted to captain in the first infantry, and sent to Nashville,
Tennessee, to recruit for his regiment, and while there he met with
Generals Jackson and Coffee, from whom he obtained many points of the
battle which have never been in print.
Fernando had seen no service since leaving Mariana on the Maryland
coast. His riflemen were eager to meet the foe; but in the night
encounter they had been detailed to guard the city, and preserve the
peace. Day by day they had expected the enemy to advance to the attack;
but the 7th of January, 1815, passed, and the British had not yet moved
to the attack, further than some skirmishing and cannonading.
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