The Cotton-Bales
We have all heard tell that Andrew Jackson and his riflemen fought the Battle of New Orleans from behind cotton-bales.
This is a mistake. Yet it is true that Old Hickory did commandeer a whole cargo of cotton-bales, and with them built a bastion in front of his guns. But at the very first bombardment, the balls from the British batteries knocked the bales in all directions, while wads from the American guns and spurting flames from the muzzles of the rifles set some of the bales afire. They fell smouldering into the ditch outside, and lay there sending up smoke and choking odours.
When the bombardment was over, the American soldiers dragged the unburnt cotton-bales to the rear. They cut them open and used the layers of cotton for beds.