Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 September 1875 — An Interesting Reminiscence of the War of 1812. [ARTICLE]

An Interesting Reminiscence of the War of 1812.

The death of Hr. E. M. Brank, of Greenville, Ky., father of the Rev. Dr. Brank, the pastor of the Central Presbyterian Church of this city, was announced in our paper two weeks ago. Mr. Brank was noted for • his stately proportions, great strength, dauntless courage, and unerring skill with the rifle. At the battle of New Orleans, when he was about twenty-four years' old, he held the commission of Lieutenant in a comRos Kentucky volunteers. As the sh army advanced upon the American defenses, seizing the gun of one of his men named Michael Severs, Mr. Brank mounted the breastwork directly in front of the approaching enemy and, taking deliberate aim at the officers, fired a number of telling shots. This incident was fully authenticated, but the effect of the daring act was not known until many years afterward, when the following graphic account was published: BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS. A British officer who was at the battle of New Orleans mentions an incident of thrilling strangeness, and very descriptive of the Western hunters, many of whom marched to the defense of New Orleans as volunteers under the renowned Andrew Jackson: “We marched,” said the officer, “in a solid column of 12,000 men in a direct line for the American defenses. I belonged to the staff, and, as we advanced, watched through my glass the position and arrangements of our enemy with that intensity an officer only feels when marching into the jaws of death, with the assurance that, while he thus offers himsell as a sacrifice to the demands of his country, every action, be it successful or otherwise, will be judged with most heartless scrutiny. J|lt was a strange sight, that long range ofTotton bales—anew material for breastworks—with the crowd of human beings behind, tlieir heads only visible above the line of defense. We could distinctly see the long rifles lying over the bales, and the battery of Gen. Coffee directly in front, with its great mouth gaping toward us, and the position of Gen. Jackson with iris staff around him. But what attracted our attention most was the figure #f a man standing on the breastworks, dressed in linsey-woolsev, with buckskin leggins and a broad-rimmed felt hat that fell around his face, almost concealing his features. He was standing in oneof those picturesque and graceful attitudes peculiar to those natural men-dwellers in the forest. The body rested on the left leg, aud swayed with a curved line upward • the right arm was extended, the hand grasping the rifle near the muzzle, the butt of which rested near the toe of the right foot, while with his left hand he raised the rim of the hat from his eyes, and seemed gazing from beneath intensely upon our advancing column. The cannon of Gen. Coflee had opened upon us, and tore through our ranks with dreadful slaughter; but we continued to advance, unwavering and cool, as if nothing threatened our progress. ,l The roar of cannon seemed to have no effect upon the figure standing upon the cotton bales, but he seemed fixed and motionless as a statue. At last lie moved, threw back the hat rim over the crown with his left hand, raised the rifle to his shoulder and aimed at our group. Our eyes were riveted upon him. At whom had he leveled liis piece? But the distance was so great that we looked at each other and smiled. We saw the rifle flash, and my right-hand companion, as noble a fellow as ever rode at the head of a regiment, fell from his saddle. The hunter paused for a moment without moving his rifle from his shoulder, then reloaded and resumed his former attitude. Throwing the hat rim over liis eyes aud airain holding it up with the left hand, he fixed his piercing gaze upon us as if hunting out another victim. Once more the liat rim was thrown back, and the gun raised to the shoulder. This time we did not smile, but cast short glances at each other, to see which of us must die; and when the rifle again flashed, another of us dropped to the earth. There was something awful in marching on to certain death. Gen. Coffee’s battery and thousands of musket-balls played among our ranks. We cared not for them; there was a chance of escaping unscathed. Most of usdiad walked upon batteries a hundred times as destructive without quailing; but to know that every time that rifle was leveled toward us and the bullet sprang from its barrel one of us must fall! To see the gleam- I ing sun flash as the iron'came down, and 1 see it rest motionless as ifJWlised upon a I rock, and know when hangup, struck sad j the sparks flew in the full-prmed pan that ; the messenger of death drove unerringly ■ to its goal—to know this and still march ! on was awful. *■

“ I could see nothing but the tall figure standing on the breastwork. He seemed to grow phantom-like, taller and taller, assuming through the smoke the supernatural appearance '.of some giant spirit, j Again did he reload and discharge his ! rifle with the same unerring aim; and it ; was with indescribable pleasure that I bej held, as we neared the American lines, the sulphurous smoke gather around us and shut that spectral hunter from my - gaze. We lost the battle, aud to my mind that Kentucky rifleman contributed more to our defeat than anything else; for while he remained in oilr sight our at- | tention was drawn from our duties, and when at last we became enshrouded in the j smoke, the work was complete— We were i in utter confusion, and unable, in the extremity, to restore order sufficiently to make any successful attack.”— -St. Louis . Presbyterian. ■i ■ - > On the bank of the river in Canada, between tli£. new Suspension? Bridge and Table Rock, is a foot-path which in a j number of places is on the very edge of ‘ the precipice. It has always been a source of wonderment to strangers why some protection was not erected to avoid accidents, and a surprise that lives are not lost. With the exception of the imperishable individual who a month or so ago, while drunk, fell over below the bridge, no accident occurred till yesterday afternoon . After most of the excursionists had proceeded to Table Rock a man by the name of Pryerton, from near Chatham, was standing on the path at a point nearly opposite a little refreshment saloon, when a party of three or four came along. One of them accidentally stumbled against him and knocked* him from the bank. Just at this place, some ten or twelve feet from the top of the bank, a small ledge of rotk projects, upon which he fell. A rope was procured, and the man was rescued from his perilous position. Had he been standing three feet either way from where he was he would have fallen over 100 feet. It was a most thrilling and narrow escape.—Xiagara Falls Register. They are making nqiseless shoes in Massachusetts that are to be felt—when mothers use them.