al Morgan and Mr. Hireart,
that an attempt would be made to dismember the State. I also
understood from other members that they would consider it an act of
violence; and would resist it by violence.

Colonel Declouet was the chief informant at headquarters; but rumors had
been rife for several days of disloyal utterances and of mysterious
proceedings, which caused uneasiness to the civil and military
authorities, and especially to Governor Claiborne, who had made known
his apprehensions of trouble from the disaffected element, warning
General Jackson of the dangers possible from this quarter. The
Legislature was to convene on the twenty-eighth; and it was intimated
that the overture for a surrender might be resolved upon that day. Such
a possible action, in the very crisis of battle, could be but an attempt
to marplot the military plans of the commander-in-chief, and to marshal
an enemy in the rear. The information brought in so abruptly on that
morning by Colonel Declouet made a profound impression on the mind of
General Jackson. The enemy had already opened the battle of the
twenty-eighth of December, with the forward movement of his columns and
under the heavy fire of his batteries.

In the excitement of the moment, Jackson gave the verbal order to his
aid, Captain Duncan, to be delivered at once to Governor Claiborne for
immediate execution. This order, as rendered by Captain Duncan, directed
the Governor to summarily close the halls of the Legislature, and to
place a guard at the doors to prevent a meeting of the body until
further orders. Duncan testified that the General put in emphasis the
words: "Tell Governor Claiborne to prevent this, and to blow them up if
they attempt it!"

The order was executed. The Governor commissioned General J.B. Labitat,
of the Louisiana troops, to enforce it; he placed a guard of soldiers at
the doors of the building, and forbade entrance to the members on that
day. Captain Duncan had put spurs to his horse and started on a lope to
the city with the order. On the way he met Colonel Fortier, an aid to
the Governor, who consented to promptly deliver the order, permitting
Duncan to return. In the proceedings of the committee, Honorable Levi
Wells, member of the House of Representatives from Rapides Parish,
testified that on the twenty-eighth, under an order of General Jackson,
an armed guard was placed at the doors of the legislative halls in the
city of New Orleans, which