In the preparation of the following account of the "Battle of New Orleans," I have availed myself of all accessible authorities, and have been placed under obligations to Colonel R.T. Durrett, of Louisville, Kentucky. I have had free access to his library, which is the largest private collection in this country, and embraces works upon almost every subject. Besides general histories of the United States and of the individual States, and periodicals, newspapers, and manuscripts, which contain valuable information on the battle of New Orleans, his library contains numerous works more specifically devoted to this subject. Among these, to which I have had access, may be mentioned Notices of the War of 1812, by John M. Armstrong, two volumes, New York, 1840; The Naval History of Great Britain from 1783 to 1830, by Edward P. Brenton, two volumes, London, 1834; History of the Late War, by H.M. Brackenridge, Philadelphia, 1839; An Authentic History of the Second War for Independence, by Samuel R. Brown, two volumes, Auburn, 1815; History of the Late War by an American (Joseph Cushing), Baltimore, 1816; Correspondence between General Jackson and General Adair as to the Kentuckians charged by Jackson with inglorious flight, New Orleans, 1815; An Authentic History of the Late War, by Paris M. Davis, New York, 1836; A Narrative of the Campaigns of the British Army by an Officer (George R. Gleig), Philadelphia, 1821; History of Louisiana, American Dominion, by Charles Gayarre, New York, 1866; The Second War with England, illustrated, by J.T. Headley, two volumes, New York, 1853; History of the War of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain, by Rossiter Johnson, New York, 1882; The Pictorial Field-book of the War of 1812, by Benjamin J. Lossing, New York, 1868; The War of 1812 in the Western Country, by Robert B. McAfee, Lexington, Kentucky, 1816; Historical Memoirs of the War of 1814-1815, by Major A. Lacarriere Latour, Philadelphia, 1816; Messages of James Madison, President of the United States, parts one and two, Albany, 1814; The Military Heroes of the War of 1812, by Charles J. Peterson, Philadelphia, 1858; The Naval War of 1812, by Theodore Roosevelt, New York, 1889; The History of the War of 1812-15, by J. Russell, junior, Hartford, 1815; The Glory of America, etc., by R. Thomas, New York, 1834; Historic Sketches of the Late War, by John L. Thomson, Philadelphia, 1816; The Life of Andrew Jackson, by Alexander Walker, Philadelphia, 1867; A Full and a Correct Account of the Military Occurrences of the Late War between Great Britain and the United States, by James Williams, two volumes, London, 1818.

I have also been placed under obligations to Mr. William Beer, librarian of the Howard Library of New Orleans, which has become a depository of rare works touching the history of the South Mississippi Valley, and especially relating to the War of 1812 and the battle of New Orleans. A list of all the works in this library which Mr. Beer placed at my disposal would be too long for insertion here, but the following may be mentioned: Claiborne's Notes on the War in the South, Goodwin's Biography of Andrew Jackson, Reid and Easten's Life of General Jackson, Nolte's Fifty Years in Both Hemispheres, Report of Committee on Jackson's Warrant for Closing the Halls of the Legislature of Louisiana, The Madison Papers, Ingersoll's Historic Sketch of the Second War between Great Britain and the United States, Cooke's Seven Campaigns in the Peninsula, Hill's Recollections of an Artillery Officer, Coke's History of the Rifle Brigade, Diary of Private Timewell, and Cooke's Narrative of Events. No one would do justice to himself or his subject if he should write a history of the battle of New Orleans without availing himself of the treasures of the Howard Library.

Z.F. Smith.